Comments on: How to start a novel http://storytellersunplugged.com/blog/2010/02/24/2957/ Where Words and Imagination Meet Fri, 10 Feb 2012 04:33:16 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Wolf Lahti http://storytellersunplugged.com/blog/2010/02/24/2957/comment-page-1/#comment-1584 Wolf Lahti Fri, 26 Feb 2010 01:53:59 +0000 http://21.2957#comment-1584 Heh. It wasn't Anne Rice herself I was criticising so much as the many imitation wannabes that her success spawned. I guess I could have made that clearer. Heh. It wasn’t Anne Rice herself I was criticising so much as the many imitation wannabes that her success spawned. I guess I could have made that clearer.

]]> By: alexandrasokoloff http://storytellersunplugged.com/blog/2010/02/24/2957/comment-page-1/#comment-1577 alexandrasokoloff Thu, 25 Feb 2010 15:56:40 +0000 http://21.2957#comment-1577 Well said, Tom. When "the work is play for mortal stakes", as Robert Frost said. Well said, Tom. When “the work is play for mortal stakes”, as Robert Frost said.

]]> By: alexandrasokoloff http://storytellersunplugged.com/blog/2010/02/24/2957/comment-page-1/#comment-1576 alexandrasokoloff Thu, 25 Feb 2010 15:55:50 +0000 http://21.2957#comment-1576 Wolf, I think you are missing the point of Anne Rice novels, early, anyway. It was all about eroticism, the sexual charge. Millions of women got it, anyway... ;) I completely agree about wanting to feel exhilaration after the dark journey, though. Very important to me. Wolf, I think you are missing the point of Anne Rice novels, early, anyway. It was all about eroticism, the sexual charge. Millions of women got it, anyway… ;)

I completely agree about wanting to feel exhilaration after the dark journey, though. Very important to me.

]]> By: Geek Media Round-Up: February 25, 2010 – Grasping for the Wind http://storytellersunplugged.com/blog/2010/02/24/2957/comment-page-1/#comment-1572 Geek Media Round-Up: February 25, 2010 – Grasping for the Wind Thu, 25 Feb 2010 14:04:20 +0000 http://21.2957#comment-1572 [...] Alexandra Sokoloff explains How to Start a Novel. [...] [...] Alexandra Sokoloff explains How to Start a Novel. [...]

]]> By: Tom Stohlgren http://storytellersunplugged.com/blog/2010/02/24/2957/comment-page-1/#comment-1566 Tom Stohlgren Thu, 25 Feb 2010 02:36:37 +0000 http://21.2957#comment-1566 When writing is as much recreation as it is creation, you've found the perfect way to spend your "hobby" time. I think that most novels begin as a tiny daydream, and daydreams are the greatest invention since immagination. It's fun. When writing is as much recreation as it is creation, you’ve found the perfect way to spend your “hobby” time. I think that most novels begin as a tiny daydream, and daydreams are the greatest invention since immagination. It’s fun.

]]> By: Wolf Lahti http://storytellersunplugged.com/blog/2010/02/24/2957/comment-page-1/#comment-1560 Wolf Lahti Wed, 24 Feb 2010 17:18:58 +0000 http://21.2957#comment-1560 "What are you trying to make your reader or audience FEEL?" This is exactly why I have never been drawn to (read: why I run screaming from) the Anne Rice School of Writing About Vampires. It seems that the primary effect the author is trying to achieve is ennui (not even quite managing to push it up half a notch to angst). Why these sorts of things are popular is beyond me--and I suppose I should be glad of that. I want to feel *good* after I've finished reading a story, and I aim to provide that experience for the reader in my writing. It is becoming increasingly popular, in genre fiction especially, to belabor the dark, dreadful side of existence to the point that even when (if) the hero triumphs in the end, it is a bitter victory tinged with loss and maybe even despair. Heck, Tolkien did this, so it must be a good thing--right? Yes, we want terrible things to happen to the protagonist facing overwhelming odds--but in the end, it should feel like the culmination of a scary and exhilarating roller-coaster ride, not like you'd just been mugged in the House of Mirrors. “What are you trying to make your reader or audience FEEL?”

This is exactly why I have never been drawn to (read: why I run screaming from) the Anne Rice School of Writing About Vampires. It seems that the primary effect the author is trying to achieve is ennui (not even quite managing to push it up half a notch to angst). Why these sorts of things are popular is beyond me–and I suppose I should be glad of that.

I want to feel *good* after I’ve finished reading a story, and I aim to provide that experience for the reader in my writing. It is becoming increasingly popular, in genre fiction especially, to belabor the dark, dreadful side of existence to the point that even when (if) the hero triumphs in the end, it is a bitter victory tinged with loss and maybe even despair. Heck, Tolkien did this, so it must be a good thing–right?

Yes, we want terrible things to happen to the protagonist facing overwhelming odds–but in the end, it should feel like the culmination of a scary and exhilarating roller-coaster ride, not like you’d just been mugged in the House of Mirrors.

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