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athenaltenaI can't believe how many typos were in that Tsubasa thing I did yesterday! I guess I was more stressed out than I thought, but Jeez... That's bad for me, and I usually catch stupid little things like that. Oh well, at least they were just technical problems and not problems with the story itself.
Note to self: When stressed out, use a beta. Speaking of which...
I'm debating giving a copy of the story I'm planning to submit for that scholarship to either my English teacher and/or my mom to just get a second pair of eyes on it. Sounds like that should be easy, but with stuff like that that's so personal it's like baring part of your soul, and even though I trust both of them completely it makes me embarrassed to think about. Damn introversion/clam-like tendencies (and I think I am actually going to be voted as a clam on![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
elementals_, so I'm not kidding about that last part).
That's something I'll have to address with Mark next Monday when I see him on top of all of this. I'm also getting used to the idea that I'll have to explain what I'm doing in my writing. I think I'll try that out here, so feel free to ignore this.
In general I think I straddle the line between blunt and descriptive, though I sort of do this on purpose. My dialog tends to be straight to the point unless I have specific reason not to have it be that way, since it's how I've observed people actually talking. For the most part I save the exposition for taking place inside the character's head or in letters to another person in this (still untitled) project. I also jump around in terms of perspective, since I think it makes things more interesting for both the reader and me while I'm writing it, and I like jumping into different people's shoes in order to make them unique and develop their motivations.
The main character actually speaks to the audience in first person in the little segments scattered throughout, and I did this because he's essentially the person who thinks most like a modern person (and hence might be easiest to relate to), and he actively deconstructs what he sees going on around him -- including opinions other characters have about themselves. In that way he's sort of the Greek Chorus, though the one thing he never really says is what happened to him right at the beginning, or ever really directly addresses some of the biggest questions about him. If you look close enough he actually is, but he's actually doing it in such a way that it's not obvious.
I also have a definite structure as to how the story is going to flow. The first part (which is mostly complete) is about recovering and rebuilding, while the second is about letting go and dying. The trick in the second part will keeping it from progressing into angst, because (A) I sure as hell don't want to write it and I think most people won't want to read it and (B) it's not like the main character to angst, instead he grits his teeth and bares it.
That's all I've got so far, but hopefully if I do have to explain that'll make it easier.
Note to self: When stressed out, use a beta. Speaking of which...
I'm debating giving a copy of the story I'm planning to submit for that scholarship to either my English teacher and/or my mom to just get a second pair of eyes on it. Sounds like that should be easy, but with stuff like that that's so personal it's like baring part of your soul, and even though I trust both of them completely it makes me embarrassed to think about. Damn introversion/clam-like tendencies (and I think I am actually going to be voted as a clam on
elementals_, so I'm not kidding about that last part). That's something I'll have to address with Mark next Monday when I see him on top of all of this. I'm also getting used to the idea that I'll have to explain what I'm doing in my writing. I think I'll try that out here, so feel free to ignore this.
In general I think I straddle the line between blunt and descriptive, though I sort of do this on purpose. My dialog tends to be straight to the point unless I have specific reason not to have it be that way, since it's how I've observed people actually talking. For the most part I save the exposition for taking place inside the character's head or in letters to another person in this (still untitled) project. I also jump around in terms of perspective, since I think it makes things more interesting for both the reader and me while I'm writing it, and I like jumping into different people's shoes in order to make them unique and develop their motivations.
The main character actually speaks to the audience in first person in the little segments scattered throughout, and I did this because he's essentially the person who thinks most like a modern person (and hence might be easiest to relate to), and he actively deconstructs what he sees going on around him -- including opinions other characters have about themselves. In that way he's sort of the Greek Chorus, though the one thing he never really says is what happened to him right at the beginning, or ever really directly addresses some of the biggest questions about him. If you look close enough he actually is, but he's actually doing it in such a way that it's not obvious.
I also have a definite structure as to how the story is going to flow. The first part (which is mostly complete) is about recovering and rebuilding, while the second is about letting go and dying. The trick in the second part will keeping it from progressing into angst, because (A) I sure as hell don't want to write it and I think most people won't want to read it and (B) it's not like the main character to angst, instead he grits his teeth and bares it.
That's all I've got so far, but hopefully if I do have to explain that'll make it easier.
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no subject
Date: 2007-10-19 04:00 am (UTC)"My dialog tends to be straight to the point unless I have specific reason not to have it be that way, since it's how I've observed people actually talking. "
Yay. Short is good. Blather is bad.
"I also jump around in terms of perspective, since I think it makes things more interesting for both the reader and me while I'm writing it, and I like jumping into different people's shoes in order to make them unique and develop their motivations."
Can work provided you stick with an omniscient perspective throughout. I personally prefer sticking with one view per segment.
"The main character actually speaks to the audience in first person"
Tricky if you also bounce from head to head. If this character is speaking directly to the reader, it's like he or she is the one at the typewriter. If so, how can he/she/it/they/squog know what everyone else is thinking? (Unless he's a time traveller or telepath.) Now, if you have a format that allows for it, it could work. Like, say, if this was a history or account written by someone, and these are snippets from interviews of the subject.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-19 04:13 am (UTC)And in terms of perspective everyone but the main character is in third person, where we can see what they're thinking, and only the main guy is in first person, though he doesn't quite break the fourth wall in the sense of saying "hey you people reading this" and tapping on the glass, so to speak. At least some of what he says are his diary entries or letters, while other bits are either stream of consciousness or intentionally ambiguous as to what they actually are. He's also just a commentator -- hence he doesn't know everything, just what he sees and puts together himself. I'm trying a lot of new stuff in this, so I'm sort of making it up as I go. ^_^;