Another Lurker
Alright, thirty four pages of post later I am ready for my two cents and a couple of questions, if the group will have me.
First- Thoughts
I have noticed that the people who seem to be the more accomplished of writers who post here have several characteristics in common that I feel are paramount to making yourself a writer. Foremost is that that have a capable handle on english prose and it shows in these discussions. Second, I have noticed that all lot of you express the tendency towards insomnia. Confidence, or excessive hubris, and the ability to type well also seem like characteristics that many of you seem to share.
To hear these characteristics pronounced here makes me feel better about being a writer, I get a general feeling that I am not alone in my struggle as an artist.
I am a young writer in the middle of what I like to think of as my first novel. (I have other works and stories that I plan to publish and are in a state of almost done, but this is the one I plan to publish first) I am confident that my writing will do well, and the ideas that come across here bolster my confidence. For instance I have always devoted a couple of hours to writing, but now I have an acronymn for it (BIC) I found that I play positional chess with my characters, but to have the ananlogy related in such a way has made me go back and add a couple things to set me up for my mid-book. I also found it funny that you use ideas of chess while writing. . . I often times have my characters playing the game and the conversation they have revolves around how the pieces are moved. . . I am not sure if the mixing of the game with actual dialogue is a good idea, but I will be sure to ask my beta readers when the time comes.
I realize that the most important thing is first a rough model to work with, then the polishing is to come. I almost relish in the polishing phase, I just need to get to it.
A couple of questions for my dear uncle jim, I will try to keep it to the point
In terms of my positional chess I have found myself creating characters that are necessary for the advancement of plot, pawns as you will. One character, Jimmy, has a one line mention sometime in the first 20k, though he is not touch upon till what I think of as midpoint (about 40k). What do you think of bringing Jimmy in as a more prominent character in the second half? I find that without him I am stuck around mid-point, should I give him more interest (perhaps a couple of lines) earlier? And, when I do bring him in earnestly, how much is too much of a backstory to get him acquainted with the rest of the plot?
In terms of outlines I am not incredibly organized, though I find that I can push about 2k or more with just side notes that I jot down. Perhaps my mind is still young and vivacious, but I find the spinning or yarns to be the easy part, it is adding depth that takes a little more work. (That is why I relish polishing, it takes my raw story that I was excited enough to write down in the first place and give it real meaning) In this aspect I find that I do a little more outlining at the end of the work, taking what I have done already and finding where the best spots are to add foreshadowing and symbolism and symbolish of foreshadowing etc. . .
It seems after thirty four pages of post I had something else to say as well, but oh well. I just thought I'd say Hi to everyone any way.
Weren