|
Fruity20 posted:I'm paranoid as stated before...And i feel like many stories i write or develop largely have young protags (11-21). I can't pull off a believable adult without them becoming a manchild at best to feeling like a child's view on a grown up at worst... Great, you know that your brain does this to you, so now you can take steps to mitigate that so you can write. The only thing that's going to get you better at writing is to write. Write more, keep writing, write bad things, write terribly written adults, write cliche teen romances--because each time you write them, you're going to get a little bit better at getting at what you want.
|
# ? May 13, 2019 15:52 |
|
|
# ? Jun 8, 2024 08:53 |
|
Fruity20 posted:I'm paranoid as stated before...And i feel like many stories i write or develop largely have young protags (11-21). I can't pull off a believable adult without them becoming a manchild at best to feeling like a child's view on a grown up at worst... Could you please listen to what people are telling you. The only way to write is to write, so do it and then rewrite it when it is terrible. It's ok to be terrible. Be terrible. I require you to be terrible. Be all the terrible you can be, Fruity20.
|
# ? May 14, 2019 01:39 |
|
Fruity20 posted:I’m paranoid as stated before…And i feel like many stories i write or develop largely have young protags (11-21). I can’t pull off a believable adult without them becoming a manchild at best to feeling like a child’s view on a grown up at worst… It’s really tough for us to give advice on stuff like this without seeing what you’re writing. Are you simply worried that your adults will seem juvenile? Or have people told you this? If it’s all worry for something that you haven’t even written yet, then you’re just making yourself anxious over something that has yet to happen and not much advice we give beyond “try to write” will help you, because we don’t know what the problems are if you can’t show us any writing yet. Remember that writing is just like visual art, which you say you are experienced with: it’s okay to draw more than one draft of stuff. It’s okay to “sketch” before you try to write a polished draft. It’s okay to practice and then just throw it away. You don’t have to work yourself up into a frenzy over whether your writing will be great on the first attempt because it’s totally fine if it’s poo poo. You can just do it over however many times you need to make it good.
|
# ? May 14, 2019 01:57 |
|
here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1TCSr1_j0HmUktGMHVlbXRGbUk/view?usp=sharing it's the closest i could find (however it isn't prose)
|
# ? May 14, 2019 02:55 |
|
Fruity20 posted:here: Starting with 'it was all a dream' and then seguing that into 'first day of school'...I don't know if picking the two most cliched beginnings and slamming them together is genius or insane.
|
# ? May 14, 2019 04:39 |
|
sebmojo posted:Could you please listen to what people are telling you. The only way to write is to write, so do it and then rewrite it when it is terrible. It's ok to be terrible. Be terrible. I require you to be terrible. Be all the terrible you can be, Fruity20. The first story I ever wrote was about a kid on a trip to the museum who got teleported back to ancient egypt when he touched a mummy, then he woke up in his bed. It was all a dream ... or was it?!? because there was sand in his hand so it's like maybe it wasn't a dream. Now I get invited to fancy literary things where there's free wine and you'd better bet I wouldn't be smashing back free platters of fancy cheese if I'd given up because I sucked. I sucked for a solid 20 years and even now I'm not convinced.
|
# ? May 14, 2019 06:04 |
|
Fruity20 posted:here: This is okay. You make the protagonist sympathetic, there’s some questions raised about the character and each character is introduced with a quirk. I don’t do enough scriptwriting to give a detailed critique but if this is what your writing you don’t need to be ashamed. I mean it’s not a story about a murderous horror bee or abbots drinking piss. And it’s better then some self published things I have read.
|
# ? May 14, 2019 06:09 |
|
Fruity20 posted:here: Thanks for posting this. Looking over it, I recognize a lot of stuff that's common in writers who are getting started and trying to figure out how to write. This goes both for the simple typos or bungled phrases that are easy to catch with an editing pass, and with the broader plot structure. From reading this, I get the sense that you're interested in telling stories, and you've got a certain type of story that you like, but at the same time, you don't have enough practice (yet) to construct a story wholecloth, so it's made out of bits and pieces of other things that you liked and that you want to write about. Now, this isn't a bad way to create the broad strokes of a story. The last book that I finished, the author explicitly set out to make a hybrid of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Eurovision. But you want your story, at the nuts-and-bolts level, to be yours, and right now it feels more like an amalgam of things you know should be there, things that are important to the genre, but which you don't know how to work in naturally yet. Everyone starts out like this. One of the first stories I wrote tried to kludge the plots of Myst and Myst III together, because I really liked those games and those were what good stories felt like to me. One of the big parts of growing as a writer is learning how to write in a way that is you. Just like an artist's style, it's something that you're going to keep developing for as long as you write. The trick to developing your skills as a writer is that there is no trick. Just like art, it takes practice. Not just practice getting words onto a page, though that is more important than anything else, but practice reading and editing your work. The more you write, the more you develop your skills. The more you read your writing, the more you understand where you're weak and where you can push yourself. The more you edit your writing, the better you get at turning the raw inspiration of a rough draft into a polished piece--and it'll make you better at writing, because it'll teach you what to watch for. So, to summarize so you don't get lost in the weeds:
|
# ? May 14, 2019 06:20 |
|
almost done with charred one or two more chapters to go, blasted out a 5K conversation that signified the end tonight sitting pretty at 88 K, lean and mean. now I'm going to pass out and go to sleep
|
# ? May 14, 2019 08:10 |
|
SurreptitiousMuffin posted:Now I get invited to fancy literary things where there's free wine and you'd better bet I wouldn't be smashing back free platters of fancy cheese if I'd given up because I sucked. I sucked for a solid 20 years and even now I'm not convinced. So there’s free cheese at the end of the tunnel? I knew it! Fate was going to make my suffering worth it!
|
# ? May 14, 2019 09:24 |
|
Nae! posted:Starting with 'it was all a dream' and then seguing that into 'first day of school'...I don't know if picking the two most cliched beginnings and slamming them together is genius or insane. this was an old version of one of my stories...naturally it's...freaking bad. later renditions removed those in favor of something more in media res-ish? (also, john is no longer a boy but a teenage black female as I found it hard to make a convincing middle schooler). Djeser posted:Thanks for posting this. Looking over it, I recognize a lot of stuff that's common in writers who are getting started and trying to figure out how to write. This goes both for the simple typos or bungled phrases that are easy to catch with an editing pass, and with the broader plot structure. I read too much tvtropes honestly. The shows I grew up with were anime and action cartoons that naturally inspired a few ideas in my writing...believe it or now. The Frankenstein mish-mash is noticeable I must admit. when i first pitched the idea, it was like hybrid of captain planet and w.i.t.c.h....sans captain planet himself. I've gotten a bit better I must admit but my esteem issues and perfectionist is a bitch sometimes... Exmond posted:This is okay. You make the protagonist sympathetic, theres some questions raised about the character and each character is introduced with a quirk. I dont do enough scriptwriting to give a detailed critique but if this is what your writing you dont need to be ashamed. that's reassuring (and I'm being sincere). Yea, I kinda got into script-writing as I found doing full on prose isn't my style (mainly because I lack a mind's eye to describe things in depth enough that it could fill 200 pages worth of story..)
|
# ? May 14, 2019 13:43 |
|
Fruity20 posted:I read too much tvtropes honestly. The shows I grew up with were anime and action cartoons that naturally inspired a few ideas in my writing...believe it or now. The Frankenstein mish-mash is noticeable I must admit. Hell, my current WIP is What If Pirates, Tho, and my next planned project is Mongolian Cowboys And Blitzball, Why Not. Don't put down or belittle your influences; we've all got reasons for writing, and they're all good reasons. Even the bad ones. Just make sure you're trying your hardest to accept the really terrible poo poo you write (we all write really terrible poo poo, this isn't a personal attack) as something that can be polished into greatness, eventually, but it sure as gently caress ain't gunna come out that way. Not on purpose, at least.
|
# ? May 14, 2019 14:57 |
|
My current book is "What if the Aurors from Harry Potter were American and in the Old West" with some other things mixed in so don't be afraid to mix things up a bit.
|
# ? May 14, 2019 16:21 |
|
I finished writing (the first draft of) a whole book. Next phase is me editing it, and after that I think I'm going to hire an editor friend to polish it up with me. Any advice on finding an agent? It's a memoir style non-fiction story about my E/N journey after the death of my mother left me to deal with my disabled brother and sick father. It was hellish, but the progress of things makes it a decent narrative. I figured I'd go to the bookstore and look for stories with a similar format, but wanted to see if goons have any experience around this part of the process.
|
# ? May 14, 2019 19:52 |
|
Pixelante posted:I finished writing (the first draft of) a whole book. Next phase is me editing it, and after that I think I'm going to hire an editor friend to polish it up with me. Save yourself the trip to the bookstore and go on Amazon, search through memoirs until you find a few that are similar to your own, then google who their agents are (if they have them). Most author will usually thank their agents in the acknowledgements section of their books as well, but that's not usually something you can see for free on Amazon. That's where going to a bookstore in person makes more sense, assuming you strike out with google. Also you can just sign up for QueryTracker and look for agents who take memoir. Full disclosure, I've only ever used it for fiction so I'm not certain they even have non-fiction/memoir agents on there, but I can't imagine why they wouldn't.
|
# ? May 14, 2019 21:52 |
|
How complex is the process of publishing? (I'm not super interested in the endeavor since most of my ideas are super out-there but it's fun to learn new things).
|
# ? May 15, 2019 16:13 |
|
Fruity20 posted:How complex is the process of publishing? (I'm not super interested in the endeavor since most of my ideas are super out-there but it's fun to learn new things). Do you mean self publishing or getting published? Neither is all that particularly complicated but there are definitely lots of things to consider to be increase the chances of success.
|
# ? May 15, 2019 16:29 |
|
Fruity20 posted:How complex is the process of publishing? (I'm not super interested in the endeavor since most of my ideas are super out-there but it's fun to learn new things). 'Publishing' is a pretty broad word. It could be as simple as emailing a short story to a magazine, or it could be as complicated as doing all of your own cover designs and marketing and so on. Traditional publishing is probably simpler than self-publishing; once you get your manuscript prepped and your query written, it's pretty much up to agents and publishers to get your work out there, should they choose to accept it. You're going to be dealing with a LOT of rejection, though. Self-publishing seems to be a lot more work (I have no personal experience with this), but it also allows you to release your content on your own terms. Still, you're responsible for editing, formatting, graphic design, and marketing. Actually, just read this good quote from the OP: Dr. Kloctopussy posted:MISCELLANEOUS TOPICS:
|
# ? May 15, 2019 16:49 |
|
Fruity20 posted:How complex is the process of publishing? (I'm not super interested in the endeavor since most of my ideas are super out-there but it's fun to learn new things).
|
# ? May 15, 2019 18:28 |
|
Nae! posted:Save yourself the trip to the bookstore and go on Amazon, search through memoirs until you find a few that are similar to your own, then google who their agents are (if they have them). Most author will usually thank their agents in the acknowledgements section of their books as well, but that's not usually something you can see for free on Amazon. That's where going to a bookstore in person makes more sense, assuming you strike out with google. Thanks! I'll see what I can find on QueryTracker. Having now read the OP on publishing, I'd like to take a shot at one of the big publishing companies. Might as well shoot for the moon. I think my story will have a lot of appeal to folks dealing with ageing parents or dependant family members, which is a fairly broad audience. I had a gold E/N thread about it several years ago.
|
# ? May 15, 2019 18:54 |
|
...I had an idea for a story where some person travels to a alternate future where humanity lives in a solarpunk utopia...only there's a few cracks with tribal warfare, vicious beast, and the looming threat of oil spewing monster living underground being the main issues of this world. it's semi-inspired by this (depsite the site, it's sfw and pg-13) cuz quite frankly i didn't know what to do this pic... Fruity20 fucked around with this message at 16:15 on May 17, 2019 |
# ? May 17, 2019 15:42 |
|
Fruity20 posted:...I had an idea for a story where some person travels to a alternate future where humanity lives in a solarpunk utopia...only there's a few cracks with tribal warfare, vicious beast, and the looming threat of oil spewing monster living underground being the main issues of this world.
|
# ? May 17, 2019 16:11 |
|
Simply Simon posted:Judging by the url, you're supposed to masturbate to it, hope that helps it's sfw but here's the full image
|
# ? May 17, 2019 16:15 |
|
Fruity20 posted:...I had an idea for a story where some person travels to a alternate future where humanity lives in a solarpunk utopia...only there's a few cracks with tribal warfare, vicious beast, and the looming threat of oil spewing monster living underground being the main issues of this world. Ok here you go: Wow that sounds like a great idea, you have official CC permission to write it.
|
# ? May 17, 2019 17:05 |
|
Pham Nuwen posted:Ok here you go: Wow that sounds like a great idea, you have official CC permission to write it. is this sarcasm or genuine interest? (also anyone can steal the idea honestly...just ask first)
|
# ? May 17, 2019 17:22 |
|
I think you're pretty safe on that front
|
# ? May 17, 2019 17:24 |
|
Fruity20 posted:is this sarcasm or genuine interest? (also anyone can steal the idea honestly...just ask first) It was sarcasm because you can just go ahead and write the story, you don't have to keep asking permission to do it here. Avatar But Furries pic is cracking me up a little bit.
|
# ? May 17, 2019 17:35 |
|
Fruity20 posted:is this sarcasm or genuine interest? (also anyone can steal the idea honestly...just ask first) u dont need any1’s permission to write whatever u want. just write it
|
# ? May 17, 2019 17:36 |
|
Fruity20 posted:is this sarcasm or genuine interest? (also anyone can steal the idea honestly...just ask first) It's exasperation at you feeling like you need permission to write anything. Write what you're interested in and don't worry about whether or not you should or if it's a good idea—almost always that's down to execution more than any other factor. Asking if it's a commercial idea is a different story, however. The thread generally has very different advice there. If your only goal is to get sales and not to write what you're into, then you're taking the wrong approach.
|
# ? May 17, 2019 17:40 |
|
ideas are a dime a dozen and mean almost nothing. working hard on a project and finishing it are the hard part, nobody's gonna pat you on the back for sharing an idea that you just had. This is a fiction advice thread, not a livejournal.
|
# ? May 17, 2019 17:43 |
|
Pham Nuwen posted:It was sarcasm because you can just go ahead and write the story, you don't have to keep asking permission to do it here. I admit I never really watched avatar in full but for some odd reason it always finds it way into my work. Even my art style. (I was just wondering if you guys thought it was cool...since I wanna practice writing novels for naowrimo).
|
# ? May 17, 2019 17:47 |
|
Fruity, have you actually written anything? I've looked through your previous posts in the thread and they all reference ideas and worldbuilding but have you actually sat down and written something solid? Because until you do that, no one is going to care about your ideas.
|
# ? May 17, 2019 17:51 |
|
Fruity20 posted:...I had an idea for a story where some person travels to a alternate future where humanity lives in a solarpunk utopia...only there's a few cracks with tribal warfare, vicious beast, and the looming threat of oil spewing monster living underground being the main issues of this world. no this is a crime
|
# ? May 17, 2019 17:55 |
|
Fruity20 posted:I admit I never really watched avatar in full Always finish too soon?
|
# ? May 17, 2019 18:00 |
|
Let's talk about writing Third Person Omnscient. I have a short story (I'll post it to TD soon so you can critique it later), that is set in that POV. One thing that is bugging me is my characters are called, "The Doctor", "The Father" and "The mega-shark". I want my story not be close up, the reader to be a bit far away, so the characters do not get names. The problem I'm encountering is writing "the doctor said" or "the father said" in rapid succession makes my sentences suck. (Or maybe it's the author) lovely story posted:"We got the results, and it's not good. She will need to be on Clozapine," the doctor says and hands the father a pad, full of payment details. The doctor goes to fetch himself a glass of water, the Mega-shark staring at him and smacking her dry lips. The lock on the door clicks shut and the doctor turns, and sees the father in front of the door. I freaking hate it. Any ideas on how to get around this problem?
|
# ? May 17, 2019 18:09 |
|
feedmyleg posted:Always finish too soon?
|
# ? May 17, 2019 18:19 |
|
Daric posted:Fruity, have you actually written anything? I've looked through your previous posts in the thread and they all reference ideas and worldbuilding but have you actually sat down and written something solid? yes. Most of them aren't worksafe though... like one is about a girl who wears her mom's clothes and instantly turns into a actual adult.. Fruity20 fucked around with this message at 18:26 on May 17, 2019 |
# ? May 17, 2019 18:24 |
|
^ I'm shocked.Exmond posted:I freaking hate it. Any ideas on how to get around this problem? quote:"We got the results, and it's not good. She will need to be on Clozapine," Dr. Smith says and hands the father a pad, full of payment details. Smith goes to fetch himself a glass of water, the Mega-shark staring at him and smacking her dry lips. The lock on the door clicks shut and the doctor turns, and sees James in front of the door. feedmyleg fucked around with this message at 18:31 on May 17, 2019 |
# ? May 17, 2019 18:26 |
|
quote:"We got the results, and it's not good. She will need to be on Clozapine," the doctor says and hands the father a pad, full of payment details. The doctor goes to fetch himself a glass of water, the Mega-shark staring at him and smacking her dry lips. The lock on the door clicks shut and the doctor turns, and sees the father in front of the door. this honestly makes no sense. things are seemingly added in at random for no reason in hopes cram everything into one sentence. If you trim and move some things around the prose could be way stronger. Have you tried reading it out loud to see if it flows alright? note: not a good critic but Sometimes I know something doesn't make any sense if my gut tells me it makes no sense..
|
# ? May 17, 2019 18:29 |
|
|
# ? Jun 8, 2024 08:53 |
|
feedmyleg posted:^ I'm shocked. That works but I want the reader to be far away, so the characters do not get names. This is my first time writing in the Third person, so just wondering if my complaints are valid or not. If they are valid, then I was hoping to get some advice on how to fix the issue.
|
# ? May 17, 2019 18:29 |