This may go off into internet oblivion but I just wanted to post my own personal journal of my attempts to go from wannabe to actual published writer.
Maybe this is just a vainity thing. Not sure, I have been writting for years on my own trying to put ideas into words and eventually after trial and error come up with a manuscript that may be actually ready to be published.
I just wanted to share with the members of the board my initial attempts to take an idea and work it into a finished project. I’m figuring that publically bringing up my progress this might give me the fire I need to finish.
God maybe I should just shut up. Just a little depressed and looking for the proper encoragement and or inspiration to continue…
Maybe this was a bad idea.
What are ya waiting for? Type away…
Half the people here are depressed, aspiring authors. Spit it out.
Try posting on the “Predict the Death of the Previous Poster” and “Surreal continuing Story” threads… great fun those!
Yeah I know. Personally I think everone is an aspiring writer to one degree or another.
I actually have 300 pages done but every so often I wonder what the hell I’m doing it for. I do enjoy getting into that zone where I’m writing and become surprised by how the characters react to a situation. But I do wonder if it is good enough or even interesting enough to become published.
I also wonder if I’m just a hack doing cliches without realizing it.
But as you can see, I’m wasting time writing this instead of working. I really have to work on my discipline.
Yes, I’m now sending over the little gnomes-that-kick-people-in-the-nuts to go to work on YOU! They’ll whip you into shape!
I have a lot of ideas, too, and I doubt my creativity sometimes, my originality, surely! I don’t let it affect me too much. I like it when I’m not sure of how something will go and ride the flow. Later I edit. What type of writing, if I may ask? Are you going for the “great American novel”? I’ve got about four of those but poetry is my main bag, baby.
Discipline is key. Writing a book over the course of… you know, six years or something just so you can say “Oh, I work down at Pizza Hut, but I’m going to be a writer” doesn’t really cut it with most people. You’re right that almost everyone has at least one story they just have to tell, but that doesn’t make them a writer until it’s, you know, written. I don’t even like the term “aspiring writer”, personally. You either write or you don’t. An “aspiring athlete” doesn’t eat chips all day in front of the TV.
Anyway, spit it out. On with the tale of disappointment and hack plots! I can guarantee you’re better than at least one other so-called “aspiring writer” on these boards, so you may get a surprising ego boost.
Not exactly the great American Novel, or Great Candian one either. I’d say science fiction but there are no space ships, ray guns or aliens. In fact for most of the story the most advanced piece of technology is a very well made metal plate.
The story I’m writing is about things beyond a group of people go on an adventure. It’s just hard bridging the gaps. I know where the story line will eventually go and I know the major plot points its just the in between sections sometimes turn into dreary work. I seem to always have trouble with the bridging.
Right now I’ve finished another six pages but it was a hard slog. It was a section where the group is finally bedding down for the night. Luckily, I found that one little detail that made it suddenly flow. Nothing earth shaking just a little epiphany a character gets watching the others sleep.
By the way Project Omega thanks for the boost, but I’m not sure which insight makes you believe I’m better but I’ll accept that complement.
I’m not a big fan of plotting myself. I like to have the end in mind, and usually a couple of ideas about places, people, ideas and so forth, but when you’re stuck trying to “bridge” the plot points, you’re probably not using a method that works for you.
I know whenever I’m writing, I get overwhelmed with boredom when describing little things, like people sitting down to eat or other everyday occurances that tend to bring other novels/short stories/whatever alive. The result is me sort of doing my best to work my way around that in clever little ways in favour of more dialogue or what have you, and it lends a very “me” feel to it. It’s like a two for one bonus. Momentum + uniqueness = something someone else will want to read.
Not sure how you could apply that to what you’re doing, but if you get bored writing a certain way, write a different way. If you get bored writing about certain things, don’t. You don’t have to pigeonhole your writing on what you think it should sound/feel/move like. Your final work may be nothing like the top 10 best-selling novels at the time, but who cares? You were honest about the way you wrote, and chances are those top 10 novels were fluffy little Oprah-clingers, being gobbled up by lonely housewives anyway, so you’re one step ahead as it is. Those books suck, and yours might not.
Just playing the odds, my friend.
Just finished another four pages and then went back to “Lucas” earlier parts in the book. (By Lucas I mean rewrite the earlier parts to fit with my new inspiration)
This little thread actually helped me. Now I’ve set myself a goal. I aim to finish the first draft by my birthday as a little gift to myself.
I will give it a month or so to ferment and then begin the rewrite with fresh eyes.
So Project Omega what do you like to write about? Have you tried to get anything published?
Am I being snubbed? (pout) Just kidding and my gnomes are coming… they are coming for yoooooouuuuuuu…