#WritersCoffeeClub May 28 - Do you have advice for other authors that you haven't heard from different sources?
Think of your readers as co-creators! These are imaginative, resourceful people who will inhabit your characters and bring new levels of meaning and creativity to your work. It's through them that your work will truly live.
That means, among other things, give them vivid and evocative information to get their engines revving, but don't micromanage their perceptions and reactions. I used to struggle with this, giving too many dialogue directions and descriptions in general trying to control every beat, every note, and every pixel of the imaginative screen. Between my beta-reader pointing out this tendency and Robert McKee's advice in his screenwriting classic Story to leave room for the actor to act, I was able to tone down my description by thinking of my readers as actors even though I don't write for the screen.
#WritersCoffeeClub#writing 29. What's the average time to complete a writing project between the idea and publishing/making it available?
Depends on the project. Drabble I can finish in a day, though two is nice for a final edit. A 1-2K story ideally will take two weeks, 3-4 if I have it betaed. A 12K novel or series of volumes has usually taken me about a year from start to finish.
#writerscoffeeclub 28 May Do you have advice for other authors that you haven't heard from different sources?
This is what I was told by my best friend in the whole wide world when I was talking about what other writers have done: “Never compare yourself to others.”
#WritersCoffeeClub May 28: Do you have advice for other authors that you haven't heard from different sources?
Yes: "there's more than one way to do it." (For almost any value of "it" that doesn't involve mathematics or formal logic.)
This is actually advice from a programmer, Larry Wall (inventor of Perl) but it applies especially strongly to writing fiction. Whatever you're trying to do, consider alternative ways of doing it.
#WritersCoffeeClub Do you have advice for other authors that you haven't heard from different sources?
Every time you get edited, take a second to add things to a general list that have come up in the editing process. I call mine my "Foible List" to feel a bit better about it.
That way, post-draft, you can pull out that list and check all the things on it before you hand it to your editor. Saves time—and lets them find new mistakes you make instead of old ones! ;)
Safeguard the digital sovereignty of your writing.
When using cloud storage, do not rely on companies based in countries you do not trust or know the laws of. These laws might obligate them to break the privacy of your data.
Make a conscious and informed decision on how to handle your data. You put your heart and soul into your writing, so please don't just click accept. 💜
#WritersCoffeeClub 27 What's the ideal story length? Use any definition of length you like, not just word count.
A story that lives long enough to never become a villian is my ideal story length. As anything more would sour a story, making it resent the world it exists in. An overlong story would be capable to souring the minds and hearts of those who read it.
On a serious note, getting the point across in a way which tracks without being imprecise or long winded is my favorite story length.
Long enough to develop the characters and ideas without it becoming repetitive or tedious. So it varies by genre, but for my patience level something in the range of 70-100k words is good. Too short and one begins to feel that too much has been omitted; too long and who has time for that. (Someone tell Neal Stephenson.)
#writerscoffeeclub#Writing 27. What's the ideal story length? Use any definition of length you like, not just word count.
I don't know how to answer this. That is like asking what is fav of something. It depends on what the story is. I write anything from microfictin, drabble (100 words exactly) to 120-word novels.
I currently aim at 2-3 volumes of about 40,000 words.
#WritersCoffeeClub 26 May:
Would you consider writing a guide to your work, e.g. for aspiring writers?
Not all writers are like supervillains that plot,
Some writers are not, and plot, they do not,
Not all writers are writing every single day,
Some writers, they find that life gets in the way,
Some writers, their darlings, they just cannot kill,
Some writers kill even Main Characters at will,
Some writers, they'll tell you, writing, how to do,
But to write, figure out what way works for you.
#WritersCoffeeClub#Writing 26 Would you consider writing a guide to your work, e.g. for aspiring writers?
No, I don't consider myself as writing anything very deep or meaningful. I'd be happy to share a reading list of good yuri and creepypasta I have drawn on.
Nor is how I go about writing worth sharing. Boring and not an example of how to go about it best. I muddle through.
It'd be 50% guide for the Wytch-Fork universe,
50% explaining my processes,
100% info dumping.
Every other chapter would be titled
"This just how I do things. Find what works for you!"
or
"Careful about following me, I once drove an hour out the way to get home because my brain was world building."
or
"The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle and Newton's Laws of Motion frequently influence my though process. And yes this is a long title for a chapter."
And I'd be hella selfconscious about the language I used.
There wouldn't be "This is how you do things.", rather "Here's where I ended up, I will now show you the zig-zag of coffee stops involved as I drove across town to get there."
#WritersCoffeeClub 27 April Have you ever written a section and subconsciously plagiarised another work?
Not a whole section, just an idea. Do you recognise this?
‘Are you happy?’
It’s the only question she asks these days. I have never lied to my mother.
‘In our own way.’
She reaches out a thin hand. ‘You can’t be happy in your own way, only unhappy. I want to know about you.’
‘I am happy.’
It’s the first time I have ever lied to her. She smiles her disbelieving smile.
#WritersCoffeeClub 5/26: Would you consider writing a guide to your work, e.g. for aspiring writers?
Maybe the coffee hasn't kicked in yet, but until I reached "to your work" I thought the question was about writing guides in the manner of Save The Cat, Into The Woods, or The 90-Day Novel. Maybe flash cards or worksheets if I ever present a novel writing course, but they would only be for my students.
#WritersCoffeeClub 5/26: Would you consider writing a guide to your work, e.g. for aspiring writers?
In each book of the Cartwright family saga, the protagonists recover more of their past lives. By book 2, I was already including dramatis personae along the lines of John Cartwright, still living, previously Jean Coudriet, died 1943, previously Jean-Michel Belrose, died 1916...
#WritersCoffeeClub#Writing 27 What's the ideal story length? Use any definition of length you like, not just word count.
Depends on the reader. A single concept short story, they will consume in one sitting, so over 3k might be too long. Books vary by genre, so for example, romance readers might be happy with as little as 50k. For thrillers, they want need at least 70 to get a good plot. Historical fiction needs more, say 90, to explain the period. Fantasy world builders will want a lot more.
#WritersCoffeeClub 5/29. What's the average time to complete a writing project between the idea and publishing/making it available?
Since giving up the day job, my target is to publish the next in the series within a year of the previous book and for the French language version to be out before the English sequel.