The Long And The Abbreviated Of The Abbreviated Account
- Posted by Essays Blog in Essays Blog |
- August 31st, 2009 |
- Comments
Congratulations! You’ve patterned a great abbreviated account competition and decided to enter. You’ve had a go at a few abbreviated stories in the past and you’ve been deficient to tackle a novel for ages, but the idea was artifact also daunting so you’ve just shoved that to the bottom of your life’s “To Do” list. A abbreviated account is a much better idea, isn’t it? It’s just like writing a novel only shorter. Right?
Not exactly!
It’s been said that it’s not that a abbreviated account is long, it’s that it takes a long time to make it abbreviated. The idea that a abbreviated account is just a mini novel is an idea that will mean certain death to the achiever of your abbreviated account, before you’ve even written the first condemn.
Thither is an art, and a process to writing a abbreviated account, just like there’s an art and a process to writing a novel, a non-fiction book or an essay. Achiever is a matter of knowing the basic principles, and so applying these to compose the best abbreviated account you’re capable of.
The question is, do you have the endurance to make your account abbreviated?
That question is easily answered by walking gradually finished the writing process.
1. Planning
No matter what you are writing, you need to have a plan. Would you attempt to build a house without plans? Or would you set sail on the high seas without a map and compass? Writing stories is exactly the same. Begin without a plan and you will doubtless become lost in a forest of your own words.
Any simple questions to ask yourself at this early arrange include:
* Who is your main character and what is their predicament?
* What do they deprivation? How can they get out of their predicament?
* Who or what is fastener them getting what they deprivation?
* How can you apply pressure to your character to force them into making bad choices in pursuit of their goal?
* What will your character learn over the course of the account?
Beginning by answering these few questions will help you know who your character is, what they deprivation, and how they are going to go about getting it.
2. Writing
Once you have a plan for your account you are ready to compose it. When you are writing, you are just writing. You are not editing and you are not planning, You are writing. This specifically means that you don’t act to admiration if “this artifact sounds better than that way”. When you are writing you are capturing the essence of the action in your account. You are writing a draft, not a finished product. At this arrange don’t even entertain your morpheme limit. Just compose the entire account as you have planned it. We’ll mind of the morpheme limit in the editing and rewriting stages.
The writing arrange is similar to mining a diamond. When a diamond is mined it is a chunk of rock, with a few glittering pieces to appear it is actually a diamond. You don’t mine a beautifully cut and polished diamond from the broadside of a mountain, do you? No, you have an amazing piece of raw material, which you so accept to a jeweler who will cut and polish it to appear its beauty to its greatest advantage. In the writing process, the jeweler is the editor.
3. Rewriting
Once you have completed the first draft, the real best abstraction you can do is walk away. It can be difficult to get any distance from your own activity, but it is about impossible if you attempt to plan, compose, rewrite and edit your account in one motion. If possible don’t look at it again for at least another day. This allows your account time to rest and “breathe”, and when you return thereto you will accompany it in a fresh light.
When you are ready, re-read it aboveboard finished once without fastener, and without making any changes or marks in the margins. Once you’ve finished the first read, ask yourself one question: did I compose the account that I begin to compose? If the answer is no, don’t panic. It’s amazing how the real account you are meant to compose comes out in the writing. At this arrange your main focus is to ensure that the intention of the account equals the result. In other words, the account has to make meaning, and must flow from beginning to end, with all questions raised at the beginning being answered by the end. It is quite common to do comprehensive rewrites of the first few scenes, as the account you really craved to compose didn’t aboveground until after you’d really got cracking. That’s ok. Just go back and rewrite any scenes you need to, to make the account flow from beginning to end.
Another important questions to ask at this arrange are:
* Are thither any great leaps in time or place? It is generally best to keep these leaps to a minimum in a abbreviated account.
* How many characters do you have? It’s never a great idea to have more than III major characters at the most, and I’ve read great abbreviated stories where thither is only one. Economise the huge cast for your novel.
* Does the account continually move forward? It’s real easy to have cardinal or maybe even III scenes showing the same abstraction about your character. A environment is a object of change &ndash if a environment doesn’t move the account forward, it needs to be cut or rewritten.
So rewriting is re-seeing and re-sculpting. The main purpose of this arrange of the process is to make careful the account makes meaning. Thither is a logic to account, and if thither are any great leaps in time or place, you may need to add any bantam linking phrases. Once you are happy that the account flows in film you are ready to move to the final phase: editing.
4. Editing
You now need to block entirely out of your creative right brain and into your logical and analytical left brain, to refine and polish your account.
Firstly, look at your morpheme count. Are you artifact over, artifact low, or pretty close to the mark? Never apply a account that is over the morpheme limit. Respect the requirements of the competition and keep inside the morpheme limit.
Now read your account again, this time with your red marker in hand and a critical eye on the page. Any questions you need to ask at this arrange are:
* When does the action begin? This is where your account begins. It’s tempting to “set the scene” and “show character” but the reality is, you don’t need to. The account always begins where the action begins. If thither is anything that needs to be explained you haven’t written your action properly.
* Is all the action on the “spine” of the account? Edit out any excess material. Again, economise it for your novel.
* Appear don’t tell. This means, don’t tell us about individual, appear us their character by putting them into difficult situations and let us discern their character by the choices they make.
* Edit out all explanation. As a general rule, ask yourself, “is it an image?” If it’s not it’s probably explanation and needs to be cut.
* Is thither a “solution” to the account? Does the account deliver what it promised?
* Now is the time to ask, “is this the best artifact to have this?” If not, compose it again, and have it better.
You may find yourself rewriting, editing, rewriting, editing over and over. This is completely normal! Most good abbreviated account authors do at least 15 drafts of their abbreviated stories before they are happy with the result.
So, you’ve made it finished the process and you’re ready to send your account off to the competition. Make careful you double area it, that the font filler is big enough to read easily and that you’ve put enough postage on the envelope!
And good luck!