1. KhalieLa

    KhalieLa It's not a lie, it's fiction. Contributor

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    Novel When a book writes itself

    Discussion in 'Genre Discussions' started by KhalieLa, Nov 23, 2015.

    I read an article with Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett regarding the writing of Good Omens. In it they claimed to frequently find brilliant lines and compliment the other, only to have the other claim they never wrote the line. They said that by the end, they were certain the book had secretly begun to write itself.

    This weekend I read my manuscript cover to cover and found more than one instance where I thought, I didn't write that! (It was far to good to have been me.) Unlike Gaiman and Pratchett, I have no partner in crime who could have done some editing while I wasn't looking.

    Does anyone else ever get the feeling that your book has begun to write itself?
     
  2. Tenderiser

    Tenderiser Not a man or BayView

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    No, and I find it a pretty pretentious thing to say. Sorry Mr Gaiman and Mr Pratchett :p
     
  3. nastyjman

    nastyjman Senior Member

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    For me, I don't think the book writes itself, but the characters do. Even if I have an outline at bay, it usually gets tossed out because my characters take reign and move the story for me. And I think that's what Pratchett and Gaiman meant: that the lines they wrote belonged to the character's.
     
  4. peachalulu

    peachalulu Member Reviewer Contributor

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    I find things get easier and I can surprise myself with certain lines but no - writing is too much work to turn around and say whammo - I couldn't have wrote that. I know damn well I wrote it and the struggle to get to that line and beyond that line and tweaking that line.
     
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  5. DeadMoon

    DeadMoon The light side of the dark side Contributor

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    I am still on a found-a-new-author high from Neil Gaiman and have yet to hear about this one. The closet I can think of is when he said something about writing on the days when you don't feel like it is important too because in the end, you won't know what you wrote on a good day and what you wrote on a bad day.
     
    KhalieLa likes this.

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