Who's writing what at the moment?

spookypurple · 03-07-2006, 01:35 PM

I've been visiting a 'writer's' site over here and getting a bit frustrated with it. Seems everyone is more concerned with what they did at the weekend and what was on telly and whether a particular poster wears particular clothing... In short, nothing to do with writing!

I want to talk to someone who actually does some writing out there! I want to talk characterisation! Dialogue! Plotting! Editing! Formatting!

Please, please, talk to me!

What are you writing at the moment? What do you plan to do with it? Are you finding it easy? Difficult? Any tips?

I'm working on a play at the moment and finding it difficult to discipline myself to get anything done - it's starting to take shape, but I'm being a bit of a butterfly with it.

Juliet Bathory · 03-08-2006, 01:59 AM

Hello Purple, you will find a bevvy of writers wandering these halls and writing on the furniture. I am still working on my first novel but I have no intention of publishing it through mainstream, but it will be published. I find that the dialogue is the first thing to come to me when I sit down to write and I spring board from there. I have to write a couple of creative pieces for uni this semester, so I hope to get back in the habit of writing regularly.

So pick a topic Purple, what do you want to discuss first?

Disfunction · 03-08-2006, 05:47 AM

I'm writing a story that may or may not take on an autobiographical twist, another short story that was requested by a friend, and still plodding along with that same old story I'd posted on G.net previously.

spookypurple · 03-08-2006, 06:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Juliet Bathory

So pick a topic Purple, what do you want to discuss first?

Oohoo! [claps hands gleefully] At last! Oh, the luxury...

Characterisation!

There's so many things! But, initially... How do you feel when a character starts 'writing themself'? Do you let it go, knowing that it may affect your plotting, or the group dynamics of a scene, or even the story?
I start off with an aim/goal for what the character has to do/achieve/go through and then a vague idea of what I want them to be like - and that's generally the bit that changes, although in this play at the moment, the journey's changed for at least one of the main characters.

Juliet, you have no idea how good this makes me feel - to actually talk about writing with other writers... :happy sigh:

Thank you, guys!

Shi'ark · 03-08-2006, 07:33 AM

As I mentioned ells where on the sight, for the last couple of years I’ve been writing my own mythology for some fantasy storeys to be set in. And I can’t fucking stop! Every time I finish something, along comes more ideas, I start that and then something ells come into my head. I’ve already written hundreds of pages of what is basically ‘back story’ but only the first part of the first novel had been finish and I’m not returning to that for a while because I’m already writing 3 other things in the mythology.

Ok I’m writing something with real depp to it, which is something I think, is missing from a lot of modern fantasy storeys. I also love history so I cool to invent 7 thousand years of history of my own world. (Which in a way makes me God. *Evil lath*) but I’m an uneducated dyslexic East Londoner not Tolkien who was an Oxford Don or George Lucas who… well he can spell. So I’m a little frustrated that is going to be years before just one of the books is going to be finish.

Also I’ve just finished the first draft of a story I’ve written for Gothic.net so look out for that one just as soon as some one works out how we can all get are work up hear.

spookypurple · 03-08-2006, 07:40 AM

Yes indeed, you're not the only person wondering about that!

What about your characters? What are they like? Where did they come from? Did you calculatedly create them, or did they just appear, fully-formed in your ideas? Are they based on anything/one?

Don't worry about the dyslexia, friend, as long as you have talent and determination, well, spellcheck and trusted pals can go a long way with the rest!

Shi'ark · 03-08-2006, 07:55 AM

Character I think is the most important part of any story. My own characters come from everywhere. Based on myself, people I know, TV, Movies and other books. For the Story, I’m doing what Tolkien and friends did. Write the storeys that I’d like to read.

There is mo mach information planed out in my imagination, 7 books worth, al I have to do is get in on paper.

As for dyslexia what’s to worry about. I like to write with pen and paper, with blue ink for some strange reason, and as long as I can understand what I just wrote I’ll be ok.

As soon as I get some of encoded in to English, LOL, I’ll be happy to share some of it with you

succubus,queenofvampires · 03-08-2006, 10:43 AM

That sounds great! What news story did you choose?

Wise Child · 03-08-2006, 10:52 AM

I'm writing several things at the moment: (I rarely finish a project

) a coming-of-age sorta tale about a girl, based on traditional fairy tales (although it's modern-day - that one could turn into a mess), a novel about a group of six kids growing up on a council estate in East London (one of the charatcers is semi-autobiographical, and weirdly, it's a boy), and a story about a girl with a demon that follows her around and basically ruins her life - but you don't know if the demon's really there or she's insane (she has a dark past)... I started that one about four years ago, when I was at a very low point, then never finished it. I dug it out the other night, and I think I'm intrigued enough to continue - I was actually really pleased with it, although I didn't think much of it when I first started. And I was REALLY pissed off when I found out that the concept's already been done, by James Hogge in The Private Memoirs & Confessions of a Justified Sinner. I checked it out though, and the only thing that's even vaguely similar is that the demon appears to the bloke in his own form, which mine does too.

spookypurple · 03-08-2006, 01:15 PM

And even that has already been done - "The Case of Mr. Pelham" by Anthony Armstrong.

The key is to do something completely different with it, I think - to break the cliches and assumptions and take it in a different direction. Although from what I've found, a lot of editors don't have the time/inclination to think outside that box.

I find an interesting starting point is often to take a classic cliche or stereotype and take it from there. Then you kill two birds with one stone - you've gotten past the cliche, and you've surprised the reader by confounding their expectations.

Wise Child · 03-08-2006, 02:06 PM

Really?! Dagnabbit! What's the story of that one? I'll have to check it out.

Iriacynthe · 03-08-2006, 02:28 PM

This thread just made me realise I haven't written anything big in half a year. That's scary.

The last thing I wrote was a love poem (well, a 'lost love'-poem) with metaphors taken from the life of Jesus (I study theology and my boyfriend broke up with me the day before my exam of new testament, that might explain the strange mix of pathetic love-whining and biblical stories). I like the idea, but it's far from perfect.

The last big project I've been working on is actually some kind of diary. I just feel the need to write down what I think, but my love of literature is too big to stick to the 'dear diary'-formula, so I like inventing new ways of writing down the things that have to be written down.

This diary-book is actually a trip in my own head. I'm guiding a group of people through my mind, where there is a labyrinth of rooms, which stand for different thoughts and ideas, and different sides of my personality. Sometimes people drift from the group and get lost in this labyrinth and start opening doors at random, sometimes I purposely lead them in one direction and tell them everything about one particular room, sometimes I forget them and start exploring my own mind on my own. It's maybe not a great or original idea, but it isn't meant to be published or even read by other people, it's just a way that works for me to write about things I feel the need to write about.

Strangely, this need to write about what keeps me busy seems to come and go. Sometimes I don't write anything diary-like for a year, and than I suddenly need to write 100 pages in a week (so I guess you can't call it a diary, but I don't really know an other word for it). I haven't felt the need to write anything down for months now, but actually I think I should work on it again. There happened a lot to me in the last half year, and writing is in fact a way for me to bring structure to the chaos that my mind sometimes seems to be, and I think some structurising will do me good.

Wise Child · 03-08-2006, 02:33 PM

That sounds really interesting, I. Maybe you could post an extract? Of course, it also sounds very personal so it's understandable if you don't want to. But I'd love to see some, if you're willing.

Iriacynthe · 03-08-2006, 02:42 PM

Not everything is that personal, so I could probably find a part that I wouldn't mind posting online, but the problem is I would have to translate it first. Although my English is good enough to let people understand what I want to say, I don't think it's good enough to make a decent translation of something I've been really working on, especially since I tend to use quite a lot of alliterations, word-plays, and so on.

Besides, translating is a lot of work and I have a crappy dictionary.

Wise Child · 03-08-2006, 03:25 PM

Love the last one. Feed me more.

Wise Child · 03-08-2006, 03:32 PM

Ooh. Cracks and crevices. Kinky.

What's the gist of the plot?

Wise Child · 03-08-2006, 03:42 PM

*shakes fist* Damn you, Darkangel... DAMN you! I'm all intrigued now.

emeraldlonewoulf · 03-08-2006, 08:55 PM

Thank you! this thread is a wonderful idea!

I am a poet and am working on a novel-lenth story. I've completed about fifteen poems that I think are worth reading. The novel is going to be a sort of post apocalyptic, science fiction saga, involving high technology, desert survivalism, the battle between conformism and individuality, the battle between love and duty, how what is seemingly good can be evil, (and vice versa), corporate indentured servitude, the struggle between artistic and scientific thinking, and how those two can be brought together to form either disaster or a beautiful whole.

emeraldlonewoulf · 03-08-2006, 09:00 PM

In regards to dialogue and character building, for me, the character develops, and then speaks according to how that character would. Sometimes that means they actually keep silent, but their thoughts are recorded as if they were speaking to themselves. They go hand in hand, but the character definitely comes first.

emeraldlonewoulf · 03-08-2006, 09:04 PM

To Xng-- no, that isn't self indulgent, it is either asking for criticism, or wanting people to read, think about, and enjoy something you've put yourself into. I seriously doubt most great writers of our day wrote to NOT share their work.

emeraldlonewoulf · 03-08-2006, 09:10 PM

If its something you would want to publish in the future, be very careful though. I'm not sure what the copyright stuff for the site entails, and you want to keep rights. But, I would still like to read it, if you decide to post.

emeraldlonewoulf · 03-08-2006, 09:21 PM

I don't know. Ask one of the mods? Come to think about it, I'd like to know myself. I'd like to post a couple of poems on the poetry thread, but haven't because I wasn't really sure who to ask about the copyright stuff.

winged_dreams · 03-08-2006, 10:31 PM

I keep changing the beginning a vampire story that I'm writing. Shut up! I don't care if it's cliche. I like writing it.

spookypurple · 03-09-2006, 12:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wise Child

Really?! Dagnabbit! What's the story of that one? I'll have to check it out.

A man dies in an accident, but just as he is resuscitated, his heartbeat splits, and he finds himself shadowed by an evil doppelganger bent on ruining his life until... da-da-daaa! He has another accident, the doppelganger disappears, and he lives happily ever after.
But probably with a lot of explaining to do...

Here are the details - of the film, at any rate.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066053/

spookypurple · 03-09-2006, 01:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by winged_dreams

I keep changing the beginning a vampire story that I'm writing. Shut up! I don't care if it's cliche. I like writing it.

Yeah, but remember what I said earlier about cliches....!

I wrote one a few years back, which got as far as having an agent reading it, only to be told that they'd read something similar... Pah! Still, Anne Rice was big mainstream news at the time so, I should have probably waited. Might dig it out sometime, perhaps turn it into a screenplay.

It's about a young victorian doctor who becomes a vampire by accident. It starts off under the influence of Oscar Wilde (I was reading and re-re-re-reading Picture Of Dorian Grey at the time) and ends up in the modern day a bit Clive Barker-ish.

Actually, that's got me thinking... May just go and dig it out right now... I know it's down here somewhere...