Learn Writing with Uncle Jim, Volume 1

Re: fattening

sc211 said:

That unhooked so much of the baggage from high school and college, where you end up sounding like you're addressing the school board with a grammar book up your butt. You know, trying to be all proper and end up being properly stiff and inauthentic.

Click to expand...

I started laughing out loud for real on this one. I know that feeling. Actually, I wrote like that for awhile when I was younger. I didn't earn the name "Technical Tori" for nothing.

Re: fattening

Hi Tasha, this is my thought regarding your character. For the time being, I would leave the character in. You can always cut him later if it doesn't work. However, I find that sometimes when I put in seemingly unimportant details, they are the answer to the plot holes or twists that show up halfway through, or even at the end of, a WIP. So, you never know what your subconscious is trying to tell you.

Re: Hello

Thank you debraji and macalicious. That sounds like a good idea. And it should stop me from getting stuck when I start worrying about, too. I shall leave it to the editing stage before I start to worry.

Re: Ever since

We're agonizing over this:

‘I wasn’t worrying about the bushes,’ said Allan. He’d taken to this kind of backtalk ever since he fell from that tree, and Kay didn’t like it.

Is "ever" ever superfluous . . . or is it a necessity?

Re: Hello

Hi, Tasha --

First, you make do with what time you have. Just don't let thinking about writing substitute for writing.

Next -- the character with the relative who has the mental disorder: Write the book. Finish it. In the second draft, draw a red pencil line through all the references to that relative. Problem solved.

(Though the other two solutions you propose, writing a novel about that disorder or seeking therapy yourself, both have something to be said for them.)

Other than that .... don't worry about rambling in the first draft. (While other writers work in other ways) I find that rambling in the first draft is a happy and healthy thing. It gives you room to play and material to play with in the second, third, and fourth drafts.

Write, finish what you're writing. Revise. If you can do that, and be happy with what you've done, you've done what writers do.

Re: Hello

Thanks, Jim. I think that is exactly where my problem lies - thinking too much about it. Looking back at my previous attempts, I have always got to a certain point - usually about 10 chapters, sometimes less - and then started on the editing and thinking 'What on earth am I doing here?' etc. etc. instead of finishing and then doing that. And then I tend to go buy a 'How to write X' book to find the answer and end up deciding that I need to start from scratch or completely scrap it start something new. This thread is much more useful than that; while you have also provided lots of useful exercises, this particular advice about just writing it, I think is the best.

So, I'm going to go do that now.

The Worst Book Ever

This is it, kids: The worst book ever.

Atlanta Nights by Travis Tea.

Read the Press release.
See what the fans are saying.

<BLOCKQUOTE>"Fascinating. A total subversion of the most fundamental dichotomies of Western literature, in particular good/bad; an autodeconstructing textual engine that poses but never answers the unposable (but in today's world, far too answerable) questions. A full on assault on the centricity of such dominating ideas as quality, consistency, coherence, and that dirty books ought to give me a stiffy."
-- John Barnes</BLOCKQUOTE>

<BLOCKQUOTE>"The world is full of bad books written by amateurs. But why settle for the merely regrettable? Atlanta Nights is a bad book written by experts."
-- T. Nielsen Hayden </blockquote>

<BLOCKQUOTE>"Don't fail to miss it if you can!"
-- Jerry Pournelle</BLOCKQUOTE>


<a href="http://www.lulu.com/commerce/addreg.php?fBuyContent=102550">
<img src="http://www.lulu.com/themes/common/images/icons/buynow_blue2.gif" border="0" alt="Buy Atlanta Nights at Lulu!">
</a>

Re: The Worst Book Ever

Uncle Jim, how would you craft a query letter for this literary gem? I'm presuming that Travis Tea wrote one for his submission?
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Re: The Worst Book Ever

Uncle Jim, how would you craft a query letter for this literary gem?

Very, very earnestly.

In point of fact, Travis didn't have to worry about a query letter. Like poetry.com, PublishAmerica will accept anything you send them, while Lulu.com is just a printer and will take anything you send them.

In other news, Atlanta Nights has sold 75 copies. That's equal to what the average PublishAmerica book will sell over its entire life.

Re: Hello

1052 words since yesterday afternoon

Might not seem like a huge achievement, but it is to me. Thanks for helping me move on and get past my overthinking problems. I'm fitting it in by doing a bit before starting work, doing a bit when I stop for lunch and doing a bit when I decide I have to stop work for the day. It might not add up to 2 hours all the time, but at least this way I can ensure that I do some writing every day.

As it happens, I think the character's relative I mentioned is actually turning out to be important and might well end up staying in. But I'm not going to worry about that until I finish the 1st draft (at this rate, possibly in 2 months, but we'll have to see, I'm just happy that it's flowing again).

Re: The Worst Book Ever

I think it's a lot for most of us. I generally consider a day where I break 1,000 words a good day. I tend to average about 600. At least, when I'm not revising, like I am now. Measuring productivity's a bit harder at this stage.

Re: The Worst Book Ever

Well, that's encouraging - it didn't feel like much, to me, but then it's been a long time since I've done this properly - and then I didn't have word count, just a little typewriter. Of course, my 1052 might well end up at 52 when it comes to editing. I do type very fast and have taken on-board Jim's comment that it's OK to ramble in the first draft. When I write emails, blog entries, posts to forums, etc. (as you can see) I tend to ramble on and on and write paragraphs (or a single paragraph that should be split up!) on something that could have been said in a few words. In the past I have thought a lot about each sentence, or even each word, when writing fiction, and so been a lot slower. The idea that I can ramble and then cut out the cr*p later is really helping me get on with it. To be honest, at the moment, I'm not too concerned that I might get to the end and find it's all cr*p. I'm just happy to be getting the story onto paper (well, onto the screen at least) finally, instead of having it stuck in my head!

Good luck with your revising!

Re: The Worst Book Ever

I'm with you Tasha - I'm terribly slow because I'll bash out three or four drafts of one scene before I move on to the next. I like to make sure the onions are cooked before I add the meat, so to speak.
I tend to find, though, that I generally do the exact opposite of what everyone else here does, so my chances of ever writing anything publishable look slim!

Re: The Worst Book Ever

<blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>I tend to find, though, that I generally do the exact opposite of what everyone else here does, so my chances of ever writing anything publishable look slim!<hr></blockquote>

I'm sure that's not true. Everyone is different. What works for you, works for you, regardless of whether or not it works for a million other people or none.

I am finding it more gratifying (at this stage, at least), though, to just write and leave the worrying until later. It feels more satisfying to do a word count and realise that you've already written twice as much in a day, than you had in a whole two weeks prior to that. But that is me. Everyone is different. And since I've only just started this 'write, write, write' method, there's always the chance that I'll hate it within a week and go back to my overthinking slowness!

Re: The Worst Book Ever

I tend to find, though, that I generally do the exact opposite of what everyone else here does, so my chances of ever writing anything publishable look slim!

Is what you're doing working for you?

And is what comes out the far end something that other folks want to read?

Those are the only two real questions in writing. The rest is all commentary.

Re: The Worst Book Ever

You know, it kinda does work for me. As for whether anyone else wants to read it, well I just don't know. A lot of the time I suspect I'm writing for an audience of one, but I guess the only way to find out is to bite the bullet and post something. Aagh.

Re: The Worst Book Ever

Hi, all. I don't think I've posted here - actually I don't think I've posted anywhere on the message board since I registered. But I've been lurking for a while now.

My main problem is getting down to the BIC. Working for myself, I have considerably varying workloads. Sometimes, I can have a few weeks where I only need to do a couple of hours' work a day; other times (e.g. the last month) I have to work 15-hours a day or more. Last Thursday, for example, I had to get up at 4am and work straight through to 5pm to complete two jobs in time for the deadlines. I then collapsed into a vegetable-like state alternating between watching TV, reading (including reading this thread) and sleeping for a few days, before starting on the next project.

Personally, if I were working 15-hour days, I wouldn't force myself to write at the end of them.

I don't use the BIC method. What I DO is keep a loose eye on how much progress I've made in a given time - usually about a week. If it drops below about 2k/week (A total I can usually cruise past in a day or two), I impose BIC for the next month, until I've got through whatever bit I was jamming on. If I try to BIC for too much longer, it can actually bring back the mental jam. Working towards an actual deadline is good, too - again, there's no pressure on a single given day, but there IS a way to chart whether you're "on track" or you've fallen behind.

There are several other techniques out there to keep you writing. BIC is the best for most people, but it might not be the best for full time hours or variable work times. Use anything that will keep you productive.

My not-so-secret vice is jumping from project to project within a few days -- or, sometimes, hours. On the one hand, at least it keeps me writing. On the other hand, it can slow down my progress in a given work. I also sometimes wonder if it makes it harder to focus on a particular character's personality, because I'm constantly hopping out of their headspace and into anothers'. Any thoughts?


On writing books: I find the way I judge whether a writing book is good is almost the oppsoite of what i would use for every other kind of pleasure reading - It's good if I feel the urge to set it down and start scribbling.

Re: The Worst Book Ever

Welcome, Lenora.

I hope this thread has encouraged you to log off and start scribbling at least once....

Re: The Worst Book Ever

Congratulations on the Travis Tea book...what a great idea!

We had two writers at our conference last year who'd 'sold' books to PA. They were both angry and determined to get their next projects published by a real publisher. I'm so wary of small or new companies now...

Re: The Worst Book Ever

Seeing Atlanta Nights on the "worst ever" list made me curious. Reading of it here brought me to checking it out. And then all I could do was think, "This is freakin' brilliant," and "I wonder if Uncle Jim did a chapter?" A few more links and what do you know - the mastermind lives right here.

You're the man, Uncle Jim. I mean, I once sent Poetry USA a poem dictated by my two-year-old nephew ("Rock! Wanna throw rock! Gimmie!"), and his mother got an acceptance letter from them, but this had to be so much more fun with everyone chipping in and the target so damn perfect.

Kudos to the king. They'll give you the Nobel Prize for Saving Us from PA for this. (I bet she breathes is getting more and more agitate.)

Re: The Worst Book Ever

Would trying to write the worst possible novel one could write be a good exercise to exorcize a writer's bugaboos? Or should a writer always strive for their best?

I like pounding out a very rough draft to get the story down and then adding and revising into a passable draft (something like what PA has of mine now) before I start my 'real' editing. In effect I write two 'first' drafts. I'm not looking for an end-all-one-solution but while I feel this works for me, it Does take longer and might it be why I have been told "we like the story, but it needs more work". Or am I not doing enough of the 'right' editing? And what is that?

This is a few questions jumbled together but perhaps kindly Uncle Jim could show me how to edit them more clearly?

Andrea 0]

Re: The Worst Book Ever

"We like the story, but it needs more work" sounds very much like you need to play more on the noun-and-verb level.

So, study grammar, check your style, and get on with it. Analyse published stories to see what they are and aren't doing.

I'm afraid I don't have a magic bullet here other than "Do The Hard Work."

Re: The Worst Book Ever

I hope this thread has encouraged you to log off and start scribbling at least once....

You had any doubt of it? <img border=0 src="http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/wink.gif" />

So far I'm well on my way to having the Shakespeare memorized, and I'll be working on some of the bestsellers once the current reading pile drops a bit. Not sure about the key lime pie. it looks splendid but I AM trying to lose weight...

LRH

Re: The Worst Book Ever

There's a low-carb version of that Lime Pie out there....

I gave the recipe to my friend April Fields, and she converted it.

So, onward!

Article

Your story-fu is strong, young Jedi!

Not how I'd planned to gain fame, but hey, I'll take it: <a href="http://www.calendarlive.com/templates/misc/printstory.jsp?slug=cl-et-hoax5feb05&section=%2Fbooks" target="_new">LA Times</a> sting story.