Rules of Writing Question

When information becomes free and universally accessible, voluminous research for a novel is devalued along with it.

True?  False? Discuss.

Rules of Writing Question

Jonathan Franzen said "It's doubtful that anyone with an Internet connection at his workplace is writing good fiction."

What do you think?

Personally, I would go nuts without having the Internet, mostly because I couldn't bring my various reference books with me to England, so my dictionary, thesaurus and anything-else-I-need-to-look-up are online.  I work 9-6 at a day job, so the library isn't an option for me either.  I use the Internet to fact-check, come up with character names and, yes, to procrastinate.

Rules of Writing Question

Anne Enright says that only bad writers think that their work is really good.

Do you agree?

Rules of Writing Question

 Geoff Dyer, in his 10 rules of writing says:  

Have more than one idea on the go at any one time. If it's a choice between writing a book and doing nothing I will always choose the latter. It's only if I have an idea for two books that I choose one rather than the other. I ­always have to feel that I'm bunking off from something.

Do you think it's better to have a few things on the go or to focus on one project at a time?

Another Random Question about Writing

Thought I might make this a weekly thing.  So here's today's question:

Do you think there is an unbreakable rule regarding (ad)verbs to carry dialogue?

I've heard it said many times that writers should never use any word other than "said" to carry dialogue and that adverbs should be avoided altogether.  What are your thoughts?

Personally, I use tonnes of other verbs to carry dialogue (the two most frequent being "told" and "admitted", though I'm also fond of "mumbled" and "screamed"), but I try to avoid awkward ones like "intoned" or "admonished" unless I'm trying to convey something really specific.  I also like to use verbs which you aren't technically supposed to apply to speech, like "smiled" and "sneered" - and I think in children's books, it's fair game to go ahead and include ones like "huffed" and "snarled", especially if your characters are animals.

Genre Crossovers

I like the idea of taking two kind of tired, slightly worn-out genres and blending them into something new. Terry Pratchett does this with satire/social commentary and epic fantasy. The writers of Pluto Nash attempted it with crime drama, comedy and science fiction and failed miserably.

Just wondering if anyone has any more examples of genre-mashing, whether brilliantly done or painfully unsuccessful. Also, are there any combinations you'd like to see but haven't, or any you'd like to write (/plan to write/are in the middle of writing)?

Pop into the comments and let us know.

I'm currently working on a post-apocalyptic(ish) fantasy road-trip thing. I like what I've written so far, but the going is slow. I think that has a lot to do with trying to keep the world and characters true to themselves but inclusive of each other.

Picking Your Battles (or, at least the order they come in)

I have so much going on right now. Not just in my non-writing life (which is wonderful and crazy-intense), but my writing world as well. I've got my normal 60+ stories on the go - I've been trying to pear (pare?) the list down to just a few, so I can complete some of them, and I think I'm down to about 5 that I'm actively writing. What I've discovered: 5 is still too many. I remember the wonderful years between '02 and '07ish, when I could keep all of my characters and storylines mostly straight in my head (2004 saw the introduction of the Characters spreadsheet, which I used to keep my 300+ characters in order and avoid reusing names), when I could write two or three novels simultaneously and not get confused, or figure out the entire plot to a new story and keep it straight in my head long enough to write it down.

So the question is, how do I narrow my list down even further? I don't want to give up on any of my stories, I'd like to think that I'll write them all, eventually, but the problem is that for every story I complete I start at least two, so how am I ever going to achieve that?

To get the 5, I've used a rough set of criteria based on what I feel like writing, what I can complete in the shortest amount of time and what has the greatest publishing potential, all of which, for reasons I don't quite understand, kind of makes me feel like a sell out. I don't know what else I can do to shorten the list, I honestly don't.

So how do I (or how does any writer) decide which projects to work on and which to push to the (seemingly endless) back burner?

Preconceptions: What People Think of Writers

I think there is a propensity among professionals in general to believe their profession is among the noblest, most difficult and most incomprehensible to others - and for the most part, I don't think we writers are any different*. Sure, we understand the necessity devoting time, energy, money, blood, sweat and tears to our passion, but try explaining it to someone else. Not easy.

I've only recently started allowing myself to tell people I'm a writer. A strange feeling comes over me, like somehow I'm tricking them, like a beauty school student telling people s/he's a professional stylist, like I'm not a real writer yet. I know this is ridiculous, since I've been a real writer, heart and soul, since I was about four (the first time, to anyone's recollection, that I proclaimed "I have to write this down" - and without any further explanation, allowed the crayons and colouring book I was holding to fall to the floor and promptly disappeared into my bedroom) and a published (and indeed selling) writer for almost a year. But it still feels weird.

I know how many writers feel about this glorious, insane, impossible, wonderful profession, and how many of us feel about ourselves. What I'm interested in (for the purposes of this article), is what other people think about us - and how their preconceptions (or lack thereof) change ours.

When I tell people I'm a writer, one of the first things they (almost) always ask is, "Anything I'd know?" It's a good question, it shows interest, but I still fear it because I know the answer is no. Not even probably not, just, no. From there, their reactions can go anywhere.


Pleasantly, a lot of people seem to have the That's Amazing reaction, the one where they tell me they could never write and that they're fascinated by people who can, then proceed to ask me a million questions about my writing, my process, my whateverelsetheycanthinkof - which I am only too happy to answer. These people usually insist that I'll be famous soon, too, which I like, even if it is a baseless assertion.

Almost as many people (possibly more and I just trick myself into mentally fudging the numbers a little) have the Stunned Silence and Change the Subject reaction, where they say "Oh," or "Ah," or contrive to make an even less committal noise, then start talking about their cold or their dog or the exhaust pipe they need to have fixed on their car. It always makes me feel a little judged.

And of course, there is always the myriad of reactions we get from our family and friends when they find out we plan to make a career out of this thing called writing. In my experience, they have just as wide of a range as those of strangers and casual acquaintances.

There is the Go For It! reaction. It involves words of encouragement, help with writer's block, help with brainstorming and editing - and the understanding that when we are typing, completely ignoring what they're trying to tell us, it's not personal.

There's Go For It, But Be Careful. Supportive, cautionary, still overall not a bad reaction to have.

Then there's the Fall Back, the reaction basically suggests that eventually, you'll grow out of this phase and want to settle down and get a real job - and you should prepare for that eventuality, you know, just in case.

And, of course, there's the rare (although never rare enough) Why Don't You Get a Real Job? reaction. The one that can make you want to scream, throw things or just shake your head in bemused disgust. I'm happy to say that this is one reaction that I can't seem to get my head around, and as a result, I never take it seriously.

Have I missed any? I'm not certain what brought on this little catalogue of reactions, but I'd like it to be as complete as possible. I'm nothing, if not thorough.

*Of course, in our case, it's true ;)

The People You Know

***First of all, I'd like to wish everyone a happy 2011 filled with book deals and adoring fans.***

Most writers write with an audience in mind, even if that audience is only a vague: people like me. Sometimes it's way more specific, with age, gender, even socioeconomic standing or ethnicity taken into consideration. Who a writer writes for will vastly alter what s/he writes, not to mention what gets cut during editing.

So, what I'm wondering is, do you ever find yourself writing for the people you know? Do you worry about what your friends and family will think about a certain scene, concept or character? Do you avoid basing characters off of friends of friends or colleagues, in case they're recognized.

There's no denying it can get awkward. It's kind of hard to hand your Dad a piece of writing with a sex scene and say, here, read this and not feel weird about it.

The popular theory seems to be that it's not what, but who you know that will determine your success as a writer. One of the best tools a writer has is his/her circle of acquaintance. Word-of-mouth is an excellent form of promotion (I know I'm personally a lot more likely to read a book based on a recommendation from someone with similar taste than I am to read one because it's a best-seller), but I find it kind of difficult to approach people and ask them to promote me - and even more difficult if they themselves are not part of my target audience, or worse, I know they're likely to disapprove of what I've written.

So, do you skip sex scenes to prevent your dad from reading them, or skirt religious debates to avoid upsetting your grandparents, try not to rail against your day job to placate your boss?

Do you just not tell people what you're writing and hope that some never find out?

Alternatively, do you just write the way you want to write, release your writing into the world and reap the whirlwind (/backlash)?

I was terrified to let Aigaion Girl go. I wrote it happily enough, not really giving any thought to anything other than the flow of the story, the realism of the characters, the cadence of the prose--It never occurred to me that I should avoid certain topics or images - until I was getting ready to publish, and realized that somewhere along the way, there was good chance my grandmother was going to read it. She won't, thankfully*. I was actually a little surprised that I didn't experience more negativity from my extended family. I didn't send them all invitations to join my Facebook fan page or anything, but, especially with social networking sites like FB, it's kind of impossible to keep my writing secret from anyone without using a pseudonym.

So there's a question, too: Is it worth it to write under another name, so that you can write with abandon?

Really, I'm just curious to know how other writers deal with their family and friends when it comes to their writing - how much of a consideration friends and family are.


*I love my Gran and I don't want to read something that I know will upset her (I've since been told by others that the book is really sexual, which surprised me because all the sex scenes are fade-to-black).

Back to the grindstone...

Now that NaNo's all done with, and I've had a whole seven days to recover, I find myself wanting to write again. I had thought, a few days ago, that even putting a pen to paper would cause my head to explode in nasty ways, but it seems I'm wrong. Maybe it's because I've got time to sit around at work, sometimes, and I need something to occupy myself with, but really, I think it's because I'm something of a masochist. Also, a pleasant side effect of the whole NaNo thing is that I'm actually inspired to write more. Not on The Hollow of White Hazel, which was my NaNo story, but on the one about the princess who goes in search of her abducted prince, which is going to be my attempt at turning an entire genre on its ear.

Now that I've said that, I hope it works.

Anyway, has anyone else noticed the urge to write, inspite of the painful wrenching of brains that happened last month? Or not so painful wrenching of brains - some people here finished early, but I shan't name names. E. >:D But yeah...did you find NaNo has brought you to a whole new level of inspiration, or would you rather there were someway to burn the whole process of writing down like a matchstick factory in a high wind*?

Oh, and this is a discussion question. I'm bringing them back, yo**. Discuss.

*If this made no sense, blame the fact that it's 5am and I still have two hours before I can go home
** See above.

I've found another article that everyone might find interesting. This one's about an apparently pretty strong gender bias in the publishing world when it comes to book covers.


I Write A Nasty Book. And They Want A Girly Cover On It.

Discuss!

>:D

Freelance Writing

Godchecker put the link to this article up on their twitter account. I read it, and thought, "Everyone at DevCo would love this", and (even though Bean's already got Godchecker on her twitter follow list thingy), I figured I'd at least let E have a go. >:D

Really though; it's a good article about freelance writing and why you can get away without pants it's awesome

Why You Should Freelance (Despite All That Face-Punching Business)

Good discussion question from this: would you ever consider doing full time freelance writing, or would you rather have a specific publication/publisher?

An Interesting Article

Some People Just Need To Be Kicked In The 'Nads

It's the 'e-book vs. real book' thing again, only some tit has gone and made a deal with Amazon to sell all of the books he represents on nothing but kindle. Naturally, this has the publishers annoyed, especially since it cuts them right out of everything to do with the money involved. It also has me annoyed, because I don't want a Kindle and I doubt I ever shall. Apart from all of the other pros and cons...magnets can't erase words printed on a page.

Still...I don't think it's the death knell for paper publishing, as the article suggests. There will always be a market for paper books, amongst those with their heads screwed on straight. I do wish they'd come up with more sustainable sources for paper, though.

Oh...and this can count as this week's discussion question >:D

Discussion Questions...?

...Should we have them?

I'm guessing yes.

This week - Song Lyrics. What makes them so damned effective? Or not, as the case may be. Got some favourites?

Come on people - lets get this site moving again. >:D