Post by ashenmoon on Nov 4, 2013 18:45:05 GMT
I bid thee welcome, fellow spectator - or, speculator - of the web. This here subforum of this here Worldforge is intended as a device, and a home, for us apprentice authors who harbour a wish, a desire, an idea... an idea to do more than merely spectate or speculate, but to Participate and Create, and to Create in writing what might by the ambitious be termed "a novel" - books, messieurs and madams, books! We are here to write stories and tell tales, to ponder the mysteries of the universe, the movements of the soul, tell bad jokes and sad stories, and to put it all in print.
No noble quest can take place without a stage upon which to perform such an activity! And so we are proud, nay, terrified, nay! - exhilirated to present to you, the Novel Writing subforum.
In other words, dudes, if you've ever thought "man, I want to write a book", well, so have I. And some others. And we figure... why not start now? Do it together, post your ideas in your own threads and get comments and suggestions, post inspiration and discuss it in this thread, and above all - make your own kind of music!
I'll start off with two links I consider vital for every writing prospectee:
imgur.com/a/aldg6
imgur.com/a/fPLnM
added: A List Which May Or May Not Be Revised If Anyone Has Any Thoughts On Its Contents Or Additions To It
I give up, I'm just gonna treat this as my own public pinterest, or bookmark folder. Why not? Here follows a long list of links which I've barely perused but figure I will, if I find some spare time lying around:
- General writing tips
blog.papyruseditor.com/from-reddit-simple-tips-to-be-a-better-writer/
www.reddit.com/r/writing
www.dailywritingtips.com/34-writing-tips-that-will-make-you-a-better-writer/
www.poynter.org/how-tos/newsgathering-storytelling/writing-tools/76067/fifty-writing-tools-quick-list/
www.theguardian.com/books/2010/feb/20/ten-rules-for-writing-fiction-part-one
thoughtcatalog.com/cody-delistraty/2013/09/21-harsh-but-eye-opening-writing-tips-from-great-authors/
www.amazon.com/The-Elements-Style-Fourth-Edition/dp/020530902X
www.writingclasses.com/InformationPages/index.php/PageID/269
99u.com/articles/7082/25-insights-on-becoming-a-better-writer
A quote from one of my favourite authors, Swedish historian (and only Swede on my favourite anything-list) Peter Englund:
- Writing-a-novel tips
nanowrimo.org/pep-talks
- From my own experience of generally working creatively with ideas, the notion that one comes up with one perfect idea (out of thin air) and then runs with that is bullshit. One should make a long list of ideas for stories and pluck them in whenever needed, modified to suit one's purposes. When beginning a story, one should force oneself to write a couple of quick drafts and let someone else pick the one that sounds most interesting. See "thumbnailing" for the visual arts. One should be passionate about telling a story, not obsessed with one's own idea of perfection.
www.advancedfictionwriting.com/articles/writing-the-perfect-scene/
www.google.com/translate?hl=en&ie=UTF8&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.forfattartips.se%2Fkom-igang-att-skriva-novell.php (Swedish site, really)
- Writing characters
library.creativecow.net/articles/gregory_browne_rob/characters.php
www.plottopunctuation.com/blog/show/56
+ catchphrases are freaking awesome. "You have to be realistic" is awesome.
lighthouse8.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/myers-briggs-test.jpg
psychology.about.com/od/personalitydevelopment/tp/archetypes.htm
- Links about literary critique and analysis (two separate fields, supposedly)
www.wikihow.com/Critique-Literature - short and simple starting steps
wps.ablongman.com/wps/media/objects/327/335558/AnalyzingLit.pdf - long-ish, but pretty darn well-written I think
owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/4/17/ - looking like a pretty nice resource that tries to organize how to think when writing, and writing about, something
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatomy_of_Criticism - a book from the 50s, Wikipedia sums up some main things
www.cla.purdue.edu/blackmon/engl360k/critical.html - a pretty readable short intro to a few different schools
www.editorskylar.com/litcrit.html - much less snazzy, but looking precise and to the point
- Unsorted assorted stuff
The actant(ial) model, a simple chart: www.socwork.net/sws/article/viewFile/77/336/611
Three-part structure, another simple chart: cliffordgarstang.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/ThreeActStructureFlat.jpg
www.cla.purdue.edu/english/theory/narratology/modules/greimassquaremainframe.html (really was supposed to be about the actant/actantial model. That site goes way deep down the rabbit hole...)
www.zompist.com/gen.html - a language generator (ish)! It is awesome.
- Awesome authors
My top-5 list:
* Glen Cook (The Black Company) for his dry wit and simple, understated verisimilitude .
* Robin Hobb (The Farseer Trilogy) for her human compassion and the depth of her characters. The ending of Fool's Fate is one of very few books that actually brought a (manly) tear to my (manly) eye.
* Scott Bakker (The Prince of Nothing) for his awe-inspiring language and for writing with depth, with profound messages; for using fantasy as a tool and not as a means to itself.
* Peter Englund (The Beauty and the Sorrow) for being the only Swede to make Swedish sound cool. Incredible poise and precision, and with an amazing knack for finding the story in history.
* [spot left empty for momentary inspiration]
Joe Abercrombie (The Heroes, though not on that kewl russian hacker-site) is a strong contender for the last spot, for his dark humour and love of grittiness, of subjective morality, and anticlimax.
No noble quest can take place without a stage upon which to perform such an activity! And so we are proud, nay, terrified, nay! - exhilirated to present to you, the Novel Writing subforum.
In other words, dudes, if you've ever thought "man, I want to write a book", well, so have I. And some others. And we figure... why not start now? Do it together, post your ideas in your own threads and get comments and suggestions, post inspiration and discuss it in this thread, and above all - make your own kind of music!
I'll start off with two links I consider vital for every writing prospectee:
imgur.com/a/aldg6
imgur.com/a/fPLnM
added: A List Which May Or May Not Be Revised If Anyone Has Any Thoughts On Its Contents Or Additions To It
I give up, I'm just gonna treat this as my own public pinterest, or bookmark folder. Why not? Here follows a long list of links which I've barely perused but figure I will, if I find some spare time lying around:
- General writing tips
blog.papyruseditor.com/from-reddit-simple-tips-to-be-a-better-writer/
www.reddit.com/r/writing
www.dailywritingtips.com/34-writing-tips-that-will-make-you-a-better-writer/
www.poynter.org/how-tos/newsgathering-storytelling/writing-tools/76067/fifty-writing-tools-quick-list/
www.theguardian.com/books/2010/feb/20/ten-rules-for-writing-fiction-part-one
thoughtcatalog.com/cody-delistraty/2013/09/21-harsh-but-eye-opening-writing-tips-from-great-authors/
www.amazon.com/The-Elements-Style-Fourth-Edition/dp/020530902X
www.writingclasses.com/InformationPages/index.php/PageID/269
99u.com/articles/7082/25-insights-on-becoming-a-better-writer
A quote from one of my favourite authors, Swedish historian (and only Swede on my favourite anything-list) Peter Englund:
Use adjectives only to clarify, never to give emphasis. Adjectives are excellent words, if properly used, to improve accuracy. Unfortunately, we - me as well - use them in order to strengthen. For example, using words like 'awful' or 'terrible'. Often the routine use of these adjectives leads to an almost opposite effect. Delete them instead. Or even better: SHOW what this awful or terrible consists of.
- Writing-a-novel tips
nanowrimo.org/pep-talks
- From my own experience of generally working creatively with ideas, the notion that one comes up with one perfect idea (out of thin air) and then runs with that is bullshit. One should make a long list of ideas for stories and pluck them in whenever needed, modified to suit one's purposes. When beginning a story, one should force oneself to write a couple of quick drafts and let someone else pick the one that sounds most interesting. See "thumbnailing" for the visual arts. One should be passionate about telling a story, not obsessed with one's own idea of perfection.
www.advancedfictionwriting.com/articles/writing-the-perfect-scene/
www.google.com/translate?hl=en&ie=UTF8&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.forfattartips.se%2Fkom-igang-att-skriva-novell.php (Swedish site, really)
- Writing characters
library.creativecow.net/articles/gregory_browne_rob/characters.php
www.plottopunctuation.com/blog/show/56
+ catchphrases are freaking awesome. "You have to be realistic" is awesome.
lighthouse8.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/myers-briggs-test.jpg
psychology.about.com/od/personalitydevelopment/tp/archetypes.htm
- Links about literary critique and analysis (two separate fields, supposedly)
www.wikihow.com/Critique-Literature - short and simple starting steps
wps.ablongman.com/wps/media/objects/327/335558/AnalyzingLit.pdf - long-ish, but pretty darn well-written I think
owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/4/17/ - looking like a pretty nice resource that tries to organize how to think when writing, and writing about, something
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatomy_of_Criticism - a book from the 50s, Wikipedia sums up some main things
www.cla.purdue.edu/blackmon/engl360k/critical.html - a pretty readable short intro to a few different schools
www.editorskylar.com/litcrit.html - much less snazzy, but looking precise and to the point
- Unsorted assorted stuff
The actant(ial) model, a simple chart: www.socwork.net/sws/article/viewFile/77/336/611
Three-part structure, another simple chart: cliffordgarstang.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/ThreeActStructureFlat.jpg
www.cla.purdue.edu/english/theory/narratology/modules/greimassquaremainframe.html (really was supposed to be about the actant/actantial model. That site goes way deep down the rabbit hole...)
www.zompist.com/gen.html - a language generator (ish)! It is awesome.
- Awesome authors
My top-5 list:
* Glen Cook (The Black Company) for his dry wit and simple, understated verisimilitude .
* Robin Hobb (The Farseer Trilogy) for her human compassion and the depth of her characters. The ending of Fool's Fate is one of very few books that actually brought a (manly) tear to my (manly) eye.
* Scott Bakker (The Prince of Nothing) for his awe-inspiring language and for writing with depth, with profound messages; for using fantasy as a tool and not as a means to itself.
* Peter Englund (The Beauty and the Sorrow) for being the only Swede to make Swedish sound cool. Incredible poise and precision, and with an amazing knack for finding the story in history.
* [spot left empty for momentary inspiration]
Joe Abercrombie (The Heroes, though not on that kewl russian hacker-site) is a strong contender for the last spot, for his dark humour and love of grittiness, of subjective morality, and anticlimax.