Fic Talk > General Discussion
The Writing Thread
nicksgal:
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on January 08, 2021, 11:57:56 PM ---00Carter was great for bringing out my creative side and challenging me to write in different genres than what I was used to. I think the challenges I've written for here and my pandaskunk stories were pretty creative too (if parody counts as being creative). Apparently I still associate creativity with fantasy and sci-fi - kudos to those of you who regularly write in those genres.
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Creativity is in all things! Even coming up with a new twist on something that's been done before is creative! Fantasy/Sci-Fi takes a lot of creativity, but it also takes a lot of research, which is something you're great at! I'll nudge you when I talk about my big research hole from October that was to finalize something creative in my author talks (end of March). I think you'll enjoy that one.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on January 08, 2021, 11:57:56 PM ---Writing a couple novels in first person point of view instead of third really helped me reign that in.
I don't know if this is a new weakness to add or not, but one thing that has changed about my writing since 2008 is how much slower I am now LOL. I used to average a page/500 words an hour, and now I can hours "writing" and only have 1000 words to show for it. I think part of this is that I overthink things and edit too much as I write instead of just doing a quick draft and going back to edit later like I know a lot of professional writers do. The upside of this is that I don't have to do as much editing later because I'm usually happy with the first draft, but the downside is that I feel less productive. I also blame social media. Twitter is very distracting LOL. So is this forum lately, but I love it!
I still feel good about the strengths I mentioned then - grammar, research, and dialogue. None of that has changed.
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Oh, our purple prose phases. I found a couple "eyes as orbs" and I was like, what was wrong with just calling them "eyes"? How did calling them "orbs" make it anymore descriptive?
I write so much slower too unless I have a major burst of creativity about something. Knowing that I will go back and do a deep edit, I've been cognizant about just getting words out and trying not to get hung up on "the right word(s)."
I was a little sad once you started school again this week and if I happened to pop over at a 2pm or something, it was still the same as the last time I checked it. I gotta know that this is more of an evening thing now. Maybe we should all make a "shh, I'm writing thread" or something to be slightly more productive, haha.
I'd agree with your strengths for sure!
RokofAges75:
Thank you!
Yeah, we're back to evenings. But at least it's the weekend, so I'll be around more the next two days! I just need to have more willpower when it comes to staying focused on my writing. If I'm really determined to not get distracted, I will hide my bookmarks bar or turn off wi-fi so it takes an extra step to get to Twitter, the forum, or anywhere else. That does help. I also have better luck if I try to do my writing first thing in the morning, before I even check social media or forums. If I get something done early, I don't feel as guilty for focus-failing later in the day. I've become more of a morning/early afternoon writer than a late night writer, which is weird for me because I'm such a night owl.
nicksgal:
--- Quote from: nicksgal on January 08, 2021, 10:48:22 PM ---Stumbled on this thread Kelly started way back!
Anyone want to take a stab at these again? If you posted in the original thread, do you still feel the same as you did then? On a side note, not sure how I missed this one last time, I love stuff like this (clearly).
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Still not sure why I didn't respond to this the first time. So, who knows what I would have said then. Kind of wish I had so I could reflect.
Strengths:
1. Characters. I love a great character more than a great story, so I try my best to always make strong characters who can do anything from make you laugh to make you think to make you cry to make you want to strangle them, even if they are a main character that you love! I definitely spend most of my early time figuring out the characters and the plot just kind of falls into place after them.
2. World building. I wasn't great at it when I started, but I practiced a lot and by the time I got to PBox, I was pretty good at it, but I think I've gotten even better since then. And I'm not sure if that's because I try to find more ways to show "yo, this is all bigger than you think" in my more recent writing or if I've just gotten better at the research and planning aspects of it. I think there's something fun about creating a whole little world.
3. Balance between descriptions/dialogue/action. I always get told that I am good at this, so I'll include it here. I definitely think I've improved on adding more body language in as time as gone on, subtle things, like fiddling with finger nails when anxious.
Weaknesses:
Updating Consistently? Let me poke fun at myself here. If history says anything, I let my creative muse rule me and then do a whole lot of nothing otherwise. Productivity is not my strong point. I get stuck in research black holes all the time. I get distracted by things like this place when it's busy really badly. We'll see if I get better knowing I'm way ahead of you all.
I know back then I probably would have said not following through on projects as well. I started so many things I never finished, I just wanted to share. You would have thought that I would have liked blogging way better because I love to ramble, but I ended up hating it after several years. Maybe we can call this "aimlessness"? Maybe I just hadn't settled into the right projects back then. Maybe PBox was always the project. I don't know.
Getting stuck on finding the right word(s) is probably one too. I could probably keep editing forever if I though it would turn a story into an immaculate masterpiece.
nicksgal:
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on January 09, 2021, 12:48:37 AM ---Thank you!
Yeah, we're back to evenings. But at least it's the weekend, so I'll be around more the next two days! I just need to have more willpower when it comes to staying focused on my writing. If I'm really determined to not get distracted, I will hide my bookmarks bar or turn off wi-fi so it takes an extra step to get to Twitter, the forum, or anywhere else. That does help. I also have better luck if I try to do my writing first thing in the morning, before I even check social media or forums. If I get something done early, I don't feel as guilty for focus-failing later in the day. I've become more of a morning/early afternoon writer than a late night writer, which is weird for me because I'm such a night owl.
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I am also at work most of the day, so I should have known, haha. I have been editing during my lunch breaks this week though and I've found that I get through more than I do in the evening. I also like to write with my coffee, so I guess I'm the same: more productive in the morning/early afternoon. I check all my things I keep up on in the morning when I first get up, so I do my best to get distractions out of the way early on. I have not been much of a night owl overall until I came back to you all. What's this called? Revertigo?
RokofAges75:
Judging by my experience writing with you, I think you're spot on with all of those. Especially the characters. I hope this isn't awkward for you, but you created a strong character in Kayleigh in Song for the Undead. In just a couple chapters, we felt like we had a sense of who she was and how she would handle a zombie apocalypse, and that made it easy to continue writing her. Same with Howie, whom you wrote in the beginning, as well as Diamond Divine in 00Carter.
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