Now I reached page 4 ... catching up on you guys! [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] [img]smilies/tongue.gif[/img]
Are you writing fantasy seriously?
I'm not sure what others would say to that statement, but I think I do. When I'm not in school, on BD, doing homework, at work, taking care of my 'social life', reading Tolkien, I write. Okay, that doesn't sound as I'm a very active writer, but I have a bad habit with skipping the homework so I can make time. I also stay awake 'til 11pm writing, allthough my parents keep saying 10pm... I'm getting a bit unpopular at home [img]smilies/evil.gif[/img]
What kind of writing do you do?
Everything and anything. The Snake-story I mentioned I am so far writing from two different points of view. Actually it could be compared to Tolkien writing his story from Morgoth
and Lúthien's points of view. It's a bad example, I know,but I couldn't think of anything better.
What way of developing characters works best for you? Action? Forced Cooperation? Psychological / Conversational interaction?
Not action... Sometimes conversation, sometimes the narrating voice is telling about them. I did a really stupid thing a while ago... with no explanation(sp?) at all, a blond girl suddenly had dark-brown hair... oops... [img]smilies/redface.gif[/img] Now I have a system, I put a coloured clips in my papers everytime I descripe a person/thing, so that next time he/she/it is mentioned, I look what I've written earlier.
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Do any of you have characters like that -- that being, characters that get up off the page and exercise Free Will of their own? And do you beat them back down into submission or just stand back & roll with it?
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Not that I have noticed... thinking about it, they do it all the time... I just let them, it's probably better. Though I might cut it out again in the editing.
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I sometimes have trouble describing things properly. I want to describe things so I'm sure the reader will "see" the place, person etc., but then, I'm a bit afraid of being too describing in my writing, something I think Tolkien overdid a few times. He could use half a page to describe a tree. OK, not exactly true, but you know what I mean, right? If you overdo it, it tends to get boring, and then some ppl will skip through the text and perhaps miss something of importance. I think it can be difficult to find the line. How do you know when it's enough or too much? I mean, I've SEEN the places I write about (in dreams) and I want my reader to see them as well, not to skip pages because my describtions are too thouroughly.
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That's true. Another example, apart from Tolkien, is Jean Auel, who wrote 'Earth's Children' ('Clan of the Cave Bear' etc.) In the fourth book, the descriptions of just about everything, 50% not really necessary for the storyin any way, is getting way out of hand. I've heard somebody say, that he/she could skip chapt. 4, 5 and 6 without missing anytyhing of the plot! I haven't tried myself though... It's sad, 'cause it's a really great story, but the descritions ruin it. Tolkien is luckily not getting that far! Because of that, I tend to skip all descriptions when I write, except of the characters. If I write of a house, it's just 'the size of (something)' and I leave the rest to imagination. I might change that later. Actually I think I will. But I'll try to keep it at a level I would want to read myself. I'm not really into reading descriptions... [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img]
Btw, I'm happy you bothered reaading this!