7 tips for writing a novel
Have you always wanted to write a novel? Do you see the story in your head but find
yourself uncapable of getting it all out on paper? Do you begin excitedly writing and
then get burnout almost before you ve evn began?
If it all seems overwhelming maybe the following suggestions will help you become
more...
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7 tips for writing a novel Have you always wanted to write a novel? Do you see the story in your head but find yourself uncapable of getting it all out on paper? Do you begin excitedly writing and then get burnout almost before you ve evn began? If it all seems overwhelming maybe the following suggestions will help you become more organized and form those budding ideas! 1. You Need An Outline SOme people say they can just start writing and it all flows smoothly and evenly to become the perfect piece. If you can write your novel this way, I envy you. (And you probably don t need to read this article)But most people need to form their ideas in some kind of outline. It doesn t have to include every detail of your novel, just the framework. And you can always add and modify as you go along. 2. Point-of-View Decide what point of view you are going to use in a particular scene and stick with it. Don t jump back and forth, it s confusing. Use the "omniscent" viewpoint sparingly and ha
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1
How to Write Short Stories
A glimpse at the advertising columns of our leading
magazines shows that whatever else this country may
be shy of, there is certainly no lack of correspondence
schools that learns you the art of short-story writing.
The most notorious of these schools makes the boast
that one of their pupils cleaned up...
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1 How to Write Short Stories A glimpse at the advertising columns of our leading magazines shows that whatever else this country may be shy of, there is certainly no lack of correspondence schools that learns you the art of short-story writing. The most notorious of these schools makes the boast that one of their pupils cleaned up $5000. 00 and no hundreds dollars writing short stories according to the system learnt in their course, though it don t say if that amount was cleaned up in one year or fifty.
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CHARACTERS AND VIEWPOINT
BY ORSON SCOTT CARD
WRITER S DIGEST BOOKS
CINCINNATI, OHIO
Characters and Viewpoint.
Copyright (r) 1988 by Orson Scott Card.
Printed
and bound in the United States of America.
All rights reserved.
No part of this
book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical
means including...
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CHARACTERS AND VIEWPOINT BY ORSON SCOTT CARD WRITER S DIGEST BOOKS CINCINNATI, OHIO Characters and Viewpoint. Copyright (r) 1988 by Orson Scott Card. Printed and bound in the United States of America. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. Published by Writer s Digest Books, an imprint of F&W Publications, Inc. , 1507 Dana Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio 45207. (800) 2890963. First paperback edition 1999. Other fine Writer s Digest Books are available from your local bookstore or direct from the publisher. Visit our Web site at www. writersdigest. com for information on more resources for writers. To receive a free weekly E-mail newsletter delivering tips and updates about writing and about Writer s Digest products, send an E-mail with the message
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Organizing a novel
This morning I thought I’d mention organizing to write a novel.
I start every new project by setting up a folder in My Documents for the project.
With Tinker 2, I’ve labeled the folder, oddly enough, TINKER 2.
From my desktop I’ve
made a shortcut into the folder.
Into this folder I make two folders.
One is...
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Organizing a novel This morning I thought I’d mention organizing to write a novel. I start every new project by setting up a folder in My Documents for the project. With Tinker 2, I’ve labeled the folder, oddly enough, TINKER 2. From my desktop I’ve made a shortcut into the folder. Into this folder I make two folders. One is NOTES, where I have things like the synopsis that I sold the novel with (which I did have stored in the Tinker (1) folder) and the bible I’m building which has all the characters from the first book and descriptions of them. I also needed to work out a rough timeline so I know when this novel starts. In Tinker, the story starts shortly before Midsummer’s Night Eve, and then runs for roughly two months after that date, so it’s now the end of August. August tends to be muggy hot during the day and cool in the evenings. The days are still long, and the summer stars are in the sky. The trees will be starting to turn if the novel runs more than a month in time
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Boo!
Scared you, didn t I? But I also got you to read on to this second sentence.
So,
even though it was only four characters long, that first line did its job: it served as a hook
to bring you into this piece of writing.
In that sense, it was a great beginning -- and "great
beginnings" are the topic of this, the first installment of...
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Boo! Scared you, didn t I? But I also got you to read on to this second sentence. So, even though it was only four characters long, that first line did its job: it served as a hook to bring you into this piece of writing. In that sense, it was a great beginning -- and "great beginnings" are the topic of this, the first installment of the "On Writing" column that I will be contributing to each issue of On Spec. A Canadian horror writer I know said something very intriguing recently: he was looking forward to the day when he was well known, so that he wouldn t have to start off with a grabby first sentence. He wanted to be able to begin subtly, with the reader trusting that the story would be worth his or her time just on the strength of the author s name. But even the lions of literature still go for the snappy start. Consider this opening line from Robertson Davies s Murther & Walking Spirits: "I was never so amazed in my life as when the Sniffer drew his concealed weapon from it
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A Glossary of Literary Terms
ROBERT HARRIS
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA COLLEGE
VERSION DATE: MAY 22, 1997
To find a particular term, use your browser s Find command (on the Edit menu in Netscape, for example).
Note: This file is 102K.
Printing it requires about 33 pages with Netscape 3.
0.
Adventure novel.
A novel where exciting events...
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A Glossary of Literary Terms ROBERT HARRIS SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA COLLEGE VERSION DATE: MAY 22, 1997 To find a particular term, use your browser s Find command (on the Edit menu in Netscape, for example). Note: This file is 102K. Printing it requires about 33 pages with Netscape 3. 0. Adventure novel. A novel where exciting events predominate over characterization and sometimes theme. Examples: H. RIDER HAGGARD, KING SOLOMON S MINES Baroness Orczy, The Scarlet Pimpernel ALEXANDRE DUMAS, THE THREE MUSKETEERS Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo ALLEGORY. "A FORM OF EXTENDED METAPHOR IN WHICH OBJECTS AND PERSONS IN A NARRATIVE, EITHER IN PROSE OR VERSE, ARE EQUATED WITH MEANINGS THAT LIE OUTSIDE THE NARRATIVE ITSELF. THUS IT REPRESENTS ONE THING IN THE GUISE OF ANOTHER--AN ABSTRACTION IN THAT OF A CONCRETE IMAGE. THE CHARACTERS ARE USUALLY PERSONIFICATIONS OF ABSTRACT QUALITIES. . . . " (WM. THRALL, ET AL, HANDBOOK TO LITERATURE, NY ODYSSEY, 1960) MANY WORKS CONTAIN ALLEGORI
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There was a cartoon in The New Yorker many years ago in which the female host
of a posh party accosts one of her guests: "I ve just learned that you wrote a novel based
on somebody else s screenplay.
Please leave my house at once.
" It s true that
novelizations are the antithesis of literature, but when I was a teenager, desperate to...
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There was a cartoon in The New Yorker many years ago in which the female host of a posh party accosts one of her guests: "I ve just learned that you wrote a novel based on somebody else s screenplay. Please leave my house at once. " It s true that novelizations are the antithesis of literature, but when I was a teenager, desperate to learn how to write, I read dozens of them. Why? Because in a piece of fiction, every nuance can be described in words. It was fascinating to see the ways in which writers described scenes that I d already watched on the big screen. (In point of fact, of course, most novelizations are written before the movie is completed. The writers of the book versions have probably never seen a single frame of the film, so the way they describe the action is often quite different from the way it was actually shot. ) For writers beginning today, there s an even better tool available than novelizations: the new interpreted-for-the-blind movies on video. These use th
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Reusing old stuff
by Wen Spencer
THere are times when things don t work right where you put them, so you need to
yank them back out.
I always save everything I write, because 1) it makes me fearless at
yanking them back out and 2) often they fit somewhere else with a little tweaking.
If you look back a ways, you ll find the original...
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Reusing old stuff by Wen Spencer THere are times when things don t work right where you put them, so you need to yank them back out. I always save everything I write, because 1) it makes me fearless at yanking them back out and 2) often they fit somewhere else with a little tweaking. If you look back a ways, you ll find the original ending of TINKER. You might want to see compare it to the following to see how I changed it to fit the second book. I m still not totally happy with Oilcan s section, but I think it will work out in the long run. Think. Okay, I’m stuck. Well, not really stuck as there’s too many options. I want to keep the book focused on Turtle Creek and not repeat “build-a-gate” that more or less repeats book one. Lack of materials is going to seriously hamper Tinker, but I feel I need more…. I think. My first reaction is to have someone stole all of Tinker’s stuff while Oilcan was out on a run. The problem is that Pony immediately goes into protective mode an
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A Quick Guide to Creating Memorable Non-Player Characters
by
Rich Staats, 1999
http://www.
geocities.
com/TimesSquare/9329/
staats@alum.
mit.
edu
Gregory bit his tongue, and the blood joined the rain pattering down on his matted hair.
The streams trickled
annoyingly down his chin as he watched his comrades disappear in a ball of...
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A Quick Guide to Creating Memorable Non-Player Characters by Rich Staats, 1999 http://www. geocities. com/TimesSquare/9329/ staats@alum. mit. edu Gregory bit his tongue, and the blood joined the rain pattering down on his matted hair. The streams trickled annoyingly down his chin as he watched his comrades disappear in a ball of flame. Amazingly, several of the group emerged alive from the conflagration. Gregory ran forward with healing salves and a strong sword arm to defend his comrades while they recovered from the ill placed fireball. Gregory identified the Seldari priestess and headed that way. "Best to heal the healer" thought Gregory. "How did I get myself paired up with this group of miscreants?" he mused. "I should have known something was wrong when they hired me on to help assault Borgbad keep. What was I thinking of?" Gregory asked himself aloud. He was almost to the party now and had to step carefully over the charred, uprooted brush and small trees. A filmy grim
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DRAMATICA:
A NEW THEORY OF STORY
Developed and Written by
Melanie Anne Phillips & Chris Huntley
SPECIAL ON-LINE EDITION.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
In support of the on-line writing community, Screenplay Systems
Incorporated is providing this special on-line edition of the 450 page book,
DRAMATICA: A NEW THEORY OF STORY.
How This Book Is...
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DRAMATICA: A NEW THEORY OF STORY Developed and Written by Melanie Anne Phillips & Chris Huntley SPECIAL ON-LINE EDITION. TABLE OF CONTENTS In support of the on-line writing community, Screenplay Systems Incorporated is providing this special on-line edition of the 450 page book, DRAMATICA: A NEW THEORY OF STORY. How This Book Is Arranged Part of what makes a story great is its underlying dramatic structure and part is the manner in which that structure is related to an audience, often called "storytelling". Therefore, this book is divided into two principal sections: The Elements of Structure and The Art of Storytelling. In The Elements of Structure you will explore the essential components that occur in all complete stories as they appear in Character, Theme, Plot, and Genre. In the Art of Storytelling you will examine the Four Stages of Communication that occur between an author and an audience: Storyforming, Storyencoding, Storyweaving, and Reception. By the time you have fini
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CHARACTERS
AND VIEWPOINT
BY
ORSON SCOTT CARD
WRITER S DIGEST BOOKS
CINCINNATI, OHIO
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Pages: 190
Lectures: 49
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How many chapters in a book?
by Wen Spencer
On the Forward Motion forum at www.
fmwriters.
com, a person asks:
Is few chapters better?
They go on to explain:
My novel (now in final edit) currently has 83 chapters even though I m only at
about 100,000 words.
Many chapters are only a coupla pages long.
I think I could merge
them down...
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How many chapters in a book? by Wen Spencer On the Forward Motion forum at www. fmwriters. com, a person asks: Is few chapters better? They go on to explain: My novel (now in final edit) currently has 83 chapters even though I m only at about 100,000 words. Many chapters are only a coupla pages long. I think I could merge them down to about 42 chapters total. What are the advantages of fewer chapters? I posted this reply to this question: I believe that while there is nothing actually WRONG with lots and lots of short chapters, I think that perhaps that you re confusing scene with chapter. Scenes are one unit of action: a conversation, a fight, sex, an agrument. A chapter is a set of scenes grouped together as a unit. Just as its not a great idea to have a scene be all one-sentence paragraphs, or one paragraph that runs for pages, it s also not really a great idea to have each scene be a chapter. Chapters are great tools for theme and pacing by how you group together various sce
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THE CRAFT OF
WRITING SCIENCE FICTION
THAT SELLS
BEN BOVA
Author of Mars and Millenium
This book is based on Notes to a Science Fiction Writer, © 1975 and 1981 by Ben Bova
The Craft of Writing Science Fiction That Sells.
Copyright © 1994 by Ben Bova.
Printed and bound in the United
States of America.
All rights reserved.
ISBN...
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THE CRAFT OF WRITING SCIENCE FICTION THAT SELLS BEN BOVA Author of Mars and Millenium This book is based on Notes to a Science Fiction Writer, © 1975 and 1981 by Ben Bova The Craft of Writing Science Fiction That Sells. Copyright © 1994 by Ben Bova. Printed and bound in the United States of America. All rights reserved. ISBN 0-89879-600-8 To Barbara and Bill, two of the most persistent people I know. I shall always feel respected for every one who has written a book, let it be what it may, for I had no idea of the trouble, which trying to write common English could cost one. ―Charles Darwin Chapter One How to Get Out of the Slushpile All good books are alike in that they are truer than if they had really happened and after you are finished reading one you will feel that a that happened to you and afterwards it all belongs to you; the goo and the bad, the ecstasy, the remorse and sorrow, the people and the places and how the weather was. If you can get so that you can give that t
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Notes On Writing Weird Fiction
Notes On Writing Weird Fiction
by H.
P.
Lovecraft
My reason for writing stories is to give myself the satisfaction of visualising more clearly
and detailedly and stably the vague, elusive, fragmentary impressions of wonder, beauty,
and adventurous expectancy which are conveyed to me by certain sights...
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Notes On Writing Weird Fiction Notes On Writing Weird Fiction by H. P. Lovecraft My reason for writing stories is to give myself the satisfaction of visualising more clearly and detailedly and stably the vague, elusive, fragmentary impressions of wonder, beauty, and adventurous expectancy which are conveyed to me by certain sights (scenic, architectural, atmospheric, etc. ), ideas, occurrences, and images encountered in art and literature. I choose weird stories because they suit my inclination best - one of my strongest and most persistent wishes being to achieve, momentarily, the illusion of some strange suspension or violation of the galling limitations of time, space, and natural law which forever imprison us and frustrate our curiosity about the infinite cosmic spaces beyond the radius of our sight and analysis. These stories frequently emphasise the element of horror because fear is our deepest and strongest emotion, and the one which best lends itself to the creation of Natur
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Writing convincing dialogue is one of the hardest things for new writers to
master.
In fact, it s so rarely done well in any form of fiction that when it is done right,
people rally around it.
The movie Pulp Fiction, Terry McMillan s novel Waiting to
Exhale, and the TV series My So-Called Life were all remarkable in large part...
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Writing convincing dialogue is one of the hardest things for new writers to master. In fact, it s so rarely done well in any form of fiction that when it is done right, people rally around it. The movie Pulp Fiction, Terry McMillan s novel Waiting to Exhale, and the TV series My So-Called Life were all remarkable in large part because of how believably the characters spoke. Here s the kind of dialog you read in many beginners stories: "What happened to you, Joe?" "Well, Mike, I was walking down the street, and a man came up to me. I said to him, `What seems to be the difficulty? He replied, `You owe me a hundred dollars. But I said I didn t. And then he hit me. " Here s how real people talk: "Christ, man, what happened?" "Well, umm, I was goin down the street, y know, and this guy comes up to me, and I m like, hey, man, what s up? And he says to me, he says, `You owe me a hundred bucks, and I m like no way, man. In your dreams. Then -- pow! I m on the sidewalk. " See the d
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A Handbook of Rhetorical Devices
ROBERT HARRIS
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA COLLEGE
VERSION DATE: AUGUST 19, 1997
This book contains definitions and examples of more than sixty traditional rhetorical devices, all of which
can still be useful today to improve the effectiveness, clarity, and enjoyment of your writing.
Note: This
book was written...
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A Handbook of Rhetorical Devices ROBERT HARRIS SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA COLLEGE VERSION DATE: AUGUST 19, 1997 This book contains definitions and examples of more than sixty traditional rhetorical devices, all of which can still be useful today to improve the effectiveness, clarity, and enjoyment of your writing. Note: This book was written in 1980. The devices presented are not in alphabetical order. To find a particular device, use the Find command from the Edit menu in Netscape or your browser. This file is 134K in size, and requires approximately 41 pages to print out. A Preface of Quotations Whoever desires for his writings or himself, what none can reasonably condemn, the favor of mankind, must add grace to strength, and make his thoughts agreeable as well as useful. Many complain of neglect who never tried to attract regard. It cannot be expected that the patrons of science or virtue should be solicitous to discover excellencies which they who possess them shade and disguise.
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Lectures: 63
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