Recently, I had main characters stuck in a scene that was good, but I couldn't get a solution to work that would get them out of the scene and onto the rest of the plot. I ended up digging out the main characters from an old, stale idea, and dropping them into the new story as important side characters. Not only did they fix the issues I was having in that scene, they replaced some undeveloped side characters I was going to have to write later anyway. And two of my favorite characters that I created ages ago but never did anything with get a whole new opportunity!
The irony of a novel length story is how short 50,000 words actually is. Concise doesn’t even begin to describe how deceptively tight a seemingly sprawling work feels to the writer. The chapters become something like short stories with a common theme.
Damn sure, it is... I had a story idea two years ago. I didn't even imagine it will fill more then 20-30 pages to finish the whole stuff... Well, a few months later I had 600+ pages of google docs... And I didn't even start the main storyline. The whole stuff is just like a "prologue". Ok-ok, it's a finished novel, but it is just a "how it was made" story...
@@robertsuter4671 I guess, we are in similar shoes then :) I mean, at this point I'm pretty sure my story won't fit into a trilogy either. Although, to be honest, this idea ripened for like 2 decades in my head. No wonder there is a lot more to it, than I initially tought... Not to mention, I planned this as a "neverending" story anyway. To be precies the world and the characters are the framework in which I plan to explore a lot of different concepts. Only issue is this first book is the foundation of everything else, so there is a lot I want to tell :)
Elegance has been a driving force in my writerly development. I find it such a delicious challenge to write the most with the little while being totally understandable.
I see the more easy going and comical scenes as a breather and something you should miss and hope that the characters will be able to enjoy again when they go through absolute trauma, and also something you as a reader will miss when you hopefully get a bit traumatized too. I have lots of heavy subject in my fantasy, absolute horrors even though I refrain from going into explicit details of the actual events, and it's basically because I focus a lot on writing what I know and I have so many horrible experiences I feel like it would be a waste not interpreting them into something I can use for my story, and it also will give a sense that it wasn't just a waste to go through for me. And I think those happier scenes bring you hope that even though the world can be a horrible place there's also a lot of joy and I kind of want to give a message that you can be able to enjoy the beauty in the world again even if you have seen the worst it has to offer. But I also think you should focus on character build and relationships with some hints connecting it to the main plot and not just shove it randomly in there. It will interupt the story, so I get you have to be careful no matter your purpose when you write... anything, actually. (I'm swedish btw so sorry for my english)
My biggest mistake so far was thinking that I have time to write. All my ideas are connected to one story I want to write (and I wrote most of introduction for 55k words). No time to die.
I'm more committed to my ideia than to writing in general. I mean, I'm interested in my story to the point where I didn't even consider to put it aside because I'm a beginner, and I'd rather spend decades developing and expanding it than thinking about new stories/worlds. At least for now 😅
Simplicity and purpose. The cornerstones of almost everything. Just the nuggets I need to get out of my embarrassing, greasy, chocolate stained post-Christmas lethargy. Now all I have to worry about is the dandruff. Happy new year. Excellent words. Thanks.
Don't get me wrong, there's a time and place for masturbatory use of 40 point scrabble words, but... most writing should be invisible. I think it's good to wordsmith your way through important character introductions or other key moments that you want the reader to slow down and dwell on, but if you do that too much the reader is going to spend less time thinking about your story and more time thinking about how much you must like to hear the sound of your own keyboard clattering. Most of the time, efficient, no-bullshit narrative helps your writing disappear so the reader can just read the story. The best novels I've read, I might remember a couple fun turns of phrase the author used here or there but mostly I remember the characters and what they were doing.
Yes! Do not wait for THE IDEA, just go and try and good ideas will pop up. I wrote a short story about a guy who pooped into his boss's copy machine. What a shi*y idea, right? Well, people like that story for some reason.
I think I'm paraphrasing the world's greatest stand-up, Doug Stanhope, when I say that everything that comes out the bottom or goes in the bottom is funny. Them's the rules.
The good thing about being an author is that ideas never really leave you. Write them down and you can always revisit them
Recently, I had main characters stuck in a scene that was good, but I couldn't get a solution to work that would get them out of the scene and onto the rest of the plot. I ended up digging out the main characters from an old, stale idea, and dropping them into the new story as important side characters. Not only did they fix the issues I was having in that scene, they replaced some undeveloped side characters I was going to have to write later anyway. And two of my favorite characters that I created ages ago but never did anything with get a whole new opportunity!
The irony of a novel length story is how short 50,000 words actually is. Concise doesn’t even begin to describe how deceptively tight a seemingly sprawling work feels to the writer. The chapters become something like short stories with a common theme.
Couldn't agree more!
Damn sure, it is... I had a story idea two years ago. I didn't even imagine it will fill more then 20-30 pages to finish the whole stuff... Well, a few months later I had 600+ pages of google docs... And I didn't even start the main storyline. The whole stuff is just like a "prologue". Ok-ok, it's a finished novel, but it is just a "how it was made" story...
@ It actually sounds more like a duology or trilogy. I had a a short story morph into a quadrilogy once. 125,000 words total.
@@robertsuter4671 I guess, we are in similar shoes then :) I mean, at this point I'm pretty sure my story won't fit into a trilogy either.
Although, to be honest, this idea ripened for like 2 decades in my head. No wonder there is a lot more to it, than I initially tought... Not to mention, I planned this as a "neverending" story anyway. To be precies the world and the characters are the framework in which I plan to explore a lot of different concepts. Only issue is this first book is the foundation of everything else, so there is a lot I want to tell :)
@ Then tell it. For your sake, and then for others.
Elegance has been a driving force in my writerly development. I find it such a delicious challenge to write the most with the little while being totally understandable.
While revising something I wrote 10 years ago today, I found a “I let out the breath I didn’t know I was holding.” Boy did I cringe.
I see the more easy going and comical scenes as a breather and something you should miss and hope that the characters will be able to enjoy again when they go through absolute trauma, and also something you as a reader will miss when you hopefully get a bit traumatized too. I have lots of heavy subject in my fantasy, absolute horrors even though I refrain from going into explicit details of the actual events, and it's basically because I focus a lot on writing what I know and I have so many horrible experiences I feel like it would be a waste not interpreting them into something I can use for my story, and it also will give a sense that it wasn't just a waste to go through for me. And I think those happier scenes bring you hope that even though the world can be a horrible place there's also a lot of joy and I kind of want to give a message that you can be able to enjoy the beauty in the world again even if you have seen the worst it has to offer. But I also think you should focus on character build and relationships with some hints connecting it to the main plot and not just shove it randomly in there. It will interupt the story, so I get you have to be careful no matter your purpose when you write... anything, actually.
(I'm swedish btw so sorry for my english)
The cat is the true main character of the video, you my friend are the illiterate John of his world
My biggest mistake so far was thinking that I have time to write. All my ideas are connected to one story I want to write (and I wrote most of introduction for 55k words). No time to die.
Thanks Carl. I find your videos encouraging and your topics relatable.
I'm more committed to my ideia than to writing in general. I mean, I'm interested in my story to the point where I didn't even consider to put it aside because I'm a beginner, and I'd rather spend decades developing and expanding it than thinking about new stories/worlds. At least for now 😅
Thank you
Simplicity and purpose. The cornerstones of almost everything. Just the nuggets I need to get out of my embarrassing, greasy, chocolate stained post-Christmas lethargy. Now all I have to worry about is the dandruff. Happy new year. Excellent words. Thanks.
Very enlightening. I agree with every point, especially the last. Thanks.
Don't get me wrong, there's a time and place for masturbatory use of 40 point scrabble words, but... most writing should be invisible. I think it's good to wordsmith your way through important character introductions or other key moments that you want the reader to slow down and dwell on, but if you do that too much the reader is going to spend less time thinking about your story and more time thinking about how much you must like to hear the sound of your own keyboard clattering. Most of the time, efficient, no-bullshit narrative helps your writing disappear so the reader can just read the story. The best novels I've read, I might remember a couple fun turns of phrase the author used here or there but mostly I remember the characters and what they were doing.
But do you even need the dialogue tag "asked" when you add a question mark?
Yes! Do not wait for THE IDEA, just go and try and good ideas will pop up. I wrote a short story about a guy who pooped into his boss's copy machine. What a shi*y idea, right? Well, people like that story for some reason.
I think I'm paraphrasing the world's greatest stand-up, Doug Stanhope, when I say that everything that comes out the bottom or goes in the bottom is funny. Them's the rules.
Did you take the Farland lecture series?
I actually find writing a novel- first draft, needs to be quick. If it takes more than a month it will probably not get finished.
Sounds like a personal workflow - fast drafting like that could never work for me, but I've got two manuscripts waiting for further polishing.
i wish i wrote that fast lol
I am cat. You will pay attention to me.