#PhantastikPrompts 23.5.:
Was würdest du im Zweifel eher ändern, das Ende, auf das deine Geschichte hinläuft, oder den Weg, den die Figuren nehmen? Warum?
Ich bin zwar Pantser, aber das Ende ist für mich meistens gesetzt (feel-good stories).
Daher ändert sich manchmal der Weg, den meine Figuren nehmen. Ab und zu überraschen sie mich nämlich mit seltsamen Entscheidungen - aber die stellen sich meistens als richtig heraus.
#PennedPossibilities 323 — What's a piece of advice for writers that you listened to and are glad for?
Write what you enjoy.
I've followed that for all my writing life. The few times I tried to write for the market, it didn't work - I either didn't finish the book or it twisted away from the idea.
I do try to hit both - and the (relative) success of my Wolf Shifter series shows that I can make it happen, to a degree. (My Shifters are not spicy and don't have Alphas...)
#PennedPossibilities 323 — What's a piece of advice for writers that you listened to and are glad for?
An Australian author, Lucy Sussex, told us at Clarion West 1998 to be shameless in promoting ourselves. Being a shy person, networking and promotion has been a heavy lift, but I working on it and I know it's going to help. Mastodon: ☑️
#PennedPossibilities 322 — What piece of advice, as an author, did you once receive but hadn’t followed? Looking back on it now, you might wish that you had.
Advice: Don't only write novels. Write lots of shorter pieces.
When I started I saw that you could only make a living if you sold novels, so I wrote novels. That completely discounted the fabulous practice you get completing lots of smaller stories. Completing a novel takes lots of time and there's a mounting anxiety that in the end the plot will fail or no publisher will be interested. Yeah, true with short fiction, but the investment is far lower (or should be if you're doing it right). There used to be lots of magazines you could sell short fiction to... for pennies a word, but it was something, and it offered a chance to build a brand name and a following. Such notoriety could help you sell novels, too.
@DonDeBon Yep. Ray Bradbury. I think both him and Asimov told how they wrote a story DAILY for a few years (and submitting) before making that key first sale.
It was impossible to write 52 bad short stories in a row. One of them had to be good.
After trying for months to plot out a story, I abandoned it in frustration and just started writing. I've written over a thousand words today, and it feels right.
But I have no idea where it's going. Am I a Pantser? Pantsers, please advise. I'm scared. #writingcommunity
When people tell me they read one of my books and found it “quite good”, I like to assume they’re from the US where “quite” apparently means “very” 😊
As opposed to the UK/Aus, where “quite good” is just damning with faint praise.
Unless you say it was “really quite good”. That’s when you mean “very good”.
If you say “quite good, really”, that means you’re surprised it was any good.
And if you say “Oh, I say, that is quite, quite remarkable”, you’re an 18th-century Earl confronted by a tempestuous highland beauty who is tossing her raven-black locks and flashing her sapphire-blue eyes at you because you’re enclosing her commons 😉
If you’re a fan of podcasts, there are over dozen podcast dedicated to #JaneAusten and the Brontes. If I’m missing any, let me know so I can update the list!
SLOW RENGA Respond with #haiku using the suggested first lines & start each haiku with the same first lines below: DISSONANCE… or LISTENING TO RAIN… Post haiku in comments, enjoy mulling over the first line and considering your options at different points during your day. Look forward to reading your haiku and seeing where these lines take you. #Writing#poetry#creativity#wellbeing#write#writingcommunity#amwriting#poem#writer