Ithie, does this help any?

http://blog.writeathome.com/index.php/2 ... c-details/

Ithilwen, here's a blog post by Gail Carson Levine that might help you out:

http://gailcarsonlevine.blogspot.com/2012/06/detailing.html?showComment=1339225877143#c5950778516342226296

Thanks for the links.

I had another question -- this time concerning CreateSpace.

I don't want to self-publish my novel. I want to publish it the old fashioned way -- someday. Probably after a few drafts and rewrites, when I'm older. But I'd really like to have just one or two copies of my first draft in book form, just for my own use at home and for the novelty of it. Can I do that with CreateSpace? And if so, is there any danger in doing this? I hear that if you order a copy using CreateSpace, they assign your book an ISBN number. Can that ISBN number cause problems later when I try to publish for real? Because all I want is a copy just for fun. Is there any possibility that ordering a copy of my first draft from CreateSpace could come back to bite me somehow in the future?

Also, does anyone know anything about Lightning Source?

If the ISBN number, or something else, will cause a problem, is there some other method of getting a copy of my draft in book form? Is there a way I can make my own?

~Riella

If you get an ISBN number, you are published. And as I learned the hard way, DO NOT self-publish if you intend to latter go with a traditional publisher later on for the same book. The book MUST be a hot-seller (like Christopher Paloni's Inheritance Trilogy was). Exceptions are always found and I will see shortly if I have God's favor with Oak Tara with my book. I am published through Lighthouse Publishing and they are basically just a front using CreateSpace. If you plug your book into CreateSpace, you are considered self-published and you will find a difficult time getting a traditional publisher to pick you up.

I don't not know how you could print your book (outside Kinkos) without going this way.

I don't not know how you could print your book (outside Kinkos) without going this way.

Kinkos will print out my draft in novel form?

Also, I have an account on the CreateSpace website, but I've never used it to print out a book. Can having an (unused) account on there hurt me? Like, if I were going to publish, could the publisher find out I have an account there, think I had tried to self-publish, and decide not to publish me? Because I don't know if there's any way to delete my account on there...

~Riella

Ithilwen, by making your own, do you mean something like this? (I think the easiest way to start would be to focus on Coptic stitch variants)

I don't think having an account there is an issue. Let me clarify. It's self-publishing the SAME BOOK as the one you are trying to propose that is the issue they have. Having an account there is not an issue. Likewise, the same author could have several books by different publishers and not have an issue. Publishers just don't want the same book published by two different publishers.

For my book, I'm going to have to make some changes and especially the title. They don't want readers doing a search on-line for a book and have two books with the same title by the same author by two different publishers. It leads to confusion and that's not good for business.

I think Kinkos can, but it's not going to be like a traditional novel. I have a friend who did it at Kinkos. It looks a little cheesy but might work for what you are trying to do. You can ask.

Thanks for the information, Fencer.

Ithilwen, by making your own, do you mean something like this? (I think the easiest way to start would be to focus on Coptic stitch variants)

I'm not sure... I don't quite know what that is.

What I mean by making my own is maybe buying some blank sheets which is the same/similar to the kind of sheets they use for paperback book covers; then design a cover on my computer and print it out on the sheets. Then print out my novel on page-size paper and... bound it all together somehow? I don't know how professionals bind books together. Do they use a certain kind of glue? I've heard of people who take books that have fallen apart and bind them back together so that they look new from the store again, but I don't know how they do it. If they can do it, though, I would think people would be able to use the same method to make their own books...

~Riella

If only glue is involved, you'd be describing a perfect bound book which would probably be the most difficult finish to achieve at home. Coptic stitch refers to a method of sewing the pages together and can be done without special equipment.

Somewhere, I have a short story that I bound into its own book and I also have a draft of one of my other stories that I put together without a cover. I can take pictures if you'd like.

Hello, fellow writers!! It's been so long since my last post here (I honestly feel rather awkward peeking in now... ). One of the main reasons I haven't been posting is because I haven't been writing. Recently I decided to start writing again, but it's been monumental challenge for me. The thing is, every time I start writing, I can't get over how dreadfully CORNY everything sounds....in my head the whole story is so epic, the scenes tense, romantic, or hillariously funny, but on paper it looks so insignificant, cheesy, and just...ugh! And I get confused sometimes, especially when trying to describe something, say, in a castle, because I don't know how to draw out an architectural blueprint of a medieval castle, much less completely create one from scratch in my head, so I have trouble describing certain scenes. I'm starting to feel more and more like I have to be a genius like Tolkein if I want to get anywhere in my writing, or at least just make everything sound decent. Any advice on poor, uneducated-in-fantasy-writing, completely unexperienced writers like me, who just can't get past the first two lines, much less the first page because of pure embarassment? (yes, I may have spelt that wrong - my computer doesn't have spell-check at the moment, and I always have trouble spelling that word.)

We talked about that in the "Square Peg Society" while at the Colorado Christian Writer's Conference last month. Just so you know the "Square Peg Society" is for those who write Christian Fiction but do NOT write the stereotypical "Amish Romance". Myself, Frank Peretti, Ted Decker are excellent candidates for what the Square Peg Society is for.

Anyway, one night, we discussed how to write fantasy characters and fantasy worlds. The two are almost the same process. When you develop a character (not necessarily in the story itself), you don't just describe physical appearance. You describe the setting, the job the character does, the clothing, the technology the character uses, the dialect or language the character speaks. Creating a world is just taking that process a step further. If you have one character, then describe someone that character would interact with. Keep that process going and in a short time, you have a society and a world.

When describing a setting, you don't have to have the full details. Describe your scene through the eyes of a character. Would that character take the time and look around at everything? Likely not. Unless your character is the type to be observant, you don't need everything. A knight marching through a castle hallway to deliver a message to the king or lord is not going to be looking at all the tapestries or the height of the ceiling and take notice of the arches in the doorway. A knight would only take notice of the height if he was really big and had to duck. When you go through a scene, walk it through with your character. What would he/she see? Write that down. If he/she doesn't see it, don't worry about it.

Another suggestion is that as a writer, your job is to tell a story. The devil is in the details as some say. Don't worry about details or consistency. You can fix that later. Focus on the story and the details will work themselves out.

When describing a setting, you don't have to have the full details. Describe your scene through the eyes of a character. Would that character take the time and look around at everything? Likely not. Unless your character is the type to be observant, you don't need everything. A knight marching through a castle hallway to deliver a message to the king or lord is not going to be looking at all the tapestries or the height of the ceiling and take notice of the arches in the doorway. A knight would only take notice of the height if he was really big and had to duck. When you go through a scene, walk it through with your character. What would he/she see? Write that down. If he/she doesn't see it, don't worry about it.

What if the author isn't writing it in first person? I know it's possible to write a book through a character's eyes even in third person, but what if the author isn't using that method? What if he/she wants to write the book from an omniscient "audience" perspective rather than the character's perspective? The "audience" would see the tapestry and such...

~Riella

That was just one technique. But if you are going from an 'omniscient' POV (as though you are watching a movie), it's still the same process. Instead of the 'camera' coming from a character's eyes, it's coming from 'above' our 'from a distance'. Think about a movie camera. What can the camera see? An omniscient view just moves the camera away from a character and grabs the full view. The omniscient camera can pan and turn where a character's camera cannot. But it's still the same process.

That was just one technique. But if you are going from an 'omniscient' POV (as though you are watching a movie), it's still the same process. Instead of the 'camera' coming from a character's eyes, it's coming from 'above' our 'from a distance'. Think about a movie camera. What can the camera see? An omniscient view just moves the camera away from a character and grabs the full view. The omniscient camera can pan and turn where a character's camera cannot. But it's still the same process.

Interesting. Though, I'm not sure I quite understand. What would be an example of something a camera can't see? Something you wouldn't want to put in your book if you were writing from an omniscient POV?

~Riella

Interesting. Though, I'm not sure I quite understand. What would be an example of something a camera can't see? Something you wouldn't want to put in your book if you were writing from an omniscient POV?

Well, if you're going with the idea of the knight going down the hallway, first imagine where the camera is. Is it in his head, hearing his thoughts, looking through his eyes? Well, since he's intent on his mission, he's probably looking straight ahead. The gloriously painted ceiling is not something he's even noticing right now. The length of the hallway, on the other hand, is something he's very much noticing. The crack in the floor he almost tripped over is something he's noticing. The slightly dank atmosphere he's noticing.

But is the camera floating around his body, LOTR Messenger-to-the-King style? You might get a whole ambiance shot of the painted ceiling, the acoustic properties of the hall, the grand marble tiles, the faded tapestries on the wall. But then again, you might only get a very brief glimpse of those because the Knight and his mission is the important part of the scene. You might only get enough time to describe his tattered cloak, dented armor and dirt streaked face before he bursts into the King's counsel chamber.

Going to LOTR again, Tolkien actually did a really good job with POV when he settles into character interaction and isn't describing the scenery (which he does beyond any rational human's capabilities lol) or giving the current battle overview anymore. Try studying how in Morder, we see almost exclusively through Sam's eyes. Sometimes, out of necessity (because Frodo doesn't tell what he sees sometimes), he slips into Frodo's view, but that never lasts long. Most of what goes through Frodo's head is unknown to us, except that Sam can read him very well.
In Gondor, we see almost exclusively through Pippin's eyes, again after the current battle has been shown us through the hovering cameras above the battlefield. Much of what we know about the state of the other characters is through little Pippin's eyes. We fearfully learn, along with Pippin, of Denethor's madness. We got a few hints as to why he's mad, thanks to Tolkien's flashback, but we see the same thing Pippin sees.
One of my favorite POV shifts in the whole book is when we go through the Paths of the Dead, and we go to Gimli's "camera". Seeing the ambiance of the mountain, feeling the petrifying fear and watching Aragorn turn a little more into King Ellesar through Gimli's eyes is lots of fun. We would have seen something entirely different if we'd seen it through Legolas's eyes, and I have a feeling we wouldn't relate to it half as well as we do Gimli's.

I know of a few short fanfics off the top of my head that do a good job with POV as well, but they are for Bonanza. If you'd like to see them, just PM me and I'll find and send you the links.

EDITED TO ADD AN OFF TOPIC BUT EXCITING SOMETHING I JUST FOUND:

Ithy, you were asking about getting a "pro" copy of a book without an ISBN number?

http://www.blurb.com/

This place will NOT get you an ISBN, you have to do it yourself. And it's optional.