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Writers' Bloc - Creative Writing Off Topic Thread

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  • Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 17,231 Mod ✭✭✭✭Das Kitty


    Well, I went to Doolin.

    I'd really recommend it. Brilliant literary chats to be had.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,730 ✭✭✭redser7


    Any names to drop? ;)


  • Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 17,231 Mod ✭✭✭✭Das Kitty


    redser7 wrote: »
    Any names to drop? ;)

    Heh!

    My own, obviously!

    :P


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,730 ✭✭✭redser7


    Wasn't sure where to put this but ... 53 ways to improve your short stories by Thomas Morris ...

    http://bookanista.com/53-ways/


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,252 ✭✭✭echo beach


    redser7 wrote: »
    Wasn't sure where to put this but ... 53 ways to improve your short stories by Thomas Morris ...

    http://bookanista.com/53-ways/

    Thanks for that. More reading to do.
    I bet you have no 23 printed out and framed!


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,730 ✭✭✭redser7


    echo beach wrote: »
    Thanks for that. More reading to do.
    I bet you have no 23 printed out and framed!

    I have to admit I smiled when I read that one :D


  • Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 17,231 Mod ✭✭✭✭Das Kitty


    Well, by my watch it's now September so I reckon the desire to pick up pencils and open laptops is due to hit.

    Did anyone have any inspiration over the summer to get them through the dark months?

    I've angered the repetitive strain demon that lives in my shoulder. It hasn't stopped me writing but it's making me generally miserable. They seem to like me at work and have sent me travelling along with a promotion, so extra computer time and lots of sitting in airports hasn't helped.

    But, my novel is getting to a place where I'd be happy enough to start sending it out. It's a fantastic feeling. And I won a short story prize at the start of the summer and the journal it's being published in is coming out this month. So I don't mind a little agony, really!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 8,517 ✭✭✭addicted to caffeine


    been working away on the manuscript as usual, seems to be coming on nicely :D I've written an ending as a point to aim towards otherwise I could keep on going and going! Hope to start all the editing/redraft in 2017 :)


  • Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 17,231 Mod ✭✭✭✭Das Kitty


    been working away on the manuscript as usual, seems to be coming on nicely :D I've written an ending as a point to aim towards otherwise I could keep on going and going! Hope to start all the editing/redraft in 2017 :)

    Getting to the end is the best feeling.

    What's your genre?

    I was told when I started that I'd lose some word-count in the rewrites. I gained 10K. :pac:


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 8,517 ✭✭✭addicted to caffeine


    Das Kitty wrote:
    Getting to the end is the best feeling.

    Das Kitty wrote:
    What's your genre?

    Das Kitty wrote:
    I was told when I started that I'd lose some word-count in the rewrites. I gained 10K.

    Can't wait to finish :) , I write non fiction. Basically about living life with a disability

    Nice one on the 10k :)


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  • Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 17,231 Mod ✭✭✭✭Das Kitty


    A heads up to anyone who fancies a punt. The Manchester Fiction Prize is closing on the 23rd of September. The entry fee is higher than most, but the prize is £10,000.

    Bear in mind there will be a metric fcuktonne of entries, so be sure to send your absolute best with a hooky first line/paragraph as readers are going to be jaded bastards going through the pile.

    Details: http://www.manchesterwritingcompetition.co.uk/Fiction-Prize.php


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 347 ✭✭holy guacamole


    Already started a thread on this in the Limerick forum so didn't want to start another here:

    I'm looking for unpublished female authors from Limerick for a piece I'm doing for one of the local papers and wondered if anyone here fits the bill, or knew anyone that might?

    The piece in question will attempt to explore the difficulties faced by new authors in getting published in today's environment.

    It's going to be a follow-up to a piece I did on male authors this week.

    Any help would be greatly appreciated.


  • Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 17,231 Mod ✭✭✭✭Das Kitty


    Already started a thread on this in the Limerick forum so didn't want to start another here:

    I'm looking for unpublished female authors from Limerick for a piece I'm doing for one of the local papers and wondered if anyone here fits the bill, or knew anyone that might?

    The piece in question will attempt to explore the difficulties faced by new authors in getting published in today's environment.

    It's going to be a follow-up to a piece I did on male authors this week.

    Any help would be greatly appreciated.

    It's a bit quiet here at the moment. Would you have contact details I can pass on to a group of unpublished writers on facebook (mainly ladies). You can PM me.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,551 ✭✭✭Rubecula


    I have been toying with a sci-fi idea for a while but I can not get the ending right in my head :(


  • Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 17,231 Mod ✭✭✭✭Das Kitty


    Rubecula wrote: »
    I have been toying with a sci-fi idea for a while but I can not get the ending right in my head :(

    I'm happy to be a sounding board for you. Or maybe you just need more mulling time. A big walk?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,551 ✭✭✭Rubecula


    Thanks DK.

    The story is about a lawman in space. He is nearly killed when his police cruiser is attacked. he gets the nasties in the end. but I want to round off the entire thing in a good way and not just leave it hanging.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,793 ✭✭✭FunLover18


    Rubecula wrote:
    I have been toying with a sci-fi idea for a while but I can not get the ending right in my head

    Have you started writing yet? Once you find your tone and define your characters, the ending might sort itself out or become more obvious. I didn't really have an ending for my current manuscript when I started but as I wrote my characters and their motivations became clearer to me and and ending formed.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,551 ✭✭✭Rubecula


    FunLover18 wrote: »
    Have you started writing yet? Once you find your tone and define your characters, the ending might sort itself out or become more obvious. I didn't really have an ending for my current manuscript when I started but as I wrote my characters and their motivations became clearer to me and and ending formed.

    Thank you FunLover, I think it may happen as you say as I actually stopped writing the rough draft in order to concentrate on the ending. I may have been putting the cart before the horse.


  • Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 17,231 Mod ✭✭✭✭Das Kitty


    I suppose you want to compare how your character is before, during and after the goings on. Do you want him to be the same, or changed?

    If changed, what impact has the change on his everyday life?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,551 ✭✭✭Rubecula


    Das Kitty wrote: »
    I suppose you want to compare how your character is before, during and after the goings on. Do you want him to be the same, or changed?

    If changed, what impact has the change on his everyday life?

    Oooh a good point and one I had not considered either. I need to think on this.


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  • Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 30,998 Mod ✭✭✭✭Insect Overlord


    Did some posts go missing here, or has it really been a year since anyone posted in this thread? :eek:

    How's everybody's writing going?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,551 ✭✭✭Rubecula


    jaysus that went by very fast


  • Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 30,998 Mod ✭✭✭✭Insect Overlord


    Rubecula wrote: »
    jaysus that went by very fast

    Too fast!

    On the bright side, I'm writing a lot more this year than I was last year. Managed to get something into a local chapbook this week. :)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,551 ✭✭✭Rubecula


    on that other side which we shall call bad I have done no writing at all. my head has been badly mullered this past year.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,793 ✭✭✭FunLover18


    Meant to reply to this at the time. I don't know if I've been doing any more writing than usual but I feel that what I am doing has lot more direction. I've also been listening to a lot more podcasts which I feel have been helping with my writing and has definitely improved my awareness of certain issues, for example Black Men Can't Jump In Hollywood is a great podcast about how black people or treated and portrayed in movies and for me it's been eye-opening, not that I wasn't aware of the issue but I hadn't really thought about it from a critical perspective.


  • Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 30,998 Mod ✭✭✭✭Insect Overlord


    I've been trying to get through the back catalogue of RTÉ's Poetry Programme but the website makes it awkward to find older episodes. Scrolling through the calendar is needlessly time-consuming.

    In more positive news, a poem I had published last month is featured again in another local publication this week. :) The lovely folks behind Stanzas forwarded it to The Limerick Magazine for October. I'm delighted with the extra exposure. A little encouragement goes a long way.


  • Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 17,231 Mod ✭✭✭✭Das Kitty


    Rubecula wrote: »
    on that other side which we shall call bad I have done no writing at all. my head has been badly mullered this past year.

    I have also suffered a severe mullering. I've kept writing as much as I can but it's poor. On a positive note after a few weeks of therapy, I'm feeling a bit more able to think in the way I need to to be able to write.

    Which is a good thing, because I've run out of stuff I wrote 2 years ago to send out. :pac:

    I'm starting a screenwriting class tomorrow too. I hope it will be good!


  • Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 17,231 Mod ✭✭✭✭Das Kitty


    I've been trying to get through the back catalogue of RTÉ's Poetry Programme but the website makes it awkward to find older episodes. Scrolling through the calendar is needlessly time-consuming.

    In more positive news, a poem I had published last month is featured again in another local publication this week. :) The lovely folks behind Stanzas forwarded it to The Limerick Magazine for October. I'm delighted with the extra exposure. A little encouragement goes a long way.

    Congratulations!

    Don't they podcast the poetry programme?


  • Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 30,998 Mod ✭✭✭✭Insect Overlord


    Das Kitty wrote: »
    Congratulations!

    Don't they podcast the poetry programme?

    Thanks!

    I'm sure they do, but I haven't been able to find a handy link to it. The instructions on their own web page say to scroll through the archive.

    http://www.rte.ie/radio1/the-poetry-programme/


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,252 ✭✭✭echo beach


    Das Kitty wrote: »
    I have also suffered a severe mullering. I've kept writing as much as I can but it's poor.
    You are probably judging yourself to an impossibly high standard. Your idea of 'poor' is probably 'very good' to the rest of us.:D

    Stop reading all the excellent stuff out there. Instead try reading some really poor writing, say the best-selling Couple Next Door. Suddenly you will realise, 'I could do better than that.' :)


  • Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 17,231 Mod ✭✭✭✭Das Kitty


    echo beach wrote: »
    You are probably judging yourself to an impossibly high standard. Your idea of 'poor' is probably 'very good' to the rest of us.:D

    Stop reading all the excellent stuff out there. Instead try reading some really poor writing, say the best-selling Couple Next Door. Suddenly you will realise, 'I could do better than that.' :)

    Oh, I'm not judging myself harshly. I've only been able for first drafting, which is supposed to be **** :p. I literally couldn't write a 2 sentence email a month ago.

    I haven't been reading at all. I haven't had the ability to because of anxiety. I've myself thrown into writing again now that my brain has unlocked a bit, but I'm looking forward to getting back to reading soon.


  • Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 35,930 Mod ✭✭✭✭pickarooney


    Having not written in a couple of years I lashed out three songs and a poem this week. Baby steps, building up to something longer eventually.

    Good to start believing in life again.


  • Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 17,231 Mod ✭✭✭✭Das Kitty


    Having not written in a couple of years I lashed out three songs and a poem this week. Baby steps, building up to something longer eventually.
    Fair play.
    Good to start believing in life again.
    Yes, that's exactly what it feels like.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,551 ✭✭✭Rubecula


    been thinking up story lines but just can not put pen to paper.


  • Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 30,998 Mod ✭✭✭✭Insect Overlord


    I know this is the "Off Topic Thread" but it feels more right to post in here rather than in the How To Get Published thread. I think it'd be nice to kick-start a bit of a chat with different points of view from different kinds of writers.

    I had a conversation early last winter with a publisher of creative writing. I was volunteering to help them with another project at the time, but it was casually mentioned that there might be an opportunity to get my first collection of poems published at some stage soon. I mentioned that I'd read a collection by another local poet of a similar age-bracket to myself, and was told very firmly not to be too influenced by what they had produced. I also mentioned that I had nearly 250 poems to work with and was told to put together closer to 50, and we left it at that.

    I haven't mentioned it since so I don't know if the opportunity still stands. That said, I took some time over the Bank Holiday weekend to put together the first draft of a manuscript. It's a 40 page document (including the table of contents) with 47 poems in English, 2 in Irish, and 2 accompanying English translations. Some of the poems have scarcely changed since I wrote them as a teenager, and I'd like to keep them that way, but the others have had multiple re-drafts. I like the selection a lot, and have tried to frame the poems as a kind of progression of nearly 13 years of writing.

    Then today I took some time to do some extra research. In other words, I put "What makes a good poetry collection?" into Google and read the first few decent results. :pac: I found the 2013 series of eight essays by American poet and writer Robert Lee Brewer particularly interesting. (link to archive of posts) He had a first draft accepted in January that year but spent eight months editing and preparing it for launch.

    I'm starting to wonder what to do next. I'll hopefully be able to chat with the publisher again soon anyway, so whatever happens in that next conversation will probably answer most of my questions. It's easy to let my imagination run wild, though. Will I have to re-write a big chunk of work? Will I have to cut poems I'm fond of? Will I have to totally change my approach to things like punctuation, capitalisation, line lengths? Will I be judged for not having villanelles, sestinas, cinquains, monotetras, rondels? Who knows?


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 146 ✭✭km85264


    The next step is get somebody to read it. Find an editor who works in poetry and pay for a critique. Find out what works and what just looks like something you've thrown in because you can't bear to let it go.


  • Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 30,998 Mod ✭✭✭✭Insect Overlord


    km85264 wrote: »
    The next step is get somebody to read it. Find an editor who works in poetry and pay for a critique. Find out what works and what just looks like something you've thrown in because you can't bear to let it go.

    I've done a bit of work on it today and cut out three more poems that either weren't strong enough or just didn't really fit. I've re-ordered the others a bit more thematically as well.

    I'll print it off this afternoon and see how it looks on paper. Might feel better about showing it to people then.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 146 ✭✭km85264


    Sounds like a plan!


  • Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 30,998 Mod ✭✭✭✭Insect Overlord


    So on Thursday afternoon, by pure coincidence, I bumped into the very man I wanted to see.

    We chatted for a few minutes before I casually dropped it into the conversation that I've been working on something. He's interested in seeing it, both the electronic copy of the document and the printed prototype. There's a possibility of this becoming a book before the end of 2018. Exciting times!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 146 ✭✭km85264


    Great to hear. Hope it works out for you!


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,551 ✭✭✭Rubecula


    So on Thursday afternoon, by pure coincidence, I bumped into the very man I wanted to see.

    We chatted for a few minutes before I casually dropped it into the conversation that I've been working on something. He's interested in seeing it, both the electronic copy of the document and the printed prototype. There's a possibility of this becoming a book before the end of 2018. Exciting times!

    any chance of a signed copy?:)


  • Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 30,998 Mod ✭✭✭✭Insect Overlord


    Rubecula wrote: »
    any chance of a signed copy?:)

    I'll send a few out for Christmas, if I get it done in time. :)


  • Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 30,998 Mod ✭✭✭✭Insect Overlord


    Another bit of an update today. Forgive me for rambling a little bit! :)

    The publisher said he could go ahead with the manuscript as it is and it would be alright, but there's potential to make it something really impressive if I continue to work on it. He gave the collection to a poet who's been publishing and editing since the 1970s in order to get more detailed feedback. Plenty of encouragement to begin with. Out of the 49 pieces in the manuscript there were 21 that needed no revisions. Another 9 needed only minor changes (capital letters, missing words, commas, etc).

    The other 19 are a mixed bag of challenges. It'll be an interesting exercise to see if I can keep rhyming schemes in some poems while still improving on imagery and word choices. And of course there are some suggestions that I just want to ignore altogether. :pac: For example, there is an adjective flagged in one poem because it can be argued that it's not true in 100% of cases. I think it works nicely, particularly when the poem is read aloud. Maybe I'm too much under the influence of spoken word poetry as opposed to purely written work?

    Some of the poems were written over a decade ago, including two that I wrote when I was in Transition Year. I'm reluctant to change those two because I felt they captured things perfectly at the time they were written, but I might have to make concessions anyway. I've been told to take another early one (from just before the Leaving Cert) and cut it in half, removing the final four verses altogether. The first piece that I ever got published in a journal needs its first stanza cut too. I'd rather make changes to it and see if the core idea can be kept in some way. We shall have to wait and see.

    A few of them are going to require some real philosophical considerations. Who exactly is the speaking voice in the piece? And to whom exactly are they speaking?

    There are two poems that I put at the end because I felt they were atmospheric enough to close out the book properly. I thought they captured certain feelings, but the expert reckons I need to put more effort into dealing with particular themes. These are the kinds of ideas I was hoping to get feedback about. I missed out on a few years worth of conversations with other writers, so I'm glad to communicate with people who have the kind of expertise that I still need to learn. I know I don't necessarily have to go with every recommendation made by the expert. Some of them will open up some fascinating conversations all the same.


  • Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 30,998 Mod ✭✭✭✭Insect Overlord


    You know someone's really trying hard not to hurt your feelings when the best advice they can give you is "Don't be in any hurry to publish this".


  • Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 17,231 Mod ✭✭✭✭Das Kitty


    You know someone's really trying hard not to hurt your feelings when the best advice they can give you is "Don't be in any hurry to publish this".

    Oof!

    This the same person who you were on about before?


  • Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 30,998 Mod ✭✭✭✭Insect Overlord


    Das Kitty wrote: »
    Oof!

    This the same person who you were on about before?

    Indeed it is.

    In fairness to him, he gave me some other great advice as well. And he's offered to review my next draft once I've gone through everything again and revised it to his first set of instructions.

    I'm just afraid that his vision is a poetry book that academics and other poets will admire, instead of one that friends and family and non-experts can relate to. I'm not trying to become a poetry popstar or anything, but I am worried that I could lose the kind people who've always read my stuff and "got it".


  • Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 17,231 Mod ✭✭✭✭Das Kitty


    Indeed it is.

    In fairness to him, he gave me some other great advice as well. And he's offered to review my next draft once I've gone through everything again and revised it to his first set of instructions.

    I'm just afraid that his vision is a poetry book that academics and other poets will admire, instead of one that friends and family and non-experts can relate to. I'm not trying to become a poetry popstar or anything, but I am worried that I could lose the kind people who've always read my stuff and "got it".

    He obviously sees something in it. It could be all of these things. I don’t know who the guy is, obviously, but it sounds like he’s trying to bring the best out of your work. That said, if the edits suggested go against your gut, maybe it’s not right for you.

    Feel free to PM me if you want a chat about it.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 146 ✭✭km85264


    Unfortunately there's a very thin line between ignoring good advice and taking bad advice. Best thing to do is listen, absorb, sit on it for a few weeks and see what it does to your head. If you start to come around to his way of thinking, then it's good advice. If you still find yourself reluctant to go with it, then stick to your creative instincts.


  • Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 30,998 Mod ✭✭✭✭Insect Overlord


    I'm lucky that I have some free time over the next few weeks to mull everything over. I plan to spend most of tomorrow in the peace and quiet of the library. :)

    I suppose I'm (rightly) a little perplexed by being told to find my own voice, while still having to conform to what's fashionable with other contemporary writers. Part of the challenge of working effectively within the medium, I guess.


  • Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 17,231 Mod ✭✭✭✭Das Kitty


    It’s one person’s opinion.

    Do you workshop your poems with a group at all? A lot of the time I find a conversation with a small group very effective at getting to the heart of feedback.

    Salmon would be the big poetry collection publisher in Ireland. The output is quite diverse. Would it be worthwhile dropping them a line?


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