Bisky's Twitterling's Scribbles! discussion

A couple of messages I've been getting today make me think that perhaps this folder is needed. This is for problems writing related... And any personal issues too.

I'm not trying to be an agony aunt. But sometimes venting helps. And I get alot of people who vent to me. So, if you would like to, feel free to share on here if it helps.

I might not be the person who can help you. But maybe someone else on here can. Its just an idea. Its a safe place, there are no trolls. I'll patrol that.

Even if no one replies. (I probably will anyway)

Sometimes It just helps to talk about things. If you want you can ignore this folder.

Just thought someone might want to use it.

x

Ok, my problem is this; I once wrote a shorstory (50k words long) and a friend said, it would be great if I wrote more about one of the characters. And this is how the nightmare started. I got attached to this being, and knowing how she'll end ( a slow and painfull death) I can't force myself to finish my Work In Progress. Anyone had such a problem?

@Willow Like the saying goes, "You can't edit anything that isn't written," or it's something like that. Lately, I've been pressing myself hard not to write perfectly--it's produced a word count, so I'm satisfied. :) The first draft of my WIP is short and beyond horrible, but it's a great foundation. I can reference it during my current rewrite/adding phase.

@Kamil You are working to make your 50k word story longer, right? I say go through your storyline and see if there's a way to add more conflict. If something's going too smoothly somewhere, find a way to "frustrate" your character's desired actions. Think of it as throwing a wrench or two in a smooth-running engine. :3 Subplots are always fun, too.

From a book I read about novel outlining, the author wrote that sometimes it's good to figure out a sequence of events backwards. Your character--she will die a slow and painful death.. figure out what happens right before she finally dies... think about working your way backwards and see what you can come up with.

Sorry for babbling. xD I hope there's some sense in what I typed.

Great advice josh :3

I also think you could pick her apart, what makes her your favourite? Are there any of her qualities you can add to other characters to make them more loveable too?

You know what's pissing me off? All this series, trilogy, Book 1 shit. I am over it. Can't you just write *A* book anymore? I have to have a series of 6 books because that is somehow the magic number? I can't pick up a book that doesn't have another one right before or after it. THANKS TOLKIEN AND ROWLING. >:-T

*Sits quietly in the background* lol

Mayhap I am just envious. *pouts*

I don't read so many one only books lol. I want to be in with the characters for the long haul.

Think it was my tweenage obsession with Sherrilyn Kenyon lol

What do you think of Adverbs? Many authors say to eliminate them, others use them as marks of parts that need further editing, but I personally like to use them to descibe the emotional part of the action

I've only had complaints about my adverbs from american authors, is it the way we speak that makes a difference you think? :o

I think you need to use them sparingly. Ha ha oh the irony with that sentence!

What Nicole said. I am so sick and tired of fiction series without set endings. I miss trilogies. And I hate trilogies. Single works of fiction, please. Or set an end and stick to it.

I don't mind really aslong as its a good story :]

I like crossovers. I have 2 historical romance novels on amazon and characters show up in both books.

New problem: I know what the beginning of my new novella is... and the end. I don't know WTF to do about that pesky middle part. :-|

add characters :] thats what i do

You mean add trouble makers... hmm... ;)

Raymond Chandler always said when he got stuck he had a new character come in with a gun...

Adverbs (mostly) need to die, unless they are used in establishing a character's dialogue.

Ahh I don't know how to delete them its been bothering me so much haha. I talk with alot of adverbs in my everyday speech o_O

Make it part of your editing process. Don't worry about it when you write.

A writer/Pokemon acquaintance I have from my previous college is writing a series, and a former co-worker always talked about a book series,too.

I was working on a series, but I gave it up because it was a mess. When planning stories back in the day, I always thought of how to make them into a series. At least the story I'm working on right now is standalone (but I do have an idea for a sequel if needed.)

@Raymond/Bisky/Kamil - People always say get rid of adverbs and replace them with a more specific verb. My thought is if you can't find a verb that's applicable, use an adverb with the verb to get the idea you picture on the page. :3

@Raymond I don't know. I always think it's good to keep them away from dialogue tags. o.o I guess I try to avoid dialogue tags as much as possible. Some people say readers can interpret the voice volume with context clues. I guess it's writer's preference. :3

"Raymond/Bisky/Kamil - People always say get rid of adverbs and replace them with a more specific verb. My thought is if you can't find a verb that's applicable, use an adverb with the verb to get the idea you picture on the page. :3"

I'm just going to say that from now on :P Also I like the face taht your writer/pokemon acquaintance. I wish all my acquantances were that awesome lol

Whenever I type out an adverb, I notice it. It's always a question in my mind. It's good to be fully aware of them. Or should I say "super/hyper aware", Josh? ;)

@Biksy :D

And more specifically, he's into the bloody/horror writing, too, but he's more of a 'realistic' Jack-the-Ripper type writer, and I'm more supernatural. We actually started talking because he liked my Death Note t-shirt. haha xD

@Nicole Back in the day, I LOVED adverbs until I realized they are frowned upon by the fiction industry. >.> In this thread we ain't writing fiction for editors, so we can use all the adverbs we want. :D

In "super/hyper aware," your adverbs look like adjectives, so perhaps in sentences like that you could get by. :3

@Josh you'd be surprised how many people talk to me just to find out where I get my hello kitty handbags :P

I really had never heard adverbs mentioned until I spoke to american authors. I really think its a cultural thing :x

It's been a part of writing guidelines since Ezra Pound, EB White and Hemingway.

@Bisky - D'aww Hello Kitty :3 - Good thought. Perhaps American authors should take a stand and bring back our adverbs! lol

@Robert - Those writers were around when the whole 'iceberg' concept came up. We read Hemingway's Snows of Kilimanjaro, and his writing style was very clean or 'pithy.' He didn't have an on-and-on descriptive style.

I always chuckle when I see Pound's name because he kind of boasted his writing. You know how many writers like to make allusions to ancient texts or other author's--well in some of his poetry, he alludes to himself. We were kind of joking around about that in my American Lit. class last spring. :3

I really think I should have studied literature :x lol

Never too late to start!

Take a literature class at your university. :D

From what I've taken so far, the British Lit. classes seem a tad more difficult--because British Lit. goes wayyyy back more than American Lit--so the English was very different back then. Works after and from the Victorian/Romantic Age are easier. :3 We read some Canterbury Tales in the middle-ish English, and it was quite a challenge. You had read it out loud. xD

I don't live in an english speaking country :P

We do canterbury tales in high school :] I think if I ever went back to england I would study it there. But as I said in the other post, its not bloody likely :p

Never too late is right.

Adverbs are like my crazy cousin showing up for holiday. You don't want him there but you can't imagine Thanksgiving dinner him.

...WITHOUT him. Argh.

Anthologies are a great way to study literature because readers peruse excerpts by multiple writers.

Rewriting my first chapter and having a headache. I tried starting in action, I was told it was confusing. I tried having an amazing hook, I was told it sounded too much like a prologue. I tried just writing, I was told it was too bland.
I think I am going to just rewrite it how I feel and stop trying so hard.

That works :)

Good luck :3

Nicole wrote: "You know what's pissing me off? All this series, trilogy, Book 1 shit. I am over it. Can't you just write *A* book anymore? I have to have a series of 6 books because that is somehow the magic numb..."

I rarely read books that are part of a series. Apart from Harry Potter and some of my close writer/blogging friends. I only write books that stand alone, and have no urge to write a sequel for any of them.

I noticed alot of authors writing series just because. The way I decided to write A Dance With Fury was that its stands alone as a novel, but if people become really interested in the history of the world I created, I've left room for a sequel. But if your not, they story is still rounded off. Ahh, dunno how to explain it. Better read it and decide ;P

@Annalisa - When I started writing five years ago, I always had series on my mind, but now I'm aiming for standalone stories. I think it depends on the story.

@Bisky - That's what I have planned with my story. But the sequel would deviate from the genre of the first book, though--unless something happens when I finish rewriting my first draft. The story would start with a prison break! xD

I love genre switching! DO IT! :D

Would be acceptable to have a sequel be of a different genre? c: The first one would be more of a possible supernatural presence, and the second one would be more of a mafia-conspiracy and demon leader at work type deal. Now I feel pumped to do that now, too. xDD

I don't see why not! I really like changes like that in stories! It shows the skill of the author :3

I'll keep the idea on the back burner. :3 Perhaps when I finish up Scarlet, I can write two endings just in case. I've changed the ending so many times. D8 For a while my theme was "life's a [female dog] and then you die" but now it has changed. :3

I found how I wrote changed as I got older :3

My stories are always violent though >:3

Definatly save the ideas somewhere! You dont know when you will need them! :3

Same here. Back in the day, I wrote stuff that was more 'episodic' but now I try to have everything connected. The first half of my first book was really bad. xD But the violence like with yours has stayed with me.

Ideas can be worth more than gold! :D

I'm taking an American Apocalyptic Lit. class, and we're studying the Book of Revelations and right now some of Columbus's writings that allude to the Book of Revelations--and all of these end-of-the-world themes like with the seals and the four horsemen are pounding at my head and working on ideas at the back of my mind. D8 lol

.. I want to take that class :x

The writing I did when I was younger, (as i mentioned in the other post) was alot more violent for some reason O_o

My old book had lots of brutal scenes, including a demon slaughtering a wedding party and half the people on a cruise ship, slaughtering through a neighborhood in Barcelona, Spain twice, and through some fictional small town on the Mexican/U.S. border in Arizona. So you're not the only one who wrote more violent scenes when younger. :P - Now I laugh at it. Oh, yeah, right--walk through a pool of blood a foot deep.. xD

Everyone likes red socks :D

The first story I ever wrote... well, it started with a genocide. And from that the violence got upped with gruelsome descriptions of eye-gauging, unless I'm trying to write a romance