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Writing Novels | Forum profile
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Forum profile page for Writing Novels on http://www.absolutewrite.com.
This report page is the aggregated overview from a single forum: Writing Novels, located on the Message Board at http://www.absolutewrite.com.
This forum profile page summarizes the general forum statistics such as: Users Activity, Forum Activity, and Top Authors, which are reported in either a table or graph below for a given reporting time period.
Additional forum profile information for "Writing Novels" on the Message Board at http://www.absolutewrite.com is also shown in the following ways:
1) Latest Active Threads
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Warning: These statistics are generated using 'best efforts' and can experience delays and reporting errors at times. Please note that such statistics do not constitute a forum's popularity and/or exact posting volumes at any given reporting period.
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Posting activity on Writing Novels:
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3 Months
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Threads:
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227
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638
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1,670
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Post:
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2,965
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9,379
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22,003
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Writing Novels Posting activity graph:
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Top authors during last week:
user's latest post:
What writing "rules"...
Published (2009-12-24 21:29:00)
Quote: Originally Posted by painkillers Show don't tell is not a rule, it's advice. They just made it into a rule because it sounds cool (they being the bad writers with a career in telling other people how to write). It makes sense to have dramatic scenes *showing* you the action, but it also makes sense to *tell* the reader something in a few words rather than constuct some longwinded passage to *show* it to them. I seem to...
user's latest post:
Unsympathetic mc's
Published (2009-12-24 22:39:00)
Death and murder aren't really unsympathetic traits, or Dexter wouldn't work. No, an MC can kill pretty much indiscriminately. Where you get into trouble is with intangibles: if the MC betrays another character that the reader likes, you get a big minus on the "sympathy" account. If the MC likes to inflict pain for power-trips, then it's another minus. It's all a balance, if you want to keep realistic....
user's latest post:
Oh no! They want WHAT from me?
Published (2009-12-22 04:03:00)
Quote: Originally Posted by katiemac You don't have to push the humor if it doesn't feel natural. Works for me. The bio's not as big a stressor as it probably feels right now. They just want to know a bit about who they're talking to. It's not a make-it or break-it part of the equation. And I tweaked the last line a bit since there is no representation offer yet so 'working with you' isn't quite right....
user's latest post:
What writing "rules"...
Published (2009-12-24 08:19:00)
Quote: Originally Posted by Cliff Face My own personal guideline is, "If it makes sense to me, it's good enough." But what is " it "??
user's latest post:
What writing "rules"...
Published (2009-12-23 20:01:00)
Often start sentences with 'And' or 'But'. Never heard of rule about not starting with dialogue.
user's latest post:
What should I do with my first...
Published (2009-12-24 14:48:00)
My first advance is going fully into debt management. I need to pay back my husband for carrying my ass this long lol.
user's latest post:
Vocabulary used - Page 3 -...
Published (2009-12-24 02:33:00)
We're cool, folkchick, we're cool. Speaking of vulvas -- and who doesn't? My biggest vocabulary peeve is the substitution of vagina for vulva . Like the scene in The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love where the first thing the MC feels of the woman hovering over him is her vagina. Ouch! What kind of massive eversion is that? Ow ow ow...
user's latest post:
What writing "rules"...
Published (2009-12-23 19:49:00)
Goodness...loads? I start with dialogue (basically). I don't start with "action". My new story is totally filled with telling (in the form of asides to the reader no less!). Um...all the things mentioned above including fragments, etc. You know, I basically just don't consider rules at all whatsoever when I start writing. My other stories are filled with broken rules as well. It used to drive me absolutely batshit...
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Latest active threads on Writing Novels::
Started 1 day, 21 hours ago (2009-12-24 15:21:00)
by Missus Akasha
Well, I really don't see a fucktard displayed in the little snippet you have, but at least for me, getting inside of his head made me laugh a bit, especially towards the end.
I like characters who are a bit of an ass.
Where exactly are you trying to go with the story?
Started 1 day, 16 hours ago (2009-12-24 20:40:00)
by Jamesaritchie
Robert James Waller. The Bridges of Madison County was a monster bestseller, and set a record for adult hardcover that still stands. The book was number one three times, and stayed there for a total of about a year.
But each book he wrote sold worse than the last, and he fell to teh bottom.
Started 3 days, 13 hours ago (2009-12-22 23:18:00)
by Fredster
Outlining is the easiest part for me. The actual writing is way harder.
I tend to deviate as I write, because when scenes are unfolding, I realize the story would be stronger if Y happened instead of X.
However, I only outline a couple of chapters in advance. I keep the main story arcs in my head because I know they're flexible.
Started 2 days, 17 hours ago (2009-12-23 19:26:00)
by Fredster
We've all heard them: show, don't tell; don't use passive voice; prologues are for hacks; never begin a novel with conversation; don't use too many tags beyond 'said'; and so on.
They're the "rules," the things you're told not to do as a beginner. There are probably as many of them as there are writers. We talk a lot about how you shouldn't break the rules, now let's talk about how we've ...
Started 3 days ago (2009-12-23 12:59:00)
by scarletpeaches
Cut it off at the last complete paragraph on page 50.
Started 3 months, 2 weeks ago (2009-09-07 02:46:00)
by FOTSGreg
Uncle Jim wrote, Something that I think helped was that we weren't writing to please ourselves, we were writing to please another person. I was writing to amuse Doyle, and she was writing to amuse me. We had a specific audience in mind.
There's a secret in there. One should not write to please oneself (except that writing does please oneself and one needs to gain satisfaction from it). ...
Started 2 days, 1 hour ago (2009-12-24 11:54:00)
by alleycat
First, congratulations.
I think you've got the right idea already. Use a small part of it to "reward" the people who have stuck with you and had faith in you on this difficult journey (maybe also buy your wife a little present), then sock the rest of it away for a rainy day, or to pay down debt.
By the way, I like the title of your book. If I saw that title, I might pick up the book just ...
Started 1 day, 10 hours ago (2009-12-25 02:04:00)
by bclement412
1.) I either pretend to go to bed while listening to my iPod (puts my brain in overdrive)
2.) Take a shower (something about the fog and steam jump starts my imagination)
3.) Watch a boring movie (it'll make your mind wander)
I hate writers block. I had it for a whopping 3 years. It finally went away last February and I've been cranking out stuff ever since. Good luck!
Started 3 days, 5 hours ago (2009-12-23 07:56:00)
by EyeSeaAll
Yes, putting up with those malicious editors is such a pain. They only exist to terd on golden words and ruin her genius because they themselves couldn't cut it as writers. Yep, she's got it all figured out. Poor her. Poor her.
Started 1 day, 4 hours ago (2009-12-25 08:37:00)
by scarletpeaches
Quote:
Originally Posted by exm
1. For the query, is an author bio absolutely necessary? I've seen it said à la bambi - if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. Would it be sufficient to say "This is my first novel?" The essay contest I won in middle school probably isn't relavent =D
I ...
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Hot threads for last week on Writing Novels::
Started 6 days, 5 hours ago (2009-12-20 07:58:00)
by kaitie
Hey, I've written that book before! Twice!
Started 5 days, 22 hours ago (2009-12-20 14:42:00)
by jodiodi
Or, it could mean newer writers, fresh meat, so to speak, have a better chance at being noticed because the 'big hitters' are a known quantity and readers see them as the 'same old thing'. They might give new writers a chance in order to, hopefully, break out from this economically induced ennui.
Started 1 week, 2 days ago (2009-12-17 02:37:00)
by lucidzfl
Quote:
Originally Posted by NeuroFizz
In my first novel, Phoenix , I was taken to task by a reviewer for having a character named Swilling, who was a drunken braggart, also addicted to morphine/laudanum. The reviewer said it was a little too much to name a drunk, Swilling. Trouble is, Jack Swilling was a real (and ...
Started 1 week, 1 day ago (2009-12-17 19:42:00)
by Aggy B.
Mine are usually hanging around dank garrets and pining over lost loves. Or plotting someone's demise. Or having really dirty sex.
Started 2 days, 17 hours ago (2009-12-23 19:26:00)
by Fredster
We've all heard them: show, don't tell; don't use passive voice; prologues are for hacks; never begin a novel with conversation; don't use too many tags beyond 'said'; and so on.
They're the "rules," the things you're told not to do as a beginner. There are probably as many of them as there are writers. We talk a lot about how you shouldn't break the rules, now let's talk about how we've ...
Started 2 days, 15 hours ago (2009-12-23 21:10:00)
by Clair Dickson
My students think I use pompous words (well, except they wouldn't call it that because they don't know what pompous means.) They are clueless when I write " ambiguous" on the board and have no idea what I'm talking about when I say that the average person's lexicon is diminishing.
I don't often think about whether the words I use will be beyond people's understanding. I pick the words that ...
Started 4 days, 22 hours ago (2009-12-21 14:20:00)
by thethinker42
3 fully written (including one that was written 3 times) novels, probably a dozen or more started-but-not-finished drafts. I'll be revisiting a few of the latter in 2010, but I have no idea if they'll ever see the light of day.
Started 2 days, 1 hour ago (2009-12-24 11:54:00)
by alleycat
First, congratulations.
I think you've got the right idea already. Use a small part of it to "reward" the people who have stuck with you and had faith in you on this difficult journey (maybe also buy your wife a little present), then sock the rest of it away for a rainy day, or to pay down debt.
By the way, I like the title of your book. If I saw that title, I might pick up the book just ...
Started 4 days, 12 hours ago (2009-12-22 00:33:00)
by cwfgal
Characters react with facial expressions, body language, comments and actions. Show these and vary things. And if you want to play with it a little, show how his thoughts conflict with what he actually says or does.
Beth
Started 2 weeks ago (2009-12-11 23:37:00)
by lucidzfl
Urm. It is absolutely not quantifiable.
Everyone can agree whats horrible but not everyone agrees on whats just bad or just ok, or what's great.
I can't stand poetry in any form or fashion, nor erotica... I am not qualified to judge those. Lots of people malign the popular (see: Rich) authors, but they obviously have mass appeal, so who is to say.
That said, I think my ...
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