writerly ways
Mar. 28th, 2010 04:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cornerofmadnessOnce again I have nothing profound to say here about writing. I did get my editing done for Snowbound which is good news for me. I wrote nothing new this week but hell, what can anyone expect as sick as I've been?
I'm reminded about something of the craft this weekend though. Prologues. They are the boogeymen of the writing world. Some of us like the boogeyman but most agent/editor/publishers don't. Time after time you're told not to use a prologue. My question is if you do chapter one - tweny years ago and chapter two - present day, is that you just hiding a prologue? SOmetimes, you really DO need to see that prior act.
However lately, I've seen several examples of why prologues get the bad rap. One was done just a week before the main event. Really? Why even call it a prologue? Yesterday i started Jayne Anne Krentz's Fired Up and stopped reading within the hour. Why? Partly the prologue. Partly the horribly done 'historic' journal that preceeded the prologue and worse, the very first part which i THOUGHT was a letter from a character, turned out to be a letter from Krentz explaining several things that were in the novel.
I think this was done, in part, because this fits into a much larger universe she writes her romances in. I picked it up because it had alchemists. I'm puting it down because of how the writing is being handle. Even though the open letter tells us part of what's on the dust jacket blurb, i hated being handed this exposition, especially since it wasn't even in the text. Then the prologue gives a character so stupid, she staggers in the imagination. checking goodreads I've seen Krentz fans taking this one to task for characters names being changed in the middle of the story.
It's a reminder that even the pros can get things very wrong (I suspect the publishing deadlines and the sheer number of books authors like Krentz churn out a year plays a role in this sloppiness) But it's also a very good reminder of how a reader can be turned off when exposition is slapped into a 'prologue' (or worse that letter). Not every book should open with explosive action but there shouldn't be 20 pages of warm up either.
And here's a fun thing to do with your characters. I took that fanfic meme and applied it to my own characters (you might have to wait until tomorrow to see the fanfic version). It's just a little noodling when you're stuck but want to write and it helped me learn a little about the characters.
1. Tell us about your favorite writing project/universe that you've worked with and why.
2. How many characters do you have? Do you prefer males or females?
3. How do you come up with names, for characters (and for places if you're writing about fictional places)?
4. Tell us about one of your first stories/characters!
5. By age, who is your youngest character? Oldest? How about “youngest” and “oldest” in terms of when you created them?
6 Where are you most comfortable writing? At what time of day? Computer or good ol' pen and paper?
7. Do you listen to music while you write? What kind? Are there any songs you like to relate/apply to your characters?
8. What's your favorite genre to write? To read?
9. How do you get ideas for your characters? Describe the process of creating them.
10. What are some really weird situations your characters have been in? Everything from serious canon scenes to meme questions counts!
11. Who is your favorite character to write? Least favorite?
12. In what story did you feel you did the best job of worldbuilding? Any side-notes on it you'd like to share?
13. What's your favorite culture to write, fictional or not?
14. How do you map out locations, if needed? Do you have any to show us?
15. Midway question! Tell us about a writer you admire, whether professional or not!
16. Do you write romantic relationships? How do you do with those, and how “far” are you willing to go in your writing? ;)
17. Favorite protagonist and why!
18. Favorite antagonist and why!
19. Favorite minor that decided to shove himself into the spotlight and why!
20. What are your favorite character interactions to write?
21. Do any of your characters have children? How well do you write them?
22. Tell us about one scene between your characters that you've never written or told anyone about before! Serious or not.
23. How long does it usually take you to complete an entire story—from planning to writing to posting (if you post your work)?
24. How willing are you to kill your characters if the plot so demands it? What's the most interesting way you've killed someone?
25. Do any of your characters have pets? Tell us about them.
26. Let's talk art! Do you draw your characters? Do others draw them? Pick one of your OCs and post your favorite picture of him!
27. Along similar lines, do appearances play a big role in your stories? Tell us about them, or if not, how you go about designing your characters.
28. Have you ever written a character with physical or mental disabilities? Describe them, and if there's nothing major to speak of, tell us a few smaller ones.
29. How often do you think about writing? Ever come across something IRL that reminds you of your story/characters?
30. Final question! Tag someone! And tell us what you like about that person as a writer and/or about one of his/her characters!
25. Do any of your characters have pets? Tell us about them.
Geez you know I don't think any of them DO. Wow. Oh yeah, wait, Maddelena has a black lab who is your typical black lab, enthusiastic, friendly, smart and doesn't do much but harrass Maddies would-be lover, Sulien.
Tully has some hunting/sledding dogs but they're more work animals than pets.
I'm notorious for forgetting the pets when they DO appear in anything I'm writing.
I'm reminded about something of the craft this weekend though. Prologues. They are the boogeymen of the writing world. Some of us like the boogeyman but most agent/editor/publishers don't. Time after time you're told not to use a prologue. My question is if you do chapter one - tweny years ago and chapter two - present day, is that you just hiding a prologue? SOmetimes, you really DO need to see that prior act.
However lately, I've seen several examples of why prologues get the bad rap. One was done just a week before the main event. Really? Why even call it a prologue? Yesterday i started Jayne Anne Krentz's Fired Up and stopped reading within the hour. Why? Partly the prologue. Partly the horribly done 'historic' journal that preceeded the prologue and worse, the very first part which i THOUGHT was a letter from a character, turned out to be a letter from Krentz explaining several things that were in the novel.
I think this was done, in part, because this fits into a much larger universe she writes her romances in. I picked it up because it had alchemists. I'm puting it down because of how the writing is being handle. Even though the open letter tells us part of what's on the dust jacket blurb, i hated being handed this exposition, especially since it wasn't even in the text. Then the prologue gives a character so stupid, she staggers in the imagination. checking goodreads I've seen Krentz fans taking this one to task for characters names being changed in the middle of the story.
It's a reminder that even the pros can get things very wrong (I suspect the publishing deadlines and the sheer number of books authors like Krentz churn out a year plays a role in this sloppiness) But it's also a very good reminder of how a reader can be turned off when exposition is slapped into a 'prologue' (or worse that letter). Not every book should open with explosive action but there shouldn't be 20 pages of warm up either.
And here's a fun thing to do with your characters. I took that fanfic meme and applied it to my own characters (you might have to wait until tomorrow to see the fanfic version). It's just a little noodling when you're stuck but want to write and it helped me learn a little about the characters.
1. Tell us about your favorite writing project/universe that you've worked with and why.
2. How many characters do you have? Do you prefer males or females?
3. How do you come up with names, for characters (and for places if you're writing about fictional places)?
4. Tell us about one of your first stories/characters!
5. By age, who is your youngest character? Oldest? How about “youngest” and “oldest” in terms of when you created them?
6 Where are you most comfortable writing? At what time of day? Computer or good ol' pen and paper?
7. Do you listen to music while you write? What kind? Are there any songs you like to relate/apply to your characters?
8. What's your favorite genre to write? To read?
9. How do you get ideas for your characters? Describe the process of creating them.
10. What are some really weird situations your characters have been in? Everything from serious canon scenes to meme questions counts!
11. Who is your favorite character to write? Least favorite?
12. In what story did you feel you did the best job of worldbuilding? Any side-notes on it you'd like to share?
13. What's your favorite culture to write, fictional or not?
14. How do you map out locations, if needed? Do you have any to show us?
15. Midway question! Tell us about a writer you admire, whether professional or not!
16. Do you write romantic relationships? How do you do with those, and how “far” are you willing to go in your writing? ;)
17. Favorite protagonist and why!
18. Favorite antagonist and why!
19. Favorite minor that decided to shove himself into the spotlight and why!
20. What are your favorite character interactions to write?
21. Do any of your characters have children? How well do you write them?
22. Tell us about one scene between your characters that you've never written or told anyone about before! Serious or not.
23. How long does it usually take you to complete an entire story—from planning to writing to posting (if you post your work)?
24. How willing are you to kill your characters if the plot so demands it? What's the most interesting way you've killed someone?
25. Do any of your characters have pets? Tell us about them.
26. Let's talk art! Do you draw your characters? Do others draw them? Pick one of your OCs and post your favorite picture of him!
27. Along similar lines, do appearances play a big role in your stories? Tell us about them, or if not, how you go about designing your characters.
28. Have you ever written a character with physical or mental disabilities? Describe them, and if there's nothing major to speak of, tell us a few smaller ones.
29. How often do you think about writing? Ever come across something IRL that reminds you of your story/characters?
30. Final question! Tag someone! And tell us what you like about that person as a writer and/or about one of his/her characters!
25. Do any of your characters have pets? Tell us about them.
Geez you know I don't think any of them DO. Wow. Oh yeah, wait, Maddelena has a black lab who is your typical black lab, enthusiastic, friendly, smart and doesn't do much but harrass Maddies would-be lover, Sulien.
Tully has some hunting/sledding dogs but they're more work animals than pets.
I'm notorious for forgetting the pets when they DO appear in anything I'm writing.
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Wow
Date: 2010-03-28 09:27 pm (UTC)As to prologues and other so called rules of writing--honestly, I think when the writing is excellent you can get away with ANYTHING. YOU make the rules.
Re: Wow
Date: 2010-03-28 09:57 pm (UTC)there is that but I'll be honest, listening to a lot of editor and agents talk, you won't even get them to look at something if you bend the so called rules. They apply less once you've already 'made it'
no subject
Date: 2010-03-29 06:38 am (UTC)Having said that, there arre plenty of *individual* prologues that should be banned, let's say on a case by case basis.
no subject
Date: 2010-03-29 04:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-30 01:16 am (UTC)My!Ed: has a dog. A Xerxes Hound named "Ralph". (Xerxes Hound = Italian Greyhound)
Gaia's Song Daniel Teridani has a cat (or a pair of cats) named Nekomu (and possibly Nuuneko) Nekomu means roughy "cat sleeps alot" (Nuuneko is "sleeping cat"))
no subject
Date: 2010-03-30 02:43 am (UTC)