Writer's block, especially during deadline due dates, can affect any review writer's confidence and reputation. What are some steps to overcome the problem and prevent future problems like it?
Analyze the use of unreliable narrators as a plot device. Look at examples from literature that have used this, and explore how it can help and/or hinder storytelling.
This is a great topic. There's a book called "How Fiction Works" by James Wood, and in it, he claims that unreliable narration is often more reliable than it appears to be. It'd be interesting to see an analysis that considers unreliable narration both unreliable and reliable. – S.A. Takacs10 years ago
Lolita, for example... I might write this topic, but that is a perfect example, in my view, if any one else jumps on this before I have time to grab it for myself. – atperhach10 years ago
Lolita is a classic example. Gone Girl is a more recent one that comes to mind – Amena Banu10 years ago
Great topic. A few examples: The Great Gatsby with Nick as the narrator, The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum. Patrick Bateman in American Psycho. The Catcher in the Rye. – Rachel Elfassy Bitoun10 years ago
Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk and a more current novel is The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. – Liz Watkins10 years ago
Let's just point out that this topic has been largely addressed and explored for a long time in narratology studies. – T. Palomino2 years ago
Today there are so many ways to get work published. Take a look at some avenues of publishing such as vanity press, self-publishing, online publishing, forums, traditional print publishing, etc. and explore the benefits and problems of the different types. Analyze which types of writers (i.e. student writers, professional writers, people who write as a hobby) are best for which types of publishing.
In college, my writing professors told us not to be afraid of traditional avenues of publishing. They suggested that young writers should try to get short stories and poems published in literary journals and magazines (there are tons of them out there with calls for submissions). That way, you'd have a sort of resume that a publisher would be able to see, especially if you were interested in having a larger work published and in print. – S.A. Takacs10 years ago
One of my favorite authors of all time, R.A. Salvatore, was asked in an interview: is self-publishing or traditional publishing better in the present publishing industry standards? He answered very honestly that the publishing industry isn't at all what it used to be. New authors have a really hard chance at becoming published by a well known publishing industry because most traditional publishing industries aren't accepting new authors. There is too much liability. He suggested that it is more than beneficial for a new author to self-publish because that seems to be where the industry is leading to. – kmercwriter10 years ago
I would love to read this article. The publishing avenues have increased, but so has the sheer number of "writers," and with it the competition. – Amena Banu10 years ago
Outline some of the best books for incipient writers. Stephen King's 'On Writing', Lynn Truss's 'Eats, Shoots & Leaves, Gail Carson Levine's 'Writing Magic', just to name a few.
Examining Roxane Gay's ideas in 'Bad Feminist' with particular emphasis on her use of the term 'bad feminist.' How does this particular term aid the feminist movement? What are its benefits and implications? Is it problematic or is it liberating? Do you identify as being a Bad Feminist? Considering the wide range of feminist books, where does Gay's book belong on this publishing spectrum? And lastly, what does Roxane suggest the feminist movement should do to enable progress?
This has gotten me so intrigued! I'm off to read more about Gay, watch her TedTalk, and maybe possibly have this be part of one of my first Artifice posts. I'm hoping maybe I can tie in the "bad feminist" ideas into either a Literature or a Film post. I will be back in touch if I decide to snatch this topic. Thanks for the inspiration. :) – Rachel Watson9 years ago
Hi Rachel, no worries. I love Roxane Gay & her literature. I find her ideas really compelling and have always thought it'd make a good article. Keep me updated on how you go. (Btw, there's some fab articles & interviews in the Guardian online) x – Aliya Gulamani9 years ago
Hi Aliya, thank you so much for the tip! Do you think that be okay if I combine Gay's ideas with looking at "Jane Eyre"? The literature of Charlotte Bronte is kind of my speciality, so for my first article I was hoping to write something on her. I think it would fit quite well since most readers see Jane Eyre as this pinnacle of feminism and female independence, but then in the end she becomes a wife and mother--but my biggest question (and I think what Gay gets at), is why being more of a tradition woman suddenly means that you're not a feminist, or that you're a "bad" feminist. I would be interested in tying these two together in a Literature post, but I would bring it back to how these issues relate to our contemporary society. – Rachel Watson9 years ago
Wow, that's an amazing angle. I actually had a friend who was really dismissive of Austen, Bronte, etc and I told her that these women were actually remarkable feminist characters at the time, and how that literature transformed society's perspective of women and women's perspectives of themselves. Even by adhering by their traditional roles, they can still be feminists and I feel that's the crux of Gay's novel - how feminism has alarmingly developed into a stereotype and in doing has oppressed various types of women who don't fix the mould. Jane Eyre would be an amazing example - yes she marries Mr Rochester and yes she becomes a mother but she does it all on her own terms. I really really love the idea of this, as you may have gathered. I think it's amazing! – Aliya Gulamani9 years ago
Serialized story-telling has both benefits and pitfalls. On the one hand, the publisher/producer has a guaranteed (sort of) audience built-in, and on the money side, that means easier profits. On the creative side, but the writer(s) and the audience have a certain comfort level with the setting and characters, and the deeper questions in the work have more time to be asked and answered.
On the other hand, if a plot only matters to the extent that it affects change in the protagonist, how many serious conflicts can the protagonist go through before they are changed to the point of being unrecognizable to their established fan base? How does the story stay continually fresh and avoid the re-hash of proven plot-lines? To what extent are writers "trapped" by elements introduced in the beginning of the story that they are unable to change in later volumes?
I'm thinking here of Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series, and Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake books. But the article could be done using long-running tv shows as the focus (Supernatural comes to mind) or certainly most comic series fit this question as well. (Neil Gaiman once said that serialized story-telling was like jumping out of a plane and knitting yourself a parachute on the way down.)
This topic could easily go in the Comics or TV sections as well.
I love this topic, and there are many ways to pursue this, as you said with films, books, and/or TV. One example that comes to mind is the "Walk" series by Richard Paul Evans, which I've recently discovered; it is a series of 5 books that tells the story of a man's journey from Seattle to Key West, on foot. – Amena Banu10 years ago
You're right, I could definitely see this for many of the media sections. I think an interesting take could also be how we are also seeing this kind of trend in movies with the many sequels that are being produced. – Christina Cady10 years ago
One aspect of s;erialized storytelling is that the author can lose the original vision of the story, and after a certain number of books, the story just loses its overall glow. For example, when Rick Riordan continued his Percy Jackson series with Heroes of Olympus, as a reader it felt like there was no life to those books. It wasn't the same. So that can happen. – Travis Kane10 years ago
If you wanted to delve into the historical precedents for this, you could discuss how the novels of Dickens, and many others in the Victorian era, began their lives as serials in magazines, and influenced the way those stories came to be. – Luthien10 years ago
The review writer/entertainment reporter sits on the line between professional Hollywood force and their adoring fans. Analyse the lengths modern critics go to attain views and fandom? Do popular mega-critics REALLY outweigh the average citizen journalist?
If you're willing to do this topic, then you should mention Mark Kermode. He wrote a book which partly covered film criticism today, how there needs to be a professionalism by all. – Ryan Errington10 years ago
Analyse what causes procrastination and why we give into it so easily. Explain how we are weak in the face of impulse and how it actually does not have much to do with our own laziness.
I think the internet and TV get in the way of writing. I know when I write on my laptop, I'm tempted to check the news or the weather, though the good thing about the internet is that I can use it to listen to music while I write or research a topic quickly and conveniently. – S.A. Takacs10 years ago
Good article idea. It would interesting to see A/ what people do the most whilst procrastinating and B. How those things distract you from that Elephant-in-the-room feeling hanging over you. – Thomas Munday10 years ago
Personally, I procrastinate because writing itself isn't like casual blogging. It demands research, days of writing and revising, proofreading, editing phrases and paragraphs, moving the pieces of text up and down, and learning from experience. And images are needed too! Due to all this, the entire persona of "writing" an article feels like a whole bunch of trouble that can only be done when you're free for weeks. Also, doing little by little each day doesn't work in case of writing, as you need a seamless time and clutter-free brain to emphasis on the entire idea about what you're writing. It'll make a really good article, even for writers of The Artifice, if we can provide simple pointers on how to focus better and avoid procrastination. – Abhimanyu Shekhar10 years ago
