I’m wondering if it would be a worthwhile exercise to talk about one-sentence summaries, first paragraphs, etc for existing novels? I know you already have a complete example snowflake for Gone With the Wind, but it would be great to see the thought-process as it happens, going through some of the steps of the snowflake.

And it’d be easier to comment on and think about a work we’re familiar with than these paragraphs where we don’t really know the context. So it could be more participatory.

Just a thought.

It’s one or both of these that show that your storyline may be broken so I think they are pretty important.

Just an idea…

Btw, I would be willing to pay for a first paragraph critique, since mine clearly won’t be reached.

If you’re already bored to tears (and we don’t want to see a grown man cry) how about discussing how you come up with a title. I know that isn’t the most important part of writing, but it is the first thing that the potential reader sees.

Just my two cents.

I haven’t posted here for a while. I’m the Aussie from Western Australia. You probably won’t remember. Anyway, I have been reading the blog and finding the paragraphs and critiques interesting. I would like to see more but I would also like to know how to write a child character into an adult character over the course of time in the book and from that POV. And adult is going to mature, as Destiny says, but it would be a subtle thing, I think but a child growing into an adult is a major change. It would be useful to know how to handle that one, in the book, that is.

(I’m trying to write a series of insults leading up to a fist fight, and I’m terrible. I know what would hurt the character the most, and I know how they talk in general, but I just can’t get the biting, painful insults on the page. They make me feel bad.)

I’d like to talk about writing back cover copy. What do you say? What do you give away? What kind of hook will compel the reader to buy the book based on the back cover?

I actually suggested this critique of first paragraph and hope that mine would be reached by Randy.

I agree with Pam about the importance of the back cover, but then the majority learning how to write fiction through this blog would want to get the craft and even contract first before thinking of the cover

I’d suggest we take a detour to another topic for a while and then return to paragraphs. Something completely different like organising your writing space/ files would be refreshing before diving back in.

My two cents.

I haven’t been posting many comments, but have been following the discussions with great interest!

Thanks for taking of your time to give us so much helpful information.

I, too, would like to see you critique a few more first paragraphs. For a new topic, I like the idea of getting into one paragraph summaries.

What if the proganist has special powers but is not particularly sympathetic (picture Sherlock Holmes perhaps) and yet the intimacy of having the story told in first person by a sidekick (Watson) doesn’t feel right because it makes the overall tone too claustrophobic?

The novel behind this question is a “literary” one, and is intended to be the first in a series.

Even if you’re not into discussing this particular question the topic of POV is a fascinating one, and one with which all novelists must at some point address.

“So come on, let’s do it!” she said/he said/I said/you said.

I’d be interested in a bit of training on e-books. How long they should be, how much to charge, the best way to handle payment and distribution, etc.

Thanks, Randy. I’ll be praying for you as you head into your deadline.

Sure, I’d like to see the first paragraph critiques continue. Like many of us, I’m curious to hear suggestions, both yours and commenter’s on mine. Or maybe not, since it is one of those “pesky literary” openings devoted to setting, and mood, with character introduction only a name–no conflict yet.

Good luck with your deadline!

And Carrie, I don’t know of you’ve read this book, but it’s called Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook by Donald Mass (a bit different from Writing the Breakout Novel). There is a chapter in there about making larger-than-life characters and it has really helped me with making sharp, realistic dialogue.
There is an exercise in this chapter that has you write down something you protagonist would never, ever say. Then you make your protagonist say that very thing (in your case, before the fight) and it will make your character, and his dialogue in that scene, seem larger-than-life because what he said was a surprise. It was big, outrageous, and satisfying, so it will be memorable.
The same applies to what your protagonist does and thinks as well.
In this book, Donald Mass says:
“A larger-than-life character is one who says, does, and thinks things that we would like to but never dare. This does not necessarily mean turning your characters into wise-crackers or pulp cliches. It does mean pushing them out of their own bounds, whatever those might me.”
I don’t know if that helped at all. Hope it did.

I think I’d be great to do characters. I don’t know about everyone else, but for me it’s almost impossible to get them to the depth that I want them. Maybe we could even make up a couple people as a AFW (Advanced Fiction Writer’s) Community. I realize this may be unrealistic because people have different methods of characterization, but it’d be nice if we could all go throught one together, especially one that no one knew of, starting from scratch.

Do you have any knowledge of the system and if you do any opinion?

http://www.dramatica.com/

Added onto that I would like to talk about genre style and structure and how the three interrelate. What I mean is that how do you figure out what type of novel you want to write or are busy writing and how much is natural and how much is choice?

Things I’d like to see more of are the building blocks - the MRU’s and Scenes and Sequels. I read the example MRU in the advancedfictionwriting.com and want more.

Recently I received a ‘glowing’ rejection letter from an agent. She mentioned that editors want to see in the first chapter or prologue a ‘dramatic scaffolding’. I’ve asked other writers about this, and no one has come up with a clear definition. If you can explain it, I think this would be a great topic for discussion.

Fondly,
Rita Gerlach

Homepage: http://www.freewebs.com/ritagerlach/index.htm

Editor for Stepping Stones Magazine for Writers: http://www.freewebs.com/steppingstonesforwriters/index.htm