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Author Craft / Re: Bad Guys
« on: January 23, 2014, 03:36:21 AM »
I really need to do a proper rewatch of B-5. A fine example of layered story-telling. Subtle themes and arcs, running along withing and below the surface.
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47
Author Craft / Re: Bad Guys
« on: January 22, 2014, 03:32:04 PM »
That alone becomes a matter of taste or style. A villain with a black soul is simple enough... Profound Narcisisstic Personality Disorder + Unrestricted Power, and you've got Joe Stalin or any of a number of other historical monsters for models. And a truely loathsome villain has a great deal of story potential, if that's what you really have your heart set on.
But as Neuro pointed out, a villain who thinks they're serving a greater good has a great deal more potential in terms of engaging the reader. They're more difficult to pull off, but usually more rewarding. Fidelus from the Codex Alera books is a fine example. Vic Mackee from the Shield... you alternately want to buy him a beer, and give him two shots behind the ear when he turns around and does something bastardly.
A villain who's downright likable created a greater emotional impact when they do something that's shitty, but in character. You can up the reader's emotional investment in his decisions... "Please don't do that, please, please, OH YOU BASTARD!"
A weak-willed antagonist is another possibility. Londo Mollari from Babylon 5... You could really sympathize with him, get to like him even... so when he would choose selfishly despite his conscience, it had a greater impact on the viewer than "a bastard being a bastard" because he wasn't just screwing people over, he was throwing away his own potential.
But as Neuro pointed out, a villain who thinks they're serving a greater good has a great deal more potential in terms of engaging the reader. They're more difficult to pull off, but usually more rewarding. Fidelus from the Codex Alera books is a fine example. Vic Mackee from the Shield... you alternately want to buy him a beer, and give him two shots behind the ear when he turns around and does something bastardly.
A villain who's downright likable created a greater emotional impact when they do something that's shitty, but in character. You can up the reader's emotional investment in his decisions... "Please don't do that, please, please, OH YOU BASTARD!"
A weak-willed antagonist is another possibility. Londo Mollari from Babylon 5... You could really sympathize with him, get to like him even... so when he would choose selfishly despite his conscience, it had a greater impact on the viewer than "a bastard being a bastard" because he wasn't just screwing people over, he was throwing away his own potential.
48
Author Craft / Re: The I'm Writing Thread.... Celebrate your pages written etc Part II.
« on: January 20, 2014, 03:27:56 PM »
The next novella, "Valorous Daughter" is almost ready to go up. Waiting to get a read back from one of my Red Pen Doom Monkeys, and for the ocver art. In the meantime, I finished the first draft of "A Kiss for Damocles" this week. Came in at 113K, although I expect that to shrink on next run through. One thing that's going to be a pain is solidifying the narrator's dialect. It developed and became more individual/distinct as the work progressed, so I'm spending a good bit of time replacing more formal words or phrases with ones that would be more natural for her.
The double negatives still hurt my thinking parts though. It's like having to fold a map wrong, every time...
The double negatives still hurt my thinking parts though. It's like having to fold a map wrong, every time...
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Author Craft / Re: The I'm Writing Thread.... Celebrate your pages written etc Part II.
« on: January 20, 2014, 05:06:24 AM »
Yup. Mileage may very. If something that's story-crucial is completely borked, I can't go on until I fix that either... but the clunky sentences and wonky paragraphs I force myself to wait for. Kept doing the Eternal Rewrite Loop on the first 30K.
50
Author Craft / Re: The I'm Writing Thread.... Celebrate your pages written etc Part II.
« on: January 19, 2014, 03:26:38 AM »
He's preaching stone gospel there. You'll keep fixing and fixing and never move forward. Caught myself doing this. First draft is nothing more than putting the ideas on paper. Second draft is where you start on de-cludging the cludgicals and polishing the wordcraft, adjusting the beginning of the story to be consistent with things you did later, etc. But you've got to get the complete idea down first, in my (limited) experience.
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Author Craft / The Terror of Twelvety Town is now live.
« on: December 19, 2013, 02:06:01 AM »
It's taken a while for Smashwords to ship to the various E-book vendors, but from what I can tell, the novella is up live across the board now. Gotta admit, the ideas and discussions that have been rattling about the Authorcraft section have been great for helping me examine my work. I've learned a lot here. I've got the free samples enabled on all versions, but the the Amazon and Nook formats seem the best... I'm not keen on how Smashwords formats manuscripts. Take a look at the samples and let me know what you think! (And if anybody is thinking about writing, I can't recommend Jim's Livejournal entries on writing genre as the best jumping-off point you could hope for. Jim's writing helped me learn to examine what I was reading, stories that caught my attention and learn *why* they did so. The fundamentals you're going to need are right there.)
http://www.amazon.com/Terror-Twelvety-Town-Kenton-Pierce-ebook/dp/B00GZEDSIQ
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-terror-of-twelvety-town-j-kenton-pierce/1117550632?ean=2940148864103
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/382907
Quote
Her name is Shaifennen Roehe, the Terror of Twelvety Town. They say she doesn't ride a horse, but a tame grumper. They say she can sing skizzers to sleep and kill snow-devils with just a bit of magic string and a poisoned apple. She's fought off bandits and strong-arm boys, put the Trader Families in their place along with anybody else who wanted to rob the people who call the old Number Twelve Mine "home."
Oh, and they also say she's on her way to Greenline Town with a wagonload of relics and tech from the war, and a chip on her shoulder.
But Captain Ravati Aziz has guarded caravans, stormed bandit palisades and navigated the treacherous shoals of the New League's fledgling bureaucracy. Surely she can keep one fifteen year old girl from getting into too much trouble...
http://www.amazon.com/Terror-Twelvety-Town-Kenton-Pierce-ebook/dp/B00GZEDSIQ
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-terror-of-twelvety-town-j-kenton-pierce/1117550632?ean=2940148864103
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/382907
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Author Craft / Re: Kindle E-Publising. Show us the ropes?
« on: December 01, 2013, 12:23:48 AM »
Just a heads-up... I use a program called "Scrivener," It's a great organizational too, backs up every 5 seconds, lots of useful functions. Here's the big value whammy... it'll compile and convert your novel into Kindle's MOBI and Nook's EPUB formats, without a hiccup. You type in your meta-data, select the format, and hit compile.
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Author Craft / Re: The I'm Writing Thread.... Celebrate your pages written etc Part II.
« on: December 01, 2013, 12:21:10 AM »It's beautiful! Used Shecky's link and it downloaded great. I won't get a chance to read it for a bit. (Two unfinished reads in my hopper already and one is Jack Gantos' book that won the 2013 Newbery Metal. I will be hearing him Dec 7th.) When I do get it read, I'll post a review. Hugs and congrats! Love the synopsis teaser you posted.
Thanks! I'm looking forward to hearing what you think about it.
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Author Craft / Re: The I'm Writing Thread.... Celebrate your pages written etc Part II.
« on: December 01, 2013, 12:20:14 AM »So when are we going to get to read a book about the actual Terror? Everything I've read keeps hitting around the margins.
The Deposed King
The actual novels are from Shaifennen's PoV. I've got one scene left to write on "A Kiss For Damocles," then I can start the 2nd draft/polishing. Her story will work out to at least three books. There's another novella that'll I'm polishing now for self-publishing which is from Zeddie's PoV.
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Author Craft / Re: The I'm Writing Thread.... Celebrate your pages written etc Part II.
« on: November 30, 2013, 01:58:14 AM »Well put up a link when you do it and remember not to freak out after you hit the final save and publish button. In about 12 hours you can frantically rush back in and make changes to all those little things that have you worried.
Also if you have any issues with the formatting of your file screwing the e-book fonts. Just let me know. My brother knows how to set it up nice and pretty.
Make sure to put up a link!
The Deposed King
Thanks, everyone!
Scrivener seems to have done a flawless conversion, except for eating the acknowledgments page. I've already crapped myself and uploaded a version with some corrections. Did it first thing this morning, so it's live now. I expect when the royalty payment comes, I shall purchase a pony made of diamonds.
Or, more likely, a grape, maybe...
In any case, it's exciting as hell and I'd like to thank everyone for the encouragement, general advice and such.
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Author Craft / Re: The I'm Writing Thread.... Celebrate your pages written etc Part II.
« on: November 29, 2013, 03:18:36 AM »
As soon as I write the cover blurb. 
And have a brandy to steady my nerves.
And have a brandy to steady my nerves.
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Author Craft / Re: The I'm Writing Thread.... Celebrate your pages written etc Part II.
« on: November 29, 2013, 02:36:01 AM »
Well, I can think of no better way to celebrate the final finishing, polishing, tweaking, and editing of a novella than this way:
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Author Craft / Re: The I'm Writing Thread.... Celebrate your pages written etc Part II.
« on: September 14, 2013, 10:52:57 PM »This gives me Wolverine-like images of you popping a set of pens out of the back of your hand.
("We need sushi. Lots of sushi."
"I'm the.. uh... one... "
"Stow it, flyboy. You picked up the blue pencil. And there's one 'n' in 'Zion'.")
Heh. Good one!
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Author Craft / Re: The I'm Writing Thread.... Celebrate your pages written etc Part II.
« on: September 13, 2013, 12:49:30 AM »
Editing... sooo much... editing. Red pen... fumes... too... strong...
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Author Craft / Re: Where does the inspiration come from?
« on: September 04, 2013, 05:04:47 AM »I would LOVE to write a story, whether a full length novel or a short story. But I have NO INSPIRATION whatsoever.
Which is kind of okay, thankfully I earn money by doing very boring professional services stuff for clients. A lot of my time is spent writing, reports and letters for the most part for clients, though I'm currently working on a book about tax (I know, tax, yawn!).
Thing is that I really enjoy the process of writing. When I have an idea in my head, I love to write it down and see how it looks. Of course it's easy when it's about something like tax. The subject itself is very dry but I'm on a mission to explain the subject to people in a more accessible manner, lots of practical examples and how it applies to different businesses. So when I come up with a new idea for explaining something difficult in easier terms, I actually get quite excited!
Oh I need to get out more....
But anyway brings me back to my question: where do fiction writers get their ideas from? I'm a middle aged woman and have never had an original idea in my life! I've been reading the posts on the Author Craft board on and off for hte last few months and I'm amazed by the ideas people come up with and their fantastic ideas for plots and characters, but I just can't EVER come up with stuff like this for myself. I really admire Jim and all the wonderful story writers out there for their wonderful creations.
Anyway I'd love some suggestions or even just a bit of that magic to help me get started. And for all of you who post here, I'm sort of in awe at your creativity.
Inspiration can occur any time you watch or read something and say "What if?" What if they'd lost/won? What if that plan/treaty/cure worked or didn't work? Look at some basic concept, conflict, or dilemma that caught your attention, that you found evocative, and just noodle on alternate outcomes.