21–30 of 49 posts
OT: Just decided a new reading rule for myself: when a popup interrupts my reading I'll ask myself "Does finding out what this says based on what little I know so far matter to me?" If the answer is not a resounding "yes!", I close the tab.
Besides mailing list signups, chat widgets, etc. it also blocks GDPR cookie notices.
I'm curious to know if authors of great books know the "ending" ahead of time? In Stephen King's case, I'd say "no". In John Irving's case, where the ending is often "put the book down in awe", I'd assume he MUST, right? I'd love to write a book, I have ideas, I just don't know if I'll ever have a good ending. This must be the curse of most aspiring writers!?
There are a number of descriptors that all tend to mean the same thing for the spectrum of writing styles at play here: - Discovery / Outline - Pantser / Plotter - Gardner / Architect Those labels apply to the extremes of either technique, and writers often fall somewhere more to one side or the other. Stephen King is a discovery writer. It's why his endings often fizzle. Brandon Sanderson is an outliner, which is wh…
It's also similar to songwriting in that sense. If you want to write a really good song, do you write lyrics first or music first? Generally speaking, if you pick one or the other, you'll find that one "serves" the other. Writing both at once, though... that's really hard.
I'm curious to know if authors of great books know the "ending" ahead of time? In Stephen King's case, I'd say "no". In John Irving's case, where the ending is often "put the book down in awe", I'd assume he MUST, right? I'd love to write a book, I have ideas, I just don't know if I'll ever have a good ending. This must be the curse of most aspiring writers!?
I'm curious to know if authors of great books know the "ending" ahead of time? In Stephen King's case, I'd say "no". In John Irving's case, where the ending is often "put the book down in awe", I'd assume he MUST, right? I'd love to write a book, I have ideas, I just don't know if I'll ever have a good ending. This must be the curse of most aspiring writers!?
Apparently, he did not know the character Saruman existed. He was just working the story, and had this gap which eventually turned into Saruman. Saruman seems rather "important", so it's interesting (to me) that it was not a core character from early on.
As a non-writer, even as a programmer, I find it kind of surprising that the authors surprise themselves. Writing code, it's rare that I've found "I needed Something" without knowing what it was, and then stumbled on to a solution. I usually have a pretty good idea of a mechanic I need for a particular situation.
I mean, I understand how a writer can create a character, and "let them go" and "see what happens", but I just think that's different from a more structural component of the story.
Of course, as a corollary, there was an author talking about how in one story, he managed to back the characters into a corner. He then proceeded to write some other parts of the story, and when he got back to the earlier characters, they were out. They had escaped. Whatever corner they were backed into, they were no longer there.
And he did not write how that happened. They just "got out". He used the interim story to, essentially, distract the readers about what was happening before.
Cheap trick, but I guess whatever works.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
From my experience, you don’t need to know the exact ending but you should have a general idea of where stuff needs to go. Knowing the end state makes planning the events and character development easier, and can help you avoid pacing problems. You can create the structure working backwards from the end state. When I write I usually think about what needs to happen to get everything to where it “needs to be” in a com…
> makes planning the events and character development easier My impression is that it makes the former easier and the latter harder. Having a planned-out plot-focused story can lead you to a very tight, satisfying climax. But it can often make the characters feel wooden or like they are acting out of character in order to do what the plot needs them to do. When a writer focuses more on the fidelity of a character's i…
I'm curious to know if authors of great books know the "ending" ahead of time? In Stephen King's case, I'd say "no". In John Irving's case, where the ending is often "put the book down in awe", I'd assume he MUST, right? I'd love to write a book, I have ideas, I just don't know if I'll ever have a good ending. This must be the curse of most aspiring writers!?
>In Stephen King's case, I'd say "no". Haha! I his case I don't think he has anything figured out. I think as he's writing it, he's discovering what the characters are doing and is in just as much shock as we are.
Or, as the case of Cujo, when he's reading it for the first time
I'm curious to know if authors of great books know the "ending" ahead of time? In Stephen King's case, I'd say "no". In John Irving's case, where the ending is often "put the book down in awe", I'd assume he MUST, right? I'd love to write a book, I have ideas, I just don't know if I'll ever have a good ending. This must be the curse of most aspiring writers!?
I used to go to a lot of author talks/readings, and was always fascinated by how different different writers' techniques are. Some know the ending when they start, some are surprised by what comes out, or even feel like it's not something they control. Some meticulously outline and refine, some start at the beginning and write to the end.
OT: Just decided a new reading rule for myself: when a popup interrupts my reading I'll ask myself "Does finding out what this says based on what little I know so far matter to me?" If the answer is not a resounding "yes!", I close the tab.
If you use uBlock Origin, I highly recommend enabling one of the "Annoyances" filter lists (EasyList, AdGuard, and uBlock each have one. I use EasyList.) Besides mailing list signups, chat widgets, etc. it also blocks GDPR cookie notices.
I'm curious to know if authors of great books know the "ending" ahead of time? In Stephen King's case, I'd say "no". In John Irving's case, where the ending is often "put the book down in awe", I'd assume he MUST, right? I'd love to write a book, I have ideas, I just don't know if I'll ever have a good ending. This must be the curse of most aspiring writers!?