World building. You've probably heard of it before. It's a necessary part of the writing of every book. Also, world building means something different to every person. For some people, it's the creating of the actual world (Mostly in fantasy and sci fi. Thus world building.), while for others it's something quite different. The creating of all of the characters and their personalities, working on the locations and the reason that the world is the way that it is. Something that often comes with world building however, is the common "disease" known as world building disease. It doesn't happen to everybody, but it is fairly common in the world of writing. It is when you are working on writing up a world, and you just can't stop. It's more of a compulsive type of thing than a "trying to get my world perfect" kind of thing.
Sometimes it is hard for them to stop. They are literally building their world and characters for years on end, dreaming up details that will never, ever be used in the actual book. And sometimes all of this brainstorming and world building is for a single book too, not a series, or even a trilogy. I personally think that the reason for World Builder's Disease is because it gives the person a sense of accomplishment - like they actually completed something. In my honest opinion, I think that too much world building stifles my creativity. I can't create something on the spot, and that causes me to not be creative. Same with outlining. If I have too detailed an outline, then I tend to follow the outline and forget about being creative. Because I already used up all of my creativity on the outline. And readers can see that. Anyways, until next time, Write On!
Showing posts with label book. Show all posts
Showing posts with label book. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Friday, January 7, 2011
The Seed Idea
When you are writing something - a novel, a short story, a poem; even a paper for school, you have to have an idea. I tend to refer to them as a seed idea, as that is basically what they are. They start out as a tiny idea, and then, as you work with them more and more, you start to discover that they are actually more than they seem. They start to sprout into new ideas; sub-plots and, sometimes, you even mix two or more seed ideas together to make an entirely new, exciting plot. You develop it, and brainstorm ideas for it, discovering what it was actually meant to be in the first place. After a while, you start to find that you have discovered an entire idea for a book - and you begin to outline a bit, creating your own magical story; arranging all of the elements into a full, developed plan. That's the bud. After a little longer of simply watching the "plant" grow, you start to work on it. You write the actual story, using the outline "bud" as your blueprint. When the first draft is completed, that is the bloom.
But, as often happens with flowers, the first bloom is not as big and beautiful as the flower actually gets. Each day, that first bloom gets larger, and more full, as more petals grow. That represents the editing process. After all of the edits are complete, and the finished manuscript is polished to it's perfection; you start to realize that, just like a flower, it has bloomed. So that's why I refer to them as seed ideas. A lot of other explanations are given, each by their own author. Each and every person has their own description of these simple ideas; and we all know that some are just a bit more complex than others. For example, a very simple idea is that a boy and girl fall in love and eventually, after a few struggles, they live happily ever after. You see how simple that idea is. But it's also a very common one. The more complex ideas are often more unique, and come from the imagination, not what other people think.
For me, these ideas start coming to me when I'm in the midst of something else. Reading, watching television, riding in the car, browsing the internet, and, most of all, when I'm writing my own work. A lot of times I'll come up with seed ideas that I think might relate to my book, though only slightly. Sometimes I end up using these in my current manuscript, though, normally, I end up writing it down in my Writer's Notebook for later use in another story. I realize that I haven't exactly explained what a writer's notebook is yet, even though it is the title of my blog. I promise that I'll touch on that soon. But, basically, it's just a notebook that I write in every day, putting down my ideas and thoughts, for use in books later on. But get this straight. It is NOT a journal, nor a diary. I'll explain that in more depth another day.
One more thing though, before I leave. I once read something about writing, that said that to create a great book, you must combine the mundane and the extraordinary. Right now, I'm calling a can of worms on that (I'll write about that later), but I feel like it fits perfectly right here. At least a really simplified example. Basically, when you combine what seems normal (a high school kid) and then add something extraordinary (his teacher, is say, a ghost, or something similar) it adds an interesting touch. I realize that this is a very old example, and, it has been done a whole lot, especially in manga comics, but that was the example that was simply on the top of my head at this very moment. So, until next time, write on!!
But, as often happens with flowers, the first bloom is not as big and beautiful as the flower actually gets. Each day, that first bloom gets larger, and more full, as more petals grow. That represents the editing process. After all of the edits are complete, and the finished manuscript is polished to it's perfection; you start to realize that, just like a flower, it has bloomed. So that's why I refer to them as seed ideas. A lot of other explanations are given, each by their own author. Each and every person has their own description of these simple ideas; and we all know that some are just a bit more complex than others. For example, a very simple idea is that a boy and girl fall in love and eventually, after a few struggles, they live happily ever after. You see how simple that idea is. But it's also a very common one. The more complex ideas are often more unique, and come from the imagination, not what other people think.
For me, these ideas start coming to me when I'm in the midst of something else. Reading, watching television, riding in the car, browsing the internet, and, most of all, when I'm writing my own work. A lot of times I'll come up with seed ideas that I think might relate to my book, though only slightly. Sometimes I end up using these in my current manuscript, though, normally, I end up writing it down in my Writer's Notebook for later use in another story. I realize that I haven't exactly explained what a writer's notebook is yet, even though it is the title of my blog. I promise that I'll touch on that soon. But, basically, it's just a notebook that I write in every day, putting down my ideas and thoughts, for use in books later on. But get this straight. It is NOT a journal, nor a diary. I'll explain that in more depth another day.
One more thing though, before I leave. I once read something about writing, that said that to create a great book, you must combine the mundane and the extraordinary. Right now, I'm calling a can of worms on that (I'll write about that later), but I feel like it fits perfectly right here. At least a really simplified example. Basically, when you combine what seems normal (a high school kid) and then add something extraordinary (his teacher, is say, a ghost, or something similar) it adds an interesting touch. I realize that this is a very old example, and, it has been done a whole lot, especially in manga comics, but that was the example that was simply on the top of my head at this very moment. So, until next time, write on!!
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Addicted to Reading
I've been thinking lately about a couple of things, and I've discovered that reading, when you do it often enough, and you get into a certain book, it's almost a compulsive obsession. It's kind of a strange compulsion to have at first, but, when you get used to it, it's actually pretty fun to play around with. I'm on a goal to write a million words by October (since I started my year in November of last year), and, also, to read 100 books this year. I've actually only started on my first book (The Hobbit), but I've also figured out a few more that I'm hoping to read. For example, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (since The Hobbit is the prologue to that), the whole Narnia series, and The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. I've been wanting to read the latter for a while, and it was sort of MIA when it was actually Christmas season. It is a hilarious book, and I would highly recommend it.
So, getting back to the actual update of my actual writing process, I've been doing fairly good, I think - I wrote part of another chapter on Double Trouble, and, even though it's going pretty slowly, I'm thinking that it is going to be a fun book to write once it's fully outlined. I think that also may be part of my problem. Not all of my book is outlined - actually not much of it at all was; probably only a chapter; when I actually started to write it, just because I was so eager to. I know that I probably shouldn't have, and it probably wasn't the smartest idea in the world, but I'm still going to go with it - you know what I mean? Sometimes, you just know that something's a good idea, even when it might not seem like it at the time. Take this example for instance; if I hadn't started writing it, I wouldn't be able to get my 3k words a day for my Milwordy. And, even though it is going very slowly, it gives me words.
I think that the main idea of Milwordy is actually a really neat one and actually pretty encouraging. You see, there is this famous writing quote that says that that 'the first million words are practice." Might as well get them over with as soon as possible. :P. I don't know why, but that's the way that my mind just happens to work. I start to relate things to others, and then I want to look at things about that subject. That's why I love the whole idea of Wikidpad. I don't think that I've talked about that yet, but, quite frankly, I highly recommend it. It's a free program that you download and put on your desktop - it's almost like Wikipedia, only simplified greatly. Basically you just make your own wiki. I've been putting all of my writing information (book names, characters, locations, systems of magic, etc.) in it. So yeah. Well, anyways, until next time, go write something!!
So, getting back to the actual update of my actual writing process, I've been doing fairly good, I think - I wrote part of another chapter on Double Trouble, and, even though it's going pretty slowly, I'm thinking that it is going to be a fun book to write once it's fully outlined. I think that also may be part of my problem. Not all of my book is outlined - actually not much of it at all was; probably only a chapter; when I actually started to write it, just because I was so eager to. I know that I probably shouldn't have, and it probably wasn't the smartest idea in the world, but I'm still going to go with it - you know what I mean? Sometimes, you just know that something's a good idea, even when it might not seem like it at the time. Take this example for instance; if I hadn't started writing it, I wouldn't be able to get my 3k words a day for my Milwordy. And, even though it is going very slowly, it gives me words.
I think that the main idea of Milwordy is actually a really neat one and actually pretty encouraging. You see, there is this famous writing quote that says that that 'the first million words are practice." Might as well get them over with as soon as possible. :P. I don't know why, but that's the way that my mind just happens to work. I start to relate things to others, and then I want to look at things about that subject. That's why I love the whole idea of Wikidpad. I don't think that I've talked about that yet, but, quite frankly, I highly recommend it. It's a free program that you download and put on your desktop - it's almost like Wikipedia, only simplified greatly. Basically you just make your own wiki. I've been putting all of my writing information (book names, characters, locations, systems of magic, etc.) in it. So yeah. Well, anyways, until next time, go write something!!
Friday, December 31, 2010
Time to Spare
It seems that lately, ever since the Christmas season is over, I've had tons of time to spare. I think that it's something about how busy we are that time of the year, and I'm not quite used to all of the blank spots on the calender yet. I've actually done a lot more editing on Blue Flames since my last post, but I just couldn't find the time to be interested enough to sit down and type out this post. So far I've gotten 58 pages edited into the second draft - I've been keeping a tracksheet in my writer's notebook with the date, the number of pages, and which edit it is.
I've been thinking a lot lately about how many drafts it will actually take to finish the book, but, I'm thinking, that after this one, I'll still have two more left. I could be wrong, and only need one more edit, but I guess we'll see about that. After the second draft is complete, I'm going to give it to a couple of people to read - I still haven't let anybody else see it yet because it's really pretty bad.
I don't know if I've said it on here before or not, but this novel was written mostly in November 2010, for NaNoWriMo. That is the challenge to write 50k words in the month of November. It's not really as bad as it seems though. I did a lot of word padding during November; little tricks here and there that I added in just to boost my word count. Even though I was sure that it would need edited out later. **Hangs head**
A lot of people actually do that in November; mostly because they wouldn't be able to complete it with all of their holiday preparations, cooking, baking, and anything else that needs done in November (like general living). I didn't do it as bad as some other people did, only a couple of random spots in the book, with one little trick (no contractions; do not instead of don't, should not instead of shouldn't, etc, etc, etc.)
There are a lot worse tricks in the book than that one, and, personally, it doesn't bother me that much that I did that. Mostly what I was having trouble with was the descriptions. I described everything to the best of my ability, which gave me quite a bit of padding. What they don't actually tell you though, about descriptive writing, is that it's not always a good thing.
People always say to describe everything to the fullest extent possible. I've found myself, however, in the editing process, going back and editing out a whole lot of the describing words that I used in the first place. When you actually read, out loud, a sentence that has been written in this way, it just starts to sound funny. Instead of a smooth flowing sentence in which all of the words seem to work together, you end up with a choppy sentence that is almost annoying to read.
Editing out all of those excess words helps that tremendously. Now, one more thing before I leave. When it does actually come time to edit your novel, don't be afraid to cut stuff. In the beginning I was totally obsessing over what needed to go, and what needed to replace it, if anything. Now that I've gotten about a quarter of the way through my book, I realize that it doesn't matter as much as you think it does in the very beginning. I just work on creating flowing sentences that flow together, and paragraphs that pull you into the next section or chapter. Now for my closing words. Go write something!!
I've been thinking a lot lately about how many drafts it will actually take to finish the book, but, I'm thinking, that after this one, I'll still have two more left. I could be wrong, and only need one more edit, but I guess we'll see about that. After the second draft is complete, I'm going to give it to a couple of people to read - I still haven't let anybody else see it yet because it's really pretty bad.
I don't know if I've said it on here before or not, but this novel was written mostly in November 2010, for NaNoWriMo. That is the challenge to write 50k words in the month of November. It's not really as bad as it seems though. I did a lot of word padding during November; little tricks here and there that I added in just to boost my word count. Even though I was sure that it would need edited out later. **Hangs head**
A lot of people actually do that in November; mostly because they wouldn't be able to complete it with all of their holiday preparations, cooking, baking, and anything else that needs done in November (like general living). I didn't do it as bad as some other people did, only a couple of random spots in the book, with one little trick (no contractions; do not instead of don't, should not instead of shouldn't, etc, etc, etc.)
There are a lot worse tricks in the book than that one, and, personally, it doesn't bother me that much that I did that. Mostly what I was having trouble with was the descriptions. I described everything to the best of my ability, which gave me quite a bit of padding. What they don't actually tell you though, about descriptive writing, is that it's not always a good thing.
People always say to describe everything to the fullest extent possible. I've found myself, however, in the editing process, going back and editing out a whole lot of the describing words that I used in the first place. When you actually read, out loud, a sentence that has been written in this way, it just starts to sound funny. Instead of a smooth flowing sentence in which all of the words seem to work together, you end up with a choppy sentence that is almost annoying to read.
Editing out all of those excess words helps that tremendously. Now, one more thing before I leave. When it does actually come time to edit your novel, don't be afraid to cut stuff. In the beginning I was totally obsessing over what needed to go, and what needed to replace it, if anything. Now that I've gotten about a quarter of the way through my book, I realize that it doesn't matter as much as you think it does in the very beginning. I just work on creating flowing sentences that flow together, and paragraphs that pull you into the next section or chapter. Now for my closing words. Go write something!!
Sunday, December 19, 2010
And So it Begins...
This blog is going to be for my world. My writing. My ideas. And my life. I have a lot of ideas that I'd like to put into being, but, to tell you the truth, I just need some people encouraging if they are actually going to get done. It's sad, but that's the way I work. I need people. It's a necessity. People energize me.
Okay, so the really annoying part, is that I had all of this typed out and I was getting ready to publish it, when I realized that my internet was down and, when I did realize it, it was already too late to save it. So this is actually my second time writing all of this.
My current novel that I'm working on right now is named Blue Flames; I really like that as a title because I think that it's an interesting one, and very intriguing. This morning, when I was working on it, I was both confused and enthused when I realized that the book was finished! The first draft, that is. So I ended up double spacing it, and then printing the thing out. All 164 pages of it. When the pages are stacked, it's a bit over an inch and a half thick - at least that's what it looks like.
Now onto editing! Actually so far, I've already gotten about 7 pages edited, and I'm going to go and work on that some more, after I finish typing out this post. I feel really good about what I have so far, and will be sure to keep you all updated! If you happen to be wondering though, the genre of my book is fantasy. I actually had the idea floating around in my head for a while before anything actually got started.
I started to plan the thing out in October of this year, and I hadn't even finished a quarter of the outline before I jumped head first into the actual writing part in November. I was participating in NaNoWriMo for the very first time, and I almost didn't make it. But there at the end I started doing 4k days, and that got me caught up there really quick. So I can say truthfully that I'm 13 years old and I conquered NaNo on my first go!!
So yeah. Well, I'll keep you guys updated. Now back to my editing.
Okay, so the really annoying part, is that I had all of this typed out and I was getting ready to publish it, when I realized that my internet was down and, when I did realize it, it was already too late to save it. So this is actually my second time writing all of this.
My current novel that I'm working on right now is named Blue Flames; I really like that as a title because I think that it's an interesting one, and very intriguing. This morning, when I was working on it, I was both confused and enthused when I realized that the book was finished! The first draft, that is. So I ended up double spacing it, and then printing the thing out. All 164 pages of it. When the pages are stacked, it's a bit over an inch and a half thick - at least that's what it looks like.
Now onto editing! Actually so far, I've already gotten about 7 pages edited, and I'm going to go and work on that some more, after I finish typing out this post. I feel really good about what I have so far, and will be sure to keep you all updated! If you happen to be wondering though, the genre of my book is fantasy. I actually had the idea floating around in my head for a while before anything actually got started.
I started to plan the thing out in October of this year, and I hadn't even finished a quarter of the outline before I jumped head first into the actual writing part in November. I was participating in NaNoWriMo for the very first time, and I almost didn't make it. But there at the end I started doing 4k days, and that got me caught up there really quick. So I can say truthfully that I'm 13 years old and I conquered NaNo on my first go!!
So yeah. Well, I'll keep you guys updated. Now back to my editing.
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