Help for an Author-to-Be

If you want ideas I would suggest listening to Writing Excuses. Not only is it a great podcast for aspiring writers, but most episodes end with a writing prompt. A lot of them are silly and funny, but a few have given me ideas that I'll probably use.

Also, don't bother with keeping track of how many pages you've written (unless you're going to print something). The publishing industry doesn't care about how many pages a work is, but how many words it is. After all, different fonts, margins and other such things will make any page count arbitrary. To give you an idea: Baen wants works that are between 100 000 words and 130 000 words (but these are not hard limits).

Hey there, everyone!

First of all, I'd like to thank you, Durazno, for your prompt. It's a good idea, and I might be able to use it.

Now for my own ideas. I've been doing some thinking, and there are a few plots I'd like to try my hand at someday:

1. A Cute Witch story 2. A Magic Idol Singer story 3. A Magical Girl Warrior story 4. A Magical Girlfriend story 5. An Unwanted Harem story 6. A Themed Harem story 7. A Phantom Thief story 8. A {[Superhero}} story 9. A Humongous Mecha story 10. A Children Raise You - Happily Adopted type story

At the moment, that's all I have. If I have any ideas for plots, characters, etc, I'll let you know. Just a quick heads-up, though - to save time, whenever I mention them, I'll refer to them via these initials: CW, MIS, MGW, MG, UH, TH, PT, S, HM, AC (for adopted child).

Is that ok with everyone? And do you understand what they stand for?

I've also thought up a character I might use. Well, I say "thought", but she appeared in a dream I had one night. Anyway, I digress.

She's called The Snow Queen (like the fairy tale), but she differs from the original character in several ways. For one thing, she's rather short and dumpy, with scraggy grey hair, and has an amphibian-esque quality to her features. She wears a purple dress and a silver tiara and she possesses cryokinetic abilities. Also, she's far more villianous than her namesake (who didn't really do anything other than abduct a boy), and for some strange reason, in the dream I had she lived in the Amazon jungle.

Well, whaddaya think? Is there anything I should change? And would her name be considered plagarism, since she's not the same character as the one Hans Christian Anderson created?

By the way, I don't like repeating myself, but I didn't get an answer last time, so I feel I should ask again - if I was to write a children's story, would I need to add pictures or would I need to explain where I'd like the pictures to be, and what I'd like the pictures to be OF? And (regardless of age group) apart from chapter headings, would I need to do anything else to make it clear where one chapter ends and another begins? Or is all that something for the editors to figure out when they edit the book?

I'm gonna give you advice lifted from David Wong, the guy who wrote John Dies At The End (which isn't that bad of a book, to boot). I'm reciting this from memory, so it's a bit jumbled but:

You don't start out writing with "I want to write a book about pirates." You start with a specific concept or vague idea you like. Which then leads into the setting, of what might be pirates, or might not be.

If I were you, I'd not be so...uhm...word similar to, but less offensive and more endearing than "anal"...

I'd not be so specific about it. Don't focus on genres. Dpn't focus on labels. Just take the ideas that come to you and write them out.

Now, obviously, you can still try to make something magical girl esque, or mecha esque, but I do not think it's a good place to start as a newbster. Instead try to write what comes naturally, and learn about yourself as a writer from there.

Of course, others might have different advice, but that's mine. You're overthinking it. Just write.

The children's book thing will depend on the publishing company you go with. You could probably go either way, either text only, letting the artist go crazy, or write up specific guidelines.

The image of your Snow Queen is nice enough, and would be an interesting spring board. I wouldn't worry about plagiarism or anything like that. Fairy tales tend to be PD.

edited 21st Apr '11 11:10:20 AM by MrAHR

Thank you for the advice, but I wasn't planning on writing that stuff up yet - I haven't even figured the plots out. I'm saving them for when I become a more established author, they're just ideas I posted for some feedback.

They aren't...bad ideas for literature, are they? I know I'm gonna haveta keep Values Dissonance in mind, since this isn't Japan, and I know that stuff like the Transformation Sequence and Monster of the Week doesn't translate all that well to printed media, but other than that, they're pretty ok ideas, aren't they?

They are genres that have been done many times before, and will be done many times over in the future. They are not ideas. They are buzzwords. "A mecha story" is not an idea, it's a genre (in a way). There is nothing to critique or ponder.

edited 21st Apr '11 12:57:13 PM by MrAHR

Um...is that a bad thing?

It's not necessarily bad, but doesn't give you much to go on. And you could combine a lot of these into a single coherent story.

Basically all fiction is this: A character (or group of characters) wants something really badly, and is having trouble getting it. What you need to do to come up with a story idea is a conflict. Maybe your Cute Witch wants to be the best witch ever or your Magical Girlfriend just wants to be normal and Hilarity Ensues.

Find and read books that match either the writing style or genre you want to write in. It's a good place to start, and a good way to get a feel for your target audience.

At this juncture, as it's been said before, while it's nice that you have all these ideas, you just need to write. Either write these ideas out, or write other ideas out. Just grab an idea, and write. The other day, while freewriting, I wrote about a transvestite that got into a bad car accident. That idea might not make it into a story, or it might. Or, ideally, I can look it over again, and find something new from it, take it, and write about that instead. Just write.

In my personal and humble opinion, I would suggest that you write out these lofty ideas you have that you're "saving" for publication. You don't have to publish them or send them to any publication, major or minor, but you should get started on them if you like the ideas. You'll find what's good about it, and what's bad about it. You'll start to generate more ideas about the work as time goes by, and you'll start trimming fat that you thought was once important.

Writing usually isn't a straight forward process; even if you decide to write from the beginning of a book and stop at the end, once you send it to an editor, you'll have to go back and change things, rewrite portions, touch up here and there, etc. before sending it out again.

In short, don't worry about the ideas until they're written on the page. Then it's time to worry. Then it's time to look at things like style, grammar, structure, etc. Then it's time to figure out where you may have made mistakes and errors, and how to correct them to make the story itself work out. That's when you worry and think about all this.

For now, just write 'em out.

Hey, everyone, it's me.

I thought up another character I might use one day. I think she might be appropriate for the Magical Girlfriend story I may write one day.

She's an angel who's been sent to Earth by the Council of Angels on a very important mission - God has gone missing, and around the same time as His disappearance, the Gates of Hell broke open, releasing dozens of demons into the human world (the 2 events may or may not be connected, it depends if I can figure out how). So she's been sent there to find the missing Almighty and send the demons back to Hell.

Well? Good idea or bad idea?

By the way, does anyone know how, at the start of a book series, an author can make it clear that it's only the first book, and there will (hopefully) be others in the series?

edited 27th Apr '11 10:10:19 AM by fruitstripegum

Doesn't really sound like my kind of thing, so I'd probably skip over it. Doesn't mean it's not a good idea, but that it seems like it's been done before, especially in anime/manga.

As far as letting your audience know that it's going to be part of a series, that's usually something that's hashed out with publishers. Like Harry Potter would put a number on the top of its spine, some series have something on the cover to let the reader know that it's part of a series, be they consecutive novels telling the same story, or a series of books set in the same universe.

In answer to your last question, when you pitch a series to a publisher, you'll pitch it as a series; your query letter will say that you're writing a six-book YA series about a magical girl, and you'll briefly outline the characters and the plot of each installment and include only about a chapter or so of the actual story. Then the publisher will accept or reject the entire thing.

If you're referring to how the reader will know it's a series, obviously it can have a subtitle like "Part I of the Andereas Chronicles", but if it's properly written at all, you'll set the ending up so that the reader will want there to be a sequel, whether there is or not.

Many publishers say they don't care for stories advertised as a series, apparently because those books tend to be not very good. Writers plan the series so the awesome stuff happens later in the series, but they think that's enough and forget to make the first book, the book they're trying to sell, a good story. A good novel should be able to stand on its own without being attached to other books. Think of Harry Potter or the Narnia books— the first few novels can be enjoyed without reading the rest of the series, and it's only later they get caught up in continuity.

My advice is, when you query the publisher (after you write the first book), mention you have ideas for later novels but assure them your story is workable as a stand-alone book. It's easier to sell one book than three.

I have a question. I have no fucking clue how long my series is gonna be. All I know is that I've written 50 pages, and I haven't made it past the first paragraph in my five page summary.

Is that OK?

I think it is, considering the medium you are working in.

Hoohr-RAY.

The best advice I've ever heard on the subject of stories is just to write the story as it's meant to be told. If it's too damn long, or seems like multiple stories getting tangled up in each other, then you might have a series on your hands. Most writers tend to write series because it seems to make the story more "epic" and larger in scope, thinking it gives it more meaning. That's great and all, but if the story can be told in a single book, then why bother making 12 more elongating the darn thing?

Of course, there are other reasons to make a series. Harry Potter was a series of 7 books, as that was the time any student spent in Hogwarts, with each book spanning a year spent at the school; this worked out well as new things happened each year at the school (and to Harry & Co.), but each book never told the story beyond the bounds of a single year at Hogwarts.

a six-book YA series about a magical girl

That sounds like an interesting idea, jewelleddragon, but...how would it work?

I mean, magical girl shows are pretty light-hearted and idealistic (no, I am not counting Madoka), and young adult fiction has some pretty...mature themes. Y'know, suicide, rape, abuse, drugs, sex...even relatively "light" works like The Princess Diaries touch on those themes. So how would one go about combining young adult fiction with the idealism of Sailor Moon or Pretty Cure?

Regarding my previous question...Betsyandthe Five Avengers sent me a PM explaining things, so there's no need to worry about an answer.

On another note, I've been doing some thinking (yes, again), and I've come up with 5 different types of magic based on Elemental Powers I may use some day:

• 1. Solar Magic (control over fire, derived from the Sun)
• 2. Luna Magic (control over light, derived from the Moon)
• 3. Ocean Magic (control over water, specifically the deep waters [ala Sailor Neptune])
• 4. Nature Magic (combines control over air and plants)
• 5. Void Magic (mostly used to control shadows and (dark) lightning, but can also be used to erase people from existance. As a result, it's a highly dangerous and forbidden magic, and The Hero will try to use it as little as possible)

Well, what do you think? Too stupid? Or does it reek of Plagiarism?

edited 6th May '11 3:15:56 PM by fruitstripegum

I'm not actually writing a magical girl series. I just gave that as an example.

The advice I'd give to you, though, is to eschew all thoughts about publishing logistics (including about what sorts of things are publishable) from your mind until you have a complete manuscript in hand.

edited 30th Apr '11 2:35:08 PM by jewelleddragon

Hey, everyone, quick question.

How exactly can you use Monster of the Week in a written format? After all, having one monster per chapter is gonna get repeative and boring (this isn't Journey To The West, after all), and you have to be really good at writing (in my opinion, anyway) to make it stretch to a Monster of the Book.

And will someone please answer my question about the types of magic I thought up?

Make sure each one is different. That's really all there is to it. When you have series that are gotta catch 'em all esque, this can really help it.

So every monster has a different ability to them, that will show up later in the protagonist. Kinda like Xaolin Showdown.

Make the challenges different. Like Hercules' Labours— it's not all "kill this monster," it's "kill a monster, clean these disgusting stables, get the belt from this Hot Amazon, capture this uncatcheable hind." So maybe one monster has to be beat up, and another one manipulates emotions so the heroes end up fighting each other, and another monster has to be tracked, or whatever.

I caution against every chapter being about a different monster, though— you're right, it would be too repetitive. Break it up with other things, like traveling or character development or another problem. And maybe some monsters would take longer to capture than others, so you can spread out the battles.

RE: The magic. I don't think anyone will call plagiarism, but only because elemental magic shows up in lots of other works. Your magic seems fairly standard— there's nothing that stands out as particularly good, and it's a bit cliche. This all depends on how you use it, though— Avatar did a good job of using the standard "elemental magic" in a different way.

I've seen the magic that you're explaining here in other works. I expect it in video games, since it might just function as a mechanic, but it's a bit different in writing.

Think up a magical system that can't be used in a video game, and then you'll have something.

That might be a problem, since I can't figure out how to utilise magic without resorting to Elemental Powers.

Any suggestions?

edited 4th May '11 8:39:27 AM by fruitstripegum

I'd suggest reading any kind of fictional, and possibly non-fictional as well, material regarding magic for inspiration. A lot of different series provide various interpretations of how magic works and, through that, how it manifests itself.

For instance, some magic requires either a vocal or written incantation of some kind (usually using a base language like Latin), or require the knowledge and understanding of basic physical forces in nature.

Note that you don't have to explain how your magic works, though some basic explanation may help your readers get into your material a little easier.

Also remember that even if you're magic still stems from elemental tropes, an interesting mechanic for how the magic operates may still provide an interesting read.