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Calendar Event Discussion / Re: Where would YOU like Jim to appear?
« on: July 28, 2012, 11:11:13 PM »
Somewhere within 2-3 hours of Raleigh North Carolina would be nice.
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Author Craft / Re: Where to Start; Plot, Characters, or Setting?
« on: May 30, 2011, 06:12:18 PM »
Three things I have noted in regards to Jim's livejournal;
It hasn't been updated in years.
For some reason some of the posts seem to be made by people who don't like Jim's writing; I'm not familiar with the workings of Livejournal, maybe I'm reading it wrong? It almost seems like the comments are given just as much visual weight as the owners posts, making it impossible to distinguish between the two at a glance.
It has some valuable information in there somewhere, one of these days I'm going to read through the whole mess to see if I can find it.
It hasn't been updated in years.
For some reason some of the posts seem to be made by people who don't like Jim's writing; I'm not familiar with the workings of Livejournal, maybe I'm reading it wrong? It almost seems like the comments are given just as much visual weight as the owners posts, making it impossible to distinguish between the two at a glance.
It has some valuable information in there somewhere, one of these days I'm going to read through the whole mess to see if I can find it.
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Author Craft / Where to Start; Plot, Characters, or Setting?
« on: May 30, 2011, 12:55:18 AM »
Hey Jim Butcher Forum members, my name is James, I'm about to graduate from high school and I like reading books; lots of books. My favorite series are probably The Dresden Files, The Mercedes Thompson Series, Discworld (Watch, and Death cycles,) and the Kitty Norville Series. Not necasarilly in that order because truthfully my favorite author at any given time, assuming I enjoyed his/her books, can best be summarized as the one whose books I most recently read/reread; right now it's Jim because I'm freshening up on the series in anticipation of Ghost Story.
Recently, while pondering what I want to be when I grow up, I started wondering if I would enjoy writing fiction (or if I would even be any good at it, since creative writing is something I have never considering trying before.) So now I have some questions you have probably all seen and answered a million times before here's the first one I can think of:
Where do you recommend I begin writing...do I begin by
A) fleshing out a bunch of characters and filling in a story around them
B) coming up with a plot for a story and then creating characters that fit, or
C) do I begin by imagining all the details of the world my story takes place and my characters live in (for instance, let's say I want to write a gritty first person narrative about a wizard/private investigator with a penchant for getting in over his head, did I first imagine what rules and laws govern the world and what creatures inhabit it, and then create the character or the story.)
Please don't tell me it's some terribly complicated combination of the three all at once because while that might work for some people, and especially experienced writers, I need somewhere to start.
As an aside, having never written creatively before I'm sure I don't know much about creating characters; does anyone have a file, a website, or a list of important questions I should answer or keep in mind when creating them? I saw a link to some character sheets on another website for instance, you filled in the characters favorite color, food, height, stuff like that; but because you couldn't save the document, it had to be printed, it was inconvenient for my current computer set up (read; I own no printer.)
*Edit* Found information on character sheets easily on Google, I just hadn't been searching for it using the right words.
Recently, while pondering what I want to be when I grow up, I started wondering if I would enjoy writing fiction (or if I would even be any good at it, since creative writing is something I have never considering trying before.) So now I have some questions you have probably all seen and answered a million times before here's the first one I can think of:
Where do you recommend I begin writing...do I begin by
A) fleshing out a bunch of characters and filling in a story around them
B) coming up with a plot for a story and then creating characters that fit, or
C) do I begin by imagining all the details of the world my story takes place and my characters live in (for instance, let's say I want to write a gritty first person narrative about a wizard/private investigator with a penchant for getting in over his head, did I first imagine what rules and laws govern the world and what creatures inhabit it, and then create the character or the story.)
Please don't tell me it's some terribly complicated combination of the three all at once because while that might work for some people, and especially experienced writers, I need somewhere to start.
As an aside, having never written creatively before I'm sure I don't know much about creating characters; does anyone have a file, a website, or a list of important questions I should answer or keep in mind when creating them? I saw a link to some character sheets on another website for instance, you filled in the characters favorite color, food, height, stuff like that; but because you couldn't save the document, it had to be printed, it was inconvenient for my current computer set up (read; I own no printer.)
*Edit* Found information on character sheets easily on Google, I just hadn't been searching for it using the right words.
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