Experimenting today, working on writing a scene that will not appear in the final product, something that’s absolutely extraneous to the plot. I’m doing this to try and work on characterization, seeing if the characters I’m imagining are what’s happening on the page. So far, it’s close, but missing the target. One character’s too bitchy, the other’s not bitchy enough. He’s too sympathetic, I’ve got to make him more villainy. I don’t know if it was the situation I chose or what, that’s leading to this personality change, but I’ve got to amp him up, or he’ll end up sounding like a copy of the other main character.
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Writing Advice #3
Some people keep an idea notebook because they are always forgetting things. Some do not. This is an exercise in story preservation. The bad ideas self-destruct and are forgotten. The good ideas keep floating to the top.Stephen King advises you not to keep an idea notebook, for the reasons in the last sentence. Good ideas keep coming up to the top, bad ideas get forgotten. I’ve seen other authors recommend an idea notebook though. I don’t see an idea notebook having an adverse effect on idea frequency. If I have one idea for a story, I’ll have many more, if it’s good. The more I have the better it is.…
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The Difficulties of Summaries and Criticism
Yesterday, my wife was asking about my book Blood 2: The Unforgiven. I’ve now come up with a maxim for one of my previous statements: “Whatever you don’t think will get criticized, will get criticized”. Kind of like Murphy’s Law. She commented that the title didn’t appeal to her. This was strange to me, because I’ve never thought of the story as anything BUT Blood 2: The Unforgiven. I can’t imagine what else it would be. I can’t imagine what else it could be. It’s “The Unforgiven”. That’s the focus of the story. That’s the motif, the main idea. The thread that binds the tapestry. I can’t see anything that…
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Progress of the Day
Still working on Galerians pre-writing, gathering ideas and characterization and such. Was going good this weekend, but has slowed down today. What I really need to do is submit some works to be published, so I can get an idea of what to expect from these people. Get an idea of the process, so I don’t screw it up when I submit the things I really want to get published. I equate it to getting a job – you have to be very professional, follow all the rules, and one mistake can cost you your chance. I’ve filled out many applications, many cover letters and resumes, so I know how…
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‘What If’ the book sucks?
God this What If? book sucks. There are about 110 exercises in the book and most of them either don’t apply, need a group to work, are below what I’ve already learned, or are just gay. First the book is for college students who want to workshop stories. Workshopping’s discouraged by most authors in the first place, and I don’t want to workshop anyway. What I want is tips and tricks on how to make stories better or create ideas for stories. It keeps citing works that I’ve never read and don’t want to read, and they keep thinking I should emulate these people. It thinks I should be like…
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Writing Advice #2
Make your characters act in a way that keeps things happening, and seems reasonable to the reader. All characters do things based on anger, fear, happiness, disgust, shame/guilt, sadness, desire, pity, love, discovery, and other emotions. In other words, they act based on how they feel.This has a bit to do with characterization, which I admit I’m not the strongest with, given my history with fan fiction (where you don’t need to characterize). I don’t see this as being a big problem in my works or many works I read. It has to do with A) characters acting the way the reader thinks they’re gonna act and B) Having the…
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Just When I Think I’m Out…
Cracked open my “What If?” book for the first time in… oh, months and months. I’ve reached a bit of a wall with Galerians, and either I can start coagulating my ideas or try and make more of them. I chose the latter because I’m uncomfortable with some gaps in the plot and loose characters with no flesh or not enough motivation. I was trying to get through the book in order, and unfortunately, the chapter I’m in right now is “Revising and Rewriting”. This is a problem because most of that applies to Blood 2. Man, it seems the more I try to forget about that story, the more…
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The Beginning of the Next Big Thing
I’ve officially started production on my Psychic Story. I’ve got a couple of titles for it floating around right now, but A) they’re titles of something else and B) they’re all lame and not really descriptive of the story. At least they’re gripping and zazzy enough (I made up that word, don’t try to look it up), I think, for a reader to pick it up and be interested in it. Officially, we’re calling it Psychic Story, but unofficially, just between you and me, I’m calling it Galerians, because that was sort of the inspiration for it, and about that, I shall say no more.I like the notes I have…
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Why Doesn’t Anyone Like Me (my novel)?
I guess I can give up on the hopes that I can get my novel critqued. On Critters I only got three total for the week it was up. The guidelines said I could expect 15-20. The next unit won’t be up until Mar. 21. At this rate, the novel won’t be completely critiqued until September 2009. Even paying a professional is too expensive. I wouldn’t pay any more than $50, which is about the maximum price of a novel. Most of the services I’m looking at, I’d have to pay $500 for my 153,000 word baby. I was willing to pay for it after I saw how little I…
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Can’t Concentrate
I’m not having much luck with the writing activities today. I tried two Critters critiques, but failed because I just couldn’t concentrate on the story. I don’t know whether it’s because my back hurts from shoveling the Biggest Dumping of Snow in the World and All of History (as I’m declaring it), or it’s just not in the cards for me today. Either it’s me or the stories just aren’t doing it for me. And I can’t critique if I can’t remember the story. We’ll see how it goes from just reading some fiction.