Tag: authors
Feel Not Alone, Dear Writer
[found on quentinschultze.com; by Quentin J. Schultze]
“Discuss Your Writing with Writers (and Authors)
Authors need one another. Writing is personal, but learning about writing is communal. Every author depends on the work of earlier writers. This is true for style and content. We all need feedback from other writers as well as from readers. Discussing our ideas and manuscripts with other writers helps us to discover what works and what doesn’t—and why. Join a local writers group (e.g., through a bookstore), read one another’s drafts, and offer kind but honest feedback. If possible, invite some published (but humble) authors into the group. Eventually, sitting at your keyboard or staring at a notebook will not seem so lonely, intimidating, and baffling.”
[found on http://quentinschultze.com/tips-1-5-for-book-writers]
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Enter, and Resolve Thyself
[found on iuniverse.com]
“Introduce your main characters and themes in the first third of your novel. If you are writing a plot-driven genre novel make sure all your major themes/plot elements are introduced in the first third, which you can call the introduction. Develop your themes and characters in your second third, the development. Resolve your themes, mysteries and so on in the final third, the resolution.” — Michael MoorcockTo see the rest of the tips from iUniverse, click here.
[found on http://www.iuniverse.com/ExpertAdvice/20WritingTipsfrom12FictionAuthors.aspx]
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The Perfect Scene
[found on advancedfictionwriting.com; by Randy Ingermanson]
“Writing the perfect scene:
- Goal: A Goal is what your POV character wants at the beginning of the Scene. The Goal must be specific and it must be clearly definable. The reason your POV character must have a Goal is that it makes your character proactive. Your character is not passively waiting for the universe to deal him Great Good. Your character is going after what he wants, just as your reader wishes he could do. It’s a simple fact that any character who wants something desperately is an interesting character. Even if he’s not nice, he’s interesting. And your reader will identify with him. That’s what you want as a writer.
- Conflict: Conflict is the series of obstacles your POV character faces on the way to reaching his Goal. You must have Conflict in your Scene! If your POV character reaches his Goal with no Conflict, then the reader is bored. Your reader wants to struggle! No victory has any value if it comes too easy. So make your POV character struggle and your reader will live out that struggle too.
- Disaster: A Disaster is a failure to let your POV character reach his Goal. Don’t give him the Goal! Winning is boring! When a Scene ends in victory, your reader feels no reason to turn the page. If things are going well, your reader might as well go to bed. No! Make something awful happen. Hang your POV character off a cliff and your reader will turn the page to see what happens next.
For more tips on writing from AdvancedFictionWriting, click here.
[found on http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/articles/writing-the-perfect-scene]
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Breathe, and Write
Pulse of a Book
“Write from the heart. A book without a pulse is like a person without a spirit.”
— Linda Radke, President of Five Star Publications
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A Writer’s Aesthetic
“The writer has little control over personal temperament, none over historical moment, and is only partly in charge of his or her own aesthetic.”
― Julian Barnes, Nothing to Be Frightened Of
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Name That Face
[found on writersdigest.com; by Elizabeth Sims]
There are many different styles of naming your characters, one is the ironic choice.
“Ironic Names
Large chunks of Alexander McCall Smith’s bestselling 44 Scotland Street series concern the difficult life of Bertie Pollock, an Edinburgh schoolboy. Two of his schoolmates are lads named Larch and Tofu. Though minor characters, they’re there for a distinct purpose.
The names interact with a savory irony. Tofu and Larch’s names obviously have been bestowed by parents with finely tuned ideals. Political correctness abounds: One boy’s name is a legume paste, the other a tree. Yet the characters, we learn from their actions and words, are as shallow and phony-hearted as their names are sophisticated.
Smith gives us, by contrast, the simple, direct, honest Bertie. He is worth more than both Tofu and Larch put together. His is an ordinary, unpretentious name; his surname, Pollock, is a common fish. Bertie, then, is the humble everyman who must endure everybody else’s idiotic, self-serving vanities.
But for pure triumphal irony, can anything top the Veneering family, of Dickens’ classic Our Mutual Friend? Such a vaguely grand-seeming name for a vaguely grand family. Simultaneously, of course, their name clues us in that they are nothing but surface. And we enjoy watching them try—and fail—to live up to their banal aspirations.
Ironic names are easy to create: Just think of your character’s opposite qualities and brainstorm liberally. Let’s say you’ve got a clumsy guy who lives with his parents and aspires merely to avoid work and download porn. You could give him an ironic name like Thor or Victor or Christian or even Pilgrim. Or you could give him a first name that’s a family surname, like Powers or Strong.
Authors who want to use ironic character names should strictly limit themselves to one per story or novel.”
To see other options of name choice from Writer’s Digest, click here.
[found on http://www.writersdigest.com/writing-articles/by-writing-goal/improve-my-writing/namedropping-finding-solid-names-for-your-unique-characters]
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Plot Now, It’s Time
[found on fictionwriting.about.com; by Ginny Wiehardt]
“Give Some Thought to Plot.
Writing a novel can be a messy undertaking. The editing process will go easier if you devote time to plot in the beginning. For some writers, this means an outline; others work with index cards, putting a different scene on each one. Still others only have a conflict and a general idea of where they plan to end up before diving in. If you’ve been writing for a while, you already know how your brain works and what kind of structure it needs in order to complete big projects. If you’re just starting out, then this may be something you’ll learn about your writing process as you revise your first novel.”
To read more tips from Ginny Wiehardt, click here.
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