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Turin Turambar

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Posts posted by Turin Turambar

  5. 12/14/2020 - Kais - Pruitcu - Ch 1 (L) - 4047 words

    in Reading Excuses

    Posted · Edited by Turin Turambar

    On 12/14/2020 at 4:37 PM, kais said:

    Did you read the prologue last week by chance? That would have been the grounding point for a lot of the worldbuilding. It's also book five in a series, though I had hoped new readers would find it accessible.

    I wasn't able to get to it. I'll go trawling through my email and give a heads up if it makes more sense to me afterwards.

    EDIT: I went through the prologue - it was less "what was going on" and more "so many (proper) nouns and referenced events." Though the prologue was cool. 

    edit again, because I can never just write all my thoughts at once: I'm not saying it's a bad thing that there's a high learning curve. It adds depth to the world. It's just got to be played right, so if it works for you, I still get the feeling that this world is lived in. Just at the cost of me having a clue as to what is going on.

    1

  7. 12.14.20 – karamel – the murders of ravahar – Chapter 1 (V, G) (2519)

    in Reading Excuses

    Posted

    Hello,

    I haven't had the time to do any critiquing since sometime in August, so I may be rusty (I'm doing this one because I haven't even been able to read most of the submissions, and I don't want to come in the middle of something because then I'll be missing stuff). 

    From memory: The time and location weren't clear, but that could be just because I'm not a history buff. I'd be curious to know the break point from when this separates from our history, but I'm assuming you'll mention that in a future chapter. I got Asian vibes when I started, but then I remembered a handful of European countries had Emperors. The hook was good - it was a relatively short chapter and I'm already pulled into the plot of what's going on which tends to be a bit of a problem for me with my own writing. One thing that slightly bugged me was I didn't know the name of the MC. Which is fine, just a tad annoying because I kept on referring to her in my head, and there was a blank.

    I disliked the emperor from the beginning, coming off as an insensitive man-child thing, especially with his creepy interaction with H. I'm almost glad he died, so barring other ramifications - assassin starts killing other people or power crisis - as long as there's a satisfying conclusion I'm good. As for H herself though, I don't feel like I got to know her as a person. I understand her motivations, but that's only a small part of her. 

    Good writing!  

    1

  11. The Business of Writing and Publishing

    in Reading Excuses

    Posted

    On 11/28/2020 at 7:37 AM, Sarah B said:

    @Turin Turambar

    I'm far from one of the pros here, but in case it's useful, I'll take a shot at answering too.

    How rough: I try to keep momentum once I start writting, so I'll use parentheses or 'TK' to fill in things I don't know yet or have forgotten. My first drafts end up looking pretty bare with mostly dialogue and only the broad strokes of the action (my weakest skill). If I know a location or a description I'll stop and write it in but if not I keep going and fill it in later. 

    Now that I'm more focused on editing, I wish I wrote cleaner first drafts. 

    Plotting: I write scifi, so most of my stuff focuses on a core question or concept that I want to explore. That's where I start. Then I add one or more characters that would be involved in that question. From there, I get ideas of things that I want to have happen, cool little moments. Those are my tent poles. If its complicated, I make an index card for each thing that I know has to happen and put them into a big deck. As I finish writing to that point, I will throw the card away. 

    That's where my planning stops. Then I jump in and see where it takes me between index cards, sometimes nowhere near where I thought. Often the cards have to be changed or revised. 

    Per writing excuses advice, I have been trying to apply Dan Wells' 7-point story structure when I get bogged down or lost (usually mid/late second act). This is also helpful for making me realize how many sub-plots I have started without noticing :-) 

    I tried the "story genius" method a bit, but it is way too organized for me. I do like her method of writing three back story scenes first, the end second, and then everything else. I hope to use this going forward to write stronger character arcs. 

    I'm still stumbling my way to a method, but that's what I've got so far :-)

    That's perfect - I wasn't asking the pros method. I'm asking your method.

    0

  12. Who are you?

    in Reading Excuses

    Posted

    Hey everyone,

    I've been around for well over a year now, but since I don't think I've ever formally introduced myself and because I haven't been actively critiquing much since august due to an incredibly schedule so the newest people don't know me, I figure I should post something here.

    I'm Turin Turanbar (yes, I know the name is technically spelled wrong). I've been writing since elementary school, and started only a little after reading. I absolutely love reading fantasy in every way shape and form (which should be a given), starting with HP, then chronicles of Narnia and then Lord of the Rings by 9 or 10. I'm the kind of stuck up idiot who read war and peace before high school for fun, and I'm currently trying to plow through most of the books from writing excuses book of the week and the books that Daniel Greene reviewed.

    In regards to hobbies I'm also learning violin. I'm still unsure what I want to do with my life but I know that I want do go into creative design and mostly leaning towards architecture as a major. I know you were complaining about them recently @Robinski - don't worry, I don't take it personally. Still, whenever I see anyone do anything competently I'm usually immediately jealous and have to resist trying to teach myself whatever skill it is. (I'm an INTJ-A for those who like MBTI and yes, I'm aware that there's a confirmation bias there) (There's a tad too many parentheses, aren't there...)

    Some of the best books in my objective opinion: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court and The Rook. Tolkien's works are sacrosanct and he can do no wrong. I don't really see what's the hype about Joe Abercrombie, the Unkindness of Magicians, and a Darker Shade of Magic. PLEASE change my mind here.

    1

  15. Lounge II (The Lounge Strikes Back)

    in Reading Excuses

    Posted

    3 hours ago, Robinski said:

    Yes, but I came for this group, not the Sanderson chat. I 'discovered' Sanderson through Wheel of Time, and from there found my way to Writing Excuses, which led me to Brandon's online lecture course, where I met @Mandamon, which led me here. I think that was the order of events. I read a wide variety of genre fiction, and there is just too much BS for me to plough through it all. I do have some in my TBR: Way of Kings, for example, Elantris. I'm never going to at the cutting edge of Sanderson reading, too much writing to do, and reading other things.

    Whoops, I didn't mean it as hard as I think you took it. My apologies, I was teasing you. Gently. I'm sorry if you were offended in any way. 

    1

  16. Lounge II (The Lounge Strikes Back)

    in Reading Excuses

    Posted

    2 hours ago, ginger_reckoning said:

    Congrats, that was fast! I've been tempted to binge, but im intentionally trying to slow myself down to savor it. I only read three chapters today, which has been a feat of self-control (But if I don't, my poor GPA is going to suffer...)

    I read really fast. Though to be honest, I don't know how to read. I've only learned how to skim... and yes, there was some amount of binging. Not too much, though. Good luck - @Snakenaps, no spoilers but you're in for a wild ride. But you already knew that. You know what SA is like...

    0

  17. Lounge II (The Lounge Strikes Back)

    in Reading Excuses

    Posted

    5 hours ago, Robinski said:

    Meh. I've only every read the first Mistborn trilogy, and Books 1 and 2 of the second Mistborn trilogy. Oh, and Books 12, 13 and 14 of Wheel of Time, of course.

    I'm going to point out that you're on a Sanderson fan site where Stormlight Archive is his magnum opus. 

    EDIT: finished RoW.

    0

  22. Email List and Submission Dates

    in Reading Excuses

    Posted

    22 minutes ago, Robinski said:

    I stopped doing NaNo in 2017 because it wasn't really working for me anymore, but it's a powerful tool to get you moving, a powerful tool for building the writing habit. I still use it as a motivation to me today. Pretty much the first thing I think about every day is writing. (I don't get to show these off much, humour me, will you? :rolleyes:)

    And you stopping has nothing to do with the fact you ran out of space on that wall.

    2

  24. Lounge II (The Lounge Strikes Back)

    in Reading Excuses

    Posted

    1 hour ago, Snakenaps said:

    Every 10k. 

    I need to do that. (I bought myself a set of WoT for the rough draft of my last novel, but that was a goal.)

    1 hour ago, Snakenaps said:

    My record was 7k on one Saturday. Sometimes I can push 5k regularly on the weekend. I typically aimed for 7k a week, since some days I had more days to write and other days I could only write a little. I know Sanderson can write 13k in a day when he puts his mind to it, but that man is crazy. 

    I write whatever I can, but right now I have the time to write a chapter a day, roughly 3k. With one day off, it amounts to 20k a week for a couple of weeks? That averages out for the rest of the time, when I'm lucky to get that much a week.

    1
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