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Writers' Bloc - Creative Writing Off Topic Thread

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Comments

  • #502
    Orim
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,971 ✭✭✭Orim


    pickarooney wrote: »
    Well, I've read this post twice now and I'm beginning to see what you mean.
    :pac:

    This made me laugh.

    I know Antilles is saying. Tom Clancy is an author I enjoy, Lee Child is another, that doesn't make me feel as negative about writing but at the same time I want to read all the books in enjoy. In other words, ALL THE BOOKS :pac:

    Toaster is probably saying it best. I've got to stop looking at them as competition, possibly something I can never compete with and just try to add the best of them to my own work and see what happens.


  • #503
    De Dannan
    Closed Accounts Posts: 486 ✭✭De Dannan


    Orim wrote: »

    It could be just my own low self-esteem but I was wondering if anyone had else had this experience. Should I just not read good books if I'm trying to write?

    No I think reading a lot can only help a writer to improve. Its amazing how it can improve your vocabluary, amongst other things
    It is also important to write a lot too, practice
    Those great writers all had to start somewhere too !


  • #504
    Kinski
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,555 ✭✭✭Kinski


    If I read that one more action was performed gingerly, I think I'll ****ing scream, he posted in the Off Topic thread, gingerly clicking the left-mouse button.


  • #505
    PurpleBee
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 274 ✭✭PurpleBee


    oh how you insult all the gingerly bred men of ireland!


  • #506
    Antilles
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,183 ✭✭✭Antilles


    Kinski wrote: »
    If I read that one more action was performed gingerly, I think I'll ****ing scream, he posted in the Off Topic thread, gingerly clicking the left-mouse button.

    Is this repeated use in one book, or are you just reading a lot of stuff with that word?

    Once I noticed how often JK Rowling used "groped", it started to get annoying fast.


  • #507
    pickarooney
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 35,489 Mod ✭✭✭✭pickarooney


    I never understood that word. 'Ginger' as a verb is to add spice or animation to something, as you would expect, yet the adverb means virtually the opposite.


  • #508
    Antilles
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,183 ✭✭✭Antilles


    pickarooney wrote: »
    I never understood that word. 'Ginger' as a verb is to add spice or animation to something, as you would expect, yet the adverb means virtually the opposite.

    Inflammable means flammable?


  • #509
    Kinski
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,555 ✭✭✭Kinski


    Antilles wrote: »
    Is this repeated use in one book, or are you just reading a lot of stuff with that word?

    It's cropped up in every novel I've read recently.
    Once I noticed how often JK Rowling used "groped", it started to get annoying fast.

    Poor Hermione!
    Inflammable means flammable?

    That does make sense from an etymological perspective, even if it is potentially confusing.

    Gingerly once meant something like "daintily", but its earlier origins appear to be uncertain.


  • #510
    pickarooney
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 35,489 Mod ✭✭✭✭pickarooney


    Kinski wrote: »
    Gingerly once meant something like "daintily", but its earlier origins appear to be uncertain.

    Cockney rhyming slang?


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  • #511
    Kinski
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,555 ✭✭✭Kinski


    It appears in English in the 16th century, and may be derived from French.

    Strikes me as one of those words people reach for almost unconsciously when writing fiction, as it sounds "literary" (or really, is just overused in fiction and keeps perpetuating itself.)


  • #512
    The Mad Hatter
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,718 ✭✭✭The Mad Hatter


    Antilles wrote: »
    Once I noticed how often JK Rowling used "groped", it started to get annoying fast.

    Heh. My linguistic bugbear with that series was "said a voice," whenever a character made a sudden, dramatic appearance from offstage. It happened more and more frequently in the less and less well-edited later books in the series. It was particularly bad in the case of Kingsley Shacklebolt, who (it was mentioned five or six times in his six or seven appearances in book five) had a "deep voice."


  • #513
    Perla Calm Puppeteer
    Posts: 0 CMod ✭✭✭✭ Perla Calm Puppeteer


    robert jordan's favourite word was "ostentatious" ;s


  • #514
    The Mad Hatter
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,718 ✭✭✭The Mad Hatter


    Time to dust off my first novel for another rewrite, I think. I really need to rethink the characters, but I don't hate it entirely. Anyone willing to beta-read chapter by chapter as I get through it?


  • #515
    pickarooney
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 35,489 Mod ✭✭✭✭pickarooney


    I'd be happy to. As long as it's not about flax.


  • #516
    The Mad Hatter
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,718 ✭✭✭The Mad Hatter


    pickarooney wrote: »
    I'd be happy to. As long as it's not about flax.

    Damn, just my luck.


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  • #517
    wavehopper1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 356 ✭✭wavehopper1


    The Mad Hatter wrote: »
    Time to dust off my first novel for another rewrite, I think. I really need to rethink the characters, but I don't hate it entirely. Anyone willing to beta-read chapter by chapter as I get through it?

    What's your genre?


  • #518
    The Mad Hatter
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,718 ✭✭✭The Mad Hatter


    wavehopper1 wrote: »
    What's your genre?

    I believe they call it "literary fiction." The story is of an elderly man confronting his own death.


  • #519
    Kinski
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,555 ✭✭✭Kinski


    The Mad Hatter wrote: »
    The story is of an elderly man confronting his own Death.

    Now it's a horror novel.


  • #520
    wavehopper1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 356 ✭✭wavehopper1


    The Mad Hatter wrote: »
    I believe they call it "literary fiction." The story is of an elderly man confronting his own death.

    If you'd like a second beta, I'd be happy to oblige.

    I'm working on a novel (aren't we all), but nowhere near the finish line.


  • #521
    Antilles
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,183 ✭✭✭Antilles


    Kinski wrote: »
    Now it's a horror novel.

    Fixed:
    The Mad Hatter wrote:
    The story is of an elderly flax salesman confronting his own Death.


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  • #522
    Kinski
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,555 ✭✭✭Kinski


    Death of a Flax Salesman.


  • #523
    pickarooney
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 35,489 Mod ✭✭✭✭pickarooney


    The Flax of Life (and Death)


  • #524
    McChubbin
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,080 ✭✭✭McChubbin


    Flaxen quim. *snort*
    Anyone here read Fifty Shades of Grey? I'm eight chapters in and finding it very similar in many senses to Twilight. I soon found out it started life as a Twilight fanfiction that then evolved and developed on it's own.
    Still, I'm intrigued.
    It's holding my attention better than Stephenie Myer ever wrote... >_>


  • #525
    The Mad Hatter
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,718 ✭✭✭The Mad Hatter


    Antilles wrote: »
    Fixed:

    It's called Death and Flaxes.


  • #526
    Leafonthewind
    Registered Users Posts: 62 ✭✭Leafonthewind


    The Mad Hatter wrote: »
    Time to dust off my first novel for another rewrite, I think. I really need to rethink the characters, but I don't hate it entirely. Anyone willing to beta-read chapter by chapter as I get through it?

    If you need another pair of eyes, I'd be willing to read it as well. I happen to like flax.


  • #527
    McChubbin
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,080 ✭✭✭McChubbin


    Just finished the first 7 pages of my second draft. I'm very pleased with the direction it's going! :D
    I won't give anything away but it's currently set in London and so far, I've introduced three characters. If anyone's interested in reading it, I might put up a "Critique Wanted" thread.


  • #528
    Noelly
    Registered Users Posts: 158 ✭✭Noelly


    McChubbin wrote: »
    Flaxen quim. *snort*
    Anyone here read Fifty Shades of Grey? I'm eight chapters in and finding it very similar in many senses to Twilight. I soon found out it started life as a Twilight fanfiction that then evolved and developed on it's own.
    Still, I'm intrigued.
    It's holding my attention better than Stephenie Myer ever wrote... >_>

    Like Twilight, really? I'm on Chapter 9, but I suppose up to chapter 8 it is a fairly innocent story, it's after that it changes a lot. Only started it earlier, but really excited for the rest of it now. Not sure why people are saying The Hunger Games readers would enjoy it though, the vast majority of them being young teenagers, I don't think it'd be exactly suitable..


  • #529
    PurpleBee
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 274 ✭✭PurpleBee


    The Hunger Games isn't exactly innocent either!


  • #530
    Noelly
    Registered Users Posts: 158 ✭✭Noelly


    PurpleBee wrote: »
    The Hunger Games isn't exactly innocent either!

    True, but if you've read Fifty Shades Of Grey, it's in a fairly different league, parts of it are basically a BDSM journal.


  • #531
    PurpleBee
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 274 ✭✭PurpleBee


    Haha I didn't think I was so innocent but I had to google BDSM, too early for that sort of thing. Originally I thought it was an -ism with the vowels left out


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  • #532
    Insect Overlord
    Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 30,912 Mod ✭✭✭✭Insect Overlord


    Did some posts disappear from here, or did everyone just abandon the thread for 2 weeks?


  • #533
    pickarooney
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 35,489 Mod ✭✭✭✭pickarooney


    Blatant abandonment of vehicles it looks like to me.


  • #534
    Toasterspark
    Closed Accounts Posts: 273 ✭✭Toasterspark


    Does it feel a little quiet around here lately? We should do another writing comp or something. I am so game for it this time, after not getting a chance last time.


  • #535
    Perla Calm Puppeteer
    Posts: 0 CMod ✭✭✭✭ Perla Calm Puppeteer


    if yer man would hurry up and post in the arena again we'd see some action

    i've been very busy lately only getting more quiet now


  • #536
    pickarooney
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 35,489 Mod ✭✭✭✭pickarooney


    I've been up the walls and lacking the energy to start another contest, even if it's just glorified cutting and pasting. Let fly with any madcap ideas you have.


  • #537
    Das Kitty
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 17,231 Mod ✭✭✭✭Das Kitty


    pickarooney wrote: »
    I've been up the walls and lacking the energy to start another contest, even if it's just glorified cutting and pasting. Let fly with any madcap ideas you have.

    Porn-off?

    That would get the forum hit-rate up!

    I'm kind of glad yer man hasn't come back to the arena, I have something to get finished by Monday that I promised someone.

    But I will step up if someone challenges. Godammit!


  • #538
    pickarooney
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 35,489 Mod ✭✭✭✭pickarooney


    Das Kitty wrote: »
    Porn-off?

    Do go on...


  • #539
    Perla Calm Puppeteer
    Posts: 0 CMod ✭✭✭✭ Perla Calm Puppeteer


    Das Kitty wrote: »
    Porn-off?

    you just want an excuse to write more smut :pac:


  • #540
    Das Kitty
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 17,231 Mod ✭✭✭✭Das Kitty


    bluewolf wrote: »
    you just want an excuse to write more smut :pac:

    Like I need an excuse!

    Ha ha.


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  • #541
    Perla Calm Puppeteer
    Posts: 0 CMod ✭✭✭✭ Perla Calm Puppeteer


    Das Kitty wrote: »
    Like I need an excuse!

    Ha ha.

    I thought of that when I posted but I had to put it out there anyway ;)


  • #542
    hcass
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 628 ✭✭✭hcass


    I finished my Creative & MEdia Writing Degree today. I'm so happy I could explode.

    Dole queue here I come!


  • #543
    Duffy the Vampire Slayer
    Registered Users Posts: 5,382 ✭✭✭Duffy the Vampire Slayer


    After years of talking about writing, I've finally started doing it. I'm ecstatic at this.


  • #544
    Whelpling
    Registered Users Posts: 50 ✭✭Whelpling


    Duffy the Vampire Slayer wrote: »
    After years of talking about writing, I've finally started doing it. I'm ecstatic at this.

    Yay! Good luck with it. Are we allowed to know what sort of project it is? :D


  • #545
    Duffy the Vampire Slayer
    Registered Users Posts: 5,382 ✭✭✭Duffy the Vampire Slayer


    I've written some poems and I'm trying to put together a short story.

    By the way, does the Irish Times still do the Flash Fiction section?


  • #546
    Redwolfe
    Registered Users Posts: 19 ✭Redwolfe


    I want to write something but it might be rubbish so I'm reading this thread instead. But ye are all gone now so I'll have to start I suppose.


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  • #547
    Antilles
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,183 ✭✭✭Antilles


    Ray Bradbury has died. One of my literary heroes :(


  • #548
    pickarooney
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 35,489 Mod ✭✭✭✭pickarooney


    Today is my tenth anniversary as a boardsie. Yikes.


  • #549
    Das Kitty
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 17,231 Mod ✭✭✭✭Das Kitty


    I didn't even know you could check the date.

    25th September 2001. Just starting fourth year in university.


  • #550
    Perla Calm Puppeteer
    Posts: 0 CMod ✭✭✭✭ Perla Calm Puppeteer


    23-10-2003

    think i was in 3rd year uni then


  • #551
    pickarooney
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 35,489 Mod ✭✭✭✭pickarooney


    I can't remember what I was doing when I signed up (probably unemployed after emigrating and my first two companies closed down :D) but I'm pretty sure I was lurking for at least two years before that.


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