I write fantasy almost exclusively. I've written a high fantasy novel, and a lot of sword and sorcery short stories. I also write what I call 'Depression Fantasy' - which essentially characters in a fantasy setting handling elements of depression. They are normally very bleak though and involve suicide... I imagine PTSD was probably quite common back in the olden days so I'm currently researching that.
Epic Historical Fiction--I create a family and follow all the members and their exploits through about two or three generations. At least that's what I plan on writing, because my first attempt at tackling it is still in the VERY early stages accredited to typical writers block.
I guess it would be light science fiction I really enjoy Utopian/Dystopian future type stuff and I enjoy first person for both reading and writing, I have never tried to write anything in third person.
I like fantasy, and I guess that I'm a sucker for romance novels... even if I'm almost always disappointed by the latter, and have this sort of love/hate thing with it. Like, I want to tear it apart with my bare hands, but at the same time, I've read just as many of those as I have fantasy stories. As for what I write... it's exclusively fantasy. I love building my own worlds, and I seem to write anything from low fantasy to... well, I'm not sure if it can be considered high fantasy if there are no elves, dwarves, dragons, etc. Pretty much just magic. I seem to be drawn to dark fantasy lately, though, so I'll give it a try. (Sorry if I'm not making sense...)
For my first MS I was completely organized. I had outlines, notes, character bios– all I had to do was flesh out the ideas. The MS I recently started is not so organized. I wrote a brief synopsis, but mainly I'm just working out of my head, writing one chapter at a time and not necessarily in a sequential order only knowing basically what the story is. When I am done, I will place the chapters in the 'best' order and then make sure they are tied together properly. Has anybody else composed a MS in a similar fashion?
really, so you just write random stories and hope to connect them later? How do you follow timelines and who did what when you write chapters in random order? Interesting...
Don't listen to Erebh. You write however you want to write! I've tried several ways of writing. I started with outlining, then the snowflake. I like the snowflake method of writing, I just tend to get distracted easily. So I'll start writing the story then come up with a good idea, so then I'll go back and change everything that I had previously written.. It just gets confusing. So for this most recent story, I decided to just wing it. And that's what I've been doing. I had a basic setting, a solid character, and an idea for a story. I'm letting the rest "write itself," if you will. The less I think about it, the easier it comes. I think it's refreshing to change things up from time to time! And I've actually heard that some people write the end first then the beginning last. It doesn't matter how you write the chapters, just as long as it makes sense in the end. I even understand the desire to write out of order. I've thought about it on numerous occasions, but my brain doesn't have the capacity to do that. I'd confuse myself. lol But often times, I'll get stuck in one chapter because I don't know how to move ahead when all I want to do is write this other scene that I've been dying to write. Who knows, maybe I'll get that a shot some day. Keep moving forward!! Blessings, Lea
I was tought that there are three kinds of writers. 1. The kind that writes everything in the spark of the moment. 2. The one that have pre-organized pre-thought of everything before begining. 3. And the one that has half an idea but reviews it at the end I find all equally exciting i dont think that you gonna have much of problem as long as you review and and fix it
Excuse me? I asked a civil question to a fellow senior member and he replied honestly. Do you have a problem with that?
I have a mixed bag of both. Scenes don't always come to me in the order of my outline and some scenes show up without knowing where they fit. I don't turn those scenes away just because they showed up at the wrong time or without any appointment at all. I write them. I have a scene I'm writing as we speak where my MC has a major breakdown. I have no idea where it will go yet, but I started imagining it and figured better to write it and discover it has no place than not to write and need it later when my muse is busy elswhere. Scrivener makes it really easy for me to keep tabs on everything, even the "tab-less" items. Important to note that when I say scene, I mean scene, not chapter. Chapters for me have a clear body, but never a clear head or tail from the start. They grow/absorb/subsume/exude, those later in my process.
I'm always interested when people say they don't write their stories sequentially because I've found that, as I write about my characters, they change subtly (partly because they are affected by the events in which you portray them, and partly because the more you write about them, the more aspects tend to occur to you about them) so that by the time I catch up to the part I wrote out of sequence, it no longer fits and I have to do massive revisions. My first four novels (none published) were written without outlines, just "going wherever the story takes you". That works for some writers, but I find that a lot depends on the type of story you are writing. My current project is a historical novel, and it just isn't possible to write something like that without detailed planning.
If unrelated ideas come to me mid-chapter I write them down in my notebook for later use then promptly forget. Periodically I'll look through my notebook and say, "Ah yeah, I forgot about that..."
It's actually working well for me so far. The MC is court ordered to see a therapist after beating somebody into a coma. Of course a lot of information is going to be given in the therapy sessions (I know. Members are going to crucify me for being cliche). But, it is the days between the session that consist of the main plot building to the climax. I am writing the action sequence at the same time as the therapy sessions. Each chapter is roughly telling a story, some being present and a key one being in the past. Hopefully I can juxtapose the chapters at the end for the best flow.
I'm not. People may say it's a gadget, like a diary entry. I think if it works for Tony Soprano it can work for you, as long as the dialogue between patient and doctor is engaging. Don't be afraid of what others think as much as you may respect their intention or view.
Looking for some thoughts/advice here: Is it important to maintain continuity in writing style over the course of a series? I've already written the first two books of my fantasy trilogy. The first one was pretty strictly chronological. I fudged things a bit on the second and opened with a scene in the future and went back and wrote up to that moment--so except for that opening hook, it was still chronological. I'm now getting ready to write the third, and I'm debating whether or not to allow myself to break the chronology a bit. I want to be able to go back and explore scenes that happened in the past (mostly in the intervening years between book 2 and 3), but I'm concerned that changing the style to include such 'flashbacks' would be disruptive to the trilogy. Is that the mistake of an immature writer or a new element to keep the series fresh? Thoughts?
I don't consider using flashbacks to be a stylistic issue. Stylistic issues would be things like comma placement, length of sentences, arranging words/phrases to obtain the greatest impact, etc. But to answer your question, I don't think it's that important. Most readers probably won't notice or won't care enough to stop reading.
I agree with @thirdwind; he pretty much summed up what I was thinking, on both accounts. Basically you're thinking what kind of structure would serve your story the best, and there's nothing mistak-y about that. Your beta readers will be able to tell you whether the flashbacks etc. work or whether they disrupt the flow or make the story confusing or whatever, then you'll know better.
As others have said, that isn't really an issue for style. However, have a look around here and other sites about what some people say about flashbacks. As a reader, I'm tempted to just skim them, or jump them altogether because I'm so caught up in the story that I don't want to take time out to read the flashback. A caveat to that is small flashbacks of a couple lines or a paragraph, especially if you can put that in instead of describing an action: John gave the wall one look and his knee started throbbing. It was a year ago that the killer pomeranian chased him through this alley. He jumped, caught the top of the wall, and hoisted himself up, only to catch his kneecap and separate it as he flung his body over. Ain't no way that's happening again! He set off on the long journey around the block, rather than taking the shortcut. Yeah, cheesy example, but those kind of things are fine for me as a ready. Give me two or three pages, and I end up just skimming it at times, unless I'm thoroughly engrossed in it, and it actually tells another part of the story and maybe even carries on it's own story line. I'm thinking here about the tv interpretation of Arrow, where I'm finding the backstory being told in flashbacks is just as compelling as the main story.
Well, it's called a flashback, isn't it? So why not try and make it a flash in the novel, too? I talk about this novel way too much, but in Metro 2033, there were sizable chunks of flashbacks / backstory, but it was really damn interesting even though I, too, tend to be a flashback-skipper. I was dying to know what had been going on in the Moscow metro after the nuclear war and what kind of incidents had happened.
If not a stylistic element, what would you call it, then? Sorry, still learning the jargon... Thanks for the opinions. I'll have to play with it. I guess I'm trying to figure out a way to capture the key moments of the intervening years, and I'm not sure I can convey all of what I want in that tight a 'flash'. Does it make a difference if longer flashbacks all involve characters the reader is already invested in? The MC from the previous books isn't going to be in this one much, but I do want to show some of what he did to prepare the new MCs.
Again, to use Metro 2033, as an example. The flashbacks to previous events were recounted by a character the reader is yet to familiriaze his/herself with, but the content was intriguing so it didn't matter. With the characters the reader already knows... I started to think about Battlestar Galactica and the flashbacks to the lives of the MCs on Caprica. Those flashes became more prominent on the show after we knew the characters pretty well, if my memory serves me right. Anyway, you can do both. Perhaps with the latter it'll be likelier the reader is interested in the flashback, as long as it serves a function. It's difficult to say for sure. Have people beta read your story/ies. That ought to give you a better idea of what works in your story's context and what doesn't.
