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McAnally's (The Community Pub) => Author Craft => Topic started by: Thaumaturge02 on May 12, 2011, 11:25:32 PM
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Well, I think I finally have a working plot down for my story, but I'm having trouble getting motivated to start it. Should I just turn off tv and whatnot and type till my fingers fall off, or have an alloted time for it?
Also, regarding chapter names (by which I mean something more endearing than "Chapter 1", "Chapter 2", yatta yatta). I would like to hear opinions on whether you elaborte more with chapter names.
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Yep, that part, sadly, is mostly just hard work. I have great troubles with that myself, and in the end it is all about just getting started. I always have the feeling, that it is like reading a story for the 1000th time, because I know every little detail about it.
I have always liked titles like "chapter 8 - where the hero meets the girl and the talking dog disappears". Basically a very short summary of the chapter that is to come. Even if it is not going to be a chapter name for a final draft, it is a good way to get started and maybe a starting point for an even more condensed version.
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I've been using chapter names. They're usually short and a bit cryptic, but once you start reading the chapter they begin to make sense.
Hmm ... that sounds more involved than it is.
I guess I'm using two and three word phrases that describe the coming action in some way. And sometimes, their meanings can be taken in more than one way.
Here's couple of examples:
An Unsettled Sleep
Chasing the Chasers
Catching Up with the Caught
Showing Steel
Part of the intent is that as I scan downm the list of chapters, the names help me recall what takes place in each one.
Unfortunately, I get the feeling that publishers are no longer really interested in chapter names, or tables of contents, etc, and would just as soon we left them out.
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To me it depends on how many chapters you have, and what you're going through. If your chapters are pretty short, like a lot of Dresden's are then I typically go with numbers, if there are fewer and longer I'll name them.
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I have started working on mine but can never work up enough energy to get much done and then don't look at it for like six months.
As for chapter names i never really thought about using them. they don't appeal to me.
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I don't believe in Chapter titles, I guess. I do use marker titles so I'll remember what scenes are where. In the YA, I used the scene locations, since it was along the line of the DaVinci Code and each chapter was a different location.
I do admire authors who have them; it just has never been me. I think most add them later, don't they?
Anyway, I'm in agreement. Just start plugging away. For me, that's every morning for an hour or two before work. Some people have weekend marathons, which works to, but it's pedal to the metal now. Go for it!
I borrowed someone's idea here on the forum that works well. I read what I wrote the day before and roughly edit it, which gets me back into the story and warms up the brain cells, then I move into the new scene. I work until the scene is done.
One writer suggested that you should always end at a cliff hanger, thus tricking yourself into returning as soon as possible the next day. I couldn't do that... I like feeling that I've checked a scene off in my head, wrapping up the work with a number put into my chapter word count excel doc.
I'm in sales and I've used a similar device when I was under 'produce or get fired' training pressure. I'd wear a bracelet on my right wrist--one that I couldn't write up the application while it was on. Once the sale was made, I'd switch the bracelet to my left wrist. The game became how fast I could shift that bracelet over during an interview. Sick, right? Once I was through my two years of training (60 hours a week as a single mom with two kids at home!) I took that damn bracelet and threw it into a lake filled with goose poop.
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I don't use chapter titles myself, but they can be a nice touch. I'd suggest maybe just using numbered chapters for your first draft, then when you're revising, work out suitable titles based on how the chapter turns out.
When you want to get stuck into your book, I say just plow in. Get the first chapter or so written so you've got an idea of where things are going, and then start setting aside more and more scheduled writing time and create a routine for yourself.
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^I've tried that. It did work until I got seriously sidetracked. Now I have two fairly good book premises with nearly 20000 words on each. And writers block on both. It'll turn around but the head on approach worked the best.
Having a story arc to doodle on helped me too. It kept my ideas focused and gave me natural pauses for my chapters..
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I never know if I've stalled because of writer's block, or if the stall is indicative of a plot line that won't hold a reader in the long run. Should you cut and run? Should you persevere? Only experience has the answer, I suspect.
Maybe betas would be helpful? Let you know if they are invested in going further? But, then, haven't you already answered that yourself, when the author can't find the interest to go forward? Maybe we should go back in the work, in order to find the place where the extraordinary turned boring and fix it?
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As far as chapter titles go, I happen to like them, provided they fit with the tone of the story; also, they tend to be used with more frequency in YA. A good use of chapter titles is in Rick Riordan's The Lightning Thief and its sequels; while they seem straightforward at first, they invariably turn out to be puns or wordplay that tie into the action of the chapter in unexpected ways.
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I never know if I've stalled because of writer's block, or if the stall is indicative of a plot line that won't hold a reader in the long run. Should you cut and run? Should you persevere? Only experience has the answer, I suspect.
Maybe betas would be helpful? Let you know if they are invested in going further? But, then, haven't you already answered that yourself, when the author can't find the interest to go forward? Maybe we should go back in the work, in order to find the place where the extraordinary turned boring and fix it?
I just get lost. I almost get too many ideas and can't decide, then can't settle to sitting and writing. That's why I've invested a lot of time in my story arcs.
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Opinions differ greatly as to whether one should outline or not; I tend to get totally lost if I don't have at least a general idea of where I want to go and how to get there.
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I tend toward a much more top down approach to my writing, mostly because the hobby branched out of RPG writing where other people take care of little details like characters. Ill have an immensely detailed world and/or mythology, or I can make a complex and rounded character to fit into somebody else's world, and Im golden. Ask me to do both, and I fall apart. So for me I find outlining to be very useful, because I tend to plot out a rough story path, then work out a list of actual scenes Ill need, and then try to come back fill them in. But its very rarely a linear process.
As far as motivation, the best I have found (and what I lack currently) is a writing partner, or at least a steady sounding board. I find it a lot harder to procrastinate if I know somebody is wanting/expecting some kind of progress. Not to mention they can be invaluable for workign through the story itself.
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... Ill have an immensely detailed world and/or mythology, or I can make a complex and rounded character to fit into somebody else's world, and Im golden. Ask me to do both, and I fall apart.
Quantus...I rather doubt this. Perhaps for a short time, but I doubt for very long before you are fitting the pieces together.
Where the h*** is neuro???
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Another question: in your manuscripts, do you guys type double-spaced or single?
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I format my manuscript based on the submission requirements of whatever agent or publisher I'm sending it to. I'll write in single-line spacing, just because it's how Googe Documents is set.
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Another question: in your manuscripts, do you guys type double-spaced or single?
I like double space, or at least 1.5, I never write things without vertical space. I tend to confuse rows after a while, if I read off a screen, it gets easier, when I have them further away from each other (strangely enough, this does not happen when I am reading a book, where there is no space between lines). I also print it in double space, if I want to reread a first draft. The space is very good for adding notes directly where they need to be.
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Where the h*** is neuro???
Writing, instead of talking about writing. ;D That's how those page counts happen. I'm filled with envy. I talk about writing waaaaayyyy more than I actually write. Or read about it.
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Far too true Kali.
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good news. :-)
double space, 12 pt NYTimes or something footed, no space between paragraphs and start chapters down about quarter to third down. That seems to be pretty standard.
Also they prefer only one space after the period on sentences. (I've got two spaces ingrained. I'm trying to break that life long habit.)
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Writing, instead of talking about writing. ;D That's how those page counts happen. I'm filled with envy. I talk about writing waaaaayyyy more than I actually write. Or read about it.
same :-\