Writing, It's Not That Hard.

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#1
DeadCave

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#2
DeadCave

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Another good writing article.

Still another one here.
I'm using these tips that I post now-and-again as much as I can. I know my own writing isn't perfect but I also know that any help is better than none. Just passing it along to the other talent that here on R&L
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#3
JesusMonroe

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Keep in mind these aren't rules; they're guidelines. Don't follow these to 100% of the time. They're meant to be broken when appropriate
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Imagine a group of a hundred motorcycles driving down a freeway. Eventually, they hit a junction. One road goes northwest and the other goes northeast. So one guy, we'll call him S, says, "Let's go northwest!" A mile past the intersection, a semi careens into the group and kills ninety of them. Ten are wounded, but they survive and keep going. Eventually, they hit 10,000 miles. S suddenly has his consciousness thrown into his past body right before the junction. Now, he says, "Let's go northeast!" All 100 bikers survive. Happily ever after, right? But what about the ten, no nine, who went northwest and survived? What happens to the reality they were living? Does it just disappear now that S has changed the past? It's not like only bad things happened on that 10,000 mile journey. Maybe one of them fell in love with a gas station attendant and got her pregnant or maybe one adopted a homeless kid that joined the adventure. That 10,000 mile journey would be full of stories. Romances, farewells, friendships...the loss of those ninety lives is horrible and unfortunate, but what would rewriting their history mean? The nine who survived lived full lives and did the best they could with the hand they were dealt. How could it be right to just erase all that? Isn't that worth something? Is there a point to a world where everything is happy? Are people who struggle for a better life just idiots? Being human is about fighting even when it seems hopeless and finding happiness in a world that hates it. Are you saying that's worthless?


#4
mADAM Scorpious

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The 3 best writing tips I've received:
Write a page a day.
Don't edit while you write.
Show what happens, don't tell
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#5
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#6
DeadCave

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This site is very helpful. Keeps redundancy from rearing it's ugly head while you write. Check it out! 
Helpful Descriptive Thesaurus' Collection


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#7
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#8
DeadCave

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Even more great writing tips. I love 'em. 


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#9
DeadCave

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Five words to get rid of from your writing. 

 

Sixteen observations of real conversations. 


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#10
Chinghis

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Thanks for posting this stuff.

 

But, I have to say, this thread has been bugging me from the get-go. To me, writing is not the hard part - it's the time. I have plenty of great (to me!) ideas, but the time crunch always steals my momentum. Then I think of the guy who wrote Wool, according to the jacket blurb, in the morning and on his lunch hour while working at a bookstore, for three years. I just don't know if I have that kind of sustained attention in me.


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#11
DeadCave

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At the risk of sounding like a smart ass or even an asshole... If you got time to post here, and be online or watching tv or whatever your "free-time" allows you to do... then you got time to write. 
Thanks to computers, flash-drives, etc. A would be author can store their ideas and stories for later embellishment/additions. It's what I've been doing with Caught In A Bind... sometimes my life allows me to write write write and finally post and other times, if I'm lucky, I got a sentence in the whole week. 
You write because you want to. If you got ideas but don't really have the time or inclination to write 'em out... create a thread here (if zombie/TWD related) and share your ideas... let the authors here pick and choose and maybe someone will like your idea and run with it. 


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#12
mADAM Scorpious

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Sounds like that guy was only putting in an hour or 2 a day, and it's harder to write like that since it entails pulling yourself in and out of the writing process. Once you get the ball rolling it's not too bad and it flows a lot easier. I was personally able to write a book in under 6 months and sometimes -depending on my flow- I can write a book's worth of material in a month.

Dead Cave, much respect to you and the work you've showcased here, but "let the authors here pick and choose and maybe someone will like your idea and run with it"?! That's terrible advice for an aspiring writer, and it's borderline plagiarism for anyone else to use his ideas. Like how would you feel if Kirkman stole your fanfic and made millions off of it while you're uncredited and broke?

If anyone should be running with your idea, it's you because it's better than letting someone else run to the bank with your idea.


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#13
Chinghis

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Heh, settle down, folks! Didn't mean to start an argument. DeadCave is right, to a degree; thankfully, I don't watch much TV or frequent more than two boards. It's more a matter of life and responsibilities getting in the way. And what's really funny is that I'm unemployed, so you'd think I have a lot of time, but it's just the opposite. Two kids, and elderly mother, and oh, yeah, my wife.  Free time of any duration happens generally after midnight (as now).

 

The bigger problem is that I'm a flywheel, as my wife said the other day. Takes me a long time to get going. Once I do, I can churn out a lot - I wrote my dissertation in about month of actual writing time. But that was another time - I had roommates who did most of the cooking and cleaning, and an adviser who expected a chapter TOMORROW MORNING. All-nighters are hell when I have to drive the kids to school in the morning.

 

You're right, too, mADAM - but that fear of someone stealing my ideas also kind of hinders me from just putting things out there. Of course, that would be cool, in a sense - would mean that they're actually worth something, right?

 

Just need to keep with it, I guess. Thanks for letting me ramble.


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#14
DeadCave

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Sounds like that guy was only putting in an hour or 2 a day, and it's harder to write like that since it entails pulling yourself in and out of the writing process. Once you get the ball rolling it's not too bad and it flows a lot easier. I was personally able to write a book in under 6 months and sometimes -depending on my flow- I can write a book's worth of material in a month.

Dead Cave, much respect to you and the work you've showcased here, but "let the authors here pick and choose and maybe someone will like your idea and run with it"?! That's terrible advice for an aspiring writer, and it's borderline plagiarism for anyone else to use his ideas. Like how would you feel if Kirkman stole your fanfic and made millions off of it while you're uncredited and broke?

If anyone should be running with your idea, it's you because it's better than letting someone else run to the bank with your idea.

Plagiarism is the knowing theft/copy of another ESTABLISHED (read: previously published) work and willfully not crediting the original source, nor acquiring permission beforehand. 
If I drop a couple of ideas through this forum (which I have), then they're mine but anyone can read it and say "hey... not bad..." and they'll run with it... I don't have a problem with it. That's me however. 
You slap your name on something you put on the internet, it's yours. If you search far back enough in this forum you will find my concerns about posting my work(s) without that familiar copyright symbol somewhere. Thankfully the admins of this forum are willing to stand by original authors and their works. Be it posts or fanfics. 

Chinghis and I are birds of a feather it seems as my own personal life intrudes presently into my writing. I try to find time for it, and I MAKE time for it. Ideas abound and sometimes the glut of them gets in the way of the original piece. But why waste them? Toss 'em out and let others see what they can do with it. 

I doubt that the roundtable of writers for TWD are concerned about getting credit for an idea while they're brainstorming the next episode that they're working on. I don't think there's anyone saying, "hey, I want my name credited for that part where character X kills walker Y in that spectacular way... that was my idea, don't forget it!".  But then they're a team and that is what a team does. Bring new ideas to the table from where-ever. They probably have someone once in a while say, "hey couple days ago I was chatting with a buddy of mine and they had this neat idea about where character X can go... whaddya think?" 

Chinghis can either accept my idea or wad it up and toss it in the trash. A bad idea for some might not be so for others. I'm not going to be the one to decide that for them.


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#15
mADAM Scorpious

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Yes, I know what plagiarism is, hence why I said borderline, as depending how things were hypothetically conducted it could result in plagiarism. For example, if he said "I want to write a story about witches" and I too wanted to write a story about witches then wrote a story about witches, it wouldn't be plagiarism, but if he posted his idea about the plot of his witch story and I took that idea and wrote it out(even if written in my own words) without saying based on a story by Chinghis, that still counts as plagiarism in my books or at least intellectual property theft since he would've published the story online and I just took his idea and expanded it without permission.

The TWD writers do get their names credited to what they write collectively, maybe not line by line but they do, and they should be as that becomes apart of their portfolio of work. In my opinion, if someone gives you an idea and you run with it and become successful with it, the least you can do is acknowledge them.

He can do whatever he wants with your advice, but just because he isn't using an idea now it doesn't mean it's a waste as he can always use it later as long as he remembers it, but if he tosses it out there like bread crumbs for other authors, than that could inhibit his ability to pursue his own idea later if someone publishes an expansion of his idea. Anything that allows your possible future meal ticket to be punched by someone else without your consent, is a bad idea. However, if done properly he could share an idea and you two could cowrite it and share credit and that would be a good idea and the start of a lucrative partnership. I'm just saying, if you believe in your ideas wait 'til you're ready to write them don't toss them out for others to capitalize upon.

Of course the fear of getting ripped off shouldn't inhibit you from publishing your final product or work, just make sure your name is attached, and be a whore, not a slut, by which I mean if it's good, don't give it out for free.

I too am a part of the stay at home parent/writer club, and most of my writing is after bedtime or before everyone gets up in the morning, it can be hard but just keep at it.


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#16
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#17
DeadCave

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Continuing the theme of writing tips found across the net. 

This blog is full of great stuff. Worth scrolling down and going page after page. No, really it's got LOTS of great stuff about writing.  


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#18
Thudd

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All of these posts are inspiring, much respect and many thanks!


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#19
DeadCave

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All of these posts are inspiring, much respect and many thanks!

I'm learning a lot just from casual reading of these blogs and tips. I feel that it'll make my final copy of the novel(s) that much more. 
Glad that others are benefitting. 


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#20
Steph

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Due to life right now, I don't have quite the amount of time to devote to writing as I'd like. My kids come first, as any good parent would say. To add to that, it is next to impossible for me to write with my toddler around. Even when she's playing, she still comes over to me a lot to talk, show me something, etc. I can't get into the zone when I only get five or ten minutes here or there. At night I'm just too exhausted to write. 

 

That said, I am still writing, just nothing substantial and only for my own pleasure. At least I'm keeping my writing muscles in shape. When she starts school next year, I plan on going back to spending a few hours in a row a day to work on my next book. In the meantime, stupid fan fic it is haha.


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#21
Valleyaggie

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When I'm in the zone, it just flows. The part I find difficult about writing is that I actually get impatient! lol. I want to get to the next part and get impatient describing the action building up to it. I also get frustrated because things always take so much longer to tell than I had thought they would. I think something will be a few lines and two pages later, I'm still writing it. lol

 

Mostly, I just need to staple my butt down and WRITE.


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#22
That Guy

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When I'm in the zone, it just flows. The part I find difficult about writing is that I actually get impatient! lol. I want to get to the next part and get impatient describing the action building up to it. I also get frustrated because things always take so much longer to tell than I had thought they would. I think something will be a few lines and two pages later, I'm still writing it. lol

 

 

My problem exactly. I just got so many ideas I want to get to, but I need to build up to it or it just wouldn't fit into the current storyline.


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#23
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http://www.openculture.com/2014/03/stephen-kings-top-20-rules-for-writers.html


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#24
DeadCave

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Due to life right now, I don't have quite the amount of time to devote to writing as I'd like. My kids come first, as any good parent would say. To add to that, it is next to impossible for me to write with my toddler around. Even when she's playing, she still comes over to me a lot to talk, show me something, etc. I can't get into the zone when I only get five or ten minutes here or there. At night I'm just too exhausted to write. 

 

That said, I am still writing, just nothing substantial and only for my own pleasure. At least I'm keeping my writing muscles in shape. When she starts school next year, I plan on going back to spending a few hours in a row a day to work on my next book. In the meantime, stupid fan fic it is haha.

I +1 this but still had to smile, thinking about my own writing days when I was handling two little ones a toddler and an infant. My thought went out to you and had to ask ... the toddler does have "nap-time" right. 
However long you have to write, then write. Even if 10 minutes at a time, depending upon your typing skills it shouldn't take long to put down even 500 words (which is roughly a paragraph) which is not bad. 
But yeah my own life gets in the way of trying to finish Caught In A Bind. So do what you can when you can. 

 

When I'm in the zone, it just flows. The part I find difficult about writing is that I actually get impatient! lol. I want to get to the next part and get impatient describing the action building up to it. I also get frustrated because things always take so much longer to tell than I had thought they would. I think something will be a few lines and two pages later, I'm still writing it. lol

 

Mostly, I just need to staple my butt down and WRITE.

I found that it's better to go ahead and slam dunk all those ideas down on "paper" so that when you find a spot in your story that can use the idea then there ya go, no struggle to "what do I need to put here?" Remember that the first go around is just the rough draft so all of that can be cleaned up later as you go back over it. 

 

My problem exactly. I just got so many ideas I want to get to, but I need to build up to it or it just wouldn't fit into the current storyline.

I created a separate page on my HD/folder just for those pesky ideas that make you say "DAMN that's good!!" but haven't found a spot for it... yet. 
Just keep writing as you got time for it. 


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#25
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