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mary rosenblum
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Hello all!
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mary rosenblum
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I hope you've had a good week!
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mary rosenblum
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I find it hard to believe that
we're halfway through the year...as of yesterday.
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mary rosenblum
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Wow, how time flies!
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mary rosenblum
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This is our After Hours Forum,
with me, Mary Rosenblum, your web editor. We're talking about plotting
tonight. I've published seven novels (number eight will be out in November)
, 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 was asked by a couple of
website regulars if I'd do a Forum on plotting.
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mary rosenblum
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Of course, if you're writing
fiction, plotting is central to your creative life. :-)
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mary rosenblum
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Plots vary widely, from short
story plots through a range of novel length plots...
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mary rosenblum
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from simple to highly complex.
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xana
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Plotting is central to many real
lives ;-)
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mary rosenblum
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Well, for those people who
think ahead, at least. :-)
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mary rosenblum
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Nice thing is, in fiction, you
can make it end the way you want.
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mary rosenblum
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If you break it down to its
most basic form, plot is simply a problem your main character faces.
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mary rosenblum
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That character tries to solve
the problem and either succeeds or fails.
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mary rosenblum
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End of story.
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mary rosenblum
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Now of course, that can take
many forms.
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mary rosenblum
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It can be just that simple, or
it can be convoluted and complex as many different plots converge, diverge,
and overlap.
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mary rosenblum
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(Think George R. R. Martin's
fantasy)
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mary rosenblum
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You can have twin plots that
follow their own paths and only converge at the end.
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info
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If you come up with only one
plot, how do you know if it will work for you if you have no others to
compare it to?
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mary rosenblum
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You don't have to compare it
to anything.
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mary rosenblum
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Ask yourself this...does my
main character(s) face a compelling problem?
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mary rosenblum
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Does that character resolve
it? Fail after trying hard?
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mary rosenblum
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Is the end satisfying?
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mary rosenblum
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Often, short story conflicts
are small and intimate.
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mary rosenblum
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That enables you to keep the
story short.
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mary rosenblum
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Novel plots can involve large
conflicts....or they can involve those same intimate character conflicts.
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mary rosenblum
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It's not the scale of the
conflict that makes the story work.
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mary rosenblum
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To Kill a Mockingbird involves
nothing more earthshaking than a lawyer's decision to defend a man in
court.
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mary rosenblum
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Snow Falling on Cedars
involved a murder trial...is a fisherman innocent or not?
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mary rosenblum
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Both stories are MUCH larger
than that central conflict.
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mary rosenblum
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This is our After Hours Forum,
with me, Mary Rosenblum, your web editor. We're talking about plotting
tonight. I've published seven novels (number eight will be out in November)
, 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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This is why the idea is not
what sells the story, although that is what a lot of novice writers
believe.
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mary rosenblum
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True, a cool new idea can make
editors look seriously at your book...
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mary rosenblum
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but it's what you do with that
idea that sells it or fails to sell it.
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mary rosenblum
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Or your short story, for that
matter. :-)
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xana
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How do you make your story 'much
larger than the central conflict'?
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mary rosenblum
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Well, look at both these
books.
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mary rosenblum
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If the authors had focused on
nothing but the trial, they would lack the power that they have.
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mary rosenblum
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It is the characters and their
conflicts, the subplots, that add to the central conflict and amplify it.
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mary rosenblum
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Each character conflict and
subplot is tied to that central plot, so the story builds.
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mary rosenblum
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That's why knowing your
characters, ALL of them, creating those layers of subplot and conflicts
that tie into your main plot, can help you create a more powerful story.
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mary rosenblum
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Every character in your novel
has his or her own conflicts and you can find ways to tie that conflict
into your central plot.
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mary rosenblum
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That increases the power of
the central plot
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mary rosenblum
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and adds interesting
complexity to your novel.
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ashton
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So it's possible to have two
main characters with their own competing problems that collide at the end
against a bigger threat?
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mary rosenblum
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Sure, Ash.
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mary rosenblum
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That is called a 'dual plot
line'.
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mary rosenblum
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You see it quite a bit in
fantasy and in sprawling family histories in Mainstream.
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mary rosenblum
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You end up following two main
characters who begin together and whose paths diverge.
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mary rosenblum
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Usually they converge again at
the climax of the book.
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mary rosenblum
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This isn't something that will
work well in short form, by the way.
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mary rosenblum
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You can do it, but not easily.
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tory
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Mary, do readers have a
preference about resolutions? My MC's are critical to catching some really
bad dudes. But what's better? Have the BD's killed by local police? Local
mountain resident? The MC. Or captured by any one of the above. All lend
themselves to emotional turmoil and decisions for MC. Any preferences in
the marketplace?
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mary rosenblum
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Yes, and no, Tory. (I'm SO
decisive, LOL) Yes, you have general expectations in some genres...
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mary rosenblum
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such as mystery. The MC almost
always reveals the murderer even if someone else has to save the MC's bacon
at the end.
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mary rosenblum
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But as to your story, the most
compelling end is the one you need to go with.
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mary rosenblum
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What is compelling? The one
that leaves your readers feeling drained after the climax and satisfied at
the end.
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mary rosenblum
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Who has the most at risk? Put
that person smack into the climax and see what happens.
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mary rosenblum
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Who is the one character your
readers will engage with most strongly...by the end of the book you SHOULD
have one character...
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mary rosenblum
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who seems to be the main one,
even if you use several central characters.
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mary rosenblum
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That is probably the person to
carry your climax and end.
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mary rosenblum
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These things are not always
completely obvious to you when you first start writing book length works.
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mary rosenblum
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It's very easy to sort of get
lost in your cast and your story. It gets much easier with practice. :-)
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mary rosenblum
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But chew on it for awhile.
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mary rosenblum
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Run different end scenarios
through your head while you do chores or drive. (Just keep your attention
on the road!)
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mary rosenblum
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See which one grabs you so
that you go 'wow, that's it!'
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mary rosenblum
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I often take quite a while to
settle on just the right ending.
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mary rosenblum
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I changed my ending twice
after I had sold the latest novel...until it felt balanced to me.
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writermom
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can secondary characters have
subplots to work out or does that make them into mc's
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mary rosenblum
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Oh sure. Most of your subplots
generally come in through secondary characters.
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mary rosenblum
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Your main characters are busy
with the plot. The secondaries will distract them with conflicts that are
important to the secondaries...
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mary rosenblum
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but end up involving your main
characters. But the main characters can introduce subplots, too.
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mary rosenblum
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This is our After Hours Forum,
with me, Mary Rosenblum, your web editor. We're talking about plotting
tonight. I've published seven novels (number eight will be out in November)
, 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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xana
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I was greatly surprised to find
that different people in my writers' group had strong preferences for
different characters introduced in the first two chapters
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mary rosenblum
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I'm not surprised, xana.
You're really building characters in your first couple of chapters.
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mary rosenblum
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And if you're not really
getting deeply into those characters right off the bat, so that readers
judge them only through external actions...
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mary rosenblum
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they're going to read their
own interpretations into what they see and like this one or that one
better...
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mary rosenblum
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but usually, as your story
develops, one or two characters will begin to hold most of your readers'
attentions.
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mary rosenblum
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if that's not true, then you
need to work harder on your characterization!
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mary rosenblum
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This is our After Hours Forum,
with me, Mary Rosenblum, your web editor. We're talking about plotting
tonight. I've published seven novels (number eight will be out in November)
, 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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tory
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Husband, wife and one child--too
many MC's, I guess.
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mary rosenblum
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Well, not necessarily, but
will they all carry equal weight in your final story? Whose story is this,
mostly?
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mary rosenblum
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I suggest that you stick with
your one or two most-main characters for your first couple of chapters if
you can....you want readers to bond with that character quickly...
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mary rosenblum
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and if you do one POV per
chapter for the first three chapters, we aren't really going to get to know
any one of them very well.
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mary rosenblum
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I might not bring in my 'other
main character
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mary rosenblum
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'as POV until three or four
chapters in...
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mary rosenblum
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even if he or she appears in
the first couple of chapters.
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mary rosenblum
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I think my 'other main
character' shows up as POV in chapter three...maybe four in my current
book.
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mary rosenblum
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Remember...there is a
difference between POV and MC.
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mary rosenblum
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POV simply means that in this
scene, we perceive the action of the scene through this character's
awareness.
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mary rosenblum
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MC, main character, is just
that... a main player in the story.
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mary rosenblum
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I might use several POVs in a
novel, but have one or maybe two MCs.
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geezer
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Would that # of chapters rule
for the MC's depend on chapter length?
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mary rosenblum
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It's not a rule, geezer.
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mary rosenblum
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You can have three different
POVs in the first three chapters if you make it work.
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mary rosenblum
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BUT it's mostly a matter of
letting the reader begin to get to know your character .
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xana
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I have a number of people, many
of whom do not yet know each other, deciding to travel from CA to Fl for
various reasons
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mary rosenblum
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That sounds like the kind of
story where we may meet several people without really knowing who's
important and where the story goes.
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mary rosenblum
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That can work.
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mary rosenblum
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Christie did that in Then
There Were None, where ten people get together on an island for a weekend
retreat and they...
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mary rosenblum
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begin to be killed one at a
time.
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mary rosenblum
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We meet all ten.
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robastor
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From jet07734 What if the topic
you're writing about is really personal and painful to write about that you
end up confusing the reader to the point they don't understand anything
that happened?
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mary rosenblum
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I'm assuming you're talking
about a personal narrative and not fiction, jet. I would suggest...
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mary rosenblum
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that you put the piece aside
when you're done and give yourself a bit of distance...a month or more...
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mary rosenblum
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and see if you can approach it
with a bit of distance. If that's simply not possible...
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mary rosenblum
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then you probably need to hire
a professional editor and turn it over to that person...
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mary rosenblum
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If it's a LR assignment, tell
your instructor that it IS personal and painful, and let your instructor...
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mary rosenblum
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tell you where it needs
clarity and how.
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speckledorf
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Jet says yet to personal
narrative...is an assignment:--)
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mary rosenblum
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You may not have the
objectivity to make it clear to a reader at this stage.
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mary rosenblum
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I've had several of these from
students...very personal and traumatic accounts...
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mary rosenblum
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and they did need editing for
clarity. That's what I did. :-) That' what your instructor is supposed to
do.
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ashton
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If you suspect your novel will
spawn a sequel even before you begin the first, should you include
background ideas for the second novel within your character worksheets
right away or wait?
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mary rosenblum
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Oh of course, if you know it's
going to be a longer story and have a sequel, plot them both now!
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mary rosenblum
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NOt only will you NOT paint
yourself into a corner (I have done that when I have decided to turn a
short story into part of a novel!)
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mary rosenblum
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you'll have better continuity
between the two...
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mary rosenblum
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and you'll have the plot
outline to include when you sell the first book.
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mary rosenblum
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If the editor likes the first,
he/she knows you'll produce a sequel if it sells well.
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mary rosenblum
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(Just don't try to insist the
editor buy both or none...not a good idea)
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writermom
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can the pov come from a
secondary character or is pov limited to mc's
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mary rosenblum
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Sure writer.
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mary rosenblum
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Sometimes the POV is a 'spear
carrier', a totally insignificant character. If you need to show the reader
something or let the reader learn something...
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mary rosenblum
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you can put us into a
convenient POV so that we're there to learn it. Maybe the janitor walks
past the classroom where the bad guy is hiding the bomb.
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mary rosenblum
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And the janitor is a spear
carrier, there to show us the bomb...
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mary rosenblum
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so that when our MC teacher
arrives in the morning, we're all sweating in fear!
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xana
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Like Watson and Sherlock
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mary rosenblum
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Well, Watson was just the
narrator, so that Doyle didn't have to get into Holmes' head. LOL
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xana
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I loved that novel of Christie's
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mary rosenblum
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And Then There Were None, me
too...
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mary rosenblum
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and it's a great example of
the plot driven novel.
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mary rosenblum
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We have ten characters and we
really don't identify or care much about any of them...
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mary rosenblum
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and the book works just fine.
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mary rosenblum
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But that doesn't mean if YOU
try a book with ten main characters that we don't really care about you
will succeed as well!
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mary rosenblum
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Just because something CAN be
done, does not mean you will automatically do it well.
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mary rosenblum
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Christie is really not a
character writer. She is a strong writer of plot driven fiction.
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mary rosenblum
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Her characters are vivid, but
not very deep.
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mary rosenblum
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But she is a master of what
she does!
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xana
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I've got 6 POVs in the first 2
chapters - because most aren't interacting yet; my writers' group didn't
find that to be a problem
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xana
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What some of them DID find to be
a problem is that the voices of some of my characters sound too much like
the author's voice
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mary rosenblum
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Well, that's a real issue with
a host of characters like that, Xana.
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mary rosenblum
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You're simply going to have to
spend the brain-sweat to make each of those characters sound unique..
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mary rosenblum
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Ideally, a reader should
recognize the speaker without any identifying tags at all.
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mary rosenblum
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That's hard to do if the
character just says something like 'oh yeah'...
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mary rosenblum
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but it IS valid if your
character speaks at length.
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xana
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So how do you give each
character a different voice without doing a lot of research - not to mention
trying to keep the voices straight?
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mary rosenblum
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I don't know why you'd have to
do research, but you sure do have to have conversations with your
characters until you hear their voices in your sleep.
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mary rosenblum
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No duh!
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mary rosenblum
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I am doing that right
now...walking around the house talking out loud to the MC for my SF novel
and the MC for my fantasy novel...
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mary rosenblum
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and those are only the two
main characters.
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mary rosenblum
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I"m also talking to my
strong secondaries in the SF...
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mary rosenblum
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so that's FIVE so far, and the
number will go up as I evolve more strong secondaries for the fantasy
(which is still in the plotting phase)
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xana
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groan...
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mary rosenblum
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Didn't anyone tell you writing
was a lot of work, heheh.
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mary rosenblum
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Hey, one of my characters
speaks Malay. Sigh. So I've been listening to tapes of Malay to get the
rhythm of the langauge.
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xana
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And I thought I was retired...
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mary rosenblum
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Heheheh.
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tory
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Mary, where'd you get Malay
tapes? I need Albanian.
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mary rosenblum
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amazon.com, tory.
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mary rosenblum
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I bet they have Albanian, too.
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xana
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Try Transparent Language
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mary rosenblum
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Is that a website, xana?
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mary rosenblum
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This is our After Hours Forum,
with me, Mary Rosenblum, your web editor. We're talking about plotting
tonight. I've published seven novels (number eight will be out in November)
, 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..
|
|
geezer
|
So, to get the rhythm iof the
language you listen to the language rather than the accent of the person
while speaking English?
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mary rosenblum
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Oh I'm worse than that. I buy
the language books too, and work through some basic level learning...
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mary rosenblum
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so that I can figure out how
the sentences are constructed and how things are said.
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mary rosenblum
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I've done quite a bit of Mandarin...and
you simply cannot say some things in Mandarin the way I wanted to say 'em.
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mary rosenblum
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Nobody will really know, but
it makes the language sound 'not English' even when it IS English.
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geezer
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Thank goodness most of my
languages in my novel will be "dead" ones!
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mary rosenblum
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Ah, saved! LOL
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ashton
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Goodness, yes, writing is a lot
of work...more work than my family realizes. I WISH someone would tell them
so they'd give me some much needed quiet time to think and write...
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mary rosenblum
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It IS hard work, and it's
true, ash. Used to drive me nuts when I first started...the belief is 'hey,
you have all the time in the world...how hard can it be?'
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mary rosenblum
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Ha!
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mary rosenblum
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Oooh, the transparent language
site is cool...and they have Albanian. :-)
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mary rosenblum
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Transparent
Language site
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writermom
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what about finding words that
would have been used in medieval Germany and Ireland instead of
contemporary English ones
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mary rosenblum
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Try a university library, mom.
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mary rosenblum
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You'll find quite a few
dictionaries of medieval langauges.
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mary rosenblum
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Most university libraries will
allow you to use books on the premises for a fee.
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tory
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What's the Transparent language
URL?
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mary rosenblum
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http://www.transparent.com/store/?gclid=COiOs__d3YUCFRocIgodpjznOg
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mary rosenblum
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YOu probably just need the
www.transparent.com
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mary rosenblum
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Even more important than
language is world view.
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mary rosenblum
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If you are going to use
foreign nationals as characters, do give them a worldview consistent with
their history.
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mary rosenblum
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Not everybody shares the
American middle class worldview!
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xana
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Try the web: I found free
lessons in Korean by Googling Korean learn free
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mary rosenblum
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yes, I have to say that start
any research with Google.
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mary rosenblum
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You'll find a wealth of
information out there...but DO remember...just because it is up on the web
does not mean it is accurate!
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mary rosenblum
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I prefer to find a person who
speaks my character's language. :-) I get better cultural insights that way.
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mary rosenblum
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I'm busy searching for someone
born in Indonesia locally. :-)
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xana
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The CIA has lots of basic info
about all the countries of the world at their website
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mary rosenblum
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There are quite a few good
sources.
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ashton
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How do you go about that, Mary?
Newspaper? Bulletin Board?
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mary rosenblum
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Right now, I'm just asking
people who have wide connections. I might not find someone locally, but
even an email or phone contact will work.
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xana
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Mary, You are likely to find
Indonesian students in graduate schools - especailly in the sciences,
business, economics...
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mary rosenblum
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Yes there are some at Portland
state. If I don't find a friend of a friend connection, I'll go there.
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mary rosenblum
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I have an Indonesian student,
and he has been a big help. :-)
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mary rosenblum
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The main thing to think about
in plotting is the size of the story.
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mary rosenblum
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If you're plotting a short
story you don't want a lot of complications.
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mary rosenblum
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But if you're plotting a
novel, you can add quite a bit of complications without overloading that
story...
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mary rosenblum
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up to a point.
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mary rosenblum
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You can end up with SO much
stuff going on that the reader drowns.
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cosmos
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Many large cities have consulate
offices for countries all over the world. You can also try to figure out
what religion they might have and look for it in the religion page in the
newspaper or in the yellow pages. You can also contact a local university for
foreign exchange students.
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mary rosenblum
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They're all good ways, cosmos,
but you need to find someone who understands why you are asking the
questions you ask...
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mary rosenblum
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and what you're doing with
them. Not everyone is a fiction reader or 'gets it'. :-
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mary rosenblum
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It's most productive when your
informant gets into the story and has fun doing it. :-)
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writermom
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how do you know when it is too
much
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mary rosenblum
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When your readers can't tell
you who your main character is, or waht the story is about afterward...
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mary rosenblum
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I'm not kidding!
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mary rosenblum
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You should, of course, always
give your first decent draft (maybe draft two or three) to a reader or
four.
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mary rosenblum
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Ask them: Waht is my book
about.
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mary rosenblum
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Ask them: Who are the main
characters.
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mary rosenblum
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If the answers are all over
the map, you need to make things simpler and/or clearer.
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mary rosenblum
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If YOU can't remember who your
characters are by the end, you have WAY over complicated it.
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tory
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Amen, Mary, Why you're asking. I
want to know if Interpol agents carry fire arms. Can you just see their
response if I send them an e-mail.?
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mary rosenblum
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Oh, true, tory. You HAVE to
ask that sort of question in person.
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mary rosenblum
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Remember, I write mystery.
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mary rosenblum
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Cops, the DEA, DEQ are ALL
highly suspicious when you show up to ask questions.
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mary rosenblum
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It takes them some
interpersonal time with you to decide you're really waht you say you are
and not a nut.
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mary rosenblum
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it's way worse now than before
911.
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mary rosenblum
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You really must ask that sort
of question in person, but many law enforcement people will know...
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mary rosenblum
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or you may find books for
mystery writers with the details you want.
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tory
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And already being published
herps your credibility. Us newbiew--well. We wait.
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mary rosenblum
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Hey I had nothing to show when
I was lurking around Bonneville dam researching my first book and asking
what it would take to destroy the dam. :-)
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mary rosenblum
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You sure don't ask THAT
question before they're satisfied you're legit.
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megger
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Mary, is there a good rule of
thumb for number of plot complications per words in the story?
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mary rosenblum
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Goodness no.
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mary rosenblum
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Writing is hardly that
formulaic.
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mary rosenblum
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Think of it this way...if you
sit down after a couple of days away from the story and you can't remember
what's going on and who did what to whom...
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mary rosenblum
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maybe it's getting a bit too
complicated.
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tory
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You really did that?!
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mary rosenblum
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Oh yes.
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mary rosenblum
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I needed to know how much
explosive it would take to blow up The Dalles dam, but I had better access
at Bonneville. :-)
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mary rosenblum
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That was NOT my introductory
question believe me!
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foxx
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There are several books. Are
they adequate?
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mary rosenblum
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Mystery writers resource
books? Depends on what you want, foxx.
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mary rosenblum
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I have several from Writers
Digest books. They have good basic informatoin.
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mary rosenblum
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A cop informant is really
best.
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mary rosenblum
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Same with military stuff.
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geezer
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Pre-911 I guess?
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mary rosenblum
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It was. But even now, you can
ask that sort of thing once they decide you're not a nutcase.
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xana
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I wonder how many surveillance
tapes you're on....
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mary rosenblum
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Oh many, I'm sure!
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mary rosenblum
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I was specifically looking for
ways people could get over and past the security fences...at both The
Dalles and Bonneville.
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mary rosenblum
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I probably wouldn't take the
chances now that I did then...
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robastor
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Or government spies tracking
you. ;-) LOL
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mary rosenblum
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Well, I've hit some radical
Islamist websites researching the current novel so I may well have tripped
Predator. Who knows.
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ashton
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I hoped it wasn't. lol. That's
the research you were doing for Drylands?
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mary rosenblum
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Yes it was, and I don't do
quite the hands-on snooping without permission that I used to do.
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geezer
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Well, if you get arrested, let
us know where we can send a cake with a file in it.:-)
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mary rosenblum
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Well, it has crossed my mind a
few times that I could get arrested. For tresspassing anyway. But you know,
I'm pretty transparent. I'm not REALLY going to worry any NSA or FBI person
very long if they really look at what I'm doing.
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writermom
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good research for what goes on
behind prison walls :-)
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mary rosenblum
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LOL there's that, too! :-)
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foxx
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I would guess that this
discussion has raised some caution flags
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mary rosenblum
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About research, foxx?
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mary rosenblum
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Well, the reality is that if
you want to research something like weapons or explosives or terrorist
potential...
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mary rosenblum
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you ARE going to make people
suspicious. I photograph a real-life setting VERY thoroughly and take a
lot...
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mary rosenblum
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of taped notes and I get some
very strange looks.
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mary rosenblum
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I wouldn't be surprised if
people haven't called the Sheriffs office now and again.
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foxx
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about blowing things up
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mary rosenblum
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yes, if you're going to ask
questions like that, you need to establish yourself with your informant
first.
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mary rosenblum
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The most nervous bunch I ever
dealt with was the DEQ headquarters. Whew!
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mary rosenblum
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But once they decided I was on
the up and up (and I had published by then) they were very helpful.
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foxx
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DEQ?
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mary rosenblum
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Department of Environmental
Quality. They get a lot of threats here in the northwest.
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mary rosenblum
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And a LOT of lawsuits.
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mary rosenblum
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I think they were more worried
about lawsuits. I was asking enforcement questions.
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mary rosenblum
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But...every time I have done
research like that...
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mary rosenblum
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it has enhanced my plot.
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mary rosenblum
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Because the 'insider
information' gives me a different picture of the story.
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cosmos
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I introduced myself to the
Undersheriff and asked questions for my mystery. As a mystery novel reader,
she offered to critique it for law enforcement details. She's wonderful. I
appreciated her help.
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mary rosenblum
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yes, nearly all the people
I've dealt with in law enforcement have been wonderful -- after I tell them
the cops are not bad guys. :-)
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mary rosenblum
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They WANT you to get it right.
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geezer
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Beau asks if the DEQ is federal
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mary rosenblum
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Yes.
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mary rosenblum
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ATF is a different group,
Beau's.
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mary rosenblum
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So is DEA...drug enforcement
Agency...
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mary rosenblum
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With plotting remember that
there is no hard and fast rule...
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mary rosenblum
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but be creative.
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mary rosenblum
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if your plot seems 'thin' try
complicating the problem.
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mary rosenblum
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If your test readers are
confused, maybe you need to simplify things.
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mary rosenblum
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This has been a fun Oregon
hour!
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mary rosenblum
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Stay cool, all
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mary rosenblum
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Summer has arrived with a
vengeance here in the Northwest
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xana
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Thanks, Mary. I really like your
suggestion about talking to my characters.
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mary rosenblum
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Do try it, xana. It will help
you make them sound different from you.
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mary rosenblum
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Join us Sunday evening...same
time as this...for our casual get together...
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mary rosenblum
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where we just talk about
whatever.
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mary rosenblum
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I may be a bit late...I'll be
competing in a herding trial...but I should be there.
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mary rosenblum
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I'll post the transcripts in
the usual place...
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mary rosenblum
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Writing Craft: Forum
Transcripts.
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mary rosenblum
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have a great weekend all!
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info
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By the way Mary, remember
telling us about getting people with experience to read and crit our
stories? I did another Tucker Tails short called Teacher's Pet and had a
teacher read it. It was helpful.
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mary rosenblum
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Great, info!
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jet07734
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How do you know what the best
subject is to write about?
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mary rosenblum
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The best subject is what moves
you, jet.
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mary rosenblum
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If you're not passionate about
the story, it won't be strong.
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mary rosenblum
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Write something you would LOVE
to read and that's the right thing.
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jet07734
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what if you have more than one
subject that is moving you?
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mary rosenblum
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go with what excites you most,
jet.
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mary rosenblum
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Good night all!
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mary rosenblum
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See you sunday!
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