Poll: So I'm going to write a book....

[Cookiegerard]

So, now that my Leaving Cert(A very important series of Irish exams), I have some free time on my hands before college and silly little things like bills and taxes and a job. I love reading, Lovecraft, Stephen King, Yahtzee Croshaw, anything and everything. But most of all, I love zombies. Everything about, but mostly the classic, George A. Romero, walkers. And I have always wanted to write a book. But, here is my problem, would it be easier to write a single story with a concrete idea, or a series of shorter stories, which would be loosely tied together? I have some loose ideas flowing around in that bucket I call a head, but at the moment none that would be fully hatched plans. So, what do you think?

EDIT:Just noticed I managed to post this twice, sorry.

 

[Slimshad]

Start with a short story. It is nigh impossible to start a book from scratch unless you're experienced at it (or a prodigy bookwrite).

From personal experience, I can tell you that making a short story is very easy to do and it is easier to write books off that short story rather than start a book from scratch. Then again, I have never attempted to write a zombie novel, so I may be talking out of my ass here. Still, if it's fiction you're doing, start simple.

 

[William MacKay]

do both. i'm planning on doing that, because some genres (sherlock holmes type ones) get concluded really fast (sherlock holmes was a book collection) but others (LoTR type) dont (theres a reason LoTR is called an 'epic' and its not just because of the sheer awesome).

 

[TheIronRuler]

Mate, you posted this twice .
You should contact a mod and fix it.

 

[Mylinkay Asdara]

You could do loosely linked short stories to start with and see if they materialize into a 'world' for your novel to happen in - maybe with some of the same characters, things like that.

 

[RA92]

You could do loosely linked short stories to start with and see if they materialize into a 'world' for your novel to happen in - maybe with some of the same characters, things like that.

This is... actually a rather cool idea. Go with it OP!

Also, to your knowledge, are there any short story compilations like that, Ciesla?

 

[FinalDream]

I?ve been writing for a while now, unpublished, but I?ve seen with a lot of people that the first and in my own opinion one of the biggest mistakes you can make starting out as a writer is to rush an idea. An awful lot of people just sit down and hammer out x amount of pages (because somehow they have the crazy idea that more pages = better story) in the shortest timeframe possible because they want to write a book. My first piece of advice to you would be this, take your time. If your truly passionate about writing then you?ll certainly benefit a great deal more from this.

I?m glad to see you love reading, that?s a great start, so I would recommend looking up some night classes in your area for creative writing. It might sound odd but you need to learn your craft, writing is far more than bashing out paragraphs in Word or what ever software program you plan to use. You need to find your ?style? and by that I mean your voice (this is sometime that will develop over time) but what you?ll learn more from these classes is discipline and organisation.

First and foremost you need to get into a routine, a habit of writing so you don?t just write when you feel like it. I would recommend writing short stories or even joining an RP on these forums (they are great for writers block) and while your doing this jot down ideas, character sheets, location details. Basically learn to create a small folder of prep work so that when you come to tackle a bigger project you have all the details you need right at your finger tips, you put in the leg work beforehand and you?ll find writing a story much easier. Also don?t be afraid to use short stories to test ideas, characters and situations out - any published writer will have been through dozens if not hundreds of drafts- as not everything you write has to be an output.

 

[Mylinkay Asdara]

You could do loosely linked short stories to start with and see if they materialize into a 'world' for your novel to happen in - maybe with some of the same characters, things like that.

This is... actually a rather cool idea. Go with it OP!

Also, to your knowledge, are there any short story compilations like that, Ciesla?

I read one for a class once and the name is getting away from me... and it's killing me because I took 4 classes with this teacher and he refereed back to it ALL the time in a bunch of different classes.



Winesburg, Ohio by Sherword Anderson. It's written as a bunch of short, loosely connected stories that he strung into a novel with some other elements.

 

[RA92]

You could do loosely linked short stories to start with and see if they materialize into a 'world' for your novel to happen in - maybe with some of the same characters, things like that.

This is... actually a rather cool idea. Go with it OP!

Also, to your knowledge, are there any short story compilations like that, Ciesla?

I read one for a class once and the name is getting away from me... and it's killing me because I took 4 classes with this teacher and he refereed back to it ALL the time in a bunch of different classes.



Winesburg, Ohio by Sherword Anderson. It's written as a bunch of short, loosely connected stories that he strung into a novel with some other elements.

Thanks. I'll definitely look it up.