Writing together with someone else/Brainstorming

As you all were talking about your writing styles last week, I thought about my own. I don't usually write on my own outside of school work, except for movie reviews and short screenplays. The screenplays are actually usually written together with my like-minded boyfriend. When we come up with an idea, we flesh it out just by talking back and forth. We add on characters, their characteristics and histories, settings, plot points, and even camera angles as we go along, just talking it out for maybe an hour or so. After we have a solid backbone of a story to work with, that's when it's finally written down on paper, usually by whoever came up with the idea in the first place. (Whether or not these stories ever make it to film is another story.)

When it comes to thinking of ideas, we play this game where one person gives the other either a genre or a character to work around, or sometimes a combination of opposite genres, like a western-type that takes place in the 1980s. We used to both work at a movie theater, and this game was great for passing time on slow weekdays.

So given that, I was wondering if any of you had worked together with someone else to write something, or if you had any other tricks for brainstorming ideas.

What do you think about self-publishing?

So now that we've all been able to hear what Mr. Brewer had to say about his writing process, his influences, his career, and A Box of Pandoras, did your opinion of the book change? Mine did a little, for the better. Before reading the story, I noticed the lack of publisher information on the first page. Self-publishing is often a red flag for me--not outright a bad sign, but more of a signal to tread cautiously. However, I ended up mostly liking the story (although Loretta did annoy me at times). That opinion solidified after hearing more about Mr. Brewer's past as a journalist, that he'd written 28 books so far, and that he's a legitimate authority on crime fiction and mystery. I also especially enjoyed hearing about all the books he's read in his life, from childhood to now, which I think is a hugely important factor for how much of an authority on writing and storytelling someone is. What do you think about self-publishing? Is there more for a self-published author to prove, or does it not matter?

Discussion layout: Box of Pandoras

Omkulthoom Qassem

9/9/13

Meet the Authors

“Box of Pandoras” Discussion

Activity:

Pull out a piece of paper and write down the name of the person you first thought of as the murderer. Be honest!

Compare results, who seemed like the most plausible suspect? Whose name was repeated the most?  

Questions:

1. What was your first impression of Loretta? Could you see something of yourself in her character? Yes or no? and if yes what characteristic?

2. Did any of you anticipate the outcome of the mystery? Did you feel that there were enough clues for the reader to figure out who the suspect was if they played close attention?

3. Loretta had many quirks about her, one of my favorites being how she just found random sorts of pills in her bag and used them. What was your favorite and why?

4.What was your impression of Harley and Loretta’s relationship?

5. When you began reading this book what did you anticipate it being about?

6. If there is one part which you particularly liked or which stuck out to you the most tell us which part and why?

7.  What did you like most about the author’s writing style?

8. Did the person you thought was the murderer shift throughout the book? Did the author do this on purpose? Leaving red hearings for the wrong people?

9. Which part surprised you the most?

10. And finally last but not least what did you take away from this book as a whole?

Thoughts on Box of Pandoras

I was wondering what the class thought so far of the book Box of Pandoras? I'm only halfway through it at this point, (will be finished with it tomorrow night), but personally, I can't seem to get into the narrator's head, even when there's comments that a woman of her age and nature would say. I am a guy after all, as is the author, but something doesn't click between myself and the narrative.

Secondly, I really like Mitzi and Nannette. They kind of remind me of a combination between Rita Skeeter (from the Harry Potter series) and Michelle Pfeiffer. That's just simply what my brain cast them to be. However, their characters seem to be overdone (in a good way I suppose). Everything Mitzi does is outlandish, outrageous, frivolous, and very exaggerated, while Nannette is the exact opposite, but they complement each other perfectly. I think the author had a great time writing these characters into the plot.

Thirdly, for me, the story seems to be driven almost completely by the females in the story. There's the narrator, Loretta, who seems to always be in calm control of any situation, her friend Inez (who lets Loretta know about Mr. Girard in the first place), then Loretta's "arch-nemesis" Mitzi and "sidekick" Nannette, followed by Maria Mondragon (big part of the story - won't throw out any spoilers for anybody who hasn't read yet!) and even the very effeminate characters of Andre and Tony. I'm wondering if anybody else has picked up on this and what your thoughts might be.

Finally, the story moves at a good pace. There's no dragging out of the plot, and no extraneous details that can distract the reader from the plot. The descriptions of the characters in the story are short and to the point, and we get a first-person point of view from the narrator, Loretta, which is very different from having read Butterfly Kisses. 

What do you guys think so far, or how was the book??

Additional Resources on Our Website

Go to the Public website for our course and click on any of the links under Authors, Writing and Research, or General Resources (under the Links section). Write a comment here about 1-2 resources you find, what you may have found that seems interesting in terms of our course, and what might be helpful on that link for your classmates. The Public website can be accessed through the link on the right side of this blog.

(If you find any dead or broken links, please send me an email message.)

Saying Goodbye

I just thought of this. It is something that I wondered about and have asked other writers. How do you decide you are going to kill off a character? As Dr. Thomas said he didn’t know Megan was going to die, but that is what ended up happening. So I wanted to ask your thoughts about “killing” or “getting rid of” a character. Do you know from the beginning what is going to happen to your characters or does it just come to you?

For me personally I don’t like when characters I really like die. Yes of course I like it when the bad guy fails, but characters that I fall in love with I really hope they don’t die. A main example would be the Harry Potter series. I was so sad that some of the characters I enjoyed reading about died in the last book. I know it’s not realistic that all the good guys live and all the bad guys die, but I guess I really enjoy those super mega happy endings.

Now that I’m writing this I can see killing off a character being necessary and symbolic. Like in The Great Gatsby. I don’t want to spoil the book for anyone, but I really enjoyed the character, and I didn’t want them to die, but found their death more meaningful. I just want to know your thoughts and how you feel as a writer getting rid of a character that you spent time developing and getting close to and falling in love with them because they are of your own creation?

Favorite Places to Read

If you are in this class, you probably like to read. I personally love to read, especially fiction. In college we have to read pages and pages from our textbooks, which can be quite boring. Therefore, I was wondering if you guys have favorite spots to read at?

I am somewhat of an outdoors person ( if mosquitoes aren't around) and prefer to read outside. We have a beautiful tree outside of our house with these tiny pink flowers that only bloom three months out of the year. They also give this sweet smell of roses and I love to sit under there and read books. I would prefer to go down to the Rio Grande and listen to the birds chirp as I read. That is not always possible since I live far from the Rio but whenever given the chance to go down there, a book is always my fellow companion.

Also, do you guys prefer to read paperback books, or do some of you prefer technology, such as eBooks or tablets? I personally love holding a book in my hand and using a bookmark to see how I've advanced in my reading. Any thoughts on which method of reading is better?