Learn Writing with Uncle Jim, Volume 1

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EFCollins

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<--- reads a LOT

Unrelated, but if you see this... Mr. MacDonald,

I've read a lot on this site about how to write better etc. However, I've found that my writing was better before I went and bought books explaining style and plot and theme, characterization etc. Since reading those books, it's like I think too hard about the task at hand, driving myself crazy over sentence structure and plot so much that I hit a big brick wall and knock myself stupid. Any advice for those of us killed by the writing how-to? (Just to clarify, the things that muck me up are the how-to books I bought, trying to find out the finer points of writing for publishing, nothing I've found on here has caused the drama I'm going through.)

Thanks in advance,
~Ellen
 
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SarahMacManus

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To work around blocks (I'm still of my own opinions on those in general) I skip ahead to later int he book, or the sequel, and write a scene I'm looking forward to. I may never use it, and will certainly change it, but it helps me get back into the fun of telling the story.

Ha! I thought I was the only one who did that! Subsequently, I have many scenes that don't happen until four years later in the narrative, which is two books away, and the ending of the last book.
 

James D. Macdonald

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Any advice for those of us killed by the writing how-to?

Go get a whole pile of novels. Read 'em just for fun. Don't analyze, don't think, just read and enjoy. This is just for fun and to clear your palate.

Then sit down and write. Write without thinking. Write without going back to edit. If you're a good-enough touch-typist, write without looking at the screen of your computer. (I sometimes look out the window while writing. Other times I turn the monitor off.) Just blast it out. Don't write a novel; ignore plot and prose. Just tell me a story.

When you've reached 300 pages, see what you have.
 

Ken Schneider

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A post about writing that I made elsewhere.

Makes lots of sense.

I write what I see in my mind, like a movie I'm watching and writing down.

Problem is, I tend to tell you what I'm seeing versus showing you what I'm seeing. I've struggled mightily with this, and after five years of effort at trying to write, I still struggle with this. I promised myself I'd give this writing thing ten years. If at the end of that time I've not achieved my goal, then I'll write the rest of my life and consider it a hobby because it's fun and I enjoy writing down a story. Sigh—ning off.

Ken
 

Perle_Rare

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A post about writing that I made elsewhere.

Does that mean I should dig out the HMS Suprise model ship I started building about 4 years ago and quit working on when I destroyed the hull in an attempt to put in the bowsprit? I always did think I'd get back to it eventually.

I guess I'm going to need longer days if I want to fit all my activities in... :D
 

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Thanks

Go get a whole pile of novels. Read 'em just for fun. Don't analyze, don't think, just read and enjoy. This is just for fun and to clear your palate.

Then sit down and write. Write without thinking. Write without going back to edit. If you're a good-enough touch-typist, write without looking at the screen of your computer. (I sometimes look out the window while writing. Other times I turn the monitor off.) Just blast it out. Don't write a novel; ignore plot and prose. Just tell me a story.

When you've reached 300 pages, see what you have.

I can see that. I didn't think before the how-to books (Well, I did, but you know what I mean). I'm slowly making my way through this entire thread. It's taking me a while, but eventually, I will get through it. What you've had to say makes more sense than most of what I've read in how to books anyway.

Now I wish the Mind Eraser was more than just a ride at six flags...

~Ellen

ps: Thank you, Mr. Macdonald
 

cooeedownunder

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Does that mean I should dig out the HMS Suprise model ship I started building about 4 years ago and quit working on when I destroyed the hull in an attempt to put in the bowsprit? I always did think I'd get back to it eventually.

I guess I'm going to need longer days if I want to fit all my activities in... :D

If you are into naval type adventures maybe you should read HMS Suprise by Patrick O'Brian :D
 

James D. Macdonald

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That would be the Metric Day, with 10 seconds to the minute, 100 minutes to the hour, and 100 hours to the day.

1 English hour = 4.167 Metric hours

The Metric Hour (otherwise called the Kilosecond) is scheduled to replace the English hour at midnight Greenwich time on July 12, 2015, under the terms of the International Time Standard Treaty of 2007. Scientists, who already use the Metric Hour for most computations, look forward to the change.
 

mario_c

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That would be the Metric Day, with 10 seconds to the minute, 100 minutes to the hour, and 100 hours to the day.

1 English hour = 4.167 Metric hours

The Metric Hour (otherwise called the Kilosecond) is scheduled to replace the English hour at midnight Greenwich time on July 12, 2015, under the terms of the International Time Standard Treaty of 2007. Scientists, who already use the Metric Hour for most computations, look forward to the change.
That was in the play my ex-best friend wrote! You know why that was funny, too? 'Cause it's something they would try.
 

RJK

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Uncle Jim - They'd have to call these units something other than seconds, minutes and hours. I could see the populace getting used to using the new units over a 50 year timespan.

Otherwise, we'd have to rename all those good movies. Twelve O'clock High would become Fifty O'clock High, etc.
 

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Just thinking of the software complications is giving me nightmares. Computers and the decimal system aren't particularly compatible. If they were thinking of changing to a binary system, now that would be different... :D
 

euclid

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That would be the Metric Day, with 10 seconds to the minute, 100 minutes to the hour, and 100 hours to the day.

1 English hour = 4.167 Metric hours

The Metric Hour (otherwise called the Kilosecond) is scheduled to replace the English hour at midnight Greenwich time on July 12, 2015, under the terms of the International Time Standard Treaty of 2007. Scientists, who already use the Metric Hour for most computations, look forward to the change.

That's right. I read about this somewhere. The proposed metric second is 0.864 of today's second. Much easier to count seconds. No more of this silly "one one thousand, two one thousand" nonsense.

But I thought there was a movement afoot to synchronize with Alpha Centauri. I think we should use Standard Galactic Time (SGT) like everyone else in the neighbourhood.
 

FOTSGreg

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Uncle Jim wrote, Then sit down and write. Write without thinking.

This is almost exactly how some of my best stuff gets written. I sit down, begin typing, and then suddenly it's hours later and I've been so "in the zone" I haven't even realized much time has passed at all and I've got 3 thousand words down and the story's working.

I had this happen a couple days ago and the day after that. Got a 3800 word story almost completed simply by zoning in (as opposed to out) and focusing my concentration so into the story that everything else around just sort of faded to gray.
 

James D. Macdonald

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Do we really need to discuss UTC (Universal Time Coordinated) here? Of course we do!

That's going to be a plot point in the next Peter Crossman novel (The Gates of Time, about which the editor is bugging me....)

And how about Sidereal Time, where time is measured by the rotation of the earth, not against the sun, but against the First Point of Aries?
 

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Uncle Jim,
Do you think you need more of an imagination to write fantasy or science fiction than to write in other genres? I mean, if you're writing a standard mystery you'll probably use widely believed principles, real investigative techniques, documented terminology, things of that nature. Your detective or cop will probably follow rules that mirror those used in real life.

But in fantasy/sci-fi the world (and the out-world) are up to you to create. If you have alien life forms you get to name them, decide what characteristics the Zenguist Tribe of Recton 7 will have, what climate their home planet has, the atmosphere, etc...

I think I have a bit of a limited imagination. I haven't really ever tried, but dreaming up new technology to use in a novel seems out of my abilities. I know some of the technology they used in the original Star Trek was actually used as prototypical ideas for things like cell-phones, and probably virtual reality. (Can't wait til they can beam me up, just hope they put all my molecules back in the right places;)!)
 

MumblingSage

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Go get a whole pile of novels. Read 'em just for fun. Don't analyze, don't think, just read and enjoy. This is just for fun and to clear your palate.

Then sit down and write. Write without thinking. Write without going back to edit. If you're a good-enough touch-typist, write without looking at the screen of your computer. (I sometimes look out the window while writing. Other times I turn the monitor off.) Just blast it out. Don't write a novel; ignore plot and prose. Just tell me a story.

When you've reached 300 pages, see what you have.

Next time my friends and family ask why I'm typing with a blank monitor, I'll point them to this page, only they won't see anything because the monitor will be off.
 

James D. Macdonald

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Uncle Jim,
Do you think you need more of an imagination to write fantasy or science fiction than to write in other genres?

More imagination? No. Just a different set of writing protocols, to be interpreted by readers using a different set of reading protocols.

What do we mean by reading protocols?

In a science fiction novel, if I describe what's on a desk, the reader will use this to figure out the level of technology in the society.

In a mystery novel, if I describe what's on a desk, the reader will understand that one of those objects is a clue.

In a literary novel, if I describe what's on a desk, the reader will understand it to be a metaphor for the protagonist's mental state.

And so on.
 

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Jim,

Describe what's on your desk.

Cheers,
Rob
 
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