April 6, 2010
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What I’ve Learned So Far From Writing
It’s been slow and tedious writing the short stories for my other blog (RawStories). Colin and I had originally planned to write a short story a month. I guess I should have done a bit more planning.
1. Begin with the end in mind.
When I started, I just did a quick part 1 and hope the story will write itself. It didn’t and despite countless hours of smoking and drinking, nothing came to mind. Ok, I don’t smoke or drink. Maybe that’s the problem. I think I’ll have at least an outline written down first before I start a short story.2. Writing one part at a time.
Now that I’ve written part 3, I want to go back and re-edit a few things. Once I posted it, it was too late to go back and change things.3. Finding time to write.
I can’t write in 5 or 10 minutes chunk at a time. 12 x 5 minutes chunks does not equal 1 hour of writing time. It’s not easy to set aside an hour or so to write each day. I try to get couple of paragraphs done each day.4. I should have paid attention in English class.
Oh my English teachers would be laughing if they saw this. Now I keep asking myself, how do I make the plot interesting? How about the characters? What’s the theme, plot, subplots, pace, flow… ugh.Anyways, I’m procrastinating… back to a bit more writing.
Comments (23)
I am trying to write and article, and have trouble doing it. I love writing, and would love one day to publish a book.
nice Matt. thanks for sharing this
I’m just impressed you’re doing it. As much as I enjoy writing, I have never considered writing fiction and don’t even know how I would start. Perhaps that is why I am so fascinated with books and movies that are really character-driven, because I don’t know how one really goes about developing a character that sounds real. I recall in university I had to write and shoot a script for one of my TV production classes and the resulting dialogue, even though it was a coming out story that mirrored my own experience, sounded horribly flat.
I have written stories Matt, that I would love to post on your blog. Unfortuantely, they are not short. They are truly long, and I am thinking of posting them in several parts. This is the reason why I haven’t come visiting you there.
It certainly sounds like a learning experience… hopefully you can gain much from it.
I always look forward to reading your posts, here and there.
Keep it up, it will only get easier… one would hope.
*~matthew~*
Your pointers reminded me of my writing course at the university, very well ,Prof. Matt!
Writing IS hard! This prroject is way hard
This current story is killing me… but thanks a lot for continuing to read and comment. I really appreciate it, it helps a lot.
Thanks for these short tips. I know they shall come in handy, especially for one like me who has no formal training in writing.
Stop smoking!
The more you practice it, the easier it gets! I think the best way to get the ball rolling is to read more literature for story and style inspiration.
i’m doing alright with no.1 and 2, it’s no.3 and 4 that are my weaknesses.
My old prof told us the same thing – Find a beginning and a end and the rest will come easily. Yea, sure for himi!!!
i’ve yet to visit your other blog —— i couldn’t remember what it was called in that one time you promoted it! i’ll check it out now.
i’m expecting brilliant stories from you!
you’re keeping the writing dream alive, i love that. i like to say ‘i would love to write as well’ and not doing anything about it, so kudos to you.
Good luck! I have a username for my writing blog but the writing is going to have to wait until after I finish with school!
No worries, it’s part of the process.
i think if you do #1, #2 will not be so much of a problem. that way you have the whole storyline planned out so that you won’t add things in or leave details out that will become important to later portions of the story.
for #4, my mom used to teach about a set of medieval conventions that always appear in every [medieval fantasy story] plot; they tend to be a very basic set of events that make for a classic story. (she’s an english teacher, who among other things taught a writing class.) i wish i could remember all of them; i know there were things like “at the end, the hero goes alone to face the enemy.” if you can find a list of plot conventions like this, it might help you get some ideas on how a typical story layout usually goes. of course, you can be creative and just make your story do whatever you want — you are, after all, the author!
Thanks for posting the link to the project site you and Secade have. I have a lot of catch up reading to do now. Hahaha
OMG i know what you mean. Ive been trying to write a story since I was 14 or something and still havent managed to get it going anywhere because I havent figured out an ending, or even a middle. Lol my english teachers would be spinning in their graves if they were dead :S
You’re an inspiration to us all. Keep up the good work.
I had to learn number 1 the hard way. I tried to write a story a few years ago, but it just did not get anywhere ’cause I didn’t know what to do with it. Now I don’t write stories starting at the beginning. I start at the climax, then I write the end, and then I go back to the beginning….
@Mal_P - I hope you get to write and publish your book!
@macphoto - oh, it’s just some notes I’m trying to make for myself. Thank you for the rec.
@christao408 - Chris – thanks for the advice on the story so far. I’m going to incorporate them into the next part. I really wish I had some formal training. Now I’m trying to go back to some books I’ve enjoyed and see if I can dissect them. Gosh – isn’t that what we used to call a book report?
@ZSA_MD - do what I do, I created another Xanga to make it easier for others to follow. I know there will be many of us who would love to read your stories.
@bleuzeus - I do hope it’ll get easier. It is fun though in a bizarre, sadistic sort of way.
@CurryPuffy - send me your old text books!
@secade - I also want to thank you for your support and encouragement too! It’s not easy, but it’s still fun to craft together a story.
@Norcani - gosh, I don’t have any formal training in writing too.
@Wangium - hahaha… I was just kidding.
@Rm2046 - yeah, that’s a great tip! I wish I read more when I was in school. Now I’m trying to read more and also understand what the author is doing.
@rudyhou - I’m curious to see what your stories are like.
@Fatcat723 - ”rest will come easily” hahaha… it sometimes takes me 30 minutes to write a couple of sentences. This is the ultimate S&M!
@stepaside_loser - oh gosh… it’s pretty basic stuff. I read your suggestions – thank you for the input.
@TheCheshireGrins - I would go insane with your workload… seriously. I marvel at how you’re able to manage everything.
@yang1815 - you know, I think that profile picture really fits you. You always seem to be the cheery, happy kind a guy.
@kunhuo42 - yeah, I sort of have a mental imagery of how the story should go. But when I put it down on words, it’s not the same. It’s sort of like imagining a palace but drawing a shack.
@oxyGENE_08 - hahaha.. the subject matter may not be to your liking though.
@Somuchtimesolittletodo - well, I hope you get to write that story soon!
@CareyGLY - moi? an inspiration? Oh Carey, you always know what to say.
@Imnotcrazyjustinsane - that’s an interesting way of doing it. I’ve never tried that before. I’m not sure I’ve got the basics down yet. I’ll have to keep this in mind.
@ElusiveWords - oh did not know you were into S&M!!!!
@ElusiveWords - And always eating!