Writing, Writing, Writing

Aug 13, 2012 21:48


Distracting myself from my dilemma. Thank you to those who've already responded and I'll respond individually shortly.

So yeah, distracting ... been writing. I am now almost done with Chapter Twelve of my book (no edits except minor things I catch when I go back to reread something) - that's 19,327 words (which isn't TOO much). I'm not even halfway ( Read more... )

thoughts: writing, activity: writing, question:

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Comments 18

llblckraincloud August 14 2012, 02:14:56 UTC
1) I save everything in one document because then if I forget or want to fix things I have easy access. But I do know people who use stuff like Scrivener to write in and that saves things individually by chapter and the piles it all together for you in one document later. Whichever is easiiest for you is what you should do.

3) I usually have a title at the end of the book.

4) Your cast size will fit your book. There are books with groups of one and there are others who have a million. Don't over analyze it. Just write the story as it needs to be told!

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matopa August 15 2012, 02:38:54 UTC
I may have to check out this Scrivener. A good writer friend of mine commented that she uses it herself and she says you can combine it into one document when you want ... if it is that fluid, I may give it a shot. Ha!

Phew! I got my last title so fast, I was starting to worry (:

Yeah I have a bad habit of over analyzing everything in my writing. HAHA. It's why I never get anywhere (: I am my own worst critic.

P.S. I LOVE THAT ICON! Hahahaha.

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llblckraincloud August 15 2012, 02:41:09 UTC
Yeah. it's pretty cool. I've never been able to figure out how to make it work, but I'm also old fashioned and just use open office. lol.

lol no don't worry!

Write first. Edit later. ;)

Thanks. :)

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alicetheowl August 14 2012, 02:19:40 UTC
1. I used to save each chapter individually, but then I'd move events around or need to refer to something and not remember which chapter it was in. Now I save it all as one document.

2. The main benefit of saving chapter-by-chapter is that each file takes up less space on your computer, and therefore doesn't take as much time to save. Also, if one chapter becomes corrupted, the others are safe.

3. I've come up with titles before I start writing. I've come up with titles on the fifth revision. Don't sweat the title. Here, have a blog post about it.

4. Don't introduce important characters after the halfway point. Don't add characters just to pad out a cast. Give everyone something important to do. Most novels have at least 7 named characters, but there's no hard and fast rule. I have a blog post about that, too.

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matopa August 15 2012, 03:02:23 UTC
Weird! Your comment was coded as SUSPICIOUS! I wonder if I've missed others because of this. I only noticed because of this new layout ... hmmm.

Yeah, I personally DO like having it all in one document, but only because of my psycho 'editing' desires. At least once a week I go back to the beginning and read the whole thing through, fixing/adding/deleting/editing as I go along lol ... I'm bad, I KNOW (: But the ONE document helps this greatly.

Great blog posts on BOTH topics, but I totally resonated with your 'characters' one. One of my old favorite authors used to have 2-3 main characters ...but as the series progressed so did the number of main characters showing up in her chapters and it got to a point when there were 10 people all acting/reacting/talking in this ONE chapter and it was driving me insane keeping up. Sorry, but in my book that is too much (in one chapter alone ( ... )

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alicetheowl August 15 2012, 11:44:49 UTC
Sure thing!

LJ has been marking posts as suspicious if they have links in them. While it is true that spammers almost always post links, it makes it difficult for those of us who like to share posts in our comments.

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starling27 August 14 2012, 03:04:05 UTC
Don't worry about number of characters, the development of your story will naturally let you know if you need more of less. Characters are a tool for telling the story itself, so you will know who and what and how many you need :)

I tend to, like you, keep all my chapters in one document, but i've found that with long stories it's harder to go back for referencing. So for long stories i do it chapter by chapter to stop the endless scrolling syndrome lol. Additional to this i keep a character document, that lists all the characters used, who they are, relationship to the story and to other characters. And a short bio and description of what they look like. This is helpful to keep characters consistent and give you a firm idea of them as a 'person'. I also keep a timeline doc. To help me keep track of time in the story. And also a small doc. About environments used, to give me a clear picture of each setting used.

Lastly i use a brief outline of how i want to story to be set out, so i get the idea of what happens in each chapter, what ( ... )

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matopa August 15 2012, 02:41:05 UTC
I've always been told that you shouldn't go back and read through the whole thing until it's all written. Me? I am constantly going back and reading it entirely, finding new things, new ways to write something ... so keeping it one document has made it easier for me...

I was just more curious how other folks did it.

Yeah, I agree on the characters comment; they do come around when I need them (:

I used to keep a 'character' sheet on my characters, but then I would lose them and that would just drive me nuts. Since I go back and read over it so often, the stuff kind of sticks now LOL.

This did help, THANK YOU!

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starling27 August 14 2012, 03:05:19 UTC
I also love the fact that we both use writing fiction as a means of escape when we're going through stuff or encounter problems in our lives. :)

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matopa August 15 2012, 02:42:39 UTC
Yeah ... It seems the only time I can really write is when I am trying to escape from something in my real life. It explains the long spurts of writer's block because most times NOTHING is going on HAHA.

SO I am trying to train my brain to write, even when all is well. It's hard!

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davidnm August 14 2012, 14:05:23 UTC
I put everything in one document, with a page-break for each new chapter. I prefer to keep it simple, s it's not like any of my leavings will ever see the light of day, after all! (I did once write something with a chapter-per-document, but it made a mess of the page numbering, and I found that really annoying.)

As for titles, I'm never really happy with any of mine.

As for characters, I reckon three main ones is probably about right, actually. I don't think that extra supporting/secondary characters cause problems, though. The main thing, I suppose, is for the reader to be able to keep track, really.

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matopa August 15 2012, 02:45:51 UTC
Hmmm... Interesting thoughts on the page break. I didn't think of that too! Thanks (:

I actually liked the title of my last book, but didn't like the book so much (probably why I never went back to really edit it) ... but now I really like this book, but can't think of a title. Go figure (:

Yeah ... I get so bogged down when there are too many characters, especially simultaneously in one chapter (like one of my old favorite authors ... she started out with 3ish main characters and it turned into an orgy-no joke-of like 20 people talking / acting in one chapter ... kind of gave up on her).

Thanks for your thoughts!

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