Well, as I've said before, I don't really come into this section as often (every once in awhile.. I'm kinda in the middle of writing Kylor's story atm) as maybe Crossword does, but if you guys ever need anything don't hesitate to ask me. This is one of the sub-sections I have powers in, anyway, but besides that, I definitely support what you guys are doing in here.
The Writing Process: Discussion & Tips
-
-
@THE:
Why is my genius under-appreciated and misunderstood? How do I cultivate my greatness?
Doubt this is serious but it is something I'd like to mention; writing is a lot like art (and since you're both a writer and an artist, this should be relevant to you). You must always strive to be better and never be satisfied with what you put out. If you're not your own worst critic then your development halts and you'll be unable to view your work objectively. Many will claim that their work is perfect but even if it's true that whatever it is is really great, I guarantee you that you'll look back in 20, 10 maybe even 5 or less years and say, "I could have done this" or "This wasn't as good as it could be".
To cultivate your greatness, you must have a love/hate relationship with your work. Love the story and the characters but hate the writing and your treatment of them.
-
Please elaborate.
Another example of my genius not being understood.
Imho
@Uncle:Doubt this is serious but it is something I'd like to mention; writing is a lot like art (and since you're both a writer and an artist, this should be relevant to you). You must always strive to be better and never be satisfied with what you put out. If you're not your own worst critic then your development halts and you'll be unable to view your work objectively. Many will claim that their work is perfect but even if it's true that whatever it is is really great, I guarantee you that you'll look back in 20, 10 maybe even 5 or less years and say, "I could have done this" or "This wasn't as good as it could be".
To cultivate your greatness, you must have a love/hate relationship with your work. Love the story and the characters but hate the writing and your treatment of them.
Holy shit!
Doubt this is serious but
Why, of course, the serious part was my being a (humble and modest and great) genius. ^_^
I guarantee you that you'll look back in 20, 10 maybe even 5 or less years and say, "I could have done this" or "This wasn't as good as it could be".
I look at what I wrote several months ago and I already can't stand how badly it smells.
Nice post, Kenny. Great to have you back. -
hey, is this a general thread? cool.
FUCK MY WRITING PSEUDONYM!
Yes, that´s right. A couple days ago there was a job position i applied to but they asked for examples of writing. Pretty understandable cause it ´s an editorial job of some sort. So Heres goes me applying but, lo, i can´t give any examples of my best writing (well, the best among the filth) because it´s acknowledged to my pseudonym not to me(Anonoymous by B not by A). So now i look underqualified because i could only cite my research papers (not really the best example for this type of job) and other applicants will look better (and the worst, for me anyway: and ex of mine is among them). So yeah…fuck my writing pseudonym.
Uh, am i allowed to curse? should i change it?
-
Of course you're allowed to curse, we're all adults here (presumably). Naturally, cursing too much will make you look like an idiot, though. But I wouldn't worry about it otherwise.
To address your concern, perhaps you should try writing a few essays. I'm unaware of whether or not you're applying in another language but if it's in English, we can help you out. If you are applying in another language, you could find somewhere else online to get reviewed. I'm willing to bet writing.com can help. What you want to do with your essays is basically write either a short story or an interesting biography of someone else. Try your best to avoid personalizing it.
This will show that you've willingly left your comfort zone and you're capable of writing, in appropriate detail, about other people or stuff. It'll also show, if the work is exceptional, that you have the judgement necessary for an editorial position. Essays are more than likely your best route to go if you don't have any published work to cite.
-
No,it´s in my native language; sadly. The thing is that my essays, stories and poems are all atribbuted to my pseudonym so i can´t use them as reference and i couldn´t cite the pseudonym´s writing in the job application because i would be giving away my "secret identity". And the research papers are alright but they aren´t a proof of creative writing so they are not really helpful. Well, let´s just hope i can still get the job based in my cultural organization experience. I´ll start doing what you say Kenny, although it´s too late for the job now. Well, the´re will be other openings. it´s a shame, it was a nicely payed job -_-
-
General thread, yay! Guess I should ask questions here.
-
Anybody want to share their methods for writing? I feel like I have to be in the "right mood" to write, but most of the time my "freetime" doesn't match a time when I wanna write. There are other times when I come up with a bunch of ideas but when it comes to actually writing them out…there's this block since my thoughts are sporadic.
-
Are there any examples of badly written works? I'm not talking about subjective "this work sucks, it's so dumb", but books or stories that provide a clear, bad example of writing and then there's an example of why that passage or work is bad?
-
On the flip side of that, anybody want to give examples of their favorite authors or well written works to emulate? And they could just be books that are fun to read as well.
Originally Posted by Nightwing
Stay focused, cause right now you have a decision to make. Are you a man perpetually looking back at what he’s lost, or a man looking forward, to what he might become?
-
-
My writing process goes like this:
First, I brainstorm, coming up with the setting first, followed by a story to fit that setting. Then I come up with the principal characters. Once that's taken care of, I plan out the key points of the story; using Stargazer as an example, in my head it would look something like this: A) Terry's awakening as a Stargazer and joining Trident, B) The botched raid on The Beings' hideout, C)… (I can't really go on without dropping spoilers, but you get the idea)
Rarely is everything planned out to the last detail. I have the main key points and key bits of dialogue planned out, but I leave plenty of flexibility so that I can incorporate new ideas and alterations as they come. It's a very organic process.
Then I write out my first draft on paper (in a seventy sheet spiral notebook, FYI). The actual writing process can be rigid or loose depending on the chapter in question. Again, I leave myself plenty of leeway and flexibility.
After the first draft of a chapter is written, I type it up on Microsoft Word. This is where I do most of my editing: rewriting of passages, whether they be major or minor, added dialogue and narration, even adding completely new scenes. This stage of the process can either be very tricky or very relaxed - again, it all depends on the chapter in question. I'm likely to expend much more time and angst on an important chapter than a throwaway one.
After all that, I copy and paste it to the forum, correct the formatting (tedious, but essential in my eyes), and submit it.
Two additional things that I find helpful:
1. Length. You want to approach each individual chapter as if it were its own story. Do not stop until that story is sufficiently told. Don't worry about how long it is - the longer it is, the more fleshed out it is. Ideally.
2. When it comes to characters, I find that it helps to draw them out on paper or whatnot. Artistic skill is irrelevant: it just helps to better capture what kind of people they are and how they express themselves.
-
My writing process? Well, normally I just write poems–and I only write those when I have a sudden bout of inspiration and start writing without stopping. Two of my best poems were written like that. Otherwise, I never really write.
Slytherin all the way, baby~[[deviantART]](http://sry005.deviantart.com/)[[art tumblr]](http://artsycrapfromsai.tumblr.com/)[[Sai's Art Thread 2.0!]](http://apforums.net/showthread.php?t=40075&p=3045242#post3045242)
-
My writing process goes like this: I think about what I want to write, and then I write it. I know it sounds like a joke, but that's pretty much how I do it. Really, everyone has their own methods, and trying to do things in a way that doesn't fit you is the fastest way to derail your creative process.
As for works to emulate/not emulate, I wouldn't say that there's any specific things I can point to, but what I can say is try to get inspiration from anywhere you can. It doesn't even have to be a story. For my own story, I've gotten ideas from books, film, animation, plays, fiction, true stories, writers I admire, works that I've hated, documentaries, history, personal experience, places I've been to, photographs, just listening to people talk… any sort of experience is good experience, and any new thing you see or hear can make you think or change your perspective, as long as you keep an eye out for it. It's hard for me to say "look at this and you'll write great," so find out for yourself what works for you and what gives you good ideas.
-
I brute force my stories more than anything. I take some characters, mold them roughly, then force out a skeleton for NaNoWriMo or a competition. This lets me not worry about such things as research or accuracy or even grammar. Instead, it's me putting on a character's face or reading their minds and giving an extremely good guess what they would say and do.
Then I let things sit for a while, then come back months later to see what stays and what goes.
For comics I'm slightly different in that I try to get all the important movements down in the shortest amount of time and make sure every frame contributes to moving the action forward. I don't even outline all that much. It's 100% like playing with toys for me.There have been two major writing styles I've mimicked, and that's Stephen King and GRR Martin. Martin is the most influential on me, as he knows how to cut the fat (except when describing food for some reason) and get the story going smoothly. When it comes to more descriptive works I try and present the images like the audience was watching it on TV, but I do it as quickly as possible so as not to interrupt the flow.
-
I'm going to go ahead and address the questions from the first post because there's something I want seriously considered. Whether it happens one way or another isn't so much my concern but I would like to see it at least get some attention.
–-
2.) How active is this section, really? Do you think you need a moderator? Do you want to elect one?
As mentioned before, we're peaks and valleys all around. However, the monthly organizers and judges are busy pretty regularly and though none of the work that they do may be visible (aside from announcements, general surveying and question answering), the fact remains that they do do a lot. So much so that the monthly had evolved from the previous prototype of the bi-weekly, and so I believe a dedicated sub mod that actively participates in the organization of the monthly would be very convenient.
This isn't to say that any of our current sub mods are doing a poor job, far from it, in terms of actual moderation (deleting junk posts and closing useless threads) they're absolutely fine. Rather I mean that none of them are active organizers of the monthly and it would just seem appropriate if one of them were. Especially since organizers assume a moderating role already, minus the powers. Whether this means instating a new sub mod or getting one of our current sub mods more involved, I believe it would help significantly in both convenience and stability. The functions they serve being addressed in this next point…
3.) If for nothing else, a moderator could make news postings for the monthly-writing. Interested still?
This is something we've been advocating for months now and it would be highly appreciated by all the members of the writing section. The sub mod in this case would be responsible for a more authorized role in organizing the monthly, thread clean up, monthly news postings and actively answering questions and managing judges. And if nothing else, as you've said, it would be very convenient and very much appreciated if we could get those news postings, as well as a little more respect as a more official event. Likely, the news postings would increase our traffic a bit as well so the mod position would then serve its purpose in the bigger picture.
As others have suggested, I'd recommend Kitsune since he's already essentially at the head of the monthly, a dedicated organizer and writer and actively involved in every area of the writing section. And though he does get silly at times, he can be very articulate, collected and respectable whenever serious issues crop up. More than once he's cleaned up my messes when I've made them and constantly proves to be a strong, driving force in this section. And though my own name isn't worth much of anything, I would gladly stand by and vouch for his exceptional quality.
Thank you for taking your time to read this and know that we all appreciate your continued interest in our section. We want nothing more than to make this a respectable nook where aspiring writers and curious readers can come and find enjoyment within our small community.
-
Instead of bumping all of my threads, I'll post this here:
Echoing Kylor, all of my works will be going on temporary hiatus until further notice. As many of you are aware, my computer failed, and until I get a stable system, I will be unable to offer up new chapters. Rather unfortunate, considering I've had a spark or two over the past couple of days.
As for DURIAN, it is an exception, as I write all chapters spontaneously (it shows!) but due to the fact my current computer is a bit junky, updates will be fewer and further between.
-
hello thread I never realized was here. should check these things more often. :P
I really ought to revise my writing methods. I don't come up with frameworks for my stories, though I'm sure that would help me a great deal. I don't mean just a general idea of a plot, because I have plenty of those. I think I need to very specifically lay out my story and then connect points before writing. If I only write spontaneously I'll probably never overcome my perpetual writer's block. I guess it's just hard for me to sit down and do it. There's a different way for everyone… My latest piece for the competition just suddenly came about because I was listening to music, but it's not a typical method or anything. The main problem is not having a source of inspiration for an idea, it's how I plan it. How much detail about the plot do you guys formulate before you start writing?
-
@ultimateclima:
- Anybody want to share their methods for writing? I feel like I have to be in the "right mood" to write, but most of the time my "freetime" doesn't match a time when I wanna write. There are other times when I come up with a bunch of ideas but when it comes to actually writing them out…there's this block since my thoughts are sporadic.
I'm incredibly lazy when it comes to actually physically writing something down on paper. Otherwise most of the time I "write in my head" as I walk around. Walking is what gets my creative spark going for some reason. I'd say roughly 90% of what I write down has already been written in my head, give or take a particular chapter.
What usually gets me in a writing mood is music. In particular Metal of all varieties helps me focus my sporadic ideas into a proper structure.
I say try experimenting a bit with different ways that might get you to write. Hopefully you'll find something that works and you can stick to that.
@ultimateclima:
- Are there any examples of badly written works? I'm not talking about subjective "this work sucks, it's so dumb", but books or stories that provide a clear, bad example of writing and then there's an example of why that passage or work is bad?
This is a tricky question. Objectively bad works do exist, but I personally believe that knowing what series or stories are "bad in general" wouldn't be nearly as helpful as learning what is bad in the kind of field what kind of stories you like to write.
That is not to say there isn't merit in understanding bad writing in all genres. However I feel as if it's simply more effective to learn what stories give good examples of what not to do in your style of writing. I for example primarily write manga-esque comics. In particular GREASER is a pastiche satire of shonen manga. So I find it more helpful to learn about comedies with a strong emphasis on parodies to find out questions like "what kind of jokes work and don't work?" and "what kind of parody is too obvious to be funny?".
So I would recommend narrowing your field to the type of genre and style you generally stick to for your story/stories and work your way from there on~
@ultimateclima:
- On the flip side of that, anybody want to give examples of their favorite authors or well written works to emulate? And they could just be books that are fun to read as well.
I read a lot of H.P. Lovecraft, though admittedly that's mostly because I feel a kinship with writers like him and artists like H.R. Giger because we all have reoccuring nightmares and use those as inspiration.
Otherwise I read a lot of dystopian type of stories. I recently reread "The Giver". I'd give that one a shot. You might have to look for it in your bookstore's "banned books" section though.
–- Update From New Post Merge ---
my main problem is not having a source of inspiration for an idea, it's how I plan it. How much detail about the plot do you guys formulate before you start writing?
I like to meticulously plan out a sort of frame for how I want the story to start, proceed, and end. So I guess what I'm saying is I plan out the big things and work out the smaller details as I go along. I don't think I could ever write a story without any idea of where I'm going with it. For example I already know how GREASER is going to end, I just need to work on the details as I go along.
-
About bad examples in general I've one book that is the deffinition of a bad book, however it is in Portuguese, and the world would be doomed if it got translated officially. :/
Its called "O filho de Odin" translated "The son of Odin". And it reads like bad fanfiction. It flat out copies Tolkien and WoW, mixing Norse Mythology to create a Martin Stue who refuses when a girl insists to sleep with him naked, and blows dwarves away with sonic waves upon blowing a flute. And he could control time but he felt that was not necessary during the battle against Dracula, the final boss.Just sharing this. I tought everyone would feel happy with themselves knowing that writters this bad can get published (if they have rich parents).
Did I mention the author being 15?About methodes of writting.
I'm the kind of person that has to open a word window and start typing, after a few forced sentences the whole plot will come to my head. And then while I'm trying to sleep I keep day dreaming the scenes of the story. I also like listening to metal or Jazz while writting. Specially Blind Guardian and Cowboy Bebop's OST.
My main problem is that despite having everything planed and lots of free time I can't seem to get in the mood to write it down, the best thing to get me in the mood is, of course, feedback. Of any kind.
-
I don't want to quote Kenny's post because it'd stretch the page, but basically I really agree with what he said, especially about the announcements/news postings. Having those would be really useful and beneficial, and make this section more noticeable. Kitty would also be a great choice… Once he gets off his PSP. :P
Handsome man save me from the monsters.
Avatar credits to rcerione
-
Eh, I decided to go back through this thread and address anything I missed. I'm not going to lie, whatever isn't included in this post I skimmed the hell out of. Kinda just wanted to hit all the main points.
1.) Is there anything you wanted stickied while you have my attention?
Nothing, sir.~
4.) Why do I suck at writing?
Because you're not utilizing our beautiful services.~
More serious answer, if you post your story/skeleton we can help you out. Here's the part I mentioned I skimmed so maybe you've gotten all the details you wanted answered already or maybe there's something preventing you from posting your writings (though I did catch the, wanting to keep it on the down low and lack of time parts), but I just wanted to say that if you can post on here period, you can post something for us to read. Admittedly, not every piece of writing is going to be the same, though. So even just writing an example story might not adequately present us with whatever is wrong with the story you actually care about.
What it can do, though, is introduce you to someone you might want to share your story with for more in-depth help. We got plenty of competent people in here that just love to help one another so it would be a true tragedy not to utilize them. An essential part of the writing process is peer reviewing, or to put it simply, the audience. After all, you write for them. Who better to generate perspective from than from an actual audience?
And I heard you like reading so I'm just going to suggest these titles for you real quick: "A Dastardly Two" by Kylor, "Yukino" by Cuddles, "Stargazer" by Crossword, anything at all from Insider and if you can deal with it, read everything else and just keep in mind that we're all amateurs/sometimes writing less serious stories.
@ultimateclima:
General thread, yay! Guess I should ask questions here.
- Anybody want to share their methods for writing? I feel like I have to be in the "right mood" to write, but most of the time my "freetime" doesn't match a time when I wanna write. There are other times when I come up with a bunch of ideas but when it comes to actually writing them out…there's this block since my thoughts are sporadic.
I write a lot of notes. I have mounds and mounds of physical notes as well as tons of documents saved to Word. Whenever an idea pops into mind, I try to write it down as quickly as possible and save it. For me, I'm the kind of person that needs a developed frame and a solid idea of where everything is going. I try my best to avoid plot holes but since my actual writing is pretty sporadic, I need that frame so I can "write within the lines" so to speak.
Most of the dialogue is done on the spot, though. I feel like dialogue is my strongest point since I try to keep it as natural as possible. With dialogue I have the story nudge them in the direction of wherever it's meant to go but have them say whatever it is they want to say. Like for instance, if the story needs them to go to the supermarket, they'll go there. But they'll say whatever they want on the way to the supermarket, like if a dog barks, that character will definitely mention how much he hates dogs. Simple stuff like that just plain feels more natural.
Of course, I keep them on topic, but I'm a lot less restrictive when it comes to writing dialogue. And I find that it helps when dealing with true emotions and interactions. Something that's really cool that I noticed is that my characters tend to act slightly differently around each other, which is true for real life as well. I feel like, speech is a wonderful thing to observe under any scenario. Plus, you can describe things more fluently as well through a character. If descriptions aren't your bag, your characters can perfectly voice any explanation any way that you want them to, so it's a nice trick to make things clearer.
- Are there any examples of badly written works? I'm not talking about subjective "this work sucks, it's so dumb", but books or stories that provide a clear, bad example of writing and then there's an example of why that passage or work is bad?
Hmm… You see, it's really hard to point out any single work that fully encompasses why all the writing in its entirety is bad. Especially since bad stories are bad for very specific reasons where, if they were fixed in that area, they would end up being at least decent stories. I tend to avoid using "examples" (unless it's something specific) because reading itself is subjective. And whether or not we agree with them, the tastes of others should be respected.
What you could do is post passages from works and have the members here analyze it and give their opinions. I feel like perspective gathering is an essential part of pin-pointing a story's worth, especially when the perspectives involved are varied. And if nothing else, it'll show you what popular opinion is, whether good or bad, which is valuable for any writer.
- On the flip side of that, anybody want to give examples of their favorite authors or well written works to emulate? And they could just be books that are fun to read as well.
I know it's cliche but Shakespeare is a heavy influence for me. What I like about his work is the duality of it all and that it can be understood by everyone, not just the target audience. I also like a lot of the dialogue and character interactions that he's written, beyond something as simple as being poetic, it's natural and paints reality as it is rather than fighting it and drawing an escape. You connect with them through their flaws and feel genuine emotion and sorrow as you follow them. Because, "That could be me." No matter how painted in fantasy everything is, you can still state, "That could be me", just painted differently.
Plus, I love all the snarkiness and juxtaposition. Shakespeare seems like that one friend that's always talking shit, but dammit he's witty about it so let him do it.
hello thread I never realized was here. should check these things more often. :P
I really ought to revise my writing methods. I don't come up with frameworks for my stories, though I'm sure that would help me a great deal. I don't mean just a general idea of a plot, because I have plenty of those. I think I need to very specifically lay out my story and then connect points before writing. If I only write spontaneously I'll probably never overcome my perpetual writer's block. I guess it's just hard for me to sit down and do it. There's a different way for everyone… My latest piece for the competition just suddenly came about because I was listening to music, but it's not a typical method or anything. The main problem is not having a source of inspiration for an idea, it's how I plan it. How much detail about the plot do you guys formulate before you start writing?
Spontaneity is great for brainstorming and rough drafting. If that's the method that works best for you then don't fight it. Instead, use the reviews you receive to clean up your stories and that way you'll reach a fully developed final product. I would keep track of details as they develop though and at least write those down as notes so as to avoid plot holes or inconsistency.
I, personally, do a shit ton of note taking. But that doesn't always work for everyone and unless you're doing an epic novel, it shouldn't matter too much. For inspiration, let it come naturally. If you want to generate it then do what you love or explore or go outside or something. But whatever you do, just let it come naturally. If you try to force yourself to write, then it'll most likely flop on itself. Because if the author isn't even interested in the work, how can you expect the audience to be?
-
Couple of things to address here:
First and foremost,
@Uncle:
This is something we've been advocating for months now and it would be highly appreciated by all the members of the writing section. The sub mod in this case would be responsible for a more authorized role in organizing the monthly, thread clean up, monthly news postings and actively answering questions and managing judges. And if nothing else, as you've said, it would be very convenient and very much appreciated if we could get those news postings, as well as a little more respect as a more official event. Likely, the news postings would increase our traffic a bit as well so the mod position would then serve its purpose in the bigger picture.
While the need for somebody to "moderate" by cleaning up clutter and threads is currently quite minimal, Kenny does raise a good point that having someone in charge of news postings and connecting with the rest of the community. While a current staff member can be more than capable of that, having one of our more dedicated kids in control of that might be more efficient. I don't want to pile things up on eerie and Crossword, after all. If nothing else, having a dedicated "PR guy" is a viable option.
As for the topic of who, my name's come up quite a bit. e_e But in all seriousness, I have no qualms with doing it, if you deem me appropriate, of course.
–-
Anyway, moving on, good news is my file's are all officially on this computer. Meaning things are back to normal with my writing. Almost...
Anybody familiar with Concerto di Ali knows that I'm writing a story that follows multiple protagonists. Because of this, the events in Chapter 2 don't really affect Chapter 3, for example's sake. What do you guys think about writing out of sequence? Like, would you advise writing Chapter 3 before 2 if they don't directly influence each other? But what if they do? What are your thoughts on writing several chapters at once and switching back and forth when you feel like writing a different chapter?
-
I feel like I should say something, but pretty much everyone's said what they were going to.
In my case, I would agree with the news posting idea. The more readers we get the more critique we'll have. -
Anyway, moving on, good news is my file's are all officially on this computer. Meaning things are back to normal with my writing. Almost…
Anybody familiar with Concerto di Ali knows that I'm writing a story that follows multiple protagonists. Because of this, the events in Chapter 2 don't really affect Chapter 3, for example's sake. What do you guys think about writing out of sequence? Like, would you advise writing Chapter 3 before 2 if they don't directly influence each other? But what if they do? What are your thoughts on writing several chapters at once and switching back and forth when you feel like writing a different chapter?
I say have some sort of transition between the end of one chapter with the beginning of the next. I can't give any specific examples of how to do so because admittedly I haven't really read your story, but something like that would be at the very least less jarring for readers.
-
Since this is a relevant place, I am going to make a top ten list of my favorite stories I've read this past year, because end-of-year lists are cool and everybody's doing them and I want to be cool:
#10
! Greaser by RPGJay
–-
I love Greaser. It's silly, it's fun, it's creative. It's clearly a love letter to shonen with a fun and exciting setting. I mean, I could seriously see something of this caliber running in Jump, though I'm not sure how prominent fast food is in Japan, but that's neither here nor there. Greaser's still early on though and it has yet to plant its feet in the ground, but I fully expect it to deliver in 2012. Jay you have 30 minutes to write me a Double Chapter Greaser with Cheese or it's free. >=\#9
! Garbled Sanctuary by LaCaSiNa
–-
Garbled Sanctuary is, wait for it, fanfiction. Gross, right? Wrong! LaCa delivers a well written little horror story that is set in the Silent Hill universe. What makes it a nice little piece of work is that I am not familiar with Silent Hill at all. Yet I can still enjoy it! That's what makes Garbled Sanctuary THE best example of well-written fanfiction: it's accessible. My only complaint? It's only two chapters long so far :( I want more LaCa!#8
! The Show Must Go On by Insider2000
–-
Show is a one-shot story of Insider's, though it's probably part of a much larger story yet to be told. I really like the poetic justice served in this piece that makes it such a satisfying read. There's not much to say because it's already complete, but it's a nice little short story worthy of a read.#7
! Sunflower by Kairouseki
–-
There's something really macabre and enticing about Kairou's style, and Sunflower's a perfect example of that. I love how the setting quickly shifts from a very simple, homely story to a supernatural nightmare. The ending is quite confusing, indeed, and Kairou's writing was a bit all over the place, but something exceptional can be said about a work that I can still recall rather vividly after reading it several months ago. I want to see more him in 2012!#6
! Thriller Blend by Uncle Kenny
–-
I did not want to include this because I currently hate Kenny with the passion of a thousand volcanic suns (if those exist~). He'll get no sympathy (or blowjobs) from me! >=\ But alas, I am weak, because I love Thriller Blend with the passion of approximately eleven hundred volcanic suns (give or take fifty). All I want from Kenny in 2012 is to WRITE MORE. I want more Britney Bright. And more Trixie. And more Half-Happy Town in general.~ I just love Half-Happy Town. And Kenny too.~ Let me go change, I don't want to ruin the knees of these pants...#5
! Drowning in Identity by LaCaSiNa
–-
A lot can be said when a translated work, from a non-native English speaker, can be so richly evocative as Drowning in Identity. It's fluid, it's fun, it's impressive, and along with Garbled Sanctuary, is exemplary of LaCa's versatility as a writer. It's worth reading, though it's a short story, so not much can be said, other than how much more of LaCa's work I want to see in 2012.#4
! Working Title by piratemarimo
–-
If there's one story I REALLY want to see more of, it's this one. I know you said it was something random, but it really feels like something great and interesting can come from it. I don't know why I didn't give it a proper review in your thread, but I've got to say, you've got a really interesting foundation here. I can't wait to see more from you in 2012, though, and if we don't get more of this, perhaps we'll see a lot of interesting things like it from you. You're a very versatile writer.~#3
! Reflections of Sin by Insider2000
–-
Reflections of Sin is a very fun little story by Insider. It's only 4 chapters long, but it's a really engaging little piece of work. Christine/Prism and Kurt are some of the most flavorful characters around. Although it's basically a single installment of a greater story, it's still a very, very satisfying read, especially if you love the marriage of real-world and fantasy elements.#2
! A Dastardly Two by Kylor
–-
Well, this one's no surprise, unless you expected it to be top of the list. But I'm a proud man, and I can't settle for second place on my own list, can I? ^_~. But no, in all seriousness, I love ADT. It's without question the best written work on Arlong Park in a technical sense. The characters are fun, the descriptors are flawless, it's absolutely immersive. If I have any gripe about it, it's the pacing, which is something that will hopefully improve over the next year. Unless Kylor has dropped it, which I sincerely hope is not the case. Lockery and Vivien's adventures must continue, dammit!#1
! Concerto di Ali by Kitsune Inferno
! >! Not really… #1
! >! Yukino by Cuddles the Dark
–-
I can feel your rage. I didn't put A Dastardly Two on top of my list. Why not? Because Yukino is just slightly better in my opinion. It's better paced, it's original, it's really succinct, and the characters really breathe. That's not to say they don't in A Dastardly Two, and as it stands, Cuddles lacks serious polish, something I hope to see improve in 2012. A Dastardly Two is certainly the tighter, more polished work, but I feel Yukino tells the stronger, more interesting story.(I originally had Stargazer and The Mutiny on this list, but I've yet to seriously read either, unfortunately. I'll get around to it soon.~)
-
I love you too.~
-
Kitsune you are wonderful.
My own list is kind of less complete but…
Dastardy Two - Kylor
The Mutiny - Charmed
There's also the one Kenny wrote, but I can't recall the title atm.
-
It's Thriller Blend.
Incidentally, I'm going to edit the first two chapters and then start more seriously writing this year. It's one of my resolutions to write at least 10 new chapters of TB so you guys can expect a minimum of 10. Also, I want to see the rest of you writing and continuing your own stories. You should all make a resolution along with me. >=9
-
@Uncle:
It's Thriller Blend.
Incidentally, I'm going to edit the first two chapters and then start more seriously writing this year. It's one of my resolutions to write at least 10 new chapters of TB so you guys can expect a minimum of 2. Also, I want to see the rest of you writing and continuing your own stories. You should all make a resolution along with me. >=9
Fixed . >=P
-
If I make 10, you should pay me a yet to be determined amount of money.
-
@Uncle:
If I make 10, you should pay me a yet to be determined amount of money.
Fine, but let's be perfectly clear this time that blowjobs are not money and infinity is not a number.
-
Maybe I should resolve to read more for starters. :P
-
A top ten list would be hard for me. ^^;
Aw, thanks Fox. I'll be sure to work on my polishing.
I won't be beat. >:D
Also, a Happy New Year to all the writers out there. I can't wait to see all your stories continue! -
So here's the thing, I've decided that I don't read nearly enough and I wanted to give the members here some in-depth reviews. For the first week of the month, that's going to be my thing. Right now, I definitely want to read all of A Dastardly Two and Stargazer but after that, I'm not sure where to go from there. So getting to the point…
Who here would like for me to read their story?
Edit:
@Uncle:
And I heard you like reading so I'm just going to suggest these titles for you real quick: "A Dastardly Two" by Kylor, "Yukino" by Cuddles, "Stargazer" by Crossword, anything at all from Insider and if you can deal with it, read everything else and just keep in mind that we're all amateurs/sometimes writing less serious stories.
Adding on to this list of recommendations: "Dream Wall" , "Old Friends" and "Zhizn" by Kairouseki (Sakonosolo) which can all be found in Kairouseki's thread. I highly recommend checking out Kairouseki's works as he has one of the most unique styles in this section.
-
I won't make a top ten list, partially because I don't really like competition amongst writers and partially because I don't think I've read ten whole stories here (although I should've), so I'll just recap what I've felt about this year as a whole.
I've seen some really great things this year, and I'm looking forward to seeing the works continue. Everyone has their own unique styles, and really I think above all the greatest strength of the writers here is their variety. We can only refine and grow from here, so let's continue putting out stories worth reading and thinking about.
As for my own work, I will continue to write, even if I don't have an editor, and I'll try to improve as much as I can. One of the things I've found from writing A Dastardly Two is that things often don't go as planned as far as the writing process goes, and I've managed to surprise myself in all kinds of neat little ways. Above all, my goal is to not disappoint you all in the next year. One of my resolutions is to finish ADT this year, hopefully I can keep that.
If I were to give a single piece of advice for everyone here, though, I'd say this: STEP OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONES. You're all great writers, with more potential than you might think. If we broaden our perspectives even just a little, we could make something great here. But great art can only come if you take risks, y'know?
-
Damn straight, Kylor.
Excellent post and great to see your resolve.~
-
ohgod my mom went digging up some old school stuff. there were some snippets of old stories I had written. sometimes I wonder… if I was unintentionally a morbid child. There was this bug story... and it had several deaths in it. Then there was one about literal shapes who basically went around town destroying shit and escaped from jail several times. The
mobboss was a 12 inch triangle. I didn't happen to find this one in that pile, but there was also one I wrote about life from the perspective of a pencil. He gets his face cut up by the pencil sharpener. I kind of want to revisit the first two, maybe rewrite them. The shapes one kind of made me lol because the last sentence I wrote was about the shapes breaking into the White House and destroying priceless memorabilia (which for some odd reason was crossed out by me). Where's their motivation?? Why is it that they broke into all these places but did very little actual stealing? Why is it stealing if something is free?So here's a question for you guys, if you feel like answering: Can you recall any old stories you've written as a kid and did you look at them like me and go "the fuck was that shit??" 0___o
-
So here's a question for you guys, if you feel like answering: Can you recall any old stories you've written as a kid and did you look at them like me and go "the fuck was that shit??" 0___o
Yes I can. For the longest time, I had a gigantic story about intergalatic peacekeeper type of space police for many years. Most of the ideas and characters were things I came up with as a kid and just stuck with them. Among them were a half-alien who could shoot lightning bolts from any part of his body, a psychic woman who can transform into a type of gel, an intergalatic renowned wrestler with a magical mask stuck on his face, a gecko-like alien who is also a boxer, a gay elf mage, and various robots whom often I had completely irrelevant to the overall plot.
While I do have to begrudgingly admit that even as a kid I had some innovative ideas and not bad character designs, looking back at my old notes and drawings of them is physically painful for me. There were a ton of arcs that were completely redundant or subplots that went nowhere, the main character was a self insert of myself and ended up being a great big Mary Sue, the "big reveal" of who the final boss was supposed to be could've been seen from a mile away, and all of the side characters ended up being worthless by the end.
So in other words, what I wrote up until like 3 years ago was everything I hate reading nowadays. Funny how that all works out. Live and learn I suppose~
I dislike throwing away ideas though, so in some fashion or another some of those characters from that story have been better incorporated in some of my other works since.
-
If a 100 word composition about a clash between WB and Shanks causing a Time Warp which sends buggy into the past (our world) and then he starts doing somethings which I don't remember and it ends abruptly without a point counts.
I never was happy with it, but in the middle of the test I could not come up with something better I think.I would make a top 10 but I've only read Yukino and Stargazers, and they're both great and really different stories. I think I'll read some more works and then I'll think about making a top, even tough I'm never "happy" when I rank stuff, its sad to leave great things in a bad place.
@Kylor
Well I'm actually doing that. I used to write those chillin' romances and now I'm trying to do something more interesting. I'll probably fail hard but I've got nothing to lose. That and I'm writting in english which is far from the confort of my beloved portuguese (I only realized how much I sucked at english once I tryed creative writting xD).ps: I'm always confused with this doubling consonantes, don't mind if they're in excess…
-
http://apforums.net/showthread.php?t=30281&highlight=
I finally remembered. The Invincible Suit was the one I had started to read not Thriller Blend. I was wondering why TB wasn't sounding familiar to me when I read through some of it. That epiphany came really late. :P I should make a resolution to make headway in more of these stories. I have five or so books that I'm gonna be reading in Modern Fiction; Beloved, Franny and Zooey, Plague of Doves, Slaughterhouse 5 (which I just finished re-reading), and… uh... Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.
I most want to read the Sherlock Holmes series ever since watching Game of Shadows, although I'm kinda uncertain where to start. Where do the short stories fit into the canon? I'm kind of particular about this sort of thing. My mom did a terrible job explaining this to me and spoiled the ending in the process (man, if it weren't for the fact that I'd been spoiled already, I would've been so pissed. You don't just casually mention that shit. I literally asked "In which order should I read the books?" not "which order should I read AND HOW DOES THE SERIES END??" :getlost:).
-
Heh, I've actually wanted to restart The Invincible Suit for a while now. It's going to be my HxH to Thriller Blend's One Piece. In fact, I flipped a quarter today to decide whether I would read or write and reading won so… On the flipside, I read 2 chapters of Stargazer. Probably going to read 4 or 5 more tomorrow and hopefully get a full review done by Friday.
-
So this was brought up in another thread, but here would be a better place to ask.
Would anyone like to have a thread for people to post ideas for stories or whatever and have others give feedback and possibly expand on those thoughts, letting the various ideas bounce off each other until they're more developed? I think it'd be a potentially helpful tool for us creative folk, if nothing else. What do you all think?
-
It sounds like a useful idea, but is it something we can assimilate into one of the current threads? Maybe even this one, or this: http://www.apforums.net/showthread.php?t=32532
Oh and I suddenly remembered the other day - are we ever going to have a Chain Story: The Sequel? :P
Handsome man save me from the monsters.
Avatar credits to rcerione
-
While it sounds like a good idea, wouldn't this thread suffice? I mean, that's one of the reasons brennen created it, if memory serves.
-
I'm a-okay with someone bumping my "Writing Process" thread. I was planning on bumping it one day, anyway. Though whether it's there or here, either of the threads serve the purpose that you're looking for, Kylor.
-
Um, maybe, but to me it seems like those threads were meant to specifically discuss the process of writing and the act of storytelling, whereas I'm talking more about a place where people can get together and discuss individual creative ideas. We could expand on either this thread or that to fit what I'm referring to, but it may be easier to just make a new thread, I'm not sure.
-
hmm… yeah I actually think this thread will do. Looking back, brennen did state that was the whole point. Plus, it's already hard enough to keep track of threads as it is.
-
Yeah, there's no need to make so many threads when this one already more than fits the point. General discussion is all-encompassing. The topic of discussion (in this case, creative brainstorming) can change accordingly to the participants' needs.
-
Honestly, my worst fear is getting this thread too far sidetracked, but the consensus seems to be to not make a new thread, so I won't. ALRIGHTY THEN.
-
General discussion isn't something that gets sidetracked.
It's general.
-
Well, so far I haven't come up with anything tangible enough to really talk about, so I'll just discuss my current thought process and what's interested me lately.
So recently, I came across a lovely little Visual Novel that many of you have probably heard of that goes by the name of Katawa Shoujo. It was the first time I encountered a story of its kind, and I'd be lying if I said it didn't appeal to my creative side. That, coupled with a few other ideas I've been thinking about, made me want to expand my abilities as a writer. So right now I'm thinking about writing something primarily told through dialogue, that's more introspective and more focused on social interaction than what I'm typically used to writing. I'm sort of trying to do that with ADT, but that's still very much a work in progress, and while I still intend to continue it and while it still is important to me, it doesn't exactly meet what I'm trying to do as of right this minute. Basically, I'd like to step out of my comfort zone a little more. I've also been pondering how a story can relate to people on an emotional level, and how I can make characters that the audience can understand and connect with. I think that it may be good for be to branch out from just the conventional book form that I've been using so far, and experiment in a completely different genre of storytelling, but I don't even know where I'd begin with that. So in short, I'm horribly confused about everything and have no idea what to do with myself, what about you guys?
-
I always feel like I don't have enough physical descriptions in my stories and that it shouldn't just be dialogue, but I think it's an interesting idea. Right now I'm still not quite stepping out of my comfort zone even though I'm in a fiction writing class. I recently had to do a "reluctant I" assignment, and that was tricky to do. A character I can connect to might not necessarily be someone who's even remotely similar to me personally. And then there's cases where I can understand but not connect. Take Franny from Salinger's Franny and Zooey. I absolutely can't stand her, even though I can see some similarities between us. It's a tough question. :/
-
For me, it's writing in the environment outside of the main characters (train stations, buildings, slums, the people around them and how they would react to their actions, weather, etc.). I think that's why I'm kind of 3-for-3 in having enclosed environments with little contact with the outside world, and I do need outside help when writing in those situations.
Also Kylor, a good tip for making dialogue more accessible to people's emotions is to focus on the body movements and thoughts of the characters as well. Another good tip is to write the dialogue, wait a bit (maybe a few days), then sift through it bit by bit while reading out loud to yourself to see if it feels natural.
Or in other words, copy Yukino. :p
