Posted on 03/23/2007 11:44:31 AM PDT by Eleutheria5
Squarebarb:
There were some of us including GOPpoet who were thinking of starting a writer's thread here on FR. There's a horse thread, a football thread, a Hobbit Hole thread, so why not a thread for us writers?
And mainly sticking to fiction otherwise the discussion tends toward politicsa iinstead of the craft of writing.
Okay Eleutheria5, YOU start the thread."
Eleutheria5:
On it. Could use some help from someone who knows how to do HTTP and other techy stuff, though. Tried to learn, but drat that right hemisphere dominance we creative folks have. I've actually been running a board on the aol writers' club since 1996 called Conservative Writers' Club. Mostly it simply fights flame wars with liberal writers, though, and all the conservative contributors, including me, burn out. It'd be great to get away from that and just swap ideas with people who DON'T wish every one of us a flaming death.
(Excerpt) Read more at freerepublic.com ...
What's holding back your novel?
Nah, I didn't mean vanity press. That's like training wheels.
Please add me to your ping list.
Is a pinglist a person who pingles?
This is great. Add me. I am currently working on an alternative fiction novel, so I would love to be a part of the thread.
Good for you!
Okay... we are 73 posts in and you have so much to add. I can't wait to read more.
Are you serious? Someone above was just saying advice usually isn't welcome so I felt my advice function shriveling up.
I am writing a novel, so any advice will always be welcome. I am saying that now (for in the future).
So, your advice function should not shrink but increase. Writers need other writers to help hone their craft. (That's my opinion) It's what the Bible calls iron sharpening iron.
I'm not sure. Is pingling legal?
Thanks! Great quote. Which book is it from?
I thought I had contacted everyone on the other thread, but I guess I missed you. Glad you are here.
GOPpoet should be along presently. I Freepmailed him.
And now off to feed horses. Will check in tomorrow. So glad this thread happened.
Which is not to say that you should know exactly how it goes from beginning to end before you start; rather, it just means that you should understand your story arc. Unless you find that it really works for you, I strongly advise you NOT to start writing at Chapter 1 and proceed sequentially to the end. Rather, I suggest you write the important story scenes, then fill in the sequences between them.
Writing a novel is a form of storytelling. I'm a big fan of the old dramatic structure used by the Greek playwrights. You start by introducing characters and establishing the primary conflict, the initiation of which is the dividing line between Acts I and II. Act II is the rising action, escalating conflict to a crisis...which marks the division between Act II and Act III. Act III is resolution and denoument. If it's a tragedy, everyone dies; if it's a comedy, everyone gets married and/or otherwise lives happily ever after. So if your novel has run out of steam by chapter 4, I suggest that you take a couple of clean sheets of paper and sketch out A. Who the characters are, B. What the major conflict is, and C. What the resolution will be. From there you can ask other questions, like "how with the protagonist be changed by the conflict?" and "what interesting secondary characters could help complicate things in Act II?"
Once you've got that much done, you should have some ideas as to the answers. When you've got at least some halfway answers, take some more paper and write a high-level outline of your story from beginning to end.
Yes, I know, as hedonistic experiences go, outlining really sucks, I mean in an epic kind of way. But bite the bullet and do it, because it will show you where your story's going. Then when you run out of steam once again, in Chapter 7 this time, you'll know where to go. Just check your map (the outline) and head off in the proper direction.
There. I hope that was helpful. It was grossly simplified and there are many other ways to write a story, and many complications you can add to story structure, but those are the basics I use and they have stood me in good stead.
Yes, but it's heavily regulated and taxed, at least in North Carolina.
It helps if you're a native speaker of pinglish.
Proverbs 27:17.
Hopefully they'll put my advice to you to good use, and may even give it to you if you ask nicely. =]
My novel is an alternative history novel, so my characters are real people - known and beloved by a great many people. The hard part is staying true to them and writing a realistic history while being entertaining at the same time.
What you have posted is very useful to any writer. I am hoping that you will continue to give advice and critiques.
Now I'm talking only for me - I used to hate to be critiqued because I took it so personally. But going back to college taught me the importance of the critique in digging out better prose and sharpening the scene, etc. A fresh pair of eyes or a simple question can make me see my writing in a brand new light - usually for the better.
So, I do hope this thread grows and we don't tire of it. I hope FReepers like you will continue to offer advice to all of us. I for one can benefit from it.
I want to make my living by writing novels.
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