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The Workshop - Tips, Tricks, and Theory
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Once you find the format, you can make a template.
Yes, but I am so lazy that I want to download the template instead. Great for an aspiring writer, yes?
once you're done, convert it into 12pt Courier New, double spaced. It's easy to edit, easy to read. While you're composing you can do whatever you want.
so what i'm trying to say is there is no right answer really.
x = ( (i x 1,000) + (n x 100) ) / p
where i is the genre index (roughly calculated by how distant in both years and lightyears the setting is from earth), n is the number of the chapter and p is the pretentiousness rating, a scale that goes all the way up to a million. with a pretentious enough book, chapters can consist of less than a single letter. i've seen it done.
excellent point proffesor jezz.
Then make it longer.
Here's a good reason for an aspiring reader not to read it: information in it is contentious, contradicted by the authors themselves, and often flat out wrong.
Here's a snippet from an article highlighting how archaically persnickety it is (http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2005/10/23/frankenstrunk/):
Do a site search of languagehat.org, a site frequented by linguists, if you aren't convinced.
Despite this, my problem with it isn't its ridiculous assertions; rather, it's because it doesn't address what seems to really plague most writers today (myself included). If the workshops I attended in college and this forum are any indication, the biggest problem writers tend to have is a complete lack of any understanding of grammar. I've critiqued work, here and elsewhere, where I've had to dwell almost entirely on how the writer's grammar defeats any kind of meaning in their work, without even beginning to address larger concerns with it. It's a serious problem, and not in an archaic, ahistorical "these are the rules" kind of way, but in a "no one knows what the hell you're trying to say here" kind of way. It's like people playing jazz without knowing basic music theory. It doesn't work.
Man, I wrote a prologue two paragraphs long. Write what needs to be in there and nothing more.
I don't know why you'd have a problem with a book not addressing basic grammar problems, if that's not what the book is trying to do. There's tons of books on writing that don't do that - are they all not worth reading?
I totally agree that younger writers/people in general have horrible grammar, but the answer should really be to expand what they read, not limit it.
Like I said, my problem isn't the book itself, it's with the general discourse that all any writer needs is a copy of The Elements of Style. In nearly every university there are composition classes where the book is required reading - but not a basic grammar book. If a writer is going to by one reference book that will help them with their writing, any grammar book will be a tenfold more effective use of their money than Strunk's nearly century old text that White revised fifty years ago.
Does anyone have any tips for organizing timelines for stories? The plot I'm working on at the moment is a little convoluted, and takes place over several years and there are multiple intertwining stories, so I'm trying to get the ordering and placement of events fixed.
I wrote down a lot of the key events on flash cards and laid them out on a table. It seemed like a good way to get the order straight and it helped me recognize a serious problem with fitting two of the stories together (which I hope I've solved).
My idea of a timeline is just, for example,
1914 WWI begins
(4 years)
1918 WWI ends
and so on.
Quite straightforward, and maybe that'll be fine. But if anyone has other suggestions for better organization I'd like to hear them. Thanks!
http://www.vcu.edu/arts/playwriting/seminar.html
Also, I have an interesting request. How do you guys get ideas/what helps inspire you? What is your muse? Or how can I find mine? Seriously. And please don't refer me to marijuana or any other recreational drugs, thanks.
i agree. it's a great little reference book that builds on the fundamentals. and it's one of the few books of this kind that i actually find pleasurable to read.
As a general rule - as little description as possible. Your reader is more than capable of imagining a person or a room. It's better to concentrate on the stuff that they can't imagine, like compelling drama.
That said, you're going to need to describe some stuff. Try and do it as economically as possible. It's better to create a mood than write a word-picture. Focus on how you want the reader to feel - the most important things they should take from the character/setting. Don't forget that written communication is a two-way act, and that your reader is capable of filling in the blanks on their own.
But really, it all depends on context.
Are you saying that I should focus on the direction and let the characters and setting describe themselves gradually?
If you go into detail over Bob's clothing and every single mannerism and facial tic in one lump sum (not that I'm saying that's wise), it'll be jarring when future people/encounters don't have as much time dedicated to them, and the reader might even cotton on that these characters or moments are a lot less significant to the plot.
As a wannabe science-fiction author I went through my overly-wordy phase, and gradually realised that my readers don't care that the Plot Device drive is a hulking chrome monstrosity with a selection of cables sprouting from each corner in a madcap fashion with the engine room's lights glinting off its angular surfaces in an eerie manner- if in the story they just need to know the damn thing is big, I just tell them it's big.
Each chapter has the goal of describing a character so you know more about them, describing their activities so you can figure out what they're trying to accomplish and then lead into the more narrative parts. This style firmly grounds each chapter and the mood of what actions will then take place within it.
I entirely disagree. It should vary on what point you're trying to make. I give Derrick an amazing amount of description because it's the small things later that start to indicate how he falls to pieces, bit by bit. He needs this description so that when the little things start to go 'twang' in his brain as he slides down the slope, it gives a clear metaphor for how his physical state is reflecting his mental state. Without this description and detail (especially concerning personal habits) none of this means anything.
If you can read a passage and recognise elements that you could cut out without impacting the story- and that applies to all forms of narrative, not just infodumps or descriptive monlogues- then they're dead weight. You could've easily waffled on about Derrick for five times longer than necessary, for example.
"As a general rule..." and "...as possible".
"I opened the fridge door," is much clearer, simpler and more digestible than "I opened the flat, white, fridge door." Doubtless, there are situations where the second is a better idea. But as a rule of thumb, it's important to be as economical with language as you're able.
Furthermore, character details of the type you're talking about are rarely delivered in difficult chunks - I assume you mention a loosened tie, torn buttons, etc over the course of the narative. If the transfer of information is gradual and calculated, I don't think anyone would have a problem with that. Doing it that way is tacit acknowledgement that the author has a mandate to control when the reader imagines things, but not necessarily how.
It's just important to understand - especially if you're just starting out writing - that saying too much isn't just as bad as saying too little, it's worse.
EDIT: Ed put it brilliantly.
"What's that you're looking for? Writer's groups in des moines? Oh! Well, we dont have that, but we can give you a group in upstate fucking new york that has a member who used to be a columnist for the des moines paper. Is that good enough?"
No google. No it fucking isn't.
just try and find people of like mind to chill with.
start your own writer's group.
GO NOW.
I've got an odd sort of question. I'm curious about what scenes look or feel like to you folks while you're writing them, and how you go about fleshing them out.
Er, that's a little vague. I'll try first.
I tend to start with a blank field of black or white with a few talking heads sprinkled here and there to mark points in the narrative. To complete it I try to place just enough information around the dialogue to trick the blank space into growing to match. If I've decided that my victims are going to have a chat at the boulder strewn base of a cliff, I don't really think too much about the exact look I'm trying to convey. I just muddle around until I find the right suggestion. In my mind a working scene is one that I can look at and see a hundred pictures that all fall under one theme, while a complete scene offers me a much smaller but more interesting range.
The difficulty I find is that what I see when I write and what pops up when I read are entirely different. Images tend to flow very easily when I'm chewing someone else's work, but in writing that empty world is a chore to escape.
I think of writing as if I'm dropping a sketch book or a pile of lego blocks inside someone else's head. I never know wether they're working in pencil or crayon or even what colors the blocks might be, but I can at least give them a really nifty shape to play with. What do you do?
If I had ten pages in word - 10-12 point font, single spaced, would it be roughly a page for a page? 2:1?
I suppose it depends on the size the book would be. Basically what I'm trying to do is figure out how much I've actually written. Figure that the book is roughly the size of your average paperback fantasy novel, I suppose.
For all of my carping on in previous posts about how people should do exactly what you do, I tend to not think about that stuff at all when I'm writing. Experience has taught me how much description I need to put down, so I can imagine a scene in-depth and write about it fairly concisely.
It's all an issue of voice, in some ways: Do the paragraphs feel balanced? Is there a good flow? Is the narrator believable?
It's vs. Its
It's one of the worst maulings of the English language out there. Its misuse is legendary. It's more annoying than l33t 5p34k, and its abuse is stupefying.
It's = It is.
Its = Possession.
Learn it, live it, love it. In fact, I think the article I linked to should be a pre-requisite to being able to post ANYTHING on the 'net.
Similarly, there / their / they're.
A simple way to understand these was taught to me in 2nd grade.
There: Defines a location. "Where are you? Here, or there?" It's "here" with a "t." Simple.
Their: Possession again. "Heir" with a "t." Also simple.
They're: Yes, they are indeed.
I'm sure the majority of you readers understood these already, but I felt I had to post to get it off my chest. And again, if they have already been brought up, well... my bad.
I can sometimes get something of an idea of the magnitude of a work by going into Page Setup and, under the Pages subheading, changing "Multiple Pages" to Book Fold. It looks like it'll about double your amount of pages.
I find working out how much you have written as a physical amount is very motivating for a writer.
In word changing your zoom to something like 3% and having the screen display all of the pages is immensely satisfying.
Short story: 8000
Novel: 70,000-120,000 depending genre
Anything longer: masturbation or a wildly successful fantasy novel (the same thing really)