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I have to agree. Some people are simply neurologically built in a way where they're more adept at written language. Some people are anatomically built in a way that's perfect for ballet.
But both writers and dancers need to practice and be determined to master the craft involved with their "talent".
MtPansy
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So a month ago or so, my computer died and I lost my everything. Since I've only started seriously writing recently, it wasn't that much. I didn't lose my outlines, either, because I write those in hardcopy. The thing that concerns me the most is that I lost my almost complete WIP. The lesson learned here, or course, is always backup. A flash drive has since been aquired.
My dilemma here is that I have lost all desire to rewrite the story (it won't be as good, what if I don't remember everything, etc.) and this has made me stall on my other projects as well.
The question is this: should I drop this project in favour of new exciting ones, or force myself to finish it (as it's basically finished, if only in my head)?
I should mention that it would top out at around 8000 words, and my other projects have novel potential.
If this is in the wrong place, feel free to kick my butt.
My dilemma here is that I have lost all desire to rewrite the story (it won't be as good, what if I don't remember everything, etc.) and this has made me stall on my other projects as well.
The question is this: should I drop this project in favour of new exciting ones, or force myself to finish it (as it's basically finished, if only in my head)?
I should mention that it would top out at around 8000 words, and my other projects have novel potential.
If this is in the wrong place, feel free to kick my butt.
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8,000 words? That's 32 pages. That's six hours' typing if all you can manage is 20 words per minute.
Sit down. Rewrite it from memory. It'll be better. Promise.
Robert Louis Stevenson re-wrote Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde from memory. You can do the same sort of thing.
Sit down. Rewrite it from memory. It'll be better. Promise.
Robert Louis Stevenson re-wrote Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde from memory. You can do the same sort of thing.
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Uncle Jim I'll be attending the Sanibel Island Writer's conference this year and will have a one-on-one conference with a writer I admire, John Dufresne.
The thing about these conferences is I go to learn from other authors, read and write extensively, and enjoy the nighttime readings, etc.
So many writers mention "marketing yourself" at these things (bringing flyers and all), but I'd feel like I'm selling vacuums or used cars and I'd have to shower after each encounter. I don't feel comfortable building contacts this way--and honestly I don't think it would work.
Have you experienced either side of this dilemma? Does it seem pushy or insulting for a writer to approach an editor or agent with their work at a conference?
And is it okay for me to not interact in this way? I feel I know who I am and think my writing aught to stand contacts be damned. But I don't really know what the right approach is.
Words of wisdom appreciated
The thing about these conferences is I go to learn from other authors, read and write extensively, and enjoy the nighttime readings, etc.
So many writers mention "marketing yourself" at these things (bringing flyers and all), but I'd feel like I'm selling vacuums or used cars and I'd have to shower after each encounter. I don't feel comfortable building contacts this way--and honestly I don't think it would work.
Have you experienced either side of this dilemma? Does it seem pushy or insulting for a writer to approach an editor or agent with their work at a conference?
And is it okay for me to not interact in this way? I feel I know who I am and think my writing aught to stand contacts be damned. But I don't really know what the right approach is.
Words of wisdom appreciated
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Oh, goodness. There are horror stories. Editors hiding in the men's room to escape authors with manuscripts. Authors following the editors into the men's rooms to give them their manuscripts.
No, you don't have to to the Used Car Salesman thing.
Editors don't want to go home with six hundred pounds of manuscripts in their luggage. If they're interested in something you've written, they'll ask you to send it to them at their work address when you get home.
So, how do you get them interested? By being yourself. Talk about what you're interested in. Be interesting. If someone remembers you as the smart, funny guy who could hold up his end of a conversation and paid attention to what others thought and said ... that's good.
You might carry business cards. What does a business card have on it? As little as possible. Your name and contact information, and the whole back clean, white, and blank to write down the subject you were just talking about. Get their business cards, and a couple of days later, drop them a note saying, "I met you at _____ where we talked about ____. Is _____ still open?" or whatever. Business cards are not laser-cutout, embossed-and-foiled, full-color representations of what you'd like the cover of your first book to look like, with your name in 36-point Post-Crypt font printed in scarlet enamel under the step-back, with instructions for making a working origami helicopter printed on the back.
"Hey, how's it goin'?" will get you a lot farther than "Let me tell you about my booooook!"
Be yourself, be natural, be interested in others, be interesting on your own, and listen to the shop-talk. You will learn much.
No, you don't have to to the Used Car Salesman thing.
Editors don't want to go home with six hundred pounds of manuscripts in their luggage. If they're interested in something you've written, they'll ask you to send it to them at their work address when you get home.
So, how do you get them interested? By being yourself. Talk about what you're interested in. Be interesting. If someone remembers you as the smart, funny guy who could hold up his end of a conversation and paid attention to what others thought and said ... that's good.
You might carry business cards. What does a business card have on it? As little as possible. Your name and contact information, and the whole back clean, white, and blank to write down the subject you were just talking about. Get their business cards, and a couple of days later, drop them a note saying, "I met you at _____ where we talked about ____. Is _____ still open?" or whatever. Business cards are not laser-cutout, embossed-and-foiled, full-color representations of what you'd like the cover of your first book to look like, with your name in 36-point Post-Crypt font printed in scarlet enamel under the step-back, with instructions for making a working origami helicopter printed on the back.
"Hey, how's it goin'?" will get you a lot farther than "Let me tell you about my booooook!"
Be yourself, be natural, be interested in others, be interesting on your own, and listen to the shop-talk. You will learn much.
Uncle Jim,
Do different genres follow different trends? For example romance. I found out recently (last night as a matter of fact) that deep third POV is the new trend. This came from a forum that focuses on romance and not so much others.
Would it be wrong to stick to what you're comfortable with? Or learn the new trend?
Your opinion? Any opinion?
Do different genres follow different trends? For example romance. I found out recently (last night as a matter of fact) that deep third POV is the new trend. This came from a forum that focuses on romance and not so much others.
Would it be wrong to stick to what you're comfortable with? Or learn the new trend?
Your opinion? Any opinion?
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All genres (including "literary," which is just another damn genre) have their own conventions, their own reading protocols, their own assumptions.
That's why you're constantly reading new works in your favorite genre.
Why would this ever be wrong? (Other than that you aren't growing new writerly muscle.)
Why not? Play with everything you know. How can it be wrong? Professional magicians may have a favorite card force, but they know a dozen different card forces in order to be able to select the best one for the circumstances. And, in case the force fails, they know another direction to take the trick so that the audience is still entertained.
Only you can decide the best way to tell your story. Your decision will be based on your experience. What you can do will be influenced by the tools you've packed into your tool box.
Thank Uncle Jim. You helped clarify a few things for me. 
PS. I switched to 3 because 4 was too big. Sorry if it bothered anyone.
PS. I switched to 3 because 4 was too big. Sorry if it bothered anyone.
Uncle Jim and everyone, please check out this link,
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.p...ntOfAwesome?from=Main.CrowningMomentOfAwesome
If only for positive amusement value.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.p...ntOfAwesome?from=Main.CrowningMomentOfAwesome
If only for positive amusement value.
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For our sins, Doyle and I have been mentioned on TVTropes:
Hyperspeed Escape
Apocalyse How
Virgin Power
I'm not sure whether to be pleased because it's so few, or sad because it's so few.
Pleased, because I do try to avoid cliches.
Sad, because hey, fame is nice and who doesn't want to be read and loved and quoted?
Speaking of quoted, Doyle is quoted here. (The thing about purple prose being when you mix red and blue prose is so typically her. She's saying things like that all the time. Doyle is smart, clever, witty, fast, sharp, wicked, and has a dynamite prose style. I don't know how I got so lucky.)
Hyperspeed Escape
Apocalyse How
Virgin Power
I'm not sure whether to be pleased because it's so few, or sad because it's so few.
Pleased, because I do try to avoid cliches.
Sad, because hey, fame is nice and who doesn't want to be read and loved and quoted?
Speaking of quoted, Doyle is quoted here. (The thing about purple prose being when you mix red and blue prose is so typically her. She's saying things like that all the time. Doyle is smart, clever, witty, fast, sharp, wicked, and has a dynamite prose style. I don't know how I got so lucky.)
Couldn't find you in Apocalypse How. What class of apocalypse are you in?
Couldn't find Cormac McCarthy's The Road in there either.
Or Waterworld.
It's just not my day for finding things!
Couldn't find Cormac McCarthy's The Road in there either.
Or Waterworld.
It's just not my day for finding things!
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From Apocalypse How:
(We also had a world-destroying plague mentioned (what happened to Sapne) in The Long Hunt, and I had the traditional Seven Seals Apocalypse threatened in The Apocalypse Door.)
Waterworld has its own page, as does The Road.
(We also had a world-destroying plague mentioned (what happened to Sapne) in The Long Hunt, and I had the traditional Seven Seals Apocalypse threatened in The Apocalypse Door.)
Waterworld has its own page, as does The Road.
I just finished the first chapter of my book! Wooooooo. Who is excited, I am excited. Plus I found out two of my minor chars are in love. Who knew? Ain't fictional love grand? I may have drank to much coffee today.
I may have drank to much coffee today.
Hey Jim,
I'm thinking about writing a novel (partly) set amongst a primitive people in Namibia.
I've never visited Namibia. I've never been in any part of Africa.
Given the information available on the Internet and in books, extensive research is possible nowadays, but it is daft to think about doing this? Stephen King (On Writing, p181) says:
"The dictum in writing classes used to be 'write what you know.' Which sounds good, but what if you want to write about starships exploring other planets or a man who murders his wife and then tries to dispose of her body with a wood-chipper?"
I'm thinking about writing a novel (partly) set amongst a primitive people in Namibia.
I've never visited Namibia. I've never been in any part of Africa.
Given the information available on the Internet and in books, extensive research is possible nowadays, but it is daft to think about doing this? Stephen King (On Writing, p181) says:
"The dictum in writing classes used to be 'write what you know.' Which sounds good, but what if you want to write about starships exploring other planets or a man who murders his wife and then tries to dispose of her body with a wood-chipper?"
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You want to write a book, Euclid? Do so. Set it anywhere, any time. Research the fudge out of it, then leave 90% of the research lying in your notes when you write (rather than on the pages of the novel where it'll make the readers suspect there'll be a quiz at the end of the chapter).
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Novels are about people.
Novels are not about places. Novels are not about objects. Novels are not about events.
Novels are about people.
Novels are not about places. Novels are not about objects. Novels are not about events.
Novels are about people.
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What are those sheets that some authors are doing now? Sort of like a one-page synopsis & business card... "One Sheets"? Something like that?
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And can't that be so EASY to forget! Of course, you still need the places, objects, and of course the events that glue the people to those places and objects (Krazy Glue, in my case). But I love it when you put it out there in such simple terms. Novels are about people--I may get that tattooed on my butt!
Tattooing it there might make it a bit hard to read when you need to remind yourself, mightn't it?
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A one-sheet is a one-page summary. It's part of a press kit. Something short enough that a busy person can read it quickly, yet detailed enough that an interviewer can sound like he/she has read your book and won't sound like a doofus on the air.
It isn't important.
The only thing that's important is writing a good book.
