Writing Help-Group For Everyone discussion
WRITING INFLUENCES.
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Ever Wanted to Write a Book?
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Phoebe, TheInvincibleRabbit
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Jul 28, 2012 02:32AM
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That might work. At least it is something to think about.
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Really? I was just making that up as I went. o.O
Hello fellow writers! I'm new to this group and GR and I'm intent upon getting my name out there and meeting new people. I started writing a book in middle school and I have dedicated the past six years to perfecting a story that will never be forgotten, or so that's my hope. Every detail of my story is important to me, so I suspect it'll still take me a few years until I'm content with what I've written.
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Hey, Thabata! Welcome to the group and GR! Hope you've had happy welcomes from every other group you have/will join! :)
Wow, six years? That's got to mean it's a thick book by now. C; and I hope it lives - books are alive- up to your expectations. ^-^
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Six years you say? To you I tip my hat, Ma'am. Welcome to the group; looking forward to your comments and the like.
What is your book about, if I may ask?
Thanks for the warm welcome guys! Hmm thats an interesting question Julius, well let me condense it to as simple as I can get it. My book revolves solely on my characters, they're everything in my novel. The setting takes place in a world which is the very antithesis of Earth, it's name is Threa. The inhabitants of this world have what we call super powers but what I have named as Talents. The Talents can range from anything as simple as cooking to anything as complicated as minipulating dreams. I've tried to keep my book as realistic as possible, part of the reason why its taken me so long. My characters are extremely complicated because in truth, human beings are extremely complicated and I want to do them the justice they deserve.
Thats all I'll say for now, really I could talk on the subject for hours. Hope that helped quench your curiousity a bit.
Thanks again for the warm welcome guys!
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My book revolves solely on my characters, they're everything in..."
That sounds like an interesting book- all the little intricities- hope i didn't mix up words there- -
And you are also welcome for the welcome. :)
@Julius: that we do, that we do.
I have two great ideas for books but I have found that I hit a wall at about 40-60 thousand words. I used to write screenplays and just loved the style and length. I just now got back into prose about 3 months ago and have already pumped out about 20-30 thousand words in the form of about 5 short stories. I have just started my first Novella and all is going well. I think that I can do 20-30 thousands words or so without getting blocked. I self published one short story and am shopping 3 others to literary journals and other web sites. My self published short is on Booktango and is called Language Arts. http://bookstore.booktango.com/Produc...I would really like to read yours Kelly. Where can we find it?
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ᑕᗢᗝᒪḰᓮᖙᖇᗢჯ123 ☆*･゜ﾟ･*\(^O^)/*･゜ﾟ･*☆, Harry the potter XD XD TOTTER (:3)
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!??! I AM!1 WRITTN BOKO
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Wow, I hate writer's block! :D
I'm in the process of writing two-one is fantasy and the other is a slit in between paranormal and reality, but I keep starting and not starting again for long periods of time.
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Think you will finish one eventually? :D
I'm hoping so-just having small issues.:D
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That's good to hear! Keep atit!! :D
although I use to write when I was a kid I quit when I became an adult. I retired a few years ago, and I have had this story in my head. I wrote a couple of chapters, but I got stuck. I've stopped writing but the story won't go away. I HAVE TO write this story. That is why I joined this group. Maybe I can get some direction and some encouragement to finish the story.It is an historical fiction with reincarnation thrown in. It starts out in first person, the writer in the prologue states that she believes she was put here on earth to learn how to love, the kind of love that is mentioned in corinthians. She believes that it has taken at least two lifetimes to accomplish it. She talks about going to a library, getting to know a man. Anyway one night while they were at the library, the lights went out and she happens to look at him when lightning flashes and when she sees his eyes she remembers...
Chapter one goes on to explain her life in the South in the early 1800s. As she is explaining her life she has a side story about how her parents met. Her mother was from the north and violently opposed to slavery and her father was a plantation owner and of course had slaves. It talks about them meeting and him dancing with her. She tells him to leave her alone and he does but at the end of chapter one he says we will meet again.
The problem I have is this is just a side story, do I continue with the side story in Chapter two or go on to the main story with the heroine, Mary Elizabeth? Please help me.
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Well, as to what you are inquiring you should do, I think it might be better if you worked on the main story first, leaving side stories aside until you get the gist of the main. Otherwise, you may get confused with the main character(s) by writing the side story first. Or, you can work on the side story (since it sounds like you already started it!) and work out the main stories head character's background.
If anything I said above was confusing, feel free to tell me. :)
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If the side story is just concerning how her parents met I think it would be best to do it either one of two ways: You could simply make a brief telling of it, especially if it isn't a main theme. Or you could tell bits of it here and there as the story itself goes on. Maybe a scrap here in chapter one, a bit here in chapter three, some more in chapter five, or however you wish to do it.
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Rookie question here: how do you go about starting a new book/novel/story? I have the "cliff note" version written down, now what is the next step? The organized freak in me wants to make an outline of the book, and then the chapters individually. The "creative" side just wants to start writing and see where it takes me. To those that write, what is your approach? What works for you?
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I myself did the latter, for I found the idea of laying out an entire set-in-stone plan rather a bore. I felt that by writing as my ideas came I would have more room to manuver. That worked very well for me. I can't tell you how many times I've altered things that have gone a certain way in my story or added to things that already were. Because I hadn't set my mind on a specific entire plan (so to speak) I was allowed a considerable ammount of give. Do not misunderstand me though; I DID plan out my overview. That is to say that I knew what I wanted my story to be about, where it would start and where and how it would end, and even a few things that would happen in between. But as far as planning everything down to the last sub-plot... no. But then, I write fantasy. This may not be a good idea for another genre.
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That probably isn't much help. If you want to be a neat-freak, (no offense intended to anyone,) you should plot to your hearts concern. I would be plotting the "first" part of the book, write it up, plot the second half, make it fit into the first one, etc. But, like Julius said, follow the latter of feeling. :)
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Choose whatever suits you best as an author, after all in the end a great story is what matters most! Looking forward to your story Shannon, when you write it all would you like to upload it here? Anyway hope this helps. :)
Haven't read this entire thread, but I wanted to share my process. It's long and extremely tedious at times, but so far it's helped me.1.) Write down ideas, character names/traits, particular plot points and themes. This is really important for me because it helps me outline the story in my head. I do not outline. Ever. But I do keep really extensive notes with the above info on them. This works as an outline but it's hardly ever organized.
2.) Write scenes. I can't work linearly. I have to bounce around and write the scenes that I have in my head before I lose them.
3.) Organize. This is hard for me. I write a lot of very different things for the same story sometimes, and then have a tough time figuring out which scenes go where and whether or not they even belong in the book.
4.) Fill in gaps. This is what makes the story. I have all of these scenes, but I hardly ever write out the gap scenes before hand. This is important because it makes the story cohesive, but I find this stage the least enjoyable.
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Do you have a method-idea of choosing your story characters? Such as, looking around the room and picking names off of things, or having proper methods of putting together the character's Name. Meanwhile, plots can almost be the hardest thing to target most of all. You can choose to sit and carefully think and plan the story plot out, or you can just dive head-first into the pond and see what you catch.
Matthew wrote: "Haven't read this entire thread, but I wanted to share my process. It's long and extremely tedious at times, but so far it's helped me.1.) Write down ideas, character names/traits, particular plo..."
Thanks, Matthew for sharing!
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No problem, everyone. I would love to help anyone out who needs it, just send me a message. I might take a little bit to get back to you, but I'm always happy to help other writers.
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1.) Write down ideas, character names/traits, particular plo..."
Hmmmm.... You're right about that sounding tedious, sir, but then to each his own.
I myself would find writing down and execudting everything you metnioned in above stated fashion rather tiresome. For me once I get into a story and find my step, I let it more or less have its say. It really will lead you to great places if you let it.
But for some people my method simply would not work. To me it also depends a great deal on what a person is writing.
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Phoebe wrote: "I have to agree there, Althea. :)"For what?
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Oooooooooooooooooooh...Man, I'm slow-.-
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I'm notoriously slow on the uptake at times.
XD
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Zzzzzz
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OD
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rose
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Pretty! ^_^
Sorry, I just had to do the random stuff..
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Indeed. And I was merely putting forth a personal oppinion; 'tis an open discussion thread after all. :P
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If we did not share our thoughts with others and ponder things through, would the world of today be so exciting as our present and future lives?
Julius wrote: "Matthew wrote: "Haven't read this entire thread, but I wanted to share my process. It's long and extremely tedious at times, but so far it's helped me.1.) Write down ideas, character names/traits..."
I agree that it's a lot easier to just let the story go where it wants to go, and that's fine for a first draft, but I find that if I just do this, I end up having too many inconsistencies in my writing, the plot jumps around too much, and the story gets out of control. Things become way too disorganized.
With the wip I have going now, I ended up having to delete about 12,000 words because of this, so I'm finding that the process I talked about before has become absolutely necessary. It's fun now that I have it under control and a lot less frustrating, although slower going.
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Also I know what you mean about there being many inconsistencies were one to go about writing in that manner. What's one man's candy is another man's lima bean.
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^_^
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I NEED NORMAL LANGUAGE
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