Learn Writing with Uncle Jim, Volume 1

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envygreen

Re: What about this...

Hapi:

3400 words or 15 pages double spaced. I posted it <a href=http://pub43.ezboard.com/fabsolutewritefrm31.showMessage?topicID=210.topic>over in the share your work section</a>.

if anyone wants to comment, i've got my asbestos lined armor on, so don't worry about my feelings. :) i much prefer an honest 'it sucks and here's why' to 'ohhh, it was... neat, but i'm not into that sort of thing'.

-Rob
 

DaveDuggins

Re: Learn Writing with Uncle Jim

Holy smokes, you're THAT James Macdonald? Man, I loved Price of the Stars! I'm new to this board, so ... glad to meet you!
 

DaveDuggins

Re: fonts

Courier is the accepted standard. It may not look pretty, but it's big, open and easy to read.
 

Stephenie Hovland

Outlines

Have you read all the posts in this thread? Outlining is mentioned (more than mentioned).

Stephenie
 

HapiSofi

Re: Learn Writing with Uncle Jim

You too? I loved that book. I've lost track of how many times I've re-read it.
 

Beaver

figurative language

Jim,

Hey just wondering...

I took out the excessive personification in the chapter... but as far as the rest of my writing goes, i like to use metaphor and other figurative language. I guess my question is: should all figurative language be kept to a minimum? does it hurt the flow of the story? or is some ok when describing setting and characters?

thanks,

Beaver :eek
 

James D Macdonald

Re: figurative language

Readers are perverse things.

Some will take your figurative language literally. Others will take your literal language figuratively.

"Her eyes flew around the room before falling to the floor" can provoke ... unusual ... images in some readers' minds.

The test is to try.
 

HapiSofi

Re: figurative language

If you can avoid figurative language, you should. Think of your writing as a picture you're trying to make come clear for your onlookers. Figurative language is a little picture of something else you paste in at a spot where you can't make the real picture come clear any other way. It's a useful trick, but it doesn't take more than a few of those for your picture to start looking less coherent overall.

A possibly useful observation: I love English teachers dearly, but they're way too easily impressed by figurative language. I don't know why, and of course I excuse them on the grounds of their multitudinous other virtues; but you'll almost never see one speak in favor of leaving out some pretty simile or metaphor. If you're getting some part of your feedback from one or more of them, you may want to keep that in mind.
 

Beaver

thanks

Yeah i can see how too much too often would make for a blurry picture. Thanks for the tips. I'm working on cutting it back to a minimum. I'll save it for poetry for my girlfriend.

thanks,

Beaver;)
 

wwwatcher

Postage?

Does anyone know how much it costs to send a letter to Canada? I'm trying to buy some postage on the internet and there are 48 cents stamps on there under the international section.

And Jim are there any of your books you'd recommend that we read? (Maybe your latest one so we can help boost your sales; since you're giving us all this wonderful advice for free.)

Faye
 

aka eraser

Re: Postage?

A 48 cent stamp is what is used to send letters within Canada. Wherever you live, it will likely cost more to send mail to Canada.
 

James D Macdonald

Re: Postage?

Faye, if you want, go to <a href="http://www.sff.net/people/doylemacdonald/" target="_new">my homepage</a> and pick a book.
 

LiamJackson

Re: Faye (Recommended reading from the works of Jim D.)

Jim's Apocalypse Door is about as much fun as any hard-boiled supernatural thriller has ever been or will ever be. Can't go wrong with this one, Faye.
 

pina la nina

figurative language

I loved this from a book I just read: "I literally had one eye on each half of the room." Ouch!
 

Dancre

Re: Faye (Recommended reading from the works of Jim D.)

Jim's Apocalypse Door is about as much fun as any hard-boiled supernatural thriller has ever been or will ever be. Can't go wrong with this one, Faye.

that's the one i ordered. i'm waiting for it. i read the first chapter exerpt and it seemes interesting. i like the main character. he reminds me of clint eastwood in the "Good, the bad, and the ugly".
kim
 

ChunkyC

Nuts and Bolts

Hello all, I've been away with the flu, but I'm feeling much better now.

I have a question, Uncle Jim. In a story I'm working on, one of my characters witnesses an accident that takes the lives of his parents. I have him drop to his knees and scream out the word NO. In my mind I hear the vowel extended for a second or two, similar in concept to Luke Skywalker's wail when Darth Vader tells him he's his father. Is there an accepted rule for doing this sort of thing, such as extra o's, as in:

Noooo! or NOOOO!

If extra vowels are acceptable, how many is too many? Or is this a purely subjective thing?

Thanks...

ChunkyC
 

qatz

Oh, ahem, well.

You know that article on Outlines I kept mentioning in regard to Jim's recent comments about wanting to picture the work? I posted it a while ago in the Share Your Work board, in my own thread called "Outlines," just to add to the discussion, but forgot to point it out here until, well, now. There are certain revisions to the new one. It's still a draft waiting for its big publication moment in a writers mag (other than this one).


I understandthe link to it is pub43.ezboard.com/fabsolu...=200.topic

I don't know how to get the hypertext to work yet, but www does, right down there. thanks w!
 

Weren Cole

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. :p

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
 

MacAl Stone

Hiya Weren

Egomaniacal Insomniac English-speaking Word-Loving speedy typists Unite!

Welcome aboard. Fresh voices are always fun. Although I don't know how seriously you ought to take any of us who don't have our own posted bibliography of published works...:x

Mac
 

qatz

Hey Weren

You pegged it. As for the other stuff, read my thing on outlines and listen to what Jim does (and doesn't) say. Good hello post.
 
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