Escape Artists
The Lounge at the End of the Universe => The Writing Forum => Progress Reports => Topic started by: ClintMemo on April 10, 2007, 03:15:20 AM
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I've often heard it said that you should know your audience, so instead of writing to write a book for mass consumption, I have decided to write a book for one person - my nine-year-old daughter.
I've written anything longer than about 4000 words (published? lol).
I have a general idea for a setting, the main character (someone I hope my daughter can relate to), several minor characters and several plot points.
I haven't written an outline, but I do have a vague notion of where I'm going with the story.
I'm keeping a separate document of notes where I have details that I write down as they appear.
I've already written a 1st draft of chapter one and started on chapter two. I plan on going back later and re-writing them later after I have been away from them.
wish me luck!
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I've often heard it said that you should know your audience, so instead of writing to write a book for mass consumption, I have decided to write a book for one person - my nine-year-old daughter.
I think that's awesome.
Kids make great critiquers, too, as a rule. They don't nitpick the unimportant things, but they won't hesitate to tell you what they like and don't like. >8->
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wish me luck!
Good luck!
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I've often heard it said that you should know your audience, so instead of writing to write a book for mass consumption, I have decided to write a book for one person - my nine-year-old daughter.
I think that's awesome.
Kids make great critiquers, too, as a rule. They don't nitpick the unimportant things, but they won't hesitate to tell you what they like and don't like. >8->
and she doesn't limit that to what she's reading. :P
"...it smells bad, like...mold and lipstick"
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Now whenever anyone talks about writing a novel, I can't help thinking of Stewie ribbing Brian for two minutes about the novel he's been working on for three years (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJDt2CMjmiY).
"How you, uh, how you comin' on that novel you're workin' on? Huh? Got a big, uh, big stack o' papers there?"
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Now whenever anyone talks about writing a novel, I can't help thinking of Stewie ribbing Brian for two minutes about the novel he's been working on for three years (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJDt2CMjmiY).
"How you, uh, how you comin' on that novel you're workin' on? Huh? Got a big, uh, big stack o' papers there?"
Oh man that was funny. I remember cracking up when I saw that one on TV. And I've written a couple of novels which made it even funnier for me.
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I got completely stuck trying to write chapter two - so I had to get away from it for a bit. (Life conspired to assist me in that.) Chapter three is writing itself in my head. I just need to figure out how to get from chapter one. :P
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I got completely stuck trying to write chapter two - so I had to get away from it for a bit. (Life conspired to assist me in that.) Chapter three is writing itself in my head. I just need to figure out how to get from chapter one. :P
write chapter 3 first then write chapter 2 to bridge them. That's what I do if need be. Another way is to jot down a quick note about what happens in Chapter 3 and write Chapter 2 until you get to it. Either way works.
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Sounds like you got off to a false start with Chapter 1, then. Ditch chapters 1 and 2, and see if you can open with Chapter "3" via masked exposition.
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I got completely stuck trying to write chapter two - so I had to get away from it for a bit. (Life conspired to assist me in that.) Chapter three is writing itself in my head. I just need to figure out how to get from chapter one. :P
write chapter 3 first then write chapter 2 to bridge them. That's what I do if need be. Another way is to jot down a quick note about what happens in Chapter 3 and write Chapter 2 until you get to it. Either way works.
Thanks for the advice.
I'd kind of resigned myself to writing chapter 3 first, but was sort of feeling guilty about it. It almost seemed like cheating. Thinking about that, it seems kind of silly. Why does it matter the order I assemble the puzzle as long as the picture is clear when I'm done?
Now if I could only make life stop interfering with my plans. :P
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Sounds like you got off to a false start with Chapter 1, then. Ditch chapters 1 and 2, and see if you can open with Chapter "3" via masked exposition.
I'm not sure I could do that. Chapter 1 is a scene with just enough exposition to make it work. Chapter 3 is another scene that happens later, with some of the same characters (the two main ones), that happens as a result of the events in chapter 1. Chapter 2 was becoming scenes that were just badly disguised exposition dumps to have something between chapters 1 and 3. I could write chapter 3 and have chapter 1 as a flashback, but it would make the scene in chapter 1 loose it's sense of tension since the reader would already know the outcome. Hmmm... Maybe I don't need to have chapter 2 at all.
Again, thanks for the advice.
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Well if J.K. Rowling started her stories for her kids, I really don´t see it as a bad idea!
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Arg!!
After doing lots of procrastinating (much of it on the message boards :P), I finally get back to it and discover that due to a chair-to-keyboard interface failure (probably an ID10T error), my electronic versions of chapters one and two are corrupted.
Oh well, I guess it's good that I hadn't gotten very far then :P