CREATIVE WRITING

[TonyWilson]

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[havocSchultz]

i need closure on this anecdote...!!!!!




but seriously - it's a pretty good setup - especially if that's the exact starting point - grabs your attention and gets you wondering wtf is going on...

lemme know what (and if anything) happens next...

[Chilli]

I like it.

Its a nice little excerpt of prose. I could see it working as an unravelling sort of story where we find out that there's more to her being burned alive than his opening thoughts imply.

[zarandi]

It ain't Don DeLilo!

But nah, although the style is not as lyrical as I like...but I think it is very efficient. And I bloody love efficiency.

[TonyWilson]

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[havocSchultz]

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[Chairman Kaga]

I've never written a short story or anything creative per se so this may sound.....ignorant but where does one begin? I ask because I have a few story ideas but I don't really know how to start aside from writing up a quick road map from point A to B to C...

[Leckomaniac]

I've never written a short story or anything creative per se so this may sound.....ignorant but where does one begin? I ask because I have a few story ideas but I don't really know how to start aside from writing up a quick road map from point A to B to C...

Well the process is different for every writer. Some writers (like joss Whedon) have huge outlines and what not that help them write.

Other writers (like Grant Morrison) just kind of jump into it. They just begin writing...with a general story in mind...and then they take a step back and revise it over and over again until they feel its perfect.

Personally, I like to write an outline of the story, then I write brief descriptions of the characters. This helps me keep track of what is going on throughout the story...but again that is just me, all writers are different.

[Chairman Kaga]

I've never written a short story or anything creative per se so this may sound.....ignorant but where does one begin? I ask because I have a few story ideas but I don't really know how to start aside from writing up a quick road map from point A to B to C...

Well the process is different for every writer. Some writers (like joss Whedon) have huge outlines and what not that help them write.

Other writers (like Grant Morrison) just kind of jump into it. They just begin writing...with a general story in mind...and then they take a step back and revise it over and over again until they feel its perfect.

Personally, I like to write an outline of the story, then I write brief descriptions of the characters. This helps me keep track of what is going on throughout the story...but again that is just me, all writers are different.

Thanks for the tip about writing some background about each character that helps...It's odd because I am creative as an artist visually....I'm a musician (note I am not saying I am a good artist or musician just that I am one) but I have never dipped my toe into writing and it seems somewhat intimidating...

[Seppuku]

I've never written a short story or anything creative per se so this may sound.....ignorant but where does one begin? I ask because I have a few story ideas but I don't really know how to start aside from writing up a quick road map from point A to B to C...

I know this'll sound tedious, but here's how I handle a short story (most of them get to about 40/50 pages):-

1) Come up with some vague embryo of an idea- it doesn't have to be completely worked out yet.

2) Drink a lot of coffee.

3) Write a muddy outline, but make sure you iron-out a clear general beginning, middle and an end.

4) Stir on that plot for a week or so, adding to it as the ideas hit you, and just generally live and breathe the idea.

5) Now this is where things start to get serious. Drink some more coffee and see if you can divide that idea into chapters (or sections), and put down what you want to happen in each chapter. This is the most important stage, because it's here where you get the style and the specific details down pat.

6) Read this over and give it a couple more days to digest in your system.

7) Finally get down to work and come up with the final story. Hopefully by now you'll have established the general way in which it's going to be written (according to who's telling the story and in what tense), and having a good guideline to go on (ch-by-ch draft) allows you not to splinter your concentration on the plot points and just focus on writing the story as well as possible. I'm not saying you can't improvise while you're writing, but it's amazing how much leeway a good plan gives you to just experiment with the language and characters. I personally end up writing maybe 1000-2000 words per sitting, but I've discovered recently that, instead of drawing the story out over months, if you just stretch every last braincell trying to finish it, barely leaving enough time to eat and drink, then the final product tends to be improved a great deal. This is because your mind is literally living inside the world you're creating.

8 ) Don't listen to Seppuku and just do your own thang.

[Lady Sheridan]

Well, I am intrigued, Tony! I say you keep at it, it's promising. Having been the go-to girl for student papers and a few short stories, I can assure you that your writing is solid. It's better to be lean--and have some room to flesh out lyrically if you like than be florid and be faced with having to streamline it.

I love sitting down at night and working at something too. I have never really finished anything but one story, and even that's not really readable. I just can never come up with any proper ideas.
I had one last summer that was fairly decent, but I just could not get it out and then the computer ate what I had done, so perhaps it's all for the best.

I've got one or two kicking around, maybe someday they'll come to something. I had this intriguing, blasphemous idea while watching Last Temptation of Christ, but the more I think about it, the more it just seems like a rip off, and not a very good one at that.

[Seppuku]

-gh

[havocSchultz]

unfortuantely - i haven't "been able" to write stories - long or short for a few years now...

that used to be all i'd write - then i started screenplays a few years ago - and whenever i try and write regular stories again - at some point throughout - i find myself changing the tense - and doing it more direction style and basically writing it like a script suddenly...


i know if i focused - i could probably get it done - but for the most part - all the ideas i come up with - are either for short or feature length movies - or that's how i come up with them at least - so i naturally just start writing them in script form...


alas...matbe i'll post a couple of scenes at one point in here...when i've got more time...

[saucyminx]

I wrote this last year. My English kinda sucks, I think...

[quote]
Morning light.

I watched him get up, grab his shorts from the chair near the bed and pull them up to his waist. I remained curled in the bed, indecisive, unresponsive to the rays of light that cut through the scarlet curtains, breaking our bond which we formed the night before.

“Is it time?â€

[minstrel]

I've written many short stories and the first draft of a novel, but I haven't submitted anything for publication in decades. I received a rejection letter from Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact when I was 14 (sheesh - 1975!) and it kinda wrecked me.

I know writing is different for different people, but here's how it always works with me. I always start with ideas that are WAAAAAY too ambitious. I plan to bring in multiple threads and plots and characters, along with great vats of philosophical musings, and then I charge away into the first draft, fully expecting a 1000 page novel will result.

Alas, during the composition, two things happen. First, most of the ambition disappears. Gradually, the multiple threads just kinda tire out and the philosophy becomes bullshit. One idea emerges as the strongest, and I carry on with that.

Second, the act of writing forces me to think more deeply about my ideas than I ever do if I just write an outline. The one remaining thread becomes richer and deeper because of this, and I wind up with a stronger novel.

The problem is doing the second draft. My first draft is so polluted with ideas that didn't go anywhere that it needs a top-down rewrite to clarify and focus on the one idea that won out. Unfortunately for me, this is where I lose interest!

Anyway, that's how it works for me, or rather, doesn't work. I expect others have similar experiences. Writing is a huge challenge, but it's very rewarding. You learn lots about yourself, that's for sure.

[papalazeru]

Meh! For me, Im sorry if it sounds harsh but it sounded a little contrived...never wrote it down though which makes you better than me pal.

It all sounds rather typical noirish stuff. I say this because you were 19 at the time and those thoughts go through alot of peoples head.

I'd say go with something a little more concise. Live with the good opening (which it is if I am 19) and work with something which has meaning.

BTW...You are talking to a hethen here....someone who doesnt read many books (I got ADD to blame for that) but scripts.....ahh! yes! the blessed art of speechplay does it for me.

Im not saying its a bad beginning, it just sounds like I heard it too many times before....somewhere else.

[DennisMM]

I wrote this last year. My English kinda sucks, I think...

And your first language is? Half the people on the board don't write this well, but most of them are fugitive TalkBackers.

Seriously, your English is very good. Every time I see someone with a fine command of my language express insecurity, I feel more guilty about not having followed up with my own studies.

Probably too late to study Chinese, though it might be useful. Lots of Chinese students at the uni.

[Chairman Kaga]

Thanks for the tips people I am going to try and hammer out something this weekend.

[Seppuku]

I'd definitely agree Dennis, and in fact I'd say that the fact that English is her second language gives her a bit of an advantage. It's easy to fall back into love is a roseisms, but she has to actually double-check her language, and it's made it sound much more inspired.

And good luck with the writing Chairman!

(Plus, 1984...what a post count.)

[TheButcher]

From io9:
12 Secrets To Being A Super-Prolific Short-Story Writer

http://io9.com/tag/freeadvice/

[Bloo]

I suggest the book A WRITER'S BOOK OF DAYS by Judy Reeves which gives you ideas on what to write for every day of the year

stuff like "write something in first person", etc.

it's not as good I don't think as King's ON WRITING but it includes excercies in which to practice practice practice

like anything if you want to get good at something, practice

[thomasgaffney]

I suggest the book A WRITER'S BOOK OF DAYS by Judy Reeves which gives you ideas on what to write for every day of the year

stuff like "write something in first person", etc.

it's not as good I don't think as King's ON WRITING but it includes excercies in which to practice practice practice

like anything if you want to get good at something, practice

Cheers, Bloo! I loved King's ON WRITING and was looking for something else to read on the subject.

[Bloo]

I should put up a link to it and see if I can get a kickback from Amazon

there's also a really good article I have bookmarked by Elmore Leonard on writing, I'll see if I can find it

EDIT: HERE's said article

EDIT 2: Give me money

A Writer's Book of Days: A Spirited Companion and Lively Muse for the Writing Life

[thomasgaffney]

there's also a really good article I have bookmarked by Elmore Leonard on writing, I'll see if I can find it

Did you every read Elmore Leonard's Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules of Writing?
yes, it's an amazon link. no, i'm not getting a kickback

Funny and insightful.

[Bloo]

there's also a really good article I have bookmarked by Elmore Leonard on writing, I'll see if I can find it

Did you every read Elmore Leonard's Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules of Writing?
yes, it's an amazon link. no, i'm not getting a kickback

Funny and insightful.

no but it's going on my list of Amazon shit to buy LOL

[DennisMM]

Is anyone thinking about November's National Novel Writing Month? My friend JJ, who's in the hospital having received a new kidney, wants to be involved. She has been working on a children's book for some time, but I don't think she's ever tried long-form writing. She has encouraged me to participate, as it would "give me a sense of accomplishment" just to do it, no matter what happens. She says that sort of thing a lot. JJ loves me, but sometimes she's a real Susie Sunshine.

Rules are that you can have as many notes as you like and have organized a plot beforehand. However, you can't start writing before November 1 and must stop by midnight on November 30. Your novel can be in any genre and even a novel-length poem, but it has to be a single work of at least 50,000 words. No short story collections or series of essays. And you can't incorporate any existing writing into the work. Old ideas are fine, but you can't recycle anything that already came out of them. The final work is submitted to the organization electronically, to verify the word count. Everyone who reaches 50K gets a certificate of some kind.

Anyone going to try this year? I have an idea for a mystery novel I've toyed with for nearly 30 years but only ever wrote a fragment of. I don't have a copy of that juvenilia, thank goodness. I don't think I have it in me to write 50,000 words in 30 days, but it's an excuse to get off my not-writing ass and do something.

[Bloo]

I've been thinking about doing NANO but man I couldn't doing Script Frenzy (from the same people) without giving up don't know if I could do 50,000 words, but it might be fun to try

[minstrel]

I tried Script Frenzy once (some here may remember) and I'd like to try Nanowrimo, but this year I can't. I have a major business trip planned right in the middle of November and it's going to take me away from here for probably two weeks or so. Argh.

I will be writing in spirit, though! Maybe I'll even write 50,000 words in spirit. That, and four bucks, will get me a cup of coffee.

[DennisMM]

I cannot imagine pouring out 50,000 words. Is it worth the time to start if I'm 90% sure I can't finish?

[Fievel]

Ramblings of a Writing No0b.
I don't know if I mentioned it in the Zone*, but last year's summer (09) after my car accident, I was couch-bound for the summer and blessed with copious amounts of Vicodin and Xanax. I had a story I had been thinking about and writing notes down for 6 or 7 years at that point and just figured that if I was (somewhat) immobile and hopped up on drugs, I ought to try writing a first draft. I don't know if it was a month or a month and a half, but I cranked out just over 75,000 words and was about to begin the final act of the first part (of course the first of three parts). Then my prescriptions ran out. Over the next week I heavily reviewed what I had written and decided that after the first third of the story it was all garbage. But now that I wasn't taking the pills any more I couldn't muster up the motivation to write. Another motivation-killer was knowing that I would be rewriting something I had poured into so much time, energy, and pure joy (at the time). It was, and still is, the only thing I want to write.

Now I'm taking a creative writing class and I've used parts of my story for the various assignments we've had. I've received glowing reviews from our peer review groups and the teacher. Last night I had a 15 minute conference to go over my portfolio for the semester. I told the teacher about "my story" I want to write and how I've used aspects of that for my writing assignments. She absolutely freaked out (in a positive way). She said that if I was planning on eventually going to grad school that the running thread that connects everything is the type of thing that the grad professors go gaga for. When I told her that all I really want to do is write this one story she seemed disappointed. I told her I was going into History Education and she acted all awkward saying "History's good!"

But before I tangent further, the point I wanted to make was that I haven't actually written any more of my story. What I have done is grown a serious appreciation for the other aspects of the story (characters/events). I've written a couple short stories about characters from my main story that I really hadn't thought that much about, and one about an event from the point of view from a character that isn't even in the main story. I love that through these class assignments I'm gaining more insight into characters that seemed about as redundant as a Red Shirt on Star Trek. If I really want to finish the story someday, I can see myself utilizing a lot of the exercises we're doing in class. Sure, there may be a billion short stories that tell history/backstories that there isn't really room for in the main story. Hell, some of them may be full-length stories of their own. But they'll provide me with the info I need to finish the main story.

And why do I want to write it? What's my purpose? Two parts - 1. So that I can say that I did. and 2. I thought/think it would be kind of cool to write for my kids to read.

*I say this because I know I've written and subsequently deleted a bunch of posts talking about my personal writing project.

[DennisMM]

I never wrote much fiction. I was too busy doing reviews, essays and columns. I have written only a couple of short stories and the rawest beginnings of a novel, way back when. I put together a proposal for a comic book series, which never got submitted because I lost my artist. Since then, a little poetry, but no other creative writing. And I don't read much prose fiction; generally, I reread novels and stories I've liked in the past. All of this makes me dubious about my ability to pump out 10,000 words, much less 50.000.

Maybe I can do it. I've got the novel plot, another idea from my college years, and the comic book proposal. I'm considering using the basic plot of the novel and replacing the main character with my comic-book creation. As overwhelming as I find the idea, it's also very exciting.

[Bloo]

I'm actually going to a writing conference tomorrow it may be a waste of time or it may be invaluable I don't know. I've got a genesis of an idea I've been kicking around for awhile so who knows maybe I'll get inspired and actually try and crank this out

[The Vicar]

Shit, I may as well take a stab at this. I have an idea that I've been kicking around in my head for years now,
a sort of prequel to a Richard Matheson story I know well & love. Notes I have. Started novel I have not.
I have a beginning & an end, and a decent idea of the fate of the characters involved. As good a place as any to start.

[DennisMM]

I've registered at the site, required to upload your manuscript for counting. It doesn't have to be a completed work. Works in progress are okay, so long as you reach 50K words.

They have fields for you to enter your book's title, genre and synopsis. Anyone want to go?

Title: Mr. Apocalypse
Genre: Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Synopsis: The troubled head of a research/investigation firm tries to exonerate a friend of murder

[DennisMM]

How're we doing there, folks? I can't write tonight and only managed 1000 words on Monday, as I was ill. Blast.

[Bloo]

you're doing better then me. I've been getting up at 6 to work out followed by an hour of writing, but I've ended up working on adding scenes to a play I wrote that's already been produced

[DennisMM]

It




is




going




very




slowly.

[minstrel]

Keep writing like that, Dennis, and you'll have the required number of pages in no time.

I wish I could participate. I have a pretty good idea but this month I have no time. I wish I could tell my client to wait a month because I'm writing a novel, but I don't think that would go over very well.

[DennisMM]

First paragraph:

Patom's Lounge was quiet on a March afternoon. The bartender was looking at the Register while he waited for someone to call out. It was me and a pair of young guys with a pitcher of something cheap. They looked like law students from the college down the road; lots of them drank at Patom's, especially after exams. Or so I was told. I was sipping on a Michelob in the bottle. Drinking in the afternoon was unusual for me, but I felt good about the day. I'd had a better than decent lunch in a small cafe a ways up the street and I was in the mood for a beer, so I wandered in and sat at the bar.


Not much good, but they don't expect greatness.

[minstrel]

Better than a lot of stuff out there, Dennis. Good style, good focus, good character development. That could be the beginning of a terrific novel. Keep going!

[DennisMM]

The next 2000 words take on MTV and introduce another actual character! And make it clear to those paying attention that the story is set in the 1980s Iowa. But I'm not saying as much.

[DennisMM]

Anyone getting any writing done? Because I'm not. My friend who roped me into this had written quite a bit, then lost half of it. I don't know how. Not saving frequently enough, maybe.

[Bloo]

I landed smack dab in the middle of one of our busiest weekends (opening weekend of pheasant hunting season) and all sorts of shit has been going down at the hotel.

I'm going to try and get some writing down today but no promises

[minstrel]

I'm writing today - unfortunately, it's all software. C code for the machines I have to work on in Georgia.

I'm dreading this trip. I'm probably not going to be ready for it. Oh well - when I get back, there will be nothing on my plate workwise, so I'll get lots of writing done then.

I hope!

[TheButcher]

Tim Burton asks Twitter users to write script

"Alice in Wonderland" director Tim Burton has unveiled a Twitter script project called Cadavre Exquis, or "Exquisite Corpse," which the helmer explains "is a technique used to collectively tell a story."

The social media project, which can be read here on the "Corpse" website, asks Twitter users to build an adventure story about Stainboy, a character who appeared in Burton's book of poems "The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories" as well as a few animated shorts in 2000.

Here's the original tweet:

Stainboy, using his obvious expertise, was called in to investigate mysterious glowing goo on the gallery floor #BurtonStory

It's still unclear what will become of Stainboy's Twitter tale (doubt Johnny Depp has time for this one) but since it is Tim Burton, you can be sure nothing goes to waste.

Burton's Cadavre Exquis project runs from November 22nd thru December 6th.

[Fievel]

Crazy on the Burton story. Could be cool, could be shit.

In my Creative Writing class we had to take a story we had written and revise/rewrite it three times using a different technique/idea from a list each time. I used a short short story I had written about a guy who has a bad day. He loses his job, finds out his girlfriend is cheating on him, and then watches his parents die in a horrible car accident. And then the reader finds out at the end that he won the lottery:
-Changed the ending (parents didn't die). This was the least work for me, but I liked how I handled it.

-Added a character. This was cool. I was apprehensive to the notion of adding a character but it really forced me to look inside what I had written from a different perspective. It also added dialogue to a story that had none up to that point.

-Changed genre. I made it a Western. I turned a one page story into three pages and was ready to keep writing, but when I realized how much I was expanding the story I slowed it down. This was by FAR the most fun to work with. If I can, I'd like to use this technique as much as I possibly can with other stories. If any writers out there are in a slump, I wholeheartedly recommend trying this!! Now I'm wondering what it would be like to change genres multiple times, but never going back to the original style. You know, kind of like putting a phrase through Babelfish, making it Korean, then to Russian, then Portuguese, and then back to English to see how much the original phrase had changed.... if that analogy makes any sense.

[Bloo]

oh cool idea Fievel! I might have to try that sometime

the other night i woke up at 4 and wrote a short story, first one I had written in quite some time and very freeing to just write for an hour. I really need to do that more often, just take an hour and write

[Fievel]

I only have two more classes left in my Creative Writing class, and that seriously bums me out. I have not loved a class like this... ever. Great teacher (very critical and extremely supportive/encouraging), great diverse class, and it has forced me to explore writing on a regular basis. I just know that I won't keep up with my writing like I'll want to (due to time, not interest), and that's depressing.

[minstrel]

I know what you mean, Fievel. I can hardly wait to get home and sign up for another online writing class. I really enjoyed the one I took last summer.

[DennisMM]

The NaNoWriMo project took a quick nosedive into complete blockage. I only managed about 5000 words before I realized I had nowhere to go. I couldn't even work out the plot, much do the writing. Oh, well. Maybe I'll work on the novel over time.