dinozoa       03-12-2006, 10:29 pm

Word from the source is you're supposed to write as much as you can while you're feeling creative, and then come back and edit it later.

shitbox       03-13-2006, 02:19 am

I find that I am my own toughest critic.

autoshoes       03-13-2006, 08:10 am

agreed. most creative people are usually their own worst critic. i'm the same way. you want to hold yourself to a high standard or else you fall into the "this is all crap" rut. not that it nececerilly is, but you've seen so much of it, since you're the one making it, that it becomes old and tired to you much before eveyone else.
i could go on and on about this, but i don't have time right now. just remember what warhol said: the toughest part is just showing up.

dent       03-13-2006, 10:46 am

This entry has EMO written all over it. Should I cut my wrist or just scribble dark thoughts into my diary? Fuck it, I'll just cry.

Lownotes       03-13-2006, 12:10 pm

I don't like writing poetry. I'm a butterfingers at it. So, I can't help you there.

First, read a lot - write a lot.

Other than that, dinozoa's advice is reallly all you need. No matter what kind of writing you do, micromanaging will destroy your creativity. If you use a computer, just write furiously, explore all tangents and don't look back. I write notes and ideas below my main text and delete them as I use them. But, if you can't help yourself, it may be a good idea to go back to pencil and paper. When you transfer the text to your computer you will begin the editing process right there.

Writing = editing. If you find yourself believing everything you put to paper becomes golden because it escaped the wetlands inside your skull - stop. All good writers depend on shitty first drafts, mediocre second drafts and so on.

I don't claim to be an expert. But, for fiction, I use these techniques:

Getting it on paper:

1. Create the characters and the situation/problem. Write descriptions of both for yourself and consider them for a day or two, tell people who will give a shit. (you end up writing the story as you explain) Then put them all together and let the story act as a supercollider. Write the characters out of their predicament, and you have a story.

2. Plot it all out, outline it and design the situations to accomplish the following in this order - grabber, characterization, establish the problem, mini struggles to reach major struggle, moment of truth/all may be lost, resolution/denoument, epoilogue. Within this are the character arcs of each player. Each major character must choose to either stand still or move forward. This choice must be seen.

3. Plot everything out, but instead of writing it in linear story arc format, write each chapter as a self-contained short story focusing on the kernel of action. Only write down the most interesting someone-doing-something action element. This is the hardest way to write, but it seems realistic to the reader because there are no obvious plot turns, and the reader fills in gaps.

Editing it:

I let it simmer for 45 minutes, then come back and look at it making only grammatical and spelling tweaks. After that, I let it simmer for as long as I can stand so it will be a a little foriegn to me. I do a hardcore first draft where I try to trim a lot of fat, turn all passive voice into active, straighten out all the sentences so they're in subject-verb-object format and turn all show into tell. Wait, simmer, do a third draft focusing on fat and continuity. Anything added must go through the same scrutiny as before. Then I show it to people, talk about it, defend it. In the end, you'll see were you've failed and succeeded. The final draft should reflect this.

Like anything where you turn potential energy in to kenetic, you will have to figure out what works for you.

Supposedly Barbara Kingsolver wrote the entire book "The Poisonwood Bible" from each major character's perspective one at a time, edited each one, and after several years had five complete novels. She then combined them, choosing which character was best for each scene, and polished it off as one. I don't know if this is true, but I hope it is.

QwErTy       03-14-2006, 05:13 am

I include lots of unicorns and star dust.


That shit is hawt!!

BeachGoat       03-14-2006, 05:37 am

Mine almost always appear, complete, word for word, with very little need for editing, in my head all at once, just like my psychotic delusions.

IMBOLCPunxsutawneyPhil       03-14-2006, 07:13 pm

Ever been to a writing workshop?

Other people have hewn the same chunk of lumpy bread, see how they do it. I always liked reading mr. shakespere's sonnets, they were really good.