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Topics - Dresdenus Prime

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31
Author Craft / Adapting Myth or Creating New?
« on: August 04, 2011, 06:45:45 PM »
In the book series I'm planning a lot of the back story has to do with people and creatures popular in mythology. There will be Wizards, Vampires, Valkyries, and more.

My question is what would your opinion be on using these types of creatures versus original created creatures.

Take the Dresden Files and The Twenty Palace Society novels. Jim uses a lot of mythology for his books, but he adapts it and makes them fresh, for example taking the Vampires and splitting them into courts, or having multiple types of Werewolves. Harry Connolly on the other hand in his first two novels as far as I know creates the creatures that threaten his hero's world.

So does the reader jump to the new ideas because so many of the mythological ideas have been played out? Or is mythology so enticing that it actually has a better chance at luring a reader to see how loyal or how much of a risk you took with the source material?

I'm going to attempt to do both. I'm going to try and keep the mythological creatures as faithful as I can while at the same time adding my own twist to their origins, but I hope to create a couple new ones in the process.

I just thought I'd ask for everyone elses two cents, and see how many dollars I can get from that  8)

32
Author Craft / Overused Types of Characters
« on: July 27, 2011, 12:42:53 PM »
So this was going to be a very specific question, but I figure I'd open up the space a bit. For any people aspiring to be writers, like me, what types of characters do you think should be avoided?

I, for example, would say that Vampires really need to take a backseat. I know a lot of people love them, but they're used so much in every type of entertainment form today. In my book I'm working on, I do have a vampire, but he/she is a minor role.

As for the specific character, I would like to know if anyone thinks that Valkyries are overused? I wanted to have one featured as a supporting character throughout my book and possibly sequels, but then, possible spoilers ahead,
(click to show/hide)
. My book, just like
(click to show/hide)
, is a first person investigation narrative. Many details are different, such as my character isn't a private investigator, but I don't want people seeing something in my book and saying "Ugh I already read enough of that type of character", or is it just the matter of making the character different and unique enough?

Any opinions are appreciated.

33
Author Craft / I need recommendations on a preferred writing program
« on: June 30, 2011, 02:05:19 PM »
I was just looking at the Tools for Writers post in the board and I was taking a look at a lot of the writing programs that were posted. The three that caught my eye were:

- Scrivner

- WriteitNowv4

- Writeway

I'm just not sure which one to get. I know Scrivner isn't available until August, and I have no idea what the cost will be (probably could have found out with a little more research, or visited the Mac versions site.)

WriteitNow4 looks good with the videos I watched, but it's pretty expensive.

WriteWay right now is the one I'm leaning towards. The standard version is $25 which I could easily do, and watching the video tour it looks like it would have a lot of feautres that would help me organize my work, but maybe the others would too.

So my question is does anyone have a preferance over these programs? Or do you think there's a better one out there?

34
Author Craft / SMF Ratio to the Average book page/font
« on: June 19, 2011, 01:49:34 AM »
I thought I read somewhere that when you submit a manuscript it should be in the Standard Manuscript Format, which is Courier New, 12 size font, double spaced typing. That's at least how I'm typing right now. But what I was wondering is in the average book, how would this translate? Let's say I had 15 pages typed in SMF, does that mean that on the book it would be less than that? The same? I know all books are different but if anyone can give me any help on this I'd appreciate it.

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