Showing posts with label bad writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bad writing. Show all posts
Someone asks:
I'm 14, and I hope to finish a book soon. But, I have a few questions... If i don't want my parents to read it, and I use a pen name, would I be able to get it published without them finding out, or would I have to wait until I'm 18? Also, and tips for the actual content? Such as character development? I know things like give them flaws, but I need to make sure they don't all end up the same or stereotypical descriptions. (Like, there's part of a love story involved and I don't want the girl to only care about him... but she's with him all the time, so he distracts her.) And if a story is graphic, can it still be published? (Sorry, I have a lot of questions.)
My Answer:
You can use a pen name, but your parents will have to find about your book eventually because you, a minor, can't sign with an agent or publisher without having a parent/guardian also sign. Besides, you will be receiving money for your book (if it does get published) and won't your parents wonder where you got that from?
Go to this website for your questions about character/plot stuff: http://www.writing-world.com/index.shtml
If you're afraid if your characters are being Mary Sues or Gary Stus, you can take this quiz about them to see if they are: http://www.springhole.net/quizzes/marysu…
I don't know what you mean by graphic. If you mean graphic as in pictures, you can. If you mean graphic as in sexual/violent/etc, then you may have a bit of trouble with that, just don't go overboard.
Remember to focus on writing that great story FIRST before thinking about becoming published.
Good luck! Remember to research!
Additional: Go to this site for information on publishing: http://www.nathanbransford.com/
Go to this website for your questions about character/plot stuff: http://www.writing-world.com/index.shtml
If you're afraid if your characters are being Mary Sues or Gary Stus, you can take this quiz about them to see if they are: http://www.springhole.net/quizzes/marysu…
I don't know what you mean by graphic. If you mean graphic as in pictures, you can. If you mean graphic as in sexual/violent/etc, then you may have a bit of trouble with that, just don't go overboard.
Remember to focus on writing that great story FIRST before thinking about becoming published.
Good luck! Remember to research!
Additional: Go to this site for information on publishing: http://www.nathanbransford.com/
Source(s):
Experience
If you've never seen this video, then you MUST! Not only is it hilarious, but so very informative!
Why do people like bad books? Some of them probably don't read enough to know the difference. But all the same, I suspect that they wouldn't be equally content with Martin Amis' "The Pregnant Widow" should the bookstore clerk have mistakenly slipped that into their shopping bag instead of "The Lost Symbol." Chances are, Amis' strenuously inventive prose would strike them as too much work. The popular species of bad writing (for there are many, many kinds of awful prose) abounds in clichés, stock characters and conventional plot twists, and, as Amis indicated in the title of a collection of his literary criticism, he is a general in the War Against Cliché.
My Opinion:With the advent of Amazon reader reviews, such readers have finally found a voice, and a vocabulary with which to express their taste. Speed is the operative metaphor. Novels are praised for being a "fast read" and above all for having writing that "flows." "Flow" is an especially fascinating term because it's one that literary critics have never used, and it perfectly captures the way that clichéd prose can be gobbled up in chunks at a breakneck pace. "The Da Vinci Code" is over 400 pages long, but you can race through it in about three hours. Combine the large population of casual readers who limit themselves to such books with the hardcore bibliophiles who like an occasional dip into something easy, and you have enough buyers to create a hit.
Wow. Well, I suppose I agree with this. Humanity is acquiring more indolence every generation. My classmates despise literary merit books, and they hate analyzing the skillfully woven symbolism, metaphors, and social commentary along with them. They prefer reads in simplistic, straightforward language, and they absolutely despise excessive description.
This is depressing. Whatever happened to "good writing"?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
