also, re: starting earlier vs. starting later in the story, I have found that I have a tendency to begin the story WAY too close to the inciting incident and I always end up going back and adding at least a chapter or two more to the beginning, lol. I think it’s a leftover instinct from my creative writing classes that drilled getting to that point immediately & also from writing so many short stories. But I’ve found that if readers don’t understand the stakes and the character and the foundation of the world, they won’t care about the inciting incident. It’s a hard balance to strike.
@@writewithjoy that's so true! i used to start my stories too early and now i'm wondering if i'm also starting too close to the inciting incident lol.. a vicious cycle
loved this video, kris! so fun to see the feedback and love how you, lynn, and kelley all exchanged feedback - so excited to learn more about the floating house, love everything i'm hearing about it so far! 😍
Love a strong beta/critique group! It’s nice that you guys can be encouraging and kind while also giving feedback that will actually develop the story!
Something I tend to do for describing characters is that I include a few defining features of the character in introduction, but I keep some details hidden and over the course of the first few chapters I drip feed these elements as the characters get to know each other (You can also use this to include more backstory instead of info dumping someones life in chap 1, have a character they met recently, ask them about something personal or bring up something personal like an old scar, etc.) Sometimes I would be in the POV of character A as they are introduced to character B where they get an overview of who they are, their style so to speak. Then maybe in POV of character B later on, give more details regarding the other. I like to break it up into a distant view of the character, followed by more close up examinations of them. distant you can get stuff like build, clothing, hair styles, demeanor, attitude, etc. where you can further focus in on each aspect in a close up view, physically you can add features like scars, eye color, tattoos under clothings, personality, or things you generally wouldn't make out from someone from a glance across a room. I often like to work backwards in a lot of things, starting with the whole picture, then removing and simplifying certain things for the reader early on, stuff that they need to know. Not every detail of a system needs to be fully understood by the reader, you can leave room for wondering. (Like introductory Magic systems will be more basic like Magic 101, vs Advanced magic systems which is more like a more advanced physics class.)
(Re: are you a writer or a reader with descriptions) I'm primarily an illustrator lmao. I've been doing prose for fun this last year, and one of the biggest things I've been figuring out my Voice for is descriptions. Its the whole "you cannot describe literally everything in your head", multiplied by "I'm so used to just being able to Draw It" lmao. But luckily, all of my feedback so far indicates that descriptions are one of my stronger points! The best metaphor i can think of is, instead of trying to paint a whole scene, you're selecting a small handful of focal features (i try not to do more than three or MAYBE four at a time) and render them in vignette, and let the audience fill in the implied gaps. Then i can spend my mental energy making sure the things i describe help build not only the literal imagery of what things look like, but the emotional impressions and such as well. I also try to use the least/clearest words possible, because i have ADHD and so do like all my friends 😂😂😂😂 I assume you already know all this kind of thing, but i enjoy figuring out how to compare/contrast my art job stuff with writing lol. Thanks for the video, its fun ✨️
I feel you when you said you under describe cause that's something I struggle with too especially since I'm autistic so my brain has trouble registering details when it comes to people's appearances and places 😩 but thankfully that's what revisions are for! 🤣 so that's something I'm gonna spend more time on during the revision stage
ahh thank you for letting me read!!
thank you for reading!!! :D
girl the way I LEAPED to watch this video. I've been waiting ever since I watched Lynn's & Kelley's 💕
also, re: starting earlier vs. starting later in the story, I have found that I have a tendency to begin the story WAY too close to the inciting incident and I always end up going back and adding at least a chapter or two more to the beginning, lol. I think it’s a leftover instinct from my creative writing classes that drilled getting to that point immediately & also from writing so many short stories. But I’ve found that if readers don’t understand the stakes and the character and the foundation of the world, they won’t care about the inciting incident. It’s a hard balance to strike.
@@writewithjoy that's so true! i used to start my stories too early and now i'm wondering if i'm also starting too close to the inciting incident lol.. a vicious cycle
loved this video, kris! so fun to see the feedback and love how you, lynn, and kelley all exchanged feedback - so excited to learn more about the floating house, love everything i'm hearing about it so far! 😍
I'm so excited to share more soon!
Love a strong beta/critique group! It’s nice that you guys can be encouraging and kind while also giving feedback that will actually develop the story!
Something I tend to do for describing characters is that I include a few defining features of the character in introduction, but I keep some details hidden and over the course of the first few chapters I drip feed these elements as the characters get to know each other (You can also use this to include more backstory instead of info dumping someones life in chap 1, have a character they met recently, ask them about something personal or bring up something personal like an old scar, etc.)
Sometimes I would be in the POV of character A as they are introduced to character B where they get an overview of who they are, their style so to speak. Then maybe in POV of character B later on, give more details regarding the other.
I like to break it up into a distant view of the character, followed by more close up examinations of them. distant you can get stuff like build, clothing, hair styles, demeanor, attitude, etc. where you can further focus in on each aspect in a close up view, physically you can add features like scars, eye color, tattoos under clothings, personality, or things you generally wouldn't make out from someone from a glance across a room. I often like to work backwards in a lot of things, starting with the whole picture, then removing and simplifying certain things for the reader early on, stuff that they need to know. Not every detail of a system needs to be fully understood by the reader, you can leave room for wondering. (Like introductory Magic systems will be more basic like Magic 101, vs Advanced magic systems which is more like a more advanced physics class.)
(Re: are you a writer or a reader with descriptions) I'm primarily an illustrator lmao. I've been doing prose for fun this last year, and one of the biggest things I've been figuring out my Voice for is descriptions. Its the whole "you cannot describe literally everything in your head", multiplied by "I'm so used to just being able to Draw It" lmao.
But luckily, all of my feedback so far indicates that descriptions are one of my stronger points! The best metaphor i can think of is, instead of trying to paint a whole scene, you're selecting a small handful of focal features (i try not to do more than three or MAYBE four at a time) and render them in vignette, and let the audience fill in the implied gaps. Then i can spend my mental energy making sure the things i describe help build not only the literal imagery of what things look like, but the emotional impressions and such as well. I also try to use the least/clearest words possible, because i have ADHD and so do like all my friends 😂😂😂😂
I assume you already know all this kind of thing, but i enjoy figuring out how to compare/contrast my art job stuff with writing lol. Thanks for the video, its fun ✨️
aah kris!! I truly adore these kinds of videos from you! Your trio is so solid 🥹
This is so inspiring.
I feel you when you said you under describe cause that's something I struggle with too especially since I'm autistic so my brain has trouble registering details when it comes to people's appearances and places 😩 but thankfully that's what revisions are for! 🤣 so that's something I'm gonna spend more time on during the revision stage
i'm the opposite, i describe eveeerything because i stare at people