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PoshAlligator posted:"It's just research," I mumble, my sweaty fingers clawing at my mouse, lifting it up sporadically as I move the cursor over the game screen. "Worldbuilding," creeps from my throat, a mere rasp thanks to my dry throat. I eject the disc, my fumbling hands hitting it into the tray and then pulling the empty game box from the stack of unplayed games next to me, dwarfed only by the stack of unread books, in turn dwarfed by my invisible stack of unfinished novels. In reality those novels are stored on my hard drive, duplicated in a DropBox. I load up the next game and my graphics card springs to life, mocking the work on my hard drive with its extraneous whirring; borne from this poison within my system, built with my own two hands. It was me that wrought this upon myself. Me alone. same
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Dec 29, 2014 20:57
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needs more clockwork android racism
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Dec 29, 2014 22:10
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Helsing posted:With that in mind, what are some authors or specific short stories that writers here have enjoyed? I'm looking, in particular, for stories that really exemplify what a compelling or well constructed short story looks like. Stephen King's short stories. I'm hard-pressed to think of one I didn't like because the plot or pacing or characterization was rear end. (His cocaine-years books on the other hand...) Joyce Carol Oates writes fascinating character studies.
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Dec 29, 2014 22:15
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The Lottery by Shirley Jackson is just an absolute masterpiece of tension and pacing. She wrote it in less than two hours, so clearly she was a witch.
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Dec 29, 2014 22:26
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Dan Chaon has two recent books of short stories, Among The Missing and Stay Awake, that are really good at pacing and weaving the surreal and ominous in with the everyday. Love them both. Some other short-story writers I might recommend in that vein are Lorrie Moore, Wells Tower, and Rebecca Curtis.
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Dec 29, 2014 22:32
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Tried to write today, but instead two junkies got me involved with their likely upcoming murder.
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Dec 29, 2014 23:16
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ravenkult posted:Tried to write today, but instead two junkies got me involved with their likely upcoming murder. Are you sure that that's not what you wrote about?
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Dec 30, 2014 05:02
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Music Theory posted:Are you sure that that's not what you wrote about? Maybe in the future. Short version: Freaked out girl jumps in the car outside my building, says her boyfriend is about to be beaten up. I tell her to follow me up to my apartment, I meet the boyfriend with another dude in the hall. I ask the guy if he needs any help, the thug-looking dude steps up to me and says ''What the gently caress do you mean?'' I shrug it off and get in the elevator. Anyway, the girl then tells the actual story, which is that they owe someone 30k and those guys are here to collect. I don't know what happened in the end, the couple left and went to their apartment. Haven't heard anything.
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Dec 30, 2014 19:19
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ravenkult posted:Maybe in the future. Short version: Freaked out girl jumps in the car outside my building, says her boyfriend is about to be beaten up. I tell her to follow me up to my apartment, I meet the boyfriend with another dude in the hall. I ask the guy if he needs any help, the thug-looking dude steps up to me and says ''What the gently caress do you mean?'' I shrug it off and get in the elevator. Anyway, the girl then tells the actual story, which is that they owe someone 30k and those guys are here to collect. Classic mistake.
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Dec 31, 2014 08:47
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General Battuta posted:At least we got a lesson in why worldbuilding alone is at best dull and at worst a huge flag that the story probably doesn't work. Yeah, I forgot to mention that no one wants to READ your world building.
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Dec 31, 2014 08:49
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ravenkult posted:Maybe in the future. Short version: Freaked out girl jumps in the car outside my building, says her boyfriend is about to be beaten up. I tell her to follow me up to my apartment, I meet the boyfriend with another dude in the hall. I ask the guy if he needs any help, the thug-looking dude steps up to me and says ''What the gently caress do you mean?'' I shrug it off and get in the elevator. Anyway, the girl then tells the actual story, which is that they owe someone 30k and those guys are here to collect.
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Dec 31, 2014 11:07
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Dr. Kloctopussy posted:Yeah, I forgot to mention that no one wants to READ your world building. Unless you have fanboys. See also: Tolkien, popular films' and games' concept/art books...
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Dec 31, 2014 16:13
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Fuschia tude posted:Unless you have fanboys. See also: Tolkien, popular films' and games' concept/art books... You won't.
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Jan 1, 2015 02:44
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lol Tyrannosaurs: favorite domer of 2014
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Jan 1, 2015 02:50
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Is this the place where I can get crits for my work? I know the farm exists, but I've got a piece that's way over 1000 words and still unfinished and I don't think posting it in the other thread would suffice considering it's less populated than here. I'll post the story later if I get the all clear from you guys.
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Jan 11, 2015 08:03
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Just make a new thread for it if it's over 1000 words.
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Jan 11, 2015 08:17
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Superb Owls posted:Is this the place where I can get crits for my work? I know the farm exists, but I've got a piece that's way over 1000 words and still unfinished and I don't think posting it in the other thread would suffice considering it's less populated than here. I'll post the story later if I get the all clear from you guys. Like Djeser said, new thread. Post a link in here. Don't post directly in this thread.
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Jan 11, 2015 10:48
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Dr. Kloctopussy posted:Like Djeser said, new thread. Post a link in here. Don't post directly in this thread. I have it saved as a Google Drive document. Can I just post the link to it here or do I have to make a thread for it?
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Jan 11, 2015 15:42
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Superb Owls posted:I have it saved as a Google Drive document. Can I just post the link to it here or do I have to make a thread for it? Post a thread, so that people who read it can crit it in your won thread. Doing a google doc is a good idea, set permissions so that people can comment, too. That way if you want it published in the future you can just delete the doc off your google drive, since archived threads can't be edited.
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Jan 11, 2015 16:16
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The Saddest Rhino posted:Post a thread, so that people who read it can crit it in your won thread. That's great to hear. I won't post it yet as I'm still in the middle of fixing it thanks to me adding a plot point that wasn't even mentioned beforehand in the story. If I do make the thread for it, the story will most likely be unfinished (And will probably be that way unless I get my poo poo together and bother to keep working on it).
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Jan 11, 2015 16:53
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I wrote a short story this morning, and it's the first one I've done in a very long time. It's easily under 1000 words. For critique and your enjoyment: http://pastebin.com/wFF0XE4m Google Drive version; https://docs.google.com/document/d/1itwv5umb4uKFR0mxCyHvLIdK1bQu7OdJFq6p9c3MjTo/edit Calm fucked around with this message at 18:09 on Jan 11, 2015 |
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Jan 11, 2015 17:57
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Calm posted:I wrote a short story this morning, and it's the first one I've done in a very long time. It's easily under 1000 words. For critique and your enjoyment: http://pastebin.com/wFF0XE4m If you want critiques you need to post it in The Fiction Farm. Just so you know, the comments aren't going to be pretty. blue squares fucked around with this message at 18:21 on Jan 11, 2015 |
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Jan 11, 2015 18:18
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Thanks and sorry, I couldn't figure out where to put. It's the first thing I've written since they made me do it in high school, and it was something I just jotted down quickly when I woke up. Still, I'm finding it a lot of fun to write garbage. Should future stories be more polished/later drafts if I want to post them in the other thread?
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Jan 12, 2015 02:15
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Calm posted:Thanks and sorry, I couldn't figure out where to put. It's the first thing I've written since they made me do it in high school, and it was something I just jotted down quickly when I woke up. Still, I'm finding it a lot of fun to write garbage. Should future stories be more polished/later drafts if I want to post them in the other thread? We literally just explained where to posts stories in this forum. Like the 5 posts immediately before you asked. Read. UGH. Also yes for the love of god please edit your own work before you ask other people to read and critique it.
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Jan 12, 2015 04:07
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Dr. Kloctopussy posted:
Listen to this. Also, after you write the thing, set it aside for at least a week before you edit. It might help you if you've become blind to stuff like: "he poutingly queried his older sister." (Please don't do this by the way. Replacing said with a different verb can sometimes work but doing that and adding in an adverb draws a whole lot of attention and not the good kind) Getting some time away from the piece really helps for getting some fresh perspective. JuniperCake fucked around with this message at 10:42 on Jan 12, 2015 |
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Jan 12, 2015 10:31
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Also poutingly is a terrible adverb in its own merit, since it's already a verb you've adverbed, and you should feel bad for causing it to exist for even a second.
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Jan 12, 2015 11:31
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I'm a total piece of poo poo who has been struggling to find my writing mojo recently. I'm trying the old 'if you write it, she will come' method regarding my muse but so far nada. Any good tips to shake things up and clear the funk?
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Jan 16, 2015 12:07
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Lofty132 posted:I'm a total piece of poo poo who has been struggling to find my writing mojo recently. I'm trying the old 'if you write it, she will come' method regarding my muse but so far nada. Any good tips to shake things up and clear the funk? Thunderdome. This may seem like the comedy option but I'm serious. For me, the combination of deadlines and prompts and low stakes short circuits that I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO WRIIIIIIITE mindset perfectly.
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Jan 16, 2015 13:13
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Lofty132 posted:I'm a total piece of poo poo who has been struggling to find my writing mojo recently. I'm trying the old 'if you write it, she will come' method regarding my muse but so far nada. Any good tips to shake things up and clear the funk? Read something unrelated to what you're writing. Read something that you don't normally read. Fiction or nonfiction, doesn't matter as long as you can get something out of it. It might just give you plot ideas, or narrative techniques. The least you'll get is some entertainment. Never stop doing this. But don't forget to keep writing.
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Jan 16, 2015 15:04
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docbeard posted:Thunderdome. This may seem like the comedy option but I'm serious. For me, the combination of deadlines and prompts and low stakes short circuits that I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO WRIIIIIIITE mindset perfectly. This worked for me too.
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Jan 16, 2015 15:43
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Lofty132 posted:I'm a total piece of poo poo who has been struggling to find my writing mojo recently. I'm trying the old 'if you write it, she will come' method regarding my muse but so far nada. Any good tips to shake things up and clear the funk? It seems to work for me. I'm unemployed and have managed to get myself into a routine of writing roughly 10-4 with a break mid-day most days. Before writing, I feel like I don't want to do it. Then I force myself to, the day disappears, and I end up turning the laptop off thinking "That was fun, why am I such a dick about sitting down and getting started?"
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Jan 16, 2015 15:58
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Lofty132 posted:I'm a total piece of poo poo who has been struggling to find my writing mojo recently. I'm trying the old 'if you write it, she will come' method regarding my muse but so far nada. Any good tips to shake things up and clear the funk? Keep writing poo poo. Write the most boring thing that ever happened. Go deep into the mojo-less stuff. Instead of focusing on the word count or the final outcome, focus on where your characters are going. Know that 90% of it's going to be discarded, but that unexpected accidental 10% will surprise you. SO then, you take that 10% and turn that into a better piece. Thunderdome is great for boot-camp rear end-whipping into shape on grammar, structure, (and the toughest thing: "why does anyone want to keep reading this poo poo?'), etc. But it was too restrictive to me for finding my creative voice. It sounds like you're struggling more with ideas or even something interesting to write about. Thunderdomers will call me out on this, so to be clear, I'm speaking from my own experience. The times I went into the Dome with a solid idea for a story, characters, and events, I fared much better, (not only in the judgements against me, but also in my own satisfaction with the results). If you go in with jackshit, and you haven't already honed how to build a story, (conflict, beginning, ending, characters) you're going to want to open a vein with your results. THAT SAID, the dome improved a lot of my weak areas, but didn't help much with discovering that odd part of a story that makes it worth telling. That poo poo came from writing a lot of crap, KNOWING that it didn't matter how bad it was at the time, just keep pushing poo poo around in the scene, make people do wrong decisions, even break every rule of writing, (introducing a new character on the spot) because at that level, i'm sort of pushing a pile of clay around until a shape comes out and I know what I'm working on.
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Jan 16, 2015 16:51
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Also look for prompts that have starting sentences. Build off those sentences. Even if it's only for a three line paragraph. Something is better than nothing.
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Jan 16, 2015 17:26
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Inspiration's always been fairly easy for me to find -- I just take whatever garbage I have in mind at the time and poo poo it onto the screen, and I clean it up from there. I mean, it still turns out to be crap, but that's because I'm still honing my craft. A good writer can make any premise work.
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Jan 16, 2015 22:18
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I think it was the bestselling horror writer Garth Marenghi who said "All I do is sit down at the typewriter, and start hitting the keys. Getting them in the right order, that's the trick. That's the trick."
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Jan 16, 2015 22:46
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I've only recently decided to try my hand at fiction writing, on the encouragement of a friend, after I helped him with a short story he was writing. Lacking any formal background in the field (I'm accustomed to extended pieces of writing, but only in the strictly academic context; I haven't done any creative writing since A-level English Literature almost six years ago), I was a bit dubious about even trying it in the first place, but having read some guides for beginners, I thought it might turn out to be a fun and productive way to make use of my free time. I've decided to have a go at a kind of young adult, adventure story; the sort of thing I liked when I was younger. It isn't anything particularly sophisticated (and, I must be honest, not especially original), but it has been a fun thing to try. Nevertheless, I feel like I'm having trouble getting to grips with, I suppose, some of the nuts and bolts of the thing. I guess it is a kind of writer's block; I'm having trouble connecting Point A and Point B. It's probably quite trivial in the context of the story as a whole, but I'm dwelling on it a lot, and it's bothering me to the extent that I am having trouble getting a handle on the rest of the story. (I admit I feel a bit of a wally sharing this, really, since I've actually never told anyone - online or otherwise - how I've been spending my spare time lately) So, here's the bare bones of it. I'm having trouble reconciling two scenes. In the first scene, the villain is in a sticky situation, and appeals to one of the heroes to help him out of it. The hero agrees on the condition the villain shares some information, but when the villain refuses, the hero says he only had one chance, and leaves him facing certain doom. I think this is an important scene insofar as it shows the hero in question as a character who's almost as ruthless as the villains they're up against. The problem I have is a subsequent scene at the end, where the villain reappears; in the end, they managed to escape on their own, and I can't figure out how to answer the question, "Why did they need the hero's help when they could have done it on their own the whole time?" without potentially undermining the former scene. Now, I realise that this is minutiae, as surely as I realise that my anxiety over this sort of thing is probably misplaced, but it still distracts me terribly. I feel like I'm writing an essay and leaving a hole in an argument; like I'm still in that kind of academic mindset. I suppose what I'm asking is, when I come upon niggling little bits of trivia like this, what attitude to I need to take if I'm going to get over it and get on with it?
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Jan 17, 2015 01:50
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The villain had to pay a price, suffer an injury, or sacrifice a resource they didn't want to in order to escape without the hero's help. Scenes should be consequential.
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Jan 17, 2015 01:53
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If they refused the offer of information for help, then that implies that they realize they won't be completely hosed without the hero's assistance, no matter what the hero thought. So having them succeed at great cost actually makes dramatic sense: they've made a sacrifice they didn't want to make which gives them a reason to hate the protagonist, and at the same time they've revealed themselves to be more powerful than the hero assumed, which gives him a reason to be wary of them.
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Jan 17, 2015 03:27
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I have a problem of being too concise, and I think it's causing my novel to be shorter than it should be. I feel like I've written a tremendous amount of plot, and I think I'm reaching the latter third of my story, but I'm only at 30,000 words. I have a problem where I write sentences like: quote:He took the train to Baltimore. instead of quote:"One ticket to Baltimore," he glanced around. The train station was nearly empty. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been inside a train station. A homeless man sat in the far corner, slowly shaking a jar with a few coins clinking in it. I always think I'm putting useless flavoring in, but I need to realize it adds to the story. I was thinking of, after I finish, going back page by page and trying to double the length of each page by adding in flavoring text. Is this a terrible idea?
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Jan 17, 2015 21:00
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Liam Emsa posted:I have a problem of being too concise, and I think it's causing my novel to be shorter than it should be. I feel like I've written a tremendous amount of plot, and I think I'm reaching the latter third of my story, but I'm only at 30,000 words. This is a good question. I wrote a novel myself that finished at 50k and told the story I wanted to tell, but my scenes feel pretty flat overall and I think it is for the same reason you are citing. I have been considering doing the same thing. Now that I know what happens, I can slow down and really develop the scene properly and make the dialogue more nuanced. I also want to look at adding some subplots that reinforce the themes of the book.
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Jan 17, 2015 21:04
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