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Writers' Bloc - Creative Writing Off Topic Thread

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  • #482
    hcass
    Registered Users Posts: 628 ✭✭✭hcass


    When can you call yourself a writer? Do you have to be receive payment first? If someone I meet asks what my job is or what do you do? Can I say - I am a writer, even though I've never been paid or published? Apart from some silly charity booklet thingy. Well, what yis think?

    I'd feel like a right knob saying I was a writer if I didn't have a novel or some kind of recognition to back up my claim...


  • #483
    Das Kitty
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 17,231 Mod ✭✭✭✭Das Kitty


    Antilles wrote: »
    Does this deserve a thread of its own?

    Possibly, but until then, thither: http://bigthink.com/ideas/42182

    The Topic is up: Future Food


  • #484
    Antilles
    Registered Users Posts: 1,183 ✭✭✭Antilles


    Think you'll enter, DK? I set up a thread in Write Club about it.

    I've been brainstorming since this morning, and have a few ideas to play with tonight.


  • #485
    Das Kitty
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 17,231 Mod ✭✭✭✭Das Kitty


    Antilles wrote: »
    Think you'll enter, DK? I set up a thread in Write Club about it.

    I've been brainstorming since this morning, and have a few ideas to play with tonight.

    Yeah, it looks likely. I have an idea, not sure how I'm going to get it into the word limit but I'll give it a go.


  • #486
    wavehopper1
    Registered Users Posts: 355 ✭✭wavehopper1


    Antilles wrote: »
    Think you'll enter, DK? I set up a thread in Write Club about it.

    I've been brainstorming since this morning, and have a few ideas to play with tonight.

    I did a bit of brain storming too, but when I tried not to think about Soylent Green I just zoned in on the talking cow in the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy that pleads with restaurant patrons to carve pieces of its flank :D


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  • #487
    Das Kitty
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 17,231 Mod ✭✭✭✭Das Kitty


    wavehopper1 wrote: »
    I did a bit of brain storming too, but when I tried not to think about Soylent Green I just zoned in on the talking cow in the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy that pleads with restaurant patrons to carve pieces of its flank :D

    They were the first two that came to me as well but I told them to get lost. :) You gonna enter wavehopper?


  • #488
    Antilles
    Registered Users Posts: 1,183 ✭✭✭Antilles


    Das Kitty wrote: »
    They were the first two that came to me as well but I told them to get lost. :) You gonna enter wavehopper?

    That makes three of us - exact same two came to mind straight away.

    I've got a page full of ideas now but no idea how to turn them into a coherent story :(


  • #489
    Das Kitty
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 17,231 Mod ✭✭✭✭Das Kitty


    Antilles wrote: »
    That makes three of us - exact same two came to mind straight away.

    I've got a page full of ideas now but no idea how to turn them into a coherent story :(

    You could just start writing and see where it leads? Mine actually ended up completely differently than I had first intended after I started writing.

    I have my first draft done but it's 400 words too long. I have room to cut it back though, I just have to make sure the concepts are still clear. 1000 word limits are hard.


  • #490
    wavehopper1
    Registered Users Posts: 355 ✭✭wavehopper1


    Das Kitty wrote: »
    They were the first two that came to me as well but I told them to get lost. :) You gonna enter wavehopper?

    When they announced the genre was SF I was intending to have a go. But future food doesn't push any buttons for me.

    Aside from that, writers must publish their story on www.storiad.com. The Big Think website had an article (puff piece) for the site which was clearly written by Storiad's marketing manager.

    I had a look at Storiad's T&C and this part struck me:

    "by submitting, posting or displaying User Content which is intended to be available to the general public, You grant Storiad.com a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to reproduce, adapt, distribute and publish such User Content for the purpose of promoting Storiad.com services."

    Is that usual for online story contests? I don't know.


  • #491
    Das Kitty
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 17,231 Mod ✭✭✭✭Das Kitty


    Argh! Bloody thing turned to dust. Oh well. Next time maybe.


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  • #492
    PurpleBee
    Registered Users Posts: 274 ✭✭PurpleBee


    I wonder do writers have better dreams?


  • #493
    Insect Overlord
    Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 30,850 Mod ✭✭✭✭Insect Overlord


    On what scale would you measure the "better-ness" of dreams?


  • #494
    Antilles
    Registered Users Posts: 1,183 ✭✭✭Antilles


    Insect Overlord wrote: »
    On what scale would you measure the "better-ness" of dreams?

    The same way you measure the quality of real life -- the amount of sex you're having.


  • #495
    me-skywalker
    Registered Users Posts: 3,339 ✭✭✭me-skywalker


    Its been awhile since I've contributed anything myself to the forum. Have had a mini block, it has been like trying to squeeze the last bit of toothpaste out of the tube but words and idea's have started coming out surely and in the main its thanks to lots of the advice been given and also some of the critique's and suggestions on the threads that I have been lurking over the past couple of weeks.

    So just a general thanks because I've taken bits(not actual work) from different posters and some more than others.... so, yea... thanks!


  • #496
    PurpleBee
    Registered Users Posts: 274 ✭✭PurpleBee


    Antilles wrote: »
    The same way you measure the quality of real life -- the amount of sex you're having.

    I was thinking more characterisation, plot, pacing... but I also happen to agree with your unit of measurement


  • #497
    Antilles
    Registered Users Posts: 1,183 ✭✭✭Antilles


    PurpleBee wrote: »
    characterisation, plot, pacing...

    Yeah that's pretty much how I measure the quality of sex too ;)


  • #498
    Orim
    Registered Users Posts: 4,971 ✭✭✭Orim


    Quick question (don't think it deserves it's own thread)

    I've been writing on and off for a while now. Recently I've come up an idea for a story and I've been working on it on and off. I've found that depending on what I lose the will to write.

    As an example I recently read American Gods and I'm reading Drawing of the Three (Dark Tower series) at the moment. In essence these books are so good that they put me off writing :(

    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?


  • #499
    Antilles
    Registered Users Posts: 1,183 ✭✭✭Antilles


    Orim wrote: »
    Quick question (don't think it deserves it's own thread)

    I've been writing on and off for a while now. Recently I've come up an idea for a story and I've been working on it on and off. I've found that depending on what I lose the will to write.

    As an example I recently read American Gods and I'm reading Drawing of the Three (Dark Tower series) at the moment. In essence these books are so good that they put me off writing :(

    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?

    Try reading some stuff by authors who aren't widely acknowledged as masters of the craft!

    Read some Tom Clancy or Dan Brown. By the fifth time you think "how the hell did this crap get published?", your confidence will have returned.


  • #500
    pickarooney
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 35,025 Mod ✭✭✭✭pickarooney


    Antilles wrote: »
    Try reading some stuff by authors who aren't widely acknowledged as masters of the craft!

    Read some Tom Clancy or Dan Brown. By the fifth time you think "how the hell did this crap get published?", your confidence will have returned.

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


  • #501
    Toasterspark
    Closed Accounts Posts: 273 ✭✭Toasterspark


    Well, what is or isn't a good book is very subjective to the reader.

    I read American Gods and while I liked elements of the book, I found the whole thing to be a bad read overall. I definitely wouldn't classify it as a great book like some of the hardcore Neil Gaiman fans would. As a reader (and occasional writer), I felt like he had a mythology book in one hand, and his little moleskin notebook of random musings in the other, and forced all his ideas into a book that was very anti-climactic.

    You'll always have favourite authors, and they are your favourite because their writing style appeals to you, or you like the way they build their characters up, or you like how they create a visual in your head.

    You will inevitably have your own style of writing, and while it may not match up to your favourite writers' books, it may appeal in a totally different way to another bunch of readers.

    See what makes you like your favourite authors, and incorporate the features you like into your own writing style. Don't look at good authors as competition - look at them as aides to help your own writing.


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  • #502
    Orim
    Registered Users 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 Posts: 274 ✭✭PurpleBee


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


  • #506
    Antilles
    Registered Users 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: 35,025 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 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: 35,025 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.)


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