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I read so much garbage guys. Recently I decided I would try to write too, how hard could it be? It's really hard. Like I spend an hour and poo poo out 500 words that are bad. Like I read them immediately after I write them and I'm like, this is horrible. I hate it. What is this garbage, how can I possibly be so much worse... I start with this vision in my head and it's gonna be so drat great (or not great but at least convey the meaning in a palatable sort of way) and then I try to hammer it out onto the page and end up going in circles trying to choose between writing the story you know advancing the plot and all that poo poo or else writing a bunch of meaningless detail in, comparing myself to other writers I'm trying to emulate, derailing myself with research on the cool plot thing that will totally happen eventually even though I'm 5000 words in and not out of the first room... Ah it's frustrating. But it's sort of fun too I guess. Mostly posting here just to vent and inspire myself to keep at it a bit. But also really wanted to say thank you @Dr. Kloctopussy your huge OP posts because they are very useful, especially with the little mechanical niggles of writing which I'm hoping to get better at by doing this.
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Mar 5, 2017 11:22
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| # ¿ May 7, 2024 21:51 |
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So I've been grappling with a (probably stupid) problem for a while. That is what is a good way to write "thoughts" in first person perspective? First person feels like it's almost all thoughts, one characters internal monologue so to speak, so how do I differentiate between the ongoing monologue and specific thoughts? Typing it out like this I feel like maybe I actually shouldn't even bother making that sort of distinction - is it only for a third person perspective? But I feel like there are moments when it's good to have a character's stream of conscious thoughts to punctuate something dramatic happening. I dunno if I'm explaining what I'm asking right so, for example the most recent time I hit this stumbling block was with this sentence: quote:Today's work wasn't particularly messy. Thinking as much I decide I don't need to bother sweeping the dirt floor. Which, reading it out of context, feels like maybe the italic "thought" text is unnecessary - but I feel like so much of the monologue is dedicated to descriptions of rooms, buildings, people, and of course what's happening... character thoughts are hard to weave in naturally. Maybe that's just a lack of skill on my part?
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Jan 30, 2018 10:36
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Djeser posted:The benefit of first-person writing is that everything is told from the narrator's perspective. Everything is already words in the narrator's mouth, so you don't have to establish that a thought presented on the page is something the narrator thought. Because the reader knows that everything is coming from your narrator, you don't have to say that he's thinking something, or even that he decides something:
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Jan 30, 2018 18:57
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Is a character using a mirror bad? I thought everyone had mirrors.
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Feb 7, 2018 06:48
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Are there any good resources for... training yourself to write in the third person, I guess? It's something I've really been struggling with and a lot of times I end up writing in first person present tense because it's easier. I don't have any formal education wrt writing, it's a hobby I got into because I read a lot, and I feel like that is biting me in the rear end because most things I read are written in some kind of third person to the point that the I've totally ignored - or failed to absorb - the mechanical underpinnings of the style. I dunno if other people have that problem or if it's just me. Most of the stuff I write is heavily focused around a single character so I can get by with first person but I feel like it really limits me and actually makes it hard for me to differentiate the characters "thoughts" from their omnipresent monologue that is a necessary result of being the POV character of the story. It's a very frustrating problem that I feel could easily be sidestepped if I just wasn't writing in first person in the first place.
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May 10, 2018 10:00
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Yeah I'm not able to articulate the problem very well myself, I've been sitting here wracking my brain for a better explanation but I've come up blank. I guess there's nothing for it but to practice forcing myself to write in third.
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May 11, 2018 03:46
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can I ask vocab questions in this thread? I've been trying to think of a word that I'm like 90% sure is a real word that I didn't just imagine in my mind. It's something like "inigrating" or similar. Used in the context of something like "an inigrating smile". My spell checker is suggesting "integrating" which also works in the context I mentioned but doesn't feel like the word I'm looking for. I'm pretty sure the word (assuming I didn't just imagine it) has a subtext of cowardliness or deceitfulness on top of cooperativeness - which to my knowledge the word "integrating" doesn't have. The word I'm looking for is used in the context of, say, the henchmen trying to appease to the villain who he doesn't want to fly into a rage. Or the mook trying to appeal to the powerful protagonist. Or something like that. Weak Character A appealing (not whole-heartedly) to Powerful Character B. I could use "sly smile" or "cowardly smile" or "nervous smile" or something similar but none of them seem to convey the exact meaning I'm looking for and, like I said, I feel like 90% certain there was a word that started with "i" that could be used in that sort of context. Otoh both google and searching the dictionary for all the "ini-" words I could find didn't turn anything up so maybe I am just crazy. But hell maybe I just can't spell, so I figured I'd ask here before I gave up completely.
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Mar 28, 2019 16:00
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| # ¿ May 7, 2024 21:51 |
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Stuporstar posted:ingratiating ayup. that's the one. Thank you.
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Mar 28, 2019 17:41
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