yea,  I got 2,300 words at least today.   

Jumping up and down.

I zipped by and came to a screeching halt when I saw this thread.

Personally I think of conflict as all the above. Almost everything that was mentioned in the various posts.


As to when conflict should start--depends on genre. Someone right before me basically said that rules are not hard and fast. I'm learning that. It's almost a case of they are and they aren't.

Many writers begin their novels with a long intro of the hero and the situation. One or two times the conflict is almost a surprise when it happens. Kinda like "I'm a rogue and I operate china shop--I sell only the best with a few trashy things thrown in for those who like that type of thing and don't have much money. My shop is in Atlantis-yes the sunken country it gets kinda wet at times down there. But I learned two centuries ago how to hold my breath for eight hours a day. Of course the soggy ghosts aren't very reliable customers but when they do pay its with 1,000 year old gold coins.  I live on the top floor of that hotel in the Middle East that looks like a sailing boat. I did the wonder a favor while he was building it so even though he won't admit to it I get to stay there rent free. He goes on and on and paged three, "that day I didn't have time to say hi to my favorite camel driver or Vegetable seller or anyone else on the Arab street. I was running very fast. You see a friend in Mu decided he didn't like me and is trying to kill me."

"fated' by Benedict Jacka is one of the newer ones that do that.

But other novels start with a sword fight as someone who at that moment picked up a sword he happened to discover in his big wheeled trash container. It was still covered with apple peels, rotten meat and coffee grounds but those two short guys with the strange Barbarian armor ran up to him and swung their triple bladed huge short handled Axes, Both spoke celtic with Germain accents who had voices like Curly from the three Stooges.


So in other words do it the way you want,

Oh a side note: An opening is the first 13 lines. You have that many to catch a reader, some say the first two.

Oh another Side note: notice I said "soggy ghosts". It was too close to the first wet to use that word again.   

If it's like that, then just handwave the sex scene or fade to black. Use one line to say it happened, then another line highlighting whether it worked or not. You don't need to detail it out. "They walked into the room" and "When they were done, X stared at the ceiling, blah blah blah." If the point of the scene is to show a lack of intimacy, then don't show the intimate parts. Focus on the numb feeling at the end, or the isolation, or what have you.

There is that too. As I said it depends on how much you want to show. That includes not showing anything of the sex itself. But sounds like you may have figured it out...good.

Speaking of E-publishing in general


There is deanwesleysmith.com He has a whole series about E-publishing, some of it gets a little complicated when it comes to pricing books though. 

Hey, except for a glitch here and there you all are doing good.

Cen, for someone who is in the middle of school, I assume that English schools are tougher than most US schools at the moment, you are doing good. Both takes time.

On Compelling Realities:

I have often been called a 'knowledgeable' person, because if I don't know something, I dig into it. However, there is a fine line between being 'knowledgeable' and being educated. Many times I have hit walls creating a believable reality due to the fact I have lived a very sheltered (not easy, mind you) existence. I have spent most of my life in a rural Wyoming area.

So my question is; if a writer is ignorant of certain facts, where does one go to make their realities as believable as possible? What resources do writers who don't know use to know? One of the things I like about Dresden is that Mr. Butcher sets a very convincing background in Chicagoland. He conveys a myriad of nuanced details that gives you the distinct impression he's spent a lot of time there. How can I write, say, a murder mystery in New York, if I've never been there before? And have it ring of the nuanced information Mr. butcher presents in Chicago to provide the best read for the audience; particularly those living in Chicago who are in the know. So say, if I try to say the Adirondacks has Redwoods, and they don't, then anyone reading my work in New York knows I've never been there before. (I'm not working on this, but it's a scenario.)

Obviously, one can use field guides for much of the fauna and foliage, but what about actually seeing and knowing the place? What about street locations and buildings associated with them? (I assure you Google Maps isn't the best option; I googled our town and the images are over a decade old. :O)

In other words; what resources have helped many of you when faced with this sometimes seemingly insurmountable dilemmas?

That is a good question. A novel I just finished revising takes place in Boulder, Colorado. I never been to Colorado much less Boulder. So I asked on a different writing forum I belong to and found someone who lives there who was dealing to share and put up with my questions. And since this is fiction I made up a few things. Like a certain Hotdog Palace and apartment complexes. But I put in real highways, clubs and such.  Another novel takes place where I live. So I am putting in places, roads, highways, ranch areas that are real. But I also included a couple of made up dance clubs. I know there a few here but I'm not involved with dance scene here or anywhere.

Laura Resnick has studied New York and put in a few things that are real but added an off broadway theater and local characters. 

Yeah you see the wrong word and your brain says its correct.

Oh, I was thinking that your brain corrected the wrong word so you don't notice it's wrong. I do that with verbs. Usually I don't notice wrong verb tenses because my mind corrects the tense before it can register on my consciousness.