Ok, a friend of mine just posted about this really, REALLY bad romance novel she started to read on her lunch break the other day. Oh my goodness! It was the funniest thing I've ever read! Seriously. I'm not one who usually points fingers at other people's work: normally I try very hard to find something good in just about anything, but this... this was BAD. So very, very bad.
But oh so funny!
The only way you can know what I mean is by reading it for yourself, so click here to read the entire thing.
(warning: there is some profanity in this post: parents, you are cautioned.)
If there are any romance novelist out there reading this, please, please, PLEASE DO NOT base your book off of this lady's writings! Unless you want the invisible monkeys of the terrible, horrible, extremely bad prose to hijack your keyboard forever. :D :D :D
Showing posts with label evil little monsters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label evil little monsters. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Those Feisty Little Things We Call Prologues
The publishing world is full of interesting questions, and authors tend to ask them the most: should I query that agent or shouldn’t I? What will that publisher think of my book? Does it really matter if my socks match in my Author’s Photo? Where on earth did I put that pencil?
The answers to some of these questions we may never know.
But there is one question that authors around the world have asked, and keep asking, and then ask it again just one more time:
“What should we do about Prologues?”
Prologues are a touché subject when it comes to the publishing world. Many think that prologues are just a way for the author to “put off” the actual beginning of their story.
“If they were any real good at writing,” these people argue, “they would just start their story at the first chapter and leave out the extra frills of a prologue.”
And maybe these people are right… to some extent. Some prologues do seem to only put off the actual beginning of the story, and can become really annoying (though I tend to attribute such annoying-ness to bad writing or a plot that wasn’t thoroughly thought through.)
Yet even with so much against prologues, many writers continue to write them. Why is that, do you think?
As a writer (though as yet an unpublished one) I have taken note of some of the advantages linked with prologues, and perhaps it’s because of these advantages that so many writers use them.
For one thing, while it’s true that a lot of people argue that Prologues just “set up” the real story, if the story is set in a fantasy world, what is wrong with “setting it up”? It is most likely that people have never visited this fantasy world before (if this is your first book, or if it is set in a different world from other books you've written) and the problems associated with its inhabitants would be completely new to any potential readers.
What if your story is actually the memory of an elderly person looking back on his/her younger years? The question would then become, is it important that the reader knows that this character is elderly? If the answer to that question is ‘yes’, then it might be a good idea to use a prologue and an epilogue in order to make the story a “frame tale”: that is, a story told within a story. One of my books is set up something similar to this.
A prologue can even be something as small as a poem or a Prophesy just before the first chapter; perhaps it is only a short journal entry by one of the characters. Depending on the contents of the poem or journal entry, this type of prologue could be a very valuable part of your novel; a cryptic riddle for readers to unravel as they get deeper and deeper into the tale.
Above all other reasons, though, there is one reason that stands out to writers everywhere: Prologues allow the reader a glimpse of the story behind the story.
Allow me to give a few examples. This first one I call the "Accidental Main Character" example, and I'm going to use the book "Eregon" to show you what I mean.
I was immediately intrigued with Paolini's prologue. In “A Shade of Fear”, Paolini used his prologue to have Arya send Sapphira’s egg to Eregon (by accident -- she was trying to send it to Brom), thus making a character who would normally be as uninteresting as the dirt that he farmed, become an extraordinary Main Character. If Paolini hadn’t used a prologue, the fact that Eregon found a strange blue stone in the woods wouldn’t seem nearly as significant to the reader.
The second example that I’m going to use I like to call the “Reason for a Main Character” example, and I’m going to use “Song of the Daystar” to show you what I mean. (Yes, I know it’s my own book: bear with me here.)
In Song of the Daystar, the prologue is set in a forest with seven old men gathered to pray: a stranger comes and gives them a stone before dying, and we learn that these seven old men are in danger from the king. They call on the aid of Curron (my main character), to help them.
Because the Elders are intentionally calling on Curron for help, the fact that Curron becomes my main character is no accident, but it does provide a reason for my character to leave the relative safety of his home and set out on a dangerous journey. Why does he need a reason, you ask? Because his personality would never allow him to leave his job as a stable boy without some outside motive. If his personality was the “go-get-‘em, fight-‘em-all-one-handed” type of personality, he wouldn’t need an outside reason, thus I would not need a prologue. And, because my prologue is not told from the point of view of my main character, I felt it would feel strange and rather disjointed from the story if I made what is now the prologue into the first chapter.
However, a writer should know that there are other problems tacked onto prologues, the biggest being the fact that many agents/publishers plain and simply don't like to take the time to read them. This is a real shame in my mind, because I know how valuable prologues can be. Knowing both of these facts, I have taken the time to go over my prologues and make them interesting and important enough for agents/publishers to see their potential.
Here are the three steps I use when deciding whether I should or shouldn't write a prologue:
1) before you write a prologue, check to see if the information is important enough to the story not to be left out of it entirely.
2) If it is important, then check to see if it can’t be woven into the story in some other place where it might fit better and, perhaps, feel less awkward.
3) If it’s important and yet doesn’t fit anywhere else in the story without feeling awkward, that is when you write a prologue.
And if you do it right, the prologue could be a valuable addition to your story, rather than a hindrance. :)
The answers to some of these questions we may never know.
But there is one question that authors around the world have asked, and keep asking, and then ask it again just one more time:
“What should we do about Prologues?”
Prologues are a touché subject when it comes to the publishing world. Many think that prologues are just a way for the author to “put off” the actual beginning of their story.
“If they were any real good at writing,” these people argue, “they would just start their story at the first chapter and leave out the extra frills of a prologue.”
And maybe these people are right… to some extent. Some prologues do seem to only put off the actual beginning of the story, and can become really annoying (though I tend to attribute such annoying-ness to bad writing or a plot that wasn’t thoroughly thought through.)
Yet even with so much against prologues, many writers continue to write them. Why is that, do you think?
As a writer (though as yet an unpublished one) I have taken note of some of the advantages linked with prologues, and perhaps it’s because of these advantages that so many writers use them.
For one thing, while it’s true that a lot of people argue that Prologues just “set up” the real story, if the story is set in a fantasy world, what is wrong with “setting it up”? It is most likely that people have never visited this fantasy world before (if this is your first book, or if it is set in a different world from other books you've written) and the problems associated with its inhabitants would be completely new to any potential readers.
What if your story is actually the memory of an elderly person looking back on his/her younger years? The question would then become, is it important that the reader knows that this character is elderly? If the answer to that question is ‘yes’, then it might be a good idea to use a prologue and an epilogue in order to make the story a “frame tale”: that is, a story told within a story. One of my books is set up something similar to this.
A prologue can even be something as small as a poem or a Prophesy just before the first chapter; perhaps it is only a short journal entry by one of the characters. Depending on the contents of the poem or journal entry, this type of prologue could be a very valuable part of your novel; a cryptic riddle for readers to unravel as they get deeper and deeper into the tale.
Above all other reasons, though, there is one reason that stands out to writers everywhere: Prologues allow the reader a glimpse of the story behind the story.
Allow me to give a few examples. This first one I call the "Accidental Main Character" example, and I'm going to use the book "Eregon" to show you what I mean.
I was immediately intrigued with Paolini's prologue. In “A Shade of Fear”, Paolini used his prologue to have Arya send Sapphira’s egg to Eregon (by accident -- she was trying to send it to Brom), thus making a character who would normally be as uninteresting as the dirt that he farmed, become an extraordinary Main Character. If Paolini hadn’t used a prologue, the fact that Eregon found a strange blue stone in the woods wouldn’t seem nearly as significant to the reader.
The second example that I’m going to use I like to call the “Reason for a Main Character” example, and I’m going to use “Song of the Daystar” to show you what I mean. (Yes, I know it’s my own book: bear with me here.)
In Song of the Daystar, the prologue is set in a forest with seven old men gathered to pray: a stranger comes and gives them a stone before dying, and we learn that these seven old men are in danger from the king. They call on the aid of Curron (my main character), to help them.
Because the Elders are intentionally calling on Curron for help, the fact that Curron becomes my main character is no accident, but it does provide a reason for my character to leave the relative safety of his home and set out on a dangerous journey. Why does he need a reason, you ask? Because his personality would never allow him to leave his job as a stable boy without some outside motive. If his personality was the “go-get-‘em, fight-‘em-all-one-handed” type of personality, he wouldn’t need an outside reason, thus I would not need a prologue. And, because my prologue is not told from the point of view of my main character, I felt it would feel strange and rather disjointed from the story if I made what is now the prologue into the first chapter.
However, a writer should know that there are other problems tacked onto prologues, the biggest being the fact that many agents/publishers plain and simply don't like to take the time to read them. This is a real shame in my mind, because I know how valuable prologues can be. Knowing both of these facts, I have taken the time to go over my prologues and make them interesting and important enough for agents/publishers to see their potential.
Here are the three steps I use when deciding whether I should or shouldn't write a prologue:
1) before you write a prologue, check to see if the information is important enough to the story not to be left out of it entirely.
2) If it is important, then check to see if it can’t be woven into the story in some other place where it might fit better and, perhaps, feel less awkward.
3) If it’s important and yet doesn’t fit anywhere else in the story without feeling awkward, that is when you write a prologue.
And if you do it right, the prologue could be a valuable addition to your story, rather than a hindrance. :)
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Plot Twists are like Icky Little Monsters with Green Heads...
Well, I’ve just been busy, busy, busy! So busy in fact that I’ve had hardly any time in the last few days to update my blog or do anything else for that matter. Usually by the time I actually get a moment free, it’s too late to get on the internet, so I’ve just had to make do with working on my novel (which is by no means a punishment) or by doing homework (which I hate and therefore consider a punishment ). And the whole while, my characters have been screaming at me from the computer screen for the last week:
My characters: “Alright, we’ve been on the same night now for two chapters already… when are you going to do something new?"
Me: *Typing furiously* “Yes, I know! Just hold on a little longer…”
My Characters: *Starting to get angry* “We’ve been holding already!”
(And yes, I talk to my characters.)
The truth of the matter is that just recently I had an idea for a new plot twist which wasn’t originally there… and which is causing all sorts of problems. For one thing, most of the scenes are serious and even a little sinister, and that makes night the perfect time setting for them. However it’s true that I’ve been stuck on the same night for the last two chapters; a lot has happened, and this night is starting to feel like it will never end.
So… should I break it up? Should I throw in another scene in the day this time, and write my sinister scenes at a later time when it is night once more? I just don’t know; I can’t decide whether it would help or hurt the flow of the story.
Have I outlined? Yes, but that’s not the problem. This isn’t writer’s block… this is something totally different, but just as forbidding. And so now we finally get to the real subject of this post:
What do you do when a new plot twist interferes with your story?
Plot twists are complicated things. They’re a lot like pets that start out being sweet, timid, and manageable (even cuddly sometimes), but that can grow really fast into something large, wild, and unpredictable. Sometimes one will show up in the original draft of a story and rearrange the whole tale, but it’s usually alright with a first draft. When they get really annoying is when they show up in the middle of a final rewrite and demand attention.
Say, for instance, that a character shows up that wasn’t there before and demands to be noticed, which demands new scenes, which in turn demands a new plot twist. In my case the character is a very mean general who is trying to find and capture my MC. My MC gets away, but one of his contacts gets captured instead; the problem is, I can’t just leave the man in jail, which means I have to plan a rescue mission. BIG TWIST: My MC cannot be a part of the rescue mission; he can’t even know about it. This means that I have to write the rescue from another Character’s POV, which isn’t exactly hard but can get tricky.
A person who isn’t a writer might look at this and think that writing all that into the story wouldn’t be too hard.
Non-Writer Person: “So, just write out a scene like what you have listed above and walla! Problem solved.
Me: “Ah, but it isn’t quite that easy, Non-Writer Person.”
Non-Writer Person: “It isn’t?”
Me: “Well, why don’t you try it sometime?”
The truth is, it’s not easy. Writing a new plot twist into what was thought to be an already completed story involves not only time, but timing. That’s right; you have to write it into the story with just the right timing in order for it to fit. Which leads us back to my problem; should I continue writing these scenes on the same night in the story, or transfer these scenes to another night? Would it make that much of a difference?
I still haven’t decided what to do about it just yet, but I would like to ask if anyone else has had the same problem and what you did to overcome it?
My characters: “Alright, we’ve been on the same night now for two chapters already… when are you going to do something new?"
Me: *Typing furiously* “Yes, I know! Just hold on a little longer…”
My Characters: *Starting to get angry* “We’ve been holding already!”
(And yes, I talk to my characters.)
The truth of the matter is that just recently I had an idea for a new plot twist which wasn’t originally there… and which is causing all sorts of problems. For one thing, most of the scenes are serious and even a little sinister, and that makes night the perfect time setting for them. However it’s true that I’ve been stuck on the same night for the last two chapters; a lot has happened, and this night is starting to feel like it will never end.
So… should I break it up? Should I throw in another scene in the day this time, and write my sinister scenes at a later time when it is night once more? I just don’t know; I can’t decide whether it would help or hurt the flow of the story.
Have I outlined? Yes, but that’s not the problem. This isn’t writer’s block… this is something totally different, but just as forbidding. And so now we finally get to the real subject of this post:
What do you do when a new plot twist interferes with your story?
Plot twists are complicated things. They’re a lot like pets that start out being sweet, timid, and manageable (even cuddly sometimes), but that can grow really fast into something large, wild, and unpredictable. Sometimes one will show up in the original draft of a story and rearrange the whole tale, but it’s usually alright with a first draft. When they get really annoying is when they show up in the middle of a final rewrite and demand attention.
Say, for instance, that a character shows up that wasn’t there before and demands to be noticed, which demands new scenes, which in turn demands a new plot twist. In my case the character is a very mean general who is trying to find and capture my MC. My MC gets away, but one of his contacts gets captured instead; the problem is, I can’t just leave the man in jail, which means I have to plan a rescue mission. BIG TWIST: My MC cannot be a part of the rescue mission; he can’t even know about it. This means that I have to write the rescue from another Character’s POV, which isn’t exactly hard but can get tricky.
A person who isn’t a writer might look at this and think that writing all that into the story wouldn’t be too hard.
Non-Writer Person: “So, just write out a scene like what you have listed above and walla! Problem solved.
Me: “Ah, but it isn’t quite that easy, Non-Writer Person.”
Non-Writer Person: “It isn’t?”
Me: “Well, why don’t you try it sometime?”
The truth is, it’s not easy. Writing a new plot twist into what was thought to be an already completed story involves not only time, but timing. That’s right; you have to write it into the story with just the right timing in order for it to fit. Which leads us back to my problem; should I continue writing these scenes on the same night in the story, or transfer these scenes to another night? Would it make that much of a difference?
I still haven’t decided what to do about it just yet, but I would like to ask if anyone else has had the same problem and what you did to overcome it?
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