Friday, October 30, 2009

INTRODUCTION

"Fiction reveals what
truth may hide."


Welcome to my Breakout Novel set in 17th century Siam. It's a work in progress, anything can, and will, keep on changing as I rewrite. I don't even have a title yet. Please feel free to comment and give advice.

Here's the logline: "Roger Davenport goes to the Indies to make his fortune, gets involved in privateering, falls in love with a Siamese princess, but risks everything to save the Greek-born prime minister, his hero and mentor."

Unfortunately, you're a little early because the blog is still under construction. Come back in about a month. I will put up the chapters as I finish them (eight so far), and also blog on various aspects of novel writing.

In the first part of the blog (look to the right) I've summarize rules and tips concerning creative writing gleaned from numerous books, bibliography provided. The purpose is to have this information at my fingertips when those books aren't physically available to me. I also like to listen to it (the blog) on Odiogo.com. I trust this is within the bounds of "fair use". If not, please inform me. No plagiarism is intended.

1. Below: Novel Writing Made Easy. If you're new to novel writing, this video will tell you briefly what's involved.

2. Below: Joyce Carol Oates - On Writing Characters.

3. Below: The American Novel Since 1945 - Yale Course (26 videos!). If you don't have an MFA or didn't study literature, this series will give you a good and entertaining grounding.

4. Below: How to Write a Compelling Book Title (Three parts). Only after the publication of my first book of short stories did I realize how important book titles and covers were.

5. Below: Lisa Tener's inspirational "How to Write Your Book," not necessarily fiction.

6. Below: David M. Harris gives some useful advice for beginners. He mentions Proust's questionnaire, which I wasn't aware of. You can look it up on Youtube.

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