August 2010
Middle Books
Submitted by jlpowers on Mon, 08/23/2010 - 4:46pmI just got done reading a book from one of my favorite authors and found myself seriously annoyed at it. So, like I usually do, I pondered why I was so upset with the book. Because writing-wise, it was fine. So what annoyed me?
As I pondered, I realized that it had the same problem that I've run across in many other middle books. So I broadened my pondering, and pondered why middle books are often so bad in comparison to other books in the trilogy or series.
As I pondered, I drew myself pictures to define concepts better for myself.
There seem to be a two kinds of series:
- A series of books -- no overall arcs:
- A series with arcs carried over multi books:
Since I read for character, my reading repertoire contains, almost exclusively, the second type of series. So that's what I focused on in my further ponderings.
As I pondered, I came to the conclusion that there seem to be two kinds of problems with middle books, which can appear in either type of series, but as I said, I'll focus on the second type of series.
First Middle-book Problem
The first problem with many middle books is that they are really the first part of the end book, or the next book.
In other words, the last two books in the trilogy are not two books, but really one book that has been split into two parts.
Since I'm an author, it seemed obvious to ask:
When you are writing a book, how do you tell the difference between two separate books, or one book in two parts? (Read more)
Where Have I Been?
Submitted by jlpowers on Mon, 08/23/2010 - 10:36amI realized a while back that I have this blog categorized in my head as my "fiction writing blog", so if I'm not writing fiction, I tend to not post here. Then I decided the other day that this needs to be my "writing" blog and to not limit myself to "fiction".
Meaning that I should start talking about what's kept me up day and night, and prevented me from doing many, many of the things I should have been doing.
So, where have I been for the last six months, and what have I been doing?
I've been writing a non-fiction book:
Is that enough to account for the majority of the last six months? 175,000 words. 500 pages.
I'm glad to have it this far done, but it's only a raw draft. Now the chore is to make something coherent of it. Which, of course, should prove as interesting (in the Oriental curse sense of the word) as any fiction I've written.
It'll eventually be a book on how to take control of your life from your subconscious and your limiting beliefs. It won't be a cure-all or make-a-million-dollars-this-week book. For anyone who actually does the exercises, when they're done with the book, they will be consciously running their life, which makes it tremendously more likely that their conscious goals will actually be realized... whether it be a cure or a million dollars, or just plain being able to say "I want to do X" and not have their subconscious sabotage them every step of the way. :-)