@Dingleberry - 50 pages and no plot. How did you manage that, didn't you start with a plot?

Maniac,
No, I started with characters and a spaceship. No plot.

@everyone, I'd be interested to read anything that anyone has written, maybe we could form a writer's circle?

@Dingleberry, I've heard of writers doing the same thing and just letting the plot develop by the characters interacting, but I always thought that was fraught with danger.

Does this character have massive sideburns, flashman?

Okay, an update:

a) trim is correct above, I was referring to someone who is a complete dick head - that is not his name in the book. I am actually using a slight variation on one of his multiple on-line names, which itself is a name made famous by three other people in real life;
b) the new character I have uncovered from here (php) is not yet in the book but easy to introduce;
c) the book is based around four lives: three teenage boys at school as they grow and an old man whom they meet and befriend before he dies.

Because the boys meet different people as they first mature and then separate after leaving school, it is both natural and easy to have a succession of characters pass by them.

The book has a number of themes running through it - the main one is that of letting the text and plot mature as the boys do so themselves. For that reason, whilst smallish incidents seem important early on, much greater issues arise later. The text grows in complexity to match this change.

I should let cg read the bits where they get tuition from an Eng Lit tutor at Cambridge to help them prepare for AP exams.

It is, I have to say, the proverbial long story. Cast of thousands. Final ending still open.

Flashman, which children's book company has hired you?

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CJTK

In jest or not, I should add that it is not a children's story. It is meant to be a book which you start reading light and then get drawn in as events and ideas start to get closer and closer to the things we really do pass through.

In the bit I mentioned above, the boys encounter snobbery from some undergrads who resent their intrusion, along with a running commentary from the tutor about his colleagues - some nice professional jealousy.

It is ambitious but after a lifetime of writing I thought I'd try to write something that I would have liked to read when I was younger. That is the real justification for the project.

Well, I can be a Richard Cranium with a mouth, but at least I only have the one online persona here. So it can't be me...

Well, are you referring to the Baraman book or the other one?

Oh, the other one.

I think he said the Richard Noggin was not from phpDip but someone he knew in real life.

Gobble, the other one: you should know: 'Baraman' is a leadership book and a million miles away from Cambridge.

The other one you have never seen anything of - perhaps I should give you a section: it is highly idiomatic. That alone makes it useful material for comprehension.

And Chrisp, yes Richard Noggin - someone from real life. I rather like that.

@Onar

I know this is much higher up in the thread but....

You're a "writer" and you don't know what 'peruse' means? I mean, I suppose it could make sense the way you used it but I somehow doubt that was your intent. Hint: It doesn't mean "skim" or "browse".

No offense or anything, its just a peeve.



I have a book coming out this October or November, to add positively to the discussion.

Good man. I wish you all success. Does it trash anyone famous, promise instant fame and fortune, recycle a lot of other people's ideas into a 'boy becomes wizard' adventure ride, or is it a reduced carbon footprint organic cookbook?

If not, there's probably not much money in it, but the pleasure of holding the first copy is worth all the effort.

Flash, happy to be of assistance re Cambridge etc if you want me to read stuff. If you are still coming over to the UK for that game, I could take it off you then, or read by email. Happy to help out.

I am over next week - still need to see how my dad is before I can confirm a game but a meal would be a near certainty. I'll probably ask a few questions about tutoring to help me get that part right. Obviously I already have some role models to work with but a little more input would not go amiss.