Creativity/Writers (sentence, tense, essay, money)

[TakeAhike]

I've been wondering for years about this.

If any of you write or are involved in creative pursuits I'd love to hear some experiences. How did you know when you 'Had' to start writing for one thing.

I read the Outlander series and visited the Compuserve forum where the author, Diana Gabaldon, teaches writing. I felt right at home with these people and LOL I rarely feel that way. I surely don't think I can write a best selling book but neither did Diana. One day she just started writing--got an idea and then another one and soon she had a 'Big Book'. LOL.

I believe I have always had an acute case of creativity--badly misdiagnosed at times by myself and almost everyone who knows me.
'Right Brained'---a few decades ago this was included in educational research. My background is in education and that explained a lot to me. Then we moved on to 'bipolar' and ADD. I truly question this trend and think there are other explanations. In education that old pendulum just keeps on swinging--glad, so glad to be out of that.

I have considered every other possibility, FWIW. 'Out of my mind' and I seem to share the personality traits of others with this 'affliction'. I don't plan to cut off my ear--although I feel like it at times.


About this time every year I get a creative burst --mainly because Spring is just around the corner but there is more to it. Diana has some theories that I find relevant--involving the stars and planets. This concerns many people in my RL so I don't discuss this but I would love to kick some of these ideas around.

Any takers?

[MarqueseGilmore]

Originally Posted by TakeAhike

I've been wondering for years about this.

If any of you write or are involved in creative pursuits I'd love to hear some experiences. How did you know when you 'Had' to start writing for one thing.

I read the Outlander series and visited the Compuserve forum where the author, Diana Gabaldon, teaches writing. I felt right at home with these people and LOL I rarely feel that way. I surely don't think I can write a best selling book but neither did Diana. One day she just started writing--got an idea and then another one and soon she had a 'Big Book'. LOL.

I believe I have always had an acute case of creativity--badly misdiagnosed at times by myself and almost everyone who knows me.
'Right Brained'---a few decades ago this was included in educational research. My background is in education and that explained a lot to me. Then we moved on to 'bipolar' and ADD. I truly question this trend and think there are other explanations. In education that old pendulum just keeps on swinging--glad, so glad to be out of that.

I have considered every other possibility, FWIW. 'Out of my mind' and I seem to share the personality traits of others with this 'affliction'. I don't plan to cut off my ear--although I feel like it at times.


About this time every year I get a creative burst --mainly because Spring is just around the corner but there is more to it. Diana has some theories that I find relevant--involving the stars and planets. This concerns many people in my RL so I don't discuss this but I would love to kick some of these ideas around.

Any takers?

I am a writer.....was born a writer......always been!! When I was 6 or 7 I used to write my own bedtime stories,no lie. I'd write plays at 14-16. The thing about me is I was an Honor roll student from Kindergarten til Middle School but in my first couple years of highschool I got straight F's only because they way teachers teach is by memory. The best way for me to learn is hands on. In my English classes I wanted to write so badly but the only thing we ended up writing is the final essay and I got an A+ on that. And for me I was diagnosed with........well I wont give that away but I manage fine. I cram more thoughts than the average person to the point my head hurts.

[StarlaJane]

I was always a good writer and have always been encouraged by good grades and positive feedback. The most important and encouraging feedback, though, began in sixth grade. I started writing creatively in ninth grade and have been writing creatively ever since. And, yes, I have to write!
However, I only write when I am inspired and my inspiration just sort of "comes" to me--it is nothing that I have conscious control of. I can sit down and write something if I have to but if it is something creative then it usually isn't as good as when I wait for inspiration to strike, which is annoying b/c it can happen at inopportune moments when I do not have a pen and paper handy.
And I would never publish my work b/c it is too personal and I do not want people picking it apart. Even when I have gotten positive feedback from friends, it still makes me very uncomfortable sharing it with them.

[j_k_k]

I don't feel a deep compulsion to write commercially. I enjoy it, but I can think of jobs I'd prefer. If I could make more money doing one of those, I'd do it. I was a terrible writer growing up, and my first fiction attempts (in college) were so awful I have quietly but thoroughly destroyed them. Thank gods most of the few people who saw them have probably forgotten them.

The romance went out of writing for me the first time I had to deal with an editor who didn't like what I'd done, but couldn't tell me what needed to change. Then there was the editor who stressed to me the importance of a bunch of strict constraints, and found fault with me for conforming to them. Then there was the editor who didn't answer my queries (or acknowledge my submitted, completed assignment and ideas for new stuff) for several weeks, then snippily wrote to me asking if I had quit the project. (No, you f***ing moron, I am simply waiting for you people to get your act together, and am refraining from badgering you on a daily basis like a toddler.)

The worst thing about writing is egos. I absolutely dread anyone wanting me to critique their writing, because I know in a lot of cases they have a lot of themselves invested in it, and 90% of the time it's lousy. Sorry, but most of it is. Danger sign: "I write like I talk." That's bad news, because people don't read like they listen. Rarely does someone want very candid feedback even if you plan to be humane. Whether it's a niece sending me a college paper, or a friend of a friend who wants my opinion on her poetry (which I am completely unsuited to evaluate), if you want to scare me, don't point a gun at me. Point chapter 1 of your thriller at me. Take my wallet and credit cards. Just don't make me critique your writing.

Self-published authors who want book reviews are especially difficult to deal with because in many cases their entire world has narrowed to two groups: "Those with potential to buy my books and help promote me, me, me, and those who lack ability or desire to do those things. The first group I'll never leave alone. The second group can die in a fire." Anyone uttering anything at all critical ends up in the second group.

The best things people can do to improve their writing:

1) Read Stephen King's On Writing. Only thing he ever wrote that I liked.

2) It's true you should write every day, at least until something of yours gets into print. If you are really serious about it, you'll do it even on days when you have a headache. That would be my litmus test for seriousness. If you ain't seen your name in real print, and you are writing even on days when it feels like a chemical warfare battalion has invaded your intestines, you are officially serious about this and I take you seriously.

3) Don't spend too much time hobnobbing with other aspiring writers. Most of them are more interesting in talking about being writers than actually writing. Sorry, but it's true. They think it's got romance and glamor, rather than being the hardest-working McDonalds-paying job there is. Most of them are very, very full of themselves.

4) Read good writing. Read it even if you do not like the subject matter much. This is research and training, not pleasure reading. Look at the way the masters construct a sentence, time the action, set the stage. Think until you understand what they did. Let it influence you.

5) Don't beat your reader over the head unless you're pretty sure he or she is stupid (and there is a market for writing down to morons, so don't dismiss that if it turns out you have a talent for doing so). Let the reader infer anything s/he can reasonably infer.

[coyoteskye]

Originally Posted by TakeAhike

I've been wondering for years about this.

If any of you write or are involved in creative pursuits I'd love to hear some experiences. How did you know when you 'Had' to start writing for one thing.

I read the Outlander series and visited the Compuserve forum where the author, Diana Gabaldon, teaches writing. I felt right at home with these people and LOL I rarely feel that way. I surely don't think I can write a best selling book but neither did Diana. One day she just started writing--got an idea and then another one and soon she had a 'Big Book'. LOL.

I believe I have always had an acute case of creativity--badly misdiagnosed at times by myself and almost everyone who knows me.
'Right Brained'---a few decades ago this was included in educational research. My background is in education and that explained a lot to me. Then we moved on to 'bipolar' and ADD. I truly question this trend and think there are other explanations. In education that old pendulum just keeps on swinging--glad, so glad to be out of that.

I have considered every other possibility, FWIW. 'Out of my mind' and I seem to share the personality traits of others with this 'affliction'. I don't plan to cut off my ear--although I feel like it at times.


About this time every year I get a creative burst --mainly because Spring is just around the corner but there is more to it. Diana has some theories that I find relevant--involving the stars and planets. This concerns many people in my RL so I don't discuss this but I would love to kick some of these ideas around.

Any takers?

I think that the burst of creative energy in the springtime has more to do with sex.
The second chakra, located "in" (it's not really in) the belly area, governs sexuality and creativity.
Regarding the teachers notion of planetary influences ... well, the sun is indeed in the fiery / creative sign of Aries (horny rutting ram) in the spring.
Freely flowing sexual energy is freely flowing creative energy.
It's the same energy.
You may want to take notice of this when you're in a intense creative groove.
Perhaps this is more apparent to a painter (for example) as he/she often tends to be more embodied and less cerebral than a writer.

[WordWarrior]

Originally Posted by j_k_k

The best things people can do to improve their writing:

1) Read Stephen King's On Writing. Only thing he ever wrote that I liked.

2) It's true you should write every day, at least until something of yours gets into print. If you are really serious about it, you'll do it even on days when you have a headache. That would be my litmus test for seriousness. If you ain't seen your name in real print, and you are writing even on days when it feels like a chemical warfare battalion has invaded your intestines, you are officially serious about this and I take you seriously.

3) Don't spend too much time hobnobbing with other aspiring writers. Most of them are more interesting in talking about being writers than actually writing. Sorry, but it's true. They think it's got romance and glamor, rather than being the hardest-working McDonalds-paying job there is. Most of them are very, very full of themselves.

4) Read good writing. Read it even if you do not like the subject matter much. This is research and training, not pleasure reading. Look at the way the masters construct a sentence, time the action, set the stage. Think until you understand what they did. Let it influence you.

5) Don't beat your reader over the head unless you're pretty sure he or she is stupid (and there is a market for writing down to morons, so don't dismiss that if it turns out you have a talent for doing so). Let the reader infer anything s/he can reasonably infer.

Lotta truth in there.

[LittleDolphin]

Yep, King's book On Writing, is superb...

Who was it that said, "Do I like writing? No, but I like having written..."

And I think William Burroughs said, "Writing's easy, all I do is sit down in front of the typewriter and open a vein..."

I do write commercially and it's neither glamorous nor fun, it's work, albeit more creative work than some, a craft, and takes practice, dedication and most of all, frequently applying the seat of the pants to the chair in front of the monitor and working away...much like every other job...but those with a love of language and the subtle nuances of words in all their colors are driven to do so.

Every time I finish a book I give great thanks to the author who created such a marvelous thing...I know what a hard slog it's been for them...

[Neuling]

Isn't it kind of difficult these days to come up with a really new idea to write about? It seems that like with music everything has already been there and who wants to be accused of plagiarism

[Peggy Anne]

I am a writer, and poet ! I write naughty stories, too, so that I can have a very exciting life ! Living vicariously through the characters I create gives me total control. I will post a few poems in the appropriate area. (rated g) I promise not to be a board hog.

[LittleDolphin]

New topics are not necessary for success...what's necessary is coming up with a universal topic that touches many of us and writing about it in a new way...adding your particular twist and color to it...that's what publishers want--a broadly appealing book...