Subject: Fiction Writing. How to? 493 views

« Prev
1
Next »

darthlopez Banned for Spam I have made 1,033 posts Right now I'm Offline I joined September 2015 I've received 644 likes My gender is Male	Fiction Writing. How to? Jul 19, 2017 23:37:48 GMT -6 Post by darthlopez on Jul 19, 2017 23:37:48 GMT -6 This might seem like a particularly dumb thing to post about but... So Here's the dealio, for those who do not know me particularly well, I'm a Grad Student in Linguistics (spec. in TESOL) and both of my bachelors are also fairly equally sciencey (there hasn't been much room for creative writing in the fictional sense in my life.) I'm used to, and fairly good at, writing Lab Write ups, complex analysis of grammatical structures as well as word structures and their potential socio-cultural uses/functions. I'm not much for writing fiction i guess but I'd like to be. Evidently, according to my friends, I tell great stories, and apparently I come up with some pretty nifty and entertaining ones from time to time as for some reason many have suggested I just start writing a thing and see what happens. Personally I don't know how much I agree with them . So now bearing that the last 100-300 pages i've written have by non-fiction and precisely accurate accounts of English German and Mandarin how does one who writes predominantly non fiction adapt and comfortably write non fiction in anyone's opinion out there? I've tried outlining and it really just doesn't work well for me i get so bogged down in the details i want to create exposition after expostion. If i don't do that i get stuck on going back over and over again trying to make the scene as articulately colorful as possible while maximally descriptive of what i see in my head. And usually by page 5 I've hit a stage Where I'm no longer happy with the work and simply kill the project to start a new one because it was ridiculously imperfect. Any tips pointers etc.. etc.. ? What do you guys do when you write fiction?
"Landmass is Landmassy" Reply Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top

Vroom Vroom Banned for Spam I have made 2,419 posts Right now I'm Offline I joined August 2015 I've received 1,845 likes BSN Posts 4,000	Fiction Writing. How to? Jul 20, 2017 7:33:27 GMT -6 Post by Vroom Vroom on Jul 20, 2017 7:33:27 GMT -6 There are two kinds of writers; the gardener and the architect. The gardener largely makes things up as they go, while the architect plans things out in advance. Either way is perfectly valid. I would classify as a gardener and it sounds like you do as well, so I think you should just make things up as you go along. My advice to you would be to set a schedule of some sort (like 500 words on Tuesday and Thursday) and stick to it until you get comfortable and then ramp it up to a higher word count - stick to it no matter what. I'd also advise not getting too hung up on fixing things on your first write-through or you'll likely never finish (that's what drafts are for). I would also caution you to be wary of using too much description as that can really hurt the pacing of the story and perhaps even bore the reader, although that depends on your audience. Ultimately, what I say are just recommendations, you will develop your own writing style and you might do so by going against some of the advice that I, and others, give you; perfectly fine. Basically, just do. I recommend looking into buying Stephen Kings book: 'On Writing'. It's a great manual on writing and doubles as his biography.
Current read: Shinto: The Kami Way Current video game: Divinity Original Sin 2 Current strategic engagement: Writing VN Edited by Vroom Vroom [Jul 20, 2017 7:34:31 GMT -6] Reply Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top

Norstaera Newcomer I have made 20 posts Right now I'm Offline I joined August 2016 I've received 30 likes	Fiction Writing. How to? Jul 20, 2017 16:35:14 GMT -6 Post by Norstaera on Jul 20, 2017 16:35:14 GMT -6 Well, what fiction do you like to read? Would you describe it as character driven or plot driven? Are there any books you go back to, if so, why? Maybe you can use them as organizational guides. Do you have a strong character in mind? If so, maybe start by writing a short biography about who they are, what they're like. You can look at some of the roleplay character threads. Some people do more than name, rank, and serial number. Or do you have a particular story in mind? What's your endgame? Maybe instead of a traditional outline, start with the result. Then list what has to happen to get there. And be flexible to change down the road. Sometimes a scene keeps replaying in my head and is getting in my way. I write it out and put it in a folder. I may never use that scene, but even if I don't the act of writing it down can clarify something for me or give me an idea for a different approach. As Vroom Vroom said, there are different ways to go and it depends on you. I also agree that it's easy to get caught up in editing and re-editing. Once you have some chapters written, you could always find a beta reader and get some feedback. And that's probably as much as you want to hear from me. If this helps at all, great. Good luck to you.
Reply Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top

Deleted I have made 0 posts Right now I'm Offline I joined January 1970	Fiction Writing. How to? Jul 21, 2017 16:53:49 GMT -6 Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2017 16:53:49 GMT -6 Not that I'm a writer but I like to think I'm good at figuring out the process cos I live for this shit. Basically everything you ever read on how tos, whether it's Vrooms very valid gardener/architect type, or some other bits and bobs, will always be subject to change and nuance. Gardener types can be architectural and vice versa, but what I see in most great fiction is this sense of writing that doesn't strictly stick to any one rule. I think it's what separates good from great; good writers do things by the book, great writers do what they fucking feel like doing. Story telling isn't mathematics, you might stick to a certain structure but it's always fluid. What might work for one story won't work on the other. Trying to write a story with an x = 2y attitude might make that story technically great, but it will lack a whole lot of other things that great stories have and that might be technically shabby. Watch the Bates Motel series for this clue. Technically sound but it's soulless. So yeah... Build your foundations: consume media (both good and bad), read theoretical texts, become an expert in the sort of thing you want to write. And I always like to think that real life writes the best stories, even in fiction.
Reply Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top

Norstaera Newcomer I have made 20 posts Right now I'm Offline I joined August 2016 I've received 30 likes	Fiction Writing. How to? Jul 22, 2017 7:04:57 GMT -6 Vroom Vroom likes this Post by Norstaera on Jul 22, 2017 7:04:57 GMT -6 Oh, one thing I forgot to say (and I hope it doesn't make me sound woo-woo) is that I know I'm on the right track, especially when it's a difficult scene, when I can hear it and see it in my head. Oh, the voices . . . But seriously, that's when I know I'm not forcing it. I'm going to stop now before men with nets start closing in on me.
Reply Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top

Deleted I have made 0 posts Right now I'm Offline I joined January 1970	Fiction Writing. How to? Jul 22, 2017 18:05:07 GMT -6 Post by Deleted on Jul 22, 2017 18:05:07 GMT -6 Chris Avellone said something similar, he knows when he's got someone on point when he can see that person, hear that person, fucking smell that person too. Dunno why we would net you up tho
Reply Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top

darthlopez Banned for Spam I have made 1,033 posts Right now I'm Offline I joined September 2015 I've received 644 likes My gender is Male	Fiction Writing. How to? Jul 23, 2017 0:09:49 GMT -6 Post by darthlopez on Jul 23, 2017 0:09:49 GMT -6 To address some questions: World driven. If that makes any sense. Largely the characters are mostly irrelevant. or you could think of the world as a character. Take your pick kinda. I read/watch mostly sci-fi the current idea i have stuck in my head is a very interesting thing to me maybe most directly comparable to 40k, meets the long earth, meets the flash, meets battle/robo -tech, meets Mass Effect, meets Chapi/Short Circuit, meets star wars, meets my ideas on religion, meets waffles. Maybe... distantly... maybe... >.> I do have a few strong characters who have been what most of it starts out around but really the problem is in the starting. it's just hard to start the thing. I don't want to jump into the middle and jump out in one of those "how did i get here" moments or etc... etc... i'm trying to fashion it so that characters are discovering things vitaly important things about the history of the world and how it works out piece wise while slowly falling into some fairly chaotic events born of more chaotic events. I'm used to that y= x^2-4x+14 though or that y = x^(1/2) -32x -6 mayhaps i'm just coming at it too critically then because that's what i'm used to. It's hard to shift away from writing and supporting your assertions on Romanian Vowel inventory into something much less... real and substance based. In my case i can see and hear and all the things with those scenes you speak of but i'm having a hard time translating whats up there to stuff down here :/ thanks for the replies though.
"Landmass is Landmassy" Edited by darthlopez [Jul 23, 2017 0:14:37 GMT -6] Reply Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top