Any WRITERS Here on EC?

I write short stories. I can never write novels, I get a bit into them and start picking them apart then delete the files (and in one case, set fire to the papers I was writing on and throw it in the river near my house).

I quite like my short stories though. The tend to be quiet empty, and sad, with lots of space (if that makes sense) and not very much dialogue compared to description and actions.

I think the favourite thing I've ever written was my A-Level English coursework. It was called 'The Hostess' and it was about a woman in her 30's who married an investment banker she met at university and now finds her life as a housewife unbearable. It starts with her make-up all smeared and then she comes downstairs and tidies her house and decorates a tree for a Christmas party.

I submitted it for my coursework and got 20/20.

My poetry was whiney and shit so I stopped writing.

 

>>>My poetry was whiney and shit so I stopped writing.

Isn't EVERYBODY's early poetry whine-y and shit? It seems everybody starts out writing poems not about sunshine lollipops and rainbows, but about existential angst, and the meaningless of life, and how life is a joke. There was a comic I used to read where one of the characters (who was a poet/writer) would go to open-mic poetry slams. Not to read his own work, but because "hearing everybody's first attempt at poetry is so painful, it puts me in the perfect place to compose my own work". I always thought that was great.

And I wrote plenty of fanfiction. Much of it about cartoons. And much of it written past my 30th birthday. And I'm not ashamed of any of it. I think it helped my writing a lot, and I still think most of my stories stand up today. (Most, not all.)

Lex

 

Actually, I could only ever write joke poetry in the vein of Shel Silverstein and Ogden Nash. Dark as I could ever get was some gallows humour. Unlike theirs, however, mine was not actually good.

Currently I am working on a comic. It is slow going though, I think I am more an artist than a writer.

 

Yay!! Another writer!! I'm actually studying to be a writer as a career and major in it in college. I've already got a recommendation from my school's creative writing teacher and she thinks I can be a professional. ^-^ I write psychological thrillers. *grins*

It's no fun to be stuck for ideas, but I've always carried around a notebook. I love paper and materialistic writing. Unless I want a final draft of something, everything's on paper. I can just browse by flipping through the pages and seeing what I've written so far, but I have figured a trick or two for people with writer's block. If you're a tech person and type on a computer, turn the monitor off once you've got a blank Word doc open. Otherwise, a pencil and paper is just fine. Once the screen is blank you won't worry about typos that slow you down, and write for five minutes or so your stream of consciousness.

Whatever pops into your head, that's what you write, uncensored. It's really fun, creative, and most of the time I can pull an idea for a story from it once I've turned the monitor back on and look at what I've got.

For poetry inspiration I make three columns, one for adjectives, one for nouns, and one for verbs. I look up a random word generator and set it to the type of word I want, and whatever I think sounds interesting, onto the list it goes! When I'm done I line up what three words make a line and it turns into a really creative, silly poem! (This really works--once I used this method for a poetry project and after tweaking the lines a bit it sounded awesome! xD)

Have you considered joining an online roleplaying website? Two years ago it was all the rage among my friends to RP and so I signed up with one of my friends to join a writing forum. I was the girl who talked very little but wrote more than any other student, past or present, that my middle school English teacher had ever seen. The catch was that I would rather have swallowed my tongue than to share it with others. For years I only wrote among myself and my friends, so I never really improved. I don't do fan fiction, but for my RP's I would create a completely original story that helped me grow in two years as a writer more than about...eight years, I think, of writing by myself. You get so many different view points and styles to reflect off of and improve yourself with. I can't tell you how much it's helped me! (Plus, you have at least one more person to help you if you get stuck on what to write!:icon_wink)

 

So many writers on EC! I'm sporadic - I tend to get committed to a topic and write frequently, and then stop for a while. My current focus is a wine blog. PM me if you'd like the link.

 

Hello. Nice too see a post like this. I am an author, and I have a book about to be published.

I write on a desktop computer not connected to the internet, that way I can't have anyone hack me like they did to Stephanie Meyer. My friends have written fan fictions, and they all get really good reviews, I can ask them if you'd like? PM me if you want a link to their fan fics XD

 

I enjoy writing ^.^

I usually swap in between my laptop and paper+pencil, paper for when I have ideas and need to write them down and my laptop when I'm finalizing everything and adding detail.

Most of my character ideas are projections of myself (as corny as that may seem), and each character embodies part of my personality.

If I put my mind to it I can crank out several pages a day but I don't always feel up to writing. It kills my progress =/

My advice would be to find a nice quiet place where you won't be bothered by loud noises and where you feel comfortable and then just pick up the pencil and start writing everything that comes to mind. Then when you have a page full of ideas take the one you like best and just start writing about that, it doesn't even have to make any real sense because you are just getting the idea down. From there you can continue writing and ironing out the details ^.^

 

Lol I write my stories on a notebook with pen. In hopes of typing it one day hahaha
When I write, it may not be wise. But I makeup things as I go. So its as if I really am the character and making decisions that affect my story. To me, it feels more...natural

 

I enjoy writing as well but always left it out when I am losing my ideas and passion. The only work I finished it was a short love story dedicated to my best friend. Everyone liked it ( I guess so )

 

Is anyone going to do Nanowrimo this year? For those that don't know, Nanowrimo is 'National Novel Writing Month' where you write 50,000 words of fiction across the entire month of November. I've never done it before, but was thinking of doing it this year as I have an idea for it.

 

I've never heard of it before but it was mentioned in this thread a couple of times so I just signed up

I already have a few ideas

 

I write on my computer, but I don't always write from start to finish, I might write certain parts then fill in the gaps, depends on my mood

 

I have always wanted to write and have a children's book practically written in my head already as well as a unique (I think) idea for a series. The series needs a group of people to collaborate, and unfortunately I haven't found enough like minded people yet! It is one of my goals to finish a book one of these days.

 

I'm actually finishing up my first novel (hoping to publish it before I turn 16, that's be an accomplishment)
As for your questions, I do both notebook writing/laptop document writing, I develop character through certain characteristics I see in different people from day to day and the only advice I can give you is to not give up, if you really want to write then push yourself and take workshops to enrich your writing technique.