New (but old) person has writing question

[carlyt]

Hi there,

I'm afraid I'm not that young but I'm new to writing. This is one of the few discussion forums I've found for writers to ask questions. As many of you probably have much more experience than me (and certainly opinions), here's my question:

(This assumes you're writing your fiction in the third person. The main character is a "she" and she has a sister).

These two characters have some interaction with their mother and father. Is it better to write ""blah blah", said her mother" and "their father took the rubbish out", or to refer to the parents by their first names e.g. ""blah blah", said Pat" and "Michael took the rubbish out", , even if the girls / women only call them Mum and Dad?

Thanks!

carlyt

[jordanisonfire]

:welcome: to :ywo:

And this sorta question belongs in the "Writing Q and A" section. When it says if newbies have questions, get them answered here, it means about the site, really. But have fun, regardless! :D

[Nyx]

:welcome: Well I already addressed your question in your other thread, so why don't you tell us a bit more about yourself? What kind of stuff do you like to write or read?

[Shaun]

I'm going to move this to the appropriate place and then I'll give an answer.

Edit: The Answer
If your main character, whose head we're in, is the daughter and she refers to them as Pat and Bob rather than Mom and Dad, then you would you her mother and her father or her mom and her dad, etc.
If we're not in the daughter's head, then you can probably assume that there is reason to refer to the parents by first name.

[Nyx]

um Shaun, carlyt had already made a thread with this question...

[Andy]

Fixed, Nyx.

[GeorgeMichael]

lol, I'm sorry, but I just said "Fixed Nyx" (like nicks) and it rhymed so I smiled...


anyways, I also believe that you should just call them mom and dad or ... they're names depending on how the narrator or person who we're seeing the story from refers to them./

[Alex]

I prefer to still use father and mother personally, but either way is pretty much fine

[carlyt]

Hi there,

Thanks for your replies.

As I'm new to this I am anticipating that someone's going to move this thread back to the newbie section where it probably belongs - sorry, I'll get the hang of it eventually.

I'm writing a novel which, having tried to pigeon-hole it (which is what agents seem to want) appears to be "contemporary fiction". I'm aiming for about 120,000 words and reckon I'm about two thirds through. It's a story about a woman whose teenage son goes off on a gap year, and at the same time a young Muslim girl goes missing.... I'm very interested in cross-cultural issues, religion and politics but all with small "r" and "p", beacuse I'm not either of those things - it just fascinates me how much influence these things have on peoples' lives.

I like reading full stop and ususally have 3 or 4 books on the go at once - very light stuff that doesn't tax my brain when I'm tired (e.g. Jodie Picoult although I'm going off her now - too formulaic), something a bit more challenging (Ian McEwan, Annie Proulx, Margaret Attwood) for when I want to be entertained and transported, and then non-fiction, all kinds (e.g. history of religion for research, The Liar's Tale by Jeremy Campbell, In Praise of Slow by Carl Honore - a quarter of the way through it after 3 years...).

Are all of you writers, or aspiring to write? Published? What sort of age groups and ethnic backgrounds are you all?

Anyway it was a nice welcome and I hope to catch up soon

Carlyt

[carlyt]

Is this an American-based site or are we in UK?!

[Carraka]

American-based.

<-- Asian-American. Taiwanese, to be precise.

I think we're 13-24? I never remember ages. I do remember my own, though: 14

I am an aspiring writer (although it really depends on your definition of writer). I'm not published yet, but I will be. -determination-

Unfortunately, I'm unable to grasp the subtleties of contemporary fiction. Hopefully that will change soon, because I do not want to be limited to fantasy/sci-fi that takes place in the past/future forever. But my favorite series ever, George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire (here I go again) uses religion, politics, familial relationships, and -- uh -- I'm grasping for a Greek word here that I learned once but promptly forgot. Something about how other people look at you, and how your name lives on after your death. Then again, since ASoIaF isn't Greek, I shouldn't bother.

For you, new member, I can offer the I'm-new-to-this-genre-but-you-write-so-beautifully-that-I'm-going-to-go-to-the-bookstore-and-buy-similar-books-now perspective. It'll be incredibly flattering. Then again, I haven't read your writing yet ... but I like to be optimistic! Actually, I'm really pessimistic.

I'm going to be late for school again -- for instance. People should say more about themselves in their intro threads. Then I can spend 30 minutes tapping away at my keyboard instead of brushing my teeth.

[Shaun]

Technically we're American based, however we are open to all English speaking countries (or any country where someone comes on the site that speaks English). So, it doesn't matter where you're at, we're open to having you here :).
We also have aStores for 3 countries (U.S., U.K., and Canada) and we can expand that if necessary. We have two people from NZ, so we may expand the aStores to include New Zealand.
Basically, while the owners of the site (Andy and I) are in the U.S., we're not really a U.S. only site. We have people from all over the place. Diversity is good. And yes, we're open to the different spellings. Most of us realize that people in the U.K. put Us in things that us Americans don't. So yeah :D. I can move this back since it does seem to be more of a newbie thread now.

Just a note, just consider the Newbie area to be only for introductions and non-writing stuff. Most everything else has a place :P

[Nyx]

I'm an aspiring writer I guess...I was published once for a short story but that's all. I think like Carr said, the age is 13-25-ish.

Ethnic Background? I'm Iranian, but I've been living in Canada for the last 4 years.

Welcome again.:D