The General Conversation Area

The 1st or 3rd person debate was actually raised today at university funnily enough. The consensus appeared to be that 3rd person was superior in that it allows the author/writer to explore the thought processes and motives behind all of the characters, which I suppose is somewhat of a fallback in case you write a protagonist who's an absolute dud. However, I'd personally decide on perspective depending on the genre; a mystery would most likely work best in 1st, that way the reader can sink themselves into the protagonist, the plot unravelling at the same rate both within the book and within the reader's mind.

The course I'm doing is certainly mind opening, 20thCenturyBoy. One of the modules currently being looked at is Genre: What defines genre? What tropes and conventions are utilised commonly within certain genres? How does culture and iconography effect genre? How can certain genres be used to discuss taboo subjects? Is there such a thing as genre?

Mind blowing stuff, I must say! Next week: A look at the stereotyping of gender and sexuality. Should be fun!
 
<Sees talk about Comic Book Writing>

I've been meaning to start work on creative writing and actually bother to learn how to draw more, especially in a cartoony/comic style, but I haven't gotten around to it thanks to Family Issues, Education worries and general laziness. Is there some way to motivate myself into doing these things and sticking to them?

Also, I've just done an audition for my college's Public Speaking group and did a 2 minute talk. I did well (According to the panel that were there) and only had one problem... I misread what I was supposed to be talking about.
 
Joshawott said:
My book is the first in a planned series of 4-5...that'll be a freaking hard sell as it is xD
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Ha, tell me about it, mine is the first of four (Was originally going to be five till I looked at it and realised that the content of the fifth could easily be put into the fourth as additional material...and it wouldn't affect things too much)

Of course if I go ahead and split the book then that book series length goes out of the window.

20thCenturyBoy said:
As for splitting your books/doing a series I think that's fine so long as your first book has a satisfying ending as a stand alone, but leaves the potential there for more. There's nothing worse than something that is clearly meant just to be a first part and then that next part never gets published, a terrible experience for reader and writer alike as they feel they never got to experience/tell the full story.
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This has also been on my mind, I've been trying to make sure that each ending ends the story as it were, while also keeping the full plot open, but with my story idea it's not an easy thing to do :? I've seen the same thing happening in movies on saying that, like the Eragon adaptation and Percy Jackson seemed like it wasn't getting any more movies for a while as well.

20thCenturyBoy said:
If you've got characters that you don't know what to do with then you're probably best cutting them, if there's attributes you gave them you like then assign them to other characters if you think they'd fit and in doing so would elevate the story.
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I've already had to do this, which resulted in the meger of several characters, and lines been giving to new owners, although problem is I don't have a to large cast of characters to begin with and really only add a sprinkle few more in later stories. I certainly couldn't do what creators like Tite Kubo do and balance that many characters...

theirsbailiff said:
I've been meaning to start work on creative writing and actually bother to learn how to draw more, especially in a cartoony/comic style, but I haven't gotten around to it thanks to Family Issues, Education worries and general laziness. Is there some way to motivate myself into doing these things and sticking to them?
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Find a story you really want to tell, that should help you get things in gear to show it to the world :), that's how I got started...Though the story that got me into writing isn't the one that I'm working on now as my original idea, having finished it and looked back on it wasn't that great...

AntAce: Your course sounds like it's a lot of fun! Makes me wish I thought of doing one like that back when I started uni :p
 
Can I raise my hand as another wannbe writer? I 'finished' a book three years ago but never had the gumption to go to the next step *Fear also raises its head*. Was 10 years in the making that one :(

Sadly complete and utter laziness has befallen me in the last two years.

BlackWolf said:
Also chapter length is one of my hells. I'm sure people don't want to be a reading 20 page chapters...(when converted to A5)
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Don't worry about that BlackWolf... I had a chapter that was 47 pages long in my second book attempt
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20thCenturyBoy said:
BlackWolf said:
I certainly couldn't do what creators like Tite Kubo do and balance that many characters...
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I really hope this is sarcasm :lol:
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;) Seriously I would look else where for an example of large multi character handling then Tite, I may not think much of my writting skill, but i could write a better final arc then what he's doing.

Max Takeshi said:
BlackWolf said:
Also chapter length is one of my hells. I'm sure people don't want to be a reading 20 page chapters...(when converted to A5)
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Don't worry about that BlackWolf... I had a chapter that was 47 pages long in my second book attempt
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:eek: that's one big chapter. If you have the story finished then you should look at showing people :) It would be a shame to let all that work go to waste. Especially if its something you poured your being into.
 
BlackWolf said:
:eek: that's one big chapter. If you have the story finished then you should look at showing people :) It would be a shame to let all that work go to waste. Especially if its something you poured your being into.
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Wasteful is a good word :(

That one is done only in rough first draft (4 years finished, not even looked at since except for the odd reference point), my first is more or less done. But I'm sure chat like this is best done in another thread.

Inspired by an anime, too!
 
I would try my hand at writing, but I don't have much experience and my grammar sucks. I'd also get so absorbed in planning everything (characters, setting, etc) I'd end up not getting to the writing part due to perfectionism.
 
I am currently convalescent after succumbing to a virus from an unidentified fellow metropolitan. My room, wherein I have been all but confined, has now become the temporary residence of at least three fruit flies.
 
theirsbailiff said:
A friend and I went to a charity shop today and I found a copy of this for £4:

I doubt anyone of you here has found something better than this at any charity shop.
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Awesome find :) It's definitely worth checking charity shops, I got a Zelda Game and Watch, a Clow Book from Cardcaptor Sakura (It has all the cards from the series in it) and a bunch of rare Yu Gi Oh cards. All from the charity shop I volunteer at. I have also got some volumes of manga from another charity shop a few years back at £2.50 a volume and they were in like new condition. In that same charity shop I have spotted brand new and sealed Manga Force DVDS. I didn't get them since they were all ones I own.
 
theirsbailiff said:
A friend and I went to a charity shop today and I found a copy of this for £4:
11ak49c.jpg

I doubt anyone of you here has found something better than this at any charity shop.
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errr a 16GB memory card for the Nintendo game cube. not gonna get much use for it now since I only got two games
 
Very nice. ^__^

I haven't had any time to play over the past few months... well actually since I became a dad! :D

Keeping my anime watching up though. MAS
 
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