Creative Reviews discussion
Tips and Tricks
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Writing style - tips to share
Chris wrote: "As for laughing/chortling/sighing dialog, I always advise my students against it, because I know some people are super sensitive -- though others won't notice. It's probably possible to simultaneou..."Thanks for the information, Chris. Suddenly, it's all clear...
Rich wrote: "@Phil- I think you're correct. Page #2 of her first book so probably the first hour of her writing career. Taken in that context, it's pretty understandable.BTW, it sounds like the sharks are..."
It's probably seasonal, Rich. The southern tip of Western Australia is a renowned spot for Great Whites, as is any other land mass abutting the Southern Ocean. Most popular beaches are patrolled by spotter planes or helicopters, but board riders tend to go where there aren't too many people around -- hence, they become bait. I though the hysterical reaction of wanting to kill all sharks in the area was a bit over the top -- the surfers after all were in their territory.
It's a bit like going for a stroll through the middle of a pride of lions, then complaining about being eaten, or perhaps hiking in the mountains of Afghanistan and wondering why people are taking pot shots.
J.A. wrote: "No, don't do it, let's be two-stop rebels, Splitter! (Tempted to say Rebels without a Pause but that's factually inaccurate).
Mind, isn't the formatting totally different anyhow?
JAC"
BWAHAHAHA!
Phil wrote: "Rich wrote: "@Phil- I think you're correct. Page #2 of her first book so probably the first hour of her writing career. Taken in that context, it's pretty understandable.BTW, it sounds like the..."
Phil,
I like your analogies. I think you're right. There's a knee-jerk reaction by the masses to say kill everything that makes the world a dangerous place. And then blame the shark for behaving the way it has for 200 million years. Perfectly logical (insert sarcasm here).
C.S. Splitter wrote: "J.A. wrote: "No, don't do it, let's be two-stop rebels, Splitter! (Tempted to say Rebels without a Pause but that's factually inaccurate).
Mind, isn't the formatting totally different anyhow?
JAC..."
I was waiting for someone to say "Men of the Pause", but that would be gross as well as equally inaccurate.
Which just reminds me, Phil....I came up with a character named Molly Prop as a play on the word "malapropism."
Then I went and researched it just now. Turns out, someone wrote that character in 1775...
I am an original.
For the record, malapropisms are words that sound like the real word but mean something else entirely. Like "men of the pause" or "groinacologist" or "and all that that entrails." (entails)
Archie Bunker was famous for his malapropisms.
I'm guessing the character I came up with was born out of knowing about the 1775 play at some point in my young days. Somehow, the details were swept away in time and I thought the idea was original.
Damn.
Splitter
C.S. Splitter wrote: "Which just reminds me, Phil....I came up with a character named Molly Prop as a play on the word "malapropism."
Then I went and researched it just now. Turns out, someone wrote that character i..."
Don't forget "Mrs. Malaprop" was a Dickens character.
Nope she was from well before Dickens. She is a character in The Rivals, a restoration comedy by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. She was the mother of Lydia Languish - the leading lady. She muddles words up so she talks about Allegories on the banks of the Nile when she means alligators etc. She was a similarly formidable sort to Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest or Aunt Agatha in the Jeeves and Wooster books.Cheers
MTM
Few Are Chosen
Warning: contains car chases, futuristic technology and sarcasm
Unlucky Dip Prequel to Few Are Chosen
sadly not free on any Amazon but it is on Smashwords.
MTM wrote: "Nope she was from well before Dickens. She is a character in The Rivals, a restoration comedy by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. She was the mother of Lydia Languish - the leading lady. She muddles word..."Sorry, Splitter and MTM -- my mistake. I can only plead that it's a long time since I read it.
I once saw Mrs Malaprop played by Patricia Routledge (Hyacinth Bucket Sheridan-stylee, basically) which was Most Tremendous!Do love a bit of Sheridan...
JAC
No worries Phil, it's a bit obscure and it does help if you've played Lydia Languish in the school production... kind of etches it on the memory. It was the closest I got to an actual convincing piece of acting although to be honest, I was selected via a combination of looks, seniority in the school and the fact the producer was er hem. My dad.JA I can imagine Mrs Bucket did the part credit! I love a bit of Sheridan, I love the swear words.
Zounds.
MTM
Few Are Chosen
Warning: contains car chases, futuristic technology and sarcasm
Unlucky Dip Prequel to Few Are Chosen
sadly not free on Amazon.co.uk or any of the others.
MTM wrote: "No worries Phil, it's a bit obscure and it does help if you've played Lydia Languish in the school production... kind of etches it on the memory. It was the closest I got to an actual convincing pi..."Hyacinth Bucket was a great character in a great show, but I always had a soft spot for her henpecked husband. Don't know why....
ROFL, Phil.And don't feel bad, if I had been told the character was already written, alarm bells would have gone off in my head and I would have associated Dickens.
I am coming to realize that I come up with characters first and then the story. I am outlining book three right now KNOWING that the outline won't last through half the book writing process.
However, my head is filled with good characters to put in there. I am already seeing snippets of conversation in my head between them.
Someday, I'm going to figure this sh...stuff...out.
Splitter
Splitter, if it helps my plot outline is always very vague and most of the intricacies spring from just the kind of conversational snippets you mention. It's fun in many ways but quite wearing in others... and it means each novel takes ages. Sigh.As usual, I envy the organised people.
cheers
MTM
Pnnark! Pffff! Yeh, well, that's exactly it. I currently have 117,000 words of book 2 in the bag and it's about four fifths completed. However, by the time I've finished it, it will probably have gone up to about 140,000 and down to just over or under 100,000. Remember you said you'd written a whole book that could and should be dealt with in one line. Yeh, well I've a conversation that crops up all over the place so once I've worked out who is going to have it and honed that one, the others will all have to go. Still not sure where I'm going to end it, either.
I keep hoping I'll have book 2 out early next year but now I'm beginning to wonder... then again it is half term (bittersweet) so it could just be that.
Cheers
MTM
I'm not even sure I'm going to be able to do Wrimo this year, which is a cast iron B*gger as I was depending on it for Book 3.5. But there's SO much to get done at home, and I have a lot of stuff to do on Bk 2 to get that out for xmas in ebook form, and free weekends between now and New Year are scarce. 5 days to make up my mind! On the other hand, nothing to say I have to do the full whack and I usually get in 40mins typing on the Blackberry on the train home (hello RSI...!)so even if I set target at 20k words rather than 50k I should be able to play a little bit a least.Better than nowt, I suppose!
JAC
C.S. Splitter wrote: "Here's one I read recently:An article said that two spaces after a period ending a sentence is archaic and born from the type writer days.
What? When did one space become the norm? Did I miss..."
I'm still a two-space girl, but I also read this one recently - I think in the Chicago Manual of Style online blog. If CMOS says it, it must be true.
Lately I've been finding it inspirational to do a bit of field research, while working on my historical novel. Part of it takes place in a 1950s boarding house, similar to the one my grandparents ran after the war.... While shopping for a house (my boyfriend and I have been looking to buy for a while), I've found myself asking to tour decrepit (one was even an illegal rooming house) that I'm not interested in buying so much as I'm interested in gathering details and taking in atmosphere.... Very stimulating for the imagination! More about my experience can be read at my blog, www.the-reading-list.com
Leslie wrote: "Lately I've been finding it inspirational to do a bit of field research, while working on my historical novel. Part of it takes place in a 1950s boarding house, similar to the one my grandparents ..."Doing research is always a good thing to do for writing. You get a better idea of what u wanna work on and to back up what your thinking.
Interesting comment on British vs American styles of rhetoric...http://moreintelligentlife.com/conten...
JAC
Leslie wrote: "Lately I've been finding it inspirational to do a bit of field research, while working on my historical novel. [...] I've found myself asking to tour decrepit (one was even an illegal rooming house) that I'm not interested in buying so much as I'm interested in gathering details and taking in atmosphere.... Very stimulating for the imagination! "Not only does it add good texture to your descriptions but as you say, it's inspirational and you feel the atmosphere. A lot of times, really getting into the story, the setting, inside my characters' heads, leads to creating new plot twists, new settings, new characters! And I am poor so I only do my research online but actually travelling sounds like an inspiration-fest!
-sry
Speaking of field research, our (it's co-written) book takes place in an apocalyptic Chicago. Toward the middle of the book we were struggling with setting "sense-feel". We went into the city, picked a house where our protagonist might live and did a walking trip to one of the destinations prominent in the book (Lincoln Park Zoo). The coolest thing was to imagine everything as if it were in the midst of a global pandemic. That was an invaluable part of our research. It brought the setting to life.
If at all possible, visit your setting (or someplace like it) in person. It's amazing what that can do for the creative process.
J.A. wrote: "Interesting comment on British vs American styles of rhetoric...http://moreintelligentlife.com/conten...
JAC"
JAC, I love watching stuff in the House of Commons! Such jeering would be frowned upon here. However, our public does not have the patience for some of the interviews and speeches of your politicians. That is a REALLY interesting article.
Splitter
hahaha neither do I Splitter!! And have you ever seen footage of the Borsa, the Italian equivalent (I think, Barbara?) There was one time when we were living in Italy when it was on the news and someone said something controversial and it just about turned into a massive brawl in the centre of the chamber, and the newscaster basically said "Business as usual then..." It was very funny.It was a good article though - quite a lot of intricacies that never would have occurred to me and possibly quite useful to take into account for marketing, I thought.
JAC
I swear, JAC, that I can tell whether an author is British or American (US) in just a few paragraphs. Brits use the language more thoroughly. When Americans try to imitate it, the results are usually laughable.Brits can also insult you without being obvious about it lol. Or they can cut you to the quick. Americans tend to go for the easy insult.
Then again, we do have more nuked than anyone else lol.
I tend to blame it all on our education system.
For the record, few of us appreciate British comedy beyond Monty Python. I love it, but I also love bagpipes (yeah, Scottish, but just different).
Splitte
I swear, JAC, that I can tell whether an author is British or American (US) in just a few paragraphs. Brits use the language more thoroughly. When Americans try to imitate it, the results are usually laughable.Brits can also insult you without being obvious about it lol. Or they can cut you to the quick. Americans tend to go for the easy insult.
Then again, we do have more nukes than anyone else lol.
I tend to blame it all on our education system.
For the record, few of us appreciate British comedy beyond Monty Python. I love it, but I also love bagpipes (yeah, Scottish, but just different).
Splitte
phnark! Bagpipes! Not in a combined space though.
Ah, but wait! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0udqX...Mrs. Splitter has a "thing" for the long haired dude there...
Splitter
I've been blogging about writing recently, mostly about what I've noticed readers really like/expect based on book reviews.www.topublishornotto.blogspot.com
One is about the unwritten contract between writer and reader. The other is about plot wrangling. Hope some of you might find them useful.
Keryl, I like that! There are other examples too lol.Splitter
C.S. Splitter wrote: "Keryl, I like that! There are other examples too lol.Splitter"
Oh yes, tons and tons of examples of books where the author broke the contract or lost the plot. I just went for the ones I thought most of my readers would be familiar with.
How about you, what's the most egregious example you can think of?
It's safer sending a PM. I don't want his minions running seek and destroy missions on reviews for my books lol.Splitter
Keryl, regarding the Contract with the Reader, you should be aware that your discussion is addressing it in general (and for Fantasy genre specifically in your examples) but there are totally different contracts in other genres. It took me some serious research back in 2006 to figure out precisely what the essential terms were for a so-called "romance novel." I'd never read one in my entire life until March of 2006--then I read 1.8 a day for 2 mos (300 or so in total) spanning 20 years of the industry and watched the #1 genre of fiction in No. America change over that 20-year period. I don't think Fantasy genre changed quite as much in the same 20 years (1985-2005 say) but I think romance genre (and its myriad of subgenres--over a dozen last time I checked!) change in essential ways. The terms of the contract with the reader really morphed from the mid-80s (when HIV/AIDS was just coming into the public consciousness and "free sex" of the 70s was still the way of the world) until the post-9/11 world when every stranger suddenly could be a threat. Between foreign and domestic terrorists (the mall shootings and school shoots really spiked in that period) romance novels had a lot to keep up with in their characters' lives.It's easier in Fantasy genre where yeah, you're the AuthorGod and can make up anything you want and the only really essential term that absolutely cannot be broken is "Write The End of the same story you began." :-) That's a generic fiction term of contract with all readers. In SF, of course, you contract never to break the Physical Laws of the Universe (which you can completely change if you write Fantasy instead). I think the only essential term in romance genre that can never ever be violated is that the Hero and Heroine (assuming a heterosexual romance) must end up together in some variant of a HEA (Happily Ever After) preferably one that involves either children or the possibility of children thus propagating their genetic success together. And making new romance novels for the AuthorGod *haha*
-sry
Fun article on the contracts between readers and authors by Brent Weeks (fine auhor). He is REALLY taking a chance by writing this:http://www.scifinow.co.uk/blog/brent-...
Splitter
I'm not so sure he was taking the chance you think he was--unless you caught ALL of the people he insulted and put down. He didn't do it tongue-in-cheek either. If that's the "risk" you meant, then yeah, he took quite a risk publicly ridiculing everyone on every side of the business he claims to love (while also whining a little about how busy he is and how much he hates having to deal with his fans)I know you read the blog post and thought there was some good fun in there, Splitter, but as snarky as I am and can be sometimes, I would never ever publicly name names in a negative context (big names or small names) and I certainly would never say I hate having to deal with fans' overwhelming level of desire to contact me. Are you kidding? That's the antithesis of how to present yourself publicly.
You know, early early on in this thread I made the comment that it's really important to remember we are a business. As an Indie Author and/or Publisher we are running a business. Even if we were an author signed at a traditional "let me take 85% of your sales" publisher, we are still public figures....potential celebrities. Given how utterly FIXATED the American public is on our "celebrities" I cannot imagine what possesses any author of any kind not to remember that whatever they say in public WILL be reported....eventually.
Unless they are overlooked through the fact their fame has faded to utter oblivion. Then they should create a NEW pen name and NOT make the same mistakes all over again. Next time, hopefully, they'll say please, thank you and you're welcome and acknowledge the fact that NO ONE "has to" buy anything.
I think I definitely had a spur under my saddle at the whole "Readers don’t understand how hard writing can be, but many of us don’t understand how hard it is to work at McDonald’s, or a post office, or a sales desk." In that one remark he not only insulted his readers (twice) but he insulted ME, a colleague and probably any other writer who is literally STARVING for our art. I guess he has a nice cushy job that pays all his bills and has no concerns for where his next paycheck will come from (since he's not investing in his readership with those kinds of back-handed insults) Maybe his wife is supporting him? He sounds like he's not capable of supporting himself (I'm being snide but honestly, he sounds like he's setting himself up for snide responses) Maybe THAT is the "risk" you thought he was taking.
-sry
Sarah, The Webbiegrrl Writer wrote: "Keryl, regarding the Contract with the Reader, you should be aware that your discussion is addressing it in general (and for Fantasy genre specifically in your examples) but there are totally diffe..."Yeah, romance isn't my genre, and it does have a very different contract. No one cares in fantasy if the H/h end up HEA.
There are specific fantasy contract points as well:
Do not violate your system of magic. (Similar to the SF don't break the laws of your physical universe.)
No more than one piece of Baloginum per book. (Some sort of magical dohickey that makes the book work. Also known as the glowing magical plot device. )
There has to be a believable power balance between team Good and team Evil. It may be a million to one shot at the beginning of the story, but by the time the H and V face off, it's got to be pretty close to 1 to 1.
(This one is negotiable.) The Villian should be as well rounded and interesting as the Hero. (This is often the line between great and okay fantasy.)
The bad guy shall be defeated in the end. (Of the story, not each novel.)
Hmm... might be expanding further on the contract article.
Also, there should be some flaw in the magic so it's not too much of a cheat - after all if you're bit all-poweful there is no story! Character has problem, waves magic wand, gets rid of problem...the end! No story arc there!JAC
Sarah, The Webbiegrrl Writer wrote: "I'm not so sure he was taking the chance you think he was--unless you caught ALL of the people he insulted and put down. He didn't do it tongue-in-cheek either. If that's the "risk" you meant, then..."I would say that Brent Weeks is a rising star in fantasy. His first series sold well and was pretty good.
The chance that I saw him taking was that he took on two top-level authors. Martin has been roundly criticized for his delays and his last two books. He said the last book would be out in a year and it took six. His multitude of fans kept saying that "you can't rush art." Then when it was released, many were disappointed with the quality.
Geiman (sp) rushed to his defense saying that there is no obligation for an author to produce work in a time frame that was promised. An author when not even obligated to finish a series. Martin had said similar things.
Weeks feels that such attitudes hurt other authors, especially ones like him who have not yet reached, but are striving for, such status. Given what happened with Robert Jordon who dragged out his series until his death, many fans will not now start a series until the last book is published.
That attitude from fans makes writers like Weeks frustrated. He still has to write for a living and his books come out one at a time. If people won't buy the first book inhis series until all have been published, he is hurting.
The gutsy thing about his article is that he broke the cardinal rule to NEVER criticize another author. That is especially true where genre icons are concerned. That icon can turn on you, publishers, and even THRONGS of fans for that icon. It can be career suicide. But, Weeks spoke his mind anyway and I have to give him credit for that.
Hey, few care if I say anything bad, I am nobody. Weeks has enough of a following to cause a stir.
Peronally, I do think authors are under obligations to their fans. Their fans need the next book in a series. They need updates on progress. They should be able to set time expectations (though we all know that deadlines get missed). They deserve quality and plot and characters to care about. I guess that because I am a small fry, I fell more obligation to readers.
And I think that is what Weeks protested most: attitude. I am not his biggest fan, but he does interface with his fans and do all the things that make people like an other. So when he saw what he perceived to be the Big Boys brushing off fans, he spoke out...and that is dangerous for him.
I may not agree completely, but I recognize the courage...or stupidity lol.
Splitter
Splitter, I got what he was trying to do but if you re-read my remarks carefully, I'm pointing out that he not pissed on everyone, including his fans. Sort of a Calvin and Hobbs flipping off the world attitude is what i read, NOT a caring about his fans attitude. Personally, I don't care if you're writing your first book or your fiftieth, there's no excuse for putting down your fans NOR for bad-mouthing your colleagues in public. It's called being crass and having no manners. At the least, he could have been diplomatic about it, especially if, as you say, he already has a fan base. He won't have some of them for long if he keeps talking down to them that way.-sry
p.s. the whole bit about series writing and readers not buying a series unless/until the whole thing is out already has been going on WELL over a decade, at least in the SF/F genres. I don't know about other genres but SF/F fans are amazingly devout pirates who will want to "own" a copy of every book in a series with every cover possible and in every format there is--and they'll wait until every book has been written to buy the first one. As I said, though, they'll pirate copies as they become available. I'm not complaining about it. I'd rather have 10,000 fans pirate a copy of my book and read it 5 times, then 100 who pay for it and never read it.
Splitter, I do get what you say about series. I've been feeling a total heel for two years because it's taken me that long to do the second half of K'Barthan 2. I seldom watch American TV series, for example because no matter how good they might be, unless they're like StarTrek and have an individual story in each episode then I know they will either be cancelled (and I'll be left high and dry) or they will go on and on and never end (sliders, lost). A beginning is a good start, a middle is great but I do like my fiction to have a conclusion. So, I don't get into any of those things until I know they've finished.
That said I'm unsure of the etiquette if you've written a really bad sequel. Do you publish and be damned or give up on it? quality control and all that.
All the fantasy pointers from everyone... mmm... I've been wrestling with the all powerful dilemma as well as the how does a super-human baddie suddenly make an error without looking a bit thick.
Tricky isn't it?
Cheers
MTM
Oooh that's a tricky one, MTM. Can he delegate it to a thick underling? Or misread the signs and react in a way that would be extremely cunning if he'd got them right? He could assume the good guy would react in a bad manner just the same as he would. Or maybe something else extremely important could happen at the same time - or extremely unimportant but that's a sore point with him?
Or, shall I shut up now given that I think you just finished bk2 so have probably already worked it out?
heheheheh
In terms of lagging behind with sequels, mine was supposed to be out by Christmas at latest but it's gonna be well past New Year now due to a catenary sequence of events which can be traced back to some numpty running the economy into a brick wall.
Tchah.
That's RUBBISH.
JAC
MTM wrote: "Splitter, I do get what you say about series. I've been feeling a total heel for two years because it's taken me that long to do the second half of K'Barthan 2. I seldom watch American TV series,..."
This is why I avoid the all powerful baddie. If he really is the perfect mastermind, and you don't want him to look thick, you've got to make your characters smarter or insanely lucky.
You get one glowing neon plot device a story, call it Kryptonite, the +5 Holy Avenger of Dragon Smiting, or whatever, but if you haven't already used up your allotment, this might be the time to whip one out.
Also, there's a good market in second-third-fourths in command who are dissatisfied and will provide your Hero with the master plan. This works especially well if you've got a really nasty masochistic villain.
Ah yes well... Keryl, sorry why did I just call you splitter. There's a dash of your second in command - he's certainly got someone close to him who is either working for the underground against him or for him against the underground and I don't think even I'm going to know the truth until I write the last scene of book 3. It does, of course, give the opportunity to make the villain a massive git and also the goodie in charge of the underground can be drawn as that little bit more of a politician, possibly even sacrificing people's lives, to achieve the downfall of the villain.
I read the separate scenes in book 2 and like them, when I read them all back to back I think, blimey this is boring. And there's 140,000 words of it, I recally can't afford for it to be that.
So... it might be just-finished-your-book-and-you're-sick-of-it syndrome or there might be something wrong. If it was 100,000 words I probably wouldn't be worried at all. So... doing a bit of honing. It's difficult to give characters space to develop friendships among all the action and the friendships are quite important. A lot of the plot hinges on them. Sorry... I really shouldn't be wittering on about this here but... sigh.
I'm not sure if it's really broken or I'm just spooked by the word count... and I've only 5 more writing sessions before Christmas.
And yeh, the economy thing... that is rubbish. I feel especially sorry for the people coming out of uni now. Been there, done it, bought the t-shirt.
On the upside, just got some postcards printed of the new cover on Vistaprint and they were doing 500 for the price of 250 (£28). Nice!
Cheers
MTM
Few Are Chosen
Warning: contains car chases, futuristic technology and sarcasm
Unlucky Dip Prequel to Few Are Chosen
sadly not free on Amazon.co.uk or any of the others.
I agree with Weeks whole-heartedly. The way that Martin has handled the whole thing would have doomed most authors and seriously hurt his credibility, even at his level. He is openly mocked on many sites, been mocked in newspaper comics and presently other authors. Now for a fact, Old Mr. Martin can laugh all the way to the bank, purely on the brilliance of his first three novels of the aSoIaF series. Simply put, these books rank up there with any of the grand masters of fantasy. The delays, with the repetitive nonsense of the last two novels, is just horrendous. He handled his 'almost done' gaff, with all the elegance of a spoiled petulant child. He lost me as a fan, and he lost my money. I waited and got the last book from the library. Instead of what would have been a guaranteed hard cover sale.
I am unsure what Mr. Gaiman was actually trying to convey with his now famous/infamous comment. I would like to see how his fans would react if he did the same thing? Perhaps he was just trying to come to the aid of a mentor or idol, perhaps Mr. Gaiman really does believe that people who live by exchanging money for ideas and entertainment really should not have to worry about what their fan base thinks. Either way, he is a fool if that is what he truly thinks. A talented one to be sure, but a fool none-the-less. I wish them both well, but they will never see a dime more of my hard earned cash. I doubt they will notice it in the least but the absolute condescension to his own fans has soured me forever on him. I honestly think he has gotten to the point where has has started to believe the crap spewed by the sycophants he surrounds himself with.
I am unsure what Mr. Gaiman was actually trying to convey with his now famous/infamous comment. I would like to see how his fans would react if he did the same thing? Perhaps he was just trying to come to the aid of a mentor or idol, perhaps Mr. Gaiman really does believe that people who live by exchanging money for ideas and entertainment really should not have to worry about what their fan base thinks. Either way, he is a fool if that is what he truly thinks. A talented one to be sure, but a fool none-the-less. I wish them both well, but they will never see a dime more of my hard earned cash. I doubt they will notice it in the least but the absolute condescension to his own fans has soured me forever on him. I honestly think he has gotten to the point where has has started to believe the crap spewed by the sycophants he surrounds himself with.
MTM wrote: "Ah yes well... Keryl, sorry why did I just call you splitter. There's a dash of your second in command - he's certainly got someone close to him who is either working for the underground against hi..."Well, with book one at 258K and book two at 185K you could say I'm not too concerned about too much in the way of word count.
Write what needs to be written, then let the betas have at it.
I'd always suggest not skimping on the character development and friendships, but I'm also female and like that stuff. Straight action bores me. My guess is your target demographic might feel differently.
MTM, you may be too close to it! You only have limited writing time, I know but how about getting sneaking in a bit of reading time? Can you go have a read of something absolutely completely different in tone and style just to kind of re-set your brain? A break from it would be better but reading something else briefly would probably help, so long as it's fairly gripping in some way?Mind, that may be easier said than done with MiniMe in tow...
JAC
Keryl, I'm writing it for me so yeh, the relationships do count. A lot. JAC I think there's some truth in what you say but if I want it out for April, I have to make my proof reader slot over the Christmas holidays.
I think I may have identified why I'm worried and if the source of the problem is what I think it is it's just that the hero seems to know The Rules for the magic artifact when in reality he's had to guess them. So. Either I cheat and make sure he's informed in Book 1 or he can look at what the baddie is doing or more to the point what the baddie is NOT doing in book two and work out The Rules on the back of understanding the actions of his opponent.
Also I think I'm looking at from the point of view of Few Are Chosen, which was rubbish when I finished it. So this has come together well, in many ways (because I've learned from writing FAC) and I think I'm expecting it to be rubbish, too and worried that it kind of isn't and that I must be missing something...
I think that, yes, it may be time for the beta's to have it.
Cheers
MTM
Hmmmm tricky... if the baddie didn't know the hero was there, the baddie could be muttering the rules to himself as he worked?I don't think it will be rubbish; each book you learn so much! I was really pleased when my other editor said in bk2 my writing style was much more developed than in bk 1 and it was much better. In all fairness, most of bk2 is about 5 years older than 1 so it really should be - but it was nice to hear anyway!!
So given the amount of writing you have under your belt now that you didn't before, and the amount you probably learned in the editing if your edits were as harsh as mine, then I guess it will be coming on nicely! SUCH a useful process....and fascinating!!
JAC
Creative Reviews
Books mentioned in this topic
Unlucky Dip (other topics)Few Are Chosen (other topics)
Few Are Chosen (other topics)
Unlucky Dip (other topics)
Few Are Chosen (other topics)
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(Tempted to say Rebels without a Pause but that's factually inaccurate).
Mind, isn't the formatting totally different anyhow?
JAC