1. Make sure you've shared your "Fiction Final Draft" Google document with me.
2. At the end of the document reflect upon your revision experience.
Tell me about all of the revisions you made. Explain why.
3. Read the fiction writing advice found here. Pick three comments you agree with strongly, two you disagree with, and one that you're not sure about.
Agree
ReplyDeleteWrite a book you'd like to read. If you wouldn't read it, why would anybody else? Don't write for a perceived audience or market. It may well have vanished by the time your book's ready.
If you have a good story idea, don't assume it must form a prose narrative. It may work better as a play, a screenplay or a poem. Be flexible.
My first rule was given to me by TH White, author of The Sword in the Stone and other Arthurian fantasies and was: Read. Read everything you can lay hands on. I always advise people who want to write a fantasy or science fiction or romance to stop reading everything in those genres and start reading everything else from Bunyan to Byatt.
Disagree
A notion for a story is for me a confluence of real events, historical perhaps, or from my own memory to create an exciting fusion.
Decide when in the day (or night) it best suits you to write, and organise your life accordingly.
Unsure about
Keep a light, hopeful heart. But expect the worst.
3 I like
ReplyDelete-Love what you do.
-Read like mad. But try to do it analytically – which can be hard, because the better and more compelling a novel is, the less conscious you will be of its devices. It's worth trying to figure those devices out, however: they might come in useful in your own work. I find watching films also instructive. Nearly every modern Hollywood blockbuster is hopelessly long and baggy. Trying to visualise the much better films they would have been with a few radical cuts is a great exercise in the art of story-telling. Which leads me on to . . .
-Be ambitious for the work and not for the reward.
2 I disagree with
-Respect your characters, even the minor ones. In art, as in life, everyone is the hero of their own particular story; it is worth thinking about what your minor characters' stories are, even though they may intersect only slightly with your protagonist's. At the same time . . .
-Be honest with yourself. If you are no good, accept it. If the work you are doing is no good, accept it.
1 I’m not sure about
-Take no notice of anyone you don't respect.
3 I agree strongly with:
ReplyDeleteHilary Mantel-Write a book you'd like to read. If you wouldn't read it, why would anybody else? Don't write for a perceived audience or market. It may well have vanished by the time your book's ready.
Andrew Motion-Think with your senses as well as your brain.
Annie Proulx- Proceed slowly and take care.
2 I disagree with:
Annie Proulx-To ensure that you proceed slowly, write by hand.
Will Self-The writing life is essentially one of solitary confinement – if you can't deal with this you needn't apply.
1 I’m not sure about:
Zadie Smith-Work on a computer that is disconnected from the internet
Ten Rules for Writing Fiction
ReplyDeleteI agree with:
Write a book you'd like to read. If you wouldn't read it, why would anybody else? Don't write for a perceived audience or market. It may well have vanished by the time your book's ready.
If you get stuck, get away from your desk. Take a walk, take a bath, go to sleep, make a pie, draw, listen to music, meditate, exercise; whatever you do, don't just stick there scowling at the problem. But don't make telephone calls or go to a party; if you do, other people's words will pour in where your lost words should be. Open a gap for them, create a space. Be patient.
Ted Hughes gave me this advice and it works wonders: record moments, fleeting impressions, overheard dialogue, your own sadnesses and bewilderments and joys.
I disagree with:
Find an author you admire (mine was Conrad) and copy their plots and characters in order to tell your own story, just as people learn to draw and paint by copying the masters.
Keep in mind Oscar Wilde: "A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal."
I’m not sure about:
Read. Read everything you can lay hands on. I always advise people who want to write a fantasy or science fiction or romance to stop reading everything in those genres and start reading everything else from Bunyan to Byatt.
Bethany Gray
ReplyDeleteAGREE:
H. Mantel --> 3
J. Winterson --> 3
Sarah Waters --> 5
DISAGREE:
M. Moorcock --> 2
W. Self --> 4
NOT SURE:
M. Moorcock --> 4
Agree
ReplyDelete3 Write a book you'd like to read. If you wouldn't read it, why would anybody else? Don't write for a perceived audience or market. It may well have vanished by the time your book's ready.
7 Concentrate your narrative energy on the point of change. This is especially important for historical fiction. When your character is new to a place, or things alter around them, that's the point to step back and fill in the details of their world. People don't notice their everyday surroundings and daily routine, so when writers describe them it can sound as if they're trying too hard to instruct the reader.
2 Think with your senses as well as your brain.
Disagree
5 Be aware that anything that appears before "Chapter One" may be skipped. Don't put your vital clue there.
6 First paragraphs can often be struck out. Are you performing a haka, or just shuffling your feet?
Unsure
9 Write for tomorrow, not for today.
Agree:
ReplyDeleteThink with your senses as well as your brain.
Ignore all proffered rules and create your own, suitable for what you want to say.
Ted Hughes gave me this advice and it works wonders: record moments, fleeting
impressions, overheard dialogue, your own sadnesses and bewilderments and joys.
Disagree:
Be aware that anything that appears before "Chapter One" may be skipped. Don't put your vital clue there.
A notion for a story is for me a confluence of real events, historical perhaps, or from my own memory to create an exciting fusion.
Confused:
Write for tomorrow, not for today.
The advice that I liked from the link was, “write a book you'd like to read. If you wouldn’t read it, then why would anybody else.” This is so true if you don’t like what you’re even writing and you aren’t interested in it, most likely no one else will want to read it. Write about something you are interested or passionate about. In doing this you will be more into the story and write more interesting, successful lines, that will absorb the reader. Another piece of advice I like is, “if you get stuck, get away.” This is also completely true. It’s okay if at the moment you are experiencing a writers block and can’t think of anything. Take a break. You don’t want to rush the story and have it turn out really bad and have people know that it was rushed. Just take your time, you will be ready to start again after a little while or maybe you just have to wait. Another piece of advice I liked was, “introduce your main characters and themes in the first third of your novel.” You should introduce most of the characters in the beginning. You don’t want to introduce them to late or it would be really confusing. I feel some characters can be added later to give the story some surprise or mystery.The advice I didn’t like was, “Find an author you admire and copy their plots and characters, in order to tell your own story.” I don’t think you should do this to avoid plagiarizing accidentally. Just make up your own story and characters and write what you want to write. There wasn’t really any other advice I didn’t like. Unsure: “Stop reading fiction-it’s all lies anyway, and it doesn’t have anything to tell you that you don’t already know.” It is good to read fiction. It can teach you more than you know. It can deepen your understanding of a topic. I’m confused why the person who wrote this comment felt that way.
ReplyDelete