too lazy for title
So I'm still around. Just quieter or something. Less post-y? That should be a word. Anyway, yes. I've been busy with school lately and lots of not thinking about just how close to adultdom I am right now. 7 more months until graduation...eeeek.
Also seriously contemplating dying my hair dark brown again. I like dark hair in the winter. Why ( Read more... )
Also seriously contemplating dying my hair dark brown again. I like dark hair in the winter. Why ( Read more... )
And I completely know what you mean about writing something that just works without editing. Usually I write things that are quite crack happy the first time through, but yeah, every now there's a sentence or two that makes me jump up and down and grin and read it again and again and again. Other things I love are finding absolutely perfect songs to write to because I cannot write without music and the two are weirdly linked for me. Like I have to have the right song to listen to that embodies the mood of the scene and then I have to have it on repeat the entire time I'm writing that scene (and I'm sure I drive my poor neighbors crazy with this, but no one's complained yet) and so yeah, finding the right song/artist completely makes my day.
And oh my gosh, yes, breaking out of the fanfic writing voice. Hee. For the longest time I could not come up with a female character that wasn't a carbon copy of Meredith Grey in some way. And I couldn't think of a relationship without instantly thinking of MerDer. But now I can, and it's really kinda freeing in a way? Because that's what I used to do before writing fanfic, and it is nice to know I can have that part of my brain back lol.
Also, I love your strategy for developing your characters. I'm terribly disorganized and have scraps about my people all over the place. But I agree with the absolute fun of developing characters. I love how little things about them will pop into my head at the most random times.
Ooh, your piece sounds very intriguing genre-wise! I'm such a geek for pretty much all types of fantasy and sci-fi. Mine's more of the traditional epic, sword and sorcery type fantasy with a big focus on the romance between the two leads. So, epic romance or something? I should do a better job of learning all the genre names lol.
YAY for people I can talk writing with! XD
THIS. Me too! :D :D
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Oh, that makes my character sound terribly shallow. But I just think about that kind of stuff. I have this like character building template thing that just gets you to ask yourself certain questions about your character-- not that you have to put the facts in, but you just have to know them. lmao.
OMG, the music-thing? This is me. I actually have to wear headphones now because it was irritating everyone so much. lmao. I remember this time when I had Snow Patrol 'Run' just constantly on. And I'm also weird, because say I was writing like the climax of the scene, it would have to be louder, and if I'm just sort of boodling along planning or writing something of little-drama, it would be quiet, and I just ended up feeling really sorry for the people I live with. Headphones was the way. haha.
Ugh. I'm also such a geek for that kind of stuff. Which I think is why I sort of need to calm my ADHD brain and focus on a genre so that I can fit it into those kind of conventions. But not entirely.
Because I'm a rebel. =P
Epic romance?! Fantasy?! Swords?! Oh my gosh. I love it so much. Seriously. I love the focus on the leads, that's where I always am... (except this time I'm doing more of an ensemble-y thing, but still with focus on the leads-- does that make sense? haha) characters are the most important thing to me when I read (and write) so I love that you've placed that importance with them. Do you know exactly where it's going or do you still need to consider the plot more?
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But yeah, I know what you mean about the character building stuff. I use those templates too and find them to be really useful. Although in my case I can't fill them out until I've written at least a chapter or two with the character because otherwise who they are is just too vague a concept in my head or something. I used to try to fill them out first as a nice starting point and that just did not work. I'd stare at the screen and get all angry because I did not know what Character A's greatest fear was and anything I wrote down felt like I was just making crap up. Which is what the whole writing thing is, but whatever, my brain is weird?
You do the music thing too??? This makes my day. Also, I've used Snow Patrol's "Run" for writing to before too. It's a good writing song! I've tried to use headphones and it just doesn't work. It puts the music too far inside my head, if that makes sense, so I'm doomed to annoy others lol.
Hehe, genre rebel. This sounds like a good thing! Also, yes, swords. I loooooove things with swords haha. I'm definitely about the characters too when I'm reading or writing. I like to fall in love with characters and then go on their journey with them more than I like stories that focus on plot more than character. Not that there shouldn't be a plot too, but yeah, I'm going to assume you know what I mean because I'm clearly very bad at the explaining this morning.
Ooh, I like the sound of an ensemble-y thing. I don't know if you've read A Song of Ice and Fire, but I love how it switches from character to character. Except sometimes I feel like it switches a little too often from the awesome people, so still focusing on the leads within the ensemble sounds like the perfect solution!
Plotwise, I sorta know where I'm going. I have kinda the overarching ideas of where I want things to go, and I have several scenes at key points very, very clear within my head, but I have to work out a lot of how exactly I get from A to B. A lot of that I just discover though by writing. I tend to need to write things in order and then go back and edit. Jumping around to different points in the story and writing scenes that I then piece together has never worked that well for me. What about you?
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MM. I love ensemble-y stuff because you get to explore a shizzload of things from different perspectives which is kind of wonderful, but at the same time, I don't want that frustration of "Yeah, but WHAT ABOUT THEM?!?!" so I'm really looking at: "Okay, who do I need? Whose pushing the story along? Whose making me want to keep writing?" and then paring back everyone else. At the end of the day, if I'm not invested in the character, I can't expect a reader to be. And I was looking at some with DISDAIN, like "You're just there to make up the numbers, I hope you know that." I've also spent this week, creating someone out of lots of people that I didn't like anymore, so now I love them. I was like "I'll take that bit of you... and that bit of this one... NOT THAT BIT. GET RID OF THAT BIT. But that bit, that bit I like." lmao. Yeah, I have a strange manner of talking to the pages and the characters and myself. No, there's no need to call a doctor, it's okay. haha.
Plot usually becomes kind of irrelevant to me. If I love a character enough, I could read them go to the shops and still find it fascinating, and then there are others where it can be the most WOW story ever, but I hate the characters so I could not care less. And I don't care whether they live or die, or whether they come to an epiphany or whether they learn a lovely lesson because they're so plain or too perfect or too one-dimensional that I'm just like "Guh. No thanks."
Obviously, plot is important. I'm just saying.
I wish I could write in order and then go back and edit, I really struggle to do that. Seriously, this is me jealous. I have to jump about and go to this part and then go back and then rush to the end then edit as I go. I think I'm going to need to snap myself out of this though, to be completely honest, just because I'm finding it hard to make those in between scenes work. You know, Like, I'll have this scene and I'll have this scene over here, but I can't write how they get there, and it becomes so contrived it's ridiculous. So yeah, if I was writing in order, it might be like, "No, this is how we get there." and then it would make sense. Ugh. Oh well. I'll get it. haha.
Hopefully. Please? lmao.
How's your writing going in general lately? ^_^
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Ooh, yes, I completely agree with you on what is wonderful about ensembles. Because you get to meet SO MANY PEOPLE! in the way you usually just meet main characters, and that always helps me with the falling in love with the characters part. And then I always end up with my favorites and I get so, so excited when what I'm reading switches back to them. But I really love how it can let you see how another character views the main character and stuff like that. I THINK THIS IS VERY EXCITING STUFF! Also, I am now kind of in love with your description of how you talk to your characters. It is very wonderfully mad scientist of you.
Also, yes, characters. Heee. They are definitely the most important. Once a book gets me to fall completely in love with them, I'd sit there happily and read about them eating their breakfast and think it is pretty much the best thing ever. And I completely agree about the characters who are too perfect. They end up being dull to read about. I tend to like the ones with flaws and secrets and hang-ups and, you know, the things real people have too! Plus, they're more fun to create in my opinion.
Yeah, I can't escape the writing in order thing. When I was younger, it never occurred to me that you could write a story out of order. And then writing fanfic kinda reinforced that because of posting after writing each chapter. And most of the time it's convenient, except when I get absolutely stuck on the section that comes next. Then I basically have to remind myself that it really will be okay if I write a scene out of order. And that it's much better than just staring at the screen and writing nothing at all! Hehe, I'm actually a bit jealous of people like you who do hop around from scene to scene because that seems so much more exciting! I've tried it on occasion though and I get so confused by all these snippets in random places! I think it's very impressive!
My writing's been going fairly well, I just wish I could write FASTER!! I feel like it takes forever to get a scene written. And I want to get to the part where I have the whole story complete and get to edit it and make it pretty, but I'm so far from that point that it can be a little frustrating. Although I've recently recovered from one of my writing procrastinating moods. I tend to be a procrastinator, but I love writing and so it always frustrates me when I put it off, even though I'm the one deciding to put it off and go watch clips on YouTube instead. IDK basically I need more discipline!
How about you? :)
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