One of my earliest posts was about creating a calendar of sorts (even if it's just for your eyes only) to keep track of your story. Now, in lieu of another post about researching for your story to keep it accurate, I will sort of combine the two ideas.
If your story is set in the real world or at least in a semi-realistic form of our world (I'm thinking stories like "Harry Potter" or "Twilight"), you must be aware of when events take place. This will be important in determining seasons and, if your character is in school (whether high school or college) or has a five-day a week work schedule, what your character is up to. So if you say "on May 5th, 2002 Character #1 went to school to take a calculus final," this would be inaccurate because July 5th on that day was a Sunday. So unless your character has an extremely good excuse for being at the school on Sunday, you've made a massive mistake.
This kind of calendar also comes in handy when figuring out what was going in culturally at that time. I discovered this recently when I had a character complaining about the fact that she just had her head shaved. I was going to have her make a reference to Britney Spears. Then I did a quick wikipedia search and realized that the Britney Spears incident actually occurs a year later than the scene and so wouldn't be accurate, so I had to change the comment. Quick wikipedia searches are also handy when discovering exactly when movies, CDs, books, etc... come out so that a character doesn't accidentally get a CD for his birthday that isn't supposed to be released for five more months.
Again, this is not in-depth, and it's certainly not required for a first draft. I generally write a first draft of a story, not caring about the dates, and then in the second draft start making sure everything is accurate and make a calendar (which only I look at, but it comes in great handy). Wikipedia is good for finding release dates, and timeanddate dot com is very helpful in figuring out days of the week and also the moon phases for certain months.
I highly recommend being careful about such dates in your story because keeping them accurate keeps your story accurate.
Saturday, November 23, 2013
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Thoughts from a Friend
Recently, an on-line friend of mine (and a fellow writer) posted two blog posts about book covers and what looks appealing. It's given me quite a bit to think about, especially as I consider publishing my own novel in the next year.
I'm posting the first post, and the second one should be easy to find.
Hope it helps!
http://musings-in-a-strange-land.blogspot.com/2013/09/never-judge-book-by-itsnevermind-part-1.html
I'm posting the first post, and the second one should be easy to find.
Hope it helps!
http://musings-in-a-strange-land.blogspot.com/2013/09/never-judge-book-by-itsnevermind-part-1.html
Friday, August 23, 2013
More on Research
Lately, I've been reading stuff from another blogger who's been critiquing "Twilight," and one of her posts got me thinking about something that I think writers sometimes forget about: the occasional need for research.
In one of her posts, someone commented on how Stephanie Meyer didn't do any research on Washington weather because her description doesn't seem to fit with how it works in real-life. In another comment, someone else mentioned that Meyer picked a random date for the start of the story that doesn't make sense given with the timeline (e.g. the starting point almost seems to indicate that Bella first went to school on a Saturday or something like that). These comments got me thinking about research (an occasional hobby of mine) and how important it is for writers, whether it be a little or a lot.
In stories, especially those that have at least some kind of basis in the real world, a writer must be careful not to write something that's very inaccurate, like clearly not knowing what Washington weather looks like. Because otherwise, your story will be full of mistakes, and readers will notice it. An author who does no research at all will look lazy and like they just threw stuff together, but those who at least make an attempt to be accurate will have more realistic stories, plots, characters, locations, etc...
I've had to put this into practice with my current work-in-progress, a fantasy story that's partially set in our world. When I had a character suffering from extreme blood loss, I had to do research on the condition and treatment to make sure that his body was acting accurately and that he could be treated properly, even though magic was involved in his healing. In the same story, I mentioned other characters who were talking about the UK version of X-Factor. However, when I compared the story's timeline to reality, I found that they didn't mesh, so I did a quick wikipedia search and looked up what would have been big in the entertainment industry in that area of the timeline, which turned out to be Doctor Who-related. Another thing I had to do was figure out how long it would take for someone to drive from a village in western Ireland to the eastern side, which also took a quick search. And all this research (and others not mentioned here) took me less than five minutes and mostly involved wikipedia (maybe another website or two if I needed more details for whatever reason); basically, I looked it up, wrote it down in the story, and then moved on with whatever I was doing. It's not that difficult.
However, there are times where you can add things, like a fictional restaurant to a real-life city, but if your restaurant happens to be high-end French cuisine, you should probably do research to make sure that the menu is accurate.
In the end, basic research for a story is not difficult. Looking for accurate details for your story (whether it be knowing what kind of dishes were used in 800 AD or what kind of sword was popular in 1000 BC) helps make it seem more real, and it shows that you're putting effort into it and that you care about what details you put in there.
As an end note, for the blog I mentioned earlier, here's a link.
http://www.anamardoll.com/2011/02/twilight-twilight-deconstruction-index.html
Even though I don't agree with everything the writer says, she does bring up some very valid points about stories that have made me take a closer look at my own.
In one of her posts, someone commented on how Stephanie Meyer didn't do any research on Washington weather because her description doesn't seem to fit with how it works in real-life. In another comment, someone else mentioned that Meyer picked a random date for the start of the story that doesn't make sense given with the timeline (e.g. the starting point almost seems to indicate that Bella first went to school on a Saturday or something like that). These comments got me thinking about research (an occasional hobby of mine) and how important it is for writers, whether it be a little or a lot.
In stories, especially those that have at least some kind of basis in the real world, a writer must be careful not to write something that's very inaccurate, like clearly not knowing what Washington weather looks like. Because otherwise, your story will be full of mistakes, and readers will notice it. An author who does no research at all will look lazy and like they just threw stuff together, but those who at least make an attempt to be accurate will have more realistic stories, plots, characters, locations, etc...
I've had to put this into practice with my current work-in-progress, a fantasy story that's partially set in our world. When I had a character suffering from extreme blood loss, I had to do research on the condition and treatment to make sure that his body was acting accurately and that he could be treated properly, even though magic was involved in his healing. In the same story, I mentioned other characters who were talking about the UK version of X-Factor. However, when I compared the story's timeline to reality, I found that they didn't mesh, so I did a quick wikipedia search and looked up what would have been big in the entertainment industry in that area of the timeline, which turned out to be Doctor Who-related. Another thing I had to do was figure out how long it would take for someone to drive from a village in western Ireland to the eastern side, which also took a quick search. And all this research (and others not mentioned here) took me less than five minutes and mostly involved wikipedia (maybe another website or two if I needed more details for whatever reason); basically, I looked it up, wrote it down in the story, and then moved on with whatever I was doing. It's not that difficult.
However, there are times where you can add things, like a fictional restaurant to a real-life city, but if your restaurant happens to be high-end French cuisine, you should probably do research to make sure that the menu is accurate.
In the end, basic research for a story is not difficult. Looking for accurate details for your story (whether it be knowing what kind of dishes were used in 800 AD or what kind of sword was popular in 1000 BC) helps make it seem more real, and it shows that you're putting effort into it and that you care about what details you put in there.
As an end note, for the blog I mentioned earlier, here's a link.
http://www.anamardoll.com/2011/02/twilight-twilight-deconstruction-index.html
Even though I don't agree with everything the writer says, she does bring up some very valid points about stories that have made me take a closer look at my own.
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
A Blurb on Kings
I apologize for the lack of posts on here. I have had trouble coming up with topics, but I have been inspired by my latest history geek-out session (yes, I am a history geek if you haven't figured that out yet).
Over the past several months, I have been doing basic research (which is basically me using wikipedia... good enough for basics; if I want to learn more, I'm sure better books have been written for such things) on various monarchies. I've done Britain, France, and Russia so far, and I'm in the middle of researching Byzantine emperors. One of the interesting things that I have discovered in this research is how each monarchy was vastly different and functioned. We tend to think that kings ascending to the throne is a simple matter of the king's son or otherwise nearest male relative being chosen because of his mere birthright. However, it can be far more varied than that.
In Britain, for example, lines of ascension tend to be pretty easy to follow. All kings of unified England have been descended from Alfred the Great, and so there have been no "peasants" on the throne; even wars for the throne were fought by relatives or at least by people claiming to be relatives; however, there were also no laws preventing women from ruling either, though no female monarchs took the throne until Mary I (not counting Matilda, granddaughter of William the Conqueror, or Lady Jane Gray), and queens after that point never had to struggle to prove themselves worthy of the throne. Russia was pretty much the same way, though the family trees were more twisted and did not follow the usual pattern of father -> son and several claimants to the throne were either murdered or locked up to keep them off the throne, whether they were male or female. France, on the other hand, followed Salic Law, which forbade females from reigning, as well as preventing any rulers from being descended through a female line; this led to constant wars over the throne and a constant jumping around in the branches of family trees for centuries whenever a male line died out. The Byzantines, so far, have also proved to be different in that several early emperors died childless or only having daughters; so the emperors chose their son-in-laws to reign or elected military leaders, or other military leaders not related at all to the imperial or aristocratic families were elected after the fact, so you do not really have family dynasties like you would in England or in France.
My point in this is that as a writer, if you want to be inspired by real-life monarchies when writing your own hereditary government, you do not have to stick to the traditional father -> son model that is generally used. While this is certainly true, at other times it was not the case. You can either use the stuff that I've mentioned here or look it up yourself to get ideas, but you should play around with it in changing how a government chooses a successor. It could be that the king/emperor/whatever you call it can name anyone, even a peasant, as a successor. Or maybe it is the oldest child, whether male or female. Or maybe the ruler has no choice in the matter and a cabinet of sorts chooses the successor. Whatever the case, play with whatever idea suits you. This could also lead to some interesting plot ideas about political power and enable you to create a fascinating world with a new government system that is unlike what most novels nowadays portray monarchies as being.
So, as I said, let your imagination have fun and go at it. Even the most basic of research can give you some interesting ideas that could be prime story material.
Over the past several months, I have been doing basic research (which is basically me using wikipedia... good enough for basics; if I want to learn more, I'm sure better books have been written for such things) on various monarchies. I've done Britain, France, and Russia so far, and I'm in the middle of researching Byzantine emperors. One of the interesting things that I have discovered in this research is how each monarchy was vastly different and functioned. We tend to think that kings ascending to the throne is a simple matter of the king's son or otherwise nearest male relative being chosen because of his mere birthright. However, it can be far more varied than that.
In Britain, for example, lines of ascension tend to be pretty easy to follow. All kings of unified England have been descended from Alfred the Great, and so there have been no "peasants" on the throne; even wars for the throne were fought by relatives or at least by people claiming to be relatives; however, there were also no laws preventing women from ruling either, though no female monarchs took the throne until Mary I (not counting Matilda, granddaughter of William the Conqueror, or Lady Jane Gray), and queens after that point never had to struggle to prove themselves worthy of the throne. Russia was pretty much the same way, though the family trees were more twisted and did not follow the usual pattern of father -> son and several claimants to the throne were either murdered or locked up to keep them off the throne, whether they were male or female. France, on the other hand, followed Salic Law, which forbade females from reigning, as well as preventing any rulers from being descended through a female line; this led to constant wars over the throne and a constant jumping around in the branches of family trees for centuries whenever a male line died out. The Byzantines, so far, have also proved to be different in that several early emperors died childless or only having daughters; so the emperors chose their son-in-laws to reign or elected military leaders, or other military leaders not related at all to the imperial or aristocratic families were elected after the fact, so you do not really have family dynasties like you would in England or in France.
My point in this is that as a writer, if you want to be inspired by real-life monarchies when writing your own hereditary government, you do not have to stick to the traditional father -> son model that is generally used. While this is certainly true, at other times it was not the case. You can either use the stuff that I've mentioned here or look it up yourself to get ideas, but you should play around with it in changing how a government chooses a successor. It could be that the king/emperor/whatever you call it can name anyone, even a peasant, as a successor. Or maybe it is the oldest child, whether male or female. Or maybe the ruler has no choice in the matter and a cabinet of sorts chooses the successor. Whatever the case, play with whatever idea suits you. This could also lead to some interesting plot ideas about political power and enable you to create a fascinating world with a new government system that is unlike what most novels nowadays portray monarchies as being.
So, as I said, let your imagination have fun and go at it. Even the most basic of research can give you some interesting ideas that could be prime story material.
Monday, March 18, 2013
Pronunciation
This post will be largely for those writing fantasy or stories that require you to make up names or your own language.
When I write stories that require me to make up my own names or a semblance of a language, one thing I am reminded of is that I need to be consistent. Languages are tricky, especially when pronunciation can be varied depending on different factors. This is especially true when you are used to saying a certain letter (like e) a certain way but it may be different in another language. I found this to be true when I studied Latin and Spanish in school, and I was also reminded of this recently when working on my latest novel attempt. In my current story, the majority of my characters have names that come directly from the Scottish Gaelic dictionary. However, Scottish Gaelic, you don't pronounce the words as they look; just listen to Gaelic songs by Clannad, Altan, or some other Irish band and look at the Gaelic lyrics, and you'll get what I mean. So, in early drafts of this story, I was mispronouncing the majority of the names.
I wanted to make sure that my characters' and place names were pronounced at least semi-properly (and I don't know Gaelic), so I did a little basic research. Gaelic is a complex language, and it would be nigh impossible for me to pronounce the words correctly. However, because of my story, it is necessary that there be variations between Scottish Gaelic and between the Faerie language of my characters. So, my solution was relatively simple: for letters that have lots of varying pronunciations, pick one and stick with it consistently. So, if the dipthong "dh" has two different pronunciations depending on the surrounding letters, I pick the pronunciation "y" and stick with it consistently throughout the entire story. The difficult thing with this is that this means I have to write down all the names of characters and places and make sure that I know how every single one is correctly pronounced. Then I'll be writing all of them down with the proper pronunciation beside them, so that both myself and any potential readers know how to say the names correctly.
My point in saying all of this is that when you make up names or loosely base your names off of a real, existing language that you need to make sure they are consistent. Both for your sake and for the sake of your readers, so that you can maintain continuity and prevent confusion as to how your names are being pronounced.
When I write stories that require me to make up my own names or a semblance of a language, one thing I am reminded of is that I need to be consistent. Languages are tricky, especially when pronunciation can be varied depending on different factors. This is especially true when you are used to saying a certain letter (like e) a certain way but it may be different in another language. I found this to be true when I studied Latin and Spanish in school, and I was also reminded of this recently when working on my latest novel attempt. In my current story, the majority of my characters have names that come directly from the Scottish Gaelic dictionary. However, Scottish Gaelic, you don't pronounce the words as they look; just listen to Gaelic songs by Clannad, Altan, or some other Irish band and look at the Gaelic lyrics, and you'll get what I mean. So, in early drafts of this story, I was mispronouncing the majority of the names.
I wanted to make sure that my characters' and place names were pronounced at least semi-properly (and I don't know Gaelic), so I did a little basic research. Gaelic is a complex language, and it would be nigh impossible for me to pronounce the words correctly. However, because of my story, it is necessary that there be variations between Scottish Gaelic and between the Faerie language of my characters. So, my solution was relatively simple: for letters that have lots of varying pronunciations, pick one and stick with it consistently. So, if the dipthong "dh" has two different pronunciations depending on the surrounding letters, I pick the pronunciation "y" and stick with it consistently throughout the entire story. The difficult thing with this is that this means I have to write down all the names of characters and places and make sure that I know how every single one is correctly pronounced. Then I'll be writing all of them down with the proper pronunciation beside them, so that both myself and any potential readers know how to say the names correctly.
My point in saying all of this is that when you make up names or loosely base your names off of a real, existing language that you need to make sure they are consistent. Both for your sake and for the sake of your readers, so that you can maintain continuity and prevent confusion as to how your names are being pronounced.
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Another Medieval Book
For Christmas this year, I got another book on Medieval culture that I have enjoyed reading and hope to use for future reference for future stories.
This book is called "The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England" by Ian Mortimer, and it will be easier to find, given that the last Medieval book I recommended is out of print (I only discovered this recently). This book only focuses on the fourteenth century (the 1300's) in England, but it is very in-depth. It goes into great detail in describing how towns looked like, what different classes ate, what fashions were and how they changed particularly in that century, disease of the time period, etc... It is a very neat book, and the author is a good writer too. I will give one warning for certain people: the book has some PG-13 content given some of the language used during the time period, the violence, and even some of the "medical" cures for diseases; so while I recommend the book, read at your own risk.
This book is called "The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England" by Ian Mortimer, and it will be easier to find, given that the last Medieval book I recommended is out of print (I only discovered this recently). This book only focuses on the fourteenth century (the 1300's) in England, but it is very in-depth. It goes into great detail in describing how towns looked like, what different classes ate, what fashions were and how they changed particularly in that century, disease of the time period, etc... It is a very neat book, and the author is a good writer too. I will give one warning for certain people: the book has some PG-13 content given some of the language used during the time period, the violence, and even some of the "medical" cures for diseases; so while I recommend the book, read at your own risk.
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