Writers! Come and Talk About Writing!

I like to write lots of short stories, mainly dystopian ones ... they're so fun ... and yet could be real ... so kind of scary.

 

I write fanfiction... how much does that count? I think it's helped me develop my writing style a lot, so maybe if I come up with a good idea for a story I could write it. I just don't have much patience for things like that

 

Writing daily helps. The skill improves the more you do it, the more you study it, and the more you read.

 

I had this idea for a while about this fantasy/sci-fi thingy. I am way too lazy to write it fully, but I like developing the concept.

So basically it is about this small community where it is permanently night time and every time a child is born, a star appears on the horizon. This star moves in a steady pace to the other end of the sky and when a person dies, the star disappears on the horizon.
This makes for a bunch of rules in this world. For example, instead of smartphones they have "pocketstar". Using basic measurements it can show you how much time you have left and it expanded to have many more features the same way our smartphones have many features. I want to call this story "A thousand stars", because the government in this universe monitors the birth/death rates to make sure there are always a thousand stars in the sky and a thousand people living. If there would be too many people, the sky would get cluttered and they wouldn't be able to track their stars.

The story follows a 20 year old girl who married a guy early because he only had 20 years. After he dies she decides to go on a journey to the horizon of death to find out where the stars go after they set. The story would basically go through a bunch of set pieces and scenes relating to how different people are affected by this world.

 

That sounds insane! Maybe even movie-worthy if you chose to pursue it.

 

It sounds like a solid starting point, and definitely original. If you decide to go for it, be patient with yourself. Don't feel discouraged if you only get a small amount of writing done in a day.

I want to write a character who is Taoist, but I have little personal knowledge of Taoism. Does anyone have suggestions on where to start my research?

 

Thanks for the motivation! I started writing it now. Wish me luck!

 

Your story sounds amazing to me. Good luck with it (*hug*)

I know little about it as well, but when I was doing religious studies as a class, BBC Religions was a good site I used. I believe if you search up Taoism on Google it's one of the first links that comes up. It has some good basic information. I also saw a website called personaltao- I'm not sure how good it is but it seems to have quite a bit on it.

Personally one of the best ways to do research (not the only one, but a good one), is to talk to people who are actually- in your case, Taoist. Do you have any friends or a way to ask people online to give some insight on their beliefs?

Sorry I don't have any really detailed replies for this. But good luck on your research. When in doubt, hit the library too. Although it's much faster to do it online, published books still do have their authenticity, and can usually give some good comprehensive information- usually reliable as well.

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I don't have much to say about my writing, but I guess one of my biggest insecurities is that I write quite dark stories- a few in the horror genre too, ironically, for someone who is quite scared of traditional horror movies and stories- and I get too unhappy with them to publish them online, even if I think they're really good. They always seem too disturbing no matter how well I write them, even though I know they objectively aren't even that dark. I then go back and try to nitpick and censor out most of it, but then it really lacks the punch or message I was going for.

I mean I love writing all sorts of genres, I just never got past the "so this writing is way too dark to post online or show anybody, what in the world would they think" stage for my darker stories that usually deal with really heavy themes. I think it's also partially because my parents weren't too happy when I wrote that kind of stuff when I was slightly younger, they always said I should just try writing happy things and were never too happy with me exploring anything darker, or more serious issues. I definitely can write happier things, but it's not the only area I like exploring with writing.

Oh well, working on that. My favourite thing is combining genres though, so that it isn't pure horror or pure adventure or anything, a mixture of it all.

 

I'm thinking ... I have pleanty ideas for dystopian stories, one I've done 15 pages on, but if I get old and don't finish them, I'll put my ideas in a book that anyone can use. That way, the idea is still alive and still gives off its warning to society.

 

That does sound like a really good idea. Finished or not, some ideas deserve to be preserved and passed on. But anyhow, best of luck with the writing. Hope you get to finish something in due time!

 

Would it be wise to know your ending when you start out the story during the prewriting process?

 

Finally got back on track last night with my short story I've been working on for weeks. Was up until two in the morning working on it and now I've got a pretty solid idea of where I want it to go.

Now I've just got to wake up a little more so I can work on it more without drag-assing through it. Writing when half-asleep doesn't work for me.

 

Getting past that little hurdle is always a relief. Not writing kind of sucks at times, but having breaks can be good still. It's good that you're back on track with your story. Wish I could say the same.

 

Dialogue is hard to write without them sounding artificial. So I suggest you going out and harvesting organic dialogues! Put on headphones, but don't play anything, and sit in public places: on the bus, in the park, at some coffee shops, etc., and listen to people talking around you. They won't think you are eavesdropping them if you have the headphones on! It is a great way to have a feel of how people actually talk to each other.

Always do this. For everything you write, not just ideas. I have been able to recycle and reuse countless phrases and wordplay and ideas into my later writing from stuff I wrote long ago. You never knew what will spark your muse when re-reading old stuff.

 

Yep, it's a good idea to hang on to old ideas. I have dozens and dozens of cluttered files, but incidentally I was thinking the other day "huh, this old thought I had this one time could be pretty good for the story I'm working on." So I went back pawing through files to find it, lo and behold it had everything I needed.

BTW, I think I've mentioned it before, but I've found that role-playing my own characters is the best way to get into their heads and figure out what would be the most interesting dilemmas to throw at them.

 

Kind of a random thing to throw out there, but after I finish writing these short stories I'm thinking of having a go at writing a play. I've studied a few before and I've always been interested in writing one, but I have little experience. Still, it's something I'd definitely want to try.

 

NaNo is actually helping me so much. I haven't really done that much creative writing lately, so this enforced writing means I'm getting a lot of practice and I'm really getting some muses back. I even like some of the stuff I'm writing.

 

Great video about word choices with great examples:
[YOUTUBE]RSoRzTtwgP4[/YOUTUBE]