Thanks!

I'm pretty sure I know which subplots need to be there and which ones should be taken out. The problem I'm having is that some of these characters don't come until later in the series (This is a book series and not one individual book, but the series kind of flows together, instead of each book standing on its own). So I can't begin to incorproate their story at the beginning, because it would involve giving away spoilers to things the reader isn't supposed to know at that point. But when I do introduce that character and their subplot, I don't want it to seem random or out-of place, or sudden. That's the problem I'm having. Any ideas?

~Riella

My advise is the same as introducing a character for a main plot. You don't want to give everything away immediately. Readers don't want expositions about the characters. They want to know the characters by who they are and what they do. Your readers will need to want some kind of attachment to your characters before they want to know their backstory. Even if your character doesn't show up until later in the series, it's almost the same as if it is later in the book. But here is a question? Are there any ties to that character anywhere in the previous parts of the story/other books? An example: Denethor in LOTR. We hear of him referenced in FOTR and in TT through Boromir and Faramir. But we don't meet Denethor until ROTK. In that sense, we already know a bulk of the backstory before we even meet him.

Another example in my book. I have a character that is somewhat mysterious. He has a lot of information that he dishes out sparingly but it not clear why or how he knows that kind of stuff. Throughout the story, I have him tell bits and pieces of who he is and where he comes from but the full picture isn't revealed until the end.

Basically what I am getting at is this: subplots and sub-characters are not really that different than the main plot and main characters. You approach doing both in a similar way but the subplots are simply not developed as deeply. They serve in the main plot to make it work better and stronger, but they in themselves are also a separate plot that works along side the main one.

Is that helping?

Hey everyone!
I've finally started editing my NaNo novel, and it's so fun!! It doesn't seem better than it seemed to me as I wrote it, but I can make it a lot better by editing, and that's satisfying. I had no idea it was this fun - finding the exact, perfect word that fits, rephrasing EVERY sentence. It's great, though I'm very slow (see the above. ).

How wonderful that you started your novel Elanor, I love finding just the right words for my stories too, my problem is that I hate editing , so I tend to get stuck for a long while, trying to think of the right thing to write

I haven't been able to do any writing recently, probably due to the fact that I have been stuffing my head with algebra and it's draining creativity from me. Also the beginning of my novel starts with an agument between Liza and her grandpa and I'm not enjoying writing it (I generally love to write arguments with my characters....but not between a stubborn teenager and her grandfather). A lot of my novel is quite dark and unpleasant, in that it deals with the lives of teenagers who have no idea why they are living and what their lives are for, this is a subject I generally don't like to think about because I see it on a daily basis, teens hanging around and getting into trouble because they don't know what to do with their life, and writing about it isn't very....shall we say inspiring. I am making some progess though, right now I am focusing on developing characters that will be closely entwined with my main character I hope to be able to get some serious writing down soon

I've been having some trouble with something: emotions. Seems kind of silly, but I'm worried about getting too sentimental (or the opposite- not conveying enough emotions.) I find this is even harder with male character because I find men ( at least the ones I know) don't show their emotions as much as women. Has anyone experienced this problem? Any advice?

Hey wildrose, I understand the difficulty with writing teenager since I am one. I see people I know, who have the capacity to be great, go down the wrong path. Perhaps realizing that not all teens are like this will lessen your sadness. As well many of us grow to become better people who make good choices. This isn't really great advice, but I hope it helps.

Speaking of sentimental...my main characters have a couple of little girls who have Daddy wrapped around their little fingers. Lately I've enjoyed writing the occasional sentimental vignette with the kids and their dad, even if it comes out too syrupy.

Normally, though, I do write the adult males holding their emotions closer to the vest than the females do.

I had an odd dream about these characters the other night, though I didn't remember much of it when I woke up. It did offer a couple story ideas, however.

I hear you, Valiant...I have a hard time with getting emotions right as well. For some odd reason, I have a tendency to create way more guy characters than girls. And, being a girl myself, I often mistakingly give my guys rather "girly" emotions. However, most of these are presented in the form of thoughts and internal monologues...I've found this is the best way to convey my characters' emotions without necessarily making my characters show them in a physical way.

...I have a tendency to create way more guy characters than girls. And, being a girl myself, I often mistakingly give my guys rather "girly" emotions.

Interesting! I have the same situation (if reversed)...I have more female characters than male ones, though I'm a guy. I wonder if our other writers have this experience as well?

(And, in a similar vein, I wonder if my female characters are 'girly' enough. Right now my stories are focusing on developing the kiddie characters and the family dynamic, so most of my attention has been paid to that interaction. So conversely, I'm fine that Erik's able to get all gushy around his little girls, who are still young enough to be 'girly'. )

Wow, it has been quite a while since I've been here...

I've taken a long break from my novel because I took a screenwriting class last semester, and the main assignment is writing a full-length script. I finally finished mine, even if it was a little late (which is why I'm not doing ScriptFrenzy). It was a full 106 pages (with movie scripts 1 pg = approx. 1 min)! It definitely needs a lot of work though. And I don't know if I could really pull off my idea of having human aliens. I don't think I've ever seen a story where the aliens were just as human as the people from Earth. I really hope it works. I'll have to see.

So, yeah, I'm not exactly sure what to do now. I can either start work on revising my script (it's probably too soon for that) or I can go back to focusing on my novel. I probably ought to let my script sit for a bit so that when I go back to it it'll be fresh in my mind. And I probably should wait for the feedback from my teacher, too. So I guess I'll try to get back to writing my novel every day, since I'm out of school now.

Well I'm glad everyone on here is making better progress on they're writing then I am.
My computer broke so my writing has been put on hold.
Unfortunately I can't buy another until October.
In the mean time though I have thought up some more Ideas for my story and am currently working on getting my world's map 100% in order.

In fact if you guys are willing to help my out, I could sure use some help with naming some of the places in my world.

Ok so I am having two types of trouble.

The First:
I Love the name Titania, but that is the queen of the fairies and Oberon's wife in Shakespeare's comedy 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'.
I also like the name Ornella, but the name Ornella was "created by author Gabriele d'Annunzio for the novel 'La Figlia di Jorio' (1904)"
So my question is, should I use names that have been used in other novels? Or should I avoid any name associated with a novel?

The Second:
If I use a name like "Luca", does that name fit in a fantasy world?
Would it be weird for someone named Luca to read their name in a story that is taking place in a different world?
Is it ok to use names already established in the world, or is it better to make up names like Tolkien did, like Frodo, etc?
I hope I'm wording all of this right.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

A lot of the names I use are Greek.
And I use this site most of the time when choosing names:
http://babynamesworld.parentsconnect.co ... names.html

I Love the name Titania, but that is the queen of the fairies and Oberon's wife in Shakespeare's comedy 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'.
I also like the name Ornella, but the name Ornella was "created by author Gabriele d'Annunzio for the novel 'La Figlia di Jorio' (1904)"
So my question is, should I use names that have been used in other novels? Or should I avoid any name associated with a novel?

You can if you want to. I doubt anyone would sue you. But if it's just association you're worried about, then it's really up to you. Some people would associate it; others wouldn't. At least with the first one, since it's Shakespeare. I honestly haven't heard of the seond one...

If I use a name like "Luca", does that name fit in a fantasy world?
Would it be weird for someone named Luca to read their name in a story that is taking place in a different world?
Is it ok to use names already established in the world, or is it better to make up names like Tolkien did, like Frodo, etc?

I think using real names should be fine. Luca sounds pretty fantasy-esque to me anyway. Really, people have such unusual names, that even if you make it up completely, there's still probably going to be people with that name.
And remember, Tolkien may have named characters Frodo and Aragorn, but he also named them Sam and Rosie.

~Riella

7chronicles

I Love the name Titania, but that is the queen of the fairies and Oberon's wife in Shakespeare's comedy 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'.
I also like the name Ornella, but the name Ornella was "created by author Gabriele d'Annunzio for the novel 'La Figlia di Jorio' (1904)"
So my question is, should I use names that have been used in other novels? Or should I avoid any name associated with a novel?

I know your problem!! I have the same thing oftentimes! What I usually do, if I see a name a famous author has created, is change the spelling slightly. For exmaple, I would take Titania and make Titiana, or Titana. That way it sounds almost the same, but is different.

I'm currently writing two stories simultaneously. I'm not sure whether they'll turn into novels, but I hope they will. I do wish I had more time to write, though, as I am so busy at the moment I only get to them once a week, if that. At least they're both getting somewhere.

That's neat about your script, Fire Fairy! Good luck with your novel.

Funny you should mention that, 7...I recently ran into the same problem with one of my location names. I've been using it for over three years, and by now my association of the place with its name is completely ingrained in my head...and then, about a week ago, I found out that this same name was used somewhere in a well known piece of classic literature that I personally have never read. I had no idea, and having made the name up by myself, it wasn't like I was trying to steal it or anything. I just happened to come up with the same combination of letters as someone else. It came as a bit of a shock to me. But then again, I'm not about to change my name now after all this time unless someone (like an editor) insists on it. So it's staying how it is.

With that mindset, whether or not you want to change your names is entirely up to you. If you do want to change them, I like Archer's idea of changing the spelling slightly to make them unique rather than coming up with an entirely different name. It makes the transition from one name to another a little more natural. I did this with my villain's name...I wasn't entirely happy with how it sounded, but since I'd been using it for a long time, I simply changed the spelling slightly to make it sound more sinister.

I also agree with Riella that it's perfectly okay to use real names in a fantasy setting. Actually, I can't think of any fantasy books that haven't used real names to some extent. The name "Luca" sounds very fantasy-eque to me.

I just had a scare. My computer crashed yesterday and refused to boot up. I hadn't saved my sequel elsewhere yet and I was 150 pages in. I was prepared to handle the worst case scenario but Best Buy's GeekSquad will be able to save it. I'm using my old computer while waiting for my other one to get fixed this week.

The name "Luca" has been used before. It was the name of a city in Final Fantasy 10. And I highly doubt that is the only place it is used. But I would not worry about it. The only names I would worry about 'copying' are the iconic ones. For example, I would not name a vampire character 'Edward' or a short-barefooted character 'Frodo'. But even if it is used in by a famous author, unless that one character truly stands out as iconic (temporarily or past) I would not worry about it. From what I understand, the character name and character would need to have obvious similarities to the already established one for an editor to take serious note about it.

The other thing I would be concerned about is having names too similar. There needs to be a reason for the similarity to use similar names. If they are in the same family or same culture (like the Rohirrim) and that separates them from the rest of the characters, that is one thing. But say the names out loud and if there is a chance that people might confuse the two, it may be better to change one name. Just a thought.

It seems to be a week for scares...last week I nearly lost everything on my computer, and panicked. I'm afraid I didn't handle the situation very gracefully. But, everything was saved, fortunately.

This is a question specifically for Christian writers (though I guess anyone can answer). How do you handle putting the message of salvation through Christ into books without it seeming too heavy laden and turning the reader off? I don't want to be writing a sermon into my novels, but I refuse to create something with no message and no glory. How do you all balance this?

And what about if you don't want to reader to know that it's supposed to be Christian? (that is, a novel with Christian themes published in the secular market). It's hard to imbue a secular story with Christian themes without on one hand seeming afraid of my faith, or on the other, being waaay too obvious about it, and causing the secular reader to throw the book away.