Maybe I Don’t Want To Be A Novelist8/13/2022 Lately, I’ve been writing short stories. To be fair, I’ve been writing them for as long as I have use of memory, but I began taking this format seriously about a year and a half ago. My journey was, in the beginning, rough. I wrote stories about the characters of my ongoing WIP at the time and tried to venture in the genres I was already familiar with. I’ve always written for myself, but then I was starting to understand my writing. I lost a couple of competitions, I worked with writing buddies. I discovered my strong points and worked through the weak ones. I revise and ask for feedback, I learn, I enjoy challenging myself to grow through this format. Flash forward and I’m almost done with my first short story collection, and I’ve written a handful of pieces for Lit Mags.
So, why do I feel like it’s not enough?
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Have you ever heard the advice: the beginning of your story should be an ending? Did you then think: what does that even mean? Despite the contradiction, this advice is helpful when thinking about the structure of a story. How is a beginning an ending? Read on to find out.
I can’t remember where I first heard this advice, but the example that went with it stuck in my mind. The beginning of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone has multiple endings. Harry’s parents die, 12 years pass, and at the “end” of the beginning, Harry leaves the Muggle world and goes to Hogwarts. Here’s another one: the transition in The Hunger Games is when Katniss ends her time as a citizen of District 12 and becomes a Tribute. Similar to Katniss’ transformation, Zetian in Iron Widow leaves her village to enlist in the army and avenge her sister’s death. Couples round out many novels. Getting people together creates suspense, and a strong build-up can make a satisfying read. So satisfying that your hypothetical readers are asking for a sequel starring those same characters. It’s hard to create that same tension and spark without breaking the couple up, but here are a few alternatives to keep books interesting with established, healthy relationships.
While ruining a relationship or keeping an established couple apart and longing for each other can be an effective plot trigger, it’s often overused. The story after they get together doesn’t have to be sickeningly mundane. Neither person in the relationship has to die, they don’t have to fight constantly and learn how to make up, one of them doesn’t have to be manipulated into leaving to keep the stakes high and the story fresh. There’s two main schools of thought when it comes to what drives a story. The philosopher Aristotle believed that plot came first, determining the narrative’s path. American playwright Arthur Miller claimed characters laid the foundation, since a character’s choices can change the story’s trajectory. Writing tragedy from a plot can be a little self-explanatory: something catastrophic happens, then bad things follow.
With character, typically the protagonist or antagonist longs for something to the point of destruction. Obstacles, of course, complicate things and push the character even further down their tragic path, but at the heart of it all is this desire to achieve a goal. You can think of these desires and character traits as a “fatal flaw” that inevitably leads to a downfall. Here’s some character traits and desires that can push a character to tragedy. Almost Heroes by Mar'Sai Mitcham8/9/2022 Review by Aamna Rehman
First and foremost, I love the title. I think it fits the themes represented in the story perfectly. It also is a simple way to tell us that the characters, although they think of themselves as heroes, are flawed. They suffer from moral conundrums and prejudices instilled within the fabric of their society. Of course, some of these characters strive to gain power while others strive for justice but none of them are without a moral gray area. This dynamic adds a complexity that made this book enjoyable. At first, I didn't like Margery because she seemed too unlikeable and power-hungry. But as the story goes on, you start to peel back her layers and discover her emotions. In particular in the second half of the book, I felt more attached to the characters, even side characters like Rem, Darrien, and Toothless. The intriguing history between them added an extra layer that made me want to know more. I wouldn't necessarily call them realistic, but their vulnerability and fears made them easy to get attached to. As a product of an interracial and cross cultural marriage I have come to love the beauty of interracial and cross cultural romance. The idea of meeting a different way of life as you slowly fall in love with a person has always enticed me.
Western (U.S.) media has come a long way from when Captain Kirk kissed Lieutenant Uhura (rest in peace Nichelle Nicols) in 1968. However, our stories are still significantly lacking on interracial romance were both (or more) of the characters are people of color. Therefore today I bring to you 5 novels with romantic love stories between people of color who do not share the same ethnicity (and/or race). Research for creative writing8/5/2022 Many, if not all, creative writing projects require research to get started. Science fiction requires a heavy understanding of science (you need to know the rules to break them), and historical fiction requires a lot of history. Even if you’re not writing in one of these genres, research is still an important skill to learn for any writing. Even if you write a close-to-home contemporary romance novel set in your hometown, you will still probably find some kind of blind spot that can only be filled in with outside information. For this reason, it is essential for every writer to also become an excellent researcher.
I’d say that most (or at least a good amount of) people aren’t very welcoming to change. Sure, it’s inevitable, but the general goal is to find a specific routine and stick with it (with few exceptions). This is also how it is for writers as well. You find a genre or two you're comfortable with, create a writing style that works for you and you’re pretty much set for life. The only change we have to expect in our writing is it slowly getting better more and more as the years go by. But what happens when your writing changes more than that? What happens when you’re looking to change the format you write in?
For those of us who choose to venture into other forms of writing, learning how to write again but in a different way can be challenging, especially for writers who make the conscious effort to try something new (such as a hardcore prose writer to poetry). So, as someone who writes in many different formats, here is my take on transitioning in writing, how to be successful at it, and what worked for me. You know your character from head to toe: eye color, dreams, hobbies—the works. But you don’t have a plot, and you don’t know how they will change. What you need, fellow writer, is a character arc. Read on to discover the six beats you need to nail it.
Let’s get on the same page about character arcs. A character arc is a journey of growth from one internal state to another. These can be positive or negative—think Prince Zuko from Avatar the Last Airbender—and a character can have multiple arcs, although typically one is contained in a story. Arcs are important because they show not only that our characters are lifelike and capable of change, but also their agency. Active characters are what we strive for in stories, and that is why the journey is so important. Writing is subjective. This is in no way an official, objective guide to character arcs, but I hope you’ll consider my observations in your own stories. Show & Tell8/3/2022 One of the first pieces of advice that you will receive when entering the writing community is “show, don’t tell”. But, what exactly do these terms mean? This is a practical guide to showing and telling, which will hopefully help you recognize when to use each one, and how to do so correctly.
If you tell us what is going on in the scene, you use direct descriptions. This means that you write down exactly the character’s feelings, their manners, and the room’s ambiance, among others. Notice that telling often has an abundance of adjectives. Since it is straightforward, it does not leave space for readers to draw their own conclusions. In consequence, when overused, telling can make a piece less engaging. But, if you use it wisely, it will help you make a point clear. Categories
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