The Author's Corner- Writers/readers come to chat it up!

[Neku99]

Uhm where do you usually right your drafts? on your comp or a piece of paper?

[Guernsey]

I am looking for some inpiration for an idea I am working on but my ADD and just plain laziness won't let me. I can deal with the laziness and ADD but it leaves me with very little inspiration, I hadn't written any fics or at leasst outlines in years and right now it is driving me nuts. What can I do to finally start on a story?

[Faith Crest]

Originally Posted by Guernsey

I am looking for some inpiration for an idea I am working on but my ADD and just plain laziness won't let me. I can deal with the laziness and ADD but it leaves me with very little inspiration, I hadn't written any fics or at leasst outlines in years and right now it is driving me nuts. What can I do to finally start on a story?

I often find myself with writer's block whenever there's something going on with my life. So what I tend to do everyday when travelling to and from college is listening to music. If you're a big fan of it like I am, then that's what can motivate you to write. Certain songs and lyrics can stir new ideas that you never thought possible for.

Hope I helped you with your problem!

[Takuya]

Originally Posted by Guernsey

I am looking for some inspiration for an idea I am working on but my ADD and just plain laziness won't let me. I can deal with the laziness and ADD but it leaves me with very little inspiration, I hadn't written any fics or at least outlines in years and right now it is driving me nuts. What can I do to finally start on a story?

Laziness is a myth. Been reading a book called "Laziness is a Myth" by Mel Levine on output failure. It's probably some dysfunction.

Here's a helpful tip I found on a writing forum:

Originally Posted by kerrynangell

Get rid of all distractions. Lock yourself in a room with just your writing implement of choice for fifteen minutes, half an hour or an hour and just write. Force the words out! Eventually in such a bare environment (devoid of even the internet) you'll have to write something just to entertain yourself. :)

This is extreme but you can see what your major distractions and remove them. Don't let yourself look at anything but your story for the time you've allocated to writing and word at putting one word after another.

Try just writing. Lock yourself in your room (or anywhere) with a piece of paper and writing utensil, maybe something to write on if you need one. Keep yourself in there until you meet a word count goal (2,000 words is good). Don't even sleep for that day until you've met your goal. You might find new ideas among your rambles. World-building is also a good activity to jog your creativity: make up languages, social orders, traditions, organizations, local holidays, histories, cities, races, and such. If you're not into that, there's a "trick" that most authors use - connecting action with reaction. Find action in whatever you write and make a reaction - whether of another character, object, group, or environment.

If you can't get yourself writing, get reading. Read novels, any novel, even those you think you're not going to like [at a library if you don't want to waste your money on a book that's actually horrible]. Just not books about writing - blogs online are less "teachy" and offer more direct help.

Here's a blog - by a writer - I found yesterday, which is surprisingly simple yet powerful in language usage - No Excuses. Just Write. It links to other blogs as well, which is helpful, if you're looking for more inspiration or tips.

Music, taking a walk, and just doodling might help as well.

[Guernsey]

Can anyone give me ti[s on how to write a good psychodrama? I was hoping to create a fic with KH as inspiration but at the same time I don't enough to write a story like that down. I don't know if I could but nevertheless I going to give it my best shot and also I would like to know any authors who had done it before so that I can learn from them.

[Bleeding Soul]

Ugh... I've got a serious problem. I got inspiration for a story from an H-game, but I have no idea how someone with no arms would think or feel. The rest of it I can do, but not the thoughts and feelings of the one person. Anyone got any ideas on how to get an idea of this? And no, I don't know anyone like that. If I did then I would have done an interview with them already.

[LionHeart14]

Originally Posted by Bleeding Soul

Ugh... I've got a serious problem. I got inspiration for a story from an H-game, but I have no idea how someone with no arms would think or feel. The rest of it I can do, but not the thoughts and feelings of the one person. Anyone got any ideas on how to get an idea of this? And no, I don't know anyone like that. If I did then I would have done an interview with them already.

I don't know anyone without arms either, but I can imagine that if the person had just lost their arms, they'd be pretty frustrated and maybe a bit angry most of the time. You can write about how they cope with the disability and do some character building on how differently they have to view things now. If they hadn't had them for awhile, they would probably be past the coping, and they would probably have a more creative way of thinking because of how differently they have to do things...
That's all I've got lol. I hope that helps a bit!



I have a small problem too, but this is more of an opinion thing I guess.
I'm a novice writer, and I'm writing a story with a male protagonist. I want to have the story in first person POV, because I find it more fun to write that way. But, I'm a girl. Is it weird writing in a guy's POV when your a girl? It's not going to be a love story in the least bit so I won't be writing about romantic things (because for me, that would be weird to write about romance in a guy's POV). I think the story would play out better in having a male protagonist with the storyline and how i want the main character's personality to be. Most books I've seen written in first person have a character the same gender as the author. Maybe I'm just weird, but would it be awkward if I wrote it this way??

[Stavvy]

Sometimes it's a good thing to write in another perspective, even if that's only gender. Helps you broaden your horizons. Or at least, that's how I'd view it. So no, it's not weird at all.

[LionHeart14]

Thank you for your input!

[Guernsey]

Originally Posted by Guernsey

Can anyone give me ti[s on how to write a good psychodrama? I was hoping to create a fic with KH as inspiration but at the same time I don't enough to write a story like that down. I don't know if I could but nevertheless I going to give it my best shot and also I would like to know any authors who had done it before so that I can learn from them.

Any replies on this?

[Bleeding Soul]

@Guernsey: Seeing as how I'm not too interested in that type of book, the only tip that I could give you is to read every detective book you can get your hands on. At the very least that would help get you started on the correct path.

@LionHeart14: I don't see it as wierd either. Granted they were all romance, I've read a few books that were flip-books. Books that you can pick a random side to start with, read it through the eyes of one person and then flip it to read the same story only through the eyes of a different person.

[Danica Syer]

So how does an author go on without being redundant too many times. I find myself saying things like stuff, thoughts, think, and other words too often. I want to expand my words more and so forth. Any advice?

[Mordecai]

Guerney - It might be easier for you if the character recently lost their arms when your story begins or if they lose them sometime in your story. This way you could find out what troubles the character has by trying to visualize what they would do.... say you wanted them to go into an elevator. Okay. How would they push the buttons? With their head? They would probably hit other buttons. Well, you'll think of those things as you go.

Candy Fair - I would say either an online thesaurus or reading books. Reading is a little harder, but thesauruses only work every 1 out of 10 times to your liking in that kind of situation. Talented writers know how to word things as to make sure they don't have to keep repeating the word. I'll try to come up with an example of this.

Today while I was thinking, I had a thought - what if everyone thought like me?

Revision,

Today I had a thought - what if everyone looked at things the way I do?

That's a simple revision, and it uses both the thesaurus idea and the rearranging idea. You can get more descriptive with it, of course.

Today while taking a walk I had a thought - what if everyone looked at things the way I do?

A more complex example, hopefully -

Billy sat down at the table and Tracy stirred. She didn't like him this close, couldn't take it. The night at the park made her realize that she couldn't trust him enough to let him be this close. If he spoke to her now, the only thing she could do was reply. Her friends were watching and they would know something was wrong.

A thought came to her and she grabbed her binder to leave. She walked off in the direction of the girls restroom and it was in the restroom she would stay until lunch was over. Her friends would ask her why she was in the restroom for so long, and that would be awkward, but it was worth it in the long run. She could trade an awkward moment for an embarrassing bathroom visit any day.


Okay. I'll revise. Mostly the beginning is fine and isn't that repetitive, but I'll fix it up a little.

Billy sat down at the table and Tracy stirred. She didn't like him this close, couldn't take it. The night at the park made her realize that she couldn't trust him enough to let him be this close. If he spoke to her now, the only thing she could do was reply. Her friends were watching and they would know she was panicking.

A thought came to her and she grabbed her binder to leave. She walked off in the direction of the girls restroom and it was in the there she would stay until lunch was over. Her friends would ask questions but in the end it was worth it. She could trade an awkward moment with Billy for an embarrassing one with her friends any day.

A little something like that. This doesn't really cure your problem, but you should know that everyone has that problem. I've had it for years and still have it. You just have to push yourself to another level of thinking, to get around certain obstacles like this one. Try rearranging your sentences so you can continue without reusing the word. If you really must, don't be afraid to reuse a word. It's okay, and most of the time, if it's done only once, people don't notice. Say what needs to be said, with reason. You're your own worst critic.

Hope I helped.

[EDIT]

It's a whole lot easier when you just continue writing if you're stuck. Don't get hung up on things like this while you're letting your imagination flow. Most of the time it will change my mood and I will develop a writer's block that not only halts my ability to write well, but the ability to think or use my imagination. The story wont go anywhere.

So when you start thinking "hey, I'm using that word a lot. Damn!" just keep writing. Go back, read over it ( which is what you should do for everything you write, you'll find mistakes that you missed ) and then you can see how everything looks. Making changes is a little easier. It's like critiquing. For some reason I feel like I explained this more in depth than I should have. But I hope I helped.

[RE-EDIT]

As a perfect example look at what I just said.

"It might be easier for you if the character recently lost their arms when your story begins or if they lose them sometime in your story. This way you could find out what troubles the character has by trying to visualize what they would do.... say you wanted them to go into an elevator. Okay. How would they push the buttons? With their head? They would probably hit other buttons. Well, you'll think of those things as you go."

Revision - It might be easier for you if the character had recently lost or loses their arms in your story. This way you'll see the troubles as they develop and work with them to solve their problems. An elevator would be tricky, because of the buttons. How would he push them? If he used his head he might hit more than one. You'll think of these things as you go.

[Bellaisima358]

I kinda have writers block, and I cant seem to get anyone to read my fanfic......so I'm kinda stuck....Any pointers on how to step it up? My fanfic is called: The Road to Dawn.

[Mordecai]

I'll give your fic a look when I get a chance. Kinda tired at the moment, but I'll read it tomorrow.

I suggest just continuing to post in here asking for critique. You'll definitely attract attention.