Writing, Writers, and Wordy Things

[Sebastian_Plz]

I wish I could write the prose in my head, but I can't get the story on paper. There is a story. I don't have the discipline to write it. Where to start is the question. It's just a bunch of small parts jumbled in a messy word processor.

I am left with creative thoughts, without any structure.

So why not simply start there? Generate 'order' by first putting down the chaos. I am not trying to come across as 'telling' you what to do, but by at least getting something down on paper, its a step in the right direction towards capturing the articulation of your thoughts into printed form. Beginnings are always shitty, hence why folks use multiple drafts. And once you have something, even if it is just a mess of words, you now have a physical representation of your prose and can modify, reorder, restructure, etc to the proper system that you wish to pursue. Over time, it will just become natural and you will inherently do it without having to feel so discombobulated when first approaching a written document. But that is just my thought on the matter.

Hope it helps, but if not, yea, well, I still say just write something...anything. Good luck regardless!

 

[PullYouPushMe]

---------------------

 

[sweepthefloor]

So why not simply start there? Generate 'order' by first putting down the chaos. I am not trying to come across as 'telling' you what to do, but by at least getting something down on paper, its a step in the right direction towards capturing the articulation of your thoughts into printed form. Beginnings are always shitty, hence why folks use multiple drafts. And once you have something, even if it is just a mess of words, you now have a physical representation of your prose and can modify, reorder, restructure, etc to the proper system that you wish to pursue. Over time, it will just become natural and you will inherently do it without having to feel so discombobulated when first approaching a written document. But that is just my thought on the matter.

Hope it helps, but if not, yea, well, I still say just write something...anything. Good luck regardless!

Thanks for the luck. I always say I have a brand of luck in my bones. I do just write something, anything and it seems like the middle, and the middle is alright.

I have no problem organizing an academic paper, maybe I will transfer that approach and title the book: "My Life in APA Format."

 

[BiBunny]

How's everyone else doing with their writing this New Year?

I've managed two chapters in my...thing...I'm writing (I don't even know what to call it) and three new poems. I have two other poems in the works and a vague outline for my third chapter.

Doesn't sound like much, but it's also in addition to all the work writing I have to do each week, so I think I'm doing ok.

Once I get a reasonable amount of stuff built up in my writing folder, I may try to find some people to beta-read, and then--God help me--start submitting. That's going to require considerably more balls than I have at the moment, though.

So tell me what y'all have been up to, and we'll celebrate our achievements together!

 

[Sebastian_Plz]

Thanks for the luck. I always say I have a brand of luck in my bones. I do just write something, anything and it seems like the middle, and the middle is alright.

I have no problem organizing an academic paper, maybe I will transfer that approach and title the book: "My Life in APA Format."

Funny you mention APA format....I have to use that dreaded form on a nearly daily basis. I mean, on the one hand I like it because it does add some structure to academia reading. On the other though...its sooooo f-ing boring and sucks the soul, motivation, and drive that I have for outside composition.

I guess for me, and this is my opinion, that's why I enjoy submitting on Lit. I have no format, no template, no real 'structure' that I need to follow. And for me, yea, that's just an awesome escape for the routine.

My unsolicited opinion is if the 'middle' section is the portion that you dig the most, why not just write that way? Know that your beginning and end will always need work, but the core stuff is always up to snuff. Once you get the middle down, put the stuff aside, work on something else. And then, next time, re-read your middle section and see if you can devise a better start/end. Point is, regardless of how you approach it, you get yourself writing and practice putting content to your thoughts and fantasies.

 

[BiBunny]

Funny you mention APA format....I have to use that dreaded form on a nearly daily basis. I mean, on the one hand I like it because it does add some structure to academia reading. On the other though...its sooooo f-ing boring and sucks the soul, motivation, and drive that I have for outside composition.

When I was in college and grad school, we always had to use MLA, which was bad.

But I may or may not moonlight as a writer of papers for college students for money (*ahem*), and I recently had to do one for someone that called for Chicago style. After that, I took back every horrible thing I ever said about MLA.

 

[midwestyankee]

When I was in college and grad school, we always had to use MLA, which was bad.

But I may or may not moonlight as a writer of papers for college students for money (*ahem*), and I recently had to do one for someone that called for Chicago style. After that, I took back every horrible thing I ever said about MLA.

Yep, we like to fuck with our writers here in the Land of Lincoln, Drinkin' and Fraud.

 

[Sir_Winston54]

When I was in college and grad school, we always had to use MLA, which was bad.

But I may or may not moonlight as a writer of papers for college students for money (*ahem*), and I recently had to do one for someone that called for Chicago style. After that, I took back every horrible thing I ever said about MLA.

IMNSHO, MLA is bad; APA is worse; Chicago is horrible. When I was last in college (two and a half years undergrad in the late '80s plus some grad courses in the very late '80s and early '90s), I had one professor who insisted on Chicago and one (dual doctorates in psychology and education) who insisted on APA. The rest were satisfied with MLA.

 

[BiBunny]

Yep, we like to fuck with our writers here in the Land of Lincoln, Drinkin' and Fraud.

And you're so good at it, too.

IMNSHO, MLA is bad; APA is worse; Chicago is horrible. When I was last in college (two and a half years undergrad in the late '80s plus some grad courses in the very late '80s and early '90s), I had one professor who insisted on Chicago and one (dual doctorates in psychology and education) who insisted on APA. The rest were satisfied with MLA.

Even my psych professors said we could use either MLA or APA, our choice. I just always went with MLA because it was what I was used to. Nearly all of us undergrad psych majors had English minors, anyway.

I had never done Chicago before I wrote that thing, but that was a freaking nightmare. I couldn't even get it to format properly because every single word processor I tried wouldn't do the footnotes the right way. Finally, I just put the footnote numbers into the text and wrote a list of the corresponding sources on another page and told the girl I'd written it for that she'd have to copypasta her own footnotes at the bottom of the page because I couldn't get it to work.

 

[KoPilot]

I am hereby congratulating everyone who's worked on something recently.

 

[marieR19]

.... I made two edits (sentence structure) to one of my novels, does that count?

*sigh* Thanks to all the mental issues lately, I just totally stopped writing. I don't think I've written more then 2 paragraphs of fiction since the end of November. I need to get my butt in gear, just open the dang thing and *write*.... but it almost feels like my muse is being deliberately picky. Open up Princess story? Nope, keep trying and hitting walls. Open up Amanda story? Waaaait, where was that one going again? ... Yeah.

*headdesks* I have a couple new ideas I could run with, but that *always* happens and I try to limit the number of "new ideas" that I actually write. .... That's the whole reason I have 5 current novels in various stages of not-done.

 

[BiBunny]

It's me again....

I wrote another chapter of my...thingie...tonight. Then I got ambitious and tried to write a fucking sonnet. Yes, a sonnet. It was a mess. I mean, I finished it, but I should've thought that through a little better, considering that I'm terrible at counting syllables and figuring out where stresses belong on words.

How's everyone else doing? Well, I hope!

 

[Keroin]

It's me again....

I wrote another chapter of my...thingie...tonight. Then I got ambitious and tried to write a fucking sonnet. Yes, a sonnet. It was a mess. I mean, I finished it, but I should've thought that through a little better, considering that I'm terrible at counting syllables and figuring out where stresses belong on words.

How's everyone else doing? Well, I hope!

Yay you! Vomit it out and clean it up later, that's my motto.

I am on the road--currently in California--but still working. Second draft of the third novel. What was I saying about vomit????

How's everyone else doing?

 

[DawgDaze]

I’d enjoy writing more if I weren’t so dyslectic. Sometimes the little spellchecker guy in my computer even scratches his head and laughs at me.

 

[midwestyankee]

It's me again....

I wrote another chapter of my...thingie...tonight. Then I got ambitious and tried to write a fucking sonnet. Yes, a sonnet. It was a mess. I mean, I finished it, but I should've thought that through a little better, considering that I'm terrible at counting syllables and figuring out where stresses belong on words.

How's everyone else doing? Well, I hope!

As long as your sonnet didn't involve anyone from Nantucket, you're way ahead of me. Keep on truckin'!

 

[Sebastian_Plz]

I now have 4 chapters done....but am not sure if I will post any of them here on Lit. Hoping to have the rest of the material at least outlined in greater detail by end of the weekend...but we'll see.

Prob going to be start a series of 'shorter' quick stories and see what I can do with those. Still trying to identify a theme to really work around though.

Sounds like everyone is doing great themselves. Hopefully goals are being met despite distractions that life always presents.

 

[PullYouPushMe]

----------------

 

[Sebastian_Plz]

Am currently in what I'm calling 'scene 4' of a stage play taking the form of a monologue (it's what I've been told I'm good at), though I'm not so convinced at the moment.
The female character is struggling to come to terms with a loss, as well as being haunted by her, and her sister's, past indiscretions. The family believe all's well, but the audience can see her slowly unravelling, with everything coming to a head one booze fuelled evening (one of my reference points has been the classic forties movie Lost Weekend), but making the transitions from apparent wellness to despair in a few short sentences of dialogue is proving difficult and I'm torn between ending the scene with either an attempted suicide or a contemplated one.

That actually sounds pretty engaging esp if you can get the dialogue to match the subtle tones of the respective scenes. I am always a fan of endeavors that display a descent into madness/depression/etc. Good luck!

 

[PullYouPushMe]

-------------------

 

[Sebastian_Plz]

Thanks Seb_Plz. It feels important to maintain a balance throughout the piece and not allow the
character (and myself) to swing too much between melodrama and glibness, but to keep it sounding 'real'.
Would be good to hear what you (and others) have cooking as story ideas in whatever it is you're working on at present (without giving away too much of the plot of course!) and the inspiration for them.

......