• Basic Writing questions is not a crit forum. All crits belong in Share Your Work

What's On Your Mind About Your Writing?

indianroads

Wherever I go, there I am.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 4, 2017
Messages
2,372
Reaction score
230
Location
Colorado
Website
indianroads.net
I'm in the early stages of my first draft and am overly obsessed with one of my male leads. So I'm writing all his scenes and nothing else. Is this normal??

What is this NORMAL you speak of? You realize you're dealing with writers... right?
 

MaeZe

Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 6, 2016
Messages
12,772
Reaction score
6,476
Location
Ralph's side of the island.
How does your story end? Will you resolve everything or leave things unanswered? Can you come back to something you mentioned much earlier on to make it seem like a twist?

It ends with hope. :)

As for the main characters, they all survive. Everyone survives.

Funny you should say this: "Can you come back to something you mentioned much earlier" because that is the direction I am taking. :Thumbs:
 

superoze

Registered
Joined
Apr 17, 2018
Messages
8
Reaction score
1
I usually listen to music and just write, write and write!
I can't stop thinking about my fantasy novel, wherever I am and whatever I might be doing.
For example, last time I was at the doctor and I found myself thinking about the plot while waiting for my visit.
:tongue
Sometimes I end up catching some few words from people's conversations and use them in my novel.
 

Bufty

Where have the last ten years gone?
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 9, 2005
Messages
16,768
Reaction score
4,663
Location
Scotland
Just reached up to reference something from one of my writing books, then remembered I tossed out the majority of them a few months ago to make shelf space for visiting grandchildren. Only kept two - one by Swain and one by Bickham. So far, can't say I miss most of the others.
 
Last edited:

SKara

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 29, 2014
Messages
203
Reaction score
51
Just discovered that there's a thing called world builders disease. Now wondering if I have it (I started world-building two days ago while I was revising chapter 7 of my current MS and needed to know what was happening in a certain place within the story. The revision was kind of slow at first - because of perfectionism, not world-building - but today I've been doing nothing but writing history for my world.)

I really hope the symptoms don't get worse...
 

ktdude

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 20, 2018
Messages
105
Reaction score
15
Location
Newcastle upon Tyne, England
It ends with hope. :)

As for the main characters, they all survive. Everyone survives.

Funny you should say this: "Can you come back to something you mentioned much earlier" because that is the direction I am taking. :Thumbs:

Awesome! Sounds like a plan. I like your description of your ending, it's made me rethink my ending actually. I was agonising over killing off a character but I might not, I like the hope outcome better.
 

Bugjune

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 24, 2017
Messages
52
Reaction score
12
Location
I live in the South, but I'm not a Southerner
I'm wondering whether readers prefer a lot of description, or if it's okay to sometimes not describe the settings and actions in detail all the time. If that makes sense.

If you are picturing something specific, then your readers need to as well. If what's happening has no dependence on the environment, then no need for a big description. Most of the time they need some scene setting, but no need for the house to be covered in ivy with crumbling wood timber walls if those facts are not material..
 

Cindyt

Gettin wiggy wit it
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 14, 2016
Messages
4,826
Reaction score
1,954
Location
The Sticks
Website
growingupwolf.blogspot.com
Never thought I'd say this, but I enjoy writing nonfiction more than fiction. I love the challenge of carving a 2300+ manuscript into 550 words for my newspaper article. It's so much more rewarding than being able to use all I have. More, I enjoy being read right now instead of a distant day in the future that might never come.
 

S.I. Mansson

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 2, 2016
Messages
121
Reaction score
18
I'm participating in #RevPit and obsessively stalking the Twitter feeds. Feeling good, although there's a 1% chance of me being chosen. Also, I've got several betas working on my MS right now and I just feel so grateful. Probably won't when they get back to me with the feedback, but that's an issue for another day!

My biggest problem, writing-wise, is that one of the my other betas think I need to cut four scenes from my MS and I JUST LOVE THEM SO MUCH I DON'T WANNAAAAAA!!! :cry::cry::cry:
 

ktdude

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 20, 2018
Messages
105
Reaction score
15
Location
Newcastle upon Tyne, England
I had a couple of gins last night and wrote one of my favourite descriptive passages I've ever written. Now paranoid that the rest of my writing is rubbish, and that I'll need to become an alcoholic in order to harness my creativity.
 

tnfalpha

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 25, 2016
Messages
51
Reaction score
11
I had a couple of gins last night and wrote one of my favourite descriptive passages I've ever written. Now paranoid that the rest of my writing is rubbish, and that I'll need to become an alcoholic in order to harness my creativity.

I had a similar experience: coming off a terrible set of night shifts, I had a productive writing session and wondered if I could only write if I was delirious. I have since gone on to write other things and chalked my feelings to self-doubt in a different guise. Anyway, I hope the paranoia passes (it will!).

ETA
Thoughts re my own writing: when will middles become easy.
 
Last edited:

Cindyt

Gettin wiggy wit it
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 14, 2016
Messages
4,826
Reaction score
1,954
Location
The Sticks
Website
growingupwolf.blogspot.com
I'm still paranoid about my plot, which, according to a beta, is not clear, though it and a sub are right there in the first pages. I decided to dump it and another and satisfy myself writing for the newspaper. But. The novels won't leave me alone.

So, begins the journey of overhauling the entire thingy. Edited the table of contents this morning and noted which one of the four POV characters will open each part--a fifth POV opens the prologue and the epilogue.

I edited some of my blog pages. I wanted to post my interlude with Al Leong, but apparently lost it. Couldn't find the SYW thread on here, but never fear our Ari Meermans found it for me. :hooray:
 

Cindyt

Gettin wiggy wit it
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 14, 2016
Messages
4,826
Reaction score
1,954
Location
The Sticks
Website
growingupwolf.blogspot.com
I jumped back into the historical. OMG!

Decided it was two books and am in the process of cutting one out. I really dig what I wrote this morning. It may be crap, but tis my crap.
 

Sam Artisan

Held captive by angry blue elves.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 12, 2018
Messages
323
Reaction score
64
Location
Under a Hat
Cindyt I like your attitude XD mine is a similar one- "this might not be the best thing ever written, but its the best thing I'VE ever written by golly."

myself I've had a huge wakeup call ever since I joined here and now I know how to look for extra words to take out of my manuscript. Three chapters in and already cut out over 1k, I'm so pleased and amused at the same time
 

Cindyt

Gettin wiggy wit it
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 14, 2016
Messages
4,826
Reaction score
1,954
Location
The Sticks
Website
growingupwolf.blogspot.com
Cindyt I like your attitude XD mine is a similar one- "this might not be the best thing ever written, but its the best thing I'VE ever written by golly."

myself I've had a huge wakeup call ever since I joined here and now I know how to look for extra words to take out of my manuscript. Three chapters in and already cut out over 1k, I'm so pleased and amused at the same time

I am too! And it's so much fun. Lol.
 

Cindyt

Gettin wiggy wit it
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 14, 2016
Messages
4,826
Reaction score
1,954
Location
The Sticks
Website
growingupwolf.blogspot.com
Submitted my newspaper article, along with a photo illustration this time.

Tore my historical to the bare bones and will begin revisions later today.
 

Cindyt

Gettin wiggy wit it
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 14, 2016
Messages
4,826
Reaction score
1,954
Location
The Sticks
Website
growingupwolf.blogspot.com
I finally found a good storage for my writing--BLOGGER. I created several new blogs and slapped my books and stuff on them. And accessed them on my Amazon Fire tablet. It's a 10 inch, way big enough to edit my documents. I am soooo relieved. My current desktop is 8 years old, and I'm saving for a laptop. No worries about access. Yeah, baby!
 
Last edited:

Will Collins

Will Collins
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 24, 2010
Messages
1,235
Reaction score
35
What are people's thoughts on the quality of a novel vs how long it took to write?

For example, the manuscript I'm writing now is the quickest I've ever written, I just hope that doesn't mean it will turn out poorer than my other novels that took longer to write.
 

Enlightened

Always Learning
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 5, 2018
Messages
4,863
Reaction score
167
Location
Colorado
What are people's thoughts on the quality of a novel vs how long it took to write?

For example, the manuscript I'm writing now is the quickest I've ever written, I just hope that doesn't mean it will turn out poorer than my other novels that took longer to write.

If it is part of a series, you already researched, not that much of an issue (unless things like continuity problems arise). If it is a standalone novel, and you did not do enough research (and it is required to be believable), you may get into some issues.
 

Harlequin

Eat books, not brains!
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 21, 2010
Messages
4,584
Reaction score
1,412
Location
The land from whence the shadows fall
Website
www.sunyidean.com
The magazine revisions for flash publication have been eye-opening.

I thought there'd be less to revise because it's shorter but the revisions scale down and the back-and-forth is over semi colons and stray words, rather than arcs or paragraphs etc.
 

insolentlad

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 6, 2017
Messages
107
Reaction score
14
Location
Florida Panhandle
Website
insolentlad.com
What are people's thoughts on the quality of a novel vs how long it took to write?

For example, the manuscript I'm writing now is the quickest I've ever written, I just hope that doesn't mean it will turn out poorer than my other novels that took longer to write.

I've certainly become a faster, more facile writer with practice. Words flow where they didn't, early on. My early drafts need less reworking. I'm better and quicker at recognizing problems. But are the books themselves better? I would like to think so but maybe I am not the best judge!
 

WriteMinded

Derailed
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 16, 2010
Messages
6,209
Reaction score
774
Location
Paradise Lost
What are people's thoughts on the quality of a novel vs how long it took to write?

For example, the manuscript I'm writing now is the quickest I've ever written, I just hope that doesn't mean it will turn out poorer than my other novels that took longer to write.
I have no such thoughts.

Oh. Here's one: Maybe you are getting faster.

I'll be back if I find another one.
 

KBaum1608

Registered
Joined
Apr 23, 2018
Messages
43
Reaction score
10
What are people's thoughts on the quality of a novel vs how long it took to write?

For example, the manuscript I'm writing now is the quickest I've ever written, I just hope that doesn't mean it will turn out poorer than my other novels that took longer to write.

Sounds to me like you know what your audience wants by this point, so the work goes faster.