Great blog about making tough female characters sympathetic over at Paperback Writer.
http://pbackwriter.blogspot.com/2009/04/writing-tc.html
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Monday, April 27, 2009
World Building
What are elements of a well built world?
I'm not even going to talk about them all here, but rather try to 'think out loud' through several posts and unstick my current issue with my WIP.
There are a ton of articles and how to's online. They all start in different places, which is interesting. Where do you start?
Every time I do world building I start from a different place, but always with a question.
Why is [this character] the way they are? This is useful because we are all products of our genetics and environment. Is the character human? If not there is a lot more work to do.
Why is [this environment] the way it is? This is an area where I really struggle. I'm a science teacher by day and find it hard to accept bad science in science fiction. Still I can't write a story were it take my MC 200 years to get where they are going. So enter the wormhole (or tubes as I've been calling them in my WIP).
And while doing this, how much jargon is appropriate?
I'm not even going to talk about them all here, but rather try to 'think out loud' through several posts and unstick my current issue with my WIP.
There are a ton of articles and how to's online. They all start in different places, which is interesting. Where do you start?
Every time I do world building I start from a different place, but always with a question.
Why is [this character] the way they are? This is useful because we are all products of our genetics and environment. Is the character human? If not there is a lot more work to do.
Why is [this environment] the way it is? This is an area where I really struggle. I'm a science teacher by day and find it hard to accept bad science in science fiction. Still I can't write a story were it take my MC 200 years to get where they are going. So enter the wormhole (or tubes as I've been calling them in my WIP).
And while doing this, how much jargon is appropriate?
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
On First Drafts
I'm slogging through my first draft of my latest WIP. First drafts always pose a challenge. This time I spent lots of time thinking through the plot and I even went so far as to do a basic outline of each chapter. Now I'm on chapter 11 and I realize my characters wouldn't react the way I had outlined.
Back to the drawing board or in my case the white board. The white board is the most helpful writing tool I have. Just sitting in front of it and ideas come pouring out of me. So that's this weekend's plan...even though its going to be gorgeous outside. Perhaps a little nature hike will also help unstick me. Its worth a try!
Back to the drawing board or in my case the white board. The white board is the most helpful writing tool I have. Just sitting in front of it and ideas come pouring out of me. So that's this weekend's plan...even though its going to be gorgeous outside. Perhaps a little nature hike will also help unstick me. Its worth a try!
Monday, April 20, 2009
Agent for a Day
My query was picked for Nathan Bransford's Agent for a Day.
I will the first to admit it wasn't ready to go since it was a first draft (and a couple people caught that), but I couldn't turn down an opportunity to get some feedback.
And get feedback I did. A big thanks to everyone who left specific comments.
The biggest thing people didn't like was the sci-fi terminology. How much to include was (is) something I struggle with. I love it when authors just drop me into their worlds, but the query may not be the place to do that. Thoughts?
I'm back to work on it putting all the great advice to polish it up.
I will the first to admit it wasn't ready to go since it was a first draft (and a couple people caught that), but I couldn't turn down an opportunity to get some feedback.
And get feedback I did. A big thanks to everyone who left specific comments.
The biggest thing people didn't like was the sci-fi terminology. How much to include was (is) something I struggle with. I love it when authors just drop me into their worlds, but the query may not be the place to do that. Thoughts?
I'm back to work on it putting all the great advice to polish it up.
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