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I'm still working my way through the previous thread on this topic, so please forgive me if this has been addressed already. I did not see it noted in the OP. How do you suggest dealing with coincidences of characters (Perhaps bad phrasing, but it's the description that most readily comes to mind)? For example, I have been working on a project for nearly a year that is set within the fantasy genre. As is common with fantasy novels, my project includes the existence of various gods/goddesses. One of these goddesses takes the form of a female child. A few weeks ago, I was looking for some new books to read, and decided to go with a series, "The Elenium" and following that, "The Tamuli" by an author I have previously enjoyed, David Eddings. I have read and reread his Belgariad and Mallorean series for the past ten years, but have never gotten around to reading any other works he has published. Imagine my surprise when a character within the series, Aphrael, is almost identical to one I have created for my own project, through sheer coincidence. The similarities are not exact, but it's very close, and I am concerned that my character might be considered a 'rip-off' of a previously conceived character by a celebrated author. I am not totally against altering my character slightly to avoid issues, but she is quite pertinent to the story, and I'm torn as to what course of action I should take. Had I not created this character myself, I would bet dollars to donuts that she was a complete rip-off of Aphrael, and this has really put a damper on my writing. I understand the basic theory that no ideas are truly unique. I have no doubts that any character or plot that I envision has, at some point and in some similar manner, been conceived by another person. I even accept that my personal writing style and character development has, in some manner, been influenced by those authors I admire. Despite this, I cannot bring myself to continue my work on this project in light of my discovery. I am looking for suggestions as to how I should approach this revelation, and what impacts it might have upon my writings should I stick with my current characterizations.
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Aug 26, 2012 07:15
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I'm working on the opening lines for my novel, and would appreciate a little feedback on what I've come up with. I'm not sure if most people would find these few sentences intriguing or off-putting: --- With an emotional detachment born of professionalism and experience, Malen delicately grasped the genitals of King Perac with his left hand. This wasn't the most exotic request Malen had received from a client, but it was sure to be the most memorable. He slowly turned his gaze towards the head of the royal bed to meet his Majesty's empty stare. "Nothing personal, your Majesty," he murmured, "but my client gave me very specific instructions, and a good businessman always honors his client's wishes." His Majesty, Malen noted, did not respond. The assassin grunted as his right hand wrenched free the dagger he had embedded in the King's chest. With a sigh, he turned back to the task at hand, steadied his crimson dagger, and began his work. --- For some back story that would be explained shortly after this, the Queen had died giving birth only to a daughter, and the King refused to remarry in order to produce an heir. The general populace was somewhat distraught over this, and one particular individual decided to send a very pointed message regarding the King's lack of attention to his duties, i.e. emasculation. I welcome any thoughts on this, as well as criticisms over my tenuous grasp of English composition.
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Sep 6, 2012 22:55
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HiddenGecko posted:Not even worth commenting yet. Finish the book then ask people what they think. A few sentences tell me nothing about your writing style, your paragraph style, the flow, the themes, the actual plot or the working story of the novel. Thus, wait till you're 100% done before even letting anyone but yourself see it. The book is quite nearly finished, I'm in the process of editing and cutting the fat. The point of my post was to see if the initial lines (more specifically the first line about grabbing genitals) was something that would be detestable to the average reader, or perhaps make one think they had accidentally picked up a smutty book disguised as fantasy. I'd be more than happy to supply examples of all the things you mentioned as soon as I'm done editing, but for right now, I'd just like to know if you guys think the average person will read that first line, say 'ew' and put it back down. If commenting on the initial reaction to a few sentences requires knowledge of my writing style, etc., then I don't know what to say. (Or perhaps you mistook my use of 'opening lines' as an indication that I was just now starting to write the book from the beginning). If I'm wrong or out of line then I'll apologize and bow out.
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Sep 7, 2012 01:32
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Haha it's no problem. I probably didn't word my initial question as well as I could have, which perhaps doesn't speak well of my ability as a writer.  I'll definitely be posting more when I've tidied things up a bit. I'm just a tad stuck on the opening lines, since, at least to me, they set the tone of the story, and I find it difficult to really get into the editing until I've nailed them down. Edit: Dark humor is definitely something I'm after with this story, but I have a feeling I"ll need to keep it in check lest I go to far. I haven't read Discworld, so I'm going to have to get a copy and see how it compares (or doesn't). Still plenty of time before I finish this thing up and send it out. Subway Ninja fucked around with this message at 01:50 on Sep 7, 2012 |
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Sep 7, 2012 01:44
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This helps tremendously, it shows I didn't word it very well. He had already murdered the King (thus having to wrench the dagger free), and was then proceeding to castrate him as a severe form of protest over being heir-less. He wasn't fondling the King, he was gripping and lifting so as to castrate him. As I've already the idea in my head of what's happening, it's easy to gloss over how someone else would interpret what I wrote. Thanks again, This gives me some much needed momentum. Edit: Ah, perhaps changing 'he had embedded' to 'embedded' would be a good start, just now caught that.
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Sep 7, 2012 02:06
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Canadian Surf Club posted:I will say I read it and kind of quirked my head at it. If the goal behind the opening hook is purely to capture interest and pull your reader into asking what's next, I think you have that. That's good to hear, so I know I'm on the right track, but just need to modify my approach. If I may expand a bit without taking over the thread much further, I had three goals with this opening bit: First of all was indeed to catch attention. Second was to get the story rolling with an important event that sets off a series of political plots and intrigues. Finally, I was trying to introduce a fair amount of exposition on an important character (Malen) without info dumping. What I had hoped to convey about Malen's background was that he was an assassin (obviously), experienced and almost blase about things that would make a normal man (and perhaps a normal assassin) shudder, but very professional and perhaps a bit unhinged mentally, seeing as how he talks to his dead victim. I've got a ways to go, but I appreciate everyone's input. Edit: ^Although interesting, no. The main goal of the person who hired the assassin is to echo the public sentiment about a lack of an heir in a very direct way. Shortly after, certain clues will pop up pointing towards the few nobles who were in a position to assume the throne, and who, not-so-coincidently, were very outspoken against the King for not remarrying. The assassin's client, a prominent, trusted figure who always ostensibly supported the King, will be in a prime position to sweep the throne out from under the nobles amidst the confusion and suspicion surrounding them as potential suspects. Subway Ninja fucked around with this message at 03:34 on Sep 7, 2012 |
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Sep 7, 2012 03:29
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Stabbey_the_Clown posted:Subway Ninja, I'd at least reverse the order of the first sentence, if not cut out the "with detachment" part. I liked the dawning realization that came over me as my initial interpretation that something erotic was happening was revealed to be very incorrect. Thank you, and everyone else, for the helpful information. Still working on it, but I feel I'm moving in the right direction. That 'dawning realization' was exactly what I was going for, I just wasn't sure if it was going to work or turn people off before they finished the first sentence. With some restructuring and rewording, I think I can pull it off.
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Sep 8, 2012 21:20
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Here's something I'm struggling with as a writer, most likely due to my preferences as a reader: http://www.scribophile.com/blog/keeping-the-purple-out-of-your-prose/ The article is about purple prose, and the author of the article gives an example of this, as well as two other examples of how it could be tightened up, so to speak. My issue with this (and perhaps it's just the example being used) is that I find the first example much more interesting, and it painted an image in my mind that was much more detailed than that of the succinct example. Also, "The key is that readers care about content, plot, and emotion, not description." does not ring true with me. I love description, and a paragraph or two at the beginning of a chapter that paints a vivid landscape or interior really helps my mind's eye to visualize the scene. Furthermore, "and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness." was a key part of this in my imagination, and it was stricken entirely from the "better" method. The author then goes on to speak about using big "SAT" words, and while he does speak about using them in moderation, I for one love reading a book, coming across a word I've never seen, trying to determine what it means based on context, and following this up with a quick search in an online dictionary. In addition to experiencing a (hopefully) wonderful story, I feel a certain sense of satisfaction if I come away from a book with half a dozen new words in my vocabulary. The point of this long rant is to determine if I just have strange/uncommon tastes in writing methods. I've read a ton of material on suggested practices for writing, and this is the only one that has been really hard to adopt.
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Nov 2, 2012 04:03
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Tiggum posted:This basically just means that you shouldn't use words you don't really understand or deliberately use an obscure word where a common one will do. If you have a large vocabulary and use words correctly and appropriately, that's fine. The mistake people make is in going through their writing with a thesaurus to try to make it sound less boring or more intelligent. It won't work. If you do that you just sound dumb and often don't even make sense. Ah, so what the author meant was more along the lines of "Use the best word rather than trying to shoehorn in a word just because..." That makes plenty of sense, I guess I misinterpreted that part.
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Nov 2, 2012 05:06
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I have a question regarding 3rd person viewpoints and how they're classified. Which of these is specifically omniscient? Limited? 1)Possible POV of any character. 2)Multiple POVs, typically all on protagonist's side, occasional antagonist POV. 3)Single POV + No Outside Narration: Only what John personally sees. 4)Single POV + Outside Narration: John has no actual view of the cloud of dust/travelers, but we're told about it anyway. --As the sun set over the town of Smithville, an expanding cloud of dust on the horizon heralded the approach of travelers. John, polishing his harpoon in his basement, took a moment to register the fearful shouts of the townsfolk outside. Also, Mind Reading: A)Full Mind Reading: Able to hear their thoughts directly --That's odd, John thought, Susan didn't have a dorsal fin last night. B)Limited Mind Reading: Summary of thoughts --John considered this for a moment, mulling over the consequences and trying to guess what Susan's reaction would be. c)No Mind Reading --John stopped in his tracks, furrowing his brow. After a moment, he turned back towards the sheriff and replied, "She had it coming. Besides, there's other fish in the sea." Hopefully my question isn't too confusing, but when people say 3rd person omniscient, I take that to mean 1+A, and 3rd person limited is...I have no clue. Are these just vague terms with a variety of permutations?
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Dec 7, 2012 07:47
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Molly Bloom posted:Excellent Summary Very informative, thanks for taking the time to reply so thoroughly. I think the main thing that was tripping me up was that I was expecting separate specific designations for each permutation, rather than an inclusion of grades under a few terms. The free indirect speech is something I know I've seen before but never realized it was a "thing". I'll have to read up on that some more. Thanks again.
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Dec 7, 2012 16:58
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I'm having a little trouble with tense while writing. Is the following sentence using past-tense correctly? "She released an audible sigh of relief as he shrugged in resignation, his weary voice and slumped posture indicating that he was tired of the conversation." It's mostly the -indicating- that makes me worry that I am messing up tense.
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Nov 2, 2014 20:00
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I'm uncertain on a specific use of commas. For example: --He staggered into the room, hair disheveled and smelling of whiskey.-- Is that kosher or just horrible grammar?
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Nov 27, 2014 05:08
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