Writer's Writing Thread, or, Writers Writing about Writing

[The Reverend]

After saying writing so many times in my head, it's started to devolve into pure nonsense.

This thread is for those of us who are not only musicians, but writers. I know there's a few of you out there, and I wanted a place where we could share our experiences on writing, getting published, or anything having to do with the process. Post your links to specific works, if you have a blog or something, or to published pieces if you've been published online.

I'll start off with a piece I wrote early this morning:


http://killerpandabear.blogspot.com/...cking-bus.html

[JeffFromMtl]

I used to be enrolled in a really exclusive writing program a Concordia University. It turns out that I'm one of those stubborn bastards who has art ruined for them if they try to actually study it and are pressured to produce on someone else's terms and timetable. Studying writing did nothing but turn me into a jaded prick about trying to learn or teach what it is to produce art. I dropped out about a year and a half ago, and only recently put a few thoughts to paper. It's just a paragraph and I'm not that happy with it, but hopefully it makes it easier to shake this ....ing monkey off of my back.

It's been raining for 8 days. The cold seems colder and our 180 year-old apartment building feels like it's groaning and sinking into the side of the mountain it sits on. The horn blown by the train that passes across the street sounds lonelier every day. The floorboards shiver. They pull away from one another. Gaps open to let the dust settled between them over the last three seasons breathe. We're broke and refuse to turn the heating on and our lovers refuse to spend their nights here anymore. All of the instruments in our apartment are bowing and twisting, souring their voices, as they perform the prelude, although short of breath and out of tune, to winter's chill blowing down from the north, where the oranges and yellows are all gone and the trees stand bare, with their branches threatening to snap off in a wind too gripping to bend away from. The ground will freeze and the apartment will no longer seem to shift in its place, but its foundation will continue to crack, along with all the streets in our city and the lips on all our faces. The night comes sooner every day, as if trying to tell us, “go back to sleep, it'll be over when you wake”. But it never is; the loneliness is as persistent as the night.

[MFB]

I'm currently fleshing out an entire comic book storyline and have planned out several different arcs, along with side characters and the extent of everyone's powers, and even meticulous little things like how does his mask stay on during combat if there's no strap? With certain little details I get driven mad and want to make sure I have an answer for just about everything.

[Guitarman700]

Jesse (The OP) Has read some of my stuff. Not my best stuff, mind you, but some of it. Currently working on a short story, and looking for someone to publish my novel. We'll see.
If anyone wants to read any of my stuff, pm me. Just don't expect anything very good.

[The Reverend]

Originally Posted by MFB

I'm currently fleshing out an entire comic book storyline and have planned out several different arcs, along with side characters and the extent of everyone's powers, and even meticulous little things like how does his mask stay on during combat if there's no strap? With certain little details I get driven mad and want to make sure I have an answer for just about everything.

I LOVE doing that. I have two different storylines completely fleshed out, with all the little details and backstories completed. Nothing will probably end up happening with it, but it's probably my favorite writing to just have fun with.

Originally Posted by Guitarman700

Jesse (The OP) Has read some of my stuff. Not my best stuff, mind you, but some of it. Currently working on a short story, and looking for someone to publish my novel. We'll see.
If anyone wants to read any of my stuff, pm me. Just don't expect anything very good.

This is a lie. The Man Of Guitar 700 is a great writer, and an even better world-builder, something that's crucial in writing novels. Hell, just finishing a novel is an achievement in itself!

My writing is all over the place. I write poetry, which generally sucks, but is a good way to get out these recurring images or sentences that I become infatuated with sometimes. I also do a sort of vapid blog post/essay thing where I talk about my stance on certain issues, or just talk about crazy things that happen to me.

I don't really stick to one genre, either. I love stories, and I love telling stories, especially ones that are emotionally deep, and different genres can serve as better vehicles for some stories. There's nothing like the feeling of finishing a story and feeling that it's affected you in some way; that's what I strive for in my more serious work.

[MFB]

Honestly, it really is interesting to flesh out comic stuff and has actually been helping me with being somewhat more confident in my ability AS a writer since (while it might sound egotistical) I'm looking at it like, "Shit, I did all of THIS? Maybe I'm not all crap, just 99%" A buddy of mine is friends with a few people in independent comic companies, so if their artists aren't complete shit as well as the company itself, maybe I'll see if they'll give it a look over and run it.

[The Reverend]

Originally Posted by MFB

Honestly, it really is interesting to flesh out comic stuff and has actually been helping me with being somewhat more confident in my ability AS a writer since (while it might sound egotistical) I'm looking at it like, "Shit, I did all of THIS? Maybe I'm not all crap, just 99%" A buddy of mine is friends with a few people in independent comic companies, so if their artists aren't complete shit as well as the company itself, maybe I'll see if they'll give it a look over and run it.

I used to aspire to being a comic book artist until I realized that I really can't draw for shit.

I'd love to be a writer for a comic, though. One of the things I love about comics is the persistence of the world the stories take place in, because you're allowed to go so deep and explore things that you may normally not be able to in sort of 'finite' literature.

You may not need it, but just to throw this out there: an exercise I learned about to build confidence as an artist is to create something, and then move on to a million other things, only to come back to the first thing after you've disassociated yourself with it mentally. Once you lose the intimacy you had with it, it becomes unfamiliar to a certain extent, and you can see that you actually aren't bad at all.

It may work in reverse, however, so be careful!

[The Reverend]

Originally Posted by JeffFromMtl

I used to be enrolled in a really exclusive writing program a Concordia University. It turns out that I'm one of those stubborn bastards who has art ruined for them if they try to actually study it and are pressured to produce on someone else's terms and timetable. Studying writing did nothing but turn me into a jaded prick about trying to learn or teach what it is to produce art. I dropped out about a year and a half ago, and only recently put a few thoughts to paper. It's just a paragraph and I'm not that happy with it, but hopefully it makes it easier to shake this ....ing monkey off of my back.

That paragraph of writing? Gold. I love imagery, and you painted a picture that was eerily close to how I felt when I was suffering from depression. I guess that writing program paid off a bit, yeah?

EDIT: "That paragraph of writing?"...I'm not sure what else people make paragraphs of

[The Reverend]

Just started on what may be my best creative endeavor yet. I've normally just kept details in my head, but now I'm making an outline of everything: the characters, the plot, the laws and rules of the world, even mythology, and it's coming along excellently. I find myself coming up with new plots or details constantly. I've never been good at creating a world that people would actually care about, but in creating a world first, and letting that influence and direct the story, I feel like I'm doing something greater in scope than I've ever done.

It's like a Bob Ross painting, but with words. Primo!

[MFB]

Originally Posted by The Reverend

Just started on what may be my best creative endeavor yet. I've normally just kept details in my head, but now I'm making an outline of everything: the characters, the plot, the laws and rules of the world, even mythology, and it's coming along excellently. I find myself coming up with new plots or details constantly. I've never been good at creating a world that people would actually care about, but in creating a world first, and letting that influence and direct the story, I feel like I'm doing something greater in scope than I've ever done.

It's like a Bob Ross painting, but with words. Primo!

It's a fantastic feeling isn't it?

[The Reverend]

It is. Things will just pop up, instead of me searching for a way to make the plot better. It certainly lends itself to more organic stories, so far.

[x360rampagex]

Emotion:

Human emotion, make us monsters,
Human impulses, make us inhuman,
We all are monsters,
We all are inhuman,
The thing that makes us human,
Is the thing that makes us monsters.

Love, love causes us to loss our mind,
Love causes us to loss our senses.
Only human,
A term to comfort our monster,
To eliviate fear,
To justify addiction,
To confort our monster.

Who really is human?
Or is the thing that makes us a monster,
what makes us human?
If so, what is a monster?
Human?
Monsters scare us,
Confuse us,
But why?
Is it that they are not human?
Or is it, that what makes us human,
is not in them?

Who really is monster?
One who is not led by emotion,
One who is not led by impuses?
If so, I would rather be monster,
Than human!

[MFB]

Made good on my New Year's resolution and finally put my graphic novel concept into actual words on a page (several in fact) instead of letting them just float around in my head. I like to think there's currently no plot-holes as I've been scrutinizing over little things as well as big things from the start.

If anyone wants to take a gander at it let me know and I'll PM what I have sometime in the next few days since its on my Mac and thats internetless at the moment

[The Reverend]

I actually had a pretty set-back concerning my writing. The HDD on my laptop completely shat itself, in the way that can't be fixed by someone of my limited talent. All of my writing is gone, along with several songs I'd recorded and multiple Guitar Pro tabs for song ideas.

Luckily, my latest story was sent over email, so I was able to download it. It's taking a lot of effort to go back to my story though, as I was so excited with what I had achieved so far.

[MFB]

Damn bro, that sucks balls. I had something similar happen years ago when we accidentally wiped my external HD clean as well as my regular computers to restore it. Lost all my music, old works etc, it was upsetting

[The Reverend]

It's really a horrible feeling. The worst part for me is trying to go back and work on my novel idea without the excitement I'd had initially. I feel like I'm just trying to make up for lost time without that creative burst of energy I had.

Congrats on your New Year's resolution, though. I made a few too many of them this year, including write more!

[The Reverend]

So I got a domain all my own today for my blog. I'm pretty excited, since it makes me a feel a bit more legit, even if it's still run through Google's Blogger service. I'm not that big into blogging, at least in the really shallow style that's become really popular, but it's a great outlet to share my worldview with. There's some silly stuff, some serious stuff, and almost a record of the time I spent being homeless mid-2011, but it's very honest and real, unlike a lot of what you see on the web these days.

Feedback on any blog posts would be much appreciated.

KILLER PANDA BEAR

[MFB]

I'm currently in week 3 and about to go into week 4 of my Conceptual Storytelling class, and it's definitely helping me think about creating characters and what actually goes into them. Not that I couldn't already create characters since the sheet he gave us was nearly filled out already by the way I laid my character out, but there's a few others things he wants us to describe which is hard when you aren't actually writing the story so you don't know how much to describe of stuff like his morals/values, etc...

Our assignment for this coming Tuesday is creating three tri-dimensional archetype characters with my selection being to write a hero, a mentor and an ally. I can describe them physically and their backstories and stuff, but once we get into morals, temperament, complexes, I just skip it since like I said - where we're not writing a story yet, I'm not sure what they'd be until the situation arises. Anyone have ideas how to get past that?

[The Reverend]

I really enjoy learning about writing. The more I learn, the more I feel I'm able to put into my own work. It's sort of like going into it fully armed, instead of just relying on what I've intuitively gathered throughout my life. I'm only in basic classes now, so I really wonder what the future holds.

I did a cool little story in second-person view. We'd been analyzing some interesting uses of the perspective, and I decided it was exactly what I wanted to do. It's a bit awkward to work with (think Choose Your Own Adventure books, without the choice, for those of you who don't know), but it really allowed me to get in some characterization that I think normally comes off as forced.

[MFB]

Second-person view being someone involved in the story but not the main character? I feel like I'd be awful at writing that

[SenorDingDong]

As of right now I've had three pieces publishes (in as many months), two short stories and a poem.

I'm working on a query letter (takes for ....ing ever to get it right) for my novel SPEECHLESS so that I can (hopefully) land an agent.

I've got about ten stories tied up in professional markets right now in various stages of submission (some of which are the last stages where they've booted 90% of the other stories, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed), but I won't be hearing back on most of them for at least a month or so.



I also ghostwrite full-time to support myself.


As for learning about writing? I don't know how I feel about it. I never took any courses or read any books on it. I mean, the real way to better yourself is by reading and studying other authors, and writing on a consistent basis. Deconstructing a novel bit by bit in a classroom or criticizing it and trying to discover "hidden meaning" isn't something I think would ever benefit me. Then again, I don't believe in outlines or "planning" writing beforehand. Characters are people and their stories aren't something you create; they're something that you are given, and it's your job to help them develop. At least, that's how I've always felt.

[Konfyouzd]

Originally Posted by MFB

I'm currently fleshing out an entire comic book storyline and have planned out several different arcs, along with side characters and the extent of everyone's powers, and even meticulous little things like how does his mask stay on during combat if there's no strap? With certain little details I get driven mad and want to make sure I have an answer for just about everything.

Ahh the fans will come up with some crazy explanation and you'll never be held accountable. It's like when a Redskins fan tells me what "they" (the fan will typically use the term "we") did wrong that year.

[MFB]

Any class that breaks down stories just for the sake of breaking them down into their core components is a waste of time. However, if you do the opposite and talk about where you find those components in certain stories, namely the extremely popular ones that everyone has heard of, then it proves a bit more valuable since it shows that using certain elements can make your story timeless.

For next week, I have to have an entire set of archetypes, a logline, synopsis, and outline of the four main elements of a story : exposition, conflict, climax, resolution using all those characters and a macguffin; which means I'll probably write WAY more in depth than I have to in order to even do the assignment and still remain ahead of the game.

Do I expect whatever I put together for this assignment to remain a timeless medieval fantasy? God no, it's a classroom exercise to see if I've learned what we talked about and can put together a story. But can that story at least be something decent/readable and not a tired cliche like other fantasy stories? Maybe.

[MFB]

.....

.....................

My assignment for Storytelling went well, and I'm content with the characters I created for other people to use, but now I'm on the opposite end and I'm reading the other characters I have to use am practically ....ed with how much I don't like them. They're just flat, cliched characters that we've read before, and in the story I'm working them into - it's very much about your philosophy being the right one - not the might makes right, but willpower - and they all LACK that element. The shadow I have to work with now is just a woman who's a cynic and married into royalty to gain control, and she makes people say nice things about her or else she kills them etc... my tricksters aren't very trickster-esque, I've got a herald that's just greedy and manipulative which is more of a trickster than a herald but WHATEVER, and I haven't even looked at the Threshold Guardians I have to work with.

There's one other person who's works I haven't received for whatever reason, and I'm praying to GOD that someone else got them because his shadows was usable and hopefully his shapeshifter is as well because at the moment I hate everything else I've read and want to just write my own archetypes - EXCEPT I CAN'T, because this is about working in groups

[Bevo]

I love the idea of writing but have never done any until recently. I put pen to paper to relearn how to write longhand again.
The computer and printing for clarity really messed me up.

To practice I have started to write a spy action type story and just love it, my imagination just flows!
Another benefit is I can read my writing again and it's getting neater.