A newbie and the BIC method

I have no idea what the BIC method is, but I will say this. In order to be a writer, you must be a reader. So my suggestion is that you begin to remedy that deficiency. Make reading novels a habit, and read widely, in many genres. This is the only way I know of to absorb the rhythms and patterns of stories and storytelling.

Maybe combine the writers-must-be-readers method with the BIC method for a few months. Instead of staring a screen, read. It is so important in developing a good ear for language. And don't just read, read *good* books. Books in your genre that are masterful. But don't read any old thing because it looks hard- you need to enjoy it and understand it on a number of different levels.

Good luck.

memoriadeclarativa said:

Hi,

I have a very poor literary background. In plain words, I can count the number of novels I have finished with one hand. I'm not taking the Harry Potter saga into account because I've read critics saying its value is more commercial than literary. So? Not trying to be flippant, but if you only count "literary" novels as novels, than that's seriously limiting the amount of "literature" you read. And I think you can get plenty of value out of Harry Potter. You can get a lot of value out of any novel, even a "bad" novel, and I do not consider Harry Potter to be "bad." I'm also not taking into account the manga/anime background. I love anime and manga. Awesome, new ideas presented from a different culture's POV. Different ways to pace, develop, and execute a storyline. Different ways to develop a character. Seeing what one cultures values as opposed to another. Seeing the different ways of defining what makes a "hero" character. It broadens your world, gives you more ideas, more perspective.

For a few months, I've been cramming ideas and whatnot in a notebook, and after visiting the "Learning Writing with UJ" thread, I felt motivated to give the 2-hour BIC session thing a try. My concern is, is there a point in me doing this? It'd be like a biologist applying the BIC method, and trying to prove a Millenium Prize Problem. He lacks the mathematical background.

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It works for some, not for others. No way to know which you are until you try it.

And to echo everyone else in the thread: Read more. Read what you want to write. Read what you want to read. Even read "bad" novels, so at least you know what not to do. Read everything.

some thoughts

How about the modified BIC method. Two hours a day in front of your computer screen typing. Two hours a day reading a good book. Or 1+ 1 hour, whatever you have time for.

Lets put it like this. I've read thousands of books. When I was writing my novel I had like 15 books spread on the floor all the time. If I didn't feel like writing, I'd pick up a book for inspiration.

How did they start? How did they keep the suspense going? How did they do dialog?

Books have conventions. Little things that clue the reader in, just like the ominous music in movies. Most stuff has been done before many times. It's important to know.

Imagine trying to play tennis or basketball without ever watching a game. You'd be skipping the benefit of the millions of hours others have put in getting good.

Don't let me discourage you. If you think you can write, then you can. Harry Potter is fine to read. Anything is fine to read as long as it brings you enjoyment, because that's what you want to bring to others. I started with the complete works of Sherlock Holmes. I've read books by comic book writers that I thought were great.

Maybe this will give your encouragement. What book did John Travolta take to the bathroom everytime in Pulp Fiction? Modesty Blaise. Never heard of it? Written by a comic book writer over forty years ago. Still popular. I have the complete collection.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modesty_Blaise

Then look at the reviews of the reprinted first novel. Not to shabby for a comic book author.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0285637282/?tag=absowrit-20

"Modesty Blaise" was Peter O'Donnell's first book, published in 1965 when he was 45 years old. Prior to that he had had a long career as the author of scripts for comic strips and writing short stories. In fact, the Modesty Blaise character was first launched as a comic strip in a London newspaper in 1963."

Read more novels.

But go ahead and start writing, too.

It doesn't really matter whether they're "literary" novels or not so much as if they're in the genre in which you want to write.

And by the way, I love anime and manga, too. Learning from them may not teach you very much about prose, but they're still storytelling, which is an important skill no matter your medium.

The solution seems pretty simple. Spend one hour reading, one hour writing, instead of two hours writing. Don't worry about what critics think of the books at this stage. Choose novels that interest you, not books you think you ought to be reading. You're trying to get into the habit of reading, and you won't do that if you're bored with your choices.

Read more.

If one doesn't read one has little chance of writing a readable manuscript.

Anyone who can string a sentence together can pour out thousands of words. But to write in such a way that other folk want to read what has been written for page after page to the end of a novel is a craft that has to be learned by all but the fortunate talented few and can take years to master.

In addition to reading books of the type you wish to write, try Techniques of the selling Writer by Dwight V Swayne. It contains tried and proven techniques that should be learned and put in your writer's toolbox for use as and when needed.

Good luck. And stick with the UJ threads.

memoriadeclarativa said:

Hi,

I have a very poor literary background. In plain words, I can count the number of novels I have finished with one hand. I'm not taking the Harry Potter saga into account because I've read critics saying its value is more commercial than literary. I'm also not taking into account the manga/anime background.

For a few months, I've been cramming ideas and whatnot in a notebook, and after visiting the "Learning Writing with UJ" thread, I felt motivated to give the 2-hour BIC session thing a try. My concern is, is there a point in me doing this? It'd be like a biologist applying the BIC method, and trying to prove a Millenium Prize Problem. He lacks the mathematical background.

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Read a lot. Write a lot.

That's the basics of it.

memoriadeclarativa said:

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?p=82291#post82291

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Ah! Thanks. Yes, nothing beats the BIC method for getting actual writing done.

memoriadeclarativa said:

Hi,
I'm not taking the Harry Potter saga into account because I've read critics saying its value is more commercial than literary. I'm also not taking into account the manga/anime background.

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There is no reason to discount these works. They still count as reading. A novel does not have to be literary to be good or worthwhile.

Read the sort of works you plan to write. But don't just read. Read twice. Once, to see how you like the book and react to it as a reader. Record your initial reactions. The second time figure out why the book worked for you or didn't. How did the author evoke emotion? What descriptions resonated for you? Where does the author lose your attention and why? Record this too.

Reading good books of the kind you plan to write will help you absorb the conventions of the genre and good writing whether or not you keep notes. Notes make you more conscious of it.

memoriadeclarativa said:

I felt motivated to give the 2-hour BIC session thing a try. My concern is, is there a point in me doing this?

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If you want to write, you have to write. Whether it's a 2-hour BIC session or twenty minutes, you have to write. It's not a waste of time, it's practice. And, yes, you really should read more.

memoriadeclarativa said:

Hi,

I have a very poor literary background. In plain words, I can count the number of novels I have finished with one hand. I'm not taking the Harry Potter saga into account because I've read critics saying its value is more commercial than literary. I'm also not taking into account the manga/anime background.

For a few months, I've been cramming ideas and whatnot in a notebook, and after visiting the "Learning Writing with UJ" thread, I felt motivated to give the 2-hour BIC session thing a try. My concern is, is there a point in me doing this? It'd be like a biologist applying the BIC method, and trying to prove a Millenium Prize Problem. He lacks the mathematical background.

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Critics who say that about the Harry Potter books are critics because they're too stupid to get a real job. For that matter, commercial fiction is almost always better than literary fiction, and it's the commercial fiction of today that will become the classics of tomorrow.

But you have to read a lot, or you can't write. It's just that simple. You learn to write by first reading a thousand or so novels, and then by practicing BICHOK.

Writing a minimum of two hours per day is a good thing, and probably a necessary thing. But find two hours per day to read, as well. Without the reading, the writing is pointless.

read what you want

Yeah, read what you like. Figure out what you like about it, and try to duplicate it.

Figure out how you thought it could be improved, and do it.

It almost is that simple (he says a millions words later.)

Since you first posted this some time ago, how many novels have you read?

And the BIC method is awesome. I use it. I hope it is working out for you.

um...you got my attention with that post. Reader, writer, doctor, BIC, Harry Potter, I don't care what the hell you were trying to get at - point is - you intrigued me. Your self called naivete has a spark I am not sure as a non-reader you can even understand.

Don't be so quick to assume that the writing of this idea would be similar to a mathematical problem. Yes there is manipulation that needs to happen in the crafting of a story of course, but you just might find (and I almost have an inkling of a feeling) that if you put your analytical side down for an hour a day and let your fingers do the talking...I have a feeling you might find there's a story there.

Good luck. Don't wait twenty years. There's 15 minutes in everybody's day to write as much as it would take to fill a thimble with a few words. All of our ideas start blurry. Ok well I shouldn't speak for the entire community, but mine often do. And sometimes I put them down on paper and think -"yup. Should have left this one blurry". And then another one randomly starts to take shape, and suddenly people are talking, and then there's a castle rising up from a mountain, and suddenly a hand falls to a waist I wasn't expecting, spring turns to summer, somebody reveals a secret power, another person dies and I look back and think....who wrote that?

There's more to writing than reading, editing, structure, querying, and revising. Not that I condone not reading. I don't. It can only help you in life. Forget about writing. It opens your mind to humanity and experience and I don't know any doctor that doesn't need that. (I for one am a monster Harry fan by the way.)

Just do me a favor. You don't know me. I don't know you. Forget the harmonious sequence and take 15 minutes a day in the morning when you wake up or before bed at night and write down what comes to your mind when you think of this idea. It can be a series of words. A feeling. A memory it brings back. A recipe who cares - just something evoked in the recesses of your mind when you think of this story.

20 years is longer than you realize. You'll be a different person by then I promise you. And that different person will look back and say "shoulda written that story". Because it won't go away. You might be a writer my friend and not even know it, and when that happens? Those ideas plague you in your dreams!

Good luck. Write.

memoriadeclarativa said:

I have a very poor literary background. In plain words, I can count the number of novels I have finished with one hand.

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Then you need to read more. Read anything. Read everything you can lay your hands on. Learn what works and what doesn't. What makes a book good and what makes it bad.

I'm not taking the Harry Potter saga into account because I've read critics saying its value is more commercial than literary. I'm also not taking into account the manga/anime background.

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You shouldn't dismiss books so easily. All books have some merit.

Bufty said:

Read more.

If one doesn't read one has little chance of writing a readable manuscript.

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This.

memoriadeclarativa said:

If you don't mind, I'll share my humble experience. The main reason I decided to enter this fantastic forum is because I wanted to learn how to translate an idea I've been obsessed with for years into a proper novel.

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Brilliant. When you have an idea that burns inside your mind you are already well on your way. I understand the passion of an idea like that, so keep at it.

I feel disappointed because I know my current occupation as a student and my future occupation as a doctor will demand most of my time, and I recognize the consequences of such decision: my story will have to wait a long, long time to materialize.

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Ah, don't make excuses now. I work full time, I study full time, I have a farm and I have kids and I STILL manage to write at least 1000 words a day which equals a book every three or four months.

1000 words is NOTHING, and you can break it down into 200 word chunks that you can write on your teabreak, or on the bus, or while you are waiting for dinner to cook.

Those 200 words here and there add up very quickly.

memoriadeclarativa said:

Hi,

I have a very poor literary background. In plain words, I can count the number of novels I have finished with one hand. I'm not taking the Harry Potter saga into account because I've read critics saying its value is more commercial than literary. I'm also not taking into account the manga/anime background.

For a few months, I've been cramming ideas and whatnot in a notebook, and after visiting the "Learning Writing with UJ" thread, I felt motivated to give the 2-hour BIC session thing a try. My concern is, is there a point in me doing this? It'd be like a biologist applying the BIC method, and trying to prove a Millenium Prize Problem. He lacks the mathematical background.

Click to expand...

as a biologist, I can say yes, you probably won't be getting into an ebola lab or pioneering a new form of open-heart surgery, but 2 hours cutting a frog or examining leaves is going to be a hell of a lot more use than saying "I haven't been formally trained yet, why would I want to learn or experiment on my own?" Biologists, incidentally, do a fair bit of math, but aren't usually the guys chasing mathematical problems. However, there's nothing to say an armchair math-geek can't take a stab at them....and he's probably better off trying and failing than watching Jersey Shore and thinking he'll enroll next year.

The BIC gets you writing. You don't learn only by reading, and actually doing will help speed things along.

all the above said, what do you intend to write? because I'm not convinced the Potter series, or almost anything short of ingredient lists, doesn't count as "reading". You should still read more, but if you're deciding Potter doesn't count that sounds like you may be pursuing certain visions of "writerlyness" more than the reality of developing a certain skill set that enables you to write. If so, misconceptions like that can slow the process considerably.

memoriadeclarativa said:

I feel disappointed because I know my current occupation as a student and my future occupation as a doctor will demand most of my time, and I recognize the consequences of such decision: my story will have to wait a long, long time to materialize.

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no.

no.

you are busy, but you also have free time. And you make a choice what you do with that free time. We all do, every day. If you want to write badly enough, you switch off the tv, spend less time with friends at the pub, whatever, but don't for a second cultivate the notion the folks who succeed either have everything handed to them or live in magical thirty-hour days. They make choices too, and they are busy. Some are doctors or lawyers, some are students, some work more than one job AND have a family.

There is time to be found in anyone's life....usually it just involves parting with some old friends, like an hour on the couch watching sitcoms.

You can write a book in fifteen minutes a day. It may take a couple years to complete, but you'll get there.

BethS said:

You can write a book in fifteen minutes a day. It may take a couple years to complete, but you'll get there.

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Amen, read and write. Do it every day.

Every day.

I asked for a newspaper after delivering my last child.

jaksen said:

I asked for a newspaper after delivering my last child.

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I asked for a Big Mac.

quicklime said:

no.

no.

you are busy, but you also have free time. And you make a choice what you do with that free time. We all do, every day. If you want to write badly enough, you switch off the tv, spend less time with friends at the pub, whatever, but don't for a second cultivate the notion the folks who succeed either have everything handed to them or live in magical thirty-hour days. They make choices too, and they are busy. Some are doctors or lawyers, some are students, some work more than one job AND have a family.

There is time to be found in anyone's life....usually it just involves parting with some old friends, like an hour on the couch watching sitcoms.

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This x 100. Don't wait 20 years before starting. Making writing a priority and do it when you can. There's a book called "Time to Write" (I can't remember who wrote it) that shows different strategies authors have used to cram writing into their busy lives. Scott Turow wrote Presumed Innocent during his commute to and from work. If you hunt around, you'll find many more examples of authors (some of them are even doctors) who stole time to write. You'll have to make some hard choices at times but it can be done.