Fiction Writing Thoughts


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I’ve got a gaggle of only loosely-connected thoughts for you today, all on fiction writing:

My good friend Kam, who is a frequent commenter at The Writing Journey, has re-launched his Blog, and is now focused on his experiences and thoughts on Fiction writing.  He’s a good guy with a decent published novel and a great future, I think.  Give Kam a visit at Pens and Swords.  Tell him I sent you.

I’m not a great fiction writer.  I can do a passable job in certain aspects of fiction writing, and I can do them in small bursts.  But, it’s unlikely I’ll ever write a bestselling novel.

I greatly admire anyone who can finish a novel, whether or not it’s published.  I especially admire folks that can get published, because it says they’re not just a good writer – they’re good at the business of writing.

As a fan of role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons, I’m a fan of collaborative fiction.  I’m especially geeked about the collaborative fiction/RPG project my good friends James and Harry have coming out soon.

World-building is one of the more interesting parts of fiction writing, to me.  Again, this comes from my RPG background.

I like the idea behind NaNoWriMo.  I think I’ll give it a shot this year.

I often wonder if I’m cut out for fiction.  Midwestern humility aside, I’ve got a decent writing voice.  I’m just not sure it translates that well to fiction.  I know I do all right telling stories, because I’ve had the same RPG group coming to my table to hear my stories for more than a decade.

All in all, I think I prefer Blog writing to fiction writing.  Maybe it’s the interactivity, maybe it’s the compartmentalization of it.  Hell if I know.  Maybe I need to think about writing short fiction.  Or maybe Blog fiction.  Is there such a creature?  If not, is there a market for one?

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8 comments ↓

#1 James Chartrand - Men with Pens on 05.21.08 at 9:54 am

Hm, you gave me some good links here and some good thoughts to think on. Thanks for that.

As for the upcoming release of our new game – stay tuned. We’ll be posting something on Friday about this – and we’re launching soon. You’d better come join us :)

#2 A. B. England - Tekaran Lady on 05.21.08 at 11:05 am

Interesting post today. I don’t know why, but I really like getting peek into the thought processes of other writers.

Actually, I believe there are some writers who basically publish their novels serially through blog posts. I’m not sure how successful they are, but it’s a neat idea.

With the way things are going for a lot of folks out there, I could definitely see a market springing up for really good free fiction, which receives all its revenue from advertising to the side of the page. I mean look what’s out there in the way of cheap entertainment today. Television seems to be heading more and more toward “reality” shows, but there’s always going to be a segment, a fairly large one I’m sure, who want quality fiction. They’ll be looking for it somewhere else, so why not?

#3 Kameron on 05.21.08 at 11:18 am

Thanks for the plug, Bob. I’m really enjoying the new format for my blog. I plan to tackle world-building soon. :)

#4 Bob on 05.21.08 at 2:42 pm

@ James – I’ll be there with bells on. Er, with fangs bared. Or something.

@A.B. – Strangely enough, Kam just posted something about serial fiction. I think there’s something to it, and a strong reader base would lead not only to ad revenue, but purchasing of other works.

@ Kam – You’re welcome. I look forward to your world-building thoughts.

#5 Brandon Satrom on 05.22.08 at 8:08 am

Good luck with NaNoWriMo this year. I’ll be right there with you. It’s a lot of fun and a low-pressure way to write a novel. If you don’t like it, scrap it! It only took 30 days to write anyway. :)

#6 Karen Swim on 05.22.08 at 6:45 pm

Bob, I enjoyed your gaggle of thoughts. It was like sitting in a coffee shop shooting the breeze on the random musings that cross our minds. Blog Fiction, hmmm. Well these days with self publishing, anything is a market. :-)

#7 Bamboo Forest on 06.17.08 at 2:07 am

Blog fiction. Interesting.

Bamboo Forests last blog post..Top 7 Things I’ve Learned about Blogging

#8 coffee lover on 03.16.09 at 12:21 pm

We also think alike. I also prefer writing about real life than something made up.

coffee lovers last blog post..Coffee Taster Tongue Worth Millions

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