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McAnally's (The Community Pub) => Author Craft => Topic started by: iago on May 26, 2006, 12:39:57 AM
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Jim got himself a livejournal account a while back and made a few posts on it before his writing schedule ate him again. It's good stuff, focused on some of the fundamentals of the craft. Check it out:
http://jimbutcher.livejournal.com/
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You are so right about that! He's clearly studied his craft and shares it in an articulate, entertaining manner.
At signings and chats, I've sent any number of beginning writers to get a little guidance from him. (I say 'beginning' and not 'aspiring' because anyone who strings words together is a writer. It takes a lot more to become an author. 8) I just wish he'd take a few minutes now and then to drop a few more pearls of his wisdom into that blog. Here's hoping newbies don't take one look at the last dateline and figure it's stale. Not stale at all -- it's timeless, as the truth often is!
Hugs,
Liddy
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Jim gives wonderful advice. I found his livejournal through the mailing list, and have sent the link to other aspiring writers.
I know he's too busy with his own writing to post such long pieces. Maybe, now that we have the forum, he could post briefer articles here? Just a few paragraphs or maybe answer questions from time to time.
p.s. Sorry about the glowing "Jim." :) I like the features on Mysql; it's the first time I've been on a board using it, so I'm playing a bit.
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Actually, MySQL is the database the software uses. The actual forum software is Simple Machines Forum. Good stuff.
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Would this be an appropriate area to have a thread that gives us a schedule of Jim's personal appearances? I would love to hear Jim speak the truth in person.
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Would this be an appropriate area to have a thread that gives us a schedule of Jim's personal appearances? I would love to hear Jim speak the truth in person.
I may need to put together a forum for "Jim-the-Person" type stuff, but for the time being, I expect that such postings -- outside of what shows up on Jim's Website (http://www.jim-butcher.com/news/) -- will show up under the announcements board, at the top of the list.
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Great! Just let him know that the fans down here are concentrating very hard--"Jim, come to Florida. Jim, come to Florida." ;)
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Why do no authors come to maine? Jim has to come to Maine.
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Why do no authors come to maine? Jim has to come to Maine.
Your answer may have something to do with relative locations and populations.
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Well, yeah, but he could at least come to boston. I know the whole pop thing, but it's just not fair. I at least want my driver's liscene, then I can get to him :)
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Why do no authors come to maine? Jim has to come to Maine.
They've read too much Stephen King or HP Lovecraft, and are afraid of Mainers.
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I am kicking myself because Jim came to San Diego (my stomping grounds) last Saturday for a signing of 'Proven Guilty' -which is INCREDIBLE- and I didn't find out in time to get the day off work. Se la vie, but yeah, that would be cool to have a forum here discussing/posting personal appearances of The Great One.
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Mickey, your post about Maine made me lol.
When I saw Jim was going to be in San Diego I really wanted to go, but it would have been about a five hour drive for me and I just didn't have that kind of time. I keep hoping he'll come closer to me, but it hasn't happened yet. Sigh.
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Dang, I didn't know he'd come to San Diego until just now. That would have been slightly far to get to, but would have been theoretically possible. I'd love to meet him sometime.
LOL, sorry I thought the INCREDIBLE on my last post would be displayed with some sort of flash animation, not become a link to a blank website. Hope I didn't break any rules of intelligence. :o
Well, you certainly broke the rule of intelligence by not using the handy-dandy edit link to edit your original post to clean up the evidence. :P
EDIT: They call it "modify" on this forum. Same thing, though.
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Why do no authors come to maine? Jim has to come to Maine.
[Insert a joke about my ex-wife here.] I will petition whoever revises HTML to give us a randomized exwife joke function..really I will..
Goofing on my ex aside, I agree with Kalium, it's a population density thing as well as probably a "Let's see.. trip to warm, Disney/Six Flags having San Diego and killer Mexican food or windy, too darn hot in the summer, too darn cold in the winter New England.. lemme see.." factor. I'm a Bostonian and to be honest I'd pay cash to take the guy out for a beer and some good Chinese food or Pizza (say what you will but NYC and Boston have a stranglehold on good pizza and chinese food.)
If he tours the area, you'll see multiple bumps on the post from me.
Oh and one other thing about Maine.. having more people who think "I gotz mah own teeth" is a rare quality per capita is probably NOT a reason to lure a booktour to a state ;)
(yes I'm a flatlander who can't resist the urge to poke at someone in fun sometimes.. if your bothered I'll buy ya a beer if he actually does do an appearance down in Boston)
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Much truth.
The LJ posts have helped my writing quite well. :D
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Well, you certainly broke the rule of intelligence by not using the handy-dandy edit link to edit your original post to clean up the evidence. :P
EDIT: They call it "modify" on this forum. Same thing, though.
original post?? what original post?? I have no idea what you are talking about. Hmm, oh well. ;)
Anyhoo, to get back on topic, I agree with Kiriath; especially concerning character development...Jim's instructions are priceless! It seems so basic, but I had never thought to create a list of Tags or Traits for use with each character-I guess i just figured I knew my characters in my head, so they would come out consistent on paper. As an ULTRA newbie writer, I find his basic instruction to be a very helpful resource. Now if he can just spare the time to do an article on dialogue.......
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First element of advice, the one everyone seems to say:
Listen to people talk. :)
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And this is why we keep giving this man our money. He knows his shit. ;D
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First element of advice, the one everyone seems to say:
Listen to people talk. :)
Getting a good sense of dialogue is exceedingly important.
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Well I must say.. "words are in his blood" ...
Jim Butcher is a very interesting mind.....
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Jim certainly gives good advice, and I agree...his bit on LJ about character development was a huge help to me. In my reading and library work, I've run across some memorable characters: Harry Dresden, obviously; of course Bob is as well, because now everyone wants a talking skull...:) Other characters like Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child's Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast, Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan, Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum, and Jeffrey Deaver's Lincoln Rhyme are all very memorable characters in modern fiction.
They're all memorable for different reasons. Harry is sarcastic and has a great sense of humor, but what makes him stick out, for me, is his heart. Yes, he may sling spells and have more than a few questionable allies in his line of work, but he is a guy who will do whatever it takes to protect the ones he cares about. What also strikes me with Harry is that his character has evolved, but not disappeared. There are other writers, whom I won't mention, whose characters have lost their touch, their uniqueness.
The other characters I mentioned have very unique attributes to them as well. Special Agent Pendergast is a New Orleans native, old money, whose complexion is white as a sheet, and he wears only black, tailored suits. He's a brilliant mind who has old-world tastes and a general...oddness about him. Of course, having a psychotic younger brother out to kill you (Diogenes Pendergast) also helps. :) Rachel Morgan's got her own array of spells and magic, along with a pixie sidekick, Stephanie Plum's a klutzy bounty hunter, and Lincoln Rhyme is a crippled, but brilliant, criminal analyst.
It's just like Jim said on his LJ (as I loop back around to the starting point of this reply)...you've got to make them memorable, because otherwise, they're as flat as the page they've been printed on.
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Jim is very good at wrighting about writing his journal has given me the advice I need to continue on with my story
and
come to Alberta, Canada we don't live in igloo's I promise - we even have big cities and bookstores
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... come to Alberta, Canada we don't live in igloo's I promise - we even have big cities and bookstores
surrounded by league upon league of empty wilderness. Nothing between Edmonton and Calgary but an occasional reindeer! ;)
Go Flames!!!
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You know, I think that helped me more than just about any book on writing I've ever read.
Thanks Jim ;D
~She-Wolf
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Jim certainly gives good advice, and I agree...his bit on LJ about character development was a huge help to me. In my reading and library work, I've run across some memorable characters: Harry Dresden, obviously; of course Bob is as well, because now everyone wants a talking skull...:) Other characters like Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child's Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast, Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan, Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum, and Jeffrey Deaver's Lincoln Rhyme are all very memorable characters in modern fiction.
They're all memorable for different reasons. Harry is sarcastic and has a great sense of humor, but what makes him stick out, for me, is his heart. Yes, he may sling spells and have more than a few questionable allies in his line of work, but he is a guy who will do whatever it takes to protect the ones he cares about. What also strikes me with Harry is that his character has evolved, but not disappeared. There are other writers, whom I won't mention, whose characters have lost their touch, their uniqueness.
The other characters I mentioned have very unique attributes to them as well. Special Agent Pendergast is a New Orleans native, old money, whose complexion is white as a sheet, and he wears only black, tailored suits. He's a brilliant mind who has old-world tastes and a general...oddness about him. Of course, having a psychotic younger brother out to kill you (Diogenes Pendergast) also helps. :) Rachel Morgan's got her own array of spells and magic, along with a pixie sidekick, Stephanie Plum's a klutzy bounty hunter, and Lincoln Rhyme is a crippled, but brilliant, criminal analyst.
It's just like Jim said on his LJ (as I loop back around to the starting point of this reply)...you've got to make them memorable, because otherwise, they're as flat as the page they've been printed on.
Yes, your characters need, and, if you really want to go somewhere with your writing, are required to be interesting and three-dimensional. Otherwise...yeah, that whole "flat as the page they've been printed on" thing is very appropriate. :) That's why I love Jim's writing so; he never has any flat characters.
Also, I give you kudos for loving Pendergast; I adore him! ;D Preston and Child really struck gold with him and his series! I'm just so thrilled to see a Southern character who' s really smart and stylish, and who isn't portrayed as being a stupid, inbred hick! Because, despite what people may think, there aren't very many people from the South who are that way, thankyouverymuch.
Sorry. Rant over. :D Good post, pinkdoom!
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Jim certainly gives good advice, and I agree...his bit on LJ about character development was a huge help to me. In my reading and library work, I've run across some memorable characters: Harry Dresden, obviously; of course Bob is as well, because now everyone wants a talking skull...:) Other characters like Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child's Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast, Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan, Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum, and Jeffrey Deaver's Lincoln Rhyme are all very memorable characters in modern fiction.
They're all memorable for different reasons. Harry is sarcastic and has a great sense of humor, but what makes him stick out, for me, is his heart. Yes, he may sling spells and have more than a few questionable allies in his line of work, but he is a guy who will do whatever it takes to protect the ones he cares about. What also strikes me with Harry is that his character has evolved, but not disappeared. There are other writers, whom I won't mention, whose characters have lost their touch, their uniqueness.
The other characters I mentioned have very unique attributes to them as well. Special Agent Pendergast is a New Orleans native, old money, whose complexion is white as a sheet, and he wears only black, tailored suits. He's a brilliant mind who has old-world tastes and a general...oddness about him. Of course, having a psychotic younger brother out to kill you (Diogenes Pendergast) also helps. :) Rachel Morgan's got her own array of spells and magic, along with a pixie sidekick, Stephanie Plum's a klutzy bounty hunter, and Lincoln Rhyme is a crippled, but brilliant, criminal analyst.
It's just like Jim said on his LJ (as I loop back around to the starting point of this reply)...you've got to make them memorable, because otherwise, they're as flat as the page they've been printed on.
Yes, your characters need, and, if you really want to go somewhere with your writing, are required to be interesting and three-dimensional. Otherwise...yeah, that whole "flat as the page they've been printed on" thing is very appropriate. :) That's why I love Jim's writing so; he never has any flat characters.
Also, I give you kudos for loving Pendergast; I adore him! ;D Preston and Child really struck gold with him and his series! I'm just so thrilled to see a Southern character who' s really smart and stylish, and who isn't portrayed as being a stupid, inbred hick! Because, despite what people may think, there aren't very many people from the South who are that way, thankyouverymuch.
Sorry. Rant over. :D Good post, pinkdoom!
Woohoo! Why thank you, harryismyhero! Pendergast is just...different, in the good kind of way :) He struck me in Relic, and I read every book from there on out! (By the way...read Book of the Dead yet? Let me know what you thought!!) I'm so glad to have found another Pendergast fan! Character is so very important, and, once again circling back to the original point of this thread, and without character, the entire plot fails. I don't care how good it is, how unique or original or Pulitzer Prize winning it may be...characters make the story, because they are the story.
Good rant, harryismyhero...nothing wrong with a good rant! :)