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Reply Subj: It does. Posted: Mon Jun 09, 2014 at 09:22:15 pm EDT (Viewed 1 times) | |||||||
Quote: I can't claim to be an expert at that kind of thing. One advantage of going with a small-press publisher is that they probably will know how the business works - and how to work it. They also sometimes "share" a table with their writers, which is a cheap way to get into some cons. A couple of writers I know carefully do cost/benefit assessments to determine whether its worth travel and accomodation to be at certain cons. Windy City seems a popular one.I have no travel budget right now... Quote: That's also where an external eye comes in. Some one who honestly says "This was good, except for that bit" can be invaluable to help determine what to chance and what to keep.I sometimes have one, sometimes don't. Depends how busy everyone I know is at the moment. Quote: I'd say that filler is anything that's not needed to serve the story. A space-wasting fight that doesn't do anything but take up pages is as much filler as some downtime stuff. On the other hand, if the downtime stuff establushes something we didn't know about the characters, or sets up situations that are going to be relevant later, then that's not filler.Like I said, this is where I can be unusually tough on myself. I'll write a downtime scene as minimally as possible because, for instance, there has to be actual length transportation time conveyed to the reader, and the characters talk about the kind of thing people talk about during a long trip. But then I'll agonize about whether I dragged it on too long. Quote: It might be helpful to visualise it as a six-issue comic series that then gets collected for trade. Each episode has to have a punch and a point, each one leaving you reeling for the final haymaker.I try to do that anyway. The tricky part is keeping the end in site, but not revealing it too early by accident. Or looking like you're trying to avoid the ending because there aren't enough words yet. Man, I want to strangle so many movie writers for violating that rule... Quote: I would say: figure out what the bad guy is doing. Work out some intermediate steps that our heroes can clash with/interrupt/fail to stop. Introduce some sub-baddies to get taken down mid-plot. Work out how the bad guy's plot is personal to the heroes backgrounds or interests - what makes this personal? Look for four or five "mini-climaxes" with their own resolutions. List the secrets each character is keeping that need to come out in the course of the story, and then work out when they'll get exposed, confessed, or otherwise revealed. Plot three occasions where the reader thinks they know what's happening and then the whole thing curves and defies their expectations. Stick all this on one piece of paper, possibly with boxes and arrows. then write the story you want to write anyway, but keep the paper in the corner of your vision and work in what bits of it seem good at the time.I've sort of been sketching out/starting over the whole World Class story. It's mostly the same, except for a few changes so far: 1. Keiko starts out the story with a combination of being desperate for interaction after virtually imposing exile on herself working at the I.A., more trusting than earlier stories, and a lot more bitter and negative. (see #2 for why) 2. Part of the reason why is because her former I.A. "co-workers" are now characterized as being violent and vicious people who enjoy bullying and terrorizing people. You get a sense of that right away when Keiko's first in-story interaction involves a lot of thought about the novelty of strength being used for kindness. 3. The former I.A. people are not eliminated so easily. They will pop up from time to time throughout the story. Also, just so their appearances don't get boring, one opening character (the U.S. Marshal) will reoccur while suffering his own crisis of conscience. And bounty hunters, too. 4. Quite a few changes will be made along the route so that it's really difficult to tell if Keiko is actually in control or not. I had to remember that this is someone who has been struggling to maintain her own sanity in a world of psychotics. I'd like to create a little bit of worry about whether she made it out entirely unscathed. As well, I want readers to question both their own sense of morality, and hers, at the same time, because she uses so much logical justification. | |||||||
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