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Basic Writing questions is not a crit forum. All crits belong in Share Your Work
I don't like reading, but yet I have the dream of being a writer.
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I guess I can try a YA book then. Also, yeah, I haven't been doing a lot of writing lately. Just yesterday, though, I came up with some ideas for the magic system of my story.
Any recommendations for YA fantasy and sci-fi?
Another concern I still kinda have is making a rip-off of another story. Anyone else in the stage where they try to mimic what they like?
Any recommendations for YA fantasy and sci-fi?
Another concern I still kinda have is making a rip-off of another story. Anyone else in the stage where they try to mimic what they like?
I haven't read the entire thread, but here's what I have to say.
I sort of kind of don't really overly enjoy reading books. While my sister reads 50 books a year, I read erm, about five--maybe ten if I'm really ambitious. Yet, I still read things in critique threads. I read my own work, and not to be vain, but I think my stuff is pretty good!
When I started writing, I barely read any books at all. It took five years for me to finally get my drafts to a professional level. If I had read books, I might've been able to cut that down. It took a while to realize the format of a good book. Also, reading helps expand your vocabulary. When you're vocabulary is bigger you can use one word to describe something rather than one humongous sentence.
Is reading books mandatory? Eh, not in my opinion, but they will help you become a better writer faster. People read every day and even if you don't care to sit down an read an entire novel, reading through Absolute Write can still be handy. Even watching movies can give you ideas on character development, plot development, metaphors etc. Learning these types of techniques isn't only in books, but any story whether you read it or watch it. Pay attention to the words. How the script is written.
Another thing is audio books. You could give those a try. Play a chapter before you go to bed. We've done that with the classics
Overall, don't sweat it. If you don't care to read books then don't. Eventually there might be a topic that particularly interests you and you'll want to read about it. Otherwise, I think learning how to develop a story and characters can be learned from other forms of entertainment and not just books. As far as being able to write well, reading will definitely sharpen your skills and broaden your vocabulary more than anything else will, but eventually you'll learn these even without reading a bunch of fiction books a year, but it will take longer.
---
Check out this thread: http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=290996
It might help give you titles to look into. I recommend The Nearly Honorable League of Pirates: Magic Marks the Spot but that's MG--though I still recommend it
Join Goodreads. I actually found that once I joined Goodreads I started reading more because I was able to find more books that were to my liking.
I sort of kind of don't really overly enjoy reading books. While my sister reads 50 books a year, I read erm, about five--maybe ten if I'm really ambitious. Yet, I still read things in critique threads. I read my own work, and not to be vain, but I think my stuff is pretty good!
When I started writing, I barely read any books at all. It took five years for me to finally get my drafts to a professional level. If I had read books, I might've been able to cut that down. It took a while to realize the format of a good book. Also, reading helps expand your vocabulary. When you're vocabulary is bigger you can use one word to describe something rather than one humongous sentence.
Is reading books mandatory? Eh, not in my opinion, but they will help you become a better writer faster. People read every day and even if you don't care to sit down an read an entire novel, reading through Absolute Write can still be handy. Even watching movies can give you ideas on character development, plot development, metaphors etc. Learning these types of techniques isn't only in books, but any story whether you read it or watch it. Pay attention to the words. How the script is written.
Another thing is audio books. You could give those a try. Play a chapter before you go to bed. We've done that with the classics
Overall, don't sweat it. If you don't care to read books then don't. Eventually there might be a topic that particularly interests you and you'll want to read about it. Otherwise, I think learning how to develop a story and characters can be learned from other forms of entertainment and not just books. As far as being able to write well, reading will definitely sharpen your skills and broaden your vocabulary more than anything else will, but eventually you'll learn these even without reading a bunch of fiction books a year, but it will take longer.
---
Check out this thread: http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=290996
It might help give you titles to look into. I recommend The Nearly Honorable League of Pirates: Magic Marks the Spot but that's MG--though I still recommend it
Join Goodreads. I actually found that once I joined Goodreads I started reading more because I was able to find more books that were to my liking.
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I haven't read past page one of this thread but I do recall one selling writer who didn't read fiction. I can't for the life of me remember his name, which says something in and of itself, but fifteen or so years ago there was a writer who landed very high on the NYT list a couple of times, and he said he never read novels, and had read only four of five in his life.
Anything is possible, IF you're one of the extremely rare people with about twenty times as much talent as the rest of us. Even that writer, whoever he was, faded away quickly after those two books hit pretty big.
I can honestly say I've never met a writer who didn't love reading who could write fiction worth spit. Nor have I read such a writer. We all, I suspect think we're pretty good, whether covertly or overtly, but the non0reading writers I've encountered always make a point of saying how good they think they are. So far, not one of them has been even remotely good.
I can't even understand the concept of not loving to read fiction, or why someone who doesn't love reading would want to be a fiction writer. There's nothing wrong with it, but I think the chances of actually being able to write anything worthwhile if you don't read a lot of fiction are as close to zero as you can get.
On the other hand, if that person writes whatever it is they love enough to read or watch on a regular basis, I think they have a good chance of writing that, be it anime, movies, or what have you, pretty well.
Anything is possible, IF you're one of the extremely rare people with about twenty times as much talent as the rest of us. Even that writer, whoever he was, faded away quickly after those two books hit pretty big.
I can honestly say I've never met a writer who didn't love reading who could write fiction worth spit. Nor have I read such a writer. We all, I suspect think we're pretty good, whether covertly or overtly, but the non0reading writers I've encountered always make a point of saying how good they think they are. So far, not one of them has been even remotely good.
I can't even understand the concept of not loving to read fiction, or why someone who doesn't love reading would want to be a fiction writer. There's nothing wrong with it, but I think the chances of actually being able to write anything worthwhile if you don't read a lot of fiction are as close to zero as you can get.
On the other hand, if that person writes whatever it is they love enough to read or watch on a regular basis, I think they have a good chance of writing that, be it anime, movies, or what have you, pretty well.
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Y'know, I've seen a person or two allude to it, but I'll say it explicitly.
"Reading" and "novels" aren't necessarily tied together. The tactics and techniques of novellas or short fiction are fairly different, but you can still glean quite a bit from shorter fiction.
"Reading" and "novels" aren't necessarily tied together. The tactics and techniques of novellas or short fiction are fairly different, but you can still glean quite a bit from shorter fiction.
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I haven't read the entire thread, but here's what I have to say.
I sort of kind of don't really overly enjoy reading books. While my sister reads 50 books a year, I read erm, about five--maybe ten if I'm really ambitious. Yet, I still read things in critique threads. I read my own work, and not to be vain, but I think my stuff is pretty good!
When I started writing, I barely read any books at all. It took five years for me to finally get my drafts to a professional level. If I had read books, I might've been able to cut that down. It took a while to realize the format of a good book. Also, reading helps expand your vocabulary. When you're vocabulary is bigger you can use one word to describe something rather than one humongous sentence.
Is reading books mandatory? Eh, not in my opinion, but they will help you become a better writer faster. People read every day and even if you don't care to sit down an read an entire novel, reading through Absolute Write can still be handy. Even watching movies can give you ideas on character development, plot development, metaphors etc. Learning these types of techniques isn't only in books, but any story whether you read it or watch it. Pay attention to the words. How the script is written.
Another thing is audio books. You could give those a try. Play a chapter before you go to bed. We've done that with the classics
Overall, don't sweat it. If you don't care to read books then don't. Eventually there might be a topic that particularly interests you and you'll want to read about it. Otherwise, I think learning how to develop a story and characters can be learned from other forms of entertainment and not just books. As far as being able to write well, reading will definitely sharpen your skills and broaden your vocabulary more than anything else will, but eventually you'll learn these even without reading a bunch of fiction books a year, but it will take longer.
---
Check out this thread: http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=290996
It might help give you titles to look into. I recommend The Nearly Honorable League of Pirates: Magic Marks the Spot but that's MG--though I still recommend it
Join Goodreads. I actually found that once I joined Goodreads I started reading more because I was able to find more books that were to my liking.
Does reading really speed up improvement that much?
I haven't read the entire thread, but here's what I have to say.
I sort of kind of don't really overly enjoy reading books. While my sister reads 50 books a year, I read erm, about five--maybe ten if I'm really ambitious. Yet, I still read things in critique threads. I read my own work, and not to be vain, but I think my stuff is pretty good!
When I started writing, I barely read any books at all. It took five years for me to finally get my drafts to a professional level. If I had read books, I might've been able to cut that down. It took a while to realize the format of a good book. Also, reading helps expand your vocabulary. When you're vocabulary is bigger you can use one word to describe something rather than one humongous sentence.
Is reading books mandatory? Eh, not in my opinion, but they will help you become a better writer faster. People read every day and even if you don't care to sit down an read an entire novel, reading through Absolute Write can still be handy. Even watching movies can give you ideas on character development, plot development, metaphors etc. Learning these types of techniques isn't only in books, but any story whether you read it or watch it. Pay attention to the words. How the script is written.
Another thing is audio books. You could give those a try. Play a chapter before you go to bed. We've done that with the classics
Overall, don't sweat it. If you don't care to read books then don't. Eventually there might be a topic that particularly interests you and you'll want to read about it. Otherwise, I think learning how to develop a story and characters can be learned from other forms of entertainment and not just books. As far as being able to write well, reading will definitely sharpen your skills and broaden your vocabulary more than anything else will, but eventually you'll learn these even without reading a bunch of fiction books a year, but it will take longer.
---
Check out this thread: http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=290996
It might help give you titles to look into. I recommend The Nearly Honorable League of Pirates: Magic Marks the Spot but that's MG--though I still recommend it
Join Goodreads. I actually found that once I joined Goodreads I started reading more because I was able to find more books that were to my liking.
You summed up everything I was trying to say. Thanks.
http://www.absolutewrite.com//www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/
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I'm not a fan of super long books either
Often they can be condensed some and be just as good if not better, imo. You shouldn't feel bad about sticking to YA for now. I think it can help to branch out, but I've read plenty of YA and even children's books that are well-written. I love the language in Garth Nix's Abhorsen books, for instance, and I like Diana Wynne Jones too. On the Way of Shadows topic, I agree about the POV switches. I remember there being one section from the POV of a pirate woman who was never introduced before and who is never seen again, and it could've been cut out without harm. I also thought that the main character's training with Durzo had too much telling rather than showing, and since it was glossed over I felt like I didn't know Durzo very well. The girl characters were terrible too. And don't get me started on the dialogue during the final battle with the main villain lol.
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I'm sorry for the double post, but I just remembered something I wanted to add. In high school, I hardly read recreational books aside from a select few related to interests I already had (for instance, Memoirs of a Geisha, Phantom by Susan Kay, and Howl's Moving Castle). I did write, however. But when I was 18 I suddenly decided to read Les Miserables since I loved the movie so much--yes, talk about a giant leap, going from hardly reading at all to reading a 1400 page tome written in the 19th century. But the dedication I put into finishing that book actually helped me set aside the dedication to write more!
Since reading Les Mis, I've been reading regularly, and though I'm not the fastest of readers with college and all, it still has caused an improvement in both the quality and quantity of the work I spin out. Granted, I did peruse numerous writing books and online articles with writing tips, and they helped me improve as well! I looked back at some of the stuff I wrote in high school and saw so many errors that I edited right away.
So imo taking the time to stick with a book can help writers to stick with their own works. The more books I read, the further I seem to get in my drafts. I recently hit 54K in a recent draft, which is the farthest I've ever gotten in a single story, and I quickly made it to over 20K in another draft. I haven't finished anything (other than short stories) yet, but it's still an improvement. I think that if you start reading more often, you'll see good results as well.
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xyinn, you never responded:
why do you want to be a writer?
I only ask because if it is the fact King gets something like a $20 million advance per book, or some similar shade of "I can be rich while just sitting at home making stuff up," the odds are not ever in your favor, to borrow a phrase. Very, very few folks make money at this compared to how many try, and although some do indeed make very good money, if you don't like books you're agonizing over some very slim odds, to be honest.
why do you want to be a writer?
I only ask because if it is the fact King gets something like a $20 million advance per book, or some similar shade of "I can be rich while just sitting at home making stuff up," the odds are not ever in your favor, to borrow a phrase. Very, very few folks make money at this compared to how many try, and although some do indeed make very good money, if you don't like books you're agonizing over some very slim odds, to be honest.
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I'm not a fan of super long books either
On the Way of Shadows topic, I agree about the POV switches. I remember there being one section from the POV of a pirate woman who was never introduced before and who is never seen again, and it could've been cut out without harm. I also thought that the main character's training with Durzo had too much telling rather than showing, and since it was glossed over I felt like I didn't know Durzo very well. The girl characters were terrible too. And don't get me started on the dialogue during the final battle with the main villain lol.
Alright, thanks!
I may pick up a YA book today, not sure.That's something I'm worried about. I have dreams of being successful at the craft, but sometimes I wonder if I'm doing it for the money. It's not bad to want to be successful, but you should like what you're doing. And I do like coming up with these characters and creatures. That's fun and cool.
I guess it depends on what the book is about. Speaking of drafts, I did finish one a few months ago. And yeah, reading more would probably be best. I have a question, how many books should I be reading exactly?
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You should like what you are doing, but especially in a job where very few people meet any sort of large-scale financial success.....because the slimmer the odds of getting rich, the greater the odds of doing it for near-nothing--if you don't enjoy it, then even nearer to nothing, because you don't even have personal enjoyment to take from it.
You said you're not sure how you feel, and perhaps that's the case--you're young, IIRC. And as others have said, maybe you just haven't found your medium or genre. There is horror, comedy, dark comedy, YA, high fantasy, low fantasy, etc......
thinking of what you HAVE read, and movies, what sort of themes or genres did you enjoy in the past, in film, etc?
You said you're not sure how you feel, and perhaps that's the case--you're young, IIRC. And as others have said, maybe you just haven't found your medium or genre. There is horror, comedy, dark comedy, YA, high fantasy, low fantasy, etc......
thinking of what you HAVE read, and movies, what sort of themes or genres did you enjoy in the past, in film, etc?
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You aren't doomed. In fact you and I are pretty similar. I'd much rather make worlds.
That being said, give a few more books a shot. Judging from your avatar you're most likely an anime fan. Try reading books that have that same vibe. Christopher Wooding's Broken Sky series or Conner Kostick's EPIC.
That being said, give a few more books a shot. Judging from your avatar you're most likely an anime fan. Try reading books that have that same vibe. Christopher Wooding's Broken Sky series or Conner Kostick's EPIC.
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I've enjoyed fantasy with mythological themes (Percy Jackson), along with YA dystopian (Legend series).
Yeah, I just looked the Broken Sky series up. Apparently there are stones implanted in a person's back, and they tell you what kind of power you have. Sounds interesting. Thanks for the suggestion.
so you just listed some books you liked.....find similar books. No shortage of MG/YA mythos-based books.
As side recommendations, you might like A Night in the Lonesome October by Zelazny, it was essentially MG before the designation was there, and is a mix of monster-mashup and Lovecraft mythos.
As side recommendations, you might like A Night in the Lonesome October by Zelazny, it was essentially MG before the designation was there, and is a mix of monster-mashup and Lovecraft mythos.
Swing by the YA subforum (http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=117). We have a thread just for finding YA recs (http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=213055&page=41), as well as a thread about what YA books we're reading (http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=290996&page=26). Those might help you find some that you like.
I'm not great with fantasy/sci-fi, but I'm sure someone over there can help you out!
I'm not great with fantasy/sci-fi, but I'm sure someone over there can help you out!
I underwent a huge shift in my reading tastes between my late teens and early twenties. Whether we like the idea or not, our brains are still "cooking" at those ages. Read what you know you'll like, but also try new types of stories. You may simply be bored by reading the same old, same old.
Just FYI, writing isn't something you can do "for the money." You would be very lucky to even make a livable wage on sales. Most authors have a "real" job and write on the side. So it's a nice dream, but it's as realistic as becoming a programmer because you want to make the next Facebook. It can be motivating, but that "I enjoy coming up with characters" feeling is more realistic and probably a more sustainable form of motivation in the long run.
And as for reading...
You don't have to read a lot! (I didn't have time to read much until I was out of college.) Just read anything. If you don't have a lot of time, read in your genre and consider it market research. And try Goodreads. You can plug in your favorite genres and it'll recommend books to you. I don't think its recommendations are that awesome, but if you follow people who like the same things you do and stalk their reviews and favorite books, you can find a lot of really awesome stuff.
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Okay, thanks!
Will do!
Yeah, that's true, but I kinda am looking to have my work hit with good reactions. I want people to enjoy what my creation, in other words.
I mean, I know it shouldn't bother me, but I'm a bit jealous of people who are way more talented in the things I do (writing and drawing). They have dreams like I do, but the thing is that they have a way harder work ethic than I do. I mean, they do the same thing I do (come up with characters and stuff). I was told before that I wasn't going to make it as a writer. I understand why this is, which is because:
1) I don't read.
2) Lack of the immense effort needed to be good at this stuff.
Still gonna try to keep writing though.
Both of those issues can be addressed. For the first, you simply find stuff you like to read. If that's YA at the moment, read YA. But accept that your tastes might change as you grow older.
As for the effort, the biggest thing you do is write. Yes, you'll spend some time studying books and learning writing tips. But most of your practice will come in the form of writing (and then getting feedback on that writing). That's where writing is different from so many things. For the most part, the practice is actually fun.
If you find that it isn't fun, then writing might not be right for you.
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Yeah, I actually wrote something earlier today.
About the feedback, I was told not to post a ton of threads on getting feedback on my stuff, and to only get feedback after I've done my own revisions. Problem is, I'm not sure that I'm at the stage where I can confidently polish everything on my own.
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Keep in mind that you don't have to query your first or even second manuscipt to agents. Some people don't query till MS 4+. You're young - good god does that make me feel old, I'm only a couple months away from 24 - and you have plenty of time to get your writing up to snuff, as well as choose what you want to write.
It's not a problem getting feedback on multiple stories. It's only a problem if you flood the boards with story after story, not taking the time to absorb what you've learned so you keep repeating similar mistakes. Try to focus on one project at a time, or one flaw at a time.
Once you have a piece as polished as you, personally, at this moment can make it, share a sample somewhere to see what outside readers make of it. If enough people latch onto similar issues - or if one particular comment strikes a chord - then listen, remembering to thank even those whom you disagree with. Retreat, analyze, revise, and share again. (Just don't get caught in a perpetual loop - when you're no longer getting useful feedback, submit it or trunk it and move on.)
And, TBH, I don't know if anyone ever reaches the stage where they're beyond outside feedback. Experience definitely helps, but I'm never going to know exactly how you will read my stuff unless I give it to you to read. And sometimes an author's just too close to a piece to see a problem, even if that problem's as glaring as a repeated chapter. That's why even professional authors still have editors (or should.)
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How often should I look over the critiques and how long should I wait before taking a crack at the revision?
You 'really' need to read Kings book On Writing!!! He started writing when he was much, much, younger than you are right now, and submitted to various magazines, etc., for publication. I think reading his book will give you some great insights.
However many it takes. I read anywhere from three to fifty books a year, not all fiction either. I read text books, medical journals, fungi identification books, books on marketing and managing a business, a lot of the classics now that I have kindle on my tablet, so on and so forth.
Last year I think I read maybe a dozen science fiction books and maybe twenty plus fantasy books due to an online coursea class I took on science fiction/fantasy.
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