Learn Writing with Uncle Jim, Volume 1

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FOTSGreg

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Uncle Jim, I'm jealous. The last WorldCon I was to was out in San Francisco in the 1990s, but it was a blast (I met David Gerrold there and we had breakfast together to talk over some material I'd done based on his The War Against The Chtorr series that he was very interested in).

On a more positive note, I got a little over 1300 words done today plus the start of the outline (another couple hundred words on index cards) on my new WIP Gated. It's a dark thriller and I think it's off to a great start (stopped this afternoon at the start of a gunfight between one of the main characters and the villains and with another main character trying to escape the takeover of the bar she works in.

I really do like the index card method of outlining. I'll be putting together the next few cards this evening and afternoon for the next few chapters or so.

A question though - would you put character notes or plot notes on unnumbered cards that could go in basically anywhere or where you wanted them to or would you number those cards too?
 

smsarber

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I'm back after a week away on vacation at the hospital. Friday I was coughing up blood, Monday had a bronchoscopy, Tuesday my heart went into atrial-fibrillation. Finally got to come home today, Yea! But I didn't just sit on my but, I wrote 5500 words, half of which on the novel I'm working on. In a way it was nice, because they had me mostly bed-ridden, so it was like, Get bored? Write! Get bored? Write!

Oh, did I mention the broken ribs? Osteoperosis and weak bones; broke 'em coughing. Okay, so the writing part was nice, not the pain, the blood, and the A-Fib;)
 

FOTSGreg

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Uncle Jim, Thanks. That makes sense actually.

Keeping track of character names and where they first occur has been a problem for me in the past although the Find function usually takes care of that problem, but that only shows you where they first occur, not what you were thinking of at the time for them.
 

Ken Schneider

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A good or great memory is a super thing to have when you are a writer.

Helps with all the plot spinning and being able to bring it all together.

Sponsored by the brain food group.

Really, I read it today.
 
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Judg

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Judg: I read somewhere that smiling, grinning and shrugging should be avoided. (one of Jim's reference links, methinks). These are really big problems for me. My characters are doing these on every page!
I think I had better add those words to my list. And again, it's the overuse that should be avoided. They are perfectly good words in and of themselves.
 

Salis

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Yeah, I wouldn't worry too much about smiling/grinning/shrugging unless it's multiple times a page (in which case, pare it down).

Just keep in mind that people do change facial expressions pretty commonly when talking. If we limited ourselves to almost never using them, it would be pretty boring (and inaccurate).
 

Salis

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Agreed. It should be there for a reason, not as "filler", but someone joking with a smile is a completely different effect than someone joking with a straight face.
 

euclid

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I'm back after a week away on vacation at the hospital. Friday I was coughing up blood, Monday had a bronchoscopy, Tuesday my heart went into atrial-fibrillation. Finally got to come home today, Yea! But I didn't just sit on my but, I wrote 5500 words, half of which on the novel I'm working on. In a way it was nice, because they had me mostly bed-ridden, so it was like, Get bored? Write! Get bored? Write!

Oh, did I mention the broken ribs? Osteoperosis and weak bones; broke 'em coughing. Okay, so the writing part was nice, not the pain, the blood, and the A-Fib;)

Bloody hell, Steve!

I hope the writing you did will inspire you to write more now that you're home.
 

euclid

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Scenes

I'm a bit confused here. Donald Maass talks about "scenes" as do many other how-to-write authors. He (and they) say that each scene should involve conflict and tension, and the participants must have goals. By the end of the scene, the story and the characters should have moved forward (paraphrasing madly here) as a result of inner and outer turning points. Foreshadowing future events and linking back to earlier ones are good.

Does that mean that every word of my book should fit into a "scene"?

I have linking sections that don't. Small sections where war events are catalogued, for example. (The army marched into Paris and everyone left work and had a big party in the streets (of Berlin) - sort of thing).
 

euclid

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Well, I wouldn't use "smiled," "shrugged," or "grinned" as dialog tags in place of "said." That's for sure.

"Don't look at me in that tone of voice," he grinned.

Is grammatically incorrect because, as someone said, you can't grin words. But:

"Don't look at me in that tone of voice." He grinned.

is okay, with a period iso a comma

?
 

Ruth2

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When I was working on my magnum opus (clocking in at 125K right now; I'm afraid to look at the bloated thing) I used index cards and long swaths of tractor feed printer paper. The paper was to keep track of the main plot and two subplots; it brought new meaning to "I'm papering the office today." The cards were for scenes, characters and anything else that I thought was important.

I'm still finding cards stashed in "I won't lose it here" places...
 

Aggy B.

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As I work through my third draft I'm having to add chapters. Probably one new chapter for every two or three revised/old chapters.

Should I revise the new ones as I go so that by the time I reach the end of the draft everything is of a relatively equal quality? Or should I just resign myself to having really crap chapters (inbetween almost finished/polished chapters) to revise in the next go 'round?

(Currently I start my writing each day by working through at least part of one of the newer chapters and then move on to the "older" chapters to ensure that the MS moves forward and doesn't just sit in the same spot while I fiddle endlessly with the same scenes.)
 

FOTSGreg

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Aggy B, I had a similar experience when I was revising Hatchings. I'd re-ordered the chapters from the first draft on an editor's recommendations (over at Baen's Universe slush) and discovered numerous plotholes and inconsistencies that I had to go in and backfill.

It happens, even to the best writers (though not, of course, to our favorite Uncle here). I've found inconsistencies and plotholes in published works from time to time.

Euclid, When I end a piece of dialogue with a period instead of with "said", the next sentence is usually, with me, either the start of another character's response or some action by the speaking character that adds some color and depth to the character and provides action with the dialogue.

Not that I'm an expert or nothin'.
 

SarahMacManus

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Does that mean that every word of my book should fit into a "scene"?

I have linking sections that don't. Small sections where war events are catalogued, for example. (The army marched into Paris and everyone left work and had a big party in the streets (of Berlin) - sort of thing).

Those are "scenes" too - they're just a different kind of scene. "Transitional scenes" And you can have goals and conflict in there, too.

The army could wonder if they were going to be lauded as heros or spat upon. The party could cause chaos in the streets. Etc.

There's also "reaction" scenes - the time between actions when the protag reacts internally to what just happened and makes decisions. Most of the conflict/goals is internal.
 

euclid

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The Aftermath scene

Those are "scenes" too - they're just a different kind of scene. "Transitional scenes" And you can have goals and conflict in there, too.

The army could wonder if they were going to be lauded as heros or spat upon. The party could cause chaos in the streets. Etc.

There's also "reaction" scenes - the time between actions when the protag reacts internally to what just happened and makes decisions. Most of the conflict/goals is internal.

Here's a quote from Maass's Writing the Breakout Novel (I hope he wont mind) p 175: "The so-called 'aftermath' scene, in which the hero digests what has just happened to him and settles on his next step, is an outdated technique. Low tension breeds in the space between confrontations and other high moments."
 

Aggy B.

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Well, sometimes one needs a moment to breath in the midst of a story. Slower scenes don't have to break tension. Though obviously a scene with two characters eating lunch doesn't have the immediate and obvious tension of a scene where two characters are trying to defuse a bomb.

My betas are complaining there is to much "go" in my chapters and they want to see some slower, less tense scenes. So. For whatever that's worth.
 

FOTSGreg

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Uncle Jim, I've got a sort of plot-and outline-related question (again).

As you know, my new WIP Gated involves a gated community. I had originally thought about using a community such as the ones that are on the ourskirts of Rio Vista, CA (near where I used to live), but I've decided to use the one I currently live in as more of a model. My community's not gated, but it is laid out on a larger scale by mile-square "blocks" and surrounded by other smaller communities. I'm wiping out (not literally or even figuratively) some of the surrounding communities and setting what is essentially a self-contained small "town" within a few miles of a big city (so Sheriff, police, and other response forces are relatively available).

One of the things I'm doing is taking a big map of the locality, marking off the perimeter of the community in highlighter, and then specifically locating certain areas inside the community (such as business centers, hardware stores, a school or two, library, security headquarters, etc.) using pushpins, Post It notes, or one of those finepoint permanent markers.

Does that sound reasonable to you so that I have a specific map of the community that I can always refer to and track my character's movements or is it too much detail (I won't go that far in the book, obviously)?
 

Calliopenjo

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FOTSGreg, if there's one thing I've leaned it's "Whatever floats your boat." Use what works for you. The literary world won't care and neither will your fans. Why? Because you are the only one that knows what you did to create the masterpiece that was published.

Somebody said once, that they act out the scenes dialog and all when writing. Teddy bears and baby dolls all around with 3 X 5 cards stuck to them.

Who's to say it's too much?
 
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