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Writing
Assignment: In
Context
This month’s Writing Assignment article is the third in a series of how-to-write-fiction exercises designed to help new writers
become more familiar with fiction writing.
The first Writing Assignment focused on
characterization. In
fiction writing, one of the most important elements is characterization.
(See www.author-me.com/NewsOctober2000.htm.)
The second focused on setting. While character is central to a story, the writer must
also pay close attention to context.
(See www.author-me.com/NewsNovember2000.htm.)
Now, having created a character and setting, you need
the meld the two. Make them interact. This is more than a turtle-in-shell
situation!
Present the setting, and then allow the character to
act within. This interaction should put flesh on the basic setting, and it
should also round out the character. Done with action, this technique is far
more effective than simply describing a setting, introducing a character,
and then starting the action.
Assignment – For Next Month
So your assignment is to "mix" your character
and setting. Make them interact, and compel your reader to care about the
setting and the character you have created.
Good
luck!
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Submitting
your Manuscripts for WebSite Publication
Why
would a new writer submit a manuscript for publication on the web? Does
this eliminate the work from consideration by commercial publishers?
Actually,
web-publication can act as a credit to a work, especially if you have
web-published it (temporarily) to obtain criticism and reader feedback.
Another
approach is to hold your best work aside while you submit some
of your earlier works for web-publication now. Or, you could submit an extract
from the best work, perhaps requesting feedback on a specific part you
have found problematic.
While
not essential, probably, it seems prudent to include a copyright notice
with your work. For example, for Sam Author, the appropriate copyright
notice is...
Copyright
2000 Sam Author
Check
out the writerly websites... Author-me.com is one of many. One useful listing is at dmoz.org (the
Open Directory Project). Click on Arts, then On-line Writing and then
Writers’ Resources.
Go
Back in Time!...
If
not, check out our new all - immersion Life of Jesus (Part 1) from David C.
Cook III. Visit... www.galleyproof.com/religion.html
Or,
for another view of ancient times, check out D. E. Austin's In the
Beginning, a fully-researched historical fiction novel set in ancient
Sumer. Visit... www.author-me.com/titles.htm.
.
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E-Book Update........................
New developments continue to invigorate (and
irritate) the fledgling
e-book industry.
Generally, the market is tightening around high-demand subjects, and
showing little interest in fiction from new writers.
A major e-book promoter, Gemstar-TV Guide, is flirting with well known
book retailer, Barnes & Noble. Barnes & Noble, incidentally, was one of the
earliest e-book promoters in the web. (See "Gemstar, Barnes & Noble
Talk E-Books," Wall Street
Journal, November, 2000.)
What about curling up with an e-book? Kind of tough
to embrace a laptop, let alone a desktop tower! Or try wrapping your arms
around one of those $700 flat-screen models!
Recent
developments suggest new display materials reminiscent of the wall screens
in George Orwell's novel, 1984. Xerox PARC researchers have developed an
e-paper of transparent plastic called Gyricon. Lucent has created an E Ink
prototype which uses electronic ink and circuits printed on plastic for a
paper-like quality. See Jesse Berst's "E-Paper Here Sooner Than You Think,"
November 21, 2000 .
Publishing New Writers, December, 2000 (no.106)
Editor Bruce L. Cook, P.O. Box 451, Dundee, IL
60118. Fax (847) 428-8974.
Submissions and comments to cookcomm@gte.net.
Links are welcome.
Visit our sister websites...
www.author-me.com
www.galley-proof.com |
