Fiction Writing: Advice and Discussion

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sebmojo: Oct 23, 2010; Legit Cyberpunk

flosofl posted:

I disagree with your premise, but agree with many of your points.

I truly enjoy when an author skillfully and artfully constructs a plot, filled with characters and events I care about, and manages to completely subvert my expectations while maintaining consistency with the narrative elements of the story. Unfortunately, that is a very rare thing and the vast majority of writers who think they are clever enough to pull it off, aren't.

An ending that casts everything you've read in a different light and makes you read it differently a second time isn't a twist ending. A twist ending is LOL THEY WERE DOGS THE WHOLE TIME LOL. It's a subtle distinction (actually subtle, not ironic subtle).

# ? Sep 17, 2015 00:09

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# ? May 15, 2024 08:43

Echo Cian: Jun 16, 2011

Djeser also clarified that in his last point so you do, in fact, agree.

Some authors can do a lot of weird rule-breaking things. The difference is that the ones who get known for it are the ones that know what they're doing.

Most people posting in CC to learn the basics (or learn that they aren't as clever as they thought and need to learn the basics before they wow us with their oh-so-clever twists and narrative tricks) do not.

Thunderdome is a fascinating collection of this trend.

# ? Sep 17, 2015 17:50

take the moon: Feb 13, 2011; by sebmojo

it was all a dream~

# ? Sep 17, 2015 19:39

Proteus Jones: Feb 28, 2013

spectres of autism posted:

it was all a dream~

The only time that has ever worked was the series finale for Newhart. Which was one of the funniest, most unexpected endings I've seen. Although I imagine viewers who didn't even have passing familiarity with his previous The Bob Newhart Show were probably a bit confused.

St. Elsewhere tried something similar, but it left me disappointed at the time.

I realize those are TV shows, but if I read that in a book, I'd probably hurl it on the floor.

In retrospect, I suppose I do agree. Twist Endings are poo poo.

# ? Sep 17, 2015 19:47

Thranguy: Apr 21, 2010; Deceitful and black-hearted, perhaps we are. But we would never go against the Code. Well, perhaps for good reasons. But mostly never.

flosofl posted:

The only time that has ever worked was the series finale for Newhart. Which was one of the funniest, most unexpected endings I've seen. Although I imagine viewers who didn't even have passing familiarity with his previous The Bob Newhart Show were probably a bit confused.

St. Elsewhere tried something similar, but it left me disappointed at the time.

I realize those are TV shows, but if I read that in a book, I'd probably hurl it on the floor.

In retrospect, I suppose I do agree. Twist Endings are poo poo.

I think you could argue that it worked in the film version of The Wizard of Oz as well.

And speaking of film and twist endings that actually work, I'll defend The Usual Suspects forever.

TV has a lot of problematic endings where what was intended to be a cliffhanger turned out to be the final ending.

I'm struggling to think of any good examples of twist endings in written fiction. (There's a part of me that thinks that even the most twistiest solutions in a whodunit [Agatha Christie, say] don't really count as twist endings since the structure is already promising some surprise in the end.) Maybe Ender's Game, I guess, and even that gives enough epilogue that the twist isn't really the ending.

# ? Sep 17, 2015 20:12

Tyrannosaurus: Apr 12, 2006

You guys are so smart twist endings actually rule I'm only going to do those from now on thanks

# ? Sep 17, 2015 20:22

Baby Babbeh: Aug 2, 2005; It's hard to soar with the eagles when you work with Turkeys!!

The only author I can think of off the top of my head that's done twists effectively in most of his stories is Phillip K. Dick. But that's mainly because he seemed to write twist middles rather than twist endings.

# ? Sep 17, 2015 20:42

docbeard: Jul 19, 2011

I don't have anything to add to this discussion, but on an unrelated note, I just just bought The Complete Works of O Henry.

# ? Sep 17, 2015 21:02

sebmojo: Oct 23, 2010; Legit Cyberpunk

Tyrannosaurus posted:

You guys are so smart twist endings actually rule I'm only going to do those from now on thanks

Your mum is a twist ending

E: oedipus

# ? Sep 17, 2015 21:50

After The War: Apr 12, 2005; to all of my Architects
let me be traitor

sebmojo posted:

An ending that casts everything you've read in a different light and makes you read it differently a second time isn't a twist ending.

This is basically anything that's in something anybody would care about, rather than the "twist endings" in the rant.

Also you get the Twilight Zone thing where the "twist ending" will usually make more narrative and character sense than where the story is implied to lead. This requires the protagonist to be as surprised as the reader/viewer, however.

# ? Sep 17, 2015 22:15

Dr. Kloctopussy: Apr 22, 2003; "It's time....to DIE!"

sebmojo posted:

Your mum is a twist ending

E: oedipus

if by "twist ending" you mean "literally stated one-third of the way through the play."

TEIRESIAS posted:

...So I say this to you,
since you have chosen to insult my blindness�
you have your eyesight, and you do not see
how miserable you are, or where you live,
or who it is who shares your household.
Do you know the family you come from?
Without your knowledge you have turned into
the enemy of your own relatives,
those in the world below and those up here,
and the dreadful scourge of that two-edged curse
of father and mother will one day drive you
from this land in exile. Those eyes of yours,
which now can see so clearly, will be dark.
What harbour will not echo with your cries?
Where on Cithaeron will they not soon be heard,
once you have learned the truth about the wedding
by which you sailed into this royal house�
a lovely voyage, but the harbour�s doomed?
You have no notion of the quantity
of other troubles which will render you
and your own children equals. So go on�
keep insulting Creon and my prophecies,
for among all living mortals nobody
will be destroyed more wretchedly than you.

# ? Sep 17, 2015 22:50

Djeser: Mar 22, 2013; it's crow time again

I generally don't care about twist endings in published works but goons please stop writing twist endings in Thunderdome flash fiction thank you.

# ? Sep 17, 2015 23:35

Screaming Idiot: Nov 26, 2007; JUST POSTING WHILE JERKIN' MY GHERKIN SITTIN' IN A PERKINS!

BEATS SELLING MERKINS.

Here's a twist ending: I'm a dog. A dog that can type.

Also, has anybody here ever written for comics? There's a project I'm working on with a friend and while he says the short story format I'm working with has worked for him, I'd like to send him something nice and clear so he doesn't have to waste time jumping through descriptive hoops and unreliable narrators and just be able to draw the comic with straightforward descriptions. I know Alan Moore used to write his scripts panel by panel with excruciatingly detailed descriptions, but I don't have the talent to do that and I want to give the artist plenty of room to innovate on his own since he's a professional artist and I'm just a dog that can type.

Any suggestions on how to write a good script? Or should I listen to my artist buddy and stick to short stories?

# ? Sep 17, 2015 23:42

docbeard: Jul 19, 2011

Djeser posted:

I generally don't care about twist endings in published works but goons please stop writing twist endings in Thunderdome flash fiction thank you.

Next time I win*, I will make it Twist Ending Week and you will somehow be required to judge.

___
*You're pretty safe.

# ? Sep 18, 2015 00:33

The Saddest Rhino: Apr 29, 2009; Put it all together.
Solve the world.
One conversation at a time.

you don't have to write like alan moore

also here: http://www.comicbookscriptarchive.com/archive/the-scripts/

# ? Sep 18, 2015 00:46

newtestleper: Oct 30, 2003

Screaming Idiot posted:

comic book writing

I went to a talk recently by a very well-respected picture book writer/illustrator, who also provided me with a critique of a picture book manuscript I had written. I would imagine that the principles are similar.

Giving the illustrator room to innovate was absolutely key- he advised removing almost all descriptive language from the writing, paring it back to the absolute basic action. He singled out where I used the word 'green.'

I'm going to revise the story, and really take a hatchet to it, Gordon Lish style.

# ? Sep 18, 2015 01:14

Ironic Twist: Aug 3, 2008; I'm bokeh, you're bokeh

Stop this discussion immediately, I don't know where to put all these Google Alerts

# ? Sep 18, 2015 02:07

Bobby Deluxe: May 9, 2004

General Battuta posted:

My book is out, reviews are kind, Publisher's Weekly gave it a , please buy it so I can afford to own a cat

I posted it in the self pub thread because the rich one was asking for sci-fi recommendations. A few people have now bought it. I hope you get a cat soon. The end.

Bobby Deluxe fucked around with this message at 15:47 on Sep 18, 2015

# ? Sep 18, 2015 15:41

22 Eargesplitten: Oct 10, 2010

If you're sending someone a draft for critique, which do you send them? I have a couple offers to look at my first Thunderdome entry, but I'm just finishing the first draft today.

Also, does anyone have a guide to how to do a second draft? I understand you're supposed to alternate between taking a sledgehammer and a fire axe to it, but I'm not sure how you make sure to lay a good groundwork for your final draft from that.

# ? Sep 18, 2015 18:18

crabrock: Aug 2, 2002; I

AM

MAGNIFICENT

first pass: grammar, typos, adverbs, adjectives, synonyms, cut everything that isn't essential
second pass: dialogue, can they say something other than "THIS IS HOW I'M FEELING AND/OR WHAT I'M DOING"
third pass: now that my ending is written, do these sentences in the beginning tie into that ending in a subtle way that the reader would understand when they finish the story?" is there some sort of theme or common thread that i can include earlier in the work that doesn't give away the ending, but hints at it.
fourth pass: delete everything; start over

# ? Sep 18, 2015 18:32

flerp: Feb 25, 2014

first draft: meh good enough *pushes post button

# ? Sep 18, 2015 19:28

22 Eargesplitten: Oct 10, 2010

Broenheim posted:

first draft: meh good enough *pushes post button

Were you in my creative writing class?

# ? Sep 18, 2015 20:16

Dr. Kloctopussy: Apr 22, 2003; "It's time....to DIE!"

crabrock posted:

first pass: grammar, typos, adverbs, adjectives, synonyms, cut everything that isn't essential
second pass: dialogue, can they say something other than "THIS IS HOW I'M FEELING AND/OR WHAT I'M DOING"
third pass: now that my ending is written, do these sentences in the beginning tie into that ending in a subtle way that the reader would understand when they finish the story?" is there some sort of theme or common thread that i can include earlier in the work that doesn't give away the ending, but hints at it.
fourth pass: delete everything; start over

this, but opposite direction

Edit: I'm actually going to give you a serious answer but it's going to take a while to type up, if you want to wait.

Okay, here's my general approach to editing. Everyone has a different approach to this, and it's a major part of the writing process, so this isn't the "one true way" or anything. This looks like a lot of work, but it isn't as bad as it seems. Also, you obviously adapt your methods for what you are writing. I don't do this whole thing for every Thunderdome entry... just the ones I win.... The first two passes are necessary for a lot of beginners, but might not be with practice. They can possibly be combined. Three and Four can be combined. Most people probably skip three and four even though I think you shouldn't >:-[

I also am a VERY HEAVY editor. I probably spend at least 50% of my writing time editing, and change 50% of my story when I edit. Like I said, different people have different processes. Some people are 80% of the way finished at the end of their first draft.

1st pass: Does this make any goddamned sense at all?
A lot of new writers struggle with this one. The main problem is that it can be really difficult to remember the difference between what is in your head and what is on the page. The reader only knows what is on the page, which is significantly less than what is in your head. Things that are "obvious" to you as the writer, are "nonexistent" to the reader. Can the reader tell what is going on, who is saying what, and what the point of anything is? That is your #1 concern.

The second problem is cause-and-effect: is there a reasonable connection between events? Do characters behave reasonably or are things happening out of nowhere for no reason? Or does the main character do a song and dance number with the villain instead of resolving the story? Yes, that is something we have seen in Thunderdome.

(I no longer require this pass)

2nd pass: is this an actual story?
The basic elements of a story are:
1) Characters
2) Conflict
3) Resolution
Something like that. There are lots of variations, and about a billion books written on it, and all the elements can be played with. Characters are pretty important though, and conflict. Don't leave those out. Conflict doesn't mean violence or even arguments. Generally a character should want something, not be able to get it, struggle (against self/others/nature), and then win or fail at their struggle, but at great cost, and learn something about themselves. In happy stories, they succeed and change for the better. In kinda-sad stories, they fail but change for the better. In depressing stories, they both fail and realize they are sad-sacks who will never change.

So read through your story and make sure it has all these things, and make sure they are expressed so that the reader knows what they are and that they follow some reasonable cause-and-effect:
1) Achilles wants to punish Agamemnon for taking his slave-girl.
2) Achilles gets his mom to convince Zeus to lie to Agamemnon and tell him victory is near but then actually gently caress the Greeks up until Agamemnon begs Achilles to help him out
3) Zeus does this, but then Apollo helps Hector kill Achilles's best friend, Patroclus, who is disguised as Achilles
4) Achilles returns to battle and the Greeks finally achieve victory, and he is a hero forever, but Patroclus is dead because of his stupid rage, good job you rear end in a top hat.

As you read a lot of fiction, and maybe some fiction-writing advice books, too (less important than reading actual fiction, IMO), you'll get a better idea of what makes an actual story, and more importantly a good story. There's some pretty good advice elsewhere in this thread, as well. It's a huge topic that I don't have the time/energy to cover in depth at the moment, hence this really informal sketch.

(I no longer require this pass)

3rd pass: WHAT IS THE POINT OF THIS ENTIRE THING ANYWAY??
All stories, but especially SHORT stories, have a central thrust. What is it? This point is difficult for me to explain. It's not theme exactly, but what are you trying to say? What is the major conflict and it's underlying message? I guess I'll use my last TD entry as an example.

The story was about a mother and son who were the first to see a now-giant snake who is eating up the ground under florida and causing mass-havoc. But really it's about their unhappy, hateful relationship with one another. But really it's about their vaguely oedipal relationship. But really, it's about the son's stunted sexual and emotional growth, and arguably just about castration. So every incident in the story ties into those underlying themes. The top-layer story, the world-eating-snake, has a lot of different potential stories. The second story, a mother and son's hateful relationship does, too. But as it narrows down into what's REALLY important to what I actually want the story to be about, then I can choose the scenes and language that will tie into the deepest themes the best.

Also then spend a lot of time thinking of limp dick metaphors :/

Also at the end scientists caught the snake and cut it open and it was full of condoms. ANALOGIES.

4th pass: which part of my story is the weakest?/What am I forgetting?
Sometimes this is just a quick check: does this entire story take place in a white room, i.e. there is no setting? Are my characters cardboard cut-outs, just marionettes waving their arms to make a plot progress? Is the conflict the equivalent of a friendly ping-pong game being used as an excuse to show-case witty dialogue or clever prose? Do I REALLY want to do that?

Sometimes I take this step even further, and I actually write down questions and answers.
Example:
Q: What is the weakest part of this story?
A: The secondary characters are nonexistent and that weakens the main-characters emotional development.
Q: How can I fix it?
A: I could combine the generic village children into a few representative children and give the main character a strong emotional bond with those children that ups the emotional ante when she 1) uses the bodies of the first child to make a magical talisman to cure the 2nd, and 2) when the 2nd child rejects her at the end of the story.

(That question/answer combo looks really nice and concise, but actually, the whole thing was a two page mess of rambling nonsense before I came to that conclusion, which worked really well, and IMO made a huge difference to the story)

There's always little things that bother me about my stories, and if I just think about them more, I can usually figure them out, but it takes some work, and I have to sit down and write about them outside of the story, not looking at it and trying to edit them in. "Ugh, I can't figure out why blah blah blah." "How do I show that he blah?" "When can he say blibber blabber?" "Surely he'd just have gone straight to bluuuh?"

5th Pass: Details
Now that my story is structurally sound I flesh out anything that was left blank. This is a good time to think about sensory details that I may have overlooked, smells, sounds, etc. I look at all the super important scenes in excruciating detail to make sure everything is there and makes sense. Can I add something? Take something away? Are any of my sentences really stupid and convoluted? In the wrong order? I might change the dialogue, or sometimes write it for the first time here. It's not unusual for me to have sections to fill in like [he says something vaguely creepy indicating thinks she has sexy legs but not so overt she can call him out on it--but WHAT???????]

This is when I try to put in all the words for limp dicks I thought of earlier. Depending on how much energy I have/how much I like the story/how perfectionist I am feeling, I will rewrite stuff extensively or not at all. I'm still adding/subtracting entire sentences at this point, but not changing any major plot or character points. I can go several through several "rounds" of this, again depending on mood and deadlines. Personally, I like to do this stage printed out with a pen.

6th Pass: Words and Rhythm
Just what it sounds like. Final check of my word choice and make sure the sentences have a decent rhythm. I think that the best way to learn both of these things is reading a lot of fiction and practice. Reading your work out loud can help you test rhythm. If you stumble or have awkward pauses, rhythm is probably off.

7th pass: proofreading
Punctuation and spelling.

------------------------

Also, don't give anyone your first draft to critique. At least take a 2nd pass at it. If you didn't bother to read and critique your draft, WHY SHOULD THEY?????

Dr. Kloctopussy fucked around with this message at 23:50 on Sep 18, 2015

# ? Sep 18, 2015 20:44

Dr. Kloctopussy: Apr 22, 2003; "It's time....to DIE!"

Scrivener on sale for $20 :siren:

https://shop.themarysue.com/sales/scrivener-2?utm_source=themarysue.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=scrivener-2

They also have a take %10 off your first purchase if you sign up for their mailing list deal.

We've had like 50 arguments over whether Scrivener is good or not, here are some of the Pro-Scrivener arguments:

General Battuta posted:

I've been using Scrivener for the last two years. It's been indispensable, and I went from 'maybe I should write a book' to 'real agent real publisher' using it.

For me these are the two most vital features:

You can keep research, timelines, character profiles, pictures, all that kind of bullshit in the same fullscreen app you use to actually work on the manuscript. You can set up split-screen view, so most of your screen is the manuscript and another pane is your outline/'poo poo I need to fix' list/timeline of events/whatever you need. You can keep a notepad of beats you want to hit, or collect a folio of portraits to inspire side characters, and it's all right there in Scrivener with your story.

You can traverse high level structure WAY better than in Word. Scrivener allows you to break a manuscript up into acts, chapters, and scenes with just a few clicks. You can keep the plan of your whole novel open on the left, hopping around from Act 1 Chapter 4 Scene 2 to Act 3 Chapter ?? Scene Oh God What Next?!?! without a lot of scrolling or fiddling in menus.

I like it a lot.

anime was right posted:

okay i have tried using this new fangled "scrivener" and the ability to chunk pieces makes pacing a hundred million times easier since our brains like doing that thing of lumping stuff into groups and subgroups and also i wrote a lot of words today using it beacuse it removes a lot of the overwhelming nature because then you can just be like "write a scene" rather than looking at thousands of words and pissing into a pool of more piss

thats a lot of words but basically i like this program

Stuporstar posted:

I pretty much poo poo out my words into individual text files, on bare-bones writing apps, because anything more is a distraction. But once the words are down, I need a program like Scrivener to help me make sense of them. I never finished a novel before it existed, because poo poo like MS Word tried to force me into a linear mode of thinking that never jived with me. I'd never thought of trying to organize my thoughts onto index cards and crap before Scrivener simulated it for me. It's just what my jumbled up brain needed.

Dr. Kloctopussy posted:

Index cards sound good until you start writing on one and realize that you actually have like 10 pages to write and it will take 100 note cards and what you really need to do is go back and write the scene on paper and then make an index card, and then figure out what to do with that pile of paper to keep it organized while you move around the index card, and what to do if you need to take a chunk out of it and stick it under a new index card. Then, you realize those 10 pages are actually still just notes, not the scene, so now you need to add the draft of the scene to that pile. Then, if you are me, your first draft is TERRIBLE, and you have to write a new draft/make major edits, but you don't want to just throw away the first draft. Plus, you don't necessarily edit the scenes in order, because you need to make sure a few major scenes are really set before you do some of the smaller scenes, so which ones have been edited so far??

You might be able to figure out some sort of nesting file structure to do it, but what about when you want to reorder your scenes? Or read them all together? Find out a total word count across all scenes?

Or....

Outline with drag-and-drop rearrangement, ability to split screen between notes and draft, note-card in the corner, and keyboard toggle to make everything but the main scene go away in an instant. If you can't ignore a few extra windows to write, maybe you have bigger problems?????????

(Also don't read that, it's terrible)

Anti-Scrivener arguments:

Martello posted:

I dunno, I just worry that some people want to use Scrivener as a crutch. I guess personally I've just never had the need for all the extras. I tried it for a bit (at your recommendation of course) and I found the extra features more of a distraction than anything else. It could just be the way I write. I guess a lot of people do the whole notecard, tacked-up stuff physically, and Scrivener DOES replace that very well.

For me, as long as I can jump between chapters and go into my subfolders to find ~world-building~ reference material, that's all I need.

Also you can take my italics from me when you kill me.

Dr. Kloctopussy fucked around with this message at 21:01 on Sep 18, 2015

# ? Sep 18, 2015 20:49

22 Eargesplitten: Oct 10, 2010

Dr. Kloctopussy posted:

this, but opposite direction

Edit: I'm actually going to give you a serious answer but it's going to take a while to type up, if you want to wait.

Also, don't give anyone your first draft to critique. At least take a 2nd pass at it. If you didn't bother to read and critique your draft, WHY SHOULD THEY?????

That's a good point. I have time to wait, I'm still trying to figure out the ending.

I'm probably going to buy Scrivener, I just really hope that I don't lose focus and stop writing again. I'm really bad about picking stuff up and then stopping in a few months.

# ? Sep 18, 2015 21:14

anime was right: Jun 27, 2008; death is certain
keep yr cool

i want to add: i dont really like using scrivener for short stories at all, but for a whole novel its amazing. still tho, its 20 bucks and basically if you bought 2 steam games on sale and never played them may as well buy a writing program instead

# ? Sep 18, 2015 21:35

22 Eargesplitten: Oct 10, 2010

Yeah, all of the ideas I have independently are novels. I feel like that would really help with them.

Is Scrivener 1.8.6 for the PC worth it still?

# ? Sep 18, 2015 21:39

anime was right: Jun 27, 2008; death is certain
keep yr cool

22 Eargesplitten posted:

Yeah, all of the ideas I have independently are novels. I feel like that would really help with them.

Is Scrivener 1.8.6 for the PC worth it still?

i use it. the primary functions are keeping things such as notes, etc, inside your document, and being able to organize pieces of writing, among several other useful functions. apparently what doc kloc linked is the MAC VERSION by default which is an important distinction, scrivener 2 isnt for pc last i recall. i actually hadnt noticed that! be careful and use the drop down to buy the pc version!!!

i guess if you want to write a novel be sure to read things. lol.

anime was right fucked around with this message at 21:45 on Sep 18, 2015

# ? Sep 18, 2015 21:41

Dr. Kloctopussy: Apr 22, 2003; "It's time....to DIE!"

anime was right posted:

i want to add: i dont really like using scrivener for short stories at all, but for a whole novel its amazing. still tho, its 20 bucks and basically if you bought 2 steam games on sale and never played them may as well buy a writing program instead

Same, I write all of my shorts in google docs, but I have a scrivener project where I keep all of my finished TD pieces in one place. It makes it easy to export them into standard manuscript format to submit to journals. Which is a fun no-risk thing that everyone should be doing always.

I have a long short story (8k words) which I wrote in google docs and then moved to scrivener, and I think scrivener could ultimately be very useful for managing a story of that length, but I haven't quite figured it out yet. That story was very hard to manage in a single document.

anime was right posted:

apparently what doc kloc linked is the MAC VERSION by default which is an important distinction, scrivener 2 isnt for pc last i recall. i actually hadnt noticed that! be careful and use the drop down to buy the pc version!!!

i guess if you want to write a novel be sure to read things. lol.

I'm on a mac, yo.

# ? Sep 18, 2015 22:01

anime was right: Jun 27, 2008; death is certain
keep yr cool

most people dont use macs though, dont buy the wrong version yall.

# ? Sep 18, 2015 22:02

SkaAndScreenplays: Dec 11, 2013; by Pragmatica

Broenheim posted:

Shh.

22 Eargesplitten posted:

Lately I have been feeling the melancholy that comes with not doing enough with my time. I want to start writing again, but I am the opposite of an idea guy. I have two ideas for novels, but I want to start with shorter works. Does anyone have a recommendation for a book or website of writing prompts? I tried that seventh whatever site in the resources thread, but I really didn't like its style. I know that's a useless criticism, but I'm not sure how else to describe it. Maybe too Mad Libs?

Thunderdome.

22 Eargesplitten posted:

I thought about that after I posted. I'm honestly a little scared because I am a tremendous baby, but I guess if I wanted to avoid abrasive responses, I shouldn't have registered.

I'm going to miss this avatar.

If I have scraped by without losing in the few I've managed to get done you have nothing to worry about.

Also losertar is besttar.

Djeser posted:

I generally don't care about twist endings in published works but goons please stop writing twist endings in Thunderdome flash fiction thank you.

But what if the twist ending is executed literally?

Like the fabric of space-time literally twists and everybody looks all weird and disproportionate and they just sort of have to deal with it?
FAKE EDIT: Yes that is dumb, and I am dumb but I am not sorry.

# ? Sep 19, 2015 07:35

Hungry: Jul 14, 2006

Scrivener is a godsend for me. I write in an extremely disorganized way, going back to insert notes in previous scenes ("must add x here", "change all these parts because they are dumb and bad", "what does this line mean? when did I even write this?", "protagonist's tshirt needs to be a different color"), chopping and changing scenes around, and writing stream-of-consciousness notes to myself right there in the body of the text to figure out problems and issues. In Word - or my personal favorite, an unadorned .txt file - this was a nightmare. Scrivener allows me to easily separate out all this stuff and see where each scene sits just by scrolling up and down the sidebar. I wish I'd discovered it years ago.

# ? Sep 19, 2015 07:49

22 Eargesplitten: Oct 10, 2010

SkaAndScreenplays posted:

Shh.

Thunderdome.

If I have scraped by without losing in the few I've managed to get done you have nothing to worry about.

Also losertar is besttar.

But what if the twist ending is executed literally?

Like the fabric of space-time literally twists and everybody looks all weird and disproportionate and they just sort of have to deal with it?
FAKE EDIT: Yes that is dumb, and I am dumb but I am not sorry.

Yeah, I am doing Thunderdome. I'm mostly scared because I literally haven't written for 5 years. Which is weird, it doesn't feel like 5 years.

# ? Sep 19, 2015 18:54

take the moon: Feb 13, 2011; by sebmojo

yeah but have you maybe tried... thunderdome?

# ? Sep 19, 2015 19:01

Dr. Kloctopussy: Apr 22, 2003; "It's time....to DIE!"

spectres of autism posted:

yeah but have you maybe tried... thunderdome?

Dr. Kloctopussy posted:

(tell everyone to read more/write more/join thunderdome)

Screaming Idiot posted:

Check out Thunderdome. Nothing like a deadline and a weird prompt to get you to write, and sometimes the microfiction you churn out can blossom into a larger work. There's a couple of Thunderdome entries that actually managed to get published.

HopperUK posted:

You could try Thunderdome! I find the combination of a weekly prompt and a strict deadline helped me get going.

docbeard posted:

Thunderdome. This may seem like the comedy option but I'm serious. For me, the combination of deadlines and prompts and low stakes short circuits that I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO WRIIIIIIITE mindset perfectly.