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Writers' Bloc - Creative Writing Off Topic Thread

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    #1052
    Das Kitty
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 17,231 Mod ✭✭✭✭Das Kitty


    Well, I went to Doolin.

    I'd really recommend it. Brilliant literary chats to be had.


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    #1053
    redser7
    Registered Users Posts: 2,729 ✭✭✭redser7


    Any names to drop? ;)


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    #1054
    Das Kitty
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 17,231 Mod ✭✭✭✭Das Kitty


    redser7 wrote: »
    Any names to drop? ;)

    Heh!

    My own, obviously!

    :P


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    #1055
    redser7
    Registered Users Posts: 2,729 ✭✭✭redser7


    Wasn't sure where to put this but ... 53 ways to improve your short stories by Thomas Morris ...

    http://bookanista.com/53-ways/


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    #1056
    echo beach
    Registered Users Posts: 1,252 ✭✭✭echo beach


    redser7 wrote: »
    Wasn't sure where to put this but ... 53 ways to improve your short stories by Thomas Morris ...

    http://bookanista.com/53-ways/

    Thanks for that. More reading to do.
    I bet you have no 23 printed out and framed!


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    #1057
    redser7
    Registered Users Posts: 2,729 ✭✭✭redser7


    echo beach wrote: »
    Thanks for that. More reading to do.
    I bet you have no 23 printed out and framed!

    I have to admit I smiled when I read that one :D


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    #1058
    Das Kitty
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 17,231 Mod ✭✭✭✭Das Kitty


    Well, by my watch it's now September so I reckon the desire to pick up pencils and open laptops is due to hit.

    Did anyone have any inspiration over the summer to get them through the dark months?

    I've angered the repetitive strain demon that lives in my shoulder. It hasn't stopped me writing but it's making me generally miserable. They seem to like me at work and have sent me travelling along with a promotion, so extra computer time and lots of sitting in airports hasn't helped.

    But, my novel is getting to a place where I'd be happy enough to start sending it out. It's a fantastic feeling. And I won a short story prize at the start of the summer and the journal it's being published in is coming out this month. So I don't mind a little agony, really!


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    #1059
    addicted to caffeine
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,517 ✭✭✭addicted to caffeine


    been working away on the manuscript as usual, seems to be coming on nicely :D I've written an ending as a point to aim towards otherwise I could keep on going and going! Hope to start all the editing/redraft in 2017 :)


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    #1060
    Das Kitty
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 17,231 Mod ✭✭✭✭Das Kitty


    addicted to caffeine wrote: »
    been working away on the manuscript as usual, seems to be coming on nicely :D I've written an ending as a point to aim towards otherwise I could keep on going and going! Hope to start all the editing/redraft in 2017 :)

    Getting to the end is the best feeling.

    What's your genre?

    I was told when I started that I'd lose some word-count in the rewrites. I gained 10K. :pac:


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    #1061
    addicted to caffeine
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,517 ✭✭✭addicted to caffeine


    Das Kitty wrote:
    Getting to the end is the best feeling.

    Das Kitty wrote:
    What's your genre?

    Das Kitty wrote:
    I was told when I started that I'd lose some word-count in the rewrites. I gained 10K.

    Can't wait to finish :) , I write non fiction. Basically about living life with a disability

    Nice one on the 10k :)


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    #1062
    Das Kitty
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 17,231 Mod ✭✭✭✭Das Kitty


    A heads up to anyone who fancies a punt. The Manchester Fiction Prize is closing on the 23rd of September. The entry fee is higher than most, but the prize is £10,000.

    Bear in mind there will be a metric fcuktonne of entries, so be sure to send your absolute best with a hooky first line/paragraph as readers are going to be jaded bastards going through the pile.

    Details: http://www.manchesterwritingcompetition.co.uk/Fiction-Prize.php


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    #1063
    holy guacamole
    Registered Users Posts: 348 ✭✭holy guacamole


    Already started a thread on this in the Limerick forum so didn't want to start another here:

    I'm looking for unpublished female authors from Limerick for a piece I'm doing for one of the local papers and wondered if anyone here fits the bill, or knew anyone that might?

    The piece in question will attempt to explore the difficulties faced by new authors in getting published in today's environment.

    It's going to be a follow-up to a piece I did on male authors this week.

    Any help would be greatly appreciated.


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    #1064
    Das Kitty
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 17,231 Mod ✭✭✭✭Das Kitty


    holy guacamole wrote: »
    Already started a thread on this in the Limerick forum so didn't want to start another here:

    I'm looking for unpublished female authors from Limerick for a piece I'm doing for one of the local papers and wondered if anyone here fits the bill, or knew anyone that might?

    The piece in question will attempt to explore the difficulties faced by new authors in getting published in today's environment.

    It's going to be a follow-up to a piece I did on male authors this week.

    Any help would be greatly appreciated.

    It's a bit quiet here at the moment. Would you have contact details I can pass on to a group of unpublished writers on facebook (mainly ladies). You can PM me.


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    #1065
    Rubecula
    Registered Users Posts: 8,551 ✭✭✭Rubecula


    I have been toying with a sci-fi idea for a while but I can not get the ending right in my head :(


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    #1066
    Das Kitty
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 17,231 Mod ✭✭✭✭Das Kitty


    Rubecula wrote: »
    I have been toying with a sci-fi idea for a while but I can not get the ending right in my head :(

    I'm happy to be a sounding board for you. Or maybe you just need more mulling time. A big walk?


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    #1067
    Rubecula
    Registered Users Posts: 8,551 ✭✭✭Rubecula


    Thanks DK.

    The story is about a lawman in space. He is nearly killed when his police cruiser is attacked. he gets the nasties in the end. but I want to round off the entire thing in a good way and not just leave it hanging.


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    #1068
    FunLover18
    Registered Users Posts: 6,793 ✭✭✭FunLover18


    Rubecula wrote:
    I have been toying with a sci-fi idea for a while but I can not get the ending right in my head

    Have you started writing yet? Once you find your tone and define your characters, the ending might sort itself out or become more obvious. I didn't really have an ending for my current manuscript when I started but as I wrote my characters and their motivations became clearer to me and and ending formed.


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    #1069
    Rubecula
    Registered Users Posts: 8,551 ✭✭✭Rubecula


    FunLover18 wrote: »
    Have you started writing yet? Once you find your tone and define your characters, the ending might sort itself out or become more obvious. I didn't really have an ending for my current manuscript when I started but as I wrote my characters and their motivations became clearer to me and and ending formed.

    Thank you FunLover, I think it may happen as you say as I actually stopped writing the rough draft in order to concentrate on the ending. I may have been putting the cart before the horse.


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    #1070
    Das Kitty
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 17,231 Mod ✭✭✭✭Das Kitty


    I suppose you want to compare how your character is before, during and after the goings on. Do you want him to be the same, or changed?

    If changed, what impact has the change on his everyday life?


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    #1071
    Rubecula
    Registered Users Posts: 8,551 ✭✭✭Rubecula


    Das Kitty wrote: »
    I suppose you want to compare how your character is before, during and after the goings on. Do you want him to be the same, or changed?

    If changed, what impact has the change on his everyday life?

    Oooh a good point and one I had not considered either. I need to think on this.


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    #1072
    Insect Overlord
    Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 30,857 Mod ✭✭✭✭Insect Overlord


    Did some posts go missing here, or has it really been a year since anyone posted in this thread? :eek:

    How's everybody's writing going?


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    #1073
    Rubecula
    Registered Users Posts: 8,551 ✭✭✭Rubecula


    jaysus that went by very fast


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    #1074
    Insect Overlord
    Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 30,857 Mod ✭✭✭✭Insect Overlord


    Rubecula wrote: »
    jaysus that went by very fast

    Too fast!

    On the bright side, I'm writing a lot more this year than I was last year. Managed to get something into a local chapbook this week. :)


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    #1075
    Rubecula
    Registered Users Posts: 8,551 ✭✭✭Rubecula


    on that other side which we shall call bad I have done no writing at all. my head has been badly mullered this past year.


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    #1076
    FunLover18
    Registered Users Posts: 6,793 ✭✭✭FunLover18


    Meant to reply to this at the time. I don't know if I've been doing any more writing than usual but I feel that what I am doing has lot more direction. I've also been listening to a lot more podcasts which I feel have been helping with my writing and has definitely improved my awareness of certain issues, for example Black Men Can't Jump In Hollywood is a great podcast about how black people or treated and portrayed in movies and for me it's been eye-opening, not that I wasn't aware of the issue but I hadn't really thought about it from a critical perspective.


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    #1077
    Insect Overlord
    Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 30,857 Mod ✭✭✭✭Insect Overlord


    I've been trying to get through the back catalogue of RTÉ's Poetry Programme but the website makes it awkward to find older episodes. Scrolling through the calendar is needlessly time-consuming.

    In more positive news, a poem I had published last month is featured again in another local publication this week. :) The lovely folks behind Stanzas forwarded it to The Limerick Magazine for October. I'm delighted with the extra exposure. A little encouragement goes a long way.


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    #1078
    Das Kitty
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 17,231 Mod ✭✭✭✭Das Kitty


    Rubecula wrote: »
    on that other side which we shall call bad I have done no writing at all. my head has been badly mullered this past year.

    I have also suffered a severe mullering. I've kept writing as much as I can but it's poor. On a positive note after a few weeks of therapy, I'm feeling a bit more able to think in the way I need to to be able to write.

    Which is a good thing, because I've run out of stuff I wrote 2 years ago to send out. :pac:

    I'm starting a screenwriting class tomorrow too. I hope it will be good!


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    #1079
    Das Kitty
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 17,231 Mod ✭✭✭✭Das Kitty


    Insect Overlord wrote: »
    I've been trying to get through the back catalogue of RTÉ's Poetry Programme but the website makes it awkward to find older episodes. Scrolling through the calendar is needlessly time-consuming.

    In more positive news, a poem I had published last month is featured again in another local publication this week. :) The lovely folks behind Stanzas forwarded it to The Limerick Magazine for October. I'm delighted with the extra exposure. A little encouragement goes a long way.

    Congratulations!

    Don't they podcast the poetry programme?


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    #1080
    Insect Overlord
    Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 30,857 Mod ✭✭✭✭Insect Overlord


    Das Kitty wrote: »
    Congratulations!

    Don't they podcast the poetry programme?

    Thanks!

    I'm sure they do, but I haven't been able to find a handy link to it. The instructions on their own web page say to scroll through the archive.

    http://www.rte.ie/radio1/the-poetry-programme/


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    #1081
    echo beach
    Registered Users Posts: 1,252 ✭✭✭echo beach


    Das Kitty wrote: »
    I have also suffered a severe mullering. I've kept writing as much as I can but it's poor.
    You are probably judging yourself to an impossibly high standard. Your idea of 'poor' is probably 'very good' to the rest of us.:D

    Stop reading all the excellent stuff out there. Instead try reading some really poor writing, say the best-selling Couple Next Door. Suddenly you will realise, 'I could do better than that.' :)


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