Gail Carson Levine's Blog, page 34
September 19, 2012
Off we go
On May 9, 2012, Kelly wrote, I was curious to see if you had any ideas on what to do when you don't know where to start when you begin writing. I have a great plot, and do-able characters--but I can't decide where I should start. Anybody have any ideas?
I usually find my beginning in notes. As I’m jotting down ideas for how my story might go, a first scene drops into my head, so I start writing. This first scene may not ultimately be the first scene by the time I reach the end, and it may chan...
September 12, 2012
Double, double toil and trouble
On April 19, 2012, Chloral Florderoy wrote, An author told me once that there comes a point in the writing process when the characters start talking to you. I mean, you know what they would do/say in a situation because you've spent a long time with them and you feel as though you know them. Does this mean that it's hard when it comes time to write their deaths? How have you dealt with making bad things happen to your characters, or is it fun for you?
Every writer is different. My characters d...
September 5, 2012
Unoriginal sin
On March 22, 2012, Inkling wrote, My book is the same genre as Lord of the Rings, and I'm having trouble being original. All books of the fantasy genre are takeoffs (not sure if this is the right word) of LOTR because Tolkien created the genre, and I'm afraid of my book being just another takeoff. The plot isn't the same (far from it) and I've tried to add big differences, such as my Elves mainly being samurai-ish unlike most fantasy books where Elves are pretty peaceful, but I'm still afraid...
August 29, 2012
Stalled in Slow Gear
First off, a follower of the blog got in touch through my website and asked me to announce this free event, and I’m happy to oblige. Here’s what she wrote:
“...the Newbery Honor Winner and author of over 80+ books for children, Marion Dane Bauer, will be doing a FREE, LIVE teleconference call entitled “The Basics of Writing Successful Picture Books.” It will be held on Wednesday, September 19 at 7:00 EST, and her readers can go to http://www.writingforchildrenlive.com/Marion_Dane_Bauer.h...
August 22, 2012
Again again
On March 8, 2012, Lynn Weide wrote, In my novel, the same tropes/situations seem to come up all the time. For example, I have at least two instances of each of these: where the MC is listening in on someone else's conversation to learn something crucial, or where she is chased by a "bad" guy, or where a character uses incriminating language to get someone else to confess something...You get my drift. These scenes feel so important and are good ways of advancing the plot, but I was wondering h...
August 15, 2012
Fiction on the couch
Before I start, I want to draw your attention to a new box on the right, a link to the pottery website of my husband’s sister Betsy. A click will be rewarded by the sight of a profusion of beautiful pots, and, while you’re admiring, you might spare a compliment for the site itself, designed and executed by Betsy’s big brother, my husband, who also created my website and designed the look of this very blog.
On to the post. On March 6, 2012, Jenna Royal wrote, Well, I've...
August 8, 2012
Inseparable
We’re continuing with last week’s questions, so here they are again:
On February 29, 2012, Maddi wrote, I'm having some trouble getting "inspired." I have my plot worked out, I'm just having problems with the in-between stuff like character development and other small events. I'm not even sure if I can make it into a good quality piece of writing. I've been turning to Legend of Zelda fanfiction. It works, but I want to produce something that is my own idea. Lately my spelling has been really o...
August 1, 2012
Inspiration deprivation
On February 29, 2012, Maddi wrote, I'm having some trouble getting "inspired." I have my plot worked out, I'm just having problems with the in-between stuff like character development and other small events. I'm not even sure if I can make it into a good quality piece of writing. I've been turning to Legend of Zelda fanfiction. It works, but I want to produce something that is my own idea. Lately my spelling has been really off, even though I'm a pretty good speller. Any ideas?
Then this week...
July 25, 2012
Talking to the reader
On Feb 22, 2012, unsocialized homeschooler wrote, What do you think about writing in questions in books? Like if a story was in third person and at the end of a paragraph I write something like "could this be true?" or "well, what would you do?" or something to that extent, like a narrator almost. I do that a lot in my writing without thinking, and I'm not sure if it’s cheesy or if it sounds silly or not. If it does, is there a way to avoid this?
I certainly don’t think your practice is cheesy...
July 18, 2012
Natives talking
On Feb 9, 2012, writeforfun wrote, I’m from Indiana. I’ve read a tiny bit of “the Hoosier Schoolmaster,” which is supposedly written with Hoosier dialect, and it doesn’t seem all that abnormal to me. I’ve read other books, even modern ones, that are a little harder to understand because I’m not used to the expressions they use.
I write my characters’ dialogue as though they’re ordinary people, so I use ordinary words, like “pretty big,” “you guys,” “gonna,” “anyhow,” etc., in the...
