The Great Write Way
A place for Buffistas to discuss, beta and otherwise deal and dish on their non-fan fiction projects.
Anyways...getting back to the focus of this forum (writing rather than discussing lit.), any tips for someone who's just starting to seriously consider writing? (fiction and poetry)
Well, first you write. The rest comes later.
Not meant to be facetious. Just honest. Write whatever it is that's burning in your brain demanding to be written. When you're in the early stages of beginning to write, don't worry about getting it perfect (hint: it never ever is) or trying to follow some contrived set of rules. Just write. If you don't, you'll get so caught in your head trying to decide
how
to write that you'll never actually do it. Trust me on this.
The only prep I can offer beyond that is to read a lot. Especially with poetry, being exposed to a wide variety of published poets can be helpful in getting a sense for different styles.
But mostly, just get it out and
enjoy
it. Otherwise, why do it? Well, except for the "burning your brain demanding to be written" part.
Once it's out, if you decide you want to go further with it, then you can get beta readers to give you feedback and to help zero in on your specific strengths and weaknesses and start the difficult [but rewarding] work of revision. You might also decide that writing it was enough. That's fine too.
If you're having a hard time deciding how to get started, there are some great books out there (I use several of these in my creative writing class) such as
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
by Anne Lamott [link] ,
Writing Out the Storm
by Jessica Page Morrell [link] ,
Writing Down the Bones
by Natalie Goldberg (warning, this is an much a philosophy book as it is a writing book) [link] ,
What If? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers
by Anne Bernays [link] ,
or many more...the market for this is big. There is a great Amazon list that has these and more here: [link] .
Not everyone enjoys these types of books, but many of my students find them really helpful as a jumping off point.
I'm at this stage where I get half formed ideas, usually in the car, but when I sit down to start them, I end up with a jillion half pages that don't go anywhere. It's frustrating.
I've never read any of the writing books, so the only advice I can think of is some that was given to Lillian Hellman, when her second play got bad reviews and she went into blockage and slump over it. Someone told her "Nonsense. A writer writes. It's what we do. Go home at once, and right something."
Which also sounds facetious, but isn't. If there's a story in there, tell it. If you're a writer, identify your characters, decide which road you want to set them on, give them a push, and tell the story.
Poetry, I don't know. The best description of poetry I ever came across was in Edmund Crispin's "The Moving Toyshop." I'll dig the book out later and find the quote and post it, if someone doesn't beat me to it.
Crip Noir is 176 pages big today...they grow up so fast.
If you can't think of a "proper" way to start something, start with the first event. You can work on most effective arrangements of a plot later. And don't be afraid of "Bob said" and "Jane said." The fancier words can be added later.
"Bob looked at Jane and said, "We're dead if we don't get out of here." is a perfectly acceptable opening sentence.
And sometimes I worry that my default sensibility is to danger and peril rather than something like, "I like that dress."
- You* worry. I will never tell what the inciting image was for my current project.
Which, despite its not quite being finished, I could use some beta advice for.
erika, I'm nuts for the next couple of days, but send to me, bebe-wife, and I will do my damnedest.
Teppy, can I suggest a new drabble topic? My possibilities within the one word: degrees.
You don't have to hurry...it's a first draft.
I think, like sex according to Munch, I may have to do it three times before it's actually good, instead of just saying it is.
putting that humor question out there again because I'm still after a weekend of researching kind of stuck on where to send my work... Wondering if anyone has noticed short humor fiction/or creative non-fiction popping up in any mags lately? Since my knowledge is mostly of Canadian mags (very few of which accept unsolicited fiction these days) I'm wondering if any of you know of any smaller (south of the border) magazines with more of a humor bend that are open to submissions?
Teppy, can I suggest a new drabble topic? My possibilities within the one word: degrees.
Great idea! Therefore....
Drabble challenge #40 (list of words) is now closed.
Drabble challenge #41 is Deb's -- degrees.
Reminder -- no one is obligated to post to the LJ community, but I've noticed that there have been very few drabbles posted there in the past few weeks, as opposed to here, where I've seen a lot.
No pressure -- LJ is a bigger community, and it's up to every writer's preference as to how widely they want to share their drabbles. I just wanted to give a gentle reminder, in case people forgot.
