Writers' Bloc - Creative Writing Off Topic Thread

Das Kitty

bluewolf wrote: »

The competition will close at 23.59:59 on the 17th of February 2012.


My time travel machine is broken

Then you're disqualified!

You snooze, you lose!

coffee_cake

/flails and hits snooze button

Toasterspark

The VOAT is up! Yay!

Hmm... and now to procrastinate until the last day...

Turtwig

Toasterspark wrote: »

The VOAT is up! Yay!

Hmm... and now to procrastinate until the last day...

Last day??? Procrastination just ain't what it used to be. Last hour procrastination seems to be a dying breed.:(

echo beach

Toasterspark wrote: »

The VOAT is up! Yay!

Hmm... and now to procrastinate until the last day...

Can somebody remind us a day or two before hand because I've found over the years that procrastination ruins your memory. You can remember that there was something you were going to do but you can't remember what it was.

Anyway I'm sticking to my theory that my terrible memory is as a result of a lifetime of procrastination and has nothing to do with any of the things I did get around to doing.

Antilles

echo beach wrote: »

I've found over the years that procrastination ruins your memory. You can remember that there was something you were going to do but you can't remember what it was.

Pfft, I'll remember it later.

McChubbin

I was going to start a new thread to address this issue but I figured I might get better responses in here.
Does anyone here have experience in writing characters with post tramatic stress?
Specifically, two female protagonists have it though for very different reasons:
One had a tramatic childhood on account of having an emotionally and physically abusive alcholic mother and fell pregnant at 14 only to have a stillbirth. She's now almost 30 and still haunted by the death of her daughter.
The other female protagonist is 17 and survived being raped, stabbed and left for dead by a sadistic serial killer when she was 15, meaning she has certain intimacy issues. I have a fair idea on how I want to write these characters-the first one moreso as she's been a staple in my fiction for almost a decade in various guises-but though I've looked into PTSD on Wikipedia, I'd like another writer's prospective.

coffee_cake

Perspective

And no, but when I was writing that abuse story I went off to read firsthand accounts on google to get their feelings on it
A mountain of reading and research is the most important thing you can do, and I mean beyond a few lines on wiki

McChubbin

bluewolf wrote: »

Perspective

And no, but when I was writing that abuse story I went off to read firsthand accounts on google to get their feelings on it
A mountain of reading and research is the most important thing you can do, and I mean beyond a few lines on wiki

Well, with regards to my character with a alcoholic parent, I'm writing from bitter experience however exaggerated, though. My parent wasn't physically abusive- just verbal and emotional but it gave me a lot to write on and from there, my female protagonist evolved.
I've read a few victim reports regarding sexual assault including looking into the stories of the women behind the Slutwalk movement, The Accused with Jodie Foster and a few other articles over the years.
#I just want to be sure I'm writing a SURVIOR and not a VICTIM character.

SueBoom

I'd like to think of myself as a writer, a budding one at the very least. It is my great joy so figured I'd pop in and see what's going on in here. See about posting here some more.

Hi everyone!

Blush_01

This thread is not nearly off-topic enough these days.

I mean, where does one go to complain about an insufficiency of cookies these days?

I leave you guys alone for (about) 12 months, and what do you do? Gah!

pickarooney

I made about 100 Nems the other day and the lasted 25 minutes. I wish I'd made 200.

McChubbin

I really hate it that my ideas keep evolving at such a fast rate making the overall plot hard to pin down. I'm never satisfied- there is one central relationship in the plot that has remained solid despite a number of changes in the last year but the rest keeps jumping.
For example: One of my female protagonists used to be a teenage model. Now, she's a teenage model with aspirations to be a rounded actress/singer/dancer which is fun to write but since my other female protagonist is a seasoned performer along with her best friend, I feel it's starting to distract from the main plot which focuses on a friendship created by two women in therapy.
Also, I'm completly lacking in motivation to do anything other than half-assedly write plotholes, character arcs and personality traits in my notebook rather than work on a first draft.
Honestly, it's like having 7 unruly children with 7 very different personalities each vying to be my favourite. I need a babysitter!

pickarooney

Write them all and then kill the ones that don't work as well as the others.

Toasterspark

Write a chapter on the side-characters as a side project. Get their stories out of your system!

McChubbin

Toasterspark wrote: »

Write a chapter on the side-characters as a side project. Get their stories out of your system!

Sounds like a plan. I got a few ideas whilst lying in bed last night on how to take the difficult first chapter. It involves 3 main characters, a doctor and some sundry non-essential fillers so it should be fairly straightforward to write. I'm animating one of my females at the moment so as soon as I finish drawing these twelve frames I'll crack open the notebook if I still have the strenght. :P

Blush_01

pickarooney wrote: »

I made about 100 Nems the other day and the lasted 25 minutes. I wish I'd made 200.

What are Nems, and how do I make them? They look yum.

Antilles

OM NOM NOM NOM NEM NEM NEM!

Toasterspark

Blush_01 wrote: »

What are Nems, and how do I make them? They look yum.

A little Google sleuthing got me this: http://cuisine.journaldesfemmes.com/recette/352382-nems

Antilles

It's a feckin' sausage. Pick is just showing off how well travelled he is!

Blush_01

My readin' of other people's googlin' tells me that I can make these with minced prawns? Oh my lawd! (Read it as though Sheldon's mother was saying it, it works better.)

pickarooney

Blush_01 wrote: »

My readin' of other people's googlin' tells me that I can make these with minced prawns? Oh my lawd! (Read it as though Sheldon's mother was saying it, it works better.)

Prawn, pork and crab with rice vermicelli, black mushrooms, egg and carrot in rice paper rolls is the standard recipe but I made a batch with duck and leek and prunes as well. Hungry again now.

Rubecula

FOOD!!!

Feed me Seymour

dory

I've a question for ye writers out there. How do you overcome shyness? I really want to go to a writing course, but as part of it we have to send a sample of our writing that will be shared with everyone before the event and discussed. This does not make me feel warm and fuzzy....

I guess the answer to this conundrum is to suck it up and send it in. Anyone else have a hatred of peer review to your face?!?

Rubecula

If you post a story on here to be disected it helps I think. I was terrified the first time I did that. But nobody criticises out of mean-ness and opinions even if not what you wanted to read, help eliminate a certain shyness. Whatever you decide to do, good luck.

Toasterspark

I think the thing to remember is that you kind of want it to be criticised, and for people to point out the problems. I mean, the whole point is to get an audience for your work and tell you what's good or bad about it.

So, the critique is very helpful and your fellow writers aren't bashing you - they're helping you. It's like polling potential readers about what works and what doesn't, and that helps you be a better writer. Which is what you wanted.

I suppose for the first night you could bring a piece of writing that isn't too dear to you. That way, you won't feel as defensive when you get a critique.

Antilles

Toaster, if you're reading this, you should reactivate your account. You made a mistake, but nobody thinks it was intentional. I know I'm not the only one who would really miss your forum contributions if you left.

Insect Overlord

Antilles wrote: »

Toaster, if you're reading this, you should reactivate your account. You made a mistake, but nobody thinks it was intentional. I know I'm not the only one who would really miss your forum contributions if you left.

Accounts can't be re-activated. At all.

They'll have to come back with a new account if they want to come back at all.

coffee_cake

Oh toaster come back! You can be toasterparks this time! We'll have forgotten this in no time

Dave!

On Thursday I'll be having a poem I wrote critiqued by the people in my writing class! Scary! :eek: It's one thing posting it on the internet, cos you aren't real people , but I'll have to look these people in the face while they quote me bits of it (and tell me how shíte it is)