Anyone here planning on writing a book!?

RopeDrink

Some may think I never check this place out - Well, I do, but I believe that creative writing is all about freedom, hence im not one for giving criticism unless someone actually asks for it...

Anyhow, plain and simple, is anyong actually writing a book of sorts!?
As I've said in my journal, I believe I have a story to sell, and Im working on it as we speak. It's not exactly a hard thing to do.
If not, has anyone got any intentions to write a book?
Do you need help or ideas?

Writing is an amazing activity, and one that really should be persued for it has no requirements other than the need to be able to write. Think about it, even a collection of short stories or poems can comprise a book.

Don't honestly know why Im posting this... Anyway, is there anyone out there who is looking to expand their idea's and put them to paper!?

IgnatiusJRiley

Isn't EVERYONE planning to write a book?

Thanx 4 The Fish

I am writing a book.
It will be a long time in coming though what with time being so short at the mo.

When it's oublished I'll let ye know

Sarky

I don't have the patience for a book.

Although when writing something, whether it was college work or just a bunch of stuff in my mind at the time, I found it helped organise my thoughts a bit.

I should probably do more of it. For my sake, at least. the writings can be burned before the ink dries...:)

DapperGent

I've got a couple of ideas.

Struggling to tuen them into anything I consider to be worthwhile at the moment.

Emboss

I've been planning on writing a short novel for a few years now but every time I sit down to put pen to paper I write.....

It was a clear black night , a clear white moon
Warren G was on the streets , trying to consume
some skirts for the eve, so I can get some funk
just rollin in my ride , chillin all alone

wtf

yellum

I've got this book idea. Hae told a few people about it and they think its well ****ed up and a bit insane. They also said they woudl eagerly read it.

Discussed this with a writer I know too and he said he liked the idea.

Trouble is if I were to do this one it would take a year or two to do and a lot of money as the research involved will cost a bundle.

The same idea for the book can be done as a documentary too so I'm in two minds how to progress.

Thanx 4 The Fish

Originally posted by Emboss
I've been planning on writing a short novel for a few years now but every time I sit down to put pen to paper I write.....

It was a clear black night , a clear white moon
Warren G was on the streets , trying to consume
some skirts for the eve, so I can get some funk
just rollin in my ride , chillin all alone

wtf

Happens alot to me too...

Just hit the Eastside of the LBC
on a mission trying to find Mr. Warren G.
Seen a car full of girls ain't no need to tweak
all you skirts know what's up with 213

It is in all honesty the song of the century

yellum

Originally posted by Thanx 4 The Fish

It is in all honesty the song of the century

And its been in my head for the past two hours, bastards both of ye

Emboss

Originally posted by Thanx 4 The Fish
Happens alot to me too...

Just hit the Eastside of the LBC
on a mission trying to find Mr. Warren G.
Seen a car full of girls ain't no need to tweak
all you skirts know what's up with 213

It is in all honesty the song of the century

So I hooks a left on the 21 and Lewis
some brothas shootin dice so I said "Let's do this "
I jumped out the ride , and said "What's up?"
some brothas pulled some gats so I said "I'm stuck ."

I think this is the first time I have seen creative writing in this forum......throws fish da mic

RopeDrink

Well... Not too sure if Warren G fits this at all but what the hell.
Anyway, I started one years ago involving the little thing in my signiature called [VAR].

Twas destined to be quite a screwed up book indeed, and I spent three years just writing up mere general NOTES. I fished up about twelve pages of the story eventually and threw them at an English teacher of mine who loved them, and even pointed me towards potential publishers and magazines. In the end I got this new PC and cleaned it out COMPLETELY. The book was so long in the pipe line that it just pissed me off and I deleted each and every word file I could find on sight.

Now that I've got the clean slate, I'm just writing the odd page or two of fantasy based tripe, a bit of short story horrors and the big one, the one I've been ranting about for ages...

It really does set your mind into focus...
A bit of music, a blinking word cursor on an empty page and an idea can make wonders or, if your're that type of person, make you violently launch your monitor at the nearest wall due to impatience.

BEAT

Hiya ropie,
So glad to hear you are back to writing!
I have taken a long break away myself, had a bit of a creative block but I think I am ready to work on my book again.
I let so many other things that meant nothing tie up my free time and my energy...The juices are beginning to flow once again!

RopeDrink

...And don't forget the "OTHER" book... The, you know, "PROJECT" we concocted... You remember, don't you!?

Thanx 4 The Fish

Since these girls peepin me i'ma glide and swerve
these hookers lookin so hard they straight hit the curb
On to bigger, better things than some horny tricks
i see my homey and some suckers all in his mix

I'm gettin jacked, I'm breakin myself
I can't believe they're taking Warren's wealth
they took my rings, they took my rolex
I looked at the brothas and said "damn, what's next?"

They got my homey hemmed up and they all around
ain't none of them seeing if they going straight pound for pound
I gotta come up real quick before they start to clown
i best pull out my strap and lay them busters down

They got guns to my head
I think I'm going down
I can't believe this happened in my home town
If I had wings I would fly
let me contemplate
I glanced in the cut and I see my homey Nate

Sixteen in the clip and one in the hole
Nate Dogg is about to make some bodies turn cold
now they droppin and yellin
it's a tad bit late
Nate Dogg and Warren G. had to regulate

I laid all them busters down
I let my gat explode
now I'm switching my mind back into freak mode
if you want skirts step back and observe
I just left a gang of those over there on the curb


Over to you Boss....

patch

....... I keep forgettin' we're not in love anymore..........keep forgettin' things will never be the same again.......

Miguel_Sanchez

Wrote a short novel book at 14. (35,000 words or so)

Two Irish publishing houses and one London publishing house showed interest. The London one even gave me a pile of free crap and asked to see anything else I had written (or was in the process of writing).

Wasn't bad I suppose for a 14 year old. Nothing ever came of it though. I will not show it to people now though cause I find it embarrassing.

RopeDrink

Doesn't matter what it is, how you wrote it, or what it's about really... After all, there's always some bugger out there in the right frame of mind to read and understand ANYTHING that ANYONE can write... Probably not the attitude to adopt if you wish to make a career out of writing, however.

I really do think people should stop and think about this for two seconds. Writing is one of the easiest things someone can do, and if you work hard enough it'll get you 'somewhere'. The only thing stopping the majority of people taking something like this seriously is a lack of patience... And that, unfortunately for me, is probably the one thing that'll stop ANYONE from writing.

yellum

Originally posted by RopeDrink

I really do think people should stop and think about this for two seconds. Writing is one of the easiest things someone can do, and if you work hard enough it'll get you 'somewhere'. The only thing stopping the majority of people taking something like this seriously is a lack of patience...

Writing is not one of the easiest things to do. Not everyone is a story teller, some people have a knack for it and some don't.

You can work hard and get further along but its not just hard work and patience that will make you become a good writer.

There are thousands of hard working crap writers out there. Just because you have a strong work ethic doesn't mean you have a talent for being a writer.

Some really lazy people can be sucessful writers and are.

I don't think the artistic ability of writing can be quantified down to hard work, there are far more factors involved than that and some are known and some are unknown.

If the formula for being a good writer was so easy all those writing schools would be knocking out bestselling authors on a daily basis.

Hard work will get you somewhere - further, just as it probably will in any career but if the quality and ability isn't there then your own version of the Iliad is not going to be entertaining to anyone including yourself. Is that really what you'd class as "somewhere"

plastic membrane

Originally posted by patch
....... I keep forgettin' we're not in love anymore..........keep forgettin' things will never be the same again.......

I used to have that problem too whenever i sat down to write anything. The Legend that is Warren G and his song about tweaking. The Cure: Mr Loverman by Shabba. If that song don't clear your brain, nothing will.

BEAT

Originally posted by RopeDrink
...And don't forget the "OTHER" book... The, you know, "PROJECT" we concocted... You remember, don't you!?

Ofcourse I hav'nt forgotten ropie,
have you begun new ideas yet? I know you erased your old database.
When you have an outline let me know and we will get together!

DapperGent

Originally posted by yellum
Sense.

The amount of truth in that there post is impressive.

Depressing but impressive nonetheless.

RopeDrink

Writing is not one of the easiest things to do. Not everyone is a story teller, some people have a knack for it and some don't

I wasn't basing the entire thread around 'writing a book in the hopes of getting somewhere' I'm just talking about writing in general. Writing is a lot more than a few thoughts caught on paper. For example, when I was going through my chronic depression, the fact that I was able to sit for a brief period of time and flood all the ****e I had on my mind onto paper, with little thought or effort put into HOW I wrote it, and post it here of all places for people to see, was one in very few things that got me through. To me that was my most legendary post, for it was me putting myself onto paper and then deciding to offer it up to everyone. I never checked spelling, I never thought about adding any imagination into it, I never thought of anything other than the plain idea of just writing what was in my head, and you'll find that sitting there and just flooding it onto paper and reading it through once it's finished has helped a damn sight more people than just my stupid self.

That's my point. That's writing when you merely regard it as writing, not writing when you want it to be appealing to everyone in the hopes of publishing it and people buying it.

When I say I want to write a book, I don't mean 'Write a book and hope that it'll bring me success or fame' or any of that ****e, I mean just to sit and write. Anyone who can sit down and write whats on their mind, at whatever pace they want, page after page, and turn around and read it over once they're finished will most likely be given a nice suprise or a shock at what they've done. That's the great thing about writing - it's incredibly basic unless you go and add any complications onto it yourself.

Sure, when it comes to writing professionally in the hopes of becoming a proper author, then obviously tonnes more barriers and factors come into play. Of course you might need a 'knack' for it when you want it to appeal to 'other people', that's blatantly obvious, but all I'm trying to say in my muddled up way of communicating is that writing "IS" easy when you just see it as writing and decide to do it for nobody else other than 'yourself', and thats why people should start from there and give it a chance, and if they take it up as a hobby, or even want to persue it as a profession, then thats when writing becomes that little bit different and needs to be seen from different angles.

RopeDrink

have you begun new ideas yet? I know you erased your old database.
When you have an outline let me know and we will get together!

Unfortunately not, I've been going through a rampant 'weird' patch lately. Things have been happening that have taken my mind of everything I had planned to do in regards to writing. Once I've settled down again I'll jot a few things down and get right back to you

Shad0r

I've been trying to write a book for years. I've started probably 4 different projects and all of them either got scrapped because of lack of time or loss of interest in the story and belief in its quality.

My biggest problem I find is that I cant really decide conclusivly what I really want to write about. As a very goal oriented person I find it difficult to work without a tangible one. That said I'm not giving up. At the moment I have a few different short stories on the go in an attempt to work up to a novel.

Their working titles are: 'Vice', 'Alive' and 'Ran'. Vice is somewhere in the planning stage still. It has a really complex storyline revolving around the interactions of 6 different people and their lives over the course of a couple of days. Alive I've just about written the prologue for (planning done too). Ran I kinda started writing as a short film but too many things wont work for what I had originally in mind so its gona become a short story too methinks.

Anyway Alive is kind of a sci-fi bit that I think I may develop into a novel of some sort as it's based in the world of a few of the main ideas I've been having for a while. When the prologue is done I'll post it up. Probably be some time next year though so I wouldnt hold your breath.

ll=llannah

I've been trying to write a book for years. I've started probably 4 different projects and all of them either got scrapped because of lack of time or loss of interest in the story and belief in its quality.

i have exactly the same issue. I have at least five half written novels. some of them ok and others pure crap. I just haven't found a topic i'm satisfied with yet. I write well when someone gives me a subject, but choosing one and sticking with it is tricky for me.
but i think i came up with a plot line last night that i'm actually satisfied with. here's to hoping that in a week i still like it and feel like i can work with it.

Shad0r

Originally posted by twix_girl
i have exactly the same issue. I have at least five half written novels. some of them ok and others pure crap. I just haven't found a topic i'm satisfied with yet. I write well when someone gives me a subject, but choosing one and sticking with it is tricky for me.
but i think i came up with a plot line last night that i'm actually satisfied with. here's to hoping that in a week i still like it and feel like i can work with it.

Best of luck. I took some pointers from those Unison articles (on that web page of the Evening Herald novel contest) from other Irish authors that I think have helped me.

Yesterday I wrote pages and pages of stuff. I think too much editing was a bit of a problem for me, in that I was breaking down and reconstructing what I'd written so much that I eventually lost all faith in it.

The_Scary_Man

I have started a book in the last couple of weeks. I was out sick from work and decided to start making a move on a book I had in my mind for a while.
I posted the first page on here a couple of weeks ago and I'm tinking of posting more excerpts as I go on. Of course the premise of the book has totally changed and continues to change as the characters develop but it is an unbelievable experience, I just can't stop telling people about it.
I have about 11,000 words so far and I'm aiming for about 70-80,000 and I must admit I'm feeling confident about it at the moment. Only time will tell whether or not I will end up anywhere with it but as you say Rope, I'm having a hell of a time getting there. :cool:

McGinty

I have to say its great reading some of the threads. I've written a book, 60,000 odd words at the mo, I am in the process of editing it, and sending it to a publisher, I feel proud of this achievement, whether it gets published remains to be seen, I don't really care, I will have done my bit, the writing and the polishing and the sending it to someone, other than that I can do no more. But its lovely to read from like minded others. I love writing, my book is my saviour, well writing is my saviour, apart from my book, I write all the time.

I keep a journal, and I don't keep a check on how many words, but it doesn't matter, some of us are musicians, visualists, artists, writers, scientists, or whatever. We each have a role / a need / a calling to be something. I love words, they excite me, I am a storyteller, as each and everyone in this thread is, otherwise we wouldn't have this desire. I've dreamed/wanted to write since I was 16, I sent my first short story into Ireland's Own at that time. It was crap, but it was a start and I am pleased and proud that I made a start somewhere.

I believe whether one is published or not, that there is a right time to send stuff off, and even if feels right, or you think it is good, someone else might think its ****e. Don't worry, if it feels good to you, it is good. I realise I am rambling here but I can't seem to stop.

What I have learned so far from others, and my own experience (please note I have not been published, you can dismiss this as ****e) but here I go anyway, first of all, switch of your mental editor. Just write the story, then go over it and add whats needed, get a very nice friend/editor who has excellent grammar/proof reading skills, and let them go mad with the red pen re: grammar, repitition (this is of course is if you want your work published) and so forth. It allows you to be creative and the other person to do the boring work of checking you errors. That is so far what I have achieved. Study and listen to accomplished authors, and read. I read a lot and I study their style, yet I know I have my own style. I am somewhat naive in my style and very formal which is a problem for dialect, and also rest between periods, become your character, love or hate them, but feel something. Jesus I am beginning to think who am I to say all this stuff, but shag it anyway. Go with it. Its great fun!

RopeDrink

I feel proud of this achievement, whether it gets published remains to be seen

...That's what I'm talking about (Should have mentioned it in the starter thread but sod it anyway) Keep it up Grit.

I've been juggling around with several ideas, and despite going with the urge to follow up on actually WRITING about my ideas (which strikes around once every week) I often look at the semi-finished product and lob it in the bin. I have a lot of time on my hands at the moment, so I'm going to write up on one of those idea's tonight and take a break from my general game making which gets the same impatient treatment.

McGinty

Rope drink, Do you throw away stuff you've written, or ideas? I ask because I read somewhere that it helps to keep all your stuff, even if you think its bad, because ten years down the line it might come in handy.

CuLT

I'd love to turn off the grammar police in my head, but they're more of a mental gestapo, been there as long as I can remember;
I'm extremely anal about writing, every sentence MUST be perfect before I move on, hence it takes me AGES to write anything of consequence. But it's improving.

I don't want to write A book. I want to write MANY books. Becoming a writer is quite prevalent in my mind, pretty bad time for it too, repeating the LC and it's definately affecting what courses I want to apply for this time round.

yellum

Speaking of the Grammar Police, I ordered this book as a Christmas Present to myself.

CuLT

What an excellent looking book, I don't know if I'd want people to see me reading it though , don't want to end up like that "Billy Turdhead" user...
All mouth and little knowledge .

RopeDrink

Rope drink, Do you throw away stuff you've written, or ideas? I ask because I read somewhere that it helps to keep all your stuff, even if you think its bad, because ten years down the line it might come in handy

Well when I say "Lob In The Bin" I generally mean saving it to the hard-drive and never really look at it again until either I'm scrounging for idea's or I get the sudden urge to write or attempt updating some of my previous work.

I had four years worth of notes hovering around my hard drive in regards to about seven stories I planned to write in the future, and the only time I missed them is when they got wiped out due to a reformat I undertook. If they hadn't have been deleted I probably wouldn't have checked them out much at all, but saying that, it is always handy to keep some notes or pages of previous writing as a reference to idea's or to simply check your own style of writing.

McGinty

I've got loads of scraps of paper lying around with ideas for a book / short story, and like you I tend to put stuff on my hard drive. I've only really into the writing in the last four years, and seriously in the last two years.

The Beer Baron

1st of all must give ma props to Embizzle for kickin' da G-funk flava in a totally irrellevant fashion- yeeyah!

Secondly I'd like to also say that I'm working on a book, and anyone familiar with some of my posts will be quick to assume that it's a bit off-the-walls and they would be right. It's not a totally original premise, but certainly its execution is, it's something Irish literature has never even thought of and mightn't even consider, it's eeh...well let's just say it's, "politically and socially volitile". I'm afraid someone might steal my idea, and therefore remove its potency.

I've written stuff before, posted stuff on the internet to various places under various silly names- mostly sci fi. When I started again (I used to be quite prolific as a nipper) I was about 16/17 and found I couldn't write any character without it becoming me- every character was as I was @ the time an angry, cynical, adolescent bastard (I'm no longer adolescent). But you persevere. Of course a lot of the material I've done has its merits still- keeping @ it, trying new things, like trying to write characters that are totally unlike me, like trying to write a female character, not many male authors can, try writing from the viewpoint of different peoples, cultures, hell different species, different lifeforms...narrative, or otherwise...
or just writing certain scenarios which you can use later.

but if you call it hard work then you really shouldn't be @ it- it's an escape to write something more, I find, than it is to read it, if you find it a struggle, if you find it labourious then I'm sorry, you ain't doing it right.

I'm of the chaotic school, the bits of paper, scribble-coated beermats, tickets, hands.
The girlfriend coming down the stairs and finding me chainsmoking and drinking 18 cups of tea in kitchen @ 5am because I "had an idea".
I carry up to 8 floppies around with me, and regularly zip them and email them to myself as they always die and get filled up with tobacco from my pockets. I've got a HD with most of my old stuff on it. I've had 2 ****ty 2nd hand laptops die on me in the past 8 months. Now I've got a crappy pentium with a bust floppy drive. It's a nightmare keeping track of what I've done on my book. I suppose I'm not disciplined in any area of my life, but I just love it. atm I'm sorta dried up for ideas so I'm trying to go through all these backups because I've got to compile and edit stuff. On top of that my spelling and grammer is atrocious; (no where near. as bad, as paddy20 [hehe sorry if yer reading this paddy] but not far off) and I tend not to bother with spellchecks as I invent more words than I use, particularly when it comes to dialogue.

But I love it, I really do, atm I've got about 200+ pages of my book done, plus I'd estimate a few thousand pages of material I've written since I was 16- on computer. Not to mention all the ****e and bits of paper and folders and arrrgghhh- and backups that I've edited by mistake. Oh if only I could get a secretary with psychic abilities or something.

luckat

It's so great that you're doing it for fun! Keep on.

RopeDrink

If you decide to write a book with any intention other than the wish to have fun doing it, you're in for extra stress and hair pulling. I never really put much thought into publishing any work, or even printing it and just throwing it around... I just enjoy writing, and funnily enough, it's one of my least favoured hobbies in comparison to the rest of my constructive traits - hence I probably never take it seriously enough to propel it further than "Just A Bit Of Fun"...

Best of luck to ANYONE who decides to take on writing, and for whatever reason, for it's a simple, easy and fun way to stretch your imagination and realise what's REALLY going on in that little head of yours...