Writers Unite!

[Dirty30]

Finally got around to nosing around the site and was delighted to find a writer's forum. I've published three novels, each in different genres, and am working on a fourth.  My first Cemetery Street is a coming-of-age tearjerker; Shangri-La Trailer Park is a dark 'dramady', and Nightwatching is a ghost story. A common thread to each novel is I listen to Dream Theater when writing.

1) Cemetery Street:  In a world where dreams are possible and nightmares come true, can you romance a memory? James Morrison thinks so. In a snowy cemetery, James reenacts a childhood ritual unleashing an avalanche of memories. Laugh, cry and blush with James as he recounts a late 20th century American life.

2) Shangri-La Trailer Park: If an Indian falls in the woods, can you hear him scream? Dora Shear did, and her life was about to get interesting. After Maistoinna Standing Bear tackles a tree, Dog Shear Dora - as she’s known in the trailer park - is left to pick up the pieces. Only she’s up to no good.
Uncover the secrets of a Jewish love triangle, why the IGA checkout lady trashes a car, why a trip over the coffee table is better than Novocain, and more importantly, the difference between a Canadian Passport and a Kentucky Waterfall. Hop on board with Maistoinna for a crazy forty-eight hour ride through the world’s most dysfunctional trailer park.

WARNING! Don’t read if your are: A) easily offended B) politically correct C) like everything nice or D) believe in the Easter Bunny!

3)  Nightwatching:  On the fringe of civilization, something sinister lurks within moonlit shadows. Feel a grieving mother’s isolation in a mountain cabin, the torment of a schizophrenic shut-in, and the desperation of a broken hearted musician as they struggle to overcome both personal demons and the diabolical being feeding upon their souls.

Disclaimer: The author does not accept responsibility for fear - temporary or permanent - any neurosis or psychosis brought about by its reading, nor does he accept responsibility for phobias related to this or future full moons. Read at your own risk! You have been warned!

[MiracleSleeper]

Finally got around to nosing around the site and was delighted to find a writer's forum. I've published three novels, each in different genres, and am working on a fourth.  My first Cemetery Street is a coming-of-age tearjerker; Shangri-La Trailer Park is a dark 'dramady', and Nightwatching is a ghost story. A common thread to each novel is I listen to Dream Theater when writing.

1) Cemetery Street:  In a world where dreams are possible and nightmares come true, can you romance a memory? James Morrison thinks so. In a snowy cemetery, James reenacts a childhood ritual unleashing an avalanche of memories. Laugh, cry and blush with James as he recounts a late 20th century American life.

2) Shangri-La Trailer Park: If an Indian falls in the woods, can you hear him scream? Dora Shear did, and her life was about to get interesting. After Maistoinna Standing Bear tackles a tree, Dog Shear Dora - as she’s known in the trailer park - is left to pick up the pieces. Only she’s up to no good.
Uncover the secrets of a Jewish love triangle, why the IGA checkout lady trashes a car, why a trip over the coffee table is better than Novocain, and more importantly, the difference between a Canadian Passport and a Kentucky Waterfall. Hop on board with Maistoinna for a crazy forty-eight hour ride through the world’s most dysfunctional trailer park.

WARNING! Don’t read if your are: A) easily offended B) politically correct C) like everything nice or D) believe in the Easter Bunny!

3)  Nightwatching:  On the fringe of civilization, something sinister lurks within moonlit shadows. Feel a grieving mother’s isolation in a mountain cabin, the torment of a schizophrenic shut-in, and the desperation of a broken hearted musician as they struggle to overcome both personal demons and the diabolical being feeding upon their souls.

Disclaimer: The author does not accept responsibility for fear - temporary or permanent - any neurosis or psychosis brought about by its reading, nor does he accept responsibility for phobias related to this or future full moons. Read at your own risk! You have been warned!

Interesting subject matters. How exactly did you come up with them?

[Dirty30]

Interesting subject matters. How exactly did you come up with them?

If I knew I would bottle the formula and sell it to the highest bidder. Kidding aside, and depending on what mood you catch me in, I would say that writers, whether we know it or not, simply channel stories that are already there. It's just a matter of getting out of the way of our own ego/identity. In my heart of hearts, I don't really believe that, but it is a strategy for absolving ourselves of the burden of creativity. That being said, the deeper I fall into this endeavor, the formula that works for me working/developing the empathy muscle, the discipline muscle - forcing yourself to write even when it seems you're spreading shit on the page, and the forgiveness muscle - forgiving yourself for spreading said shit. 

I also believe the only horrible first draft is the one not finished.

But that really doesn't answer your question, does it?  I think it's sub-conscious and a result of the empathy muscle. For me ideas percolate. Then I have a premise. They percolate more and then characters develop. I'm not really a plotter, though I know how I want to start a story and where/how to end it. Then it's a matter of building a bridge from start to finish. That's where I trust experience and allow the story to take me where it 'needs' to go.
 

[MiracleSleeper]

Interesting subject matters. How exactly did you come up with them?

If I knew I would bottle the formula and sell it to the highest bidder. Kidding aside, and depending on what mood you catch me in, I would say that writers, whether we know it or not, simply channel stories that are already there. It's just a matter of getting out of the way of our own ego/identity. In my heart of hearts, I don't really believe that, but it is a strategy for absolving ourselves of the burden of creativity. That being said, the deeper I fall into this endeavor, the formula that works for me working/developing the empathy muscle, the discipline muscle - forcing yourself to write even when it seems you're spreading shit on the page, and the forgiveness muscle - forgiving yourself for spreading said shit. 

I also believe the only horrible first draft is the one not finished.

But that really doesn't answer your question, does it?  I think it's sub-conscious and a result of the empathy muscle. For me ideas percolate. Then I have a premise. They percolate more and then characters develop. I'm not really a plotter, though I know how I want to start a story and where/how to end it. Then it's a matter of building a bridge from start to finish. That's where I trust experience and allow the story to take me where it 'needs' to go.
 

That's a hell of a response! I'm looking forward to hearing more from you in this thread.   

Also, since my style of choice is screenwriting, I'm genuinely curious as to what you're favorite films are. You seem like you'd have some interesting picks.

[Sacul]

NaNoWriMo it's here, so...

.

[MiracleSleeper]

NaNoWriMo it's here, so...

.

haha, I just met up with a group of friends last night who just started on it as well. Idk how they do it, I'd go crazy.

[Sacul]

haha, I just met up with a group of friends last night who just started on it as well. Idk how they do it, I'd go crazy.

I'm just 3k words in, and I'm slowly becoming insane.

Edit: Reached 4k words yesterday. I'm feeling a bit sick .

[Jarlaxle]

Would anybody be interested in a little writing group? Say each month we submit a bit of our work to the group, we all read over everyone's work and give our thoughts on it? I don't have anybody other than my girlfriend to show work to, and I know if I did I wouldn't be sure
If I was getting an honest opinion.

[Prog Snob]

I've actually posted some of my writing in one of the other threads in this forum.  If I can find it, I'll link it here. My short attention span as of late has prevented me from writing anything too long so I'm usually writing short stories. I need to de-stress and find the ability to focus more.

[Jarlaxle]

What if we set up a DTF dropbox account, or something similar? Anybody interested in partcipating would be given the email and password, and they could go online to read or to post new material.

[Sacul]

What about a group on Goodreads?

[Jarlaxle]

I've never used goodreads for any reason other than to track my books.

[MiracleSleeper]

What if we set up a DTF dropbox account, or something similar? Anybody interested in partcipating would be given the email and password, and they could go online to read or to post new material.

A DTF writing group sounds like an excellent idea! Since I started this thread, I feel like I owe a responsibility to getting it accomplished. 

I'll PM you shortly regarding how we can set it up!

[Dirty30]

Would anybody be interested in a little writing group? Say each month we submit a bit of our work to the group, we all read over everyone's work and give our thoughts on it? I don't have anybody other than my girlfriend to show work to, and I know if I did I wouldn't be sure
If I was getting an honest opinion.

I'm in... be it dropbox or Goodreads. It would be great to get and give fresh input.

[Lucien]

I haven't written a real story in... More than 2 years. I will definitely try this though.

[Sacul]

I'm not sure if my english is varied enough to write a story, but will try this for sure.

[Jarlaxle]

Hey everyone, I just started up a new email account and signed up for dropbox with the email. I chose dropbox to give a little added privacy to our work, and I think it will be an easy way for everyone to get involved. The email login for dropbox is "dtfwritinggroup@gmail.com," and the password is "johnmyung."

I am open to everyone's ideas to make this better, but here is how I envision this working:

On a set date, either monthly or biweekly, anybody can upload a piece of their work to the dropbox. To make it clear who's work it is, please have your DTF screen name in the title of the document (Jarlaxle-Nov18). Then, everybody can go through and read all the submissions and can express their thoughts on it. We can either post our thoughts to this thread, or else take the original document and make notes on it or whatever you want to do, and re-upload it to dropbox with an altered title (Jarlaxle-Nov18-Ed.Miracle Sleeper), or something to that effect. Personally, I think posting what you think on everyones submissions to this thread would be the cleanest, but again, I'm open to suggestions.

Feel free to pass the login information to anybody not on DTF, we might as well try and grow this group as much as possible. I think it would be awesome if everybody could upload a little writing history of themselves so we can all get to know each other a bit more. Nothing long, but when I write mine I will probably include why I started writing, inspirations and aspirations, influences, and maybe even a brief summary of the different works in progress.

Hopefully this works, and I look forward to reading whatever people post to the dropbox account.

[Sacul]

Good idea. I was thinking on submitting our writings here after being revised by everybody on the Dropbox. I don't know about the short biography, since I'm really new to writing, but will do it anyways.

[Dirty30]

I uploaded my DT Writer's group Profile to Dropbox.  It's in the folder entitled Dirty30. I will also submit current writing in the same folder. I'm looking forward to reading other member's work and giving and receiving honest feedback.

[Prog Snob]

As soon as I get a chance I'll upload a couple of the shorts I wrote. Hopefully I can put my mind to something newer and share that as well.

Dirty30, I started following your page on Facebook and 'Liked' your author page as well.

[Jarlaxle]

Awesome, guys! I just uploaded my profile, will hopefully be adding some of my work soon.

[Sacul]

I'm a little behind NanaWriMo's schedule, and thus I have to type around 17k words in just this week if I want to win. These last days have been easy, mainly because I spend lots of time with my characters having internal dialogues and thinking about their relation with another characters. But it always happens that I reach a point where I could just easily continue writing, because I know what will happen next. But my mind kind of pushes the brakes and rejects to continue. A little break is the message I get, but getting to continue writing it's nearly impossible after that. Procrastination it's so powerful that I find myself wondering around here in DTF (and I should be writing now!) or watching stupid gifs. It's not a creative block, because I know exactly what I want to write and how - but my mind refuses to keep writing. Weird thing. Any advice? 'Cause those words won't write by themselves.

[Jarlaxle]

I've got no advice, since I'm the kind of person that waits until I'm motivated and have the time to write, the latter being the big issue. I have never tried NaNoWriMo because of it, but I should give it a try.

[Jarlaxle]

How are you NaNoWriMo'ers doing?

[Sacul]

Bad. I reached 39K just before reaching an impasse: the MC and his sister started to learn magic. The thing is, I didn't develop any magic system, and couldn't figure out one. Also, I had like 4 days to finish, and got so overwhelmed by both facts that just quited. But I plan to finish the story, mainly to shape my characters, for I intend to use them in another novels set in the same world. This was just a kind of "prequel" that will never see daylight .

Anyways, it was a great experience - I learned a lot about writing and my habits. I'll try to make a convincing magic systems these days and continue with the story. And start another novel, some years in the future. Although I didn't manage to win NaNoWriMo (November is a hectic month here - there should be another event in April/May), I gained a lot of experience, and hopefully leveled up. Now I feel more confident about my writing skills - thus will collaborate with this small writing group soon.

[WDADU]

Started the second draft of the new book last night.

[Lucien]

My dreams have been rather strange for the past few nights. I really need to start writing this stuff down.

[Prog Snob]

My dreams have been rather strange for the past few nights. I really need to start writing this stuff down.

You should!  I read some of your things in the other writer's thread and was extremely impressed.

[Jarlaxle]

I have been very immersed in my writing the past week. I set aside a project I have been working on for 3-4 years for a fresh subject that interested me greatly, and the results have been exciting, both in terms of productivity and quality of the work. I'm going to roll with this for now, what started as a short story with a word count estimation at 10-15K has now ballooned to a novella with upwards of 50K words. Nearly 8000 words in and so many avenues have opened themselves up to me, so I'm going to enjoy the creative process while it's flooding into me!

[Jarlaxle]

Does anybody in here have a background or knowledge in psychological impairments, such as PTSD?

[Dirty30]

Does anybody in here have a background or knowledge in psychological impairments, such as PTSD?

I may be able to help you... I have a character that is struggling with it.  You can send me an E-mail   JZunski@yahoo.com

[Sacul]

Hey guys, considering Camp Nano is near (starts in April), I was wondering if you'd like to participate on it with me. It works like this: there are these cabins, which are small groups (either public, random or criteria generated, or private) of 12 mates who can chat, pretty much like this thread, but only its members can see what's posted. Unlike NaNoWriMo, you can set your own goal, be it finish revision of a draft, or starting a brand new project - it doesn't even need to be a novel.

I'm up for a 10k words goals. It's not that much, but I really want to set the foundations for my new fantasy novel - this time, I will avoid all the clichés I had included on the previous one . If I can reach the goal, I'm pretty sure I'll manage to continue working on the project.

If you'd love to write along with some fellow DTFers, just tell me your Camp Nano username, which usually is the same for the NaNoWriMo site. In that case, your first have to sign in on the site, and complete some profile info, and data bout your project and how would you like to be assigned on a cabin (just leave the first option marked so the system doesn't put you to a random group). So, you tell me your username on the site, and I'll send you an invitation to join. I hope to gather some people from here - it'd be nuts .

[Lucien]

Hey guys, considering Camp Nano is near (starts in April), I was wondering if you'd like to participate on it with me. It works like this: there are these cabins, which are small groups (either public, random or criteria generated, or private) of 12 mates who can chat, pretty much like this thread, but only its members can see what's posted. Unlike NaNoWriMo, you can set your own goal, be it finish revision of a draft, or starting a brand new project - it doesn't even need to be a novel.

I'm up for a 10k words goals. It's not that much, but I really want to set the foundations for my new fantasy novel - this time, I will avoid all the clichés I had included on the previous one . If I can reach the goal, I'm pretty sure I'll manage to continue working on the project.

If you'd love to write along with some fellow DTFers, just tell me your Camp Nano username, which usually is the same for the NaNoWriMo site. In that case, your first have to sign in on the site, and complete some profile info, and data bout your project and how would you like to be assigned on a cabin (just leave the first option marked so the system doesn't put you to a random group). So, you tell me your username on the site, and I'll send you an invitation to join. I hope to gather some people from here - it'd be nuts .

Hmmm... Very interesting...

[Jarlaxle]

Damn, I'd love to but I'm still going to be travelling around New Zealand then.

[Prog Snob]

It sounds interesting.