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I mean people actively writing a work of fiction or non-fiction.
I have one published, a humorous novel, and working on my second. To put food on the table, I work as a marketing/advertising consultant, which means I sell my soul by day and buy it back at night.
So, if you write, talk about what you're working on. If you'd like to write, tell us what's stopping you. Maybe we can help.
At present I am working on a series of poems for publication this May, and hope that gathering the stems of these flowers will create new blooms.
I am also writing some non-fiction community features for a newspaper.
The background noise in my head is a novel I started in '92, most of which got fried on an older Mac with disks. When the weather gets better it is my intention to see how I can best reconstitute these chapters or re-write them under the awning of a red maple.
Maturing a work to publication is a challenge, and now that I am retired, it may just happen.
One of the few issues that repeatedly comes up for me is "ownership" of my words and the feckless editor. In my visual artwork I appear to have fewer clutching instincts, hence it often gets published as if by magic...I'd like to see how I can translate this magic, without ego, to my written works.
At present I am working on a series of poems for publication this May, and hope that gathering the stems of these flowers will create new blooms.
I am also writing some non-fiction community features for a newspaper.
The background noise in my head is a novel I started in '92, most of which got fried on an older Mac with disks. When the weather gets better it is my intention to see how I can best reconstitute these chapters or re-write them under the awning of a red maple.
Maturing a work to publication is a challenge, and now that I am retired, it may just happen.
One of the few issues that repeatedly comes up for me is "ownership" of my words and the feckless editor. In my visual artwork I appear to have fewer clutching instincts, hence it often gets published as if by magic...I'd like to see how I can translate this magic, without ego, to my written works.
And you?
I think the key is time, patience and preparation. My first unpublished novel, I just wrote to an outline, jammed in a bunch of scenes that had no relevance, and made it a book about plot, not character.
It was a learning experience, even though it was really hard to write it off as that.
The second one, I started out by taking tons and tons of notes. Story ideas, character worksheets, you name it. I filled three notebooks. Then I put things in a rough plot, ruthlessly eliminating things that just didn't help the character's development along.
One word that resonates both sharply and accurately is ruthless. Editing out one's words is something even seasoned and often polished writers have a difficult time doing--and as time goes on even their editors allow for extraneous verbiage.
I have the time, now, the concepts, even the character development, so the challenges that remain are patience and fortitude.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cpg35223
I think the key is time, patience and preparation. My first unpublished novel, I just wrote to an outline, jammed in a bunch of scenes that had no relevance, and made it a book about plot, not character.
It was a learning experience, even though it was really hard to write it off as that.
The second one, I started out by taking tons and tons of notes. Story ideas, character worksheets, you name it. I filled three notebooks. Then I put things in a rough plot, ruthlessly eliminating things that just didn't help the character's development along.
I mean people actively writing a work of fiction or non-fiction.
I have one published, a humorous novel, and working on my second. To put food on the table, I work as a marketing/advertising consultant, which means I sell my soul by day and buy it back at night.
So, if you write, talk about what you're working on. If you'd like to write, tell us what's stopping you. Maybe we can help.
I won't quite talk about what I'm working on. BUT - having said that, I have written some short stories, a lot of poetry, and have three novels in progress. I write more for myself than in hope of publication, but I have had some poetry published. The novels started oddly - one was with a friend, years ago, then my house burned and the mss was lost. I sort of recreated it out of frustration. One short story came about as an outgrowth of a scene in a novel I was thinking about, then the idea went away and the short story stayed. Another one came about through an idea from a movie, then I started writing a second one and decided that the original one would work better as part of a series about a family. Confusing, hmm? So I'm now in the process of reworking 3 novels with various members of the same family as the focal points, though all 3 take place in widely scattered parts of the country. Maybe I'll finish them, maybe not - it's the process itself that engrosses me.
Writing poetry is different. It's as necessary to me as breathing. I go through spells of needing to put things on paper, and longer dry spells, but it's how I cope with 'Real Life' - I have control over it, rather than being at it's mercy. Being a writer is who I am, not just what I do.
I have absolutely no talent in poetry. I love to write short stories, but it seems I never have time. I get distracted with something then never go back to that story. I have quite a few different ones started.
The thing I have trouble with is the intro. The intro is one of the most important parts for me, but I can never get them to sound right. I will eventually get it, I hope.
By the way Karibear, the family series sounds really cool. I love when I get to be introduced to a whole family.
I have absolutely no talent in poetry. I love to write short stories, but it seems I never have time. I get distracted with something then never go back to that story. I have quite a few different ones started.
The thing I have trouble with is the intro. The intro is one of the most important parts for me, but I can never get them to sound right. I will eventually get it, I hope.
By the way Karibear, the family series sounds really cool. I love when I get to be introduced to a whole family.
Here's a thought. I hope it helps.
Don't let your introduction get in the way. In fact, I think your introduction should be written last. Just write some placeholder copy, get on with your story, and come back to it.
The intro needs to really lay bare the themes and foreshadowing that will take place later. So once you write the rest of your book, you can really have a feel for the tone that's working, the elements that will come into play, etc. etc. etc.
How interesting that so many of us who read also write. Why am I not then 'surprised?'
Looking back over my short life (I'm only in my early 50s), I can see where certain choices led me down different paths, and totally away from what I would tell you had been my calling -- writing. I have written, and loved to write, since I was a child, and would 'pen' fairytales and fantasies, and published a classroom newspaper. That led to actually working on school newspapers and publications from JR HS on through college.
It was in college, following my BA in English, that I got sidetracked, and often wish I hadn't, and wonder how very different my life might have been. I used to tell myself, 'in my next life,' but in the wisdom now of my 50s, I don't think I have to wait until then.
I enjoy writing features for newspapers and magazines, and tried to continue throughout my teaching career, but time didn't always allow me to do it. I also have written for textbook companies, providing more interesting/challenging/creative approaches to teaching literature -- in my classroom, I used to do fun things like put the Friar on trial for the wrongful deaths of Romeo and Juliet in Shakespeare's plays, or give the kids an origami project (we made eagles, the HS mascot). They had to complete the assignment, and got a 100 for successfully completing the eagle, without any instruction from me. (I loved the whining.) There were actually several objections (oops! o-b-j-e-c-t-i-v-es!) for the lesson, one of which was requiring them, the next day, to get in touch with that experience, and writing about it.
Anyway, now that I am retired, and largely homebound, I want to write again. I have had several ideas/storylines locked away in my head, outlined on paper -- even several chapters done. Yet, I get sidetracked -- demands of still being Mom (to a writer, and I am SO thrilled about that), wife, sister, daughter, pet-owner, bridge player, seamstress, gardener, neighbor, substitute-teacher, CD Book Club member. . .
Someone, somewhere on here, I think, mentioned blocking time for writing, so I am going to do just that. Make it a job. I have a wonderful little space in the back of the house -- designed as a tiny home office of sorts -- and I have been busy cleaning everything out of that catch-all space to claim it for my own.
And THEN I'll write.
Last edited by RDSLOTS; 03-13-2008 at 09:03 AM..
Reason: Freudian slip, of sorts -- half slip, I guess, or camisole?
One of the most productive writing spurts--strange but appropriate word--was when I got up in the morning and committed to writing a minimum of 1000 words a day. It worked and it was only one of those life detours that got me out of the habit.
It is my intention to do that again and without the internet to disturb me. I believe I will take my older computer, now resting beside the new, to the sun-room and write there--especially as the sunny days are looking promising after so much grey.
RDSLOTS said:
Quote:
Someone, somewhere on here, I think, mentioned blocking time for writing, so I am going to do just that. Make it a job. I have a wonderful little space in the back of the house -- designed as a tiny home office of sorts -- and I have been busy cleaning everything out of that catch-all space to claim it for my own.
I well imagine this may be the only way I will be able to stay focused. The room is designated, on the floor plans of the house, as a small 1/2 bath, but the builder put cabinets in the area, with a built-in desk, few drawers, two of which hold hanging files.
So, I mean, what more could I ask for? I can seal myself away from the rest of the house, there is a window over my right shoulder with great light, and I can sneak into the kitchen for cookies.
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BUT - having said that, I have written some short stories, a lot of poetry, and have three novels in progress. I write more for myself than in hope of publication, but I have had some poetry published. The novels started oddly - one was with a friend, years ago, then my house burned and the mss was lost. I sort of recreated it out of frustration. One short story came about as an outgrowth of a scene in a novel I was thinking about, then the idea went away and the short story stayed. Another one came about through an idea from a movie, then I started writing a second one and decided that the original one would work better as part of a series about a family. Confusing, hmm? So I'm now in the process of reworking 3 novels with various members of the same family as the focal points, though all 3 take place in widely scattered parts of the country. Maybe I'll finish them, maybe not - it's the process itself that engrosses me.
