Friday, July 17, 2015
How often to write a book
"If you're a person to writes one book every three years...High-five yourself, because most people write one book every NEVER." --Chuck Wendig
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
RavenCon: Writing the Other
When you're writing a character who is another sex, race or culture, how do you handle it?
Remember that you're not writing "a stereotypical white" or "a stereotypical male" or "a stereotypical straight"; you're writing a person, who happens to be white or male or straight. However, their situation will color their experience. You have to relate to them.
Do research. Find people who belong to that group and ask them. And if a member of that group complains, don't be a jerk by arguing. Ask them what they felt was wrong. Use it as a learning experience.
Or avoid the problem by taking bits from different cultures, filing the serial numbers off, and mashing them together. This works better with fantasy settings than it does with contemporary.
Kate Paulk: "I'm actually disappointed I haven't gotten a fatwa over Impaler."
Eric Bakutis: "There's always the sequel. It's important to have goals!"
Remember that you're not writing "a stereotypical white" or "a stereotypical male" or "a stereotypical straight"; you're writing a person, who happens to be white or male or straight. However, their situation will color their experience. You have to relate to them.
Or avoid the problem by taking bits from different cultures, filing the serial numbers off, and mashing them together. This works better with fantasy settings than it does with contemporary.
Kate Paulk: "I'm actually disappointed I haven't gotten a fatwa over Impaler."
Eric Bakutis: "There's always the sequel. It's important to have goals!"
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
John C Wright
Part of an interview with John C Wright:
Q: What else about your book might pique the interest of readers?
A: My goal was to have one violent fight, one disaster, or one eruption of bizarre magic, once each fifteen pages or so.
A: My goal was to have one violent fight, one disaster, or one eruption of bizarre magic, once each fifteen pages or so.
Wednesday, February 4, 2015
Burning Gold
The Sun has gone out.
Ordinarily in an emergency we'd send word to the Duke, and he might send word to the King, but it's getting colder every day...well, there aren't any more days, because the Sun has gone out. And with Her light no longer shining, the land is getting cold. In the endless night, frost giants and werewolves prowl, undead rise from their mounds, and worse than that, things are coming out of the mountains.
We need the greatest heroes of the kingdom to head into the dwarven ruins and find the secret of Burning Gold (You thought the dwarves loved gold because it was shiny? No, it's because they knew how to set it ablaze, to provide light and warmth in the deep places of the earth). Then we need those selfsame heroes to take all the gold they can carry, to light their way through the mountains to the Edge of the World, and to find the place from which the Sun rises. Once there, those mighty warriors and subtle wizards could surely find a way to release Her, or heal Her, or persuade Her to take up her shining shield again.
Unfortunately, we're out of time, and the great heroes of the kingdom aren't here. We're sending you.
Ordinarily in an emergency we'd send word to the Duke, and he might send word to the King, but it's getting colder every day...well, there aren't any more days, because the Sun has gone out. And with Her light no longer shining, the land is getting cold. In the endless night, frost giants and werewolves prowl, undead rise from their mounds, and worse than that, things are coming out of the mountains.
We need the greatest heroes of the kingdom to head into the dwarven ruins and find the secret of Burning Gold (You thought the dwarves loved gold because it was shiny? No, it's because they knew how to set it ablaze, to provide light and warmth in the deep places of the earth). Then we need those selfsame heroes to take all the gold they can carry, to light their way through the mountains to the Edge of the World, and to find the place from which the Sun rises. Once there, those mighty warriors and subtle wizards could surely find a way to release Her, or heal Her, or persuade Her to take up her shining shield again.
Unfortunately, we're out of time, and the great heroes of the kingdom aren't here. We're sending you.
Thursday, December 4, 2014
How to Write A Scene: Ten Minutes of Planning for 2000 Words
How to Write A Scene: Ten Minutes of Planning for 2000 Words
1. Describe the setting. Think about the main impression that you want to generate, and give us a description of that impression at least three times. Try to use at least 20 "senses" words; use each of the five senses at least once.
2. What does your main character want, and why is that important to him? What is his primary emotion at the beginning?
3. What is his opposition in the scene? What does that opponent want, and why? What is his primary emotion? What sort of conflict does the protagonist have to engage in?
1. Describe the setting. Think about the main impression that you want to generate, and give us a description of that impression at least three times. Try to use at least 20 "senses" words; use each of the five senses at least once.
2. What does your main character want, and why is that important to him? What is his primary emotion at the beginning?
3. What is his opposition in the scene? What does that opponent want, and why? What is his primary emotion? What sort of conflict does the protagonist have to engage in?
4, 5, and 6. Three twists. Each twist is one of:
7. Resolution: does the scene protagonist succeed or fail in his goal? What emotion does he feel at the end of the scene? How does the resolution raise the stakes and/or make it more difficult to achieve his ultimate goal? What happens to raise the tension in the reader?
- find a clue
- find an item that is useful in the present conflict
- find an item that will be useful later
- a countdown starts
- someone unexpectedly changes sides
- change in the type of conflct (conversation becomes fight, for instance)
- reinforcements appear for one side or the other
- you are given a task that you must complete during the scene
- you are given a quest;
- some aspect of the setting becomes dangerous
- you must give up something valuable to gain what you need.
7. Resolution: does the scene protagonist succeed or fail in his goal? What emotion does he feel at the end of the scene? How does the resolution raise the stakes and/or make it more difficult to achieve his ultimate goal? What happens to raise the tension in the reader?
8. Aftermath: once the scene is over, what does the scene protagnoist think about what just happened? How does he feel about it, once he has time to stop and reflect? What choice does he have to make in order to move ahead? How much time passes before the next scene?
Eight items, so if you devote 250 words to each item, you have 2000 words.
Eight items, so if you devote 250 words to each item, you have 2000 words.
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Writing the Pefect Scene
Notes from a panel with Sean Hoade at SLC ComicCon.
Sean recommended Jack Bickham's Scene and Structure; Bickham was a student of Dwight Swain and covers much of the same ground.
Each scene has a viewpoint character, and that character has a goal, opposition, and a resolution. To clarify the goal in the first draft, you can have the viewpoint character come right out and say "I want to ____", describing what he wants to accomplish during this scene. (You might also add a line about how that scene goal will help him accomplish his overall goal). The four possible resolutions to the character's action are Yes, No, Yes-But, and No-And-Furthermore. The Yes and No options are bland.--they either solve the problem (with a Yes) or at least do nothing to change it (if it's a No). A Yes-But solves this problem but raises a whole new one; the No-And-Furthermore leaves this problem open and makes it worse.
A scene never has conflict which is entirely internal. That goes in a sequel; a sequel is the connective tissue that links one scene to the next. The sequel has four parts: emotion and expresson; thought and reflection; decision; action. The action is the beginning of the next scene (and the point at which you can change PoV characters, if you need to).
Use the length of your scenes and sequels to vary your pacing. Long sequels with lots of emoting and internal monologues will slow down the action.
Sean recommended Jack Bickham's Scene and Structure; Bickham was a student of Dwight Swain and covers much of the same ground.
Each scene has a viewpoint character, and that character has a goal, opposition, and a resolution. To clarify the goal in the first draft, you can have the viewpoint character come right out and say "I want to ____", describing what he wants to accomplish during this scene. (You might also add a line about how that scene goal will help him accomplish his overall goal). The four possible resolutions to the character's action are Yes, No, Yes-But, and No-And-Furthermore. The Yes and No options are bland.--they either solve the problem (with a Yes) or at least do nothing to change it (if it's a No). A Yes-But solves this problem but raises a whole new one; the No-And-Furthermore leaves this problem open and makes it worse.
A scene never has conflict which is entirely internal. That goes in a sequel; a sequel is the connective tissue that links one scene to the next. The sequel has four parts: emotion and expresson; thought and reflection; decision; action. The action is the beginning of the next scene (and the point at which you can change PoV characters, if you need to).
Use the length of your scenes and sequels to vary your pacing. Long sequels with lots of emoting and internal monologues will slow down the action.
Thursday, September 18, 2014
On Plotting, Rising Action, and the Try/Fail Cycle
Notes from SLC ComicCon 2014 panel, including Kevin J Anderson, Brandon Sanderson, Dave Farland, Larry Correia, Brandon Mull, Brad Torgersen.
Plotting:
When you're writing an epic, you can't wing it. When you're building a skyscraper, you really need a blueprint. My outline sometimes runs to 100 pages--it gets to be a first draft.
My plot is "What promise am I making the reader, and what steps do I need to take to fulfill that promise?"
I'm a loose outliner. For each character, I know where they're going to end up. I need to know the ending. And I blow something up every forty pages.
I need to look for movement.You never have a static scene--a character is always going up or down. I think about where my protagonist is, and what's the worst thing that I can do to him....
Pantsing is for the daydreaming at the start of the project. Once you've got the ideas, you outline.
I can pants a short story but I need a skeleton for a novel.
If you do pants it, go back and write an outline afterwards, as a post mortem tool.
Try/Fail:
My characters are my friends, but it's an abusive relationship. They can't have it easy.
"Try/Fail" is a diagnostic tool, for finding problems after you've finished. Practice writing and you'll internalize the need to give your characters trouble, although you may not call it "adding a Try Fail cycle" while yoiu're writing it.
Remember that there's not just the one Protagonist/Antagonist Try Fail Cycle. There are other characters and other subplots and they need their own cycles.
The response to "Try" can be "Yes" or "No"--which are boring--or "Yes But" or "No And". The "No And" is what you'd call a Try/Fail"; the "Yes But" isn't "Fail" but can also be interesting.
Productivity/Writer's Block:
Don't look for perfection. You need to be prolific. The more you make, the better you get. Ask your alpha readers if there are parts they find boring or confusing.
If I get stuck, it's because I made a mistake the day before; but when I figure out how to fix it, I get excited and write even more.
Destress. It's a first draft; you don't have to be perfect.
Set a deadline so you're committed to getting stuff done, rather than thinking I"m A Writer" but not doing any writing.
Sanderson: I'm usually writing one book, planning one or two more, and editing another. I write 500 words per hour, which is low; but I write 8 hours a day, five days a week. If you figure half my time is editing, travel, and other non-writing activity, that's 500words x 8 hours x 5 days x 26 weeks = 520,000 words per year. One 400,000 word epic and one 120,000 word novel.
Correia: I write 10,000 words per week, every week.
Write what you think is cool--that you'd want to read.
Plotting:
When you're writing an epic, you can't wing it. When you're building a skyscraper, you really need a blueprint. My outline sometimes runs to 100 pages--it gets to be a first draft.
My plot is "What promise am I making the reader, and what steps do I need to take to fulfill that promise?"
I'm a loose outliner. For each character, I know where they're going to end up. I need to know the ending. And I blow something up every forty pages.
I need to look for movement.You never have a static scene--a character is always going up or down. I think about where my protagonist is, and what's the worst thing that I can do to him....
Pantsing is for the daydreaming at the start of the project. Once you've got the ideas, you outline.
I can pants a short story but I need a skeleton for a novel.
If you do pants it, go back and write an outline afterwards, as a post mortem tool.
Try/Fail:
My characters are my friends, but it's an abusive relationship. They can't have it easy.
"Try/Fail" is a diagnostic tool, for finding problems after you've finished. Practice writing and you'll internalize the need to give your characters trouble, although you may not call it "adding a Try Fail cycle" while yoiu're writing it.
Remember that there's not just the one Protagonist/Antagonist Try Fail Cycle. There are other characters and other subplots and they need their own cycles.
The response to "Try" can be "Yes" or "No"--which are boring--or "Yes But" or "No And". The "No And" is what you'd call a Try/Fail"; the "Yes But" isn't "Fail" but can also be interesting.
Productivity/Writer's Block:
Don't look for perfection. You need to be prolific. The more you make, the better you get. Ask your alpha readers if there are parts they find boring or confusing.
If I get stuck, it's because I made a mistake the day before; but when I figure out how to fix it, I get excited and write even more.
Destress. It's a first draft; you don't have to be perfect.
Set a deadline so you're committed to getting stuff done, rather than thinking I"m A Writer" but not doing any writing.
Sanderson: I'm usually writing one book, planning one or two more, and editing another. I write 500 words per hour, which is low; but I write 8 hours a day, five days a week. If you figure half my time is editing, travel, and other non-writing activity, that's 500words x 8 hours x 5 days x 26 weeks = 520,000 words per year. One 400,000 word epic and one 120,000 word novel.
Correia: I write 10,000 words per week, every week.
Write what you think is cool--that you'd want to read.
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