I self published on Amazon’s Kindle unlimited, which tells the author how many pages someone reads. What an eye-opening slap in the face. Seeing those DNFs made me take down my book and try again. Now I’m glad I did.
So... subconsciously annoying prose, no rooting interest, and poor expectations. Frankly, this sounds rather like picking a damning choice from a list of damning choices, You have to have *some* prose style, and a certain number of people are going to hate it. And deciding what someone is going to be interested in, and their expectations, are both sort of the same thing. Perhaps the best advice is: withing the bounds of sanity, write to please yourself? And where's the cat?
I was half expecting Erikson to show up in comments. And then I would’ve wondered how many people recognized it was actually him (if he didn’t introduce himself, which, frankly, he likely would have).
Ahh man you won't believe what happened. I don't know how on Earth it happened. My gosh. It's so horrible. On my Scrivener software--truly am baffled--my Scene 1 from Chapter 1 is gone. It's gone. The first scene. The eye capturing scene that... I can't really remember because I wrote it, kept on writing and never really reread it because I am not revising yet... and now I go look through all my chapters.... AND THE MOST IMPORTANT ONE is gone. Well, its the most important scene of the first chapter. Well, I suppose the inciting incident is the most important scene of chapter one. BUT YOU GET WHAT I MEAN! The opening scene! It just disappeared, no data of it in my software. And its all one file, I cannot explain how it vanished. The woes of writing. Mind you, I've heard worse horror stories where authors lose their entire hard dive and can't restore their data. omgosh. worse nightmare even. I just had a glitch. A setback. I was really vibing and flowing when I wrote it the first time. Well, you all know how important the opening scene is. You have to really bullseye the opening scene. Now, I have to rewrite it from memory. ugh!
The first draft never perfects the opening, for the rest of the tale must guide it. My advice to you is to read the rest of your novel first, then write the opening scene you use after that, based on the themes, ideas, characters and plot of the rest.
I was listening to ''The Way of Kings'' audiobook the other night, and I noticed how ''invisible'' Sanderson's prose felt. It's tough. I've been working on my books for a long time, but I think my writing can still feel a bit choppy. It's exactly as you say. People who read my stuff don't pick up on that, but I'm starting to see it, and I think that's a very good thing. It means I am getting closer to the level of writing this story deserves.
Am I suffering from a writer's version of the Mandela effect? I could swear that for years, present tense was touted as being as potent a tool as active voice for carrying action and conveying intent. Now, I see it looked down on quite a bit. In my own WIP, I opted for present tense because [spoiler alert] the protagonist is experiencing her present through future remote viewing. Past tense made all the allusions to temporal split and unreliable narration feel clunky and definitive, whereas present tense allows for a little more of a subjunctive/conditional vibe.
It was. For way too fucking long. It’s never been good. I’m glad it’s stopped being touted as like, the king of the perspectives. It’s one of the most annoying things a writer can do in their work. I would see FAR less of it done.
Like, writing the opening scene isnt just something you can wing. Well, at least not for The Ancient World mega-multi-series, the future of literature entertainment. I spent weeks building up the flow and precision before I executed the first scene. I cant just piss out a rewrite of the opening scene. I gotta spend days rebuilding that flow and emotion and intensity of exposition and action. The first scene-first 4 paragraphs, heck the first paragraph, of a novel is super important!
Came for the cat, stayed for the bell peppers.
I self published on Amazon’s Kindle unlimited, which tells the author how many pages someone reads. What an eye-opening slap in the face. Seeing those DNFs made me take down my book and try again. Now I’m glad I did.
You are a funny man, Carl! I like your idea with the peppers 🫑 😅 and I also enjoyed your video as always :)
My prose must be the best prose in the world, because even I can't see it.
So... subconsciously annoying prose, no rooting interest, and poor expectations.
Frankly, this sounds rather like picking a damning choice from a list of damning choices, You have to have *some* prose style, and a certain number of people are going to hate it. And deciding what someone is going to be interested in, and their expectations, are both sort of the same thing. Perhaps the best advice is: withing the bounds of sanity, write to please yourself?
And where's the cat?
I was half expecting Erikson to show up in comments.
And then I would’ve wondered how many people recognized it was actually him (if he didn’t introduce himself, which, frankly, he likely would have).
Ahh man you won't believe what happened. I don't know how on Earth it happened. My gosh. It's so horrible.
On my Scrivener software--truly am baffled--my Scene 1 from Chapter 1 is gone. It's gone. The first scene. The eye capturing scene that... I can't really remember because I wrote it, kept on writing and never really reread it because I am not revising yet... and now I go look through all my chapters.... AND THE MOST IMPORTANT ONE is gone. Well, its the most important scene of the first chapter. Well, I suppose the inciting incident is the most important scene of chapter one. BUT YOU GET WHAT I MEAN! The opening scene! It just disappeared, no data of it in my software. And its all one file, I cannot explain how it vanished.
The woes of writing. Mind you, I've heard worse horror stories where authors lose their entire hard dive and can't restore their data. omgosh. worse nightmare even. I just had a glitch. A setback.
I was really vibing and flowing when I wrote it the first time. Well, you all know how important the opening scene is. You have to really bullseye the opening scene. Now, I have to rewrite it from memory.
ugh!
The first draft never perfects the opening, for the rest of the tale must guide it. My advice to you is to read the rest of your novel first, then write the opening scene you use after that, based on the themes, ideas, characters and plot of the rest.
I was listening to ''The Way of Kings'' audiobook the other night, and I noticed how ''invisible'' Sanderson's prose felt. It's tough. I've been working on my books for a long time, but I think my writing can still feel a bit choppy. It's exactly as you say. People who read my stuff don't pick up on that, but I'm starting to see it, and I think that's a very good thing. It means I am getting closer to the level of writing this story deserves.
Funny enough, his prose is one of the reasons he gets bashed on. Yet, it does what he intends so well.
Best of luck on your writing journey!
“Jibe” for the win!
Perfect ending 👌
"Well, joke's on you because I'm gonna stop this video before you can st--" Genius
Good content as usual, but I kept looking for the cat, so I'm pretty sure I missed a fair amount of the points.
Am I suffering from a writer's version of the Mandela effect? I could swear that for years, present tense was touted as being as potent a tool as active voice for carrying action and conveying intent. Now, I see it looked down on quite a bit. In my own WIP, I opted for present tense because [spoiler alert] the protagonist is experiencing her present through future remote viewing. Past tense made all the allusions to temporal split and unreliable narration feel clunky and definitive, whereas present tense allows for a little more of a subjunctive/conditional vibe.
I really like present tense for the same reason, and this whole time I thought it was a personal thing!
It was. For way too fucking long.
It’s never been good. I’m glad it’s stopped being touted as like, the king of the perspectives. It’s one of the most annoying things a writer can do in their work. I would see FAR less of it done.
But also, like, no offense.
No offense, but all offense.
...
We would appreciate some elaboration.
Like, writing the opening scene isnt just something you can wing.
Well, at least not for The Ancient World mega-multi-series, the future of literature entertainment.
I spent weeks building up the flow and precision before I executed the first scene.
I cant just piss out a rewrite of the opening scene. I gotta spend days rebuilding that flow and emotion and intensity of exposition and action. The first scene-first 4 paragraphs, heck the first paragraph, of a novel is super important!
I finish 99% of the novels I start. I couldn’t finish The Secret History.
Where is the cat?
The peppers are a hint. The cat is in the kitchen
@@steffenpanning2776 Funny, Carl doesn't look Haitian....
I'll go now.
If you use the kav cycle then it hooks the reader
I loved I An Not A Serial Killer *because* of the demons.
I just finished reading "This is How You Lose the Time War." Would you say that's an example of NOT invisible prose?
🤣
Jokes on you cause I'm going to end this vid-
You failed to meet my pepper expectations... but I could stop watching fast enough!