Writing With Hemstad

Fantasy and horror writer. Let’s share writing tips and our love for books! Querying and editing my latest WIP.

[Writing With Hemstad @Writing_Hemstad]

One thing I enjoy about style is to break it down by:

- Formal vs informal
- Polite vs impolite
- Confident vs unconfident

All of these are different ways to make your narrator unique.

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[Writing With Hemstad @Writing_Hemstad]

Plotters: don't compare your novel outline to someone's finished masterpiece!

A published book is polished.

Your first draft doesn't have to be.

It's enough to do your best.

Aim for your first draft to be the creative draft, instead of plotting masterpiece

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[Writing With Hemstad @Writing_Hemstad]

Naif character: a newcomer to an institution who learns about it at the same time as the reader.

Harry Potter serves this function at Hogwarts.

Through him we learn and come to love the storyworld.

Consider using a naif yourself!

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[Writing With Hemstad @Writing_Hemstad]

@J_R_FitzGerald I shall! Make sure to hang in there with High Fantasy as well!

[Writing With Hemstad @Writing_Hemstad]

Lots of things that needed fixing today. No time for fiction.

Pretty exhausting tbh.

Looking forward to getting back to the WIP tomorrow!

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[Writing With Hemstad @Writing_Hemstad]

As an writer, know your limits.

I'm not really interested in hard science fiction nor can I write one.

That's okay.

I'll write what I know, what interests me, and what I would like to know more about.

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[Writing With Hemstad @Writing_Hemstad]

Worldbuilding tip: RPGs have plenty of worldbuilding in them

Writing a novel with the same genre as some famous RPGs? Like Baldur's Gate?

You'll find plenty of plot beats and worldbuilding elements you can use for your own story in these kind of video games.

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[Writing With Hemstad @Writing_Hemstad]

#writingtips for Grimdark:

Do like Glen Cook in Black Company and create two comedic characters: Goblin and One-Eye.

These lighter characters will help with the dark theme and world making the story flow more naturally.

Also, make them relevant to the plot!

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[Writing With Hemstad @Writing_Hemstad]

I love this poem by Tolkien.

High fantasy without poetry takes away part of what makes your world magical.

Your world becomes only prose.

Elevate your theme by compressing a sentiment, or as below, a plot point, into a gorgeous symphony of words.

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[Writing With Hemstad @Writing_Hemstad]

Really impressed by the choice of having an AI narrate the heroine’s life in the sci-fi book Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson.

#WritingCommunity #BookTwitter

He even manages to make the AI come off as both witty and dystopian at the same time, as it “jokes” about the humans not knowing they are mating under surveillance cameras.

Other characters describe their life on the generational ship as a being in prison.

The humans cannot reproduce without permission, with implants that make them sterile.

And at the same time you have this coming-of-age story as the simple protagonist seeks out the various biomes of the generational ship and learns about their different cultures, all the while falling in love and having conflict with her mom.

Excited to see where this story will go next.

Reminds me of David Copperfield meets 1984 set on a spaceship.

[Writing With Hemstad @Writing_Hemstad]

@nocturnal_me26 Which 3 genres did you make use of?

[Writing With Hemstad @Writing_Hemstad]

Do each of the Hunger Games books have a different genre?

Jessica Brody certainly thinks so.

Do you buy her take?

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[Writing With Hemstad @Writing_Hemstad]

When you find those masterful sentences, take your time to appreciate them.

From Heinlein’s Orphans of the Sky, here’s his most complicated but also spot-on description of our little gang of heroes and their revolt against the ruling culture.

#WritingCommunity #booklovers

[Writing With Hemstad @Writing_Hemstad]

I’ve always thought of genres in terms of various settings.

Westerns are set on the American frontier, with cowboys and revolvers.

Brody argues that genres are about character development and theme instead

That's quite a different way to categorize stories!

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[Writing With Hemstad @Writing_Hemstad]

@DeathWishVT No, I can't stand them 😅

[Writing With Hemstad @Writing_Hemstad]

Vocab Sunday: Mussel

A marine mollusk with a dark, elongated shell.

Pronounced the same as "muscle," thus leading to confusions.

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[Writing With Hemstad @Writing_Hemstad]

Sending out more queries today.

Interesting to see how the different agencies have unique “personalities.”

For a writer who spends a lot of time in the word document world, it’s quite refreshing to see the faces of people who love literature.

#WritingCommunity #amquering

[Writing With Hemstad @Writing_Hemstad]

@JMSquirrell And that from the master of propaganda!

[Writing With Hemstad @Writing_Hemstad]

@DeathWishVT Have you had kenough of the movie? 😁

[Writing With Hemstad @Writing_Hemstad]

@PennaFischer I don't know much about those two projects, and what might sell in MG and YA as I don't write them, but I keep seeing advice about always writing what you're passionate about. AND write something that might change your life.