Citazione:Even if it remains just a manuscript, it's still your book!
Publishing doesn't make you a writer. Writing makes you a writer.

(13-05-2011, 23:13)The Fool Ha scritto:  Robin Hobb, da autrice affermata qual è, si sente spesso chiedere suggerimenti da quanti condividono il suo amore per la scrittura. Durante gli incontri coi lettori, sulle pagine del newsgroup e sul suo sito ufficiale, non nega mai consigli e incoraggiamento, dati con il garbo e l'umiltà che la contraddistinguono; da brava Matta ho raccolto nel tempo alcune delle sue risposte più interessanti e le riporterò in questo topic a beneficio di grafomani e aspiranti scrittori. ^^

Comincerei con una delle sue esortazioni più forti: chi scrive deve farlo innanzitutto per sé stesso, indipendentemente dalla possibilità di essere pubblicato. Non è pubblicare un libro a renderti uno scrittore. Scrivere fa di te uno scrittore.

Citazione:Even if it remains just a manuscript, it's still your book!
Publishing doesn't make you a writer. Writing makes you a writer.

Citazione:I really only have one tip. WRITE! Write a lot. Keep entering words onto the screen or into a spiral notebook, one character at a time. Write and write and write! Don’t let critics discourage you and don’t let friends over inflate your estimation of your writing. Write, and let it cool, and while it is doing that, write some more. And some day, you will pick up a piece of your writing, read it over and think, “I really like that!” And that is even better than the first time you get published.

Citazione:It's a 3 step process:

Locate your internal editor.
Smash with hammer.
Keep writing.



Seriously, you have to say to yourself, "I just need to get this on paper. I can make it pretty later. But if I don't get it on paper (or screen) I will never be able to fix it." You can't fix what doesn't exist.

Citazione:The first thing you should know is that every writer does things his or her own way. So, however you attempt writing, you are not wrong!

Citazione:There is literally no wrong way to write a book or story, and that may be the whole point of the assignement you've been given.

Citazione:My experience of how to write is limited to me, by myself, writing. So all I can tell you is what works for me. Hope it's helpful.

I make an outline, but I regard it as 'one possible way to write this book.' It's not the Ten Commandments. If I see a shortcut or a more interesting path, I follow it. Sometimes it works brilliantly and sometimes it's a disaster. But it has never been time wasted, even if I toss out a lot of pages. I end up knowing more about my stories and characters even when something doesn't work.

Citazione:Good luck with your fantasy novel. I will tell you the only trick I know. Persevere. Push those keys down every day. The only way that anyone writes anything is one key stroke at a time. So when it is dark outside and you are alone with your little lamplight shining out the window, think of all the writers all over the world who are doing the same thing, and keep at it.

Best of luck!

Robin

Citazione:The rewrites can be a chore and no mistake. But they are also a chance to improve everything, and that can be where it's enjoyable.
I suggest you set yourself a certain number of pages to do each day. Do them and say 'done' and walk away until the next day. That may keep it from seeming like an endless task.
No one writes a book in one day. Or edits it in one day either!

Citazione:There really isn't a wrong way to do this. It's always what works for you.
I do a lot of rewriting as I go along. Often, I'll begin my day by re-reading the previous day's work, adding to it and correcting it so that by the time I reach the end of those pages I'm back in the story and ready to write more.
At the end, I like to let the manuscript cool for a week or so. And then jump back in and read from the start, pretending that I know nothing about the book. That helps me find holes in the description or places where the plot isn't clear.
But everyone does it his own way! Just be sure that you do it! Much better to find those errors before an editor sees it.

Citazione:Sometimes names with apostrophes in them can be tolerated. In the Pern books, for example. I think I would have read those even if she had given them names with random punctuation in the middle!

I like the name Fafhrd, mostly because Fritz Leiber admitted in the stories how peculiar a name it was.

I do not care for names that take up half a line of text. Names or place names with too many x's or z's always seem like they are trying too hard to be foreign and peculiar. Zeferraxinxia, for example. Or a bit Seussical.

I loved the name Eddard Stark, and that his friends called him Ned. Great naming!

Names do matter.

Robin