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Post by Medeia Senka on Mar 17, 2008 18:23:36 GMT -5
Ok, forgive me if this question's already been asked but... Do you ever do interviews for blogs?
because I *cough* might co-host a book reviewing blog that occasionally interviews magnificent authors like yourself... and I *cough* might be a huge fan... and, well, if you have time...
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Post by nicholai441 on Mar 29, 2008 4:29:08 GMT -5
sorry, haven't been here for a long while. so sorry if this question has been asked, there's just too many pages to search through to find out if a question i want to ask has already been asked.
first a short detail as to what my question is about: character notes, i'm having a hard time with those.
now the question: how do you write up your characters notes? do you write them in a profile sort of way with their name, age, hair color, eye color, (for adventure stories) weapon, personality, etc etc etc.? and how far in advance do you write the notes, do you note out everything about the characters from begining to end of the story or series or do you go step by step noting updated information about them as you write the story?
i remember you said something like, you don't really use the note, how you write them down and then don't look at them for a while (i believe that's what you said)
the way i am writing my character notes is in a profile format, then plan and note, my thoughts take me to the end of my story and i note what i want to happen and what new thing or things will happen to the character (IE receiving a new weapon or fighting a certain enemy). is that a good way to take notes? (any other writer here can answer this question if they want) the one problem i am having with this way though is that i keep thinking of the future of the character (and the story) before the story even starts.
can you give me some ideas on what i should do in this case?
(add-on):
i just remembered something i been meaning to ask. chapters, how do you decide when a chapter end and the next one begins? the way i've been doing this is by telling myself that i want a chapter to be a certain number of pages or more, then i would try to write that many pages. i know this way is not the easiest way or he best way to write (right way and wrong way is in one's own opinion right?)
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Post by bzperu on Mar 30, 2008 12:00:34 GMT -5
Chris, I have just finished reading TBP trilogy which I have to say I found brilliant. I am an older (late 30's) reader of fantasy, having been brought up on Tolkien and Brooks. I was particularly pleased with TBP insofar as it gave the fantasy genre a complete new angle without overstepping the fantasy "boundries". I have to admit that I feel that Brooks has taken the Shanarra series too far. It has grown tired. You clearly left the ending of The Ascendency Veil pretty much open for the possibility of sequels. Even if they are set several hundred years later it would still work. There is still a lot of real potential for Samaryr and the other lands... Do you have any plans to do Braided Path sequels are planned for the future?* You really should you know. * PS: the only appropriate answer to that question would be yes
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Pombar
Junior Member
Curious Young Gent
Posts: 81
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Post by Pombar on Mar 31, 2008 18:44:34 GMT -5
I personally prefer series' to be left open to the imagination, rather than milked dry as with Brooks' works. Not that I think a fourth book would be 'too far' as you put it, but I'm content with Wooding continuing to introduce even more new worlds and such, since he's proved so durned good at it
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Post by bluephoenix on Apr 5, 2008 23:28:49 GMT -5
Aww, so you're moving back to London then? What did you miss about it? Also, any particularly fun stories you'd like to shar about Madrid? I've been wondering...
Also, I was reading TBP and thinking about all the details of the war and strategies and stuff...how do you keep all that nonsense STRAIGHT?! Notes? timelines? in-muna memory systems?
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darkhyuuga
Full Member
D.gray man... enough said.
Posts: 156
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Post by darkhyuuga on Apr 6, 2008 10:33:54 GMT -5
Plan on ever co-writing with someone else..... if so any one in mind?
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Post by mikie4291 on Apr 7, 2008 8:47:05 GMT -5
Hey Chris when your back in london, you should do a signing at forbidden planet. Or at least I hope you will
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Post by Chris Wooding on Apr 16, 2008 7:06:41 GMT -5
So many questions!!! Ok, apologies for mega lateness, I'll try to be beter in future! But these will have to be a bit snappy as I have a backlog to clear I grew up on Thundercats, He-Man and Transformers, all of which are ace. BMFM was a bit after my time, and by then I was cynical enough to sneer at their post-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 'radical dude' faux-cool (which wasn't cool even when the Turtles did it... such a shame cos they were so cool in the original comic!) In brief, it was much more concerned with an attempt (led by Ledo and Clan Caracassa) to build a city on the surface of the planet that could withstand the suns' rays, so people could live on the surface again. Cue sabotage, conspiracy, murder, all of that. Well, the wych-kin were originally called daemons (incidentally, the book was originally called The Daemons Of Alaizabel Cray) but as Philip Pullman's stuff was just getting big the publishers persuaded me that I should change them. Wych-kin was the only suitable thing I could come up with I'm all of them! ;D Seriously, I do all those things. *Deep breath* England, Wales, Scotland, France, Spain, Germany, Austria, Greece, Hungary, Czech Republic, Italy, Morocco, South Africa, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, USA, Canada, Holland... erm... think that's it.
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Post by Chris Wooding on Apr 16, 2008 7:15:08 GMT -5
No idea... Scholastic US deal with that. I've long come to accept it as part of the deal of being a writer... I think I've said before elsewhere, fanfic and similar stuff is fine by me, but the moment you try to make any money out of it then it becomes plagiarism and you shall be smote by the Lawyers of Scholastic. Till then, knock yourself out Lol, now I feel awful for ignoring your proposal for two months. What a cad! Incidentally, a really high percentage of marriages when the proposal was made on 29th Feb fail. Why is that, you ask? Same reason the tradition popped up that a man should ask a woman I imagine... cos if you ask the man they'll feel pressured into saying yes and then spend the rest of their lives trying to weasel out of it ;D
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Post by Chris Wooding on Apr 16, 2008 7:20:28 GMT -5
Well, I imagine she's about 5' 3'', depending whether she's wearing her Gryffindor wizard hat. I'm 6'3", by way of comparison.
Generally between three and five.
Right-handed.
SLAP!
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Post by Chris Wooding on Apr 16, 2008 7:36:55 GMT -5
Sure, no problem. PM me on this site or something. I'll get back to you as soon as I can Ah, Nicholai, master of the snappy question! The short answer is: do it however you like. What works for me doesn't work for other people. A chapter should be as long or as short as feels right to you. It's nice to keep them roughly the same length but don't stick to it. Profiles: I've done them differently in every book. Some are just scribbled notes, some are full-on histories. Some have profiles written out like stats with eye colour etc, some don't. For The Ace Of Skulls wrote out and printed a whole folder full of background detail for the world, plot, characters etc. Others I didn't. Glad you enjoyed TBP! Thanks for your kind comments. As to sequels, there are no plans to actually write them, but there are plans as to what the sequels would be if I DID write them! But at the moment I'd say there probably won't be. Sorry! LOL. I don't know ;D Mainly it's the feeling that in London, stuff gets done. There's a vibrancy there that I missed. In Madrid, nothing gets done. Ever. Hmm, better not, kids read this forum too! For TBP, mainly notes, maps and a really good memory! I'm not exactly sure how this co-writing lark works, to tell you the truth. I mean, I don't understand the process. It could be fun, but I don't have any plans to. It'd have to be someone who I know well, get on with and whose work I really respect and admire. Anyway, I like that novels, as opposed to screenplays, are mineminemine and I get to do whatever I want in them ;D I probably will, but I doubt it'll happen before The Ace Of Skulls is released.
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Post by Maliris on Apr 16, 2008 9:34:31 GMT -5
Yes! Please!! Though, now I will have to decide whether to take all twenty books with me or just a selected few. :E
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Post by Chris Wooding on Apr 16, 2008 11:43:23 GMT -5
You're coming from Munich? Blimey! You come that far, I'll give you one of my toes!
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Post by Maliris on Apr 17, 2008 9:42:45 GMT -5
Alright, I'll remind you then. Though an autograph would already be enough... <_<
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Post by zemira on Apr 17, 2008 14:21:59 GMT -5
Man, I'd come to that too! Time to start saving money...It'd be nice to actually have an autograph addressed to me, instead of buying one addressed to someone else for $80... >_<
I always get such joy reading his replies. ^_^ I do believe Chris is both the cruelest and wittiest man I've "met". ^_^
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