The Writing Column Q & A

Started by Captain Maltese, May 30, 2016, 11:22:15 AM

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Nico

#50
Oh yes, I do.

I would really like my writing partner to be literate and creative. Able to do multi paragraph posts with substance and a lot of detail. Inner monologue would be awesome, too! And, it is essential that we're both on the same wavelength, so to speak, when it comes to what we want.

Passing it on.

Lady Shadow

I hate when people say pass it on! I end up answering my own question. Sigh.

I don't mind their style as long as their detailed. I like them to take something I might have posted, add on to it, and then we go from there.

What has been your best writing experience?
Rhythm is something you either have or don't have, but when you have it, you have it all over.
Ambition is like a V8 engine.
~Elvis Presley~

Mirrah

Hey, what's wrong with answering your own question? ;) They don't pass it on with the intention of making you answer your own question--or do they?! :o I like reading the different responses from people when a question gets passed around. :)

A best writing experience? I don't know that there was a 'best'. At least... there hasn't been so far. A 'worst,' yes, but a 'best,' no. They're all good fun in their own ways. :)

A fairly recent one has been writing with a friend (our characters are somewhat like sisters) breaking into a high security facility to nab some special treasures that belong to the baddie who owns it. It was fun coming up with challenges and puzzles to get past. Even the distractions on the way to the objective were fun.

Passing this question on, out of curiosity!
"Dream... not of what you are... but of what you want to be." - Margulis
Status: Closed. Semi Hiatus. | Have you taken care of yourself today?

Lady Shadow

Okay I gotcha!

I have to say my best writing experiences have been some naughty roleplays with a good friend. They were really hot! Haha. But it was all in good fun though, I have gotten past the smut phase for the most part!

What kinds of scenes do you enjoy least?
Rhythm is something you either have or don't have, but when you have it, you have it all over.
Ambition is like a V8 engine.
~Elvis Presley~

Nico

Oh that's easy.

-Unnecessarily drawn out sex scenes.
-Combat [nothing wrong with some violence, but much like the above, drawn out combat is just as boring]

Passing it on because it's an interesting question!

Blythe

Travelling scenes--any extended traveling from point A to point B often just mucks up story-flow and slows things down, at least for me. I also feel like I'm prone to posting "filler text" for travel scenes if they go on too long. It's why I try to skip such scenes and 'fast-forward' to a new scene when I can.


What types of scenes do you feel you are most talented at writing? :-)

Captain Maltese

Ouch. Implying "talent" on any part of my writing would require more self esteem than I have. I will venture that I am happy while writing background descriptions. The weather, the vehicles, the world, the scents and colors. Then I feel I am painting with words.

Are there any settings that you are particularly drawn to?

Posting status:  25th December: Up To Date 5 of 9 : last month 2, this month 5, total 38 posts for 2023.

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Mirrah

I find myself most drawn to fantasy or fictional settings, mostly outside of modern though that one has been growing on me little by little of late.

Passing the question on.
"Dream... not of what you are... but of what you want to be." - Margulis
Status: Closed. Semi Hiatus. | Have you taken care of yourself today?

Beguile's Mistress

I'm mostly drawn to writing modern settings with some humor in them or a heavily emotional premise that can be worked out into a happy ending.  Romantic themes are more interesting to me right now but every once in a while a touch of the paranormal wants to intrude to tease things along.

How well do you handle an abrupt 180 in a plot when it comes as a surprise?

Nico

Not well, to be honest. If there is no communication and a writing partner just turns it all around, I'm getting cranky because that's just not very polite.

Passing it on.

RedRose

I don't like that at all. It really MUST be discussed, and I'm not necessarily going to agree, either.

Passing it on!
O/O and ideas - write if you'd be a good Aaron Warner (Juliette) [Shatter me], Tarkin (Leia), Wilkins (Faith) [Buffy the VS]
[what she reading: 50 TALES A YEAR]



Rhedyn

It depends on the story and who I'm writing with but I actually really like the surprise element and will roll with it. I like to think I'm fairly adaptable to big changes like that; I see it as a challenge rather than a necessarily bad thing. That said if I wasn't comfortable with the change in direction I would bring it up in discussion and see if there was a way to make it work or change it to something we were both happy with.

How much time do you spend proof reading and editing your posts and do you find that doing it helps you feel more confident in your writing or more anxious about the quality of your replies?

Nico

I proofread at least once, maybe twice. Editing happens now and then, usually during proofreading. Now and then I get an idea while doing that and then I have to add it.

Hah! I generally feel a bit anxious about what I'm writing. I know that my writing partners enjoy it, otherwise they hardly would write with me, but often there is this little bit of worry left, that it's boring.

Passing it on.

Captain Maltese

I do most of my post writing in Windows Note Book which is barely one step above hammer and chisel, but never ever crashes on me or distracts me with fancy effects. When I feel I have a workable text that's portioned into paragraphs, I copy the text over into E's post editor. There the spellchecker kicks in and I fix what must be fixed. I post that, and reads the text over one more time in case the grammar has any embarrassing issues. That's about it.


The first years I wrote on E, it seemed a challenge to write the posts long enough. But my previous writing experience was from direct roleplay where a sentence was a post. With time, the posts have grown longer. And longer. And longer. Until I fear it has undesirable effects both in post size, post frequency and indeed writing cooperation. How do you guys keep your posts in check?

Posting status:  25th December: Up To Date 5 of 9 : last month 2, this month 5, total 38 posts for 2023.

O/O            Current stories

Nico

I don't try to keep anything in check. It would be restraining my muse and I'm not going to do that. A post will be as long as it will be, until I feel that it's good and wrapped up nicely. That can be after two paragraphs or after seven or more. Depends on what I get. As harsh as it sounds, but if someone has a problem with my post length then we will have to stop writing together.

Passing it on.

RedRose

Same here! I've occasionally produced very long posts, as in three pages. And those weren't even openers  ;D
But most of the time, it ranges from three paragraphs to a dozen. I will certainly re-read and cull whatever is "fluff", but if it's character development or plot advancement, I won't touch it. I've had people dump the RP because they "couldn't do long posts". I prefered it to replying with a tiny paragraph.

Passing it on?
O/O and ideas - write if you'd be a good Aaron Warner (Juliette) [Shatter me], Tarkin (Leia), Wilkins (Faith) [Buffy the VS]
[what she reading: 50 TALES A YEAR]



Rhedyn

I also don't keep it in check. I write my posts however long they need to be to get to the point I want to get to with them and convey all the details I want them to. Sometimes that's a couple of paragraphs, sometimes it's a lot more.

What do you feel are your three best qualities as a writer?

RedRose

That's a great question! Thanks for asking ;)

I'd say my characters, first, unless that's too vague? I think I write realistic (within the story/fandom) characters with "real" thoughts and emotions, characters that evolve with time and experience.
Then I am reliable. Unless there's something crazy like a family emergency on another continent, I'm not dropping you. I'm not getting writer's block/can work through it - provided the RP is going well and you're not sending back a bare bone paragraph.
And because it counts, I think my writing is pretty fine. I have imagination, and I can spell :)

Do you have a fickle muse, or do you generally always can write?
O/O and ideas - write if you'd be a good Aaron Warner (Juliette) [Shatter me], Tarkin (Leia), Wilkins (Faith) [Buffy the VS]
[what she reading: 50 TALES A YEAR]



Nico

Fickle is an understatement at times. ~chuckles~

I have a very particular and picky muse but once he latches onto something, it's all good. Of course, I can't always write each day and sometimes I don't even want to.

Passing it on.

Captain Maltese

My muse is like a racing horse. An old one. Meaning it might or might not be present on the starting line, it might have a good day or a bad one, and betting on it is not good business.

---

If you have a number of stories and you have not posted in any of them for a while, how do you approach the problem?

For my own part, I do in the bad periods what I do in the good. And what I do in the good periods is to pick a story up, read it, and let my muse tell me what should happen. So I write the post, then move on to the next. In the bad periods, this pattern crashes when my muse is silent. This is however just the start of the problem. Because after staring at that first post, I go to a full halt. And now, all of my other stories get the same blank stare. I rip loose eventually, but this is clearly an issue of faulty writing methods and faulty writing discipline, and it has cost me far too many stories. I am working to find a way to at least get past the first hurdle so I can move on to another story and service that one in the meanwhile. Keep in mind that this issue, for me, has never been with a single type of story or setting or cowriter.

Posting status:  25th December: Up To Date 5 of 9 : last month 2, this month 5, total 38 posts for 2023.

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Trilby

Oooooh, GREAT question, Captain!!
 
I don't have total writer's block, as a rule.  What I have, is story block.  It's good for me to have several writing projects going at once because, to paraphrase Isaac Asimov, if I'm up against a brick wall in Story A, I move on to Story B and let my subconscious work on Story A in the background for a while. 
   
But if I can't find anything that excites me about ANY of my current stories, then the problem is nearly always what I consider creative exhaustion.  There's no well so deep that it doesn't run dry on occasion.  When there's no spark for anything I'm writing, I know I need to refill the well.  It helps to engage in most any other creative or related activity for a while.  I'm a musician, so I'll learn a new piece.  Or I'll read.  Or binge-watch something -- anything from Game of Thrones to old sitcom reruns.  Better yet, when possible I'll go to a few live events: concerts, plays, opera, stand-up comedy, you name it.
   
It's not a guaranteed fix; but if some other activity can excite me emotionally, I can usually come back to my writing with a fresh outlook and new ideas.
 
Passing it on because it's such a difficult and interesting topic!
   

Captain Maltese

Well, at least it is a relief that once you manage to get the first post down, the next story is a lot easier to post in.

---

Music is an absolutely vital tool for me when I write. Whatever period and situation I am writing, be it a battlefield or a lover's bed, I can always find a suitable soundtrack in my music archive or youtube. It gives me the rhythm, the mood and depth to be inspired in. However, what I listen to while I think is anything related. But when the words start flowing I must turn off any music that has lyrics. Even more so if the song is in a different language than I am writing in. Finding suitably music without lyrics is a bit harder but it is that or silence. The brain just breaks.

So, the new and obvious question: How do YOU use music in your writing process?


Posting status:  25th December: Up To Date 5 of 9 : last month 2, this month 5, total 38 posts for 2023.

O/O            Current stories

Rhedyn

I generally don't listen to music while writing because I find it too distracting. Sometimes a song will give me an idea for a story due to the way it makes me feel or the lyrics will trigger an idea that I have to get down for either a roleplay or a short story or something though.

Passing it on.

Kye

Music sets a tone for me and makes it easier to write some scenes.  I tend to use classical music, movie scores and things without lyrics, or music in a foreign language that I do not understand.  Like Rhedyn, some songs can fire up my imagination and help me come up with new ideas or characters. 

Passing it on.

Trilby

Quote from: Kyrsa on August 27, 2017, 02:11:16 PM
Music sets a tone for me and makes it easier to write some scenes.  I tend to use classical music, movie scores and things without lyrics, or music in a foreign language that I do not understand.  Like Rhedyn, some songs can fire up my imagination and help me come up with new ideas or characters. 

Passing it on.

Yes.  This.
 
I use classical music almost exclusively.  I especially use it when I'm writing a scene that for calls for emotions that I have very little experience with -- motherhood, looking imminent death in the face.  Or when I'm writing an extended scene of very heightened emotions.  Music helps me sustain the feelings while I craft the words.