Serious about writing-- ATTENTION: ALL ORIGINAL FICTION WRITERS: SF/F Wrtiers' Guild contest!

This one found it's way back to the top! *cheers*

And thanks for the info, guys! (*scampers off to follow links*)

~*~Austyn

 

Yay! Uppers!

Interesting plot, Alrik? I could probably use some advice on that too.

 

Yes, for example yesterday I played the PC game called "Summoner". It was incredible how they made this twist (or turn) of the plot ... I don't know how I could do that.

 

I've got one novel that I've been revising for some time, but have always wanted to do unconventional fantasy and a few days ago, a major idea hit for that very purpose. It's basically about a world in which the wizards--the heroes and guiding forces of the community--are denied their powers. It would be kinda like the Jedi Order becoming Force blind, in a fantasy way. As it happens, it occurs during a war and instead, they have to learn how to be the heroes the same way as the normal people.

 

Alrik, the best suggestion I can give is observation. Study the plot's twists and turns and learn what makes them good. I'm not good at creating interesting plots, so does anyone else have advice?

Wow, Ish, that sounds like a cool idea! Poor wizards, now they have to be normal. And having it occur during a war makes it even more exciting.

Uppers!

 

Does anyone know if fanstory.com is worth the monthly fees?

 

There'll be an element of bitterness on both sides of the power thing--those who have been denied it and those who never had it.

 

Hello, I've found in a different forum an interesting text about writing a plotline :

Guide to Plotting[/url]

 

My problem is that my plots get too intricate and then I have problems getting the actual story to end. I know all my endings, but it's a long, drawn out road to get there...

 

It's not a bad idea to consider technical writing to make your living and then writing fiction/creatively on the side. Then anything you write adds to your Curriculum Vitae and looks impressive. It also works your talent and keeps you exercised.

And, every now and then, you can get a fantastic job that blends creativity and technical writing. Then you've got a nice gig.

 

Twich: It's not a bad idea to consider technical writing to make your living and then writing fiction/creatively on the side.

It was tech writing that got me back into creative writing, so I heartily agree.

 

Original fiction? I've never actually written any, but I'm working on one with a friend in RL. It's a lot of fun.

I had a poem published once.

But I really would love to have fiction published. Both my parents are writers - journalists -, so I grew up with it. It's totally normal for Mom to hold a page proof in front of me and say 'Read this and tell me if there are any glaring errors.' Writing is in my genes, you could say.

Fan fic is great to work with, because you get practice keep characterization - because you don't have to invent it - and it's easier to keep from writing Mary Sues, so you can get an idea of what makes a good character.

Obviously, fan fic won't get published, but it's still fun to write, isn't it? And it's good practice, too.

 

Great thread -- I'm glad it got bumped up, or I never would have found it.

I actually started writing original fics long before I started on fanfics -- so far I have three novels languishing in a drawer. Lately fanfics have been taking up most of the limited writing time I have, but I figure any day I sit down to write and actually produce something is worthwhile, even if it's not an original work, per se. Actually, the first work of fanfiction I ever put online was a Phantom of the Opera-based novel, and it's gotten such a great reaction from my readers (it recently won a Reader's Choice award) that I'm now polishing it and looking to see if I can actually get it published. Of course, Phantom (the original novel) is in the public domain everywhere except in France, so I don't have to worry about getting sued.

 

Glad to see this bumped.

I wrote original fiction when I was younger, with the exception of a JJK story I wrote in third grade. A couple of years ago I really started writing fan fiction, but only for my own entertainment. I hope to develop my skills to one day write original fiction for a living . . . but I still have a long way to go. Currently I'm working on an original children's story that I'll send to publishers when it's finished, but even when I'm through with all the hard work on that story, I have to admit that I highly doubt it will be accepted...for a long time, at least.

Because that's the optimistic person I am.

 

It's not a bad living either. And like I said earlier, get the right gig and you've got the best of both worlds.

Do you have a specific field of technical writing that you work in? Just curious.

 

I just started my first original story, with my best friend and what we are both finding difficult is finding a common plot line we are both happy with. That and blending our very different styles of writing. Personally, I'm just finding the idea of sitting down and writing a long epic story just a tad daunting (okay, very daunting).

Kithera

 

What do you people do in the thread? Like how do you talk about your OS.

 

I'd find trying to write anything with another person daunting! Do you actually sit down and write it together, or do you bounce plot ideas off one another but actually write on your own? Just curious.

Also, maybe you shouldn't worry about whether it's long or epic if you're just starting out. Maybe you should just see where the characters and events of the story take you. (Of course, this is being said by a person who considers anything under 20,000 words to be short!)

 

Twitch: Do you have a specific field of technical writing that you work in? Just curious.

Just documenting my work (I'm a Database Admin/Programmer/PBX Guru). One of my Tech Writing professors was a fiction writer, which I had also dabbled in. Conversations turned into inspiration, then I played Knights of the Old Republic... and my journey toward the FanFic side was complete.

I still want to write original fic, though... just using Fanfic to develop my chops (that's what I tell myself, anyway ).

 

A lot of it is sitting and bouncing ideas of each other (which is fun, as long as you remember what everyone said) and then going home and choosing the different bits to write. Writing it together doesn't work for me at all, but I happily send my stuff off to her and she edits it and sends it back (and vice versa) and so we have a happy medium. That's the way it's planned to work at the moment, but whether it ends up like that I have no idea. We'll see.

Yeah, I suppose. It's just most of my stuff isn't over 2000 words and last time I wrote an epic it drained the life and soul out of my writing for the longest time. I think I"m just scared of that happening again.

Kithera

 

Very cool. I'm always boggled by techie people (programmer?? EEK!). Cause I'm SO not. LOL.

Shel Silverstein's "The Giving Tree" was rejected over a hundred times before it was accepted. So there's some inspiration for ya.

Original fic (to me) is actually far easier than fanfic. The characters, situations, and setting are all yours. Fanfic scares the crud out of me. People with MUCH knowledge about characters that are not yours and you're dabbling in someone else's universe. Totally afraid I'm gonna mess it up somewhere along the way. My current story is my first attempt at any SW fic. Before that I've written a small handful of Farscape fics. That's it. Much more comfortable with my own characters. Just figured I should stretch a bit.

 

That's how I've heard coauthors write together, actually. Like KJA and Brian Herbert...they write chapters separately and e-mail them for editing back and forth. Good luck with your story.

As for me, Twich, I don't know if I can say which is harder, fanfic or original.... I'll probably always be a little more comfortable with my OCs from my original story because I know them best, but the YJKs are just so REAL to me, too.... I'm horrible at making decisions; both fanfic and original are fun. But I'll admit that when I first started writing fanfic and didn't have a good grip on the characters, it came out wrong, so I can see why you're much more comfortable with your OCs.

 

Well, look at it this way. Since you are writing it with someone else, you've got another person to help keep you going if you start to feel tired out. I guess that's one reason why reviews are so nice for the solo writer -- they often give you the impetus to keep writing (and point out some of the things you might have overlooked!). Of course, I thought getting reviews at ff.n was tough, but this place is even worse!

 

: Shel Silverstein's "The Giving Tree" was rejected over a hundred times before it was accepted. So there's some inspiration for ya.

Woohoo! REEEEE-jection! I don't know that I'd have the patience to submit something 100 times .

: The characters, situations, and setting are all yours.

I like to think the galaxy is big enough to add some originality into it... but I agree. Taking your own universe and making whatever *you* want is easier than trying to pick around in someone else's sandbox.

 

I don't know, I like to test my writing in other people's worlds before using them in my own, often my worlds however are based around some concept I have in my mind that I wish to prove; for example in one fictional country I developed for a fantasy RP, Eltonia, it was almost a critique on colonialism, since the mother country wished to take back a colony it never knew existed until it was discovered after a great war. I haven't inspiration like that in a while though, but I know if I were to create another original setting, it would be to serve a story that would probably center around appearence-vs-reality, probably would also be closer to our time and place.

Characters, however, are far more universal, which is why I story about a clone trooper can easily be translated into a story about war vet or something else. I prefer to test my ability to write decent realistic characters and take risks with the writing of them, that I probably wouldn't if I were writing original stuff. Though, all my characters are OCs in the intertrilogy period.

Oddly, I know this is weird, I find behind the scenes doctumentaries inspiring as a very amateur writer, especially those in the LOTR Extended Edition packages. Also music to some degree, but its more the feelings that soak into my brain instead of the concepts introduced when it comes to music. The behind the scenes stuff is much more about concepts.