How was your writing week?

[commandoratchet]

I am trying to write a story and I am having a writer's block... I hate those!

I am also doing a prewrite to a story that I have been itching to do for quite some time. I am happy about that, but I am still getting the plotline all situated and filling plotholes... That keeps me buisy. Just another testament to how short my attention span is, working on another story when I hit a writer's block in the first one!!

[Mariner]

I haven't written any fiction at all this week. Although I've jotted down a few story ideas and made outlines and character bios for them. So hopefully I find the time to start. Do I really have to go to work and school?

But I've been busy writing for the paper. I wrote stories on guitarist (cool) and new PE classes at school (not so cool!).

[Sancho]

What gets you guys going? I can sit in front of the computer for hours and come up with nothing, but the minute I go for a run or a hike or a bike-ride, the ideas start popping – experiential stuff, abstract stuff, all kinds of stuff. Unfortunately, by the time I get back to the computer, I’ve forgotten pretty much everything. Aye, yai, yai.

So anyway, I was out hiking in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge today. It’s a gorgeous little spot in southern Oklahoma, the kind of a place that doesn’t really come to mind when you think of Oklahoma. Well, I came around a bend in the trail and there, about twenty yards away, was a small herd of wild buffalo standing on the bank of a stream. I must have startled them because they bolted away from me and the water, but they only went 50 yards or so and then stopped and turned and stood there watching me. There were a few yearlings who stood close to their mamas, and there were a few adolescents who were more standoffish, and there was one big-ole badass bull who was standing closest to me.

This was one of the ideas I had: there must be a self-preservation instinct in buffalo that make them extra wary while drinking (I once saw a wildebeest get chomped by a crocodile at a watering hole on Animal Planet). Then I started thinking of the sign at the trail-head that said, “Buffalo are dangerous, keep your distance.” But I was mesmerized by these spectacular North American creatures, so I just stood there, admiring them. Then the big fella started shaking his head and it was at that moment I knew exactly what he was thinking: Hey, I’m still thirsty. And that little guy is in my way. And I have pointy-pointy horns while he only has a stick. I’m gonna paw the earth and snort some more, then I’m gonna gore his happyass. So I eased on out of there.

It was a glorious day.

[Mariner]

What gets you guys going? I can sit in front of the computer for hours and come up with nothing, but the minute I go for a run or a hike or a bike-ride, the ideas start popping – experiential stuff, abstract stuff, all kinds of stuff. Unfortunately, by the time I get back to the computer, I’ve forgotten pretty much everything. Aye, yai, yai.

I have the exact same problem. The creative ideas are few when I sit down to write, but when I'm doing other things the ideas quickly and often come.

My solution? I put notebooks, big and little, everywhere. I have them in my room, kitchen, car, backpack and one in the newsroom. Be sure to keep a writing utensil around too! Always having paper near has helped me a ton.

[Sancho]

My solution? I put notebooks, big and little, everywhere. I have them in my room, kitchen, car, backpack and one in the newsroom. Be sure to keep a writing utensil around too! Always having paper near has helped me a ton.

Hey Mariner,

That has got to be some of the best advice you could give to someone interested in writing. My local Bookstore sells these little Moleskin notepads and advertises them as: the notebooks that Bruce Chatwin and Ernest Hemingway used. I doubt buying one those pads will make me write like either of those guys any more than buying a pair of Air Jordans will help me play basketball like M.J. but the principle stands – ideas are fleeting and you need to write them when you have them or risk losing them. I went with the no-name 79 cent spiral-bound version rather than the fancy-pants $9.95 Moleskin notepad; that way I don’t feel so bad when I send one through the washing machine.

Here’s another question. When you guys set out on a writing project, do you know exactly what you’re going to write, then write it, then edit it, ensuring that it comes out exactly as you intended? Or do you go into it with a general idea of what you’re trying to accomplish and then just go with the flow. I mean, do you let your characters sort of chose their own course of action - as you’re writing? I’m thinking mostly of fiction-writing here but the question may apply to other genres as well.

[MANICHAEAN]

As from Friday night I get home leave back in the Philippines for 20 days. I can sit on the porch looking at the coconut trees & invariably am in the mood to pick up on the stories I started before & hopefully get some new ideas.

[Rores28]

Hey Mariner,



Here’s another question. When you guys set out on a writing project, do you know exactly what you’re going to write, then write it, then edit it, ensuring that it comes out exactly as you intended? Or do you go into it with a general idea of what you’re trying to accomplish and then just go with the flow. I mean, do you let your characters sort of chose their own course of action - as you’re writing? I’m thinking mostly of fiction-writing here but the question may apply to other genres as well.

I have a rough idea of beginning and end typically and I know my characters as well as though I'd spent a hazy night drinking with them. Gradually I acquire a more robust understanding of them after a successive series of ever less interesting dates until I am eventually bored and never speak to them again. And yes my characters frequently surprise me with what they are willing to do.

[hillwalker]

I'm pretty much the opposite - I often start with a very basic idea (character or location or situation) and then let the pen do the writing for me almost automatically. Sometimes it churns out junk, but other times it can really surprise me.....

I tend to think that planning too much detail in advance kills spontaineity. But..... each to their own.

[Sancho]

And yes my characters frequently surprise me with what they are willing to do.

I tend to think that planning too much detail in advance kills spontaineity. But..... each to their own.

You know, I’m starting to figure that out. I’ve been an avid reader my whole life, but I’ve only recently written a few shorts. As a reader, I was under the impression that writers had total and deliberate control over their characters, so I was surprised when my stories started taking off in their own directions.

I’m thinking there must be some happy median between autocratic authorial rule and character anarchy. I mean, if I cut my guys too much slack they wind up running around, boozing it up, getting in fights, crashing their cars, and making a general nuisance of themselves.

[Maryd.]

Really good... I wrote two poems that I was completely happy with. First time in years, that I have been completely happy with my work.

[Maximilianus]

Really good... I wrote two poems that I was completely happy with. First time in years, that I have been completely happy with my work.

Will you post them Mary?

[RaoulDuke]

Surprisingly, it's picked up in recent days. I went for a walk down by a stream the other day and ended up completely lost in my own thoughts; mulling over my own sense of mild dispair at the future of my career and the career and qualification centric society as a whole. I then returned and wrote a thousand words on the protagonist of my embryonic novel embarking on an aimless amble down by a stream and mulling over his own mild dispair at the future of his career and the career and qualification centric society as a whole.

So there you have it, some certified RaoulDuke advice. If you've hit a wall of procrastination creative block then go for a ramble, take a pen and paper and see what happens.

[Maryd.]

I am very happy this week as I have written 4 poems for a very special friend of mine, who's birthday is nearing.

[Jozanny]

One of the items I was hoping to announce in the next few weeks under happier auspices was that I had landed a publishing contract with a midlist house, which would be a nice break after nearly four years of significant disruption and even threats to my independence in my daily living. The contract is prospective, as of this writing, without being actual--however, given my health, age, and the strength needed to change the kitty litter, and my battles with a significantly contracted support network that I have depended on most of my life as a disabled woman, it is with regret that I withdraw from any further specific discussions on individual literary texts in the forums, and despite no small degree of affection for my time here, I need to focus my energies on keeping myself afloat as long as I am able, and need to move on to communities more suited to my needs.

Hence this is a reluctant goodbye to my LN friends, for the time being. If my pressures ease within the next two years or so, perhaps I will stop back in to say hello.

With no further ado, Farewell.

[kasie]

Every good wish for success and happiness in your ventures, Jozanny. If you can spare the time, maybe you could pop in now and then to let us know how you are getting on?