General Writing

After four days of the National Novel Writing Month, I'm at 7,516 words on the story, tentatively titled 'Changeling's Fealty.' A weak changeling leaves the Fae-controlled Deep South for the city of Calgary, but mortal politics have their reflections in immortal politics. There's something in Alberta's oilsands - and EVERYONE is willing to kill for it. ... Read more »

From jimbutcher.livejournal.com: "Page Two--Story Arc(h) or PLOT I'm never sure how to spell that. Get a BIG piece of paper. Draw a big curving arch on it. At the LEFT side of the arch, write a brief phrase about the opening scene. At the RIGHT side, write a brief phrase describing the climax of the book. That's your pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. At the TOP of the arch, write down your BIG MIDDLE, or whatever event it is that starts the dominoes to falling. Then ... Read more »

I have, in the past, hated outlines. They seemed like such an unnecessary part of story-writing - after all, if the story is going to flow, its going to flow.  What do you mean only the first 20%, the middle 15% and the last 10% flow? The latter is my usual experience with writing.  There are significant stretches of story that aren't the sequences that play out in glittering HD in your mind.  They're the parts that link things together, the parts that help explain why the selfish ass the ... Read more »

What length should a story be? A short story?  A novella?  A novel?  A twenty-plus book series? Well, it depends on the story.  And, to a certain extent, on what you think you can sell if you plan on making money. Some stories just don't fit in short stories - I don't write many of them for just that reason.  Novellas are a bit better from that perspective, but are also harder to sell. Novels are my preferred medium - most stories can be told in a hundred thousand words or so.  Not ... Read more »

How much world building is the minimum necessary before you start writing? Well, it depends.  Two main factors: one, how different you want your story to be, and two, how much you're willing to make up as you go along. How different you want your story to be is important.  If you're writing another generic dwarves/elves/dragons fantasy, you don't need to do a lot of worldbuilding on your races etc (though the less generic you can make it, the better, but that's often something that can be ... Read more »

It is no longer possible to post on Faolan's Pen as an unregistered user. There have been approximately ten times as many spam comments as actual comments posted here, and this is the simplest way to reduce the number. If you wish to post comments, please feel free to create an account. ... Read more »