emm.... We need to talk..

el_tiddlero

OK, i've noticed that people just mostly post their work and expect comments or whatever here and thats cool, its always good to get some anomynous criticism, as its usually more honest than what you get off your mates/family/cat etc... but i had thought that there might be a bit more of a communal feel to this whole endevour, i mean cold souless criticism is good but what is better is criticism where people know how and why you write the way you do.... it would also be interesting to compare the kinds of techniques people use to approach their writing, are you a midnight scribbler? do you spend four weeks deciding if it should be a comma or a semi-colon? if something only rhymes the way you pronounce it are you afraid to use it? do you write straight through or do you revise and revise until you think its right? you know what i'm getting at...
anyway i guess i'll start... most of my work is designed to be... *ahem* educational, as in i believe that if you read something i wrote you should have either a new idea or be previously aware of the idea i have presented.. most of my work has a singular theme as in one theme per poem, thats pretty much the same as anyone else i'd reckon although i figure the longer i'm at this then the better i'll get, i'd also reckon that women are probably better at incorporating more than one solid theme into prose, due to that whole multi-tasking advantage they have!! I write mostly in the evening with a beer or a smoke, the words flow easier when you oil the mind i've found but sometimes one will just boil up and end up being written in tiny letters on the back of a dart ticket or a beermat or whatever happens to be lying around. i'm prolific in bursts, writing two three and even one time six in a row, i write in a (god i hate terms like this) "psuedo-stream of consciousness manner" as in i don't change them when they are finsihed, i just let it go and see what happens, mostly i have no idea what they are about until i hit the end and i only add titles when i type them and they usually have very little to do with what its about...
so i reckon that about explains how i do my writing, in the sense of poetry anyway, i usually do write poems for obvious high completion rate reasons, i've a few books, stories etc on the go but basically i never have the time to get a good run at them and they end up very fragmented... i've tried to write plays too but my ability to write dialogue is limited at best, my characters sound so terrible its ridiculous, they're great characters until they open their mouths i guess!!!
So i hope everyone will take the time to explain a little of how they do things and that way we might all find out some new techniques or even get a wee discussion going on how you think the fine art of writing should be approached, it'd be a shame to have a burgeoning community of writers who never discussed their art so come on and spill it....
ok, thats my lot, thanks for your time!!

funky penguin

Good thread. Perhaps a couple of links to your pieces would be nice?

Eh, generally, I don't write poetry, if I do, it's very Hopkinsish, as I adore his imagery.

I do, however write short stories. Very short stories. I'm the kind of writer that will plan for months, only writing in notebooks, occassionally starting pieces. When I do, I'm finished rather quickly, and tend to only read over it once or twice.

I havent posted much of my work at all (in fact the only one i can recall I actually wrote on the spot here ), and I am currently scribbling notes on a childrens novel I'm hoping to complete.

I don't really know how the art of writing should be approached, but I know everyone has their own unique way. It's what creates diversity in literature and helps each piece differ from the next.

As far as influences go, I'd have to say Roald Dahl, Hemingway, Terry Pratchett, and more recently JK Rowling.

ven0m

For 16 years I've had a notebook of some sort with me wherever I go - cos I'll write anywhere, anytime & I won't pay attention to conventions. Alot of the time I like stuff to rhyme or for the 'feel' to be very rhythmical when I'm writing so even when you're going through the words you can 'feel' a metre to it. I think it comes from the fact alot of my writing does tend to be very hiphop orientated or the fact I like alot of styles of 'spoken word' or free forms. I also like what I write to say something, although sometimes for metre or 'rhythm' purposes this goes off track for me - it's a case of sacrificing content for rhythm.


::: ven0mous :::

funky penguin

ooo, your the chap who posted the hiphop lyrics! they're very good.

el_tiddlero

hey funky p... short stories are good, i'd like to know more though, all this prep work, is it characters?? locations? scenarios? how does it go, talk us through one, if you don't mind that is... i've written one or two of them but like you said of yours posted here, twas a pretty off the cuff thing when i was bored selling furniture a while back... they're fun but again i think its rate of completion sort of stuff, i struggle mightily with the discipline of writing, you have to go at it constantly to get anywhere, so i;ve been told by those wiser than me anyway... its tough when you have to work and then have some sort of social life and then try and write about your experiences as it all happens, its so tough to keep up a consistent level.... i was so annoyed i missed that whole write a novel in november thing, that sounds like an excellent way for anyone to cut their teeth at a novel, communal activities are always much easier to engage in!!!
and venom, i have a certain emapthy for you, i got into writing mostly when i realised i was never going to be slash, i was always good with words, or lyrics as i used to call them but i never had then tunes to go with them.. rap is this whole other culture to most irish people(apologies if i'm mistaken), although it should be a lot closer than we realise imo, it speaks of regular life in a frank and honest manner like our poets and writers and even our musicians and our artists did, i'm not saying 50cnt is the new yeats or anything but i think rap is pretty much poetry to music... ok, aside from the cultural comparisons i suppose my real question is this.. do you, when you sacrifice meaning for metre, ever have doubts as to whether you should leave it as a piece of writing or transform it into a lyric?? and if the answer is no the do you consider yourself a writer or a rapper or is it something else, and if yes then would you not worry that you are copmpromising some of your ideas because you try to mould them into two things at once??
btw in response to FP's request for links my gear is on the board, if people are interested they'll go lookin, no point in rammin it down their throats eh lads??

funky penguin

Well, Im concentrating on a novel at the moment. A childrens one. First thing I did was scribble the concept and where I hoped it would go. I also badly drew a couple of locations (badly).
Then I did some character sketches, which really helped (along with indept scribbles into the locations)
I'm currently writing a short summary of the book, and coming up with plot developments as I go. I dont want to rush it tbh, and I realise it could be years before i'm finished.

Hardy

Unfortunately for me, I don't do poetry. The simple fact is that I never seem to 'Get it'. I know that it's me and I'm an oddity!

I've written lots of stuff, I have a notebook that I used to carry with me and write on the train. I have never typed it & have never read over it but I know that there were some good ideas in it. (I must dig it out!). But as you all know from a previous post, I want to do more than talk about writing. I know that I can, and redundancy is definitely a form of rejection so if someone doesn't like my writing, then thats fine. I can improve.

You know what I find really useful for ideas? The newspaper - whether its the local paper or national. I'll read something and I think thats a great idea for a story. I'll cut out the article and keep it.

Best time for me to write, however, is last thing at night. When my mind is wandering last thing at night, thats when I get a lot of ideas. The most important ones I still have in my mind, but as work was always so busy, I needed sleep!

Silly, silly me!

This thread is really interesting as I've never looked at my writing (READ: scribbling!) as a rate of completion. How fast I'll write something or not never entered my mind. It was always that my style wouldn't be interesting to read.

Certainly something to ponder.
Good thread!

funky penguin

fi eye kniht fo aedi erofeb gniog ot deb eye tegrof meht eht txen gninrom

staht yhw eye peek koobeton yb deb llewsa sa ni tekcop

reality

Hardy, you dont get it? How so?
Please don't tell me thats based on what some english teacher has told you to get?


By the way, I'm eighteen, I started writing seriously when I was twelve in order to help me cope with the sort of things twelve year olds shouldn't have to cope with.
Everything I wrote between the ages of 13 and 16 got destroyed when in a hurry to pack on the last day of a holiday I stupidly threw lidless hairspay into the bag with my notebook. It sucked. In the last 6 months I've written very little, as I've met someone who I can finally talk to the way I speak on paper. Alot of what I post here has been/will be utter ****e, but I panic at the thought of people finding on what was going on behind the mask I upheld for so long. It's when things were hardest that what I wrote had severe substance.
I'm not complaining, I'm just happier now.

Hardy

Reality, I'm not sure why I don't get it. Sometimes I just don't see the wood for the trees in terms of poetry - what someone is trying to tell me in a poem.

I love reading and writing - short stories, novels (obviously not my own!!), articles in magazines etc, but sometimes poetry just doesn't speak to me.

And, Reality, your words will be more than welcome on this board. Feel free to post your feelings here.

reality

Thanks Hardy.
I've never believed that poetry is always about what someone else is trying to tell you - sure, they may have written it about themselves, but its what you make of it that really counts. Sometimes a poem will mean nothing to me, however brilliant or well written, it doesn't mean I don't get it, it just means that it doesn't hold any real significance to me personally.

Hardy

Hey Reality,
Thanks for the words, I'll make more time to read the poetry posted and also in other books. Its time to broaden the mind!

nobodythere

Excellent thread,I know exactly how it feels to just want to put something up because you just want people to see it and you're not looking for approval and a gold star. It's kind of like people who watch Hitchcock movies and can't seem to get past the outdated effects and cinematography to actually enjoy the movie.

Mine tend to come when I'm not looking. They start off as something completely different as what they end up as. I write something out of my head without really consciously thinking about it, and then go back through it again and again, changing little bits before the mindset that I'm in wears off, and by the end it's basically a description of a little story that I've made up in my head.

It took me a long time to learn to ust let things flow and then to perfect them after, and I still have an awful lot of difficulty with doing this writing music.

For your non-approval:P
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/15866490/
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/17194754/
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=177727&highlight=ambiotic