Let me start out by saying that I absolutely hate blogging. Can't stand it. Writing in a room filled with fellow writers and personally getting their constructive critiques about my work will always reign as the far superior option in my eyes. However, not everyone has access to a room and other writers to fill that room with to provide constructive critiques. So for writers for which reviewers are hard to come by, blogging and sharing their writing with other writers over the internet would probably be the most viable option. Not to mention when you're on the internet you're presenting your work to a much broader audience than you ever could presenting it in a classroom.
I prefer the classroom option because the feedback you get from a room full of writers is so much more in-depth than what you would get from someone posting a comment on a website. This is not to say that there are no knowledgeable writers on the internet. I'm emphasizing the fact that in a classroom, you can be bombarded with countless ways to improve your work because the people in the room with you can just keep giving you suggestions and explain themselves much more quickly than they could if you didn't understand what they had written in their first comment for your work on your blog.
If you had to choose one, the choice is entirely personal preference. Both options are equally very helpful. So it's just a matter of which you're more comfortable with. Maybe you'll like to utilize both options. Knock yourself out if that's the case.
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Monday, December 5, 2011
Fiction Writing - Blog #6: Good Writing
Take a quick look at this:
http://grammar.about.com/od/yourwriting/a/characteristics.htm
Everything there are the concise general fundamentals of what would be considered "good" writing. I whole-heartedly agree with the proposition that good writing is writing that responds to the interests and needs of the readers. When you write, you're trying to do so much more than just show the world how good your grammar and spelling is. You're trying to stir up something that is much deeper within your readers when you present your work to them. When your readers are done reading your work, you want them to be different after they've read it from before they ever set eyes on it.
http://grammar.about.com/od/yourwriting/a/characteristics.htm
Everything there are the concise general fundamentals of what would be considered "good" writing. I whole-heartedly agree with the proposition that good writing is writing that responds to the interests and needs of the readers. When you write, you're trying to do so much more than just show the world how good your grammar and spelling is. You're trying to stir up something that is much deeper within your readers when you present your work to them. When your readers are done reading your work, you want them to be different after they've read it from before they ever set eyes on it.
FIction Writing - Blog #5: My Literary Magazine of Choice
I don't think I have ever picked up a literary magazine in my life. So this makes it practically impossible for me to post up one I like or would recommend to my fellow writers. I can, however, direct you all to a source that will provide you with names and information on hundreds of literary magazines.
Check this out:
http://www.newpages.com/literary-magazines/
Check this out:
http://www.newpages.com/literary-magazines/
Fiction Writing - Blog #4: My Writing Process
My writing process, I think, is pretty simple. As someone who rarely reads, but loves to write, I tend to rely on several sources separate from literature: video games, films, music, and life experience for inspiration. These four outlets provide me with all I need to get my fingers typing. Insert lots of moments of staring off into space here and there while I ponder these sources, and you pretty much have my writing process.
I'm an avid gamer. I've been playing video games all my life, and I play just about every genre excluding maybe two or three. Over the years lots of gamers have begun to shy away from the single player experience in favor of the games that feature online multiplayer, allowing players from all over the world to face off against each other over the internet. I'm one of the few gamers I know who still indulges in single player games. Why? Because, for as long as I can remember, I have always been enchanted by the various characters, creatures, locations, architecture, and plots that populate these electronic worlds. For my more fantastical work, the digital realm holds heavy inspiration.
I'm not a movie buff. Actually I'm quite the contrary. I'm one of those people who hasn't seen a lot of the movies that everyone else has seen, and I will disappoint you if you ask me if I've seen them when I tell you I haven't. However, that doesn't mean that I don't love films. I rarely watch TV anymore. So I often find myself browsing Netflix for a new movie to watch or just putting on a favorite film I have on DVD for leisure or just background noise. I love films because I can actually see the characters and how they interact with each other, how they behave by themselves, and how they react to the plot as it takes its course around them. I get to see the different environments the characters find themselves in as well. I take all these visuals, and then find my own way to articulate what I see on paper.
I believe these last two sources I'm about to mention have the most influence on my writing once I actually get to putting words down.
Now we have music. Music...music...music. When I write, music is imperative, a must, mandatory, a necessity, and you can fill in the rest of the blanks on the list with words synonymous to those mentioned. When I have a scene in mind, and the time has come to put this scene down in words, I have to be listening to music when I do it. When I listen to music, I can visualize the scene happening right before me as I begin to write. Depending on what kind of scene I'm writing, I'll listen to a song that fits the mood or bears very relevant meaning to it. I have Last.fm on my Xbox360 playing hip-hop as I type this blog post. Music in general just makes my writing process go a lot smoother. Without it, I'd be spending a much more significant amount of time staring blankly at my unfinished pages.
Finally, there's life experience. Nothing has ever helped me more with writing about an experience than experiencing it for myself. After having lived through a significant moment, I can effortlessly translate this instance to words on the page. Since these experiences are so vivid to me, I can recall just what I did, or how I felt, and then project these actions and feelings onto a fictional character.
Another writer's writing process:
http://kristincashore.blogspot.com/2008/02/my-writing-process.html
I'm an avid gamer. I've been playing video games all my life, and I play just about every genre excluding maybe two or three. Over the years lots of gamers have begun to shy away from the single player experience in favor of the games that feature online multiplayer, allowing players from all over the world to face off against each other over the internet. I'm one of the few gamers I know who still indulges in single player games. Why? Because, for as long as I can remember, I have always been enchanted by the various characters, creatures, locations, architecture, and plots that populate these electronic worlds. For my more fantastical work, the digital realm holds heavy inspiration.
I'm not a movie buff. Actually I'm quite the contrary. I'm one of those people who hasn't seen a lot of the movies that everyone else has seen, and I will disappoint you if you ask me if I've seen them when I tell you I haven't. However, that doesn't mean that I don't love films. I rarely watch TV anymore. So I often find myself browsing Netflix for a new movie to watch or just putting on a favorite film I have on DVD for leisure or just background noise. I love films because I can actually see the characters and how they interact with each other, how they behave by themselves, and how they react to the plot as it takes its course around them. I get to see the different environments the characters find themselves in as well. I take all these visuals, and then find my own way to articulate what I see on paper.
I believe these last two sources I'm about to mention have the most influence on my writing once I actually get to putting words down.
Now we have music. Music...music...music. When I write, music is imperative, a must, mandatory, a necessity, and you can fill in the rest of the blanks on the list with words synonymous to those mentioned. When I have a scene in mind, and the time has come to put this scene down in words, I have to be listening to music when I do it. When I listen to music, I can visualize the scene happening right before me as I begin to write. Depending on what kind of scene I'm writing, I'll listen to a song that fits the mood or bears very relevant meaning to it. I have Last.fm on my Xbox360 playing hip-hop as I type this blog post. Music in general just makes my writing process go a lot smoother. Without it, I'd be spending a much more significant amount of time staring blankly at my unfinished pages.
Finally, there's life experience. Nothing has ever helped me more with writing about an experience than experiencing it for myself. After having lived through a significant moment, I can effortlessly translate this instance to words on the page. Since these experiences are so vivid to me, I can recall just what I did, or how I felt, and then project these actions and feelings onto a fictional character.
Another writer's writing process:
http://kristincashore.blogspot.com/2008/02/my-writing-process.html
Monday, November 28, 2011
Fiction Writing - Blog #3: Story Beginnings
The opening of a story is an extremely crucial part of the text overall. It is supposed to set the tone of the story, maybe introduce the main protagonist, perhaps also establish the setting, and immerse the reader within the pages all at the same time. This is no basic task. In light of these facts, this is why many seasoned writers advise up and coming writers to finish their stories first and add the opening last.
T.C. Boyle's opening to his short story Caviar is very good. In the opening to this story you already get a feel for how the tone of the rest of the story will feel, you learn a lot about our narrator who is also the protagonist, and Boyle presents you with the setting on the Hudson. I was sucked into it immediately from the very first sentence when the first thing the narrator tells us is that he never went to college.
The first sentence of your story is just as crucial as the opening itself. If you manage to draw your reader in at the very first sentence, that in itself is an admirable accomplishment. The introduction is about providing your readers with just the right amount of information about the story without giving too much of it away. You want to lay it out for them and show them just what they're about to get themselves into, but at the same time you don't want to weigh them down with too much information that might bore them or spoil the story. You want to give them a small taste that's going to wow them and keep them reading.
T.C. Boyle's opening to his short story Caviar is very good. In the opening to this story you already get a feel for how the tone of the rest of the story will feel, you learn a lot about our narrator who is also the protagonist, and Boyle presents you with the setting on the Hudson. I was sucked into it immediately from the very first sentence when the first thing the narrator tells us is that he never went to college.
The first sentence of your story is just as crucial as the opening itself. If you manage to draw your reader in at the very first sentence, that in itself is an admirable accomplishment. The introduction is about providing your readers with just the right amount of information about the story without giving too much of it away. You want to lay it out for them and show them just what they're about to get themselves into, but at the same time you don't want to weigh them down with too much information that might bore them or spoil the story. You want to give them a small taste that's going to wow them and keep them reading.
Fiction Writing - Blog #2: Quotation Punctuation
Quotation punctuation is pretty self-explanatory; it's how a writer chooses to format the punctuation within the spoken dialogue of their characters. Many writers tend to have their own style for quotation punctuation, but there is a set of guidelines that show us the standard for quotation punctuation.
Quotation Punctuation Rules
http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/quotes.asp
My chosen author is J.K. Rowling. Here's a small excerpt from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone when the Weasley twins, Fred and George, first meet Harry:
"Thanks," said Harry, pushing his sweaty hair out of his eyes.
"What's that?" said one of the twins suddenly, pointing at Harry's lightning scar.
"Blimey," said the other twin. "Are you -?"
"He is," said the first twin. "Aren't you?" he added to Harry.
"What?" said Harry.
"Harry Potter," chorused the twins.
"Oh, him," said Harry. "I mean, yes, I am."
This is a pretty basic example of standard quotation punctuation. Commas are used instead of periods at the end of statements within quotations. Every new line of dialogue spoken by a different character is given a new paragraph, etc. Here's a small example from my novel idea Love[s] of My Life of how I present my dialogue:
"Pssssst!"
She turned her beautiful face toward me and gave me that sweet smile, "Hey!" She took a seat in the armchair next to mine.
"Finished already?" I asked her.
She nodded, "Yeah. I just had a couple things to check and a few e-mails to send out."
I could feel her aura wrapping around my body, "What you got to do now?"
"Nothing," she shrugged. "I have like two hours before my next class. Didn't you say you had to study?"
"Yeah, but I think I'm good. I did plenty of studying last night," I lied with a grin.
Quotation Punctuation Rules
http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/quotes.asp
My chosen author is J.K. Rowling. Here's a small excerpt from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone when the Weasley twins, Fred and George, first meet Harry:
"Thanks," said Harry, pushing his sweaty hair out of his eyes.
"What's that?" said one of the twins suddenly, pointing at Harry's lightning scar.
"Blimey," said the other twin. "Are you -?"
"He is," said the first twin. "Aren't you?" he added to Harry.
"What?" said Harry.
"Harry Potter," chorused the twins.
"Oh, him," said Harry. "I mean, yes, I am."
This is a pretty basic example of standard quotation punctuation. Commas are used instead of periods at the end of statements within quotations. Every new line of dialogue spoken by a different character is given a new paragraph, etc. Here's a small example from my novel idea Love[s] of My Life of how I present my dialogue:
"Pssssst!"
She turned her beautiful face toward me and gave me that sweet smile, "Hey!" She took a seat in the armchair next to mine.
"Finished already?" I asked her.
She nodded, "Yeah. I just had a couple things to check and a few e-mails to send out."
I could feel her aura wrapping around my body, "What you got to do now?"
"Nothing," she shrugged. "I have like two hours before my next class. Didn't you say you had to study?"
"Yeah, but I think I'm good. I did plenty of studying last night," I lied with a grin.
Fiction Writing - Blog #1: Inspirational Fiction
The films written and directed by Quentin Tarantino are a huge influence on my style of writing, most notably the way I present my characters in their spoken dialogue. What I love most about the way Tarantino writes dialogue is just how real the characters feel when they speak. Some of the conversations and comments I heard in his films are things I could definitely hear myself or some of my friends talking about. A prime example is the scene from Tarantino's Pulp Fiction toward the end when we see the two hitmen, Jules and Vincent, at a diner:
Vincent: Want some bacon?
Jules: No man, I don't eat pork.
Vincent: Are you Jewish?
Jules: Nah, I ain't Jewish, I just don't dig on swine, that's all.
Vincent: Why not?
Jules: Pigs are filthy animals. I don't eat filthy animals.
Vincent: Bacon tastes gooood. Pork chops taste gooood.
Jules: Hey, sewer rat may taste like pumpkin pie, but I'd never know 'cause I wouldn't eat the filthy motherfucker. Pigs sleep and root in shit. That's a filthy animal. I ain't eat nothin' that ain't got sense enough to disregard its own feces.
Vincent: How about a dog? Dogs eats its own feces.
Jules: I don't eat dog either.
Vincent: Yeah, but do you consider a dog to be a filthy animal?
Jules: I wouldn't go so far as to call a dog filthy but they're definitely dirty. But, a dog's got personality. Personality goes a long way.
Vincent: Ah, so by that rationale, if a pig had a better personality, he would cease to be a filthy animal. Is that true?
Jules: Well we'd have to be talkin' about one charming motherfuckin' pig. I mean he'd have to be ten times more charmin' than that Arnold on Green Acres, you know what I'm sayin'?
Pulp Fiction
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110912/
Reservoir Dogs
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105236/
Vincent: Want some bacon?
Jules: No man, I don't eat pork.
Vincent: Are you Jewish?
Jules: Nah, I ain't Jewish, I just don't dig on swine, that's all.
Vincent: Why not?
Jules: Pigs are filthy animals. I don't eat filthy animals.
Vincent: Bacon tastes gooood. Pork chops taste gooood.
Jules: Hey, sewer rat may taste like pumpkin pie, but I'd never know 'cause I wouldn't eat the filthy motherfucker. Pigs sleep and root in shit. That's a filthy animal. I ain't eat nothin' that ain't got sense enough to disregard its own feces.
Vincent: How about a dog? Dogs eats its own feces.
Jules: I don't eat dog either.
Vincent: Yeah, but do you consider a dog to be a filthy animal?
Jules: I wouldn't go so far as to call a dog filthy but they're definitely dirty. But, a dog's got personality. Personality goes a long way.
Vincent: Ah, so by that rationale, if a pig had a better personality, he would cease to be a filthy animal. Is that true?
Jules: Well we'd have to be talkin' about one charming motherfuckin' pig. I mean he'd have to be ten times more charmin' than that Arnold on Green Acres, you know what I'm sayin'?
Pulp Fiction
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110912/
Reservoir Dogs
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105236/
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