How many of you have written a book?
I'm in the process of writing a novel (20,000 words in) and I'm surprised by how difficult it is to keep track of the character arcs, subplots, exposition and plot advancement you have to keep track of with every scene. Pacing in large scale works is hard to keep.
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That's what planning is for.
You map out how everything in your book is going to play out, and the actual novel is just expanding on those key themes, ideas, and the plot.
At least, that's how I do it.
I suck at big structures. I can only write short stories. I published a book last year, a collection of those stories, and now I struggle with writing a novel. It's a real pain in the ass.
>'We don't need to be the men our grandfathers were'
I find that limits the chance to create things as you write them, which is how most of my creativity occurs.
this guy knows.
writing a novel, as you know, is a marathon. planning and preparation is key. if you keep a steady schedule, you probably won't forget much. however, if your schedule is sporadic and often go for days without writing, then i can see how certain plot and character elements may be forgotten.
i would also say, it's because you're new to the game that you think your creativity is limited when/if you outline. that's not how it works. outlines keep you focused. you can still go one creative tangents or spurts, but you may find out in the editing or second draft phase that a lot of these should have been honed in.
however, there are no set rules to this. feel free to do what best works for you.
Start with shorter novella first?
That's what second drafts are for.
Just get the words on the page. You won't know your story until you've told it once.
I mitigate your problems by outlining. Presently in the middle of my second draft; I am very grateful I outlined, since I knew exactly where I was going with every scene and chapter, and I knew the themes and character arcs I was establishing.
Don't get me wrong, tho, outlining doesn't remove all problems that accumulate in the first draft (and it is 110k words long and written over a fair few months, so it has its flaws). I'm still having to rewrite almost half the book in the second draft to make it work better and to structurally improve it, but I think I never would have finished the first draft at all had I not had that initial plan.
I wish I could be half the man my grandfather is. Same with the one who died when I was little.
it's never too late to be what u might have been user
>Have idea
>Write scene around idea
>Continue writing assorted unconnected scenes until you can find an apparent structure within them
>Write preliminary outline
>Begin filling in the gaps between scenes
>Get to end of first draft
>Realize what the fuck I actually wanted to write about now that I was able to pursue all the ideas to their natural conclusion
>Revise outline
>Begin revising draft
>Repeat as necessary until done
I've never published anything and I have no interest in doing so, but that's my method. I can't understand how people can write things in exact sequential order the first time around.
Are you ever afraid your book is just worthless shit?
>tfw your grandfather was a cool guy who was in a war and could do physical work for 15 straight hours in his sixties and not piss and moan about it a single time, and you're a weird stupid pussy with a faggy effeminate laugh who laughs faggily at internet inside jokes and watches fucking cartoons as an adult and is still "finding himself" in his late twenties and can't even bring himself to take a shower once a day
Go knock some girl up
That's what I did.
Start small and build.
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Writing my third novel now. The first one is usually the most difficult and then it gets easier as you go along.
My grandfather farmed his life away in a literal bog to support his nine kids, I'm pretty sure he'd be ashamed of the soft pudgy bourgois NEET typing this message
My grandfather was a cigar chomping businessman. I will never be like him
This. Write an outline to have some rules to break.
My novella I've recently finished in its first version was my first one too. I mapped it out at the beginning, dividing it into twelve chapters which all had a central scene. The all lasted a day, and afterwards there came the epilouge wich should idealy be about two chapters in length. I created a family tree of the characters since its a story within a family and adressed all of them to a date of birth. Then I made a time table for the things that occured before the novel wich would have an impact on the plot. Then I just wrote and finished it in about 3-4 months (I still go to school) Everything went like planned in general, but there were many parts and ideas wich came spontagnelously. The epilouge turned out to be about a fourth of the book tho.
my two grandfathers were on opposite sides in ww2
they didn't meet often but when i was a kid i remember at a family gathering the two of them walking side by side telling stories about it
>round faced chubby faggot with no life in his eyes criticizing the "toxic masculinity" which has spent thousands of years forming all of civilization
Fuck.
>appreciate the conventions and exposition/details in other stories
>feel like mine are forced and derivative
Is it just because it's my foray into writing? I feel like every detail I include to describe my characters, even if told by other characters, is just incredibly forced.
Can you imagine this guy parachuting over Normandy?
no. primarily because i'm not a child who resorts to juvenile assessments or critiques of my or anyone else's work. but also because i'm not an idiot who resorts to juvenile assessments or critiques of my or anyone else's work.
This is the face of your future.
He's cattle.
Effeminate, weak men who are trained to simper and show off how generous and submissive they are. Obedient, predictable taxpayers, a pliable and frightened fat thing that's been taught to detest strength of any kind.
I've written two books. Working on a third now.
Haven't been able to get any published yet, but still trying.
How come there's no toxic femininity?
Oh right, because women are perfect beings. Because if women were in charge, there wouldn't be any wars or violence at all. I mean, look at any all female workplace, there's no conflict whatsoever.
>raging about this topic like it's some new thing
hello 16 year old poster in disguise.
why is it every bait thread is full of not only people taking the bait but the most cringe out of any other part of the board.
I think it's because the people aimed at using this board for political purposes happen to be mostly desperate for attention for the next edgy thing they're going to say
Why? What purpose could he possibly serve?
Support those in power by trying to convince others to remove it from themselves.
>sci-fi
My grandfather had 9 children with 3 different women. He was still banging chicks in his 60s. He was also a great cook and could gamble his way in and out of debt as he saw fit.
When my grandmother (his wife for the last 25 years of his life) died his willpower vanished. He was the first person to die in 2012. Passed away at 00:02 while everyone else was celebrating the new year. Heart attack. Four months after I stepped on a graveyard for the first time to help carry my grandma to her resting spot.
I wish I could be like him. We lived together for a while and he would always complain about me bringing my ex over because we were loud fuckers. He kicked me out after a while because I owed him some money that I couldn't really pay.
I don't know. I hope he's not angry with me. I really liked him and I hope he's alright.
Now I'm sad. Fuck you guys.
>Now I'm sad. Fuck you guys.
Veeky Forums in a single line.
>want to turn my obsessive ideas into writing
>write 500 words
>realize it's irredeemable dogshit
>delete everything
>tfw your grandpa was a racist woman-hater
He would've been proud of what I've become. Would probably have been browsing /pol/ too
Whenever you start a new chapter of a certain arc read a few of the the previous chapters from said arc. Honestly i don't believe you're writing a novel though.
>Look at authors book description
>Join the conversation on reddit
>Go to the reddit link
>One post, two months ago
>I hope this can be a hub for fans of the book(s).
This is the most depressing thing I've seen all day and I was in a cancer ward of a hospital for a couple of hours.
This is worse than when my gay friend's gay husband posts polls about his shitty sci-fi namey characters in his self-amazon-published schlock on facebook and no one likes or acknowledges them.
Is there a novel writing general?
If not, would it be a good idea to create one? People could help each other out, perhaps create a list of resources as well?
>would it be a good idea to create a general?
The answer to this question is always no.
generals turn into tripfag cancer. ever.single.time.
>Reddit
It's his own fault for falling for the "promote yourself on social media" meme but doing it in such a half-assed way.
Wrote pic related last year. Editing a second one now.
does your family know you wrote that
Yes, actually. Though none of them have read it. Why do you ask?
One novel just shy of 100k words awful cliche scifi published, one novella 30k words awful but less cliche. Self published so not worth anything.
Don't do everything from the top of your head is the only advice I'm qualified to give. Keep a notepad with all your ideas and the connections between dates, characters etc.
If you really think these things are so awful why'd you even bother? Are they at least making any money?
>Keep a notepad with all your ideas and the connections between dates, characters etc.
>not just keeping all the information inconsistent or even contradictory so people will call you a genius and a rare treat in the sci-fi genre.
You scifi dweebs really are brainlets.
can someone explain this meme to me please
What's there to explain?
Because awful written doesn't mean it can't be entertaining, making someone happy through writing is a win for me. As for making money, no, not really, probably made me a hundred or so overall.
That is a good point, but the possibility exists that my writing is more than a little bit autistic.