Jethro Weyman

Time to make yourself an outline?
Nice work though on the 16k!!!

Yay! Such a beautiful and chilling story…. well done!!

Just seen this post…

I too am floundering about in the “half-idea” realms…. I think I usually need two sort of “touch points”: an inciting incident of some kind, but then another event of some kind to head towards in the narrative. At the moment, I sort of just have my inciting incident and not another “way point”. Grrr.

These days, I find…[Read more]

Glad you guys like it! Thanks again for all your helpful input on this. Titles clearly aren’t my forte….

That’s great, and very exciting. Looking forward to hearing more about book 2.

Hi guys,

To update: the title Sarah and I have decided on (for now) is….

After We Found Her

What’s in a name, eh?

Oh wow, @alanr, that is such exciting news about the request!!!! Amazing. Have you sent it off yet? Whatever happens, I am sure you’ll get some invaluable feedback. Congrats again!!

That’s great insight! I guess this is what we mean by the “lie” that our characters labour under. (Their misunderstanding about how the world works and what is needed of them) Our stories will have tragic ends if our characters never learn to see through the lies they are living by.

Fantastic!

Hi Elle,

I really enjoyed this, and it works for me! It’s the classic issue of the ex, right? The one you can never compete with properly. I like it.

Only spotted one typo: “She was the seed of doubt planted in me which feed on those silences” – should it be fed?

Great work!

Well done, Daeds, a star is born!

I’m just watching it now. It’s brilliant. Well done, Daed 😁

I’ve never started a piece of fiction knowing the ending. I like to start with a scene, put a character into it, and see where it goes. I enjoy the ride.

@kazg, thanks so much for that link.

And you’ve expressed above so beautifully my exact thoughts on story structure – including the necessity of balancing all our technical knowledge with room for the subconscious to speak.

I’m pretty sure I’ll get the words down. But right now I have only the vaguest plan and I can’t think of even a working title.

I often think “getting” story structure is like one of those damn magic eye puzzles. All these people around you are like “oh yeah! It’s dolphins!!” while you’re staring at it like, “whaaa?”

And then, you glimpse it (maybe in a CM Taylor workshop), but then it’s gone again. You glimpse it, it disappears, you glimpse it, you go…[Read more]

Hi L,

I think you could trim most of the paragraphs in the first half of the story, really. The Physics thing (tight pants) early on could go, you use this analogy later on anyway. Watching a film at the cinema, that paragraph could be less wordy I think.
And towards the end – “zipped her hoodie and pulled the hood over her head” etc. I know…[Read more]

I think “Spotting an opening…” needs a new para. The lipstick thing is a little over complicated, I think you could shorten it without losing anything.
The “pills like skittles” analogy doesn’t work for me.
“Small-to-medium-time” seems a cop-out, he’s a small-time crook, I think.
“Anticipated to sit..” should be “anticipated sitting”.

I’d take…[Read more]

@janeshuff, that’s a great way of putting it. Yes, “the broad sweeps” and then refining in the edits.