Timeline for Can you pitch an outline?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
9 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Oct 2, 2019 at 10:36 | comment | added | Amadeus | @Gloweye Off-topic but the trick is, don't intro a tension -- problem, weakness, puzzle, infatuation -- without having at least one way to resolve it, keep a note. Mysteries are for readers, not the author. Including the main problem. There may be multiple ways to resolve it, you can change your mind, but always have one. Applies to what you've written: "Kill your darlings" means deleting a chunk you love that doesn't work. Not rewriting it. Make backups and delete it. You'll get over it! I scrap so much I probably write three pages for every finished page, I'm not exaggerating. | |
| Oct 2, 2019 at 10:24 | comment | added | Gloweye | Very accurate bit about perseverance. I got one of them unfinished ones myself, and practicing with fanfics right now. | |
| Oct 2, 2019 at 10:18 | comment | added | Amadeus | @Gloweye Exactly. I added a paragraph on Perseverence above in response. I think aspiring authors feel like they have a great idea (and might) but in Act II they get overwhelmed by story problems or character traits or their own lives. Maybe they thought it would be easy, and it seems easy at the start. A big problem for beginners is "pushing resolution to the future": They introduce problems, puzzles and char issues to keep up the tension or action but they have no idea how to resolve them, they leave that for later. These issues accumulate until they get overwhelming, and they quit. | |
| Oct 2, 2019 at 10:07 | history | edited | Amadeus | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
Added a paragraph on Perseverence, I thought of while answering Gloweye comment.
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| Oct 2, 2019 at 8:00 | comment | added | Gloweye | For a great example of beginnings being easy, you can always look at the massive number of fanfics that are abandoned somewhere during the middle or end bits. | |
| Oct 1, 2019 at 10:35 | comment | added | Amadeus | @ArkensteinXII Edited to add. | |
| Oct 1, 2019 at 10:34 | history | edited | Amadeus | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
Expanded on agents due to comment by Arkenstein XII.
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| Oct 1, 2019 at 0:02 | comment | added | Arkenstein XII | +1. Might be worth mentioning the sheer number of submissions an agent or publisher receives. Three chapters and a promise is going to be thrown to the wayside simply in the process of cutting down those submissions to a manageable level! | |
| Sep 30, 2019 at 23:04 | history | answered | Amadeus | CC BY-SA 4.0 |