Comments for Story Papers

Comment on On Daily Word Counts by Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 02:52:28 +0000

I set weekly word counts for novels. That gives me a way to make sure I’ll meet the deadline I’ve set myself, but enough flexibility that I don’t get stressed over a day when I don’t get many words.

I also do some timed writing, partly because I’m trying to add more writing hours to my week, and partly because aiming to write until it’s time to go to work or lunch hour is over ensures I’ll get some time in. And it works well for revision.

Writing until you feel done sounds like a nice idea, too.

Comment on Never Too Soon For NaNo! by » Is It Too Soon to Think About NaNoWriMo? Story Papers

» Is It Too Soon to Think About NaNoWriMo? Story Papers — Tue, 29 May 2012 10:42:04 +0000

[...] week, Mike talked about NaNoWriMo and getting started now in your planning. Since every writer has a different [...]

Comment on Never Too Soon For NaNo! by Mike

Mike — Tue, 29 May 2012 03:04:10 +0000

I don’t have a large representative sample, but at least among my writing friends it seems pretty typical to pound out 50k words in November and then never revisit them again. So at least we’re not alone in that. :)

Good luck with your outlining! I’ll be revisiting this topic again between now and then, so keep us posted on how you’re doing too! :)

Comment on Never Too Soon For NaNo! by Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Mon, 28 May 2012 22:11:52 +0000

My previous two Nanos sound like your 2009 experience. I “won” but haven’t done anything with the result. In fact, after the second one, I was inspired to learn to plan and outline. Now I’m finally ready to do it again.

I started really thinking about this year’s Nano book (off and on) in March. I plan to have an outline ready to go by Nov. 1.

Comment on Seeding Your Story by Mimerki

Mimerki — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 16:02:02 +0000

Having read a lot of Vonnegut and heard him speak, I think this is more “don’t be unnecessarily coy”. There’s a certain class of writer who wants to keep everything a little bit of a secret but if the revelation that the main character’s roommate is also (shock!) her sister isn’t somehow central to your plot, just say, “My sister and I share a walk-up.”

And, to a certain extent, in a first draft it is probably better to infodump when you have the chance and come back later to clean that up.

Then again, I have seen people take #3 (Every character should want something) to weird extremes too. While every character should want something, you don’t have to detail the wants and needs of the nameless barista. I am sure that everyone who works at my favored coffee shop is a fascinating person, but they appear in my life as Nice Coffee Guy or Rushed Coffee Lady.

Comment on Six Ways to Interact with Your Story that Aren’t Writing It by » What You Know Can Help You Write Story Papers

» What You Know Can Help You Write Story Papers — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 09:19:00 +0000

[...] Tuesday, Ann talked about six techniques you can use to interact with your story without working on your story. Her post inspired me to change my plans for this week and write [...]

Comment on The Most Important Character by » Putting the “Pro” in Protagonist Story Papers

» Putting the “Pro” in Protagonist Story Papers — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 10:16:32 +0000

[...] week, Mike talked about protagonists and antagonists, and pointed out that in many iconic stories, the protagonist is reactive and the antagonist is [...]

Comment on Kill Your Characters by Geoffrey

Geoffrey — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 19:24:44 +0000

“You want your audience to remain engaged? Let that annoying character live and kill off a favorite character instead.”

I’d never thought about it this way. I kill off significant characters all the time, but usually after I’ve killed some annoying ones along the way. I’m going to have to look into ways to introduce characters who might be mildly irritating on their own, but become really horrid when readers notice that they’ve survived things that have been the death of “better” people. Bonus points if the favourite character sacrifices himself for the annoying one and the latter doesn’t learn anything from the experience.

Comment on Little Stories by » Okay, What’s Next? Story Papers

» Okay, What’s Next? Story Papers — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 09:54:03 +0000

[...] and I talked about this last week when we were reviewing his post on “little stories.” Originally, he just said to encourage the little stories and let them go. I told him that [...]

Comment on How Spinning a Yarn Brought Me Back to Spinning a Yarn by Ann

Ann — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 00:10:35 +0000

Thanks for the comment! I’ve gone through a lot of creative hobbies–drawing, beading, crochet… knitting/spinning/dyeing seems to have stuck, or at least is going to be here to stay for a while.

You are welcome to refer to this blog post :)