I'm pretty sure there's a trope in there somewhere, even if it's one you're not familiar with. A tropeless tale doesn't exist.
>enemies to lovers
>me: YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSS I mean, good job. I ike that trope.
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I'm pretty sure there's a trope in there somewhere, even if it's one you're not familiar with. A tropeless tale doesn't exist.
>enemies to lovers
>me: YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSS I mean, good job. I ike that trope.
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Well first of all, it's genuinely difficult to dodge every romance trope. Strangers-to-lovers is arguably a trope - there is no meet-cute if there is no first meeting, right? Golden retriever MMCs aren't particularly grumpy either, not that yours falls under the specific category. It's literally impossible to write something tropeless. Romance itself could be argued to be a kind of trope.
Secondly, isn't it a good thing? I personally get a little salty when I can tell a book is just trope keyword-spammed to oblivion like an Amazon product listing trying to hit as many popular points as possible. Not that tropes are bad, but overusing them for the sake of it probably is.
Snowstorm situation would be funny though!
This is/was my opinion, but when I sat back and looked at everything... drawing blanks. Maybe because I'm too close to it, maybe because I'm used to having some degree of trope in the characters/relationship itself. I guess there's an old house? (I could add some plumbing problems?) New girl in new area? (not in a new country, not in some cutesy small town, but still). A pet that they both interact with prior to meeting in person? And then I know for certain I have plenty tropes that aren't as common in the romcom scene. Like IMHO they are a bit destined to be together. Though one person's "destiny" is another person's series of poorly contrived coincidences.
Really it all boils down to my reoccurring existential anxiety that I'm trying to force fit a story into romantic comedy when it is better suited to another genre. I'm not above conjuring plumbing mishaps and snow storms though lol.
Wait, wait ........... They do share a house briefly, more so as a missed connections type thing, but I think I can draw that out and push it into the "roomies" sphere. Maybe. Timing needs to be right and FMC is not prone to charity from others unless at knifepoint, but I'm sure I can find another knife around here somewhere...
Finally crossed 30,000 words, on my way to 50k. If I see that it might do better as a book less than 50k, I might just wrap it off, edit and send it to my publisher. I recently learned that: the shorter, the sweeter (lol). In addition to that, I got another idea for the ending as an inspiration from a psychological thriller I had watched previously.
And also, I agree with this. I also think the two keys are consistency and hope. I got encouraged by a video I watched yesterday, about being focused. Be focused, be patient and follow the process.
In my teens and 20s I described everything in minute detail and glorious technicolor. I don't do that so much in this. Even the MCs have minimal description--one has honey-brown hair and intense blue eyes and the other has short dark copper curls and dark hazel eyes. That's it, fill the rest in as you like. A few more details emerge in the course of things, like she is short but sturdy and a couple of supporting characters find him handsome. One character is taken to a building "the likes of which he has never seen," but by the time he gets there you know where he's been living and what the overall setting is; along with the name of the place I think a reader can make a pretty accurate assumption and, again, details emerge with time. It's funny, really, when I think about how much time and effort I've put into researching the details of things, and so little of it is written down.
Yes, thank you for confirming JudyH, it's a question of experience - which I barely have. I still do the research though e.g. check out places on Google and look at them to get what a certain house/road may look like. I've learned that I don't have to write about it, I have to know it. If I don't know it, the white room syndrome strikes - talking heads in the void. I am guilty of that one too.
Yesterday I spent hours looking up map of the world in the year 1000 and picking name of cities, figuring out which cities may be left standing in the distant future and what their name may be - surprisingly, over a span of 1000 years, less than 10% of then cities are still 'alive'. I printed out a blank map with only the continents and I drew the future cities left. I will not use any of that information in the book as such, apart from hinting at what can be seen / passed by and only two of the cities are important for the action. I did think - geez, what a massive waste of time, especially now that the novel is pretty much finished. But I need the drawings to add depth and setting to the talking heads and conflict in revision. I hope they do, otherwise it was one full revision day out of the window.
EXACTLY! Somehow it seeps through if you know.
That's good researching. And nah,research is seldom a waste of time unless you can't find what you're looking for. If nothing else, you have a new bit of trivia to amaze your friends with.
While it would have turned out very different from the story I love, the more I try to rework the first paragraph of my sci-fi thriller's query letter to sound less like a murder mystery, the more I like the idea of perhaps someday writing a murder mystery in that sort of isolated space-station setting. I'm sure it's been done, but so have most things, and that doesn't mean there's no room for another take on them. I just love closed-circle speculative fiction with very small casts and at least one foot hanging over the edge of horror.
That is a bit of a pickle for me, since in one of my stories in the year 3000 I had a thought if I should keep the names of current cities/prefectures in East Asia or make up new ones.
My mind: Among Us.
How fun is it to have an idea that distracts you from all of your "real life" responsibilities! Jotting down the synopsis is a great idea, hope we get to see some of it, someday!
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One day, hopefully soon, I'll start writing it. Real life managed to take priority for the time being. But I was able to get my synopsis put on paper and I have been slowly building upon the idea.
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I guess you are in for a surprise.
Low falls can actually be more dangerous, as they don't have time to prepare.
To further clarify, my method of researching multiple story/storey falls is with the internet, not by ambushing cats and flipping them off tables and chairs and things. Seems cruel and inaccurate.I guess you are in for a surprise.
Low falls can actually be more dangerous, as they don't have time to prepare.
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Pretty sure there's a RadioLab podcast episode all about cat falls....I guess you are in for a surprise.
Low falls can actually be more dangerous, as they don't have time to prepare.
The future cannot be predicted. My method was extrapolating from 1000 year old maps and information not because that was more likely (who knows?) but because I needed a method - I lack the necessary imagination for this kind of thing.
My year 3000 is after world wars and total ecological disaster - that gives me more of a leverage to say that not much of the past has remained.
If your year 3000 is a continuation without major disasters, it is more likely to have kept intact a lot of what it is today. After all, Athens and London are still here 2000 years after.
I am engrossed in Learn Writing with Uncle Jim on this platform while rewriting and revising my finished novel.
The best Uncle Jim's quote that changed my revising: 'don't add words, add story.'
Duh!
Right now I pick out details that I threw on the page without thinking (a hospital label, for example) and I make a story out of it - they go to that hospital and they find blah blah, and then this happens, which connects to the story. In exchange, I cut out brain-dead dialogue with inane info-dumping.
The best Uncle Jim's quote that changed my revising: 'don't add words, add story.'
Duh!
Right now I pick out details that I threw on the page without thinking (a hospital label, for example) and I make a story out of it - they go to that hospital and they find blah blah, and then this happens, which connects to the story. In exchange, I cut out brain-dead dialogue with inane info-dumping.
So, in the course of a few minutes, I once again stumbled on a story idea that I love.
Now, I've always been a believer in the age-old maxim, "Write what you fear." And, to that extent, some of my manuscripts have focused around marionettes/puppets, costumed mascots, invisible ghosts, mannequins, and (although they didn't feature as much) animatronics.
Today, I was thinking about automata, as I sometimes will because they're freaky as hell, and remembered that great maxim, as well as the fact I haven't done anything with clockwork automata.
And then, as so often is the case, I started to think of titles, which then gave me the beginnings of a story... but after that I was thinking about getting feedback on which name to go with -- either unusual and specific that doesn't necessarily shout HORROR or a more overt horror title (alliterative TTT) that feels more generic.
Throughout the rest of the day, I'd waited to get home to post the two names on sandbox for feedback when... idk, I went to post it and wondered "If this really necessary?" I'm like 90% sure which way people will go because deep down I have a feeling the unusual name (which kinda spoofs a much more famous novel/film) is the way to go, especially since I started to envision the manuscript based more on that vibe.
So, with the post half-written (just like a few times in the past), I wondered, "Am I actually looking for feedback? Or is this just validation?" And I couldn't justify posting the question. Doubly so since I can't guarantee when I might start it, at which point it'd risk wasting people's time.
Anyway, having taken my lumps on Pirate Park YA, I'm definitely not starting it after I finish drafting PPYA (well, probably not). Instead, I'll likely plan it out while editing FGI and possibly something after FGI.
But, at this point, I have a general idea as to the main character, a vision for one of the antagonists (who I was thinking as the director of a reform program), and some interesting tie-in gimmicks for themes. But I'm not settled on the nature of the clockwork area (other than it being a community service project restoring something, mostly likely a theme park)
Amusingly enough, the community service thing restoring a spooky place was one of my working ideas for MMM (which would make TTT appropriate... but I'm thinking ACP works better -- and not just because I have a cooler cover envisioned (especially since if I managed to get a book deal, that idea would likely be ignored in favor of a pro artist's design... but I think I'd be able to do concept art and sell merch related to that? Kinda wondering how that works with contracts, etc, usually but that might fall under a legal question making it verboden on AW)
Now, I've always been a believer in the age-old maxim, "Write what you fear." And, to that extent, some of my manuscripts have focused around marionettes/puppets, costumed mascots, invisible ghosts, mannequins, and (although they didn't feature as much) animatronics.
Today, I was thinking about automata, as I sometimes will because they're freaky as hell, and remembered that great maxim, as well as the fact I haven't done anything with clockwork automata.
And then, as so often is the case, I started to think of titles, which then gave me the beginnings of a story... but after that I was thinking about getting feedback on which name to go with -- either unusual and specific that doesn't necessarily shout HORROR or a more overt horror title (alliterative TTT) that feels more generic.
Throughout the rest of the day, I'd waited to get home to post the two names on sandbox for feedback when... idk, I went to post it and wondered "If this really necessary?" I'm like 90% sure which way people will go because deep down I have a feeling the unusual name (which kinda spoofs a much more famous novel/film) is the way to go, especially since I started to envision the manuscript based more on that vibe.
So, with the post half-written (just like a few times in the past), I wondered, "Am I actually looking for feedback? Or is this just validation?" And I couldn't justify posting the question. Doubly so since I can't guarantee when I might start it, at which point it'd risk wasting people's time.
Anyway, having taken my lumps on Pirate Park YA, I'm definitely not starting it after I finish drafting PPYA (well, probably not). Instead, I'll likely plan it out while editing FGI and possibly something after FGI.
But, at this point, I have a general idea as to the main character, a vision for one of the antagonists (who I was thinking as the director of a reform program), and some interesting tie-in gimmicks for themes. But I'm not settled on the nature of the clockwork area (other than it being a community service project restoring something, mostly likely a theme park)
Amusingly enough, the community service thing restoring a spooky place was one of my working ideas for MMM (which would make TTT appropriate... but I'm thinking ACP works better -- and not just because I have a cooler cover envisioned (especially since if I managed to get a book deal, that idea would likely be ignored in favor of a pro artist's design... but I think I'd be able to do concept art and sell merch related to that? Kinda wondering how that works with contracts, etc, usually but that might fall under a legal question making it verboden on AW)
Sorry you felt like your post wouldn’t have been welcomed. “Waste of time” is so subjective in the land of the internet but I think people responding to a writing related post on a writing related website is generally their own choice, so that kind of puts the time wasting onus back on them. Not to say your feelings aren’t valid.
The community service thing is an interesting angle. At first, my gut opposed, thinking more of the yellow iron side of restoration projects, but really, there’d be a ton of things for an unskilled laborer to do. Interesting idea.
I heard they are renovating Chuck E Cheeses and removing the animatronics. Likely, they’ve been spread across dumpsters throughout the US, but I like the idea of someone taking them for a huge creepy collection.
The community service thing is an interesting angle. At first, my gut opposed, thinking more of the yellow iron side of restoration projects, but really, there’d be a ton of things for an unskilled laborer to do. Interesting idea.
I heard they are renovating Chuck E Cheeses and removing the animatronics. Likely, they’ve been spread across dumpsters throughout the US, but I like the idea of someone taking them for a huge creepy collection.
Can't tell if I'm 'writing' these days? I've been tweaking my existing WIPs here and there while life has been going on. I've also finished my 'let's make a hardcover of my old YA' project and received my proof copy. Turned out quite pretty! Actually, I enjoy making covers and fiddling with book interiors so much, sometimes I wonder if that is a very elaborate kind of procrastination, heheh.
It would probably would've been welcomed. Anyway, I can always ask for input on the title when I ask for feedback on the query... in maybe another year or two (since I'll be editing a thing or two before drafting the manuscript, which will then sit for 6-12 months before editing).
It's a good excuse to put characters in a setting they don't want to be in and keep them there. Plus, it's a way to work in backstories for characters AND it can give you a randomly-assembled group. The trope is occasionally used in horror, often in the form of clean-ups.
Oh good lord, that sounds like a nightmare right there.
And there's definitely precedent. Somebody collected this dog mascot statue when a fast food chain closed.
Certainly sounds fun, tbh.
I can't recall where I read it, but I think there's some sort of "decommissioning rule" in the company which says franchises are meant to send the old animatronics back to be officially destroyed. There was a minor flurry of interest a while back, when a rat animatronic was discovered in some junkyard somewhere. I seem to remember it was something along the lines of the Disney ethos, that nobody is meant to see half-costumed characters as that could spoil the magic. Only, y'know, with a terrifying robotic rat instead.
The same article (or maybe a different one?) also said that the programming for the animatronics was still, up until semi-recently, all distributed via floppy disc. Which I found oddly charming.
Anyway, I think you should probably be safe from stumbling across a creaking, groaning graveyard of rusting rat robots with tattered fake-fur hanging off them in skin-clinging strips.