The SMB Book thread



Wayne The Punk said:
Very into horror, and have a story in my head, have the characters sorted, just getting it all into some order is the problem, and it would make a great movie

Can you sell ideas for a novel anywhere?
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I've no idea, mate! You should definitely get yours written, though. Can be a tough but rewarding experience.
 
Read a few Anthony Trollope books this year.

Picked up The Way We Live Now in a charity shop and loved it.
He Knew He Was Right was another great read.
Started The Warden but couldn't get into it
Now reading Doctor Thorne and it is fantastic.

He always past me by but he is a quality writer. Maybe one for the less macho blokes:lol:
 
Wayne The Punk said:
Very into horror, and have a story in my head, have the characters sorted, just getting it all into some order is the problem, and it would make a great movie

Can you sell ideas for a novel anywhere?
Click to expand...
In theory you could pitch the idea for a film but the reality is that you'd need a lot more than an idea. Never heard of it done for a novel.
My advice would be to write it and worry about getting it into order at a later date. I spend twice as long editing and restructuring than I do actually writing.

I would recommend this to give you an idea of structure. It's simplistic and you may not agree with some of his examples of great films but once you've read it, you realise that most films conform to this structure and it translates to novels as well.
There's free 'beat sheets' online which give you the structure so you can plot yours out.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Save-Cat-L...8&qid=1539166093&sr=8-1&keywords=save+the+cat
 
RestlessNatives said:
In theory you could pitch the idea for a film but the reality is that you'd need a lot more than an idea. Never heard of it done for a novel.
My advice would be to write it and worry about getting it into order at a later date. I spend twice as long editing and restructuring than I do actually writing.

I would recommend this to give you an idea of structure. It's simplistic and you may not agree with some of his examples of great films but once you've read it, you realise that most films conform to this structure and it translates to novels as well.
There's free 'beat sheets' online which give you the structure so you can plot yours out.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Save-Cat-L...8&qid=1539166093&sr=8-1&keywords=save+the+cat
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Thank you
 
Wayne The Punk said:
Very into horror, and have a story in my head, have the characters sorted, just getting it all into some order is the problem, and it would make a great movie

Can you sell ideas for a novel anywhere?
Click to expand...

tbh, a lot of writers will tell you that they have more ideas than they know what to do with, and it's all about the execution of it which comes in the hard slog of writing 90-120,000 words and making it all hang together and work, with vivid characters and a plot that sustains itself at length (idea and plot very different things...latter about sustaining interest and tension across hours of a reader's time). Best following RestlessNatives advice, learning a little about story structure and having a bash.
 
The King of Um said:
tbh, a lot of writers will tell you that they have more ideas than they know what to do with, and it's all about the execution of it which comes in the hard slog of writing 90-120,000 words and making it all hang together and work, with vivid characters and a plot that sustains itself at length (idea and plot very different things...latter about sustaining interest and tension across hours of a reader's time). Best following RestlessNatives advice, learning a little about story structure and having a bash.
Click to expand...


I will be giving it a go, and I know it isnt easy
 
Wayne The Punk said:
I will be giving it a go, and I know it isnt easy
Click to expand...

Good stuff. Stephen King's On Writing is a really good, straightforward look at the writing process from someone who is very good at story.

Expect the first draft to be shit, and to hate it half way through and think it's the worst thing ever written. Then give it a bit of breathing space, go back to it, and it will be better than you thought, and you fix all the things wrong with it in revision. Sometimes people don't realise that the books they love reading will have been through multiple drafts - sometimes 10, 14 - to get to the great novel. The first draft of all of those will have been shit too.

An excellent thing to do is to find a book you love, and break it to pieces. Think about how the writer has structured it. Is it linear or does it jump about in time or narration? Whose point of view is it from? How does the writer build suspense and keep you turning pages? When are there reversals in the story and why? What does the main character want? What stops him/her getting it? How does he/she overcome those obstacles? How does the writer plant the stuff early that makes you go, Oh God, yeah, of course later on - but without you realising until then.
Map out the structure, scene by scene. How do they fit together? Can you see action scenes and reaction scenes (which give the reader some breathing space). How do the characters develop and change? That kind of thing. Doing that to 2 or 3 good books is as much of an education as anything.

Lots of resources out there, and people on here who can give a bit of advice.
 
Arkle said:
A double header from the same author for me, he may be familiar to some:

1) Idle Threats by Alan Parkinson

Follow up to his debut Leg It and vaguely a follow up. A thriller with comedic aspects (aligned to Brookmyre) and set in Sunderland. A disparate group of characters' stories gradually come together, all set around a call centre. Amusing and entertaining! 8/10

2) Life in the Balance by Alan Parkinson

A move away from the characters of Leg It and Idle Threats (one security guard apart, I think). Cats feature, shops feature, ex-cons feature, ledgers feature, a priest with dodgy internet habits features! Don't want to give too much away but it's, again. very entertaining. Reminds me, a little, of some of Martin Millar's books in terms of some of the characters. 8.5/10
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His new one is out now.
Troll Life, a spin off from Idle Threats tells the tale of Darren, an online troll, as he is exposed and has to get work at the very call centre he has been trolling.
It takes absolutely no inspiration from this place at all.;)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Troll-Life-Alan-Parkinson-ebook/dp/B07J55GM6F/
 
Giraffe by JM Ledgard 7/10
Intriguing novel based on a real event: in the 1970s a Czech zoo accumulated the largest captive giraffe herd in the world. Then, for reasons that are still not entirely known, the Communist government had them all shot.

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