elfs | Writer's block? What writer's block?

Well, I went out to lunch and proceeded to write out a story. Forty-five minutes later I had to stop, but I had 2265 words to show for my effort. And y'know what? It's pretty damned good stuff. Eshi wanted me to write her another tale, and I did.

I hope she's pleased with the trouble she's caused. And there's a happy ending.

Current Mood: happy
Current Music: Enigma, Turn Around

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From:

woggie.livejournal.com

Okay, so where did this huge stable of characters come from? And when do you think you had enough about them to know you could comfortably write about them? :)

What I've been doing with this current story is a main subject with a series of chapters and a subject for each chapter. I guess that's not too much different from your series of high points and/or subplots. As I go along, I've been gathering more and more information about each of the characters, so when I'm finished with the first draft I can go back through the story with all the information I have in mind and make sure it all still holds water.

And then I'll be ready (hope, hope) for someone else to read it. Don't worry, I'm not going to try and draft you. :)

The only thing that worries me about writing the ending first is I'm not really sure what an ending looks like. My process has always been, start at the beginning, write until you reach the ending. Probably pretty laborious, but there it is.

With this current project I'm allowing myself to write somewhat poorly and to skip over parts where I know what I want to happen but it's somehow too tiring to write it out. Later, when I have more enthusiasm or inspiration I can go back and write those parts in properly. So far it's going much better than I'd expected, but I keep looking around for other tried and true writing processes I might get ideas from.

Thanks, Elf. :)

From:

elfs.livejournal.com

Mostly actually by writing about it. The Journal Entries started out as a combination of Mary Sueism and an "I can write better than that bozo" attitude when I read something really bad on alt.sex.

I'm one of those people other writers hate because when I write I write a lot. Like, thousands of words in a sitting. Most of it is crap, and I know it. You just kinda have to be willing to make stuff up and know that you're going to throw a lot of it out. Just tell yourself you can fix it in revision.

And in some cases, I blatantly steal. For example, the characters in my current series came out of a Japenese comic book that, at the time, I couldn't read. I just wrote down their descriptions, put the book aside, gave them names and tried to figured out what they would do if they were put in this other situation I stole from a pair of old French SF films.

From:

woggie.livejournal.com

Ah, but that's synthesis. If you take something from one thing and the story from another, you're putting your own mark on it, and that's when it becomes yours. :)

Yeah, I can't seem to write anywhere near that fast, but I suspect it has more to do with my fingers and general typing speed than my internal editor.

What's Mary Sueism?

From:

elfs.livejournal.com

Mary Sueism is writing one's self into a story in some way, usually for ego gratification. In the Geek Heirarchy (http://www.brunching.com/geekhierarchy.html), you'll find it somewhere near the bottom. I love the very bottom. I qualify for every level, which I find freaking hilarious.