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Hello from the totally disioriented newbie

amadhava

Scribe
Prologue:

Please don't make "disoriented newbie" into my nickname :) [I realize I'm asking for trouble with this statement]

The only chapter:

Hi Folks, My name is Anu.

I feel like I'm standing in the 5-year old choir girl pose with my interlocked fingers trying to dislocate my knuckle-bones. In case you cannot tell, I dislike introducing myself, as anything I write tends to come out like a desperate student's regurgitated mimicry of some other creative mind. :)

I belong to a family of critical thinkers who collectively believe that fantasy is bad for the soul as fantasy readers tend to live more in a make-believe world than the real world. I much prefer the make-believe sometimes, and that makes me the odd duck in my group. Hence, I am in desperate need of critical feedback that is more than just "oh, it's unrealistic and not very understandable!" :p I do know that my language tends to be rather flowery and my imagination tends to ramble quite a bit, so I would love to have any constructive feedback from fantasy readers and writers, which is what this forum's members appear to be.

As I said above, I ramble. To bring all that together: I am an amateur writer of fantasy who has so far written 3 1st chapters, 2 prologues and 1 outline. I have another 5 to 6 ideas for a variety of plots which I would, at some time in the next 10 years. get into writing... sigh. And I tend to rely quite a bit on emoticons, or their equivalent wordy sentences to get the facial expressions I'm imagining across to the reader. So, any help or feedback or pointers would receive wild appreciation :)

Epilogue:

If you got through all of the above, you are extremely patient and I am already excessively grateful to you! :D
Hope the prologue/epilogue categorization wasn't toooo cheesy :p
 

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
Hi Anu. I skipped the prologue, but I really like the chapter :D (sorry, inside forum joke!).

Welcome the site. There's nothing wrong with flowery language, so I wouldn't shy away from it. It is harder to do well than lean, sparse prose, but if you do it well it can really be incredible. Of course, all of us here are sympathetic to fantasy readers. I spend most of the day looking at engineering diagrams and reading and writing pretty dry stuff, so I am happy to escape into some fiction writing when I get the chance.

Welcome to the forums. Feel free to make yourself at home (unless you behave scandalously at home...).
 

Sparkie

Auror
Hello and welcome amadhava/Anu!

There is a place for 'flowery' language in fantasy, and I look forward to reading what you post in the Showcase forum. By the way, I liked the prologue/chapter/epilogue thing you did. I wish I'd have done it first. :p
 

CupofJoe

Myth Weaver
Welcome Anu
We were all Newbies here at some time [I still think of myself as a newbie after 250 posts...]
Lewis Carroll was often criticised for being flowery and too fantastical and he wrote Alice's Adventures in Wonderland [and Jabberwocky - my favourite]. So it worked for him...
 

amadhava

Scribe
Thank you all so much for your wonderful welcomes!

Steerpike - what is the inside joke about prologues, if you don't mind my asking? I'm not scandalous at home, merely insatiably curious :p

Sparkie: I think I damaged my brain trying to figure out ways to get 5 posts in without coming across as transparently desperate. Although, due to the interesting nature of the discussions, maybe the damage was negligible :) I posted a first chapter in the Showcase section. Please critique it when you can (hope this wasn't too shameless - I've been excited about this opportunity all day!)

CupOfJoe - I didn't know that about Carroll. I love Jabberwocky myself and this gives me a little more courage :) . Although my writing is a million miles - if not more - distant from Alice in Wonderland!

Thank you all for the encouragement :)
 
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CupofJoe

Myth Weaver
avatar2085_1.gif
And anyone using Calvin and Hobbes in their avatar are automatically "good people"...:)
 

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
Steerpike - what is the inside joke about prologues, if you don't mind my asking? I'm not scandalous at home, merely insatiably curious :p

Yes, Calvin and Hobbes rule.

As for prologues, they've been discussed on the site many times and I've pointed out that I'll often skip prologues in a book or pass up a book for the one next to it on the shelf if the first has a lengthy prologue. This has upset people :)
 
Great introduction, I like you already:).

Oh, you have one of those families eh? Well everyone here takes fantasy seriously and it certainly means a lot to me. As previously mentioned flowery wording is perfectly acceptable (I think it adds a poetic edge of sophistication). Anyway, feel free to dive into the forums and have fun here.
 

amadhava

Scribe
As for prologues, they've been discussed on the site many times and I've pointed out that I'll often skip prologues in a book or pass up a book for the one next to it on the shelf if the first has a lengthy prologue. This has upset people :)

I do hope you wouldn't mind reserving your no-prologue reading for a little bit and just read one? I have it up on my portfolio and I actually like my prologue better than chapter 1 as most of it is set up in a different world... :p read just a bit and let me know if you think I should cut it down or off and I will give your opinion a whole lot of weight being as it is coming from a prologue-dis-liker :p
 

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
I do hope you wouldn't mind reserving your no-prologue reading for a little bit and just read one? I have it up on my portfolio and I actually like my prologue better than chapter 1 as most of it is set up in a different world... :p read just a bit and let me know if you think I should cut it down or off and I will give your opinion a whole lot of weight being as it is coming from a prologue-dis-liker :p

No problem :) I'm happy to read them for critique purposes, I just tend not to like them in published books. There are exceptions, though, and I've read some very nice ones :)
 

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
Any specific reason why you don't like prologues?

Yeah.

1. I like a story that starts at the beginning. It seems to me that a "prologue," by definition, starts somewhere other than the beginning, and so I feel there has to be a really good reason, and a very engaging prologue to justify it. A lot of fantasy writers seems to think they have to have a prologue, or just default to having one, and they haven't thought through whether it is really the best place to start; and

2. Many are poorly done in one way or another. I have no problem just skipping the prologue after a few paragraphs if it isn't good. I'll just move on to the first chapter. I read advice by an author who said never put important info in a prologue because so many people skip them. But I figure if there's no important info in it, why is it there?

A lot of this is a matter of subjective taste and people can and do differ on it. I do think above all a writer has to be true to her own vision of a story, and if that includes a prologue then you go with it.
 
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Yes, Calvin and Hobbes rule.

As for prologues, they've been discussed on the site many times and I've pointed out that I'll often skip prologues in a book or pass up a book for the one next to it on the shelf if the first has a lengthy prologue. This has upset people :)

...:eek:





ANYWAY, welcome to the site!
 

amadhava

Scribe
I never thought about it that way. Interesting and something I'll keep in mind. I actually forgot about prologues when starting on my second writing attempt otherwise, as you said, I would have put one in because I wouldn't have thought about not putting it in :p - it's just that my most recently read books don't contain prologues - scary what influences me... :S I should ensure that I don't read something I dislike before I start writing :p
 

Jess A

Archmage
Hullo, late welcome. We've already spoken at length but I thought I'd post here anyway. :) It was a pleasure to read your work and I hope to see it soon in the Showcase forum, as well as some stuff in the Brainstorm thread!
 

amadhava

Scribe
Thank you Zero Angel and Little Storm Cloud!

I will definitely be making use of the Brainstorming thread now that I have taken a look in there! :D
 
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