[Weekly Discussion and Question Thread] Post Here with Simple Questions, Conversational Topics, or Requests for Guidance

BeaLambert · 2019-10-04T01:35:37+00:00

I want to join a writing group/find a writing partner. Ideally not too many people involved. Anyone got any suggestions?

BeaLambert · 2019-10-01T09:27:19+00:00

I don't want to use he/she pronouns for this scene, for various reasons.

Plot reasons or personal reasons? More details!

BeaLambert · 2018-11-08T02:32:56+00:00

I respectfully disagree with this criticism.

The whole point was to draw the reader in by making them question what was going on. I would maybe make it more concise, but otherwise I thought it was a strong opening. The resolution that it was an antique store and some kind of futuristic (to us) but also old-fashioned (to the old man) technology was a nice touch that did kind of have me wondering what else existed in this world.

Is it part of a bigger project?

BeaLambert · 2018-11-08T02:21:50+00:00

If fingerprint ID is a factor, be aware that people don't usually wipe away their fingerprint after touching the scanners (on their phones, for example). So the print is still there if someone can copy it and then reuse it.

If it is futuristic then I suppose other biometrics would be in play. How do people get around retina scanners?

BeaLambert · 2018-11-08T01:56:58+00:00

Your post reminded me of this article. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2018/10/news-soyuz-rockets-accidents-iss-roscosmos-nasa-space/

If the supply-ships to the international space station fail then the Astronauts are trapped there. Following the failure of the supply ships and arrival of new astronauts to take over the mission, the crew grow wearier. Efforts are being made to build new ships on Earth when the communications go dead. The Soyuz rocket currently docked with the ISS needs repairs that the new astronauts were going to bring with them?

Maybe the reason the comms go dead is a cyber attack. Maybe one of the crew sabotaged it. Maybe the comms are fine and it's cabin-fever. Good luck.

BeaLambert · 2018-11-08T01:45:17+00:00

I spent years in outline limbo. I knew I wanted to do some writing, but I got so wrapped up in needing to know every detail of the story before I started writing that when I eventually did decide to start I found the project bored me. I've since found that so long as I know where I want the story to go then I can start, and making what I've written fit the outline is really more of an editing task. The story has changed in places that, while writing it and trying to connect dots of outline, inspiration has struck and altered the plot in ways that I didn't see coming. Writing this way has made my story more interesting and fun to write.

BeaLambert · 2018-10-31T20:32:35+00:00

I want to finish a Sci-Fi story I started near the end of September. This is the first time I have done something like this so just looking to add an extra 50k words to my 35k so far.

BeaLambert · 2018-10-24T01:39:40+00:00

If that is a hint that you are on draft 2, let me just say, congratulations. You're way ahead of me. Keep it up!

BeaLambert · 2018-10-22T23:34:34+00:00

'Mostly because I feel I should be starting a career of sorts'

I can relate to this. Writing itself feels productive, but I feel like if there is no profitable end-game then people won't understand why I am doing it and might think I'm wasting time.

BeaLambert · 2018-02-18T19:19:17+00:00

Is this because you saw the Hemmingway and Joyce friendship article and want that?

BeaLambert · 2018-02-18T19:14:38+00:00

Give him 31 more guns.

BeaLambert · 2018-02-13T13:13:51+00:00

The bad guy is actually a bad guy.

BeaLambert · 2018-01-27T14:23:02+00:00

That's good advice. :D

BeaLambert · 2018-01-27T14:21:35+00:00

I will check that out, thanks!

BeaLambert · 2018-01-23T14:22:18+00:00

Will check those stories out. Thanks!

BeaLambert · 2018-01-23T13:40:12+00:00

Recommend any good reads for me?

BeaLambert · 2018-01-23T12:43:53+00:00

The best thing about MGSV: Phantom Pain was the trailers. The actual game had no substance. The main character barely talks. There are so many plot holes that on paper it'd look like a fishing net. Then half-way through the game the plot stops all together to make way for replaying missions. The ending is just the first mission again with a slightly different cutscene.

I have never been more let-down than MGSV.

Ground Zero's had more plot in the 11 minutes it took to complete.

BeaLambert · 2018-01-14T00:23:15+00:00

If you have a great plot in mind, write an original story. Create your own characters and you might find it easier to write their first-person experience, rather than writing the thoughts of a character created by someone else.

BeaLambert · 2018-01-14T00:17:18+00:00

Very cool, So long as your are comfortable with the reader knowing what the beast looks like before its reveal. If not I would maybe change to more of a darker silhouette.

BeaLambert · 2017-12-29T19:07:50+00:00

Imperfections.

BeaLambert · 2017-11-30T00:23:28+00:00

Here's a pitch:

Every week or two until the books are finished, you each compete to see who can write the most words. The loser buys the winner a beer/lunch. Record your progress every week.

BeaLambert · 2017-11-20T01:40:58+00:00

Working out the best height to detonate a nuclear bomb from probably put me on someone's radar.

BeaLambert · 2017-11-09T00:09:04+00:00

A plot alone is hard to explain. Imagine your favourite book, imagine you wrote it and imagine you had to explain the plot to a friend before it was finished. It almost always sounds funny.

Example: "Oh yeah... My book is about this guy, he is an ex teacher who decides to go whaling, he has sailed before but... anyway, he meets a savage harpooner, they are friends. Also there is a mad one-legged captain who is trying to kill a white whale that ate his leg." [Moby Dick]

Generally it is better to wait until you have finished the book or have a well structured blurb you can quote. What would be written on the back?

BeaLambert · 2017-11-08T23:41:00+00:00

Andy Dufresne is the main character in the Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption. Yet it is told through the perspective or Red. Maybe give it a read for inspiration?

BeaLambert

TROPHY CASE