Basically, he said his major influence was GRRM, and that he now outlines his books with a flow for each character POV. At the time he wrote the book, he didn’t outline and just decided to see if he could write the book.
For his current book, he has 7 POV characters and plots their arc while seeing how they could intersect.
Really swell chap.
Edit: We also may have discovered the pub where a few more authors are hanging out in today. So I shall report back if this is accurate.
Damn it all to hell. I hate you so much right now. Many a time in my youth I wished I could have hung out in the pub and college rooms with the Inklings and joined their conversation.
Now I find you may be one the cusp of discovering a modern writers’ haven and I despise the fact that I am not.
Regarding exercises for writing, I have one that a good friend used to undertake for creative purposes:
The most common way she did this was in tandem with a friend. The idea was to write the first paragraph (or page) of a novel on a concept that your partner suggested – paragraphs were stored in a Google doc and the idea was that each person would alternate writing.
Another way she undertook this was solo in a variation of stream-of-consciousness writing. Pick an idea and write multiple first paragraphs, each on it’s own page. Start from scratch and imagine.
I’ve done this a handful of times and it is a lot of fun, not least because your partner can come up with absolutely ridiculous ideas. One thing I have done (although rarely) was to take the solo version and apply it to non-fiction ideas. Limit yourself by word count or time taken to write on-topic (sort of a writing equivalent to the 5 minute quick sketch drill.)
For example: take a topic in physics and try to summarize your thoughts or the high points of it inside 200 words, etc.
Alas, there was no mob of authors. I did meet Peter V Brett and a lovely British author who writes historical fantasy set in the Elizabethan age.
But talking to published authors was something else, genuinely some of the best fun I’ve ever had.
Tomorrow, my favourite living author (Steven Erickson) is in town. If I get to meet him, I shall report back.
Ok, so I met and chatted with Steven Erickson, expect a full recount in short order. Today, I am waaay to drained to recount it lmao.
Somebody was minding his Ps and Qs.
Bingo!
So a brief run down from Erickson:
Just some tidbits from a very interesting talk(I’m half noting it down for my own benefit) it’s certainly a very interesting insight into a high fantasy master’s process.
Some of the other stuff was specific to his series, so I’ll elaborate to any fans, but it’s not strictly relevant to the thread.
Didn’t Neal Stephenson take up medieval swordfighting in order to better write swordplay scenes after the Baroque Cycle?
I’m not familiar with the work, but it makes sense.
I’d like to thank everyone who has taken the time to respond to this thread. I find it especially insightful to hear writers I communicate with share their thoughts on writing. It has certainly given me a great deal to think about.
This quote perfectly encapsulates my lifetime struggles with writing. I recently wrote a 2,000 word letter to HR (at my real job btw, not the bars I bounce at). I’ve never gone to HR and I’ve been working for over 20 years. I’m still fairly new at this place, but I had an unusual and alarming situation I needed to address. Writing this letter was a significant risk, so I needed to choose my words carefully.
I probably spent at least 20 hours getting down to 2,000 words. I had a lot of ground to cover. They may be the best 2,000 words I’ve ever written. Everything I hoped to achieve with the letter came to pass. Considering the stakes, it is probably my greatest writing success.
If not for the involvement of lawyers, livelihoods and a likely psychopath, I’d love to post it and receive critique. Alas, I’ll have to air my dirty laundry in a more private setting that doesn’t involve electronic copies of sensitive material circulating across the globe.
Thanks again to everyone.
Not specifically writing, but I regularly find myself wanting to post something on here, but can’t because it’s too potentially exposing.
Oh, man…errr, I mean “boy”…
Haha, yikes, that looks bad. I meant work and family, lol.
For me, the key to writing is revising. IMO, all first drafts (especially mine) are crap. If Nobel Lit prize winners had to revise multiple times, I figure the rest of us should too
The great, great Isaac Asimov, it was said, would sit at his manual typewriter and churn out finished drafts. A professor of biochemistry, an extremely prolific writer of both fiction and non-fiction. True genius.
I kid, I kid. Just trying to be punny…
Well, fuck you, buddy
Your writing is also very clear and concise @anon50325502, and fuck you too buddy. We really have a ton of good contributors to the forum right now. @thefourthruffian, @idaho, @Chris_Colucci, @The_Mighty_Stu, @punnyguy, @strongmangoals, @flappinit and ONCE AGAIN TOO MANY OTHERS TO LIST (seriously I’m tired after a long day of work then bouncing for the first time in months).
I miss @powerpuff, who can no longer be tagged. She was great. Smart, strong and a very good writer. She had good reasons for leaving the forum, but I still hope that we somehow end up with an exceedingly polite, highly articulate and unapologetic conservative forum member who manages to contribute her thoughts without revealing any personal identifying information that might cause problems for a wonderful gal like that.