McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
Building vs. growing your story
slrogers:
So with the amount and speed at which both of you write, how much to you send to others to look over, and how many drafts do you go through?
It seems as though I've swamped my writers group.
I think if I ever get to the same level that you guys are at that they'd never be able to keep up. But I doubt that I could maintain any quality without them. I was thinking that perhaps if I could do a better job of writing on my own (with added tools to help me keep track of everything) that I might not have to pester them so much. But it sounds like working with other people will always be key to writing a good story.
The Deposed King:
--- Quote from: slrogers on July 13, 2013, 10:34:47 PM ---So with the amount and speed at which both of you write, how much to you send to others to look over, and how many drafts do you go through?
It seems as though I've swamped my writers group.
I think if I ever get to the same level that you guys are at that they'd never be able to keep up. But I doubt that I could maintain any quality without them. I was thinking that perhaps if I could do a better job of writing on my own (with added tools to help me keep track of everything) that I might not have to pester them so much. But it sounds like working with other people will always be key to writing a good story.
--- End quote ---
Fortunately for me my brother is like an editor. He spends about 2 weeks primping it up and then we send it to the beta readerrs. Like yourself I have found that you can overload people. That's why with this last book we fired out the beta copy to about 30 guys and said help with this thing as much as you can but at least give us an amazon review if you like it.
Sadly I didn't get the 30 reviews off the guys but I did get about a dozen people helping to find nits and 2 guys who kicked ass! on the grammar stuff and minor discontinuities.
But personally, except for Falon which I was putting up on the bar in a give it back kind of way for all the help I've got from over there over the years, I like to wait until I get the full first draft and the brother goes over it first before I fire it off to any other beta's. A throw back from the days when I wrote so poorly that just about no one would take the time to read my stuff. But still if its all ready then its easier for the guys to read it. You only get one first look. After that a beta's eyes start to pass over stuff that they would have caught on the first go round.
the Deposed King
Wordmaker:
I send chapters to my critique partners as they're done. Having that regular goal, knowing they're expecting to receive chapters, helps keep me focused.
My betas don't get to read anything until after the first draft is done.
slrogers:
So I recently read and thoroughly enjoying Brandon Sanderson’s The Way of Kings, I was excited to find out that the classes he taught last year at BYU are available on line at
http://www.writeaboutdragons.com/brandon_w2012/
And he's apparently a natural at world building, which is why I thought it would be a good talent to try and grow.
As I was listening to his lectures I also had an epiphany as to how to better understand the interaction between Character, Plot, and Setting.
With my book there’s conspiracy, and with that murder and death. I had mistakenly thought of conspiracy as part of the plot as opposed to part of the setting. But it’s really the interaction between setting and plot that made it a little confusing to me.
Character: Sarah, an impatient, strong willed girl
Plot: Girl searches for the truth about her mother’s death
Setting: World of “supernatural” power mired in conspiracy
And the story is how all of those interact (the conflict and resolution that arises), and that's of course excitingly complicated. But now making the conflict that arises from those interactions into scenes is much simpler and hopefully easier to follow. And recognizing Sarah’s progression through the complicated maze of all the problems that arise from having to live in that world I created for her should be a lot easier for the readers as well.
I think this might actually make it somewhat easier for me to both outline (build) as well as grow my story. Having a slightly better understanding of how story components work.
(I still don’t know how to effectively blog: http://wordmindjourney.blogspot.com/2013/07/i-think-i-might-be-learning-something.html, but that might be the subject of a separate thread.)
slrogers:
--- Quote from: slrogers on July 15, 2013, 04:40:27 PM ---(I still don’t know how to effectively blog: http://wordmindjourney.blogspot.com/2013/07/i-think-i-might-be-learning-something.html, but that might be the subject of a separate thread.)
--- End quote ---
As you're too kind to point out I still have a lot to learn on a lot of things... So I was thinking about adding some of what I said here to the thread on "is an English degree required." Because it's amazing to me how much volume of writing I can produce without learning much. And then when I finally figure something out, I realize that it might have been something I could have learned from a text book or a class room someplace.
Granted I am having much more fun learning this way -- by asking you guys here in this forum and just trying a lot of stuff out. But it is an interesting process trying to figure out what exactly is my greatest weakness and how best to turn it into a strength.
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