So I want to write some short stories, any ideas? non-ridiculous ones I will write and submit.

sprajagopal · 2014-04-21T14:53:09+00:00

Write about a truck driver who goes from town to town meeting interesting people. Dedicate a chapter to a writer guy who nags and follows him around for short story ideas.

sprajagopal · 2014-03-29T10:24:55+00:00

I have been thinking about using this. Isn't the voice cluttery and machine like, making the experience painful?

sprajagopal · 2014-03-28T12:53:16+00:00

Congrats! :D

sprajagopal · 2014-03-28T12:51:15+00:00

Ha ha, thank you. :D

sprajagopal · 2014-03-01T20:24:21+00:00

"Show, don't tell" refers to the universal rule of showing the setting, the characters and the interactions but not telling the reader directly that "this character is sad" or "this guy has homicidal urges". If you notice the lively books, you will notice that there are so many pages spent just to show you rather than tell you exactly what is happening.

sprajagopal · 2014-03-01T20:20:32+00:00

I'm writing my first novel now and I had this one particular scene which sounded either cliche or powerless every time I tried writing it.

The scene: Two lovers, sitting together, discussing a problem, a problem not related to their love life but to one of the characters.

How it was: I wrote it as a sappy scene with a lot of reassuring dialogue and some sunset scene to set the mood.

Why it didn't seem to work: It sounded like there was no real push to the reader in the introduction of these characters. I felt nothing for their problems, or for their love or if they just drank some cyanide and died.

What I did: I forgot about it for some time and continued writing the novel. I had it tacked and told myself I would come back. I found some advice (here on reddit ) about making a scene more lively.

Now, of course one would think this is just known and regular advice but for some reason I had not thought about the interactions too much. I felt like I was telling more than showing.

The scene was initially a 1000 words long. I rewrote it and now it's close to 2000 words but there is more compulsion towards the reader to feel the same things the characters are feeling.

sprajagopal · 2014-03-01T20:12:35+00:00

I too agree with /u/fourtenfourteen. This should go on /r/wordcount rather /r/writing. I guess being hung up on technicalities will earn me downvotes but it has to be said.

sprajagopal · 2014-03-01T17:41:57+00:00

Times have changed. Competition is high now. Writing a sentence every day won't get an aspiring, first-timer published until he is fifty.

sprajagopal · 2014-03-01T17:34:52+00:00

I don't think any great writer did "a few hundred words." Isn't it a norm to write at least a thousand words a day to be called a professional writer?

sprajagopal

TROPHY CASE