Comments on: Writing FAQ

By: Breanna

Breanna — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 07:43:13 +0000

I have read the advice on your website, and your essay on the topic, but I have another question—and I know this is sad . Do you have any advice AT ALL on editing? I mean, like the tiniest, slighest advice? Because I’m really, really awful and I want to know if the experts have any more of a clue… Thank you for your time; you’re AMAZING!!!
~Breanna

By: Justine

Justine — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 04:13:53 +0000

Breanna: Liar is full of very short scenes. I think the shortest one is 45 words. James Patterson and Dan Brown have very very short chapters and there books are very popular. Don’t worry about the length of scenes! Just write the best you can.

By: Breanna

Breanna — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 07:33:33 +0000

Do you think it is bad to have short scenes? As in, 800 words short? In the beginning of my novel, the scenes were at least 1,500—ranging to 6K!—and now they’re quite short. Although some of them are a bit longer, I’m just being a worry-bug and would like to know what you think . Thanks for reading, hope for your reply! ~Breanna

P.S. When I first saw “Liar” ’s cover in stores, I was like, “What does that say?” It was so confusing—and then I finally worked it out! Yay for me!

By: Justine

Justine — Sat, 23 May 2009 02:16:44 +0000

Taylor: I've written a couple of posts on related questions that might help you. I link to them below. Many describe what you're going through as "writer's block". It's very common. There are lots of ways to beat it but they pretty much all involve pushing through. You have to ignore whatever is creating the anxiety and just write. First drafts are almost always terrible. Mine are. Don't let that worry you. Just keep writing down the story you set out to tell. You can always fix it later. Here are two posts that might help. One on generating ideas and the other on how to get unstuck.

By: Taylor

Taylor — Fri, 15 May 2009 03:38:59 +0000

Hi, I’m 14 years old and I’m writing a book. I have already written the prologue and part of the first chapter but I’m having trouble going on. Whenever I try to write I kinda freeze up or something, kinda like an anxiety I guess; but I really want to write and this thing is getting irritating. I’ve read something kinda similar to this called “Black Days.” Do you know it? Think you have a way to (semi) cure it?

By: Angela

Angela — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 01:38:57 +0000

[Comment deleted because it was a series of questions for my husband, Scott Westerfeld. Please don't do that. If you send Scott questions and he doesn't answer them it's because he doesn't have time. Scott gets a ridiculous amount of mail every day. He tries to answer all of them. Sending your questions to me won't magically supply him with the time needed to answer them. He has a long FAQ of his own. And there's loads of other information on him if you read around his website.]

By: Justine

Justine — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 06:29:42 +0000

Lily: Why not write your story in all those different ways? A condensed one for your English class. A long one for yourself. And why not try writing it in first, limited third and omni to see which one works best?

I frequently write stories lots of different ways before I figure out which one works best. Not only is it fun but you learn a lot about writing.

Here’s what I’ve written about points of view. I don’t think any of them are intrinsically harder than any of the others. I recommend trying your hand at all of them.

Good luck with your story!

By: Lily

Lily — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 02:12:09 +0000

I’m twelve and I’m writing a short story for my English class. Un fortunately, my plotline is extremely complex, and it’s going to be way too long for the assignment. My English teacher says that I should write my story in several installments, but that’s not really the way I want it to be read. Should I bag the idea altogether and go with something else entirely, or should I keep the idea and just condense it a bit.
The thing is, though, my story has at least four different climaxes, and it would be confusing reading it if it started after one or two of the climaxes, and had lots of flashbacks (if any).
Also, I don’t really want to do my story in first person, or third person limited, but is third person omniscient too difficult for a beginning writer? My English teacher told me that it was a very old fashioned writing style, and although I’ve seen it used, it’s always been on stories that are at least fifty pages long (our stories can’t be longer than eight). I’m afraid my idea will turn out to be several hundred pages worth of material, so would that be too long to condense into eight pages?

By: Justine

Justine — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 04:06:06 +0000

as lee: I answered this question a couple of years ago and nothing much has changed. The sad truth though is I exaggerated in that answer. I do not write every day. It's a bit more haphazard than it should be. But I aim to write every day . . .

By: as lee

as lee — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 00:16:13 +0000

What is your typical day like? Do you have a strictly disciplined schedule that you are able to fallow? Or do you write on a more when ever schedule?