It occurred to me that homework (I know Uggh) could be incorporated into your stories. I've already mentioned using history and mythology stories as plot basis.
Health and Diet classes can be fillers. Fantasy stories usually include a hunter in the traveling group, but what if the group came down with scurvy because they didn't have fruits. Could the weakness that the antagonist have be lead poisoning from all the pewter dishes he likes to eat from?
If you take psychology, is there something on group dynamics that will help you decide how members of the group squabble, then ultimately resolve their differences? After all, you should have a lot of alpha personalities. They'll all want to be the leader.
Does your sociology book have something on how societies are put together? Your group has to have something to save and reason to fear the change they are trying to stop.
Less obvious is algebra.
Population shifts, is the birthrate declining in your society? Are people disappearing?
How fast can you climb a mountain. How do you choose the best path up? If you are moving a whole village to a safe place, it will be a different path than a band of hardy explorers.
In a village, how big or deep would a cave used for food storage have to be to supply a whole population?
Do they have farms? How big would they have to be in order to supply the entire area for a year.
In the antagonists camp: He surely has a large, permanent place. It would have to have large roads to trasport supplies, plus (usually) not the brightest of followers, and yet it is kept secret. How is this accomplished?
Walking, horseback or bicycle speeds. These will help you set the timelines for your novel. How long will your journey be?
Can you plot points on a graph? You'll need all this information to make a realistic map.
All this math is algebra 101. Now you know why authors include a map. Writing is a job, it's real work, my friends. (It will also give you cool questions to ask your math teacher, which is almost as good as knowing the answer, if she calls on you.)
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Religion and Spirituality
I was spending some time in R&S at Yahoo Answers until the 'do my homework questions' questions die down. It's a good place becausr the people there, no matter their beliefs or lack of them have something to say. Sharing information is always a good reason to write things down.
A search through the local libray and bookstore categories showed me that religious writings are not a specific genre. It is a category placed either by itself or under philosophy depending on what part of the country you are in.
For the purpose of writing though, you must know the genre. I found three. The fiction tends to be love stories so the barrier is one party is Christian and the other isn't, or a very few have two separate religions. I was unable to find anything with the protagonist being anything other than Christian. Any practising Muslims or Buddhists would find a wide open market, I should think.
In non fiction, I found two styles of writing. One is written by those with degrees explaining Bible escatology The origin and meaning of the wording of the Bible with rference to how it was used at the time of writing. There were a few works that published sermons and works aimed at spreading the Gospel message. There was not many of them because the target market (unbelievers) are unlikely to buy them. Again, I was unable to find very little from non Christian religions. I would avoid this type of writing if you don't have a degree or are fluent in Greek, Hebrew or Aramaic (a dead language)because you'll need to have something original to add to whatever is out there.
Another type is the daily living variety, such as the Chicken Soup for the Soul series or The Upper Room. This format is marked by giving a Bible verse and sharing a personal testimony relevant to the verse. Sometimes an event will remind the writer of a verse and sometime the daily reading will especially stand out because of something that happened that day. This is a good field to specialize in because it's more effective when written by layity persons. The focus should be on your daily walk with God.
One type I found exactly zero on was Contemporary Christian fiction that was not a love story. Nothing about anyone's conversion experience, nothing about how people share their story in the workplace without getting labeled as wierd, or even if they tried it, what the reaction of hte people you talked to were. And nothing about how your life changed for better (or worse?) after your conversion.
Libraries think they are up to date if they carry a copy of the Holy Quoran, but then I live in what is called the Bible Belt. There also may just not be anything out there. The bookstores had very little to offer, but tell me they can order anything if I have an ISBN number or the title and author.
Hope this gives someone ideas. Peace
A search through the local libray and bookstore categories showed me that religious writings are not a specific genre. It is a category placed either by itself or under philosophy depending on what part of the country you are in.
For the purpose of writing though, you must know the genre. I found three. The fiction tends to be love stories so the barrier is one party is Christian and the other isn't, or a very few have two separate religions. I was unable to find anything with the protagonist being anything other than Christian. Any practising Muslims or Buddhists would find a wide open market, I should think.
In non fiction, I found two styles of writing. One is written by those with degrees explaining Bible escatology The origin and meaning of the wording of the Bible with rference to how it was used at the time of writing. There were a few works that published sermons and works aimed at spreading the Gospel message. There was not many of them because the target market (unbelievers) are unlikely to buy them. Again, I was unable to find very little from non Christian religions. I would avoid this type of writing if you don't have a degree or are fluent in Greek, Hebrew or Aramaic (a dead language)because you'll need to have something original to add to whatever is out there.
Another type is the daily living variety, such as the Chicken Soup for the Soul series or The Upper Room. This format is marked by giving a Bible verse and sharing a personal testimony relevant to the verse. Sometimes an event will remind the writer of a verse and sometime the daily reading will especially stand out because of something that happened that day. This is a good field to specialize in because it's more effective when written by layity persons. The focus should be on your daily walk with God.
One type I found exactly zero on was Contemporary Christian fiction that was not a love story. Nothing about anyone's conversion experience, nothing about how people share their story in the workplace without getting labeled as wierd, or even if they tried it, what the reaction of hte people you talked to were. And nothing about how your life changed for better (or worse?) after your conversion.
Libraries think they are up to date if they carry a copy of the Holy Quoran, but then I live in what is called the Bible Belt. There also may just not be anything out there. The bookstores had very little to offer, but tell me they can order anything if I have an ISBN number or the title and author.
Hope this gives someone ideas. Peace
Monday, September 7, 2009
What do I write about?
I see this question a lot. Has anyone considered non fiction? For example, I subscribe to a magazine, Organic Gardening which has a monthly column on mulch piles.
If people will pay to read about the different ways of of creating food scrap piles, it shows you don't need a degree to write. You do need knowledge though.
Do you have a hobby? You probably have magazines on the subject, so you have an idea on what they're lookin for. So you can't compete with what the contributing writers know? Then write about getting started. Write about how you share your hobby with others, or what you do to gain more knowledge on the subject, or even if you hope it will lead to a career, or add to an existing career (if you're working). Perhaps throw in how it helps you escape an job you don't like. My daughter has a BA in history and uses historical events as a plotline for science fiction.
These ideas not working for you? Take your hobby, and place it in a different time. My son and I are writing a story that begins with his love of coin collecting and ends in the Civil war. It will be a time travel story. With some historical facts and websites supplied by my daughter. It gives us all something to do together without dumbing down or talking over anyone. We contribute what we knnow and we're closer for it, whether it gets published or not.
Been on vacation to another culture? Travel mags are generally looking at two angles. One is places not frequented by tourists, and the other is how this trip changed you as a person. Another option could be a kids eye view of what you see, but keep the first two POV in mind. They will not be interested in 'we went to Disney land and had a blast!', but they might be interested in 'we went to Disneyland and met the guy who designs the rides.' This is where the query letter comes in. The risk is, can you deliver? Write the article first, send the query letter, then is they are interested, you can tweak it to put the slant they want on the story. That way you know what information you have on the designer and his works.
Since most of the writer's I meet want to write fantasy or possibly love stories, I'll contemplate my inspiration sources in the next post. If anyone is reading this blog, feel free to post. This post is dedicated to my daughter who bugs me to add to it.
If people will pay to read about the different ways of of creating food scrap piles, it shows you don't need a degree to write. You do need knowledge though.
Do you have a hobby? You probably have magazines on the subject, so you have an idea on what they're lookin for. So you can't compete with what the contributing writers know? Then write about getting started. Write about how you share your hobby with others, or what you do to gain more knowledge on the subject, or even if you hope it will lead to a career, or add to an existing career (if you're working). Perhaps throw in how it helps you escape an job you don't like. My daughter has a BA in history and uses historical events as a plotline for science fiction.
These ideas not working for you? Take your hobby, and place it in a different time. My son and I are writing a story that begins with his love of coin collecting and ends in the Civil war. It will be a time travel story. With some historical facts and websites supplied by my daughter. It gives us all something to do together without dumbing down or talking over anyone. We contribute what we knnow and we're closer for it, whether it gets published or not.
Been on vacation to another culture? Travel mags are generally looking at two angles. One is places not frequented by tourists, and the other is how this trip changed you as a person. Another option could be a kids eye view of what you see, but keep the first two POV in mind. They will not be interested in 'we went to Disney land and had a blast!', but they might be interested in 'we went to Disneyland and met the guy who designs the rides.' This is where the query letter comes in. The risk is, can you deliver? Write the article first, send the query letter, then is they are interested, you can tweak it to put the slant they want on the story. That way you know what information you have on the designer and his works.
Since most of the writer's I meet want to write fantasy or possibly love stories, I'll contemplate my inspiration sources in the next post. If anyone is reading this blog, feel free to post. This post is dedicated to my daughter who bugs me to add to it.
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