@Margaret427
Last seen: Mon 17 May, 2021
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: A character with a dark background seeking redemption or an average character background, what is more thematically appropriate? This project is a sort of an attempt to deconstruct some tropes
This project is a sort of an attempt to deconstruct some tropes in fiction.
The story follows a Valkotr, it is a title, whom is tasked by the emperor of the evil empire to hunt down a chosen one party and bring them to justice. The Valktor is fairly smart and capable but the pesky teenagers group always manages to allude him because of basically magical elements that work in their favor giving them a deus ex machina after another.
Since I'm going for this theme here is what I'm thinking so far about this aspect. Remember this is just between us and won't make it to the pages like that, this is to make it easier for you and lets be honest it's not like I will ever get published.
While I use the word evil here I have made it really practical and overall very beneficial to people. Sure it is an absolute monarchy but things are far superiors to the older feudal ways in every regard.
The whole chosen one thing is actually an ancient demonic pact between the last remaining nobility who plotted against the emperor since he did not like them. Did not like this in the murdered all nobility not the kind of not invite them to your party.
However they got screwed in the timeline since the chosen one appeared 300 after the last noble died, I mean why would they trust demons is beyond me. The chosen one party is actually altruistic idiots and brainwashed to believe that the empire is evil and they need to overthrow it to free people.
Now the part I'm struggling with is the background to the Valktor guy.
I have 1 of 2 main ideas.
Dark past
Coming from islands faraway from the empire he is turned into banditry and violence until one day he is disgusted enough with himself that he decides to commit suicide.
By chance he is rescued by the imperial guard and gets to meet the big guy himself. He looks into his soul and somehow gives him and purpose and is all like: "Better to seek redemption than oblivion"
Average past
A son of a merchant wealthy guy that wastes his life away in pleasures and idling around.
You traditional sins and stuff here apply. Lots of drinking and whoring and gambling and even occasional violence from time to time.
I'll figure out a way for him to meet the emperor. But it should follow the same rules.
What I'm struggling with is what fits the themes more and why?
Coming from such darkness to seek redemption enforcing that the empire is actually pretty decent?
Or absolute hedonist pursuits without meaning until he meets the big guy?
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: Re: How can I expand my story to meet a minimum word count? I'm writing a sinister story for school and it has to be 500-1000 words. But I only have 414 words and I don't know what else to
Clarification and details. That's all you need to make anything longer. There were several points in your story where clarification could be utilized to make the story longer, but I think someone else covered that so I won't get into it.
As for details; Maybe you could describe exactly how the laugh sounded, or maybe in that space you could describe how it made her feel. Maybe it "sent chills down her spine," and "made her heart beat up to her throat." See what I mean? That right there is 16 extra words. Now do that a few times throughout the entire story, and you'll have more than 500 words in no time
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: Where to go next in the writing process? I'm a new writer, have been working on a novel length piece of work for the past couple of years, and I have always been the kind of person to
I'm a new writer, have been working on a novel length piece of work for the past couple of years, and I have always been the kind of person to just "wing it" and see what happens. After completing yet another draft of this book and feeling terribly disappointed by it, I decided it was time to do some research on how to plan a novel. Since then I've been reading mostly about how to build the plot of the novel and I have sketched out my plot, feeling better about it already than previous versions. This outline of my plot is not too terribly detailed but lines out the main plot points, why they need to happen and how they connect to one another. It also includes what types of conflict the characters face and how the plot point concludes and pushes the characters towards the next one. Over the course of my first few "drafts" I feel that I have developed a pretty good sense of who my characters are and what my settings will look like.
Now I'm wondering, what is the next step in the planning process? I really don't want to just dive in again telling myself that it will all come together because that approach has failed me in the past. What other planning steps or exercises can I do to make sure I have all the framework laid this time to write a good draft? Should my plot outline be more detailed than it is? If so, what else do I add to it without just turning it into another draft? How should I be thinking about my story at this point?
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: Is it poor technique to use a different characters POV for only a short scene in a novel length piece of work? Basically what I'm wondering here is if it's distracting or poor technique to
Basically what I'm wondering here is if it's distracting or poor technique to switch the view point character to one of the bad guys just for a few pages or a very short scene in a novel.
I'm working on a novel length piece of fiction and there is a time when the protagonist is captured by the antagonist. What happens then is that the antagonist gets the information that they want and decides it's better if the protagonist gets away so that no alarms are raised (the protagonist and company don't think that the antagonist has any important information that way).
I obviously want the reader to know that the antagonist let the protagonist get away to increase tension and raise the question of why but I don't want the main characters to realize this until much later, possibly not even until a later book in the series. What I've thought may be a good way to show this, without giving up too much information is by switching the viewpoint character to the antagonist but only for a very short chapter of the book. So far, the novel is written with two other viewpoint characters, both of whom are the main protagonists and even still, the viewpoint doesn't switch very often between the two.
So, will it be more of a distraction or even just poor technique to jump into the antagonists shoes for a brief scene?
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: How do characters push the ones they love away in a believable manner over the course of a novel? (not sure if this question belongs here, let me know if there's a better stack exchange category
(not sure if this question belongs here, let me know if there's a better stack exchange category for it and I will happily take it down)
I'm currently working on a story that involves a main character who's biggest flaw is her self-doubt, low self-esteem or lack of self-confidence. Whatever you want to call it. I'm thinking that she will show this deep self-doubt by pushing others away because she fears they'll learn too much about her and end up not liking her, an easy thing for her to believe if she doesn't like herself.
Does anyone know of good examples of characters like this? I know there are plenty out there but I'm having trouble thinking of many. I just want to look at and think about what a character like this does to slowly push the ones she loves away so that I can hopefully find some inspiration in how my character might do this throughout the novel.
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: Re: As a young author, how do you make people listen? I am an extremely young author. I don’t mean to sound like I’m bragging, but I think I am very good. They say the best readers are
I can't add much more. But now that we are in the age of social networks, take advantage and spread small parts of your work. You can create a YouTube channel. But the main thing about your job is auditions, so creating a podcast can also be a good idea. Sorry if my English is not very good.
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: Re: Can I publish a book set in the Harry Potter universe? I know similar questions have been asked. But also, consider that I want to publish a book in countries other than the US or UK.
You can put it on a fan page without permission and you wouldn't get in trouble. But otherwise you'd have to get permission from the original creator. If you do that though you're all good!
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: Re: How do I write from a girl's POV? Ok, I know this question might seem a little bit weird. But I really need to know. How do I write from a girl's POV? I'm a 13 year old boy and I'm
First I have to say: respect.
I think it's great that you are highly motivated at such a young age and even willing to write in many genres.
With that out of the way. I have to disagree about: all humans are mostly the same.
This sort of thing leads to writing a Roman emperor as you would write a modern female radio host. This is the Hollywood approach and a lot of the time it leads to hilarious characters voicing absurd ideas.
I don't want to get into how humans are not all the same. I will touch on that later. But basically people are different.
Different how? Easy. Their emotions, expectation, reasoning...etc.
Sure you can understand bad things in history and even serial killers, genocide, rape, torture...etc. But that does it mean that all humans are equal.
Merely that we posses the intelligence to understand and sympathize with all human actions.
Anyway not to bore you with theory I just do it like this
Mechanical approach. With external context and internal context.
External is where are they? What is their class? What is their family? What are the past important experiences that changed them?...etc.
All of this is solved by deciding the setting.
If I write a story about an average middle class guy in Italy who works as a programmer he is probably Christian, probably loves football...etc. Does that mean all Italians are like that? Of course not. Just the average.
A liberal activist radio host in NY. Atheist, Karl Marx, liberal in certain things, feminist, vegan...etc.
This is not to stereotype or anything. But basically how to represent the average person of the group honestly but have your own twist.
I also despise the approach of writing all characters to be a mouth piece for my and my views. Which is very popular now.
So. Before I lose you here is how what I wrote changes things.
The Italian guy might lament the control of Northern Italian football clubs and how his club will never win. He missed church one day and his mother called him to shout at him and he feels guilty. When he arrived to work to find a huge security breach because an idiot had a password of 123456789Ab.
All those little details adds authenticity to the story, Those are the little touches that when an Italian reads is like: Yep. That's how it works.
Now remove all those things and their effect and you have a grey blob of a human
So. you are always looking for those little touches to add. Like salting your food.
So. I think it is now clear that those external factors play a huge part.
A guy who a millionaire probably won't bother with checking to see if that restaurant is within his price range or not. Those moments of anxiety as you are worried that your card might get declined, despite knowing for a fact that you have enough and double checking you whole order and doing the math, and that invaluable relief when it is accepted.
This can be a point of tension in a relationship.
So. We are now connecting things. Because A is much richer B is finding A's life style problematic. Same with religion or looks or life style...etc.
Internal context.
The realm of absolute mystery and terra incognita.
Well. Not that much.
I can't even begin to mention the big five personality module.
It really helped my in my own life in general and also writing.
So. Even if you are not a writer you need to know about it. It would provide incredible insights into who you are.
I will simply say something like this: introvert and extrovert.
You always want to go out, you always want to stay at home. A very common point of tension.
This is an actual problem in relationships between humans. When A is high and B is low and they are not aware of such a thing it leads to that...etc
How many parent tortured their kids for being introverted or disagreeable...etc?
Same with the rest of the big five traits. If people are not aware of those differences this leads them to believe that the other person is wrong and they need to change. Which obviously causes trouble.
We are not done yet. The internal context is the exclusive domain of the writer.
Here you can play around the most. You can create the most interesting interactions and have a character be hit with tragedy become stronger or weaker.
Here people are changed, made, altered, tested, destroyed...etc.
Because there is not a 1:1 mathematical certainty between experience and mentality here you can do what you want as long as it makes sense.
I just read yesterday this comment on a YT video
I read a story where “that guy†agreed to design his next character
with a friend (they both alternated picking traits for each other’s
characters) He ended up playing a Pocahontas like barbarian whose
tribe was murdered by some guy Obviously his goal was to hunt down the
guy, but his friend said the character wouldn’t kill him Over time
this character developed from stand-offish to genuinely nice and kind,
and at the end of the campaign there was a massive naval battle The
guy who killed Pocahontas’s tribe was leading the enemy navy, and she
walked through a hail of black powder shot and sword blows, dying only
a few feet in front of him The DM allowed Pocahontas one more action
so the formerly antisocial player described his character as she
reached down, beaten and bloodied beyond recognition From a pocket
she pulled out, not a knife or a gun, but a flower from her tribe, the
tribe slaughtered by the man who stood before her She pushed it up to
his chest and whispered “I forgive you†before dying Since then the
player has been unable to play antisocial PCs The actual story is
longer and better, but the idea of players changing by playing
characters they normally don’t seems interesting at the very least
For context that guy refers to board game players, like D&D, who are really problematic from small things to basically forcing you to ban them or even not being friends with them.
I found this comment fascinating for obvious reasons.
So. Such a comment clearly shows how people. If all abused children grow up to be abusive we would all be abused. It is your job and privilege to handle those aspects. Perhaps the lone wolf paranoid ranger is a good person deep down. Perhaps the charitable princess is a power hungry manipulator. Maybe the priest loses their faith once the demon shows up in the room. Maybe the evil drug lord can find redemption.
All those plots are not only about external things but how you decide that the mind and soul of your characters act.
Perhaps I'm too much of a mechanical writer, I guess you can say architect, but honestly this just make a lot more sense to me.
Humans are complicated and solving the problems using actual proven tactics and science seems to help me figure out the larger context of people.
My female character seems to be her our person, or I hope so, because I made sure
that her background influenced her as well as her own basic psychological model
Now call it good or bad this is how I approach humanity. People are usually a lot less complicated if you actually invest the time in actually observing and listening instead of judging.
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: Re: All my characters sound the same. How can I change this? I am writing a fantasy series. I am a new writer. I am almost done with the first draft of the first book, I have about 400 pages.
This one's pretty simple, I think.
Hello fellow new contributor! Let's see if I can help you out here!
I'm a 13 year old writer and I almost had this same problem. But, luckily, I fixed it. And it wasn't nearly as hard as I had thought it would be.
All it takes is a little bit of experience with your characters. You have to get to know your character before you can do anymore here. I think the problem here might be that you're writing your book without really "transporting" yourself into the dimension with them. After you get to know your characters well enough, it'll be easy enough to distinguish how your characters should sound when they talk. If this doesn't work though, than I'd just say study the way people around the world, or even people you know, talk. Then figure out the personalities of all of your characters, and match the way they talk with the way the specific person talks.
Overall though, I feel like that's how most novels are. It's pretty hard to make someone talking sound different than another person talking when all you can really do is put dialogue tags and hope it works, as well as putting how they said it after the sentence. If nothing I said here works than I really don't have anything else for you. I just really wanted to respond because I know it really sucks having a really important question that no one will answer. And plus, I'm sure you want reputation just as much as I do lol.
Good luck!
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: Engage in online creative writing/fanfiction forums, with your parents' supervision. If you want to start writing, be aware that the first things you start writing will likely be really bad.
Engage in online creative writing/fanfiction forums, with your parents' supervision.
If you want to start writing, be aware that the first things you start writing will likely be really bad. This isn't because of your age, but because you're new to writing - it's been said that the first million words anyone writes will be garbage, so if writing is a skill you want to work on, you'll want to get lots of practice!
One of the best ways to do that is to join an online creative writing community, where you can read other people's writing as well as post your own stories. Often, these are fanfiction communities revolving around a particular fandom; Harry Potter and Naruto were pretty popular about a decade ago, for instance.
Just make sure to get your parents' permission to join any of these online communities first, both because of legal reasons (you don't want them to get in trouble with the law, right?) and because that way your parents can monitor what you're doing, and make sure that you don't stumble across things you might not be old enough to really deal with yet - some fanfiction can cover pretty adult topics, in basically every meaning of the word.
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: Do literary magazines often value an author's reputation over the actual quality of his story? There have long been accusations of nepotism and elitism within the world of publishing. In this
There have long been accusations of nepotism and elitism within the world of publishing. In this case, I am referring specifically to literary magazines rather than publishing houses that publish novels (where the importance of established names and reputation is a lot more obvious). There have been testimonies by former insiders who work for literary magazine firms confirming these accusations. Also, many experiments have been carried out in which stories that had been previously published under people with established names were sent to magazines with the name on the transcript substituted for that of an unknown individual and the stories were rejected in such a way that it was clear that the people doing the rejection were unaware that the story had been previously published.
Furthermore, I myself have seen quite a number of stories that were published in magazines by well-known authors that were of shockingly inferior quality, both in terms of prose and engagement, to stories that I and other relatively new and unknown authors have written. One example I will use is that of a very famous person: Stephen King. I know that this may be sacrilege to many people, but the fact is that, while King is a very admirable novel writer, many of his short stories have been very unimpressive. One glaring example of this is the novelette ‘The Moving Finger’. This story is light years away in quality from ‘Children of the Corn,’ for example, which was a shorter story and truly entertaining and well-written. The Moving Finger drags on for far too long and is basically pointless. Yet, remarkably, this dull and rather ridiculous story was published by Fantasy and Science Fiction magazine. What makes it even more remarkable is that I know from experience that this same magazine (as well as others) rejects submissions (even with forms) that are far superior in quality to this story. In other words, stories that are far more engaging, profound and meaningful.
Is it right that this sort of thing regularly happens in the literary publication industry? These are the sorts of perceived problems involving professional ethics and honesty that I have been trying to draw attention to but which my attempts to do so are met with resistance by people who favor the status quo.
I know that one can argue that stories with big names on them attract readers, but, at the same time, I think literary magazines should hold big name authors to the same high standards that they presumably hold others. I think it is better not only for their reputation and sales but also because it is ethical. The same reply applies to the argument that they are private entities and are thus entitled to do whatever they want. After all, they strongly give authors the impression on their websites that quality is what they are after. Nowhere on their websites do they say anything like “Oh, by the way, if someone with a well-known name sends to us, we will still prefer that one over yours even if yours is more engaging†or “make sure you send us a really good and engaging story OR, alternatively, make sure you have a relatively big name.â€
[If you feel threatened by this question, you may feel free to close it.]
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: Re: Creating a unique spin on a nuclear apocalypse? Basically, my story follows a group of 6 people (and 1 mutant human) exploring a barren wasteland of what used to be the USA. The world they
Society doesn't entirely collapse. I think one of the most done-to-death tropes of apocalyptic fiction is that society is so screwed that there is nothing left but roving bands of Dangerous People Who Hurt Things.
I personally would like to see real progress being made in setting up a functioning society. Not everywhere has to be run by a madman, and not every working settlement has to be on the verge of collapse when the Dangerous People attack. Many pieces of fiction have this magical land that once you get there everything is OK (see Will Smith's parody of I am Legend for an example), but then the story ends. I want to know what happens inside, and how they face and get over their challenges.
You can still have those dangerous people, but it would definitely be unique to see a re-imagined restart of society that, despite challenges, is actually working.
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: Is frequent releasing of new books a good alternative to doing promotions? Is it true that releasing several well-written books consecutively/frequently will lead to sales without any need to do
Is it true that releasing several well-written books consecutively/frequently will lead to sales without any need to do promotions?
I have heard some indie-publishing authors/pundits say that a better (or alternative) way to push your books and have high sales is simply by releasing books frequently, and promotion is thus unnecessary. One particular strong advocate of this notion is an author called Dean W. Smith. In fact, he claims that the need for marketing/promotions is "a myth," and that all you have do is write and publish frequently and your books will promote themselves as people find them.
I would like to know if this is true, because I notice that the man has never provided any actual evidence to support his assertion. Does merely writing and releasing (good) books frequently work? And if so, why would that be? As i understand it, when a book is published on Amazon by an unknown author without doing any promotion of it, it merely sits there and sinks into the ocean and it will never get sold. Why would it make any difference if you add more books in the same way? Wouldn't they all just sink into the abyss?
Or perhaps what they mean is that doing so simply increases your odds of one of your books being accidentally seen by a customer (just like buying many lottery tickets increases your chances at winning a lottery). Is that simply what they mean? Because they never actually elaborate on how exactly they are claiming it works.
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: Software for Typing Scanscion Is there software specially designed for typing scanscion symbols synced with the words below them? In Word for example, inserting a 2 x 1 matrix , and increasing
Is there software specially designed for typing scanscion symbols synced with the words below them?
In Word for example, inserting a 2 x 1 matrix , and increasing the column incrementally for each syllable of a line, allows for stressed, breve, or partial stress symbols to be typed in the 1st row, and words in the 2nd, with vertical lines for feet division as seen below:
The problem with this method however is that the act of adding or deleting columns is tedious, as it requires a three click process just to add or delete a single column. So in efforts to save time one would need to create a template (2 x n) matrix (where n is the amount of syllables) and paste it every line.
So I'm wondering if there is any software better purposed for scanscion than my makeshift method.
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: Does a response agree or disagree with points they didn't address? Math teacher here. The problem is that I'm teaching a course where students are being asked to write online and then respond
Math teacher here. The problem is that I'm teaching a course where students are being asked to write online and then respond to each other. Suppose a student responds to disagree with a single point from the original post. With this type of writing, is it typically understood that they
a. agree with all the other points in the post
b. disagree with all the other points in the post, or
c. have no opinion (or at least have expressed no opinion).
I remember reading once, somewhere, that it's either choice a or b, but I can't remember which. On the other hand, if I were to apply math logic, it would clearly be c.
P.S. Is this expository writing? That's the tag I added, anyway.
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: Re: I want to write a male character, but I am lost I'm writing a new story. The main character is male. I know how to write from the viewpoint of a male (I am one), but I'm lost on writing
Straight or gay, men are men.
Some of the other answers you've gotten have focused on writing techniques, but I'm going to focus on the main point of your question: how to portray the sexuality of straight men. Firstly, however, I want to say that I'm going to be using stereotypes and generalizations in this answer. As always, when you're talking about people, there are always exceptions to every rule.
Based on my experiences as a heterosexual man, and my understanding of how the attraction of gay men tends to work, I think it's safe to say that, in general, men are men, and the basics of how their sexual attraction works are similar. The primary difference are in the objects of their attraction: men aren't women, as a result, the ways that their attractions expresses itself is different.
Both straight and gay men are very visually-focused. They want partners who they find physically attractive. Where gay men might find twinky boys, muscular bara men, or big hairy bears attractive depending on their personal tastes, heterosexual men fixate on the features of the female body. Some men like butts, some men like boobs, some men like legs. Some guys like fit, muscular women, and other guys like petite, slim women. Some guys even find women's feet sexually attractive, though that tends to be regarded as a (relatively common) sexual fetish. Basically, take your own experiences as a gay man admiring male bodies, and consider how a straight guy would admire female bodies.
Similarly, straight or gay, men generally want to sleep with lots of partners. It's a basic biological urge, based on how our gendered reproductive system works - it makes genetic sense for a man to try to spread his genetics as far as possible, while women want to obtain a single high-quality partner since the biological costs of having a child are much higher for them. As a result, gay men tend to be more promiscuous than heterosexual men, since neither party has as much of the biological drive towards gatekeeping intimacy that women do - if straight guys could go out to a night club and fuck a dozen willing women (and they didn't need to worry about things like STDs or accidental children), a lot of them would! However, women are generally choosier than men are, so that's a lot more difficult - sexual promiscuity and "harem building" is typically reserved for wealthy, high-ranking, or otherwise highly desirable men.
I'll also say that my understanding is that what women find attractive in men is different to what gay men find attractive in men. I've heard a number of complaints that female-written gay romances have a tendency to write the male protagonists as "women with penises", for instance. Reading a few of them and contemplating the differences to your own experiences as a gay man might help you better understand how female attraction works.
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: Re: How to maximize reader comprehension if worldbuilding is complicated? Parts of my worldbuilding are critical to the plot. If readers don't understand the world, they won't understand the stakes
Suppose we use your example: the MC has a monopoly on steam engines.
As a reader, I don't want to know that the Federation is a monopolistic oligarchy, or that two monopolies and ten billion market capitalization value would grant the possibility of joining the Council.
I want to know that MC is thinking about building airships.
He's really excited about this big idea, and dreams of his family's ships taking over the skies. Lost in his imagination, he doesn't pay enough attention to the steam engines. He's ignoring a backlog of customer complaints. And there was that horrible accident at the factory where Bob lost a hand. And some guy at the local tavern heard from a friend that Joe Bloggs is keeping an eye on MC, waiting for the opportunity to pounce, poach MC's disgruntled workers and take the steam engine monopoly for himself. And if the airship idea falls through - which it will, as MC's best mate reminds him, because MC is always having these weird ideas that go nowhere - then MC will be left with nothing. Nothing but the guards knocking at his door to take him away on a trumped up murder charge - he didn't mean to kill her, honest - that MC has been able to ignore for as long as he's been making steam engines. And now someone has stolen the plans for the airships...
Anyway, you get the point. I have no idea whether anything like this happens in your story. I don't know exactly what you mean when you say you've dramatized these concepts (but I don't think having characters say the technical terms in arguments counts). All I know is what I would want to know as a reader.
Hope that helps!
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: Re: How to Attribute Poem (written by someone else) in Novel I am writing historical fiction. I am contemplating my character to compose a poem that was actually composed by someone in India, likely
First, I would check on copyright information. Look for the publisher and contact them and get permission. They may give you a preferred way to cite the author. If it is still under copyright, they may not want you to use it, but they may be fine.
If they don't have a preference for citation, I would probably put the information on a Notes or Acknowledgement page. It would give you room for providing more information and won't interrupt the flow for the reader, who would probably wonder why your novel has a footnote. I've seen this kind of material (where a poem may use a line from a song, for example) done on separate pages.
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: How can I steer myself away from using pronouns too often as I write in 3rd person? I noticed that I use "she", "he", and "they"- and a lot of sentences also begin with the aforementioned
I noticed that I use "she", "he", and "they"- and a lot of sentences also begin with the aforementioned pronouns. How can I steer away from doing this so often as I write in 3rd person fiction? HERE IS AN EXAMPLE:
Rosa took off her shoes, and stepped onto the hardwood floors in the old Victorian home. She peered into the kitchen as she stood in the dining room, but there was no sight of a single soul around. She walked further down the hall, and that's when she heard the sounds of giggling voices, so she stopped midway. The voices sounded as if they were coming from the back bedroom, so she then proceeded to walk that way. Her heart thumped against her chest. She took one step forward, and that's when she heard it, the deafening scream.
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: Re: Republishing a poem from a lost journal I am not a professional poet. A few years a poem of mine was published and reviewed by the South Asian Ensemble journal. This journal no longer exists,
The short answer is that you shouldn't send it to any journal that states it does not publish works that have already been in print, regardless of whether or not it can still be found. Otherwise, you are misrepresenting the work. There are journals that will re-publish work and you should focus on submitting this poem to those. Check their guidelines.
I'm curious why you are so intent on having that one poem published again. If you were successful getting published once, why not work on other poems?
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: Re: Word Count Historical Fiction for Adults I am writing Historical Fiction for Adults. What is the acceptable word limit. Some places say 80K to 100K Others say 150K If it matters, I plan to
Novels, like movies, seem to be getting longer. This is not a criticism; it's merely an observation.
Ten years ago, I would have told you that a novel is anything of 80k words or more. Novellas are typically 50k words or less, and short stories are usually around the 10k mark.
But, I have read some books in recent times that were easily 150k, closer to 200k words. And these have been parts of a trilogy or series of other length. Some of these books are excellent. Others could have used a really good prune.
Here's my view, for what it's worth. Write your story first. Write it well. Then, count the number of words.
If you're at 60k, think about your story. Think about what character development you didn't do that you really wanted to, or what side plots would add context to your story, etc. Then write them.
If you're at 250k words, test whether or not your story needs to be that long, or alternatively whether it needs to be a single book.
Word counts are really good at defining whether the story we've told is a marketable product or not; if it doesn't fit within certain parameters, people might not want to buy it to read it. But, word counts are not a good indicator of whether we have a good story or not. That is a different matter entirely. Of course, your story won't get out there if we don't pander to the marketing and publishing groups, so you may have to tweak. You may have to add more context to your story to make it pass a publisher's thud test. On the other hand, you may have just written your sequel at the same time as the original novel. Either way, it shouldn't fundamentally change your story.
Check with the publishers, see what they publish. Check the average word counts. That will tell you what you really need to know. Don't send a publisher whose largest book was only 100k words a manuscript with 150k, unless you're absolutely sure it's really good. They probably have a bias against long books, thinking them as not getting to the point. Also, vice versa is also true, as some publishers probably don't think short books do justice to the character development.
In that sense, sending a manuscript to a publisher is very much like speaking in public; the first and most important rule is to know your audience, and pitch to them in language they are most comfortable with. Do that, and if your story is good, it will get published.
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: I don't know if this will help you or not, but here are some insights I've picked up from reading material that has tried to do (and in some cases done it by accident) what you are trying
I don't know if this will help you or not, but here are some insights I've picked up from reading material that has tried to do (and in some cases done it by accident) what you are trying to do. Let's start with real life insanity that led to incredible literary work;
Phillip K Dick.
This is a man who struggled his entire life to get out of what he thought was a low form of the literary art - science fiction. The trouble was, he was too good at it and wasn't much good at anything else, including life. He was the epitome of a tortured writer. His last works were called the Valis Trilogy and ironically enough were the first of his books I ever read (I've now read most of them). This series of novels shows a steady descent into madness in a way that you really don't want to emulate - he was struggling with mental health at the time. You can actually see that in the writing, but the truth of the matter is that just reading the novels does give you some idea of how to approach your topic.
Secondly, I want to point out something I've noticed about good horror novels. No, this isn't an oxymoron; some of them are quite well constructed although I'm the first to admit that I'm generally not a fan. But, the writing style employed by the best in this genre is... well, basic. I wondered why at first. Most writers in this genre use simple sentences and simple words to describe some of the most horrific scenes imaginable like it was making coffee with breakfast and I didn't get it until I realised something; it's the simple language; the consignment of this horrific scene to the commonplace, that adds so much emotional horror to the scene itself. It's one thing to describe something as out of the ordinary and use the language that expresses that - the reader gets the sense of perspective and (IMO) it would act as a cushion to the nerves. Sure, it's horrific, but it's supposed to be, right? But expressing it in the language of the everyday, the commonplace; that makes it all the more divorced from what the reader is expecting from the tone and therefore actually enhances the horror.
So, my advice; start out with language that is appropriate to the sense of the uncommon for what your protagonist is experiencing, but dial back the intensity of the language as you write, while dialling up the intensity of the experiences being described. Basically you want to go from
Oh my God! The toaster caught on fire!
to;
That demon was calling me names again while it stopped me from taking the toast out of the toaster again. It's bad enough having to eat burnt toast without being insulted by a demon throwing little pieces of my brother at me while I'm trying to eat.
Just how quickly you get between these points depends on how much you want to draw it out, but basically the rule of thumb (as best I can express it) is that your language should get more commonplace as the content you describe gets more bizarre. This not only adds to the sense of horror, but also shows that your character is having more and more of a struggle to differentiate between the ordinary and the bizarre over time.
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: Re: In modern Sci-Fi/Fantasy, does real world racism need to be addressed? I have read through a lot of questions regarding questions of a similar nature, but all of the questions I looked at involved
Why do people seem to think that if a character isn't a straight white male, then the story must address homophobia, racism, and sexism?
When was the last time you saw a movie with a black actor that didn't "talk funny", and without jokes or antagonism related to race?
One of the things that made the original Night of the Living Dead movie memorable was that even though its main character was played by a black actor, there was nothing in the film that would have to be changed had he been white.
Casting Jones as the hero was potentially controversial in 1968: it was not typical for a black man to be the hero of an American film when the rest of the cast was composed of white actors, but Romero said that Jones simply gave the best audition. — Night of the Living Dead - Wikipedia
Making non-racist society the norm is not a bad way to go.
Similarly, I remember seeing a Columbo episode in which one of the characters was obviously gay. Throughout the entire show, no one commented about this, and it played no role in the plot. If you want to eliminate homophobia, that was the right way to do it.
Having female professionals, without referring to them as "a female doctor" or "a lady lawyer" or making an issue of their sex was a far more powerful method of eliminating sexism than was explicitly making an issue of it.
Sometimes (always?) the best way for an author to deal with ____ism is to create worlds in which it simply isn't an issue.
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: Why is sarcasm so hard to write? I'm prompted to ask this question because I was troubled by some answers to questions about punctuation in rhetorical questions. The solution also calls into
I'm prompted to ask this question because I was troubled by some answers to questions about punctuation in rhetorical questions. The solution also calls into question the notion that 'said' is the only acceptable dialogue tag.
Maria folded her arms and raised a single eyebrow before turning away. "If I'd known you were coming I'd have baked a cake," she muttered, stepping aside to allow the visitor to pass.
Does this read as sarcastic?
What informs you the statement is sarcastic?
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: Re: Does Dean Wesley Smith's recommended method of writing into the dark, editing and sending actually produce quality writing that editors accept? To elaborate, this is a quote from a question regarding
There's plenty of writing advice out there none of which will guarantee you a place in the promised. Beyond a comprehensive school education you cannot really learn to write. However, you will, over time, learn how you write.
Popular Methods
"Write every day.": Sorry, doesn't work for me. I need to have my creative groove on. If I write when not in the mood then I'll end up deleting it at some point.
"Multiple Drafts / Editing.": Not something that really works for me. I wrote it. I know what it says so I fail to see the words on the page.
"Outlining.": Not a fan. If I know what I'm going to type before I type it . . . nah, copy-typing is boring as hell. I quickly lose interest. The task becomes a chore.
For me, the writing process is an adventure. I experience the story before attempting to put it into words. However, I have learned that I am extremely smart and in possession of a very quick mind. The result of this is that a complete novel can be all done in around 25,000 words. In my mind it is fairly obvious why the character quite her bar job and left town in chapter 3 . . . but other's may not get it.
I find myself writing huge inserts, I can easily add 90 - 100,000 words to an original.
Dean Wesley Smith's method probably works for Dean Wesley Smith in the same way Stephen King's method worked for him. You need to find a method that works for you.
And finally, DO NOT FEED THE MACHINE. Methods sold by Dwight Swain, Robert McKee, Blake Snyder and the like didn't even work for them.
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: Re: Is a novel based on the facts of a person's written journal considered plagiarism? According to Plagiarism.org, copying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes up the majority
You seem to have got yourself lost in the weeds somewhere. A novel, by definition, is a fictitious account. The story of a real person, based on the events written in their journal, would be a biography or memoir.
Publishing a story about a real, living person without their permission is likely to get you sued. However, if you their permission to use their journal they are unlikely to allege plagiarism.
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: Re: What is a terminal disease that a 17 year old could die from but wouldn't have to be in the hospital for? Im writing a story where two teens run off to enjoy life together for the last
Cancer!
And even though I'm going to get cursed and down-voted (again). John Green's "The Fault in our Stars" was a #1 Best-seller in 2012 and the movie made over 0,000,000.00 in 2014. Guess what it's about?
If you really want to be a writer or a story-teller? Know what's out there. You can't really be a rocket scientist without knowing a little bit about rockets, and maybe even science?
There a gazillion stories about romances between terminal teens. Read the plots.
nypost.com/2019/01/31/enough-with-heart-tugging-films-about-quirky-terminally-ill-teens/
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: Re: How to write a "functioning" addict protagonist and it not get repetitive? A sub-plot of my story, is that the protagonist is struggling with addiction to alcohol due to past events (which happen
Without knowing more about your character I cannot be specific but the revelation is probably dripped . . . similar to the style of a good "whodunnit", a nuanced 'show' of clues.
Why is he always sucking on a breath mint?
Have him make simple errors (forgetfulness).
"I'll see you tomorrow," he said, pulling on his coat.
"Tomorrow's Saturday," replied Jane. "The office is closed on Saturday."
Or . . .
"Can you cancel my meeting with Tom?"
"You asked me that this morning. I did straight away. You were standing here when I made the call."
Have him refuse to attend social events where he knows there's alcohol.
Have somebody ask him why he no longer drives his car.
Show phone calls waking him up during relatively sociable hours, and when the caller says, "Did I wake you?" - Have him lie. He will miss lot of calls when passed-out or in no fit state. He will provide a string of lies; _the phone was on silent, the battery was dead, the phone was in the other room, I left my phone at X.
Together with loss-of-appetite and a general lack of enthusiasm, these are a few pointers. Feel free to use them, or not.
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: Can I reference events of a different fictional work in my fictional work? Let's say I'm working on a fantasy series called MyWork, that is set in the present in a small town in the US.
Let's say I'm working on a fantasy series called MyWork, that is set in the present in a small town in the US. I have a fantasy series that I take inspiration from, InspirationWork, that is set in the present in a small town in France. Logically, the events that take place in that small town in France in InspirationWork could occur in the same universe as MyWork without affecting the events in MyWork.
Which of the following am I allowed to do vs. not allowed, and why? Would any change if I got the author's permission?
Mention in public that the events of InspirationWork also take place in MyWork
Have a character in MyWork make reference to the events of InspirationWork
Have one of the characters in MyWork implied to be in touch with an InspirationWork character, without mentioning the character's specific name
Have one of the characters in MyWork implied to be related to a InspirationWork character, without mentioning the character's specific name
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: What is the ideal word count when shopping a mystery novel to agents? I know for certain genres, agents and publishers will only consider manuscripts that fit within their expected page count
I know for certain genres, agents and publishers will only consider manuscripts that fit within their expected page count ranges. What's a good target for a standalone mystery novel? My current draft is sitting at around 70,000 words but I feel like the book would be stronger if I trimmed some of the fat.
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