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[FutileSine]

Ooooh...thanks for the share! Looks so fun! Unfortunately November will see me starting to prepare for finals and doing a slew of boring long papers for classes. Now if it was Dec/January I'd be all about it -winter break, baby!!

[Reika]

I wasn't planning on including what I'd already written. Eh, if I do try NaNoWriMo again, I'd probably just start my Awakening fanfic.

[Sarah1281]

Last year I made sure to write down what my fanfiction word count was pre-November and post-November and, just writing what I was normally writing, I had over 50K. It was both kind of cool and mildly disturbing. I think I'll do the same this year.

[Reika]

Thankfully FF.net keeps track of word count for me. I'm disturbed at how much I've written so far without even really trying.

[FutileSine]

Reika wrote...

Thankfully FF.net keeps track of word count for me. I'm disturbed at how much I've written so far without even really trying.

Me too!  I know its a *little* bit off, at least compared to what Microsoft Word tells me...but especially after I read on the "write a novel in November" page that 50,000 words is equal to 175 novel pages....I was like
 

Amazing how time/word count flies when one is having fun!

[mousestalker]

Some of y'all just put me in awe. I struggle to write a few hundred crappy words and you guys can write 5,000 words or more and it's all good. And you do it over and over again, seemingly effortlessly.

[jackkel dragon]

mousestalker wrote...

Some of y'all just put me in awe. I struggle to write a few hundred crappy words and you guys can write 5,000 words or more and it's all good. And you do it over and over again, seemingly effortlessly.

That's how I feel sometimes. I'm just glad to be able to crack the 3000 word mark before I run out of major events per chapter.

[LupusYondergirl]

Honestly, I wish I could tighten my writing up. Quantity of words isn't everything. I'm at 3700 words for my next chapter and it all covers one conversation. Granted, it's a fairly important conversation, but even so. There's zero action so far. Zero. I just can't manage to make myself less verbose, though.



I've had five thousand word chapters that consist of nothing more than two people talking back and forth. Although the perspective does cripple me in that sense. I don't have a narrator that can come in and say xyz happened, I have to either have her thinking about it or discussing it with someone.



Next story is so going to be 3rd person. For sure.

[SurelyForth]

I'm also jealous of people who can keep things concise and are efficient writers. I just don't have the restraint necessary to not *words* things up.

Modifié par SurelyForth, 08 octobre 2010 - 12:00 .

[Sandtigress]

*giggles and hugs Surely and Tiger Bryce*

[Reika]

I wish I could write action scenes, hence all of my stuff takes place before or after with "after action reports" for lack of a better term.



And sometimes I feel like I'm not being descriptive enough.

[Sarah1281]

Reika wrote...

I wish I could write action scenes, hence all of my stuff takes place before or after with "after action reports" for lack of a better term.

And sometimes I feel like I'm not being descriptive enough.

Change 'sometimes' to 'always' and that pretty much describes my issues.

Oh, and romance. In fact, with all those things I avoid, it's a wonder I've managed to write as much as I have...

[Reika]

Romance used to be a problem for me, but having played enough DAO with an Alistair romance, it made it easier for my fanfic.

[Merilsell]

SurelyForth wrote...

I'm also jealous of people who can keep things concise and are efficient writers. I just don't have the restraint necessary to not *words* things up.

Same here.

I mean I'm ending up having chapter of 7000 words (or more) every frikkin time, which makes in total 153752 words for 30 chapter so far, lol.

I pity my Beta reader, really,

[Reika]

Merilsell wrote...
Same here.

I mean I'm ending up having chapter of 7000 words (or more) every frikkin time, which makes in total 153752 words for 30 chapter so far, lol.

I pity my Beta reader, really,

And yet I'm envious of people who manage to write like that. Funny how things work like that.

[Sialater]

I dunno, FF is actually improving my writing. I'm finding my weak spots and hopefully eradicating them.



I'm still verbose, though.

[Merilsell]

Reika wrote...

Merilsell wrote...
Same here.

I mean I'm ending up having chapter of 7000 words (or more) every frikkin time, which makes in total 153752 words for 30 chapter so far, lol.

I pity my Beta reader, really,

And yet I'm envious of people who manage to write like that. Funny how things work like that.

Really?

Well I also could make my chapter shorter buuuut I'm afraid I will never finish this thing and mostly it would then be a "Conversation of the day" chapter then, sigh. Because conversation is what eats up most on words. I love convos and to write them, but somehow they always get longer than previously intended. Gah. Honestly I could fill a whole chapter just with frikkin talking, no problem Though since this is boring, it gets even longer with the "other stuff" needed.

Verbose, indeed.

[Reika]

Merilsell wrote...

Really?

Well I also could make my chapter shorter buuuut I'm afraid I will never finish this thing and mostly it would then be a "Conversation of the day" chapter then, sigh. Because conversation is what eats up most on words. I love convos and to write them, but somehow they always get longer than previously intended. Gah. Honestly I could fill a whole chapter just with frikkin talking, no problem Though since this is boring, it gets even longer with the "other stuff" needed.

Verbose, indeed.

I'm awful at conversations, hence why some sections are dialogue taken verbatim from the game. Or rather, it's just talking I can't stand, probably comes from working in a call center.

[Maria13]

Interesting isn't it how we're all different...

I'm probably over concise.  When I got a beta, thank you Kissychan, she was like, "what, another elipsis?", using a beta was great but I'm pretty impatient and self-sufficient so...

Conversation I love.  I should write: "DA: The Play"

Action scenes I usually have difficulty with but they're needed so I do them.  Also I need to practice.

Description.  Now, here really is my sticking point.  Hate it, usually, but it's necessary so I try to get at least one description in per chapter, just to exercise, it could be a thing, a place, or a day but I try to go for it.

Sex scenes, easier than I thought, but I think the difficult thing is to make them different and to still respect your characters' quirks and distinctiveness...

Reading all the mails above I think we should pair up for a tale with someone whose strength is our weakness.

I don't know perhaps we should propose a fixed list of plot skeletons and each pair have a go at one during November...

[nos_astra]

I love descriptions. It's essential if you want to create your own vision of the world. I'm a fan of the rule show don't tell. Many authors rush from dialogue to dialogue, they let their characters tell me what I should see for myself.

I want to know what kind of clothing they are wearing, what the room they are in looks like, if the character has a distinctive feature, are they wearing 24-h-armour (I hope not). I want to know what the Blight is (or was) doing to the land and the people - no blighted land, no Blight sickness spreading, everyone is happy?

I'm practising writing at the moment by doing a post-blight novella. My main character is a servant of the Vigil and I'm telling the story through her eyes. Her look an the Wardens, the Commander of the Grey, the monarchs, the world she's living in. She's grateful that the Blight was stopped but the people suffered a great deal and things heal very slowly, Amaranthine is full of refugees who refuse to go back to their lands because there is nothing left for them. Their Bann is dead or imprisoned, the land infertile, animals turned into vicious beasts, food shortages and famines, diseases spreading (less than twelve mages left in all of the country). A real background that needs to be described and explained to make sure the reader understands what the world my character is living in is like.

Writing from an outsider's POV is a good way to be more descriptive. It can also help you see if your character works or if your are too much of a fan of him/her.

Modifié par klarabella, 08 octobre 2010 - 09:03 .

[Maria13]

klarabella wrote...

I love descriptions. It's essential if you want to create your own vision of the world. I'm a fan of the rule show don't tell. Many authors rush from dialogue to dialogue, they let their characters tell me what I should see for myself.

I want to know what kind of clothing they are wearing, what the room they are in looks like, if the character has a distinctive feature, are they wearing 24-h-armour (I hope not). I want to know what the Blight is (or was) doing to the land and the people - no blighted land, no Blight sickness spreading, everyone is happy?

I'm practising writing at the moment by doing a post-blight novella. My main character is a servant of the Vigil and I'm telling the story through her eyes. Her look an the Wardens, the Commander of the Grey, the monarchs, the world she's living in. She's grateful that the Blight was stopped but the people suffered a great deal and things heal very slowly, Amaranthine is full of refugees who refuse to go back to their lands because there is nothing left for them. Their Bann is dead or imprisoned, the land infertile, animals turned into vicious beasts, food shortages and famines, diseases spreading (less than twelve mages left in all of the country). A real background that needs to be described and explained to make sure the reader understands what the world my character is living in is like.

Writing from an outsider's POV is a good way to be more descriptive. It can also help you see if your character works or if your are too much of a fan of him/her.

Klara, this sounds really interesting.

[Sialater]

Well... I don't know if I should be sad or what? I took down the last entry of The Rescue because I thought I made Zevran veer too far OOC.



No one's even noticed.

[soignee]

Strengths: memorable characterisation and banter. I've been told I write good pronz, but not sure if that's something to put on the resume. <.<



Weaknesses: description, plot, logic and following through ideas. I have a tendency to shoehorn in smart ass analogies and visual metaphors which probably aren't as clever as I think they are. I am obsessed with getting the pacing in stories right and over-plan, and probably do more harm then good in doing this rather then letting the plot flow naturally as I write it.

[FutileSine]

Sialater wrote...

Well... I don't know if I should be sad or what? I took down the last entry of The Rescue because I thought I made Zevran veer too far OOC.

No one's even noticed.

Well, I know I for one tend to do the bulk of my FF reading over the weekend...so I haven't had the time really to miss it...and I imagine a lot of people are like that too.  Hopefully by the end of the weekend I'll have a revised chapter to read? 

@ Maria- That was an interesting idea you posted up earlier...about having writers pair up or whatever and do different plot fills.   Just sayin'  

Edited to add...my perceived strengths and weakness

Strengths (going off the reviews I've gotten): Taking the Blight timeline in directions not thought of before (so...creativity?). and angst.  Disturbing angst.  

Weaknesses:  Inability to write humorous scenes; irrational fear of writing romance, tendency to pigeon-hole OCs, describing emotions of characters, descriptions...

So...basically I think I can write an interesting outline of a story, but I have an inability to write a character that people can really relate too.   Inshallah, I'll get better.  

Modifié par FutileSine, 08 octobre 2010 - 02:18 .

[Sialater]

Futile: You should, yes. I was just very uncomfortable with it. It was sappy in a situation in which there should be little to no sap. But I guess you're right about the timing. I posted it on Monday or Tuesday...