Rebekka S. Leber
If anyone is doing Camp NaNo in July, and is still struggling with inspiration, @IndiePenInk is tweeting #AbandonedIdeas all week leading up to camp next Sat. On the flip side, if you are flush with ideas you know you'll never get around to writing, and want to see them go to a good home, you can tweet them to @IndiePenInk with the same hashtag. good luck with Camp!
https://twitter.com/IndiePenInk
Vision155
hi,
I started a project a while back that i'm picking up again. The plot is basically about a girl whose sister recently committed suicide, and now she's trying to deal with the aftermath. The format of the book is diary-style. I've never personally dealt with suicide, but I want to make this book as close to the truth as possible. I know this is a tough thing to ask, but if you ever dealt with this issue or have good online sources to refer, I would love it if you could message me at
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poseidonenettuno16@gmail.com .
Thanks.
Ben Douglas
I have a question. Can I have a Dragon in my science fiction/fantasy story? Its not really a dragon, per se, but its on an alien world far from Earth. I'm working on this story and it might have some kind of creature that's gonna be a flying kind and it breathes fire, but its not really a dragon. It's similar to a dragon. So...its a dragon, but not a dragon.
Make sense? I know, I'm confused too... -_-
Guess my question is, should I have a type of dragon in my science
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fiction story or really a type of flying alien creature that breathes fire in my story?
Catherine Kopf
Hmm... I think that's kind of up to you. You could do an alien creature similar to the dragon with a few differences. You could have a type of dragon though, I would think, especially since it's on an alien planet. Perhaps someone names the creature
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after a type of dragon instead of its alien name to make sure everyone knows it-- especially if the real creature name is long and hard to pronounce (think of it like a scientific name). I hope that helps. :)
lucneilis
You are building your universe in your story. As long as you describe what you are calling a dragon sufficiently and you keep it consistent people should be able to keep up.
Greg Alldredge
It is your story, you could describe a purple unicorn that flys and farts rainbows and call it a dragon if you like. If you back it up with good descriptions and motivations and have some semblance of order, even the most chaotic settings can be
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used. Fantasy, Sci-Fi many times in the past have been interwoven. "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Arthur C Clarke
Rebekka S. Leber
The better question you should be asking is what does it have to do with your story? Do you need a fire breathing alien dragon-esque creature? If you just want to add it for coolness, then stop before you even start. Everything in your story needs to
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be there because the story needs it to be there. Is it there b/c your scientists have discovered it or have cloned it or whatever... does it have a purpose? If not, the answer is no.
You can literally get away with anything in any genre if you make a strong enough argument for it, but that argument has to be made with a strong story.
Greg Alldredge
How many people write because they want to become rich?
How many people write because they have a story to tell?
How many people write because the voices in their heads tell them what to say?
Catherine Kopf
Well, I normally write because I've got stories I want to tell: daring to follow your dreams despite adversity, overcoming isolationism, making choices, family ties, etc. I think if you're just doing it for money it can be more frustrating trying to figure out what your best seller's going to be.
lucneilis
I think everyone would love to be JK Rowling but realistically if you are not in it for the love of telling a story your going to be frustrated and it will show in your writing.
Rebekka S. Leber
It's cathartic for me. It's great for working out internal, mental struggles, and it's way cheaper than therapy. Plus, it comes with the added plus that it might be exactly what someone else needed to read to feel connected and get through one more day.
Catherine Kopf
Here's another question: When you create your characters, do you tend to base them off of real people or do you tend to write characters you'd like seeing in your story? I tend to do a bit of both. One of my characters will always have a special place in my heart. They were inspired by my cousin, and he recently passed away in a car wreck right before I finished the book. To me, they'll always be a memory of him. Also though, I inspired one character off of what I wanted someone to be like when
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I was bullied. So, I do both of those things. You?
Greg Alldredge
Mine are a bit of Frankenstein's monsters. They are not based on anyone person, they are tailored to fit the need of the story. If anything there might be a little of myself in every character. I think we are all much more interesting than we give
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ourselves credit for. Everyone one of us has the ability to be the hero or the villain. The best villains are the heroes of their internal monologues. ;)
Catherine Kopf
I have to agree! I see myself in all of my characters too and I do tailor them to fit the needs of a story, but sometimes I base them off of others for speaking habits, hobbies, things like that. :)
lucneilis
Sometimes I start a character based on someone I know but they always end up with a little bit of me in them. I think the characters shape the story as apposed to tailoring them to fit the needs of a story. But maybe that just my writing style.
Catherine Kopf
That sounds a lot like me too. :) I tend to do that some.
Greg Alldredge
Lucneeilis, read and reviewed one of your stories, nice start... Yes Catherine I know I am working on your second book, but I only have a few days to try to get my bar filled, so I am focusing on new reviews.
lucneilis
Thanks Greg. I'm reading your book now and ill post a review when I'm finished.
Katie Reynolds
In the book I'm currently writing, there is one or two based on real people, hints of characteristics exaggerated or the way they look. However, in Penelope, I wrote them all from scratch. I guess I see myself in some of them. But I like to create
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characters, give them their own personality and I always write a small back story to them that I don't usually put in books.
Catherine Kopf
This novel has some great potential to it, so I recommend checking it out. :)
Greg Alldredge
I am curious, Where do your ideas come from?
I have a file with 13 books waiting to be written. I have a short blurb for each. My ideas can come from almost anywhere, or any time. I was wondering where your ideas come from. I hope I am not the only scatter brained thinker out there. ;)
There Kayresia, you aren't the only one that posts questions here. ;)
Samantha Speed
My ideas come from anywhere. I recently found four or five notebooks that I started books in. Some of them are from when I was twelve.
The book I'm working on now came to me when I was fifteen. I was sitting on the porch at my Great
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Grandma's house and I saw the way the lights came through the trees. This isn't used in the book, but the opening line of the original was, "It was a beautiful morning as the sun shown through the trees. It was fall and the leaves were stunning colors of red, orange, and brown. It was almost as if everything was right in the world."
My other books were failed attempts at fantasy (I read them to myself and mock them)
Catherine Kopf
I tend to be pretty scatterbrained myself, but most of the time, I think of things I'd love to see in a story and put them into a novel. That, and I also think of different things going on in my own life. For me, it was people misjudging creativity
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and ignoring its important, being shy, being bullied (middle school. Pretty sad. It was because I was a book freak.), and other concepts. Sometimes I get crazy dreams and put those in novels too. Sometimes even song lyrics will give me ideas. :)
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Samantha Speed
Greg Alldredge
johnksutherland
I just posted my twentieth novel on INkitt. It's a shocker, full of action, adventure, violence, blood, gore, etc, just like the nightly news. It's called 'There is no tomorrow'. See it in my profile by clicking on my name above.,
Catherine Kopf
Congrats! Any you really recommend for me to check out? I recently edited my second book, To Love, and I'd love to hear your thoughts on it. :)
johnksutherland
Catherine, there are just the first seven chapters of my latest book. It should not be 'reviewed' until it is 'finished'. You read one of mine earlier. If you would like to try 'Saving Selena, A polite (mostly) love story, go ahead. I have all of
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your books to read, but I have a backlog to get through first, and a lot of writing to do.
Catherine Kopf
Alright. I'll look at Saving Selena. I hope I didn't confuse you. I only wanted to know which of your other books you wanted to me to look at, not necessarily the newest. :)
johnksutherland
Some in my writers' group, tell me that 'Saving Selena' is my best novel so far. Love, violence, heart-break, and especially three of the most intriguing children, all girls, imaginable.
johnksutherland
I'm even reading it again myself along with you. I have a habit of doing that.
Catherine Kopf
Me too. I can always find mistakes that way even after self editing several times, and then I say "How did I miss that?"
