In light of James Frey’s little “oops”, a lot of talk has been surfacing about the need for honesty from writers. For someone writing a nonfiction piece, this makes a lot of sense, but what about those creating other forms of writing?
The Monster blog presented this interesting question last week with the following answer that I think is definitely worthy of a thought or three:
There’s something about honesty that is compelling within itself, which might be the reason people are more drawn to memoirs in the first place. That’s not to say novels can’t be as gripping, but both forms of literature require a certain sense of sincerity on the author’s part to really work.
Is that truly what makes a fictional piece flow and take on a life of its own? The author’s sincerity? How does this concept of sincerity play in the realms of fiction?
Posted by Ceara as Uncategorized at 7:18 PM EST
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“The best way to become acquainted with a subject is to write a book about it.”- Benjamin Disraeli
It’s often amazed me how true this statement is. I learned a lot while I was a museum educator. I developed a number of educational programs, many of which I knew nothing about when I started. The research and fact-checking that goes into creating those lesson plans and workshop programs is really no different than the research and fact-checking that goes into writing a book.
For me, correct information was a necessity because we were trying to teach people something. We wanted them to walk away with new, verified information.
For a writer, correct information helps to draw in the reader. If you write a story in San Antonio, and talk about snow on the ground at Christmas, you’ve just lost any reader sitting in San Antonio. Write a story about Seattle and place Pike Place Market across the street from UW, and you run into the same problem (a larger one, actually, since Seattle seems to be a more literate city than San Antonio).
Use of the correct terminology for things also goes a long way toward dragging in your reader. How enjoyable would Tom Clancy’s novels be, for example, if he tried to describe things without knowledge. Those who knew what he was talking about would blow off his books. A little technobabble can be a useful thing.
I’ve often thought that I’m drawn to both teaching and writing just because they both give me the opportunity to broaden my horizons and learn new things.
Posted by Rebecca as Uncategorized at 5:32 PM EST
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One of my favorite cartoons right now is Yu-Gi-Oh GX. It’s so much, has so much life. It also has very poor fan fiction.
That’s really neither here nor there at the moment since only twenty episodes have been shown so far. What is here, though, is my brilliant idea. Right around Christmas, Cartoon Network decided to start showing the episodes again, starting with the first episode. It occured to me that there are several episodes that deserve to have an extra scene or two at the end of them. In fact, I wrote one for one of my favorite episodes. Now, I’m writing one for every single episode.
I’m looking at each episode as an individual writing prompt, and then taking thirty minutes after each one to write a 200-300 word scene to follow the episode. The interesting ones are where the episode is part of a set. I’ve only run into one so far, and I took the opportunity to crawl inside Jaden’s head and let him talk about what was going on around him.
It’s been a great exercise, and I’d recommend for anyone, fan fiction writers and non-fan fiction writers alike.
Posted by Ceara as Writing Prompts at 4:15 AM EST
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My brother and I were chatting the other night, and he informed me he is going to write a novel this year and come to me for help in getting it published. I had to laugh. While we have both spent much of our lives writing, he really is “the” writer in the family, yet I’m the one with the self-publishing knowledge.
It probably has something to do with the fact that I’ve been trying to cure several hang-ups all at once by willingly putting myself out there for a couple of years now. I am to the point where I can handle posting to blogs and writing sites almost without fear. I’m even starting to attempt to brave the world of freelance writing, taking up my first gig next month as an item writer!
I don’t know that I’d ever feel confident enough in my writing skills to try to approach an agency. Of course, Ceara’s debating trying to find someone who represents local writers. I say she’s crazy. Of course, we both saw this article on the quality of decision making in current houses and it just frightens us to death.
Really, self-publishing doesn’t sound like a bad option at all!
Posted by Rebecca as Uncategorized at 4:15 AM EST
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Happy New Year!
I’m going to try to be more conscientious about posting here this year, hopefully growing into a somewhat prolific blogger. For now, please accept my apologies.
I’m also trying to promise myself I will make an effort to open myself to rejections by attempting to apply for freelance work, but then I read things like this, and it just makes me nervous. It really doesn’t help that Ashlyn entered a supposedly reputable contest last summer, and is still waiting for the feedback that the cotest corrdinators promised. She’s a much more resilient soul than I am.
More writing. Freelance attempts. That’s what lies ahead of this girl in 2006!
Posted by Ceara as Uncategorized at 4:15 AM EST
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