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Wilde_Guess

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Posts posted by Wilde_Guess

  12. The Yankee's Nephew and the Philosopher's Stone review thread.

    in General

    Posted

    Hi, all.

    Chapter 6 notes.  This chapter gets the “1982 Gang” from Little Whinging to King’s Cross, and then to Hogwarts.

    The Marine First Sergeant mentioned was 1stSgt Donald Hamblen.  His story is here.  https://www.historynet.com/donald-hamblen-one-tough-marine-and-purple-heart-recipient/

    The Navy Salvage Diver was BMCM Carl Brashear, the subject of the movie Men of Honor.

    Tom Daley is an “original” original character for this story.  He might be important later, but I haven’t decided.  He will be a much more typical eleven year old boy than the main characters.

    Joe and Max Stock are borrowed from Riding the Lincoln Way.  Their younger sister was a “casualty of creative license.”  Their younger brother Peter is a happy, healthy future wizard who will attend Hogwarts with Paul Dvorak.  Joe and Max started what they’re doing for slightly different reasons, but not enough changes happened in their lives to stop that from happening.

    Chapter 7 will start with the sorting.  The pace will soon pickup very quickly, since I’m actually writing about Harry Potter.  He is still a very cute 25 month old toddler in this chapter, though.

    Cheers!

  17. Advanced Writing 101 - Structure

    in Writers' Corner

    Posted

    Hi, Desiderius Price, and all.

    1 hour ago, Desiderius Price said:

    My disastrous mistake with flashbacks… In my first original fic I posted here, because it was a huge group of people, I started inserting chapters of flashbacks, one after another, covering how the different characters got there.  Reviewers were getting confused “isn’t he dead?”  Once I realized I had basically had multiple stories in it, I started to peel them off as SEPARATE stories, and it’s way, way better.  Of course, haven’t finished those backstories, still working on them, and plan to get back to the main story… eventually.

    For instance, Jefferey is backstory that delves into the subversive underground group trying to counter the strong religious push/indoctrination of the main society.  Alaska Trekkers shows how two join up to the main story.  Dale’s Game is intended for one of those too (though it derailed, so it’s eventual rewrite will fix that).  Once I start clearing out the backstory & rewrites, I do intend to get back to the main story :)   In the meanwhile, this potter fanfic isn’t going to write itself.

    Overall, I minimize flashbacks, as it’s usually a symptom of planning issues.  However, they can have a place. 

    Yes, there truly is a point where you have to write a separate story to tell the backstory of a character in the “other” story.  Or two different stories actually intersect for a short space.  Those are the “sidecar” equivalents to the prequel and the sequel.  Before Disney destroyed Star Wars, they had an entire cottage industry writing those stories to the three, and later the six core canon stories.  The last three movies were basically stewed pig feces, though there was the occasional gem to float up, but I digress…

    Cheers!

  19. Advanced Writing 101 - Structure

    in Writers' Corner

    Posted

    For a character thinking back to an earlier moment in time, those would tend to be short.  If the character is relating an incident that happened to them before the “main” time of the story itself, or relating an incident through their own perspective that did not happen in the “view” of the main story perspective to one or more of the “main” characters, they can be far longer.  When doing this “longer” flashback, you can also “come up for air” in the “present moment” of the story to get reactions from the characters being told or reading the story.  And in some cases, you might need to.

    Cheers!

  20. Fica I don't load

    in Bug Tracker

    Posted

    Perhaps the OP doesn’t realize that they have to click on the “three stacked hash” icon in the top left of the archives home screen and select “archives” from the options revealed then in order to even get to the categories?

  21. Advanced Writing 101 - Structure

    in Writers' Corner

    Posted · Edited by Wilde_Guess
    fix typos

    Something interesting has percolated up from the past.  Hmm…

    The most important thing in my personal opinion when writing a flashback is this:  Never use the actual word “flashback,” unless your protagonist is a psychedelic drug user who is reminiscing or remembering when they were having either more or less “flashbacks” to suffer from.

    Otherwise, the length or shortness of a flashback isn’t entirely a fixed quantity, at least in my opinion.  But, like anything else in creative writing for an audience, it does has its place, and its limits.

  22. The Yankee's Nephew and the Philosopher's Stone

    in Promote a Story!

    Posted

    Chapter five has been revised as “Music, Romance, Magic, and Transitions.”  The story link is the same.  Beyond correcting minor errors, two sections have been added, so that Chapter six can start with the 1982 Hogwarts Express run.  I’ve also edited chapters 1-4.  A secondary character who was previously killed pre-story is now alive, although he won’t really be seen until later, since he’s a fourth year when Harry starts Hogwarts.  Thanks in advance for reading.

  23. Should minor characters have names?

    in Writers' Corner

    Posted

    Hi, Desiderius Price and all.

    Perhaps the terms “Primary and Secondary Characters” is more fitting here.  The “classic Riverdale” cohort are all juniors in High School from what I remember, and I’m far from the only author here with more “curiously age-challenged” characters.

    “Going down the line” was what I was referring to.  Lots of people go “railfanning.”  Very few want to read the manifest in the lead locomotive that was pulling the train…

    ...Off topic, but I can’t resist.  Most women prefer sailing and yachting over railfanning, when given only those two choices for a recreational activity.  I’m told the reason is that no woman has ever had her reputation destroyed for pulling a boat.

    Ducking and running...

  25. Should minor characters have names?

    in Writers' Corner

    Posted

    Hi, Deadman and all.

    9 hours ago, Deadman said:

    Yeah, I’m more concerned about the ability of readers to distinguish rather than creating a full character workup.

    This is because the main focus of the minor character is having sex with the main character. However, what I noticed is that in many of my stories, I either use a canon character who already has a name or if I create an OC, I used to give them names but have kinda stopped doing this.

    In the examples I give of “naval officer” or “personal trainer” I will refer to “naval officer on the left” or “naval officer I first spoke to”. Which technically does give people a sense of the different characters but maybe I should just say “John” or “Frank”.
     

    This isn’t necessarily a problem, per se.  If for example you are trying to stress how generous your main character is with their physical affections, you might actually stress the genericness or anonymity of their paramours.  “Just sayin’”

    Cheers!

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