The latest chat by the Writers Supporting Writers group.
Video chat on chapter length and points-of-view
Let's Talk About Writing, Publishing, and Everything In Between
Let's Talk About Writing, Publishing, and Everything In Between
The latest chat by the Writers Supporting Writers group.
Writers Supporting Writers 
Enjoyed your thoughts and opinions. Mine are below.
My last 4 novels ranged from a bit over 54K words to a bit under 72K words. Because they have fewer moving parts they’re much easier to write, which is why I’m writing them, rather than any desire to produce pieces that modern readers have time for. Heck, in my youth, SF “novels” ranged from 35K to maybe 70K words — 100 – 180 pages. Of course they were written on a typewriter by writers who had to produce a lot of pieces fast to make a living at it. Ideally I’d like to write long novels, but maybe I’m too old for those.
New chapters when the location or time changes. Long chapters are divided into numbered scenes. Never give it much thought. The idea of engineering stories seems alien to me. But then, if you haven’t read enough stories, perhaps you need a blueprint.
I prefer to read and write stories in first person. I’ll enjoy some third person stories, if not written from a god-like height. I don’t like jumping around with multiple points of view or lots of flashbacks, which is why I find so few new books attractive. A books should be, in my opinion, a story, not a jigsaw puzzle. (Old man yelling at the clouds.)
Writing in silence, but not liking it. I’m going to give Sirius Radio a trial. We have it mostly for listening in the car (60’s on 6). Pro trip: when your trial period runs out, insist on cancel it until they offer it to you for $5 a month for a year, which they will. Rinse & repeat. (I’m not going to listen to 60’s on 6 while writing.)
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I never thought about it before, but you’re right; almost all modern books I’ve read do include some amount of flashbacks.
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