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Didn't Know Where Else to Put This

Started by kkhohoho, December 28, 2007, 09:31:39 PM

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kkhohoho

Hi.  I've been working on a piece of fan fiction called Reality Break, but, as of now, I don't have much motivation to write, especially since the whole tale in my head is rather long.  That doesn't mean I don't have motivation to tell this story I've been imagining, and my story is probably my life's work.  Unfortunately, writing out stories doesn't seem to come naturally to me, and I can't seem to learn that particular art well either.  Drawing isn't a good forte of mine either.  So, I was wondering if there was an alternative, or a website with writing lessons.  One of those two. I'd quite like to show or tell the whole story one way or another.

Midnight

It's been a very long time since I've written creatively, and even longer since I've written anything good but here's my humble advise; get it out of your head and onto paper. Doesn't matter if it's in chronological order, or if it sounds good, or if it sounds like a book report, or even if it doesn't make any sense.

If you get it out on paper, you can organize your thoughts physically. Once you've gotten the thoughts out, the whole, "Oh my God, I must write the great American novel and I haven't put pen to paper!" mentality will dissolve. You'll already have stuff to work with.

This is generally how I write papers for University; you gotta start writing before you can finish and your writing will always start out bad and get better.

I also drink heavily when I write, but you might want to avoid that.

MJB

I also recommend putting it all down on paper. Works wonders for me.

-MJB

kkhohoho

Okay. Write it down.  Should I divide the written thoughts into sections, each with their own paper, or should I just write everything down on one paper, then only go to another piece if I run out of room?

Tortuga

Organization can wait.  Write whatever's in your head like you're puking it out.  Don't even bother with descriptive phrases, just get out the basic ideas first.  After that's done, you can start to find the focus/premise, and then some order and descriptions.

I keep a journal on my nightstand, because my ideas, bits of dialogue, or character concepts come to me just before bed, in the middle of the night or right when I wake up in the morning.  Over time you'll find out how/when you create -- do what you can to help yourself out.

Previsionary

Tort, Middy, and MJB basically got it all covered, but I always write down my initial ideas and go back to flesh them out/expand them later. I also tend to write extremely well when I'm about to go to bed and I seem to have *several* writing pads with a bunch of ideas written on them: One on google docs, one in my writing/collection folder, one in *several* of my notebooks/journals, one on MSWord, one on my clipboard, and one in gmail. So, depending on when the mood/idea hits me, I'll have something nearby to write it in. Coincidentally, I also tend to work better when I have some type of music blaring.

Sevenforce

Notes! I generally find doing a short, descriptive blast of a scene, such as:

Dark alley, raining, daytime. Guy with a hood: informant? Waiting for ??? Nervous

really helps. You can flesh it out later, and add in such things as suspense, description, foreshadowing etc. Getting the ideas on paper first is the major first step. Like making a cake, you need the frame before you can put on the icing ;)

Obviously, this doesn't work for everybody, but I find it helps. Also, with spontaneous writing, sequencing comes later, but make a note of what comes after/before what. My notes are a pain in the handbasket to read, as they're literally scribbles (usually from right after I've woken up - bizarre) on post-its that have zero order with no indication of, well, any direction.

If writing is too slow (a fault I notice especially when inspiration hits hard, and you're practically watching a movie of your scene inside your head) try a dictophone, or even just voicemail on your phone or a sound recorder on your computer. And try and find your time of day when you're most creative. I'll...um, hush now

kkhohoho

Quote from: Sevenforce on December 29, 2007, 05:15:00 PM
Notes! I generally find doing a short, descriptive blast of a scene, such as:

Dark alley, raining, daytime. Guy with a hood: informant? Waiting for ??? Nervous

really helps. You can flesh it out later, and add in such things as suspense, description, foreshadowing etc. Getting the ideas on paper first is the major first step. Like making a cake, you need the frame before you can put on the icing ;)

Obviously, this doesn't work for everybody, but I find it helps. Also, with spontaneous writing, sequencing comes later, but make a note of what comes after/before what. My notes are a pain in the handbasket to read, as they're literally scribbles (usually from right after I've woken up - bizarre) on post-its that have zero order with no indication of, well, any direction.

If writing is too slow (a fault I notice especially when inspiration hits hard, and you're practically watching a movie of your scene inside your head) try a dictophone, or even just voicemail on your phone or a sound recorder on your computer. And try and find your time of day when you're most creative. I'll...um, hush now

There's no specific time of day I'm creative.  It just comes to me.  It doesn't come as much as it used to though, because the story's mostly finished in my head.  All that comes now are details to make the story seem more complete mostly, but sometimes, a part of the story gets revised.  The story itself is quite long.  It's a lot longer then movie length.  I also have a lot of characters that are important to the plot.  Say, more then 40, though some are more important then others.  I'm still working on the finishing touches, but those come to me when I write.