Well, the classic method is: Rent a room in a seedy motel or
hotel for 72 hours. Bring three bottles of rhye whiskey, a
can of instant coffee, and a PLOT. Don't start with
characters. Come up with a good plot and let the characters
fill themselves in. If you're writing a whodunit, figure out
what happened and how it will be resolved, then tell it,
starting in the middle, from the point of view of someone
coming into the story with no previous information about the
circumstances. Write for 72 hours with only bathroom breaks
until the book is complete, then go to sleep. Don't re-read
until it's finished. Now go through it for inconsistencies
and places where the whole thing falls apart or where the
action breaks down. Cut out 10% of everything you've written.
Knock off anything that isn't exciting or titilating. If
you're uncertain of any chapter. Rewrite it without reference
to the original and see which one works best. Then let a
trusted third party read it and see if they think it works
and what changes they'd like to see. Consider what they say
and make the changes that seem logical and send it off. The
publisher or agent will have their own ideas. Don't turn in a
MS less than 300 pages for todays market, so shoot for a
first draft of at least 330 pages, so you'll have that 10% to
cut. If you're going to write fast you have to keep your will
strong on the project. Block distractions. No cell phone, no
pets, no musical instruments including ipods or radios or
tvs. Don't tell your friends and relatives where you are.
Just tell them you'll be unreachable for 72 hours. Unless
you're a certified alcoholic, alter your consciousness while
you work. It's what all the best of them did. Why argue with
success? Good luck!
Patrick King
--- Don Lee <
donthepoet@yahoo.com> wrote:
> I am about to do the November novel writing
contest,
> and I am going to write a noir novel, so I have
been
> reading the Hard Case Crime books and otherwise
just
> immersing myself in the whole mindset. Does
anyone
> reading this have any pointers for writing
noir
> fast,
> or know any good links, or just have any feedback
at
> all? Am shooting for 50K words, and have Nov. 1st
to
> the end of the month to finish it.
>
> Don
>
>
>
>
____________________________________________________________________________________
> Got a little couch potato?
> Check out fun summer activities for kids.
>
http://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=oni_on_mail&p=summer+activities+for+kids&cs=bz
>
>
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