9 posts tagged “writing”
I'm writing a novel.
For those of you long-suffering readers of mine, you're probably thinking, 'Mmmhmm, suuuure you are. AGAIN.'
For those of you (relatively) new, you're probably thinking, 'Cool!' (or, alternatively, 'So what?' :D)
But no, really, I actually am going to write a novel. I'm going to start it and I'm going to finish it.
I've sat down to write things before and have yet to really finish anything (except my short little fable). I haven't even finished my short story ('A Game of Thinking'), although it's close and still actively in progress.
But this one, I'm thinking it out, thinking it through. Preparing to write before I actually put (virtual) pen to paper. (Usually I have A Great General Idea(tm), and usually some Specific Great Ideas(tm) and then I make the rest up as I go... until I get stuck.)
This time, THIS TIME, I have notecards. I have copious notes (and I'm making more). I'm going to outline each chapter before its even written. I'm going to catch the plot holes before I even create them. I'm going to tie together loose ends before they even exist. I'm going to stop procrastinating and allowing myself to be distracted constantly.
I'm going to write a novel.
And you, dear reader, are going to hold me to it.
My new stories site is live and online. Some of you may not be able to access it yet (technical note: DNS might not have finished propagating completely).
But this is the new URL:
I made the new site because I finally wrote and posted chapter 17 of 'A Game of Thinking'. Hey, it only took six years.
Updated: URL changed to the new domain I'm using for my writing.
I was thinking on my drive in to work this morning (after I was done with my morning prayers) about creativity and my song writing, and how I haven't really written any songs in awhile now. Bits and pieces here and there, but no full songs.
I do sing songs that I create 'on the fly' while I'm driving in the car, but by the time I get to a place where I can write down the words, I've almost always forgotten it, or forgotten the tune, or both. I can use my phone to record myself, but even then, by the time I get it set to record, it makes my mind go blank. It sucks. But I digress.
The thought that popped into my head regarding my song wring is this: Negativity breeds creativity. 99% of my songs are 'negative' in some way -- they're about sadness, they're about loss, they're about betrayal, they're about suffering, pain, death, suicide, etc. The 'positive' ones have been far and few between, and much more of a struggle to write. Hence, negativity breeds creativity.
But today, for the first time, when I thought of that phrase, the next thought I had was: bullshit.
Who says it has to be that way? I've made it that way, but it doesn't have to be that way. I can write songs that are positive. I can write songs that are uplifting, that focus on the good and not the bad.
Other people can. Hell, I was listening to Natalie Merchant this morning and thinking of her positive songs, and it's like... what, I'm not as good a songwriter as her? Bull! I can do this.
Really, I've always been drawn to that kind of song, though, the 'negative' ones. Not just since I got into grunge back in the 90s (where depressing is almost synonymous with grunge), but even when I was a kid and listening to 60s music. The Beach Boys are pretty darn positive and upbeat, but I'd focus on songs like 'God Only Knows' and 'Wouldn't It Be Nice' and 'Help Me, Rhonda'.
Well, I've lost my train of thought now.
What are the positive and negative associations that you and those around you have with blogging? Have attitudes changed over time?
After all the 'fluff' questions, finally a QotD with some meat to it comes along... just in time for me to be really tired and not even really feel like answering. bahahaha
I still don't even really use the terms 'blog' and 'blogging' and stuff. My 'blog' predates 'blogs' so, yeah. I just call it my journal (LJ), my Vox (Vox), my MySpace (MySpace), etc. hehe
Blogging is a fad. It will pass, and the only ones left blogging will be those of us who 'blog' for the sake of 'blogging'.
That's just wishful thinking. Unfortunately, it's probably here to stay, as people love to think someone cares. ha!
If you could write like one fiction author, who would it be?
Now, this is a good QotD! Finally. And it's a tough one. It's hard for me to say I'd want to write like any particular author, because I'd want to have my own voice. I'm sure most people will pick some really well-respected, famous, classic author like Dickens or Tolstoy or whoever. But I would say Dean Koontz. I enjoy nearly all of his books (I can only think of one that I disliked), and I love his writing style. I love how he uses personification, and such colour descriptions. So, that's my answer and my reasoning behind it.
How do you beat writer's block?
Freewriting. That, and reading the writing of other people (books and stuff).
If you could write a book about anything, what would it be about?
Well, I'd want to finish off my 'Game of Thinking' short.
Then, I'd want to continue on and finish '27 Voices', which is a story about a guy who hears voices in his head, and each birthday, he starts hearing an additional voice, until he reaches... 27 voices. hehe
After that, I'd want to write my 'God of Yesterday' story, which is about this guy who has a power inside himself that allows him to travel back in time. He starts out doing it by accident (without even realising what he's doing), but eventually has full control over it, but becomes obsessed with fixing every mistake in his life.
Then I'd probably tackle 'Choosing Sides' (working title, would probably change), which is about an alien who comes to earth and falls in love with a human -- but there's a twist.
And I've got a few others I'd want to work on, too.
Maybe someday, they'll all be written.
LiveJournal became such a... such a chore, such a thought-involving process. When I started out, I was posting all the inane stuff that happened to me, like spilling a whole bottle of rubbing alcohol on my crotch.
Later, though, it turned into something into which I only wrote 'serious' thoughts, or, more typically, something in which I wrote nothing at all.
So maybe this Vox thing will be what LJ used to be, and I won't care as much about what I write or about who reads it or what they think, and I'll be posting fifty times a day about what I had for lunch and how my day at work was and what I'm wearing.
Until the novelty wears off.
