Tag Archives: Writing

Writing

Writing a Prologue

I used to think that every book needed a prologue, basically a chapter which introduces the reader to the story.  I’m not sure why, just one of those things you never really question until it’s challenged.

I was sent this article by a friend of mine.  A lot of these I’d heard before, but the ‘Avoid Prologues’ one stuck with me.  I always started a project with a prologue; it was what I thought I was supposed to do.

This resulted in a number of conversations with friends and family, and I realized that a prologue, like any writing convention, isn’t always useful.  Most of my prologues were really just first chapters, with nothing but a POV shift into the book.

A prologue sets up the story, but is separated from the core of the book, either by time or distance.  The point can be world building, establishing the conflicts and challenges for the character, or just an awesome hook, but if it rolls directly into the meat of the book, it’s probably just a first chapter.

(On Basilisk Station is a good example: the prologue is a ground of politicians who appear only in the prologue, and make a decision that impacts the main character for the rest of the book.  )

Most of my books don’t have prologues anymore, they’ve all been renamed to Chapter 1.  It’s become something of a challenge with a project, to consider any prologues I might write for it that could be separated enough to work.  Most of the time, nothing comes of it.  Which is okay.  If anything, it’s a fun exercise in creative thinking.

Any examples of a nice prologue, let me know, and as always, keep on writing!

-Michael

Revising

On getting feedback

Plenty of people have started my book, but until recently no one had finished it.  Many people offered their services, but most people are busy: they have lives and jobs and houseplants, and critically reading a book is much different than reading it for enjoyment.  Luckily, someone I know had the time to read my book, for a decently modest fee.  During a nice summer evening, we floated on a boat drinking beer and discussing the particulars of what my book needed.

The fact is, for any novel, you need someone who has gone from start to finish.  Yes, an editor will do that, but I mean earlier in the process, when you don’t have a book you are ready for an editor to see.  You have questions about your story that need to be answered.  Does this work?  Does that make sense?  Did you get the right response to this event?  Did you realize what I needed you to realize at the right time?

Getting someone you know, who you can trust to give you good advice, is invaluable.  If you can get someone to do it for free or for fun, great, but it is certainly worth the money if you need to hire someone.

And now, with a number of important questions answered, I’m better prepared to finish my book.

Revising

Cutting a Project in Half

There are a number of options an author has when a book is too long.  There is steam lining the story, removing little bits here or there.  There is cutting arcs and whole scenes.  And there is dividing the book into multiple parts.  Operating under the belief that my book is too long (153,000+ words), I’m using all three options with a goal of having a publishable book, but mostly I’m going to write about cutting the project in half.

It isn’t as simple as simply finding the halfway point and making the cut there.  Not every story will have an adequate break point in the middle, and cutting the flow of the story can make for a jarring division.  So you have to find a point where you can divide the story.  The best place to make a break in my story comes about a third of the way through.

Second, I look at the arcs involved in the story.  One of the arcs was written to produce conflict and explain the world more to the reader, but it doesn’t quite work cut up, so I’ve removed it (at least temporarily).  The main arc works, but needs a lot of clean up.

The third step is to look at what is left and ask yourself: is this a book?

My modified story is not.  It needs some expansion, and not just because it is so small, but because it needs to be able to stand on its own.  So I’ve sat down and considered how to change the book, planned and outlined and established what I want to have happen so the second book will work.

A large portion of the work is based on the realization that the character who would head into the second book would not be the same one as from the rough and first drafts.  She’ll have more time to grow and expand, become a unique individual.

But there’s still the question of plot.  The start is good for the first ten chapters, then begins to muddy up and wobble a bit.  And the ending needs a nice climax, something that the character can work towards and learn from.  I’m working on one that will make sense with the stories I want to tell, but I haven’t fully developed the concept.

I’m working, aiming to be done with this project by the end of July. I’m hoping this is the draft that I’ll submit to an editor and work out for publication. If not, at least I’m writing.

Writing

Working from an outline

I’m taking part in a Writing Month Challenge.  It’s going okay, though I’m a few thousand words behind where I wanted to be.

In preparation, I spent the weeks before hand preparing and planning an outline of the story.  I tried to figure out not only plot, but the details that normally stop me as I’m writing.

I mentioned in another post that naming a character, place or thing can be difficult because I place a great importance on it. So I tried to work out the names for everything before hand. That doesn’t mean I am not running into quick naming issues, but at least for the important peoples, places and things, I know what I’m using.

As for plot, the story really is progressing faster because I know where it is going.  I’m not anticipating any major road blocks ahead, but there is still three weeks of writing ahead.

Still, 50,000 words in a month is a lot, even from an outline.  I’ll have to spend some time playing catch-up.  But if I can pull it off, it’ll be awesome.

Uncategorized

Five things I want to avoid when writing

A simple list of five things I want to avoid in my stories.

1) The Mary/Gary Sue Protagonist

The character who is always right and always wins.  Every likes her.  No one can defeat her.  She never does anything but always comes out on top.

2) The Cartoon Antagonist

He’s evil because he is.  No depth.  No personality beyond opposing the Protagonist.  You can’t really hate him, because there isn’t enough of him to hate.

3) Consequence Free World

Buildings are destroyed, vehicles crash, banks robbed, people hurt or killed, but in the end everything turns out okay.  Sometimes with music.

4) Static Characters

The character wakes up, goes on an adventure, experiences pain, fear, joy, and victory, and wakes up the next day the same character.

5) Repetitive Challenges

The Antagonist only interacts with the Protagonist in one or two different ways.  No real variation in their stories, and the Protagonist is never really challenged to grow.

Publishing

What to Publish?

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What to publish?

With all the options available to writers for publishing, it is not all that difficult to ask myself: why am I unpublished? I could be published, if all I wanted to do was publish something and be done with it. But I do not want to just be done with it. I want to make something of it, something more than a hobby. That means I have two questions to consider: what to publish and now? This post is about the what.

The first book you publish is important. I have done a lot of research on this topic, and the lessons I’ve learned are that the first book should be one that follows all the rules. Use this to generate some name recognition before the books get large. The Harry Potter series is an example of starting small and getting larger as the series progressed, when people wanted the next book regardless of the length.

I have a book that is written. I am revising the second draft. But it is almost 160,000 words, which is very long. I could split it in two, or cut out everything not from the main character’s view point, or I could try to publish it as it is. But editing a book that long is an immense and expensive undertaking. I am mostly tempted to hold on and publish it later, if and when I have a following of readers.

So what else would I publish?

I have a fantasy book I’m writing that I could wrap up pretty quickly. I have a historical fiction book that will probably be a series, but I have not started writing it. I’ve got a number of ideas, prologues, scenes written out or planned, but nothing that is really ready now.

For now, I’ll just keep writing until I have something.  🙂

-Michael

Writing

Writing Group of Very Short Stories

I recently started attending a Saturday morning writing group.  I wasn’t sure what I would run into when I first started, but I was looking to meet more people and have new experiences, so I showed up.

The format is pretty simple.  The person leading the round asks for a time (between one and ten minutes).  They select a topic, usually a sentence or phrase, from a reserve of topics brought by the host.  And for the given amount of time, you write.  You don’t have to write about the topic if you don’t want to.  Finally, once the round is up, a microphone gets passed around the circle, each person having the choice to read their blurb out loud.  The box gets passed to the next leader, and we continue.

I’ve found these to be great fun. Not only am I meeting new people, but I’m having to stretch my creative muscles by planning a very short story based around an idea I didn’t come up with.  To further exercise my mind, I’ve largely avoided doing the Science Fiction or Fantasy writing I normally do.  I usually go for funny or thought provoking, though sometimes it is just words.

A few people who are there tell a story through all of the rounds, using the phrases chosen to direct the plot, but keeping the same characters and flow from beginning to end.  I might end up trying that sometime.

Until next blog! 🙂

 

Writing

What’s in a Name?

Hello_my_name_is_by_Kubah

Recently I’ve been working on a fantasy story.  I’ve got it outlined pretty well, and I’ve planned ahead so the writing itself is going well, but the problem I’ve been running into most often has been naming the places and characters.

I’ve always paused when I’m thinking of a name, since I feel that the name is an important descriptor.

If it is a person, I want the name to be representative of the character in some way.    That’s easy enough in languages I’m familiar with, but when the character is from another culture, that means surfing the internet, looking up the meanings of names and finding one that matches the character.  Even my gaming characters have carefully considered names.

The same holds true for locations.   The name has to feel right or it distracts me from the story.  I try to take into account geography, the culture and history of the people, and what I want or need the location to be in the story.    Again, I can turn to online databases for inspiration, but it is not as easy as just adding syllables together.

All these choices can be more difficult with science fiction or fantasy stories.  Aliens and non-humans aren’t generally going to be called ‘Bob’ or ‘Helen’, from the planet ‘the Green One’, at least not without some back story, and having the names seem at least remotely related can be a chore.

Multicultural historical or modern stories have this problem, though a concentrated internet search can bring up enough information to get past them.

I try to figure out a lot of this information before hand, to avoid pausing as I write.  But I cannot anticipate every need, so I often use placeholders, typing in something in brackets (i.e. [Green Valley]) so that I can come back later and fix it.  I found this works better than typing in something sloppy and getting attached to a sloppy name.

Names are important, and should take a least a moment to consider before deciding on one.  If you have any exercises on naming characters and places I’d be happy to learn about them.

Until next time, keep on writing!

-Michael

Writing

Writing Groups

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During November, my friends and I held a number of writing nights. Some of the participants are creative writers, some were participating in NANOWRIMO, and some had personal or professional projects that they wanted to focus on.  All of us had something to write.  And I found that they totally work!

The first hour looks less than productive.  We often make it a pot luck night, spending that first hour eating, talking, blowing off some of the steam that everyone accumulates during their work day.  Not a lot of writing.  But enjoyable nonetheless.

After the food and wine, we set out to writing.  There is some talking during the writing, but that doesn’t seem to distract anyone too much.  In the four writing group nights I participated in (further events cancelled due to snow), I managed at least a thousand words each night.  Others finished their projects or reported hundreds of words written in the time we allowed.  I wonder if the drive to write is spurned by the fear that at any moment, another member of the group could ask how many words you’ve written.

Maybe I’ll do that at the next writing night.

Write on!