Learn Writing with Uncle Jim, Volume 1

James D. Macdonald said:

Beware performing rejectomancy.

Here's one thing to try:

Retype the entire manuscript. From hardcopy. You're allowed to make changes as you go. Some bits may not seem worth retyping. Don't retype them. Others will fill you with the need to expand. Expand them.

Meanwhile, start another book.

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Is this different from re-visioning scenes, away from the actual manuscript? I re-wrote two scenes today, not looking at (but thinking of) the original, and I like them much better this way.

Sailor Kenshin said:

Is this different from re-visioning scenes, away from the actual manuscript? I re-wrote two scenes today, not looking at (but thinking of) the original, and I like them much better this way.

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It's quasi-different. If you're in real trouble with a novel, and you don't want to just trunk it, my next advice would be to retype it from memory.

In other news ...

You can follow The Land of Mist and Snow (most recent novel) as it makes its way from me to my editor!

http://www.fedex.com/Tracking?cntry_code=us&link=4

FedEx tracking number 8550 1071 3281

(Why FedEx? Pushing the deadline for one last re-write, of course.)

I'll start the next one tomorrow. For me, right now, ice cream! (I know it's February. I want ice cream. You got a problem with that?)

SeanDSchaffer said:

Uncle Jim, do you think I should start up another, brand-new book while I'm still working on my present one? Or do you think that's a bit much to handle?

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Only you can know that, Sean. Experiment. Find what works for you.

You might consider starting slow and building up as you see what your capabilities are, rather than starting out too high and perhaps burning out.

Now, go write a page.

I finally sent my submission to VP today. It will probably take at least a week to get there from the UK. I hope I'm not too late, and I hope it gets there safely, and, and...

I guess I'll have to wait until June for an answer (where are those patience tablets )

Lucia, if it's a comfort, you'll probably hear back from the staff soon after your submission arrives. I did, because one of the instructors (Cory Doctorow, I think) is in the UK (hey!) and has asked to have the samples sent to him by email - through them, not direct from the applicants - so they'll be asking you to send an .rtf of your submission so they can forward it to him.
I blush to admit that I also heard back from them because in the mad dithering over which WIP to submit, which involved me making up two complete submission packages, one for each, and then getting a friend to eeny-meeny them to choose which, I ... umm ... forgot to put the submission fee back in before mailing the chosen one.
Shall we compete for highest level of dithering?
-Barbara

Talk about VP is a bit off-topic for this thread. There's yahoo email group
for past-and-potential VP students.

I'm trying to think of something useful to say about writing that hasn't already been said. I'm still in that post-turn-in haze, when I'm supposed to be writing, and I am, but it's all ... junk.

This will pass.

Sean,
I usually start another book while I'm waiting for one to cook in the drawer. Keeps my itchy fingers away from it and gives me perspective. After a month, I put the other one in the drawer and take the first one out.

By the time book #1 has been through several rounds of editing, book #2 is usually at least halfway through a first draft. Repeat.

That's how I wrote 2.5 books last year. One is being published in 2007, #2 is almost ready for it's final go-over before submitting and #3 is being torn apart, as I ran up against a wall and hated where the storyline went.

When I wanted a break, I took a month off and wrote two short stories. One is in SOS, and the other will be out later this month in an anthology. Actually, I wrote three... but one didn't make it into SOS- it was published in a mag last month.

But do what works for you.

PS - I sat down and wrote almost four pages today. Amazing what happens when you find the story again.

I have a couple of questions, spurred by workshop comments.

First, how close should a writer be to his/her characters? How can you tell if you're either too close to or too distant from your characters?

Second, is there a difference in language between litfic and genre fic? I understand that each genre will have its own techie terms and specialised language, but I'm unsure where litfic stands.

The workshop comments themselves aren't really relevant, except to me, but they got me thinking about these other issues. Apologies if the questions don't fit here.
-Barbara (stuck on the first game in Logical Chess, and shouldn't even be posting yet ...)

Litfic is just a marketing category. The exact same text could have another genre on the spine, and would if the nice publisher thought it would sell better over there.

I could tell you stories that aren't fit for public consumption about that.

As to how close you get to your characters ... it's one thing when you start seeing your characters around the house. It's worse when your kids start seeing your characters around the house.


Or when your kids walk in to the middle of a conversation and ask "Are you talking about someone we know, or is it one of your characters again?"

See y'all at Boskone.

This looks like an interesting little thread. Could someone give me a quick summary of what I’ve missed?

Only joking, I’ve just read through the undiluted thread (took awhile) thanks McAlister for posting that and thanks Uncle Jim.
I haven’t done the assignments, but I do my BIC and aim for at least 500 words a day (managed 33,000 in Jan). I’ve not read Red Harvest (it’s on my Amazon wish list) but have seen Yojimbo, A Fistful of Dollars, and Last Man Standing.

The things that from the thread I’ve found most useful are the ten point outline for the novels structure, gems like…"Never tell the reader anything before he cares!" and…"Every Character thinks that he's the main character in the story, and every charater thinks that he's the good guy." Casting the reader and writer as characters is also an interesting concept.Good stuff.


Anyway, I have a question for you Uncle Jim (I know you’re at Boskone but I’m in no hurry).

I’m working on my first long piece of fiction a Sword & Sorcery novella. I’m 27,000 words into a first draft and have four or five scenes left on my plot plan. Novella’s tend to cover less ground than novels, fewer characters, shorter time span, focused in just one location, etc. I’ve done this with mine, but was wondering what you (or anyone else for that matter) think about 30-35,000 words with just one viewpoint character and no subplots?

I know it’s hard without reading it or knowing the plot but I’ve kept the character in conflict throughout (had a few lulls to give the reader time to catch their breath). Will constant focus on the main character and main plot make it seem a bit flat/too linear?
I know in the end it’s a decision I’ll have to make for myself but some input would be helpful.

Cheers,

Lee

Lee, I don't know. Could it work? Sure. How will you know that it worked? Your beta readers will tell you.

Novellas are tough lengths to sell.

James D. Macdonald said:

Lee, I don't know. Could it work? Sure. How will you know that it worked? Your beta readers will tell you.

Novellas are tough lengths to sell.

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I'd better aquire some beta readers at some stage then. Luckily, there are a few Sword & Sorcery small press publishers that want novellas.

Cheers,

Lee.

Any ideas on how to acquire beta readers? I did an Internet search, and didn't find anything. Maybe I was searching for the wrong thing...

Beta readers are anybody who reads your stuff for you, before you release it into the wild.

They could be members of a crit group/circle, fellow writers, or just friends who already read books in your genre and can be trusted to give you an honest opinion (you may need to train these).

Calloo Callay! O Frabjous Day!

Hi all,

I'm new to internet fora and I'm not sure if what I tried to post actually went on. If so, my apologies for mostly duplicating the same thing. If not, let me introduce myself: I'm new to this thread, and I have just finished reading through the whole thread up to today. I'm very glad that it hasn't finished before I could join in! (I was a bit worried--it has been going for some now, after all, and Uncle Jim might have gotten bored.)

Let me put in my thanks to Uncle Jim and all the others who participate for making this fascinating, fun, and extremely helpful. I have not done all the exercises, but I do have The Unstrung Harp and Logical Chess coming in (one bought, the other from the library), and am working through memorising my poetry, and . . . I've been writing my WIP since junior high and am now doing my doctorate, and while it has changed it is (in my head, at least) the same story. But somehow the idea that every word (or at least every other one) should go towards one overarching theme, however implicit, was extremely helpful towards unsticking a few points. So, many thanks!

This is going to be a long enough post as it is, so I shall keep my questions until later. Till then, happy BIC-ing!

oops

Now I do feel silly, since the very first sentence of my first (actual) post was a bit nonsensical . . . it is now quite obvious to me that the first thing I tried to post went off into the ether, so that was my introduction, however flawed. Ah well, I'll get the hang of this eventually.

Hi Victoria!
You can edit your posts - there should be a button at the bottom of any of your own posts that says 'edit'. Click on it and you can fix those typos or continuity glitches, even write yourself sparkling repartee. (It's the only way I'm going to sparkle - where's my scriptwriter?)

Lucia, a beta reader is a term from fanfic, stolen from 'beta tester' for games. It's ideally someone who can read attentively and be articulate and honest about his/her reactions. I'm beta-reading for (quick count on fingers) four people currently, at different levels. One is just quick reader-reactions, what I understood, what slowed me down, what made me go aha!. Another is line-critting for punctuation and syntax glitches, which is slower and requires a different sort of attentiveness. Another is the whole deal, from commas to characterisation. So, it varies. Depends what you want and what the beta's strengths are.
The advantage of a beta reader over an online workshop is that your beta reader will ideally read the whole thing and get the whole picture. In workshops, the story is read in chapter-chunks, and you may not get the same reader(s) for more than a couple of chapters. But you will get a greater variety of readers, and any one of them may pick up on something the others missed.
Be good to your betas. Give them strokes and cookies.

-Barbara

regarding the edit button

See, already I've learned something . . . as I said, my first time on a forum like this. I'll leave my first posts as they are for now, and remember about the edit button in future. Thanks, Barbara!

MikeLeung said:

I started submitting queries for my kids book about a French-accented dog.

Now I've discovered Pixar is releasing a cartoon next year featuring a French-accented rat: http://imdb.com/title/tt0382932.

Am I right in assuming my story is unsellable for the foreseeable future? Am I stuck back at square one with a new manuscript?

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Well, after The Lord of the Rings came out as a movie, it didn't cause any trouble for people who wanted to sell manuscripts that featured elves and magicians. Don't worry about it. Talking animals are always popular in children's stories, and giving them accents is certainly not uncommon.