Learn Writing with Uncle Jim, Volume 2

Elizablue

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Elizablue: I think you probably need help. Like a second person to collaborate with you to extract the great novel that's buried in there.

Just a thought.

Thank you Euclid. I would agree. The story is 80% completed but missing connecting chapters. The other one only maybe 40% but it is so different like night and day than the first.

I'm thinking maybe I should get some formal training.
 

Elizablue

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Elizablue, the man entering with a gun and the naked woman in the next room screaming are the answers for you. They're metaphorical answers, but they're answers nonetheless. Essentially, throw an extra conflict into the story and let it work itself out.

Also, if you're losing the magic, then you're on the right track. Every writer hits a difficult part in the middle (although it's worse for some than others) when the story seems to be losing its way.

To help combat this (aside from the man with the gun), jot a few notes about your characters: What do they want at this point in the story? What's preventing them from getting it? What resources are available to them? What are they not willing to do in pursuit of their goal?

Answering these questions should give you an idea what the protagonists (and antagonists, and supporting characters) want to do in the future.

Good luck.

HConn, thank you so much. I am going to do just that. Character development on paper would force me to get back inside the character's head.
 

James D. Macdonald

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I've picked up an Elmore Leonard novel, $wag (formerly titled Ryan's Rules). Random selection off the shelf at B&N in Manchester, NH.

Two weeks from today, I'll discuss the last chapter.

THERE WILL BE SPOILERS.

Everyone, get a copy and get reading.
 

euclid

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What's the position with Amazon today, Jim? Are they selling Macmillan books again? I realise you've not changed your stance, but have Amazon?
 

James D. Macdonald

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Yes, Amazon is selling Macmillan books.

(I neither know nor care if they're selling Macmillan ebooks for the Kindle.)

No, I am never again going to link to them or buy from them. Because what they did once (or, actually, three times--once with POD presses in general, and once with Hachette Livre before they tried the same stunt with Macmillan--not to mention the time they "accidentally" removed all GLBT books from their search results) they could do again.
 
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Calliopenjo

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Hi Uncle Jim,

Speaking again on the subject of fanfic, if any of you love it, you'd better write your congressman/MP. The latest "Copyright Law" being advanced in Europe, Britain, Canada, the US and Australia (among others) will basically end fanfic as we know it. Up to now, large companies have tolerated it, but the new version puts the liability on ISPs, if someone hosts "copyright violations" on their servers. Work in question will be deleted, and the user who posted it will be banned from the ISP; his family will be banned and his yardboy will probably be banned. ISPs will have no discretion, the user can only go to court (paying thousands) to contest what's happened and the burden will be solely on the user to show that he/she hasn't violated a copyright. Courts, these days, typically take years to get to such suits.

I got this from another forum, and I was wondering if you know anything about this. Curious really.

 

euclid

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Jim:
Couldn't find that Elmore Leonard book in the library in the whole county.
I knew it was a long shot.

Calio: What exactly is fanfic?
Do you have any examples?
 

Calliopenjo

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Calio: What exactly is fanfic?
Do you have any examples?

Hi Euclid,

Fanfic is short for fan fiction. Fan fiction encompasses movies, cartoons, TV series, etc. The Lord of the Rings has a fan fiction site for example. Twilight does as well. Law & Order: SVU has fan fiction.

Fan fiction are stories that's written continuing or adding to the tales originally created by their creator. It might not be the same for all, but Classic describes a story with the original characters and setting, the only thing being different are the circumstances. By original characters, it means their entire being, looks, soul, attitude, everything that the audience is familiar with that character exists in that story as well.

Uber describes a story that takes the original characters soul and attitude, but putting them in another time, setting, body, and circumstances.

Original means just that. The author uses past stories as inspiration, creating a story all their own. The characters, setting, and circumstances will be different all around.
 

James D. Macdonald

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Hi Uncle Jim,



I got this from another forum, and I was wondering if you know anything about this. Curious really.


First, it's totally off-topic for this thread.

Second, it sounds like one more example of the typical Internet-bullshit rumors that come around every six months.

So that's enough about that.
 

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Jim:
Couldn't find that Elmore Leonard book in the library in the whole county.

According to http://www.borrowbooks.ie/ the Clare County Library has one copy under the title Swag.

The Cork County library catalog is down.

The Donegal library doesn't have a copy.

The Dublin City Council library has one copy under its original title of Ryan's Rules.

The Fingal Library has one copy under its current title, Swag.

The Galway library doesn't have a copy.

The Kildare County library has one copy under the title Swag.

And that's as far as I checked.
 

euclid

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Good Advice

I took your advice, upthread, Jim. You said write a 5,000 - 10,000 word outline etc. and built a book from that.

I wrote a 50,000 word "outline" that is now a fantastic 84,000 word detective thriller. It took close to 6 months, mind.

Thanks for the advice. You're a star! :D
 

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I wrote a 50,000 word "outline" that is now a fantastic 84,000 word detective thriller. It took close to 6 months, mind.

That's about the same ratio of outline-to-novel that I have.

It's time to send that book on its travels and start your next.

(And, while this is going on, read the best detective thrillers that are available to you, the classics and the most recent. And work on your craft. And yet still take long walks observing the world.)
 

euclid

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That's about the same ratio of outline-to-novel that I have.

It's time to send that book on its travels and start your next.

(And, while this is going on, read the best detective thrillers that are available to you, the classics and the most recent. And work on your craft. And yet still take long walks observing the world.)

Very close to sending it out (to beta readers and then to agencies). Just one more tweaking edit, I think.

I am reading a lot at the moment.

Mon-Fri I write from 9 to 5, I watch TV until 10, then I read for 2-2.5 hours. I read about a page a minute.
 

third person

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Very close to sending it out (to beta readers and then to agencies). Just one more tweaking edit, I think.

I am reading a lot at the moment.

Mon-Fri I write from 9 to 5, I watch TV until 10, then I read for 2-2.5 hours. I read about a page a minute.

Someone's about to be told to nix the telly altogether. I'd put money on it :)
 

euclid

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I'm reading "Alone in Berlin" by Hans Fallada. It's a strange and amazing book, written in German in 1947, and now republished (in English) by Penguin Classics, 2009.

I don't know whether this is a German thing or not (I think it is) but he flip flops between the present and the past tense all the time. Sometimes this happens from one paragraph to the next, sometimes he sets up a scene using the past tense and then switches to the present for the scene's conclusion; other times he does it the other way around: present tense for the first half of a chapter, then past tense. It's weird.

I think this sort of switching tenses is frowned on by editors nowadays. Am I right?
 

Caitlin Black

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UJ, I just received The Apocalypse Door after having it on order about 9 weeks. Just thought I'd mention that. There's still another book that has 2 chapters left for me to read before I get around to yours, but I'll get there. I'm sure it'll be an eye-opener. I feel vaguely nervous about to read a book by Uncle Jim... you sure have a reputation, and I'm going to be shaking while reading it.

Hopefully I'll learn a few things.

Did you know it cost $29 in Australia? For PB? Aussie book prices are usually pretty high, but this is at the higher end of that.

Does the author have any say in the prices of their books?
 

NicoleJLeBoeuf

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Someone's about to be told to nix the telly altogether. I'd put money on it :)
If anyone tells you "nix the telly" or indeed any other free-time enjoyment after you tell them you write from 9 to 5, you can and should bite their head right off. Full-time writers, just like full-time programmers or full-time shit-sweepers or full-item anythingelsers, surely get to have their evenings off, no?