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mary rosenblum
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Hello all.
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mary rosenblum
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Welcome to our Friday Forum.
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mary rosenblum
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This is our After Hours Forum,
with me, Mary Rosenblum, your web editor and we're talking about novel
ideas. I've published seven novels (number eight will be out next year) ,
more than 60 short stories, and will do my best to answer any questions you
have. If you're new here, remember that you need to click on the 'Ask a
Question' button or the 'word bubble' next to the red question mark at the
top of the screen in order to ask a question. Your regular 'send' bar won't
reach me! Or you can use /ask and type your question into the regular send
bar if that works better for you
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mary rosenblum
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I hope you've all had a good
week and are enjoying the spring sun. :-) I will be as soon as I get a few
writing projects off my desk...sigh.
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mary rosenblum
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I wanted to talk a bit about
turning an idea into a novel idea. :-)
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mary rosenblum
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Since we now have novel course
students doing exactly that.
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cherley
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Spring Rain
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mary rosenblum
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Usually in Oregon, that's a
redundancy, cherley. :-)
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dwkav
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In Humboldt County as well.
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mary rosenblum
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Oh yeah, we share the same
weather. :-)
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mary rosenblum
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A lot of people have a great
idea for a novel...but it's too general to really get started.
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mary rosenblum
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Once you have that Big Idea,
you really do have to ask yourself some basic questions...
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mary rosenblum
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and the answers to those
questions will help you rough out an idea for a doable novel.
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mary rosenblum
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The questions to ask are: What
is the biggest problem here?
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mary rosenblum
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Who has the biggest stake
here?
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mary rosenblum
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How will this end?
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mary rosenblum
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If you can answer all three
questions, you have basic foundation of a plot and character and the final
goal.
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mary rosenblum
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Everything else is negotiable.
:-)
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mary rosenblum
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But no matter what kind of
novel you are writing, from literary mainstream to thriller, you need a
conflict.
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mary rosenblum
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That's your big problem.
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janecj333
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That kind of breakdown is very
reminiscent of the query letter format.
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mary rosenblum
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And there's a reason for
that... a query letter simply tells the agent or editor what TYPE of story
you are offering.
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janecj333
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except for the end part, of
course :)
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mary rosenblum
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And you CAN add the ending to
a query, and you MUST add the ending to a synopsis. But I always figure for
a query...
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mary rosenblum
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you might as well make
curiosity work for you. :-)
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megger
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Mary, you know I speak from the
historical perspective, but we kind of know the answers to these questions
already. If we aren't writing alternative history, are there different
questions we need to ask?
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mary rosenblum
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Not really, megger. You're
just starting with the basics already 'cast in stone'.
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mary rosenblum
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But this is merely the basic
foundation of your novel idea.
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mary rosenblum
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From there you're going to
expand it.
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mary rosenblum
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Since in historical fiction
you are rather thoroughly stuck with what happened...unless you're doing
alternative history, that is...
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mary rosenblum
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your only option for
creativity is in your characterization.
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mary rosenblum
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The strength of most
historical fiction is the recasting of dry events into a very human form.
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mary rosenblum
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We memorized the dates of Washington's
crossing of the Delaware, but when you put the reader into a boat...
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mary rosenblum
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with a soaked and shivering
sergeant who is thinking of his love at home on that little NY farmstead...
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mary rosenblum
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you give the events a whole
new face.
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mary rosenblum
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With just about any other
genre, you're starting with some kind of idea.
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mary rosenblum
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And trying to find that basic
foundation so you can get your footing and then begin to expand your basic
idea.
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mary rosenblum
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This is our After Hours Forum,
with me, Mary Rosenblum, your web editor and we're talking about novel
ideas. I've published seven novels (number eight will be out next year) ,
more than 60 short stories, and will do my best to answer any questions you
have. If you're new here, remember that you need to click on the 'Ask a
Question' button or the 'word bubble' next to the red question mark at the
top of the screen in order to ask a question. Your regular 'send' bar won't
reach me! Or you can use /ask and type your question into the regular send
bar if that works better for you
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info
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what if you're not really sure
how you want to end your novel? would it be wrong to have two or three
possible endings to consider?
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mary rosenblum
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Nothing wrong with that at
all, info. Yoiu can have a couple or more endings in mind.
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mary rosenblum
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Novels are very organic.
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mary rosenblum
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No matter how clearly you have
it thought out, you're going to be developing quite a few characters...
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mary rosenblum
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and as they interact and grow
and become more complex and real for you...
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mary rosenblum
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they will often alter your
plot.
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mary rosenblum
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The story you finish may not
be what you intended when you wrote page one.
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janecj333
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Putting a new twist on an old
topic, finding a nugget of an intriguing idea about a historical person
that no one has brought to light before, could help the person writing
historical fiction.
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mary rosenblum
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Oh yes. More than one
historical novel had its inception in some interesting little snippet of
personal information...
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mary rosenblum
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about an historical figure.
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mary rosenblum
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Louise Marley's recent 'Glass
Harmonica' had its inception in some research she did into his development
of the glass harmonica. (SHe's an opera singer with a strong musical
background)
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onepozy
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I have an ending, my problem is
getting to the ending, help
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mary rosenblum
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Well, work backward, onepozy.
I find myself doing that more and more. :-)
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mary rosenblum
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I know where I want to end up.
What events must have happened to get me there?
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mary rosenblum
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You can literally work
backward.
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mary rosenblum
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Get out a looong sheet of
shelf paper and write down your end at the right edge.
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mary rosenblum
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Then just think about it. Let
that sheet of paper hang around your house.
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mary rosenblum
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What had to happen in order to
precipitate that end?
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mary rosenblum
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What might have come before
that?
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mary rosenblum
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Start making up characters.
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mary rosenblum
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Who has to be there at the
end?
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mary rosenblum
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Who might have helped them get
there?
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mary rosenblum
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There are many ways to put a
jigsaw puzzle together. You don't always have to start with the sky and
work down...or the soil and work up to the sky.
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janecj333
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The truth is, I sometimes don't
know until halfway through a story or novel exactly what the big questions
and answers are. For me, writing it is discovering it. I start with a
character who WANTS something.
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mary rosenblum
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You can do that. Some writers
do. What is required is usually a lot of rewriting...
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mary rosenblum
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in order to bring that
character's quest into a balanced unity with the other elements of the
story.
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mary rosenblum
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Most novice writers start that
way...
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mary rosenblum
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and as you gain more
understanding of the elements of story, you can begin to work toward that
unity from the beginning. Just saves a LOT of rewriting and revision.
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mary rosenblum
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Once you have an idea of what
the big problem is, decide who deals with it. OR you can start iwth your
characters and then decide what kind of problem them have to face.
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mary rosenblum
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It works either way.
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mary rosenblum
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And novels come in various
'sizes'.
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mary rosenblum
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Essentially, the problem that
is central to your novel is going to determine where it ultimately fits in
the huge marketplace for novels.
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mary rosenblum
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A romance has a very different
central problem than does a thriller.
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janecj333
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I would like to be able to work
from an outline. I freeze, tho, when faced with inorganic plot
developments, trying to shoehorn characters into doing what seemed right in
the preliminaries but is no longer right for them. The several times I have
tried to write from outline have been definite failures.
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mary rosenblum
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Some people can't do outlines.
You have to do what works for you.
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mary rosenblum
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However, whenever you are
faced with planned plot elements that feel 'wrong' for your characters, then
change your plot. Or remove the character and rewrite the story with...
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mary rosenblum
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a different character if you
really need to use that plot element.
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mary rosenblum
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If you simply make your
characters do what the plot calls for, then you create plot puppets.
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mary rosenblum
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They are not real people and
readers know it.
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mary rosenblum
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Even if you think you know
your character thoroughly when you start, as that character grows and
deepens...
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mary rosenblum
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you may have to tweak the plot
to make it work for this evolving character.
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cherley
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I like using an outline, loosely
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mary rosenblum
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Me, too. But then I find
outlines to be flexible, myself. I simply revise my outline as I go...
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mary rosenblum
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and generally, by the time
I've reached the climax of the story, the outline I'm working from is quite
different from the one I started with. :-)
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mary rosenblum
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I figure my outline...well,
it's more a summary than a formal outline...is really my first draft.
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mary rosenblum
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This is our After Hours Forum,
with me, Mary Rosenblum, your web editor and we're talking about novel
ideas. I've published seven novels (number eight will be out next year) ,
more than 60 short stories, and will do my best to answer any questions you
have. If you're new here, remember that you need to click on the 'Ask a
Question' button or the 'word bubble' next to the red question mark at the
top of the screen in order to ask a question. Your regular 'send' bar won't
reach me! Or you can use /ask and type your question into the regular send
bar if that works better for you
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dwkav
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I have found that sometimes it
isn't the plot element, but how to write it, that's the problem. Then I go
back or forward and see if slight changes here and there can make it work.
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mary rosenblum
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Good way to handle it, dwkav.
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mary rosenblum
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The more you play with scenes,
try this, try that, the better your final version will be.
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cherley
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It's takes a long time to do
one, but not in comparison to the novel, but you always have a direction
your heading.
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mary rosenblum
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Actually, that has been one of
the best benefits from doing a rough summary first, I"ve found,
Cherley.
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mary rosenblum
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It sort of eliminates that
block of 'where do I go now?'
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mary rosenblum
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I always have a direction.
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mary rosenblum
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and for me, it takes exactly
the same creative energy to write a detailed summary of a novel as it takes
me to write a first draft of a novel...
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mary rosenblum
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that's creative energy. It
takes me much more time to write out all the words of a first draft!
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cherley
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Even though Chapter 1 has now
become 4 Chapters LOL
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mary rosenblum
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Happens to me all the time.
You just think you can whizz through that scene! LOL
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dwkav
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How do you know when an idea
just isn't going to work?
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mary rosenblum
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I don't think there is such a
thing, dwkav.
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mary rosenblum
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I think you have ideas that
aren't going to work for you now.
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mary rosenblum
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Later on, you may suddenly
have that 'aha' moment and the missing piece that turns that unworkable
idea into gold will pop into your mind.
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mary rosenblum
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I think you need to avoid the
'clean your plate' mindset.
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mary rosenblum
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That's the one where you feel
you MUST do this novel before you can move on.
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mary rosenblum
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And that's another good reason
to rough out your novel ...at least the dramatic arc.
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mary rosenblum
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This is our After Hours Forum,
with me, Mary Rosenblum, your web editor and we're talking about novel
ideas. I've published seven novels (number eight will be out next year) ,
more than 60 short stories, and will do my best to answer any questions you
have. If you're new here, remember that you need to click on the 'Ask a
Question' button or the 'word bubble' next to the red question mark at the
top of the screen in order to ask a question. Your regular 'send' bar won't
reach me! Or you can use /ask and type your question into the regular send
bar if that works better for you
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mary rosenblum
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If you have an idea and you've
stewed over it, bothered with it, and it just won't work for you...
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mary rosenblum
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put it aside and write a
different novel. You have your whole life ahead of you. You can come back
to this one.
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janecj333
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Can you touch on novelty in a
story idea? So often I read an editor who says they want writing that's
new, not rehashed. They want to be pleasantly surprised.
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mary rosenblum
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You hear that a lot, but it
does not mean that you have to come up with something that nobody has ever
thought of or done before. (good luck!)...
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mary rosenblum
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what they are saying is they
do NOT want another Lord of the Rings, another Wizards school, another
version of DaVinci code.
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megger
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How do chapters fit in here?
What I mean is are readers (and editors!) looking just for movement to the
end, explanations to a preceding chapter, or can you do your own explaining
and leave it at that?
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mary rosenblum
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I"m not quite sure what
you're asking, megger.
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mary rosenblum
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You're doing ALL the
explaining in your novel.
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mary rosenblum
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But essentially, a chapter is
a small dramatic arc...or should be.
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mary rosenblum
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It should have rising action,
a peak of some sort, even if it's subtle...
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mary rosenblum
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and make a good, strong
transition to the next chapter.
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mary rosenblum
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There should be a reason it is
there.
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mary rosenblum
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It should follow the Rule of
Three...the same one that applies to scenes:
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mary rosenblum
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It should 1: Advance the plot
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mary rosenblum
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2: deepen the characterization
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mary rosenblum
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3: enrich the setting.
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mary rosenblum
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If your chapter is merely
taking your characters from point A to point B and killing time...it's a
very weak chapter.
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mary rosenblum
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Fix it.
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mary rosenblum
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Find some drama...bring on a
storm, create a fight between two characters, or plant an unexpected
revelation...
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mary rosenblum
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a stranger who turns out to
have a connection to one of your characters...do something!
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cherley
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I have had 4 high action
chapters and now the fifth is taking a breather, taking care of business
things, Is that OK, or should I add high action to it too?
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mary rosenblum
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Probably not unless you want
your readers to keel over from exhaustion! :-)
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mary rosenblum
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A dramatic arc does not mean
high action necessarily.
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mary rosenblum
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The peak of a chapter's
dramatic arc can be one character snapping at the other.
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mary rosenblum
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They have been close friends
and now, something has come between them...
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mary rosenblum
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and that tiny little three
line interchange makes that fracture clear.
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mary rosenblum
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That's the high point of that
chapter.
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mary rosenblum
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We'll assume it's important to
the story, it's advancing the plot.
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mary rosenblum
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But in that chapter, I would
increase the tension between them from the start of the chapter...
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mary rosenblum
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and bring it to its highest
point as they snap at each other...
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mary rosenblum
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and then go to my transition
to the next chapter.
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mary rosenblum
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No high action here...but you
still have a dramatic arc.
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janecj333
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Lord of the Rings is a very
specific style, and I'm glad you mention it, because there are so many
fantasy look alikes. It's no wonder editors want something new. But then came
Harry Potter. It wasn't new, but it made bazillions.
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mary rosenblum
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It wasn't new at all! I've
read more than one 'wizard school' story that was well written. Why weren't
they blockbusters?
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mary rosenblum
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The reality of the world of
publishing is that nobody can make blockbusters happen.
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mary rosenblum
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Oh, after the fact they all
write books about 'How I wrote my blockbuster'.
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mary rosenblum
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But the fact is, they didn't
make it happen...lots of other people did the same thing. It's just plain
luck.
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mary rosenblum
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You are the right book in the
right place at the right time.
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mary rosenblum
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If it happens to you, enjoy
it!
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dwkav
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I think it's the characters.
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mary rosenblum
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Nah. They have okay characters
but there are books out there with better characters.
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mary rosenblum
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Now Tolkien is kind of a
different story.
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mary rosenblum
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But there, you have a sheer
mass of rich and intricate detail that simply surpasses anything else out
there. That man created languaged...histories..
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mary rosenblum
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The supporting books of notes
are several times the volume of the actual trilogy.
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mary rosenblum
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He is a phenomenon.
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janecj333
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I guess what I'm asking is, how
do we avoid what editors don't want, when editors won't know two years from
now what they won't want??
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mary rosenblum
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You can't avoid it. You simply
have to send your book out and keep doing it and hope it connects with an
editor who wants THIS book NOW>
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mary rosenblum
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Meanwhile work on the next
book.
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mary rosenblum
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Waiting for one story to sell
before you write the next is not the way to succeed in writing. :-)
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mary rosenblum
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You'll only get better.
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janecj333
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Luck. I do think you're right.
Plain luck.
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mary rosenblum
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It is.
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mary rosenblum
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That's a reality that drives a
lot of people out of the business. :-) Because it is VERY unfair!
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dwkav
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JK Rowling was once asked if she
always wanted to write books for YA's and she said she didn't write for
YA's she wrote HP for herself.
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mary rosenblum
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And to be honest, most writers
start out writing for themselves. :-) You write the stories YOU want to
read.
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mary rosenblum
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And at some point, you move
beyond that to write stories other people want to read. Or not. Some
writers never go beyond writing for themselves.
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dwkav
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I agree. Write for yourself.
Write what rev's your jets, not the editor's.
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mary rosenblum
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Oh that is always important.
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mary rosenblum
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No WAY are you going to know
what an editor really wants.
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mary rosenblum
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The main things is are YOU
passionate about this book?
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mary rosenblum
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If you're not, you won't move
your readers either.
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beryl
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That's one way to never lose,
enjoying the process of writing itself.
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mary rosenblum
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Beryl, this is a good point.
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mary rosenblum
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I've been writing pretty much
full time since 1990.
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mary rosenblum
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I've seen a lot of people who
started when I did quit.
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mary rosenblum
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I think the main issue is...do
you love what you are doing.
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mary rosenblum
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If you are doing it for the
money or the fame or whatever...
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mary rosenblum
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sooner or later you will be
disappointed and quit. The deck is stacked against writers.
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mary rosenblum
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THose of us who keep doing
it....just can't quit.
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mary rosenblum
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We all try. :-) I've tried
several times. But I just can't stop doing it. So oh well...
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mary rosenblum
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you live with the unfairness
of it all and just...do it.
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mary rosenblum
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I heard that over and over at
panels when I was first trying to write...
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mary rosenblum
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and it seemed so obvious. But
you have to love it even when it's not getting you anywhere. :-)
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mary rosenblum
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That's the real key.
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ashton
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I couldn't shut my mind off if I
tried. I'm always thinking about the next story.
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mary rosenblum
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Yeah, sigh, me neither.
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mary rosenblum
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And it's just not as much fun
if I keep it to myself...so there you go.
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info
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My wondering thoughts are in
regards to characters and how to make them seem more real. There are as
many possibilities for character makeup as there are people on this world.
Am I right in the fact that we have to come up with character information
other than the usual blond, blue eyed hunk that had a hard childhood? It
seems to me that there has to be more to it than that.
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mary rosenblum
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There is a LOT more to it than
that, info.
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mary rosenblum
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Every word you speak, every
action you take, is the result how every minute you have lived.
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mary rosenblum
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It comes from what your
parents told you as a child, what you learned from friends and school and
experience growing up...
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mary rosenblum
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all your experiences with
friends, lovers, enemies, betrayals, trust...
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mary rosenblum
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every experience you have ever
had...dog bites, bad falls, sudden victories...
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mary rosenblum
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so the more you know about
your character's life...the more consistent that character behaves.
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mary rosenblum
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And believe me, we are ALL
experts on consistant human behavior.
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mary rosenblum
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We KNOW when someone doesn't
behave consistently.
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megger
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It's not just writers. That's
the reason I never joined the musicians union - I play when I want for who
I want for the dollars I want (or not). No one should tell me I can't play
with someone simply because they're not in the union!
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mary rosenblum
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That's interesting megger. I
hadn't thought of musicians. :-) And i'm sure that people who are trying to
get their music noticed go through the same frustrations...
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mary rosenblum
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we do as we try to break into
the print markets.
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beryl
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It seems we can add a lot to our
life experiences by being voracious readers of good books.
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mary rosenblum
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Sure. If they're good books.
:-)
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mary rosenblum
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Know everything about
everything. That's a good goal. :-)
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mary rosenblum
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If nothing else it will keep
you busy.
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mary rosenblum
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But to get back to character
for a minute, info.
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mary rosenblum
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When you decide on a character
for your novel...
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mary rosenblum
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spend some time thinking about
the plot and what is likely to happen, and about your character...
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mary rosenblum
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If you have already decided on
your plot and your characters are yet nebulous, then ask yourself...
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mary rosenblum
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what kind of person would
become involved this story? What kind of person would do the things that
this plot requires?
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mary rosenblum
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This is another case of
working backward.
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janecj333
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Mary, can you tell us how you
develop a sample idea for a novel? The brainstorming you went through to
get the details.
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mary rosenblum
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Sure.
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mary rosenblum
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I can talk about the idea for
the novel that is coming out in November.
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mary rosenblum
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I had the idea for a new
human...the next evolutionary step, brought about in a population that had
been living in microgravity on the orbital platforms...
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mary rosenblum
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but unknown to most of the
human population.
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mary rosenblum
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I had a character who was
involved with them but it wasn't going to work to make them the main
plot...
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mary rosenblum
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I needed them to come to the
attention of others gradually, so I had to come up with a central driving
plot that could keep most...
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mary rosenblum
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of my characters busy and let
me reveal my evolved humans gradually...
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mary rosenblum
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So I postulated a movement on
the orbitals to become autonomous rather than owned territory...
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mary rosenblum
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and that still wasn't right
because war between earth and orbital platforms just wasn't plausible for a
number of reasons.
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mary rosenblum
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So I had to downsize the plot
and focus it on unrest on the platforms, and I brought in a separate plot
on the part of another character out for personal vengeance...
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mary rosenblum
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that combined with the unrest
would create a BIG mess.
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mary rosenblum
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Now I had an external plot
that was complex enough to drive the novel and allow me to work my evolved
humans in through subplots.
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mary rosenblum
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They are the actual focus of
the novel, they just don't drive the external plot directly.
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mary rosenblum
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And meanwhile, I created two
main characters and a couple of strong secondaries who all had various
vested interests in this...
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mary rosenblum
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and were in positions to work
against each other as well as for each other.
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mary rosenblum
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Now this is a big, complex
novel.
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mary rosenblum
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It is a lot more complicated
than a mystery, say.
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mary rosenblum
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Or a romance.
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mary rosenblum
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But I essentially started with
an idea...my evolved humans...and a setting...an orbital platform...
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mary rosenblum
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and took it from there.
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geezer
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How many words?
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mary rosenblum
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Gosh, I think I finally pared
it down to just 100,000...I didn't want them to charge more for the
paperback when it comes out.
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mary rosenblum
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Here I knew what I wanted...
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mary rosenblum
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I wanted my evolved humans to
be revealed and I wanted to take readers on a tour of a society that lives
in low earth orbit. :-)
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mary rosenblum
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I just found people and plot
ideas that could make all this happen.
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mary rosenblum
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A simpler novel is probably
better.
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mary rosenblum
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If you give me an idea real
quick, I'll see what I can do with it.
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janecj333
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Your original idea became a
subplot. That's interesting. So, who has the biggest stake? What is the
biggest problem? Who carried the story? Can you write it out like a plotline?
(or a query :) )
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mary rosenblum
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Well, I can give you the
bookjacket blurb, which is essentially the same as what I'd have put on the
query...
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mary rosenblum
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but I'll post it on my
website.
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mary rosenblum
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-)
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mary rosenblum
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Or I'll do it at the end of
the Forum. How's that?
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geezer
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Off topic. In the heading of the
manuscript, should you use your name or your pen name?
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mary rosenblum
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Your real name needs to be on
the front page of the ms...they have to send you the check.
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mary rosenblum
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but your 'by line' is your pen
name, and so is the name on the page headers.
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geezer
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I meant headers
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mary rosenblum
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You use your penname with the
page number: name/keyword/pagenumber
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mary rosenblum
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rosenblum/horizon/88
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mary rosenblum
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Let's do a novel idea real
fast...even tho nobody offered one. :-)
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mary rosenblum
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Let's say a skiing mystery..
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mary rosenblum
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Okay, it's a mystery. Somebody
gets killed.
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mary rosenblum
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There's the Big Problem.
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mary rosenblum
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Now we need characters and a
setting.
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geezer
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Heroine comes to America on a leaky ship
in1750
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mary rosenblum
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Oh, good, that's even better.
:-)
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mary rosenblum
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It's WAY vague!
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mary rosenblum
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So start with a problem.
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mary rosenblum
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I can think of MANY.
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mary rosenblum
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Survival.
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mary rosenblum
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She has to find work,
shelter...make a life.
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ltsonya
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how about someone who has dogs
to look for survivers in avalanches? maybe the dog finds the body
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mary rosenblum
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That would be a great
character for our ski mystery. :-)
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mary rosenblum
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That could be the main
character in an amateur detective mystery.
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mary rosenblum
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And it's an interesting career
for the woman.
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mary rosenblum
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or man.
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megger
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The heroine is expecting.
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geezer
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She in indentured
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mary rosenblum
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There you go. Two Big
Problems...and you could use both.
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mary rosenblum
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She's hiding it...she'll be in
trouble if her employers find out.
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janecj333
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someone on the ship had bubonic
plague
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beryl
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She has to learn English
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mary rosenblum
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Well, then they'd be in
quarantine I suppose. Just don't kill her off! :-)
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mary rosenblum
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So let's do this...she gets
here, she can't speak English, and she's in her first trimester, which she
is trying to hide.
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mary rosenblum
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What does she need? Where do
we want to take her? What's the end of this entire piece?
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charie'
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She saw a murder in the old
country, and now they're here
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mary rosenblum
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Oh, that could be a nice
subplot. Hang on to that for a moment.
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geezer
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Indians raid the farm where she
goes
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mary rosenblum
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another nice subplot.
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mary rosenblum
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Lay these out like cards on
the table. We have a beginning...pregnant, no English, indentured...
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mary rosenblum
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and we have an eventual end. Let's
say, just to make it simple...she falls in love and ends up on a homestead
with her husband.
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mary rosenblum
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who takes in her kid as his
own.
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sweett
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She is leaving the old country
to escape father of child.
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paminnapa
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looking for a safe place to have
the baby.....possibly some high officials child that didnt want her to have
baby
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geezer
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Chief thinks she's cute
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mary rosenblum
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Okay, lay all these cards out
between Beginning and End.
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mary rosenblum
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Now play with them.
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mary rosenblum
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We need a love interest right?
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mary rosenblum
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A lot of these suggested
subplots can connect her with an interesting man...
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mary rosenblum
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she can lose him, find him
again eventually, and these subplots can make it happen.
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janecj333
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her goal is to start a business,
earn enough money to bring her parents here
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mary rosenblum
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That could make a nice end
instead of the homestea.
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megger
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So the bulk of the novel either
answers these questions or poses new ones.
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mary rosenblum
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Well, the bulk of the novel
uses some or all of these subplot ideas to transport us from Beginning to
End.
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mary rosenblum
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She maybe meets her love to be
as he teaches her English...he's the stable man.
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mary rosenblum
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She goes with the daughter and
her husband as maid...
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mary rosenblum
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her new love is angry that she
won't run away with him, but she's honest...
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mary rosenblum
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you can have the Indians raid
the town where they end up...
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mary rosenblum
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While she's there, she sees
the person who murdered someone in the old country...
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mary rosenblum
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and of course, she has the
baby which maybe gets her in trouble...
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mary rosenblum
|
And you bring all this to a
climax where she is also reunited with her love who first taught her
English...
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mary rosenblum
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and she gets to have that
business or live on that homestead with her child.
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paminnapa
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one of the ships guest find her,
gives her some food
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beryl
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She taught English by one of the
American settlers that does trading with the Indians.
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beryl
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This budding romance does not
please the Chief who finds her attractive
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charie'
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Or he could be investigating
murder and knows she's a witnes
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geezer
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the whites won't accet the baby
but the Indians do
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mary rosenblum
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These are all 'subplot cards'.
You lay them all out on the table (I literally lay them out on scraps of
paper)...
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mary rosenblum
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and think about the
connections...how they will weave together to take your readers from
Beginning to End.
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mary rosenblum
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I spend a few days or a week
doing this. (I'm on this stage with my next novel).
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mary rosenblum
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I think about connections,
where this thread will take my MC, what kind of character this one will
introduce...
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mary rosenblum
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and then I begin to write a
rough plot line out...
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mary rosenblum
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but I start with a bunch of
subplot ideas like this and then I just play jigsaw puzzle...
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mary rosenblum
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moving them around until
I"m happy with the sequence.
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janecj333
|
And then a huge alien craft
swoops down and carries her off to some exotic world where her life really
changes... :)
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mary rosenblum
|
LOL that's book two.
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charie'
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if a better idea arrives while
writing can u change subplts?
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mary rosenblum
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I constantly change subplots.
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mary rosenblum
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My reader was amazed at how
different the page proofs were from the initial draft she read.
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mary rosenblum
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I constantly change subplots
to suit.
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mary rosenblum
|
Okay, here's the blurb for the
big, complex, convoluted novel...remember it's through one POV..
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mary rosenblum
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although I have a number of
main characters.
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janecj333
|
You realize there's no idea in
this book. It's a 'this happens, and then this happens' plot. It's not new.
It won't pique an editor's interest.
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mary rosenblum
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Oh that's not true at all.
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mary rosenblum
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It's too early to decide waht
the theme is...probably determination in the face of obstacles...
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mary rosenblum
|
but with a rich historical
background and real, well fleshed out characters, plus vived details you
could sell this.
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mary rosenblum
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Easily.
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ashton
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I'll sit and just keep asking
"what if" and write down every question that comes to mind as
fast as I can...then go back with a highlighter and mark the really good
ideas, ect, in different colors. Kind of a plotline puzzle at a glance. I
did that the other night and had two pages of what if's.
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mary rosenblum
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That's a good way to do it,
ashton. Whatever works. You're kind of expanding...much as we did here.
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geezer
|
If you are writing a
supernatural thriller, should you have an explaination for everything?
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mary rosenblum
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Only if the readers are going
to be distracted by wondering. :-)
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janecj333
|
ok, give us the blurb...
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mary rosenblum
|
Okay..100,00 words in a
nutshell.
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mary rosenblum
|
As a class 9 empath with
advanced biogenetic augmentation, she has complete mental and physcial
control of her body and can read other people's intentions.
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mary rosenblum
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Faced with deceptions behind
deceptions, Ahni is caught in a dangerous game of family politics --
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mary rosenblum
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and in the middle of it all
lies the fate of her brother.
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mary rosenblum
|
Her search leads her to the
orbital platforms, high above the Earth. On the platform New York Up,
'upsider' life is different.
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mary rosenblum
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They have their own culture,
values, and ambitions -- and now they want their independence from Earth.
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mary rosenblum
|
One upsider leader, Dane
Nilson, is determined to accomplish NYUp's secession, but he has a
secret...
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mary rosenblum
|
one that, once exposed, could
condemn him to death.
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mary rosenblum
|
When Ahni stumbles upon Dane
during her quest for vengeance, her destiny becomes inextricably linked to
his.
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mary rosenblum
|
Together they must delve
beyond the intrigue and manipulative schemes to get to the core of truth, a
truth that will shape the future...
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mary rosenblum
|
of the Platforms and shatter
any preconceived notions of what defines the human race.
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mary rosenblum
|
Whew!
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ltsonya
|
I also wanted to add i just read
your "Home Movies" short story and loved it. science fiction,
mystery and romance all in one!
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mary rosenblum
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Thanks Sonya. That's about as
close to Romance as I can write, I think. :-)
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mary rosenblum
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Believe me, picking a single
thread out of this tangled skein was a challenge. :-)
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mary rosenblum
|
Okay, we have stretched our
Oregon Hour waaaayyy out tonight.
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mary rosenblum
|
We'll do more with generating
stories from ideas.
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mary rosenblum
|
I'll come back to that.
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mary rosenblum
|
Do join us Sunday for our open
chat.
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mary rosenblum
|
Same time as the Forum.
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mary rosenblum
|
See you all there.
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mary rosenblum
|
I'll post the transcript in
the usual place.
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mary rosenblum
|
Writing Craft: Forum
Transcript.
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