Random poll: Who here writes?

Faub · Post by **Faub** » Sat Jul 31, 2004 5:16 pm

I never got past 100 pages without needing to restart the thing from the beginning so I could fix the direction the story was going. Forgotten details that needed to be mentioned earlier, that kind of thing. FAUB is actually the longest running story I've written without needing to restart.

Somesuch · Post by **Somesuch** » Sat Jul 31, 2004 7:35 pm

I write. I've actually completed two novels, but as they were entirely random, pretty much, they're not publishable. I doubt I could even re-write them to make them so.

I'm currently working on the beginning of a novel that has been better planned. I don't spend as much time writing as I should, though, because I've gotten addicted to online roleplaying.

Superlance · Post by **Superlance** » Sat Jul 31, 2004 7:59 pm

RPin wrote:I write short philosophical essays for my blog occasionally. But they are written in portuguese, unfortunately for you guys

*snort*
A quick trip over to the BabelFish site could fix that.

Neh.

I write when I am inspired, and have written up to 150 pages a story, but haven't actually ever finished anything.
I lose interest in things like that way to quickly.
I'm shocked FireBird has almost made it to its first birthday, August 25th.

UnFan? · Post by **UnFan?** » Sat Jul 31, 2004 9:27 pm

I write, usually when I'm tricking myself into thinking I can. Mostly short scripts or long ones (2, one practice that was AWFUL, but one that I was kinda proud of), and a couple of ideas kicking around in the noggin.

Other than that, I write short "humorous" articles about what ticks me off or write short "humorous" articles to tick off others.

RPin · Post by **RPin** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 3:59 am

Nightgaunt wrote:
RPin wrote:But they are written in portuguese, unfortunately for you guys
Hey, some of us do speak portuguese.

If you feel so inclined... http://j_world.blogger.com.br/

My posts are the orange ones.

Axonite · Post by **Axonite** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 8:13 am

I've written a few things. A few short Dr. Who fanfic stories have escaped.

McDuffies · Post by **McDuffies** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 9:47 am

Mwah. I used to write a lot of stuff for fun in high school. Short stories for the need of literature professors who liked my ideas but didn't have much respect for comics, parody poetry to make my friends laugh, a couple of movie scripts for film section...

Nowadays, articles but mainly about comics. I'm composing pop-songs a bit.

Christwriter · Post by **Christwriter** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 1:05 pm

faub wrote:I never got past 100 pages without needing to restart the thing from the beginning so I could fix the direction the story was going. Forgotten details that needed to be mentioned earlier, that kind of thing. FAUB is actually the longest running story I've written without needing to restart.

Faub...neverneverneverNEVER re-read what you've written until you have THE END written as your last two words. Otherwise you will start over and overandoverandover until your head explodes...and your story will still have less than a hundred pages.

Re-writes are there to FIX those little details that don't get mentioned earlier. This equils three or four that you do yourself and the half-a-dozen your editor will make you do later.

Besides...its more fun to write and not worry about those sticky little details.

CW

Nyke · Post by **Nyke** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 2:08 pm

You write
Poems
Short stories
Long stories
Long, picaresque novels
Plays
D&D adventures
Instructions for game ideas.

Ida · Post by **Ida** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 2:37 pm

I write... a bit. This year, I've written a lot of short stories and a few poems, though the vast majority have been for school, which has recently gone from demanding two or three essays/shorts a year to one every second week, in various languages.

Aside from that, I do PBEM roleplaying, which is pretty much collective writing. That and 16-page character descriptions...

RPin · Post by **RPin** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 2:49 pm

N00b!!!1

Hey, I know your comic! I checked through my referrals the other day. I loved how you described mine on your links page. Welcome to Keenspace!

Keffria · Post by **Keffria** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 4:33 pm

I love to write; I wish I could stay happy with a story long enough to follow through with it, though. (That doesn't bode well for my comic, does it...?)

I think the most I ever managed, fiction-wise, was 120 pages, but at that point, the story was a long time in the making; my style had changed significantly, and the plot was such a mess...

I write essays sometimes, too -- usually about literature, although mostly as practice, rather than as a hobby.

UnFan? · Post by **UnFan?** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 7:38 pm

christwriter wrote:neverneverneverNEVER re-read what you've written until you have THE END written as your last two words. Otherwise you will start over and overandoverandover until your head explodes...and your story will still have less than a hundred pages.

That was some of the best advice I've ever gotten, actually. Like if there was a Bible for writing, that would be in there.

But until there is such a bible, opium is a very good substitute.

Joel Fagin · Post by **Joel Fagin** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 7:49 pm

I re-read and re-write all the time but it happens to work for me. Editing stuff I've already written re-familiarises me with the mood and feel of the story so I can continue writing it once I reach the point where I stopped.

However, I've not heard of anyone else who does this.

- Joel Fagin

SuperSnob · Post by **SuperSnob** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 8:12 pm

I've never written very much because I could start stories but couldn't figure out how to finish them. However, I recently started a notebook of pseudo-poetry that I'm trying to write in every day no matter how "stupid" I think my ideas are that day. Let's just say I have two really good friends who inspired me to try that...

edit: oh yeah, there are some really old music reviews on my website (the www link one) but I quit writing those 'cause I wasn't too good at it.

Christwriter · Post by **Christwriter** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 8:20 pm

UnFan? wrote:
christwriter wrote:neverneverneverNEVER re-read what you've written until you have THE END written as your last two words. Otherwise you will start over and overandoverandover until your head explodes...and your story will still have less than a hundred pages.
That was some of the best advice I've ever gotten, actually. Like if there was a Bible for writing, that would be in there.

But until there is such a bible, opium is a very good substitute.

It's called "What you learn inside of two days of starting National Novel Writing Month". No kidding...it's a blast, but if you have a prayer of reaching the deadline (50,000 words in 30 days) you can't do a single rewrite. And if you re-read anything, I promise you will realize you made a mistake, or forgot to mention something, or you need to include a new item in here...and, being a perfectionist, you will follow the story all the way up to where you are now or throw it away in disgust. You won't get satisfied, and you won't get your 50k in by Nov. 30. I got 80k in by the 30th, but I didn't re-read at all until last February, just before National Novel Editing Month (do these people use the same organizer or what?) and it made me realize just how badly it was in need of a re-write.

I didn't do EdMo this year...wasn't interested and I was getting my comic off the ground.

You know...you guys would get along WELL at NaNo...my novel last year was horror, involving mirrors and silver goo, and I spent a lot of my time in the horror forum trying to build myself up to squeezing out another 2,000 words...the only, really vocal bunch there were the Erotic Horror people...my first exposure to Tenticle Porn. NaNoWriMo beat Ghastly to it!!!!

CW

Christwriter · Post by **Christwriter** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 8:25 pm

I went looking for that thread on erotic horror to show y'all...and found more interesting things instead.

EDIT: http://www.nanowrimo.org/viewtopic.php?t=7257 Ghastly is NOT alone.

Somebody asked a question about...quote "Agreeing while stoned in a medeval setting" unquote.

Oh, and you have GOT to read this...

http://www.nanowrimo.org/viewtopic.php?t=7832

The Fantasy Dares are halarious...basically, you pick dares from the lists in front of you, then dare somebody else to use something redicilous in the novel.
You know...serious things, like

This one is inspired by a #WL Discussion: Put a traditional anime elf in your story--they're the ones with the positively enormous pointy ears. At some point, have other characters start speculating about why their ears are that large, and at least three of the following theories must be mentioned: is it for better hearing? so they can hang stuff on them? are they erogenous zones? handlebars during sex? related somehow to sea shells? not real at all and implants? Bonus points for ones you come up with on your own that are better than these.

And then there is the little old man that only says "dorf"...

I've missed NaNo. Y'all have been very, very fun to be around...but sweet Heaven did I miss NaNo.

Gonna be GOOD come November.

CW[/quote]

Faub · Post by **Faub** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 9:45 pm

christwriter wrote:Faub...neverneverneverNEVER re-read what you've written until you have THE END written as your last two words. Otherwise you will start over and overandoverandover until your head explodes...and your story will still have less than a hundred pages.

Re-writes are there to FIX those little details that don't get mentioned earlier. This equils three or four that you do yourself and the half-a-dozen your editor will make you do later.

Besides...its more fun to write and not worry about those sticky little details.

Thus, I started FAUB. 8) Unfortunately, I'm in the process of doing exactly what you said not to do with it.

Toxic · Post by **Toxic** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 10:09 pm

I was working on a screenplay for two years. It was originally about the seedy underground of supermarket bag boys. Then I scrapped it.

I was also working on a screenplay about sullen teens inspired by "Ghost World" and "Fight Club" which I eventually developed into ZH.

Dutch! · Post by **Dutch!** » Sun Aug 01, 2004 11:07 pm

Joel Fagin wrote:I re-read and re-write all the time but it happens to work for me. Editing stuff I've already written re-familiarises me with the mood and feel of the story so I can continue writing it once I reach the point where I stopped.

However, I've not heard of anyone else who does this.

- Joel Fagin

Don't worry, I do that too. Maybe it's just an Australian thing then. It does refamiliarise yourself with your writing, and you think 'hey, I remember that happening...I shoulda mentioned it further up in chapter three, eh?' and stuff all the time.

Also, I find you have to re-read and re-write while you're going, especially writing plays and musicals. It's an absolute must if you intend to fit your story (and 14 songs) into only 12 scenes and have it last no longer than an hour and a half...

I think I managed it...