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avenge-me-avengers:
I'm really interested in taking part in the "Letter Game."
If someone were to start this up I would be really interested, I have a million characters that I could utilize. Please let us know if someone does start this up.
Love the blog by the way!
queer-feeri:
So I'm impatient and since the idea got put in my head, I just ran with it and made a tumblr for the Letter Game: http://wordsonparchment.tumblr.com/
heh. Uh. >_< Hopefully someone can help out with it, and hopefully I don't mess it up or something ridiculous like that.
ireadintothings:
I am a writer working on my debut novel, and I start my Tumblr to get some publicity for my work. As a matter of fact, I post pieces of what I intend to include in my book, and I take into consideration my follower's feedback to decide whether to include a particular piece or not. But frankly, I just have such a hard time writing in 3rd person perspective about anyone else but me, that it makes me seriously doubt my abilities as a writer. Do you have any advice on how to make one's writing less self-absorbed?
I’ve answered this question before, but I want to answer it again because I had an interesting conversation with my friend I visited in LA last week. She’s an actress, and we were talking about various acting techniques. She explained that she’s a very technical actor- she reads her scripts and really thinks about the character, and tries to connect the lines to people she knows personally and say them how that person would, emanate their mannerisms, etc. Last month she was in a show that was all women playing men, and her friends who saw it told me that she basically parodied her boyfriend, so what she said about her method must be true!
I told her that reminded me of writing characters. Just like in real life, she is the character of herself, when we write, we are ourselves writing. It’s hard to detach our own personalities from our art. But most of us have family and close friends of various genders, temperaments, backgrounds, etc. So we can use them as “bases” for our characters. The parallel doesn’t have to be exact: for example, you could be writing about a drug dealer, but if you feel like he could talk like your dad, imagine your dad when you’re writing his dialogue and think “Could I see my dad saying this?” even if he’s not a drug dealer, haha.
subtleopinions-deactivated20120:
So I have this problem... I really love writing and I really want to write a story or something but I can't seem to find an inspiration. Every time I sit down and try to think of something to write about I can't come up with anything! Do you have any advice for me?
Follow this blog.
mvttclosson:
I love you blog. I want to start writing myself but it's a difficult thing for me to do. I have many thoughts running through my brain but don't know how to write them into words. Do you have any tips for beginners? Thank you. :)
Just try whatever you can. Nothing that anyone writes when they first start out is that great, so think of it like you have to get that stuff “out of the way”. I’d also suggest trying to write very short stories that are very simple. Pick one idea, maybe one character, and then describe an event as simply and straightforwardly as possible.
kmelton27:
Just wondering...did you not post my submission to the pregnancy promt because of the ending?
As much as I would love to, I don’t read all of the stories I post. I just don’t have time. So if something isn’t posted it’s only because it was submitted incorrectly. Make sure you wrote the tag in correctly, because if it’s not exactly the same I can’t find the prompt and that’s been happening a bit lately.
pairofhearts:
I was just wonder when you were going to post more of your own writing? I ask because I have read your other works and enjoyed them greatly.
That is mighty flattering!
I will post more writing, well… when I write it. It’s so hard during school, when I have to write other things like essays and grant proposals and internship applications. I’m working on a nonfiction piece about my grandmother for my creative writing class right now so I’ll post that when it’s been workshopped over. I’m glad you enjoyed my stuff, thanks for reading!
gustafskaarsgard:
hi! i love your blog and was hoping you could help me out. i find that the hardest part of writing is getting started. i have all these ideas in my head, but i find it so difficult to just get going. any suggestions?
Jump in! I am a big fan of starting right in the action. Also, some of the best stories I’ve ever read, novels or shorts, have basically laid out what the whole story is going to be about in the first paragraph. Read Chekhov’s The Lady With the Dog, that story does that super well and will make you see more what I’m talking about. Or Notes on a Native Son by James Baldwin, which is memoir, but amazing.
freudiancascade-deactivated2013:
Reading the question about motivation, I'd like to suggest Write or Die! I find that program just about always kicks me into productivity - also, track down a forum or two that you can do word wars on. While this does emphasize productivity over quality, at times, it also makes sure you write even when you don't feel like it. I also downloaded Scrivener about a week ago, and I love it because it keeps all my novel stuff in one place and organizes it neatly. Is it just me, or is it easier to work on something that's been colorcoded? ;)
ce-nest-pas-un-blog:
I'm currently writing a book, but sometimes after writing for a while, I get distracted easily, until I just can't write. I've tried writing for 45 minutes, then taking a 15 minute break, taking periodical breaks doesn't seem to help... Any tips I can use to keep myself motivated?
It’s good that you’re trying to discipline yourself into writing regularly. I’ve heard that many authors try to write for a certain amount of time, at the same time, each day. Why not start out with a half an hour per day and see if that works better? Writing for 45 minutes and stopping for 15 over and over sounds like it would burn anyone out.
Yes, unless they’re submitted in an incorrect format. Little mistakes are okay, like not italicizing the title, but if there isn’t essential information like the tag or no link to your story I can’t post it.
wornbookpages:
So I was wondering if you would promote any blogging sites outside of Tumblr? I write for this really awesome site (www.stageoflife.com) and it's a growing writing community where you can share your writing, ask for advice, and get feedback from other writers. I mean, I totally understand if you don't want to, but I was curious. Either way, I still love your blog :)
callyourname-crossmyfingers:
I don't know if this is the type of thing you'd be okay with posting, but I figured I'd give it a shot, anyway:
My name is Hannah, and I am a writer. That's my identifier. A friend of mine introduced me a few years ago to a writing project that's kind of hard to explain, but is basically called "The Letter Game." You write letters back and forth as characters. I'm looking for another writer who would be interested in participating in this "game." If you are interested, or just intrigued and want to know more before deciding, you can come visit me at my tumblr (collapseintome-.tumblr.com) and post in my ask. We can go from there.
Thanks for posting this, if you do, and if not, well, I totally understand. :) I love your blog!
If you’re interested, contact her^
idklolomghi:
Please answer this I need an answer! :D
So, I love to write, writing is probably my favorite thing in the world as well as your blog <3
Anyway, I was just wondering, what advice do you have on description? Such as action and scenery are my two really hard areas.
Describing something in my writing is one of my weaker sides of writing for me to find the right words as I always have to search words with a thesaurus so I don't repeat myself because it tends to get annoying when I do. :/
My english teacher tell me that my writing is really professional, but I need to elaborate in essays with description, as that is hard for me.
Please help? :)
Just be honest with what you’re describing. Close your eyes for a moment and try to picture the room your describing or the movement someone is making or the way that something feels to your character. We, as humans, have been preconditioned to gravitate towards cliches because we are creatures of habit and we enjoy familiarity. But don’t let yourself do that. Say, for example, you are describing someone’s face. First, just tell the reader, as straightforwardly as you can, what it looks like. Remember being in grade school and having to answer questions on tests like “Describe the Revolutionary War/water cycle/pythagorean theorem to someone from another planet who’s never heard of it before”? Do that, but in your description. Then, if you feel it’s necessary and will further the story, you can add in some metaphors—but make sure what you’re comparing your idea to is also a relevant image for the story.
I’m not sure if you’re asking about description for essays (which I guess is sort of out of YW’s jurisdiction) or for fiction, but I will say that I think a lot of the obstacles middle and high school age writers face is going against what they’ve been taught in school about essay-writing, when trying to break into fiction. Public schools condition us so much about essay writing that I often see young writers beginning stories with “introductions” and ending them with “conclusions”, which is terrible! I mean, I guess you should tie up some ends in a narrative, but I’m a huge fan of jumping right into the action of the story. Anyway, that’s sort of a tangent. But I hope this is helpful. It’s actually perfect timing for an ask like this because I’m about to post a description prompt I thought of the other day!
