|
Post by ronmiller on Mar 23, 2020 11:12:13 GMT
Anyway. What about some last lines? My main output has been a series, and this is how one ended >> > With a wide grin, Lilium states, “who knows,” then asks needlessly, “Would this be the sort of thing you were talking about, then?” < And the next in the series says what it is. That's similar to a great technique that Edgar Rice Burroughs would use: the last line of a chapter could be the first line of the next one. That sort of thing really keeps you reading!
|
|
|
Post by Retread-Retired-Cameron on Mar 23, 2020 11:42:11 GMT
Ron, Some characters take on lives of their own, always ready for new adventures and the stories as go with them. Congrats on starting a new story. No kidding! All of my characters are extremely real to me and oftentimes a story line is diverted by something the character just naturally had to do. Probably the most real (to me) of my characters is Velda, who has kind of taken on a life of her own. And I would be the last one in the world to argue with her... My spouse gets a bit irritated at times when I'm writing, because I'll discuss certain characters and what they're going through as if they're living people. As she put it, those characters have the ability to draw the reader into their worlds, and she'd rather read about what's happening to them than hear about it while I'm in the writing process.
I'm also never surprised when a character reveals more to the story than I thought was there, as its the character's story, and I'm just the typist.
I also have a prototherian character from 'Mono-Earth' patiently waiting for me to get back to her personal story, as she's dealing with the effects of an ancient trap that bit her before the resettlement vessel she was on crash-landed on its destination planet. I refuse to argue with her, because despite being of diminutive stature she's a lot more powerful than she appears to be...
|
|
|
Post by ronmiller on Mar 23, 2020 14:20:19 GMT
Some of the opening lines from my fiction, for whatever it's worth...
Velda:
I get off the bus in Plankton Key, Florida and it’s like stepping in front of a glassblower’s furnace.
Return to Skull Island:
My search for the great white armadillo had justified neither my expectations nor investment, both of which were exhausted, leaving me depressed and penniless in Plankton, New Mexico.
The Iron Tempest (aka Bradamant):
It was not until the two exhausted knights took a pause in their mutually ferocious pummeling that they discovered, to their shared astonishment and consternation, that the beautiful damsel over whom they had been murdering one another was gone.
Bradamant and the Rose Garden (novelette):
Lady Bradamant was polishing Homme Brochette, the great golden lance by which she was known throughout Frankland, when she heard the sound of hoofs approaching the gate below her window.
Bradamant and the Apprentice Hero (novelette):
Lady Bradamant had been attempting for weeks to deal with the giants who had been plaguing the land that had been put under her protection by Charles the Great.
An unfinished Bradamant novelette:
Lady Bradamant of Montauban was enjoying the party just about as much as any other person would enjoy chewing aluminum foil.
The Company of Heroes, Book 1:
If it had not been for the strong arm of Thud Mollockle, the Princess Bronwyn would today be languishing in some unknown and mossy dungeon, had she been allowed to remain alive at all.
The Company of Heroes, Book 2:
King Felix of Londeac was so startled by the unexpected appearance of his young niece, the Princess Bronwyn Tedeschiiy, that he had an attack of asthma that rendered him bedridden for nearly two days.
The Company of Heroes, Book 3:
King Ferenc of Tamlaght critically reviewed his disintegrating complexion.
The Company of Heroes, Book 4:
The Woxen-Mollockle Grand Combined Spectacle and Pan-Universal Wonder Circus suffered perhaps the greatest setback of its career when the meteor hit it.
Dakkar:
The young engineer laid a hand on the freshly laid brick of the curving tunnel wall and not for the first time marveled at what he saw only a few yards away.
Return to the Center:
How can I describe the extraordinary sensation produced by the return of my uncle, Professor Otto Lidenbrock, and myself from our quest for the center of the earth?
Later: I just realized for the first time that I used "Plankton" as a place name in two different stories (and placing it in two different states). I must really like it.
|
|
|
Post by Retread-Retired-Cameron on Mar 23, 2020 14:49:25 GMT
Ron,
I do believe what those opening lines are worth is a variety of works I'll be acquiring once the finances ease up next year.
Hopefully some of the supporting cast in the novel I'm currently working on will let me read another author's work at some point, it appears they wish to tell some of the stories they have regarding the cryptids they seek out and protect while helping the good down to earth everyday citizens of the US keep their illusions and / or delusions about reality and the nature of the universe. Not always the easiest task to cover up a family of Neanderthals suddenly appearing in the middle of a crowded mall, but definitely an interesting tale.
|
|
|
Post by ronmiller on Mar 23, 2020 15:39:26 GMT
Ron, I do believe what those opening lines are worth is a variety of works I'll be acquiring once the finances ease up next year. Hopefully some of the supporting cast in the novel I'm currently working on will let me read another author's work at some point, it appears they wish to tell some of the stories they have regarding the cryptids they seek out and protect while helping the good down to earth everyday citizens of the US keep their illusions and / or delusions about reality and the nature of the universe. Not always the easiest task to cover up a family of Neanderthals suddenly appearing in the middle of a crowded mall, but definitely an interesting tale. Really looking forward to seeing your Neanderthal story!
|
|
|
Post by Retread-Retired-Cameron on Mar 23, 2020 16:44:36 GMT
Ron, I do believe what those opening lines are worth is a variety of works I'll be acquiring once the finances ease up next year. Hopefully some of the supporting cast in the novel I'm currently working on will let me read another author's work at some point, it appears they wish to tell some of the stories they have regarding the cryptids they seek out and protect while helping the good down to earth everyday citizens of the US keep their illusions and / or delusions about reality and the nature of the universe. Not always the easiest task to cover up a family of Neanderthals suddenly appearing in the middle of a crowded mall, but definitely an interesting tale. Really looking forward to seeing your Neanderthal story! Being about 67K words into the current protagonist's story, I don't have many chapters before I finish up.
Then I can start working on the offshoot, some of the stories two agents of a very secret agency have to relate, including the perspectives of a hominin girl [whose species our version of reality never heard of or discovered]. The agency's mission statement: 'Helping the down-to-earth everyday citizens of the US maintain their illusions and / or delusions about reality and the nature of the universe – we're helping people remain blissfully unaware of cryptid existence and have been since 1945.'
|
|
|
Post by And Kevin 2024 on Mar 23, 2020 16:46:56 GMT
"No kidding! All of my characters are extremely real to me and oftentimes a story line is diverted by something the character just naturally had to do. Probably the most real (to me) of my characters is Velda, who has kind of taken on a life of her own. And I would be the last one in the world to argue with her..."
I often 'become' the people in my stories. It seems the best way to write. Like a Method Actor I suppose. But only while writing!
|
|
|
Post by And Kevin 2024 on Mar 23, 2020 16:49:33 GMT
"That's similar to a great technique that Edgar Rice Burroughs would use: the last line of a chapter could be the first line of the next one. That sort of thing really keeps you reading!
One problem is, people have to buy and read the books in order to read first and last lines, and the words in between, in the first place!"
|
|
|
Post by Retread-Retired-Cameron on Mar 24, 2020 10:23:44 GMT
Yet oddly enough people still do buy books and use them for the intended purpose rather than as doorstops.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 24, 2020 12:24:57 GMT
And I would be the last one in the world to argue with her...
I agree Ron I certainly wouldn't take on Velda.
|
|
|
Post by ronmiller on Mar 24, 2020 12:27:43 GMT
"No kidding! All of my characters are extremely real to me and oftentimes a story line is diverted by something the character just naturally had to do. Probably the most real (to me) of my characters is Velda, who has kind of taken on a life of her own. And I would be the last one in the world to argue with her..." I often 'become' the people in my stories. It seems the best way to write. Like a Method Actor I suppose. But only while writing! I do the same thing, too!
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 24, 2020 12:33:30 GMT
Yes I think it's inevitable that we identify with our characters. That's why it must be hard for authors to kill off a character they love, but I suppose if the plot demands it, one must do it!
|
|
|
Post by Retread-Retired-Cameron on Mar 24, 2020 12:33:41 GMT
The most relatable characters are those that 'own' your hands while you're telling their stories.
|
|
|
Post by ronmiller on Mar 24, 2020 15:22:33 GMT
Most of my characters exist solely within the books...that is, there is not much more back story than you get in the text. Bradamant (the heroine of The Iron Tempest) and Velda are both exceptions. Velda, in fact, has an entire biography.
|
|
|
Post by Retread-Retired-Cameron on Mar 24, 2020 15:38:27 GMT
Most of my characters exist solely within the books...that is, there is not much more back story than you get in the text. Bradamant (the heroine of The Iron Tempest) and Velda are both exceptions. Velda, in fact, has an entire biography. Memorable characters take on life and deserve the time and detail that goes into giving them a back story they need if they're going to remain active. Kind of why I fleshed out the back story for the 'Regeneration' series.
The character I'm working with now is explaining certain highlights of her life story from her time living in her version of reality as well as her time living in a reality much more similar to ours, sans COVID-19. It's her way of connecting with the closest thing to extended family she can have, the counterparts of her relatives lost in her world.
Writing a credible biography for a fictional character is not the easiest task, but it can help lure the reader deeper into another world for a time even if it's just for the reader to better appreciate the life he /she / ze has.
|
|