Ahira's Hangar

Just do it! Well I'm going to try to start Monday. There is no try--just do it! I've got the willies! My history seems fuzzy--will it write itself or must I come up with coherent timelimes, first? I think there will be four different interperatations by the four seperate tribes/clans, and thusly--will the real history somehow eventually be gleaned by solving mysteries and shifting through all information given? Is there a dreamworld or seperate reality? What's my cosmology?

Ok hold on, what do I know?
*I know who my lead character is, his dilemma, where he lives, his liniage and what he's going to do.
*I sorta know how he travels to the world and who brings him there.
*I have an ultimate badguy and sort of know who his mignions are.
*I know the path the lead character needs to take to recover in this world.
*I, primarily, know what the world looks like.
*I know of dress, mode of travels, weapons used

fark I need some feedback! I'm thinking to much about it! *****
Before, you are wise; after, you are wise. In between you are otherwise.
Fravashi saying (from the formularies of Osho the Fool) <i>Edited by: danlo60 at: 9/30/06 12:14 pm
</i>

Well....I do not know if this will help you at all, but...

I would probably start with some sort of outline/s, maybe one for each group of characters. Just to make sure that the characters will be able to interact properly when they need to and will be physically together when they should be.

But I would leave wiggle room for change if needed.

I've heard on some writers who begin by writing the ending, then sort of writing the story to see how the characters get there. Or writing the first chapter and the last, and figuring out how one comes from the other, and that will be the story.

As a reader I prefer to get clues as I go along, and then BINGO! at some point it all becomes clear. ******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
<i></i>

Danlo, I follow some blogs of some authors.

I do not know if this will help you at all, but one of the authors who really gets into the nitty gritty of how she works on her books (how many pages she writes on any given day, interruptions, outlines, rewrites, etc.) blogs here:
blog.laurellkhamilton.org/ <i></i>

I think it's different for everybody...the process I mean. Some people swear by outlines, (which I think are a good idea, even though I never used one when I was trying ) and others just make it up as they go along.

The advantage of outlines I think is that if you do change things half-way through, you don't have to rewrite everything.

And like Tulizar, I prefer clues as I go along.

--A ____________________________________

A sense of the sardonic preserves a man from believing in his own pretensions. -The Sayings Of Maud'Dib<i></i>

Since I've never written a story longer than fifty pages, I've never bothered with an outline. However, I do write an in depth description of technology, setting, basic story, and characters before getting into the actual story. It seems that when I write about one aspect of my world--let's say
religion--it either reinforces a trait of a character or gives me an idea for a new character. The more I write about what I want in my story, the more I think about themes or how my characters will get from point a to point b.

If I were to write a novel, I'd probably use an outline to lay out general story events. I know I want a-b-c to occur before I introduce character 2. After that events d-e-f, then introduce a major turn in the story. And so on.

I think an outline for a novel is a great idea. It should help organize your scattered ideas and give you a rough chronology to work with.

For me an outline would be just that. A basic frame that would most likely change as my story evolves since
writing about a character usually gives me new ideas about the story. Writing the actual story usually helps me flesh out the characters. The same can be said for the setting and the technology of the story.

I'm not sure when you should divulge pieces of history or background information on characters or hints concerning the plot. I suppose that comes when it comes? When you're actually writing the story??
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Well I didn't start today--but I'm walking everywhere and getting many more ideas---they'll be four to five differing philosophies but many more people and clans. I have a device where things from our world go whacky and crawl off to awaken "Gloom". I think I know how it ends too--but I still have to figure out a ranking of demigods and tricksters. I do know how the translation will occur---it's very cool and brand new. *****
Before, you are wise; after, you are wise. In between you are otherwise.
Fravashi saying (from the formularies of Osho the Fool) <i></i>

Excellent post Tulizar. Makles perfect sense...especially seperate descriptions of philosophies/technologies/magics/whatever to keep handy so you can easily refer to how it works.

Me, I've never written a story longer than a few pages...I just can't sustain it.

My (completely unpublished and possibly unpublishable ) novella, (27,000 odd words), has no characters, no story, and no plot. And poetry obviously doesn't need an outline.

I once had a great idea for a trilogy that I might write one day, but I think the revelation of inspiration was a lot better (man what a feeling) than the books would ever be. Still, maybe one day when I'm bored...and then I think outlines will be essential.

There's one problem that I certainly picked up when doing that novella thing...one I still haven't quite overcome except by default, and one that I think you might have if you're not careful danlo...where to stop.

Walking around having ideas is great...but the longer you do it, the more ideas you'll have, the more ambiguous the limits of the story will become. Apparently writing requires discipline too.

So start.

--A ____________________________________

A sense of the sardonic preserves a man from believing in his own pretensions. -The Sayings Of Maud'Dib<i></i>

Good point about getting started Avatar.


Write anything. It's great to have pages of ideas and background info, but there's nothing like actually writing a page or two. If you can kick out a few pages of the actual story, maybe this will help define something--a character attribute, plotline or something as mundane as whether or not shoes are laced or slipped on. At the very least writing a page should give you some sense of accomplishment. <i></i>

Yes, just sitting down and writing can be exhilirating and wonderful. Speaking of which - NaNoWriMo will be starting soon!

www.nanowrimo.org/

Thw whole goal of this annual event is to just get people started writing. ******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
<i></i>

Yeah...I lack discipline.

--A ____________________________________

A sense of the sardonic preserves a man from believing in his own pretensions. -The Sayings Of Maud'Dib<i></i>

It all began with a hack, or before that. It simply wouldn't stop. No matter how hard he tryed to stop, irritant upon irritant, excuse upon excuse, it was as much an addiction as his new found self pity, and self pity began way before that. "Hack till I barf." but slime was already on his wrist and running up his arm. "Dammitt! Hack me to death." "Dammitt!" he rasped, somehow he knew it wouldn't be that easy. "Damm death, damm...(hack)...life." There were many more hack interjections before, during and after that, in fact, probably thirty or so in a row until his head was ready to explode. Was this a real live hangover? He had survived plenty of hangovers, they weren't anything he couldn't handle, but the recent ones were becoming much more real than he had counted on. "What did I expect?" he mused, what else could he do...among assorted hacks. Sweat flew of his forehead as he unsuccessfully tried to sit up...and as quickly as anafelictive shock there was no way he could breathe as his skin changed before his eyes from red to purple.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....hack! Wheeze, hick, wheeze, hack...something flew by....appaagah! Heeeeee...ha, he could breathe something, at least he had to convince himself of that, thin, shuddering, pained wheezes...Heeee....heeee...."Crap!" this wasn't just a hangover it was a nicotine hangover. "Well then..." his lungs rumbled, "I'll just..." and as he struggled to rise for the second time the alcohol hangover stuck him between the eyes like a freight train.

--there's my start... *****
Before, you are wise; after, you are wise. In between you are otherwise.
Fravashi saying (from the formularies of Osho the Fool) <i>Edited by: danlo60 at: 10/4/06 9:47 pm
</i>

Took me a while to figure out he was coughing.

Haha, what do you want here danlo? Crit? Comments? (uh, annoying pointing out of typo's? Sorry, I used to be a proof reader. )

--A ____________________________________

A sense of the sardonic preserves a man from believing in his own pretensions. -The Sayings Of Maud'Dib<i></i>

No I simply wanted to get that out "of my chest" so I'd have no excuse for not starting tomorrow. Thanks for being here <hug> *****
Before, you are wise; after, you are wise. In between you are otherwise.
Fravashi saying (from the formularies of Osho the Fool) <i>Edited by: danlo60 at: 10/4/06 10:22 pm
</i>

No worries. Get a good nights rest and get off to a fine start. Good luck...

--A ____________________________________

A sense of the sardonic preserves a man from believing in his own pretensions. -The Sayings Of Maud'Dib<i></i>

It is tomorrow...how are things going? ******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
<i></i>