Monday, August 31
An odd coincidence
I was reading P.G.Wodehouse's Uncle Dynamite, where I came across two names.
1. Harold Potter
2. Hermione Bostock
Then I read another one of his works, Plum Punch: Four Short Stories, which had the names
1. Dudley Jones
2. Stanley Pettigrew
Which led me to think that maybe, just maybe, some of the names in Harry Potter are taken from Wodehouse's creations. This is wild conjecture, but it leads to an interesting observation. When I need a new name, I search through a huge database on the net, struggling through to find a name which fits the character in my head. However, what Rowling may have done is picked up a book from her shelf, turned to a page and stuck to the name she found. I think that is a good method, much better than mine. It leads to no waste of time and is quite practical. No human has a control on his name, then why should a character.
On the other hand, when parents name their kids, they do take some trouble finding the name. Then, shouldn't it be same for writers and their characters.
I think that the main characters should be names properly, and the others should hope that they dont get named Polly Parrots or Pongo Twistleton.
I, myself, would prefer to be known as "Absolutus Fantasticus", thank you very much!
1. Harold Potter
2. Hermione Bostock
Then I read another one of his works, Plum Punch: Four Short Stories, which had the names
1. Dudley Jones
2. Stanley Pettigrew
Which led me to think that maybe, just maybe, some of the names in Harry Potter are taken from Wodehouse's creations. This is wild conjecture, but it leads to an interesting observation. When I need a new name, I search through a huge database on the net, struggling through to find a name which fits the character in my head. However, what Rowling may have done is picked up a book from her shelf, turned to a page and stuck to the name she found. I think that is a good method, much better than mine. It leads to no waste of time and is quite practical. No human has a control on his name, then why should a character.
On the other hand, when parents name their kids, they do take some trouble finding the name. Then, shouldn't it be same for writers and their characters.
I think that the main characters should be names properly, and the others should hope that they dont get named Polly Parrots or Pongo Twistleton.
I, myself, would prefer to be known as "Absolutus Fantasticus", thank you very much!
Monday, August 3
Note to myself on adverbs
Adverbs! I have been breaking my head on them. Writers are supposed to avoid them like the plague, but I cant seem to do so. A few do creep in, unpretentiously.
But I have come to a final conclusion. Adverbs can remain, if they really add value to the sentence.
e.g.: There are two adverbs in this post. The first is unpretentiously, which does not add any real value to the sentence, as when I say things creep in, then doesn't that already include the 'unpretentiously'. So, that can be cut off!
However, the 'really' in the next line seems necessary, so it can stay.
One more thing I can do is change things like "He smiled brightly" to "A smile lit up his face." A much better way to write.
PS: I have come up with a background over the weekend. This week will be spent in ironing out anomalies and inconsistencies. Next week I will start worrying about the story and by end of August, I plan to have at least four to five chapters finished.
But I have come to a final conclusion. Adverbs can remain, if they really add value to the sentence.
e.g.: There are two adverbs in this post. The first is unpretentiously, which does not add any real value to the sentence, as when I say things creep in, then doesn't that already include the 'unpretentiously'. So, that can be cut off!
However, the 'really' in the next line seems necessary, so it can stay.
One more thing I can do is change things like "He smiled brightly" to "A smile lit up his face." A much better way to write.
PS: I have come up with a background over the weekend. This week will be spent in ironing out anomalies and inconsistencies. Next week I will start worrying about the story and by end of August, I plan to have at least four to five chapters finished.
Saturday, August 1
Calculations
I want to finish a book this year. Let's say, that it's just the first draft. Now then, I have 5 months left. A book is anywhere from 80000-120000 words. The first draft may be lesser or more, but lets say on average that it is about 100000 words long.
So, one assumed constant in the equation is 100000 words.
I may not be able to write for a couple of weeks to three weeks. Let's fix that to three weeks. So I have exactly (31+30+31+30+31-21)=132 days left
So per day of the remaining days, I will have to write 100000/132 = 758 words.
My daily target is usually 1000 words, so this is still doable. Yup, boys, we are gonna have out book this year. We might even be able to move to a second or even a third draft, if we kept at it!
So, one assumed constant in the equation is 100000 words.
I may not be able to write for a couple of weeks to three weeks. Let's fix that to three weeks. So I have exactly (31+30+31+30+31-21)=132 days left
So per day of the remaining days, I will have to write 100000/132 = 758 words.
My daily target is usually 1000 words, so this is still doable. Yup, boys, we are gonna have out book this year. We might even be able to move to a second or even a third draft, if we kept at it!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)