Jgnat Shades of Grey has been my saviour this year. I sold over 2000 copies. (I sell books for a living) Unfortunately the price has now dropped below where I can make a profit.
The Art of Writing
by Quendi 35 Replies latest social entertainment
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jgnat
...so your profit model is similar to the drug industry. You need an original and popular new product to get your ROI (i.e. viagra).
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panhandlegirl
I have a question: my daughter is a naturally gifted writer. She writes like I wish I could write, naturally from the heart, it just kinda pours out of her. My hubby made the misstep of telling my daughter if she keeps a journal he feels he has a right to read her most personal thoughts (something I don't agree with and feel that should only be done with permission) so now she has stopped writing for pleasure. I've tried to encourage her to pick up the pen again but she refuses. Is there anything I can do?
MsJones, your daughter should learn to write in another language. I wrote in Spanish when I did not want anyone to know what I was writing. Yes, sometimes we are talking about you when we change to another language, but not always.
PHG.
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Quendi
I have enjoyed reading others' contributions to this thread and hope we will have still more soon. There is something very therapeutic about writing for me as well as its being creative and I am happy that I can exercise the gift. For me, as it is with many writers, it all began with reading. But I also come from a story of great storytellers, people steeped in the oral traditions that are so important to the culture and history of the American South. That has had a great impact on me and my writing down to this very day.
@ Diana Netherton: I have sent you a PM and look forward to your reply.
@jgnat: I seen nothing illegible about your handwriting, my dear! I am glad that you continue to engage in handwritten correspondence. Handwriting is one of those wonderful things which mark us as unique individuals and should not be given up. And I'd say the same thing to jwfacts. While the computer and its word processing software have undoubtedly been a blessing for many of us, don't give up that unique interaction between hand and pen that creates our words. They will always mean a lot to the people we love and care about when they see we have taken the time to think about them and share our thoughts with them.
@ Jomavrick: I share your pain over the loss of your cherished fountain pen. I have lost several down through the years and I can only hope that they were found by someone who really appreciated them and gave them a good home. As a matter of fact, one of my fountain pens is a foundling. It is a Mont Blanc, left at my place of work quite a few years ago. I kept it in my desk drawer for more than two years in the hopes that its owner would come looking for it and I could return it to him or her. Sadly, the owner never showed up to claim the lost treasure and after waiting for what I thought was far longer than necessary, I claimed it for my own and took it home.
Some on this forum have shared their work with us and I am glad they have. I don't have anything worthy of that kind of exposure, but I hope that the writers among us will continue to be creative and productive. Even in this age of digitalization, we have the need for old-fashioned storytelling. There seems to be a primal urge to gather with our clan and tribe around the fire and regale each other with tales of fact and fancy. Thanks to the invention of writing, our tales can not only be spread far and wide, but they can be shared with others long after we ourselves have departed. That makes this art more than worthwhile and is one more reason I continue to practice it.
Quendi
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NewChapter
We had a similar thread, and I answered it, so forgive me for repeating myself.
I do believe that writing on paper and writing on a computer makes different connections and the results can be different. However my handwriting is just horrible, and often I can't read it. My hand also gets very sore quickly--some people call this writer's cramp---but I did some reading where writer's cramp is actually a psychological problem where a person literally cannot write for some period of time. I read this a long time ago, and have not followed up on it since, so I could be wrong.
When I write by hand, I rarely write out a full thought or proper sentence. It is more an informal series of words to capture the thought. I also scribble in the borders. Sometimes I write different words that I want to play with and set different tones to see what works best later. Sometimes I draw small sketches so that I can work out the descriptive details later. Most of my writing is done on the computer, but I find that editing and rewriting goes better if I have a hard copy. Partly because I don't want to discard something completely before I've thought on it for a while, and partly because I find it quicker. Of course, going back and editing the computer screen is slower, but this is appropriate for me, because it is the time I slow down and think a great deal more.
I also write quick outlines of scenes on index cards. When the story is not flowing, I lay out these cards (all over my living room floor) and I arrange and rearrange them until I pick up the flow. Sometimes I discover that I am simply missing scenes or backstory. Sometimes I discover that my backstory is not close enough to the need to know it. This visual and flexibility has been very valuable to me.
I also use a dry erase board and colored markers. If something is particularly difficult to work out, I find it beneficial to be able to quickly erase and rewrite, and then color code what I am doing. It also makes it very easy to draw little diagrams to watch the flow. This is a great way to structure research papers too.
And finally, I read my work out loud. This is valuable to detect awkward wording that just does not register when I read my own work. Afterall, I know what I mean, but the important thing is the reader knows what I mean. I will even read a chapter into my mp3 player, and then go for a walk and listen to it. It's a great shift in viewpoint, and I have averted many tragedies doing this.
So those are my things. I guess you could say I need a lot of space.
NC
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NewChapter
Jgnat Shades of Grey
I just listened to some of this book. I immediately thought, Bella and Edward from Twilight.. It was driving me crazy, and then the plot mirrored Twilight. I have learned that the story started as a piece of fanfiction, based on Twilight in an alternative universe. Which leads me to question if this is the thing to do. Even the mannerisms of the characters are exactly like the Twilight characters. Edward (bronze hair), and Christian (copper hair) both have the habit of tugging their hair when agitated. Bella (Anastasia) bite their lower lip when agitated. Jacob (Jose) was very close to Bella (Ana) but tried to force a kiss. Edward (Christian) adopted with adopted bros and sisters. And there is much, much more.
I suppose it does not violate copyright law, but it makes me a bit uncomfortable.
NC
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NewChapter
My hubby made the misstep of telling my daughter if she keeps a journal he feels he has a right to read her most personal thoughts (something I don't agree with and feel that should only be done with permission) so now she has stopped writing for pleasure. I've tried to encourage her to pick up the pen again but she refuses. Is there anything I can do?
Can anyone let anything flow from the heart unedited if they are threatened with exposure? And if writing from the heart is what makes it pleasant, then the pleasure is gone. Sometimes I write the deep, dark things in my heart, but I know there is always the threat of it falling into the wrong hands. So I write it, and then I destroy it immediately. Writing helped me work it out, so the goal was achieved. Perhaps you could make this suggestion to her, and once it starts flowing again, she will be able to write other things she is willing to keep. Give her sovereignty over what she writes. If there is still the threat that her dad may read it, then the destruction option can be therapeutic.
NC
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compound complex
The instinct which creates the arts is not the same as that which produces art. The creative instinct is, in its final analysis and in its simplest terms, an enormous extra vitality, a super-energy, born inexplicably in an individual, a vitality great beyond all the needs of his own living — an energy which no single life can consume.
This energy consumes itself then in creating more life, in the form of music, painting, writing, or whatever is its most natural medium of expression. Nor can the individual keep himself from this process, because only by its full function is he relieved of the burden of this extra and peculiar energy — an energy at once physical and mental, so that all his senses are more alert and more profound than another man's, and all his brain more sensitive and quickened to that which his senses reveal to him in such abundance that actuality overflows into imagination. It is a process proceeding from within. It is the heightened activity of every cell of his being, which sweeps not only himself, but all human life about him, or in him, in his dreams, into the circle of its activity.
Pearl S. Buck
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hamsterbait
Have not had time to read all the posts so forgive me if I repeat:
Shakespeare used a quill.
HB
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jgnat
Guard your heart, quendi - cursive is fading fast.