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Stabbey_the_Clown posted:My problem is that I don't really know how I can properly foreshadow this stuff so that when I finally spell out the explanation, it won't feel like it came out of nowhere. Do you really need the explanation? Why not provide enough clues (N) for the reader to figure it out, and forgo the explanation entirely. If you want to generate further reader discussion, provide N-1 clues. It's not an absurdly complex set-up, and if you mean (by the message becoming less precise) that the message changes because Marty-Original is being diverged from, then you can indicate that by the message literally changing (and then Marty -Q when its finally time to send them message, assuming he sent it, wondering if its even necessary at this point. Or something... depending on your other internal rules). But the point is you can reveal the rules through their operation, rather than needing an exposition dump at the end. The only other thought I had was Audio (as in voice) is a pretty complex signal to send anyway, though less scomplex than imagery which is why morse code was invented first, then radio, then television.Voice wasn't even sent by Radio until 1900 in our timeline. Obviously this is totally handwaveable for your device's purposes, though. Fumblemouse fucked around with this message at 23:55 on Jul 30, 2019 |
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Jul 30, 2019 20:24
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ketchup vs catsup posted:I appreciate the advice about finding time to write before/in between/after more pressing life things, but do y’all ever notice differences in the words you produce in those short moments vs longer dedicated stretches? I don't tend to notice that because I write quite slowly. But I'd imagine this would be a really hard thing to judge for yourself. There are a lot of reasons why 3-4k might feel better - more happens, more gets resolved - but are they actually better quality? Maybe, and in your specific case it could be a 100% of the time thing, I dunno... but it's hardly a truism that inspiration can only strike over several hours. Secondly, and more platitudinously, those 500 words you have written at 5am are editable, extendable and join-uppable later on, when you do have time up your sleeve. The 3-4k words you didn't write after work are not.
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May 26, 2020 05:02
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Imho write what you want to read. Do you, personally, want to read a book about ennui? Because if you don't, your readers are unlikely to enjoy the experience. Originality comes from your voice and your perspective, so unless you are actively stealing stuff, don't sweat it. You can scrupulously avoid all references to everything ever and someone will still say you homaged some 60s deepcut marvel comic you've never heard of. Focus on writing what you want to read about, and it will mitigate at least some of the slog of actually writing.
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Jun 28, 2022 21:55
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Marsupial Ape posted:I have a ton of what I believe to be legitimately interesting ideas and I have absolutely no idea how to translate them into the written word, let alone a narrative. This is something I used to be good at and I don’t know exactly how or when, I got in my own way, creatively. It’s incredibly frustrating and makes me feel like a fraud. Another way to look at it: this is something you used to be terrible at it but didn't notice in your youthful enthusiasm. After some growth, time, and experience in life and in reading, you somehow accidentally developed a degree of discernment. You have just, in fact, taken important steps toward not being a fraud, and can begin the work towards meeting those newfound expectations, even though it's way less fun than puppy-level amazement at your own poop. Marsupial Ape posted:The answer is drugs, right? I’m willing to skip over journaling and writing exercises and get right into drugs. Fumblemouse fucked around with this message at 02:48 on Nov 16, 2022 |
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Nov 16, 2022 02:22
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Marsupial Ape posted:I'm a 42 year old man. I have an English Degree with a creative writing education emphasis. I used to teach writing. One day I realized I couldn't and shouldn't. What's the point of killing your darlings if they are all abortions, anyway? By pass the miserable still birthing all together. I really feel like this polly-anna 'you can do it if you Care Bear Stare long enough' attitude towards writing is incredibly toxic. Not everyone is equipped to be a storyteller, no matter how much they throw themselves against that wall. Divine muses or not, if you ain't got the juice, you ain't got the juice. The real tragedy of it is that most of us are perfectly equipped to appreciate art, to interpret and ingest it, but not to synthesis it into something new. Story telling is thaumaturgy, is wonder making, and not everyone is made to invoke it. To make someone believe that can actually do that magic, make their mind's eye visible to another person, but always be just out of their reach is a cruel abuse of hope. Meh. I turned 50 not so long ago. I got an English Degree when I was 19. I read a lot and intended to write. I wrote a lovely, lovely short novel in my 20s, plus a couple of not-good-at-all short stories and realised writing was actually hard. There are much easier ways to have much more fun. I read some quote, probably apocryphal, about a writer who met someone who truly understood their work. The writer asked asked if that person was a writer too, and heard that no, the person was just a reader. "Bless you," said the writer, "I meet so few of them." I should be that reader, I thought. And so I was for, a long time, a mere consumer of 'that magic' and it was enough. Until around the age of, by a curious coincidence, 42 or thereabouts, when a good friend got me into Thunderdome, correctly assuming its format would suit certain dogged aspects of my nature and make me improve. Now I have a much better novel. I work on it when I have the time, before the sun comes up usually. Progress is slow and the end result may not be magic, but it is worlds beyond the trivial thing of my 20s (which, in retrospect, did have a couple of good jokes in it). I am glad it is in my life, for all its imperfections. But that's just me. If you're convinced you ain't got the juice, I'm not the person to convince you you're wrong. Chances are nobody is, especially in a thread subtitled: have u tried being good and not being bad. What I can tell you is you might not always think that way. The years grow shorter and you might begin to consider that maybe it doesn't need to be purest thaumaturgy. Maybe it just needs to be enjoyable for someone else for it to be worthwhile. Because all an author can ever do is put in the work and hopefully improve. That ephemeral, uninvokable magic you're chasing has only ever existed in the mind of the reader. Marsupial Ape posted:You guys are fine, though. Not me, I'm a rotter.
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Nov 16, 2022 11:44
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| # ¿ May 14, 2024 13:08 |
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DropTheAnvil posted:Once you cracked open their cleavable igneous crust, the golem really did have the most beautiful cobalt eyes. Perhaps I had been taking them for granite. You're not going to find their eyes in their cleavage, bud.
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Mar 15, 2024 03:44
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