Any writers?

Discussion in 'Off Topic Area' started by StorDuff, Jun 3, 2004.

  1. StorDuff

    StorDuff adamantium

    Was just wondering if there were any writers here? If so, what type of writing, what genre, etc? :eek:
     
  2. SoKKlab

    SoKKlab The Cwtch of Death!

    Yes, I'm a Screenwriter/ Filmmaker. I make some kind of living at it now too!

    I've also done some Journalism-New Media and Martial Arts stuff and have had a few short stories published, plus poetry blahblahblahhhh.

    Why? are you thinking about pursuing 'The Life of the Mind'???
     
  3. bedens67

    bedens67 New Member

    Greetings...

    I've actually been published several times, and hopefully have a couple more in the works...

    I had a short story (horror fiction) published many years back... Small magazine that's no longer in print... Got a few bucks for it :)

    Had a non-fiction article about resources for special needs children on the Internet. Was actually by someone who publishes "generic" newsletters for companies (where he does everything but a company-specific page)... More bucks for that one...

    I have an article in the hopper for a compilation... It's about teaching martial arts to children with autism... Don't know if that book will see the light of day yet... Editor is still working with a publisher...

    Oh yeah... Write poetry too... Korean sijo...

    But my pride and joy is writing a story about my son, who was a premature baby and is a special needs child... The book is "Living Miracles : Stories of Hope from Parents of Premature Babies" You can still get it through www.bn.com or www.amazon.com ... ISBN is 0312272723. A very touching book... Didn't get paid for that, but that was OK... The purpose was to provide just what the title suggests... We had a great effort getting it into NICU's, pediatrician offices, early intervention offices, etc.

    Good question!

    - Bert in Springdale, Arkansas
     
  4. Guerilla Fists

    Guerilla Fists New Member

    I write to express my deep sorrow and discontent with this world....in my livejournal! LOL.

    Nah, I'm JK, I don't mope but I did start a livejournal with my roommate. I'm virtue but only in comparison to him. Check it out. www.livejournal.com/users/evan_and_arturo
     
  5. Senga

    Senga GenkiGirl

    I'm just an ameutur writing on her free time. Maybe someday, after i finish, i'll take a story or two to a publisher and have them look it over.

    I mainly write fantasy-sci-fi. mostly on the sci-fi side though. I try to make it realistic/life-based as possible.

    and of course it has martial arts in it as well. although it's pretty much TKD 'cuz that's all the MA i know. maybe some cool gunslinging here and there and some sword fighting when that someday i get my 3rd degree and take up Korean sword fighting. Hopefully. But that won't happen for a long while yet.


    well, later and may all your writers never/seldomly get Writer's Blocks!

    Argh, i'm having one right now! :woo:
     
  6. StorDuff

    StorDuff adamantium

    I've been wanting to write short stories for a while now. In school we read them, with poetry, and I read The Old Man and the Sea (although a novel) cover to cover once. I've always though these works were overrated, adn that anyone could write. I have trouble motivating myself because of this attitude though. Last night I started to type out one of my story ideas, but after about a page and a half I said to myself 'why bother' and deleted it. Lately I've been reading Akutagawa as well, I'm afraid any influence of his will show heavily in what I write :eek:
     
  7. StorDuff

    StorDuff adamantium

    Not really pursuing as a career, yet....

    How do you go about getting one of your short stories published? I am 17, and used to love writing but have just been posting at forums lately. I doubt my writing is really that good in comparison to people that practice. I haven't sought any formal training because to me it seems like it would taint a style, I think writing should be pure. Do you have your stories/poems published in books, magazines? :eek:
     
  8. SoKKlab

    SoKKlab The Cwtch of Death!

    Hi Stor,
    Simplifying it a bit....Short Stories are generally published via contributing them to Magazines, Fanzines etc-best get hold of a copy of the thing first to suss out the Magazine's style and content. Find out the person to send it to and polish your story so it shines like a new pin.

    get a copy of a resource like the Writers Handbook or something similar and it will list magazines, publishers, agents, Lawyers etc etc. All necessary contacts for writers.

    There are other avenues like Competitions etc for short stories. I mainly concentrate upon Screenwriting these days, as that's roughly how I make a living, either getting paid to write scripts or teaching screenwriting.

    Apparently I have a short story coming out in Matter Magazine in the autumn, which is the first short story I have contributed to a magazine in ages. And a script that I was commisioned to write entitled 'Talkshow' is in development with Fox (development equals Hell). (Screenwriting is unlike other forms of writing and is a very seperate discipline).

    Writing is practice, pure and simple. It's a craft like any other, so you learn your craft by writing. It will probably take you a long time to develop that craft and there's no substitute for hardwork. You'll get told this alot, don't let it irritate you, because it's true.

    Be prepared for a lot of rejection and heartache along the way though-oh and don't throw away anything you write, work at it even if you have the feeling that it's rubbish (it's a totally normal feeling, trust me).

    PS Hemingway is a good place to start, as he makes it feel simple and easy, but the brilliance is in the way he often uses simple language to produce devastating consequences.

    Some other writers worth checking out are: Charles Bukowski, Charles Willeford, Harry Crews, John Fante, James Ellroy, Ed Mcbain: as much as for the way they write as for the genre and story content.
     
  9. morphus

    morphus Doobrey

    I'd say forget about trying to make a living out of it & do it for fun at first, you have to start somewhere. You'll gain some experience, send off some articles (MAP are always looking for articles) & someday you may make a living out of it.
     
  10. Zamfoo

    Zamfoo Valued Member

    I write poems, prose I guess. Pretty much in my English class we'd get a poem or something and we'd write. It was really great as a sanity/profundity thing.

    Oh and "The Old Man and the Sea" is a pretty good book.
     
  11. Senga

    Senga GenkiGirl

    Yeah, me too. In my english calss we're writing poetry as a part of our unit cirriculum. It's cool 'cuz it opened me up to another world. before i hated poetry, now i really enjoy reading and writing it.

    but my work isn't good enough to be published. I got that message loud and clear when my best work didn't even get a runner-up position in the writing contests.

    eh, whatever. it's not gonna stop me from writing.
     
  12. K_Coffin

    K_Coffin New Member

    Wow. This thread reminds me of how long it's been since I've actually written something. I love to write, and apparently I'm pretty good at it, but I haven't done it for awhile. I'm still a voracious reader, so I get a healthy dose of style, but I haven't been developing my own in a long time.
     
  13. Tripitaka of AA

    Tripitaka of AA Valued Member

    I like writing, but I don't do enough to get anything other than personal pleasure from it.

    When E-Budo is next up and running, check out the old thread titled "A Ronin's Spring Quest - the tale of Kato Tadao". That was a laugh, it is a co-operative venture among those contributors who enjoy writing fiction. I write a paragraph, someone else writes a bit, then another person, then back to me, then another, then me again... then somebody else turns up and turns the whole story around. It can be a lot of fun, or it can get very boring.... worst is when people run out of ideas and then it's "Suddenly a strange light shone down from the previously invisible silver dish... and Captain Zarg said "OK, show's over!""
     
  14. Kinjiro Tsukasa

    Kinjiro Tsukasa I'm hungry; got troll? Supporter

  15. StorDuff

    StorDuff adamantium

    I still am having trouble getting started, ideas aren't the problem, but how do I overcome that feeling of what I am doing is completely useless? Writing just doesn't seem to be important, I enjoy a story here and there, but I don't worship authors like some people seem to do. I'm not sure what I would do with it either, since it is probably not good, any hope of winning anything with it is out, I would write for my own pleasure, but why write for no audience? Even if there is an audience, I still don't see the point. I'm just having trouble getting motivated :eek:
     
  16. Mind Aflame

    Mind Aflame New Member

    I write a bit of surrealist poetry but it's not particularly good
     
  17. Knight_Errant

    Knight_Errant Banned Banned

    I wrote some comedy that was recently turned down by a publisher for being indescribably filthy :(
    I dabble in postmodernist, palanhiuk-ish, steinbeck-influenced-ish lit, but I haven't got anything published. I'm still hoping though :)
    so Sokklab, how do you get to be a screenwriter? do you need a degree?(that would kind of sink me)
     
    Last edited: Jun 4, 2004
  18. Bellator Manus

    Bellator Manus Warrior of the Hand

    I am going to be a writer, still a student though. My favorite genre is Modern (like Tom Clancey) or Sci Fi. But I have a published story in an Anthology.
     
  19. SoKKlab

    SoKKlab The Cwtch of Death!

    You definitely do not need a degree, in fact most degrees in Screenwriting aren't worth the paper they are written on...

    The simple version would be, that you maybe read a few books, attend a couple of seminars etc, if you feel you need the experience and ideas.

    Phaze 1 would be: Then you write write write etc, get rejected a lot, pain misery heartache, poverty, more poverty, get jerked around by idiot 'Producers', more poverty, pain, rejection etc and relax.

    than repeat phaze one-for anything between a couple of years and an eternity.

    It took me Seven Years of hard work, in which time I wrote Seven feature Film scripts, about thirty short film scripts, co-wrote a Sitcom pilot and wrote about twenty Treatments for documentaries and another ten or so Treatments for other feature film scripts, all before I ever got paid to write any script ever.

    Then I had a breakthrough and got paid to write my First feature Film Script and it's been swings and roundabouts ever since.

    I learnt my Craft, it's like anything else, hard work, determination, skill, talent and a very thick skin....I've also directed a couple of short films, interviews etc, as if I was 'just' a Screenwriter, I would be Mad by now, as it is clearly the most Insane industry I have ever been involved with...

    Make sense???
     
  20. Jim

    Jim New Member

    A good way of getting through writer's block is to start narration. Just write anything that comes into your head, ie: 'Jim sat at the keyboard, his fingers were cold and he blundered a few letters causing him to hit the backspace key several times...'. Before you know it you've worked your way through it.

    Best thing is that with computers you don't waste paper! :)
     

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