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| bio | website | jaerhard.com |
|---|---|---|
| location | Karlsruhe, Germany | |
| age | 47 | |
| visits | member for | 2 years, 6 months |
| seen | Jun 6 at 13:00 | |
| stats | profile views | 37 |
Just some guy having too many accounts on too many sites (and most of those I can't even remember ;-)
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Sep 21 |
comment |
How do I successfully structure a long fiction piece? A thought: Have you let someone who did know your work read only the "bad" second half? Is it bad as such or "just" bad compared to the excellent first half? And what is still good about the second? Nothing? It's an unmitigated disaster? I'm really just afraid that, trying to fix the bad bits, you may destroy your good qualities, your "spark". |
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Sep 21 |
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How do I successfully structure a long fiction piece? @mit: one caveat: whatever you do, watch what your readers say about the first half. The good half, at this point in time. Beware of damaging this in an effort to improve the second half. If you notice it suffering, rethink before committing to a different approach to much. Maybe follow Lauren's suggestion of writing shorter pieces. Maybe going some total other route. I just dread the thought that from "Hey, you're good, let's get you an agent!"/"Meh" you could go to "The books okay, I guess". From "One half great, the other not so much" to full-on mediocrity. |
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Sep 21 |
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What is a discovery writer? So, John, you're saying that sometimes the characters make the decisions for you? ;-) |
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Sep 21 |
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What is a discovery writer? @One: you appear to be somewhere in between. As always, none of these types appear in their pure form in the wild (okay, very rarely). I mean, you would have a rough idea where the story will go, or... well, you'll at least have a number of characters. So, "little or no" is... flexible. And subjective. |
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Sep 21 |
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What is a discovery writer? But: the most important thing, always, is to do what works for you. If discovery writing doesn't, don't. If minutely planned writing doesn't, don't. If something in-between, like a goal for a chapter and then "writing to see how you get there" works for you, do it. :D |
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Sep 21 |
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What is a discovery writer? Disagree there. For one, this emphasis on "story" is a bit, well, one-sided. Sure, it may be the prevailing type of book/novel out today (I do not want to say "market"). But is it the only possible way? And for another... these outcomes are not dramatic if you put it like you did. The job of a writer also is (okay, can be, depending on personal style) to find the dramatic thing in there. And: are not lots of dramas rife with such scenarios? People stop talking with each other, or make up (or both) all the time. In dramas. Dramas that sell (or get watched). |
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Sep 16 |
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On copyright laws and plots And "easy case"... no. Never easy. As you contradict yourself in the second paragraph: "vague and tough to prove". Exactly. It's only easy if you actually rip of parts verbatim: same phrasing, same dialogue (word-for-word), etc. The bigger the distance from that, the harder it gets. |
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Sep 16 |
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On copyright laws and plots West Side Story doesn't infringe on Romeo and Juliet not because of it being a retelling, but because there's simply no copyright on R&J anymore. Death plus 70? Well, the Bard has been dead a few more years than that. :D |
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Sep 16 |
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On copyright laws and plots Percy Jackson was a commercial failure then? Because if the "court of public opinion" (which public?) has branded him unoriginal, and a hack, they wouldn't buy his books? And of course, since the books were a failure, no-one would make a movie from the property. Right? Ooops... |
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Sep 2 |
awarded | Nice Question |
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Aug 27 |
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What's a typical trilogy structure? HP is a bad example. Presumably you can read them out of order, but you get to spoiler yourself too. I personally don't see the books as standalone novels, but as part of a whole. |
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Aug 26 |
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What's a typical trilogy structure? Reading between the lines (sorry, Lauren ;-)) with a heavy dose of my own opinion: write your (epic) story. Then split it up in a trilogy (if you absolutely want to write one... why?). And then probably rewrite bits to make it fit better to this structure. And then get the publisher split it in 5 and rewrite again :D |
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Aug 21 |
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Pros and Cons of different styles of publishing "Saleable rights"? Apart from it being "Sellable rights" (I think), I don't see this as a pro exclusive of traditional publishing. |
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Aug 21 |
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Pros and Cons of different styles of publishing An agent is traditional? How many big-name authors started submitting their novel to publishers themselves? How many stories are there of "I got 20 rejections before <small publisher N.N.> accepted my novel". And getting an agent when things go big (translations, multiple books, movie rights etc). |
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Aug 21 |
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What's the distinction between “vanity publishing” and “self publishing”? It's derived from "vorlegen"? I always thought it was derived from "verlegen". Which has nothing to do with money. To quote Wikipedia: citation needed. |
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Aug 21 |
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Which English grammar should be followed when writing for a global audience? @GEdgar: frankly, I hate this practice. |
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Jul 24 |
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How to name the characters of your story? added 1 characters in body |
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Jul 20 |
awarded | Nice Answer |
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Jun 19 |
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Is there any tool which points out the common mistakes in a piece of writing? It's not about the "fewer rules", it's about having rules, period. You can't really compare C, C# or what-have-you with a natural language like English. |
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Jun 9 |
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Do all main characters require equal development? "hit's"? No, can edit for a one-character fix, but God is it a jarring one. |
