I'm still making progress on my story, so I have no complaints other than the cold weather up here in Michigan and the fact that we're supposed to get another six inches of snow tomorrow. Arrgggh!
Enjoy the links and have a great weekend!
Fire up Your Fiction with Foreshadowing
In Defense of Pantsing
Creating a Professional Look for Ebooks
Dialogue From Start To Finish
Two Ingredients for a Great First Chapter
Promote Your New eBook Like a Pro
Website of Ken Rahmoeller -- fantasy author, chemist, and lover of all things Hogwarts (Photo Courtesy of Scarluuk)
Friday, January 31, 2014
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Never Leave Your Character Alone
The bad news is that I’m already falling behind on my blog, having missed the last two Wednesdays in a row. (Bad blogger. Bad, bad blogger.) The good news is that I’ve been spending the time making progress (finally) on my story. And it’s not just because I now have more free time in which to write. It’s because I think I’ve finally figured out how to start my story. (It’s about time, too. I’ve only spent the last eight months trying to get it right.)
I’ve come to the realization that my biggest hurdle probably came from the fact that all my previous openings suffered from the same problem. The main character was either discovering something or having something happen to him...
While he was by himself.
Chuck Palahniuk might have been thinking of me when he said this.
"One of the most-common mistakes that beginning writers make is leaving their characters alone. Writing, you may be alone. Reading, your audience may be alone. But your character should spend very, very little time alone. Because a solitary character starts thinking or worrying or wondering."
Or in my case, “starts becoming boring.” Unless there’s so much going on in a scene that the scene practically writes itself, my prose turns clunky when there’s only one person around. With no dialogue, I have to carry the scene with descriptions and interior thoughts, and those are not my strong points. Having someone else around allows me to show stuff via dialogue, which I find much easier to do. And this week, I figured out how to start my story with someone accompanying my MC. I’m not saying there won’t be major changes to the chapter before it’s finished, but I’ve got a framework now and that’s all I needed.
Hope you're all making progress on your stories.
I’ve come to the realization that my biggest hurdle probably came from the fact that all my previous openings suffered from the same problem. The main character was either discovering something or having something happen to him...
While he was by himself.
Chuck Palahniuk might have been thinking of me when he said this.
"One of the most-common mistakes that beginning writers make is leaving their characters alone. Writing, you may be alone. Reading, your audience may be alone. But your character should spend very, very little time alone. Because a solitary character starts thinking or worrying or wondering."
Or in my case, “starts becoming boring.” Unless there’s so much going on in a scene that the scene practically writes itself, my prose turns clunky when there’s only one person around. With no dialogue, I have to carry the scene with descriptions and interior thoughts, and those are not my strong points. Having someone else around allows me to show stuff via dialogue, which I find much easier to do. And this week, I figured out how to start my story with someone accompanying my MC. I’m not saying there won’t be major changes to the chapter before it’s finished, but I’ve got a framework now and that’s all I needed.
Hope you're all making progress on your stories.
Friday, January 17, 2014
Friday Links -- Volume 14
Today is Friday Links Day, but since I spent last Wednesday’s post lamenting at how badly I’d missed 2013’s goals, it seems only natural I should announce my goals for 2014 first.
1. Finish my Hogwarts story! I’ve learned a ton about writing fiction by working on this story, but after five years, enough is enough. Of course, that's what I said last year too.
2. Finish the rough draft of my Wizard’s story. This is probably too optimistic, so I’ll be satisfied if I get the basic structure of the story down on paper.
3. Get more active on Twitter and Facebook. Nothing drastic, but I have to develop a schedule and stick to it. And if this means I have to rebuild my computer, so be it.
4. Keep moving up in the Insecure Writers Support Group Linky List. I’m currently at Link #45!
5. Switch over from Blogger to Wordpress. I’m listing this as a tentative goal, because it’s not critical. But because of Blogger’s Terms of Agreement, I’d rather make the switch before I started posting my fanfic story on my blog.
On to the links! And have a great weekend!
The 100 Best Websites for Writers for 2014
Congratulations to Janice Hardy for making the list!
The Business Rusch: Pricing (Discoverability Part 7)
The Dreaded Synopsis
Simplify Your Story–Before You Lose Readers
Novel Construction Begins with Concept
Marketing is Easy, Writing is Hard
1. Finish my Hogwarts story! I’ve learned a ton about writing fiction by working on this story, but after five years, enough is enough. Of course, that's what I said last year too.
2. Finish the rough draft of my Wizard’s story. This is probably too optimistic, so I’ll be satisfied if I get the basic structure of the story down on paper.
3. Get more active on Twitter and Facebook. Nothing drastic, but I have to develop a schedule and stick to it. And if this means I have to rebuild my computer, so be it.
4. Keep moving up in the Insecure Writers Support Group Linky List. I’m currently at Link #45!
5. Switch over from Blogger to Wordpress. I’m listing this as a tentative goal, because it’s not critical. But because of Blogger’s Terms of Agreement, I’d rather make the switch before I started posting my fanfic story on my blog.
On to the links! And have a great weekend!
The 100 Best Websites for Writers for 2014
Congratulations to Janice Hardy for making the list!
The Business Rusch: Pricing (Discoverability Part 7)
The Dreaded Synopsis
Simplify Your Story–Before You Lose Readers
Novel Construction Begins with Concept
Marketing is Easy, Writing is Hard
Friday, January 10, 2014
Friday Links -- Volume 13
We're only ten days into the new year and I've gotten more writing done in 2014 that I did in the last two months of 2013. It's great to have free time again.
Happy New Year to you all!
Now on to the links.
Key Elements to Writing an Effective Synopsis
Worldbuilding
The Business Rusch: Branding (Discoverability Part 6)
Do E-Readers Put Unfair Pressure on First Chapters?
How To Cure a CARDBOARD VILLAIN
The Power of Renewal a.k.a. Character Arc
Happy New Year to you all!
Now on to the links.
Key Elements to Writing an Effective Synopsis
Worldbuilding
The Business Rusch: Branding (Discoverability Part 6)
Do E-Readers Put Unfair Pressure on First Chapters?
How To Cure a CARDBOARD VILLAIN
The Power of Renewal a.k.a. Character Arc
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
The Insecure Writer and 2013 Goals
Today is January's contribution to Alex Cavanaugh's Insecure Writers Support Group.
Why am I an Insecure Writer this month?
The fact that I failed to complete last year’s writing goals.
To tell the truth, I didn’t even come close.
My 2013 goals were fairly simple. First, to finish the fan fiction story I’ve
spent the last five years writing (mostly to teach myself how to write) and second,
to make significant progress on the first draft of my own, original story. Last January, I felt these were realistic
goals as I had already finished the first draft of the fan fiction story and since
I already had 30k words of the new story under my belt – thanks to 2012’s NaNoWriMo.
Progress on finishing up the fanfic proceeded at a reasonable pace until
I made the fateful decision to work on both stories simultaneously. This shouldn’t have been a problem – I’m good
at multitasking – but I eventually became obsessed with the notion that I wouldn’t
allow myself to do any more work on the fanfic until I was satisfied with
the first chapter of the new story. Thus
began an incredibly frustrating three month period in which I must have revamped
that first chapter ten times while searching for the right way to open the
story. So both stories stalled. And then, to make matters worse, I began
teaching a night course in chemistry in September and all writing pretty much
came to a halt.
The good news? The
class is finished and it’s a new year, which means I get to reset my
expectations. Oh, the relief!
So what are my goals for this year? Essentially the same as last year, although I
plan on becoming more active with social media.
I might even get around to moving my blog over to Wordpress. We’ll see.
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
What Doctor Who Taught Me About Writing
A few weeks ago, I saw the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary show. Twice, actually. Once on television and then again with my daughter at the movies. I enjoyed both viewings, but after the second, I began thinking about how the movie worked. Especially in its use of foreshadowing.
Foreshadowing is when the writer gives the reader (or viewer) some sort of clue or hint about something that will occur later in the story. There are many reasons to foreshadow, one of which is to deepen the story, but foreshadowing can also be an important tool for the writer. It allows the writer to deliver necessary information to the reader without revealing the importance of that information too soon in the story.
For example, about halfway through the Doctor Who movie, when the Doctors needed to escape the Tower of London—yes, I said Doctors. The eleventh and tenth Doctors were both in the show, along with the “war” Doctor from 400 years in the past. (Hey come on, they’re Timelords. They're allowed to do that kind of stuff.) Anyway, when they needed to escape from the Tower, they came up with a plan to program a horrendously complicated subroutine into the war doctor’s sonic screwdriver so that 400 years later, the current doctor’s sonic screwdriver would have the completed calculations for their escape. Turns out they never got around to using those calculations, since Clara showed up to rescue them at that point, but no matter—the scene had already served its real purpose. The idea of using sonic screwdrivers in this way had been planted into our minds, so when the same technique was used to solve the big problem later during the final climatic scene, no time was wasted having to explain the concept, so the scene moved along quickly.
The use of foreshadowing to prepare the reader for solutions the MC will use later on is common. In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, for example, Rowling needed a time traveling device to solve a story problem she’d created, so she invented a pendant capable of carrying Harry back in time. Of course, having this item suddenly appear right when Harry needed it would have seemed contrived, so Rowling introduced the pendant to us early and gave it its own subplot. Then when Harry needed the pendant to solve the big problem at the end, its presence seemed perfectly natural.
In the Doctor Who movie, a similar technique was used when the Doctor was shown (at the beginning of the movie) a special 3D painting described as Timelord art. Turns out that painting (and the concept behind its technology) was necessary to solve two big problems later on in the story, but for the audience to accept its use as a legitimate solution, we needed to be introduced to the concept of Timelord art early on. And simply sticking the painting into the same room as the Doctor wasn’t enough. There had to be a reason for its existence or the viewers would have been suspicious. So the writers came up with a subplot for the painting (which I won’t go into here), giving a valid reason for its existence and preparing us for its use in the final scene. And everything was done so smoothly, it never occurred to me that the painting had been a plant from the start—a fact I was able to appreciate during my second viewing.
If writing has done anything for me, it’s made me better at spotting foreshadowing during movies. Much to the annoyance of my wife.
What about you? Do you spot foreshadowing in movies more easily these days?
Foreshadowing is when the writer gives the reader (or viewer) some sort of clue or hint about something that will occur later in the story. There are many reasons to foreshadow, one of which is to deepen the story, but foreshadowing can also be an important tool for the writer. It allows the writer to deliver necessary information to the reader without revealing the importance of that information too soon in the story.
*********WARNING—DOCTOR WHO SPOILER ALERT**********
For example, about halfway through the Doctor Who movie, when the Doctors needed to escape the Tower of London—yes, I said Doctors. The eleventh and tenth Doctors were both in the show, along with the “war” Doctor from 400 years in the past. (Hey come on, they’re Timelords. They're allowed to do that kind of stuff.) Anyway, when they needed to escape from the Tower, they came up with a plan to program a horrendously complicated subroutine into the war doctor’s sonic screwdriver so that 400 years later, the current doctor’s sonic screwdriver would have the completed calculations for their escape. Turns out they never got around to using those calculations, since Clara showed up to rescue them at that point, but no matter—the scene had already served its real purpose. The idea of using sonic screwdrivers in this way had been planted into our minds, so when the same technique was used to solve the big problem later during the final climatic scene, no time was wasted having to explain the concept, so the scene moved along quickly.
The use of foreshadowing to prepare the reader for solutions the MC will use later on is common. In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, for example, Rowling needed a time traveling device to solve a story problem she’d created, so she invented a pendant capable of carrying Harry back in time. Of course, having this item suddenly appear right when Harry needed it would have seemed contrived, so Rowling introduced the pendant to us early and gave it its own subplot. Then when Harry needed the pendant to solve the big problem at the end, its presence seemed perfectly natural.
*******WARNING—ANOTHER DOCTOR WHO SPOILER ALERT*******
In the Doctor Who movie, a similar technique was used when the Doctor was shown (at the beginning of the movie) a special 3D painting described as Timelord art. Turns out that painting (and the concept behind its technology) was necessary to solve two big problems later on in the story, but for the audience to accept its use as a legitimate solution, we needed to be introduced to the concept of Timelord art early on. And simply sticking the painting into the same room as the Doctor wasn’t enough. There had to be a reason for its existence or the viewers would have been suspicious. So the writers came up with a subplot for the painting (which I won’t go into here), giving a valid reason for its existence and preparing us for its use in the final scene. And everything was done so smoothly, it never occurred to me that the painting had been a plant from the start—a fact I was able to appreciate during my second viewing.
If writing has done anything for me, it’s made me better at spotting foreshadowing during movies. Much to the annoyance of my wife.
What about you? Do you spot foreshadowing in movies more easily these days?
Friday, December 6, 2013
Friday Links -- Volume 12
We're approaching the end of the year, and to be honest, it can't come quickly enough. Why? Because it means I'll have more time for writing. :)
The night class I teach will be finished in about a week and a half, and as of two days ago, I'm officially done with my daughter's FTC robotics competition. The actual competition isn't until tomorrow, but there's been too much politicking and backstabbing going on within the team for my taste, so my daughter and I have decided we've had enough and have pulled out of the team. Hopefully her joy of working on robots will return with time.
I also have a special link for you today. The Insecure Writers Support Group now has a website and everyone should go on over there and check it out. There's even a contest that will last until the 16th of December, so be sure to sign up. I'm starting a rumor that the founder of IWSG, Alex Cavanaugh, will embarrass himself publicly as one of the prizes. :)
Here are today's links. And as always, have a great weekend!
ChemistKen
Getting to the Core of Character Motivation
When Bad Things Happen to Good Books
The Red Roadmaster
Most Common Writing Mistakes: Weak Character Voice
The night class I teach will be finished in about a week and a half, and as of two days ago, I'm officially done with my daughter's FTC robotics competition. The actual competition isn't until tomorrow, but there's been too much politicking and backstabbing going on within the team for my taste, so my daughter and I have decided we've had enough and have pulled out of the team. Hopefully her joy of working on robots will return with time.
I also have a special link for you today. The Insecure Writers Support Group now has a website and everyone should go on over there and check it out. There's even a contest that will last until the 16th of December, so be sure to sign up. I'm starting a rumor that the founder of IWSG, Alex Cavanaugh, will embarrass himself publicly as one of the prizes. :)
Here are today's links. And as always, have a great weekend!
ChemistKen
Getting to the Core of Character Motivation
When Bad Things Happen to Good Books
The Red Roadmaster
Most Common Writing Mistakes: Weak Character Voice
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