I have been writing ever since I can remember. Better. although I am 25 now, and there are song lyrics I wrote when I was 13 that amaze me. like.....really good. wtf. I'm somewhat inclined to think I generally wrote better lyrics as an emo teen
I often get a bit insecure at the fact that most of my scenes and chapters are a bit scanty, but people seem to like that, so maybe I shouldn't be. I too do not get how nonfiction writers can go on for hundreds of pages - that's devotion there! But yes, I'd be hard pressed to find someone who did not improve with practice. That's why it's called practice. If you're not improving, you're either too critical on yourself or you're doing it wrong.
I agree. Reading is just as important as practice. It doesn't hurt to get a book that helps to coach writers as well. I got the following books when I enrolled in my creative writing class and I think they're all great: Writing Fiction The First 5 Pages Writing Dialogue Things feigned or imagined Like anything if you put your mind to it you'll succeed. Good luck
How do you practice? I write storie per day,so my writing time isn't fixed.Sometimes it takes me 2 hours,sometimes 1,but i write just short stories for now.It is that not enough?
How long are these stories you write everyday? Myself I write little pieces when I have the time, not exactly stories just mini fleshed out ideas. Keeps me fresh, I do this a few times a month when I have the time.
I write them in notebook,so at my best i wrote ten pages,at my worst i wrote half,but i don't know if i am making any progress so to speak. So i am intrested,do you use any particular methods to write or something like that,or you just write?
I write everyday. Lately, I've probably been overtaxing myself with it, writing somewhere in the nature of 5 to 10 thousand words a day. I rarely write just to write though, but sometimes I develop little exercises to help me improve (like writing a small fight scene, or a couple falling in love, or someone leaving their workplace through quiting or being fired, etc.). I find that the more you do it, the easier it becomes.
I actually did a writing exercise yesterday and I finished it. I took a movie scene and then wrote it in a story telling format. I did this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kv0b9TxAtG4 It actually took up a page (single spaced). If you take a movie scene and write it like you would a story, then the writing is easier because half the time you're writing you're already trying to visualize the story in your head and watching for any plot holes. If you have a movie scene, then all you have to do is write based on what you see in the scene, and if you're working on a story and you're writing a part similar to a movie scene you saw, then all you have to do is edit what you wrote and then it can be your own.
I try to set aside two hours a day where I just write, stay offline and I write a lot more than when I am online. Writing challenges are great - basically 20 minutes writing, 10 minutes noting how much I have written etc, time to get a drink etc
That seems like a pretty good method for practice, but I worry that it might make you focus too much on sight of the five senses. It's good practice to try to include all senses into writing, and that may be a little limited if you are watching it on a screen, relying on sight and sound alone to take it in. So much can be portrayed through what you (or your character) hears, smells, tastes, feels, and so on. Of course, you can make all of these things up while writing a movie scene, but I still think the focus might be wholly on what you see and hear.
Yeah true, but you need to take that into consideration even when you're visualizing it in your head. I suppose one might lean towards sight and sound, but that doesn't necessarily rule out the author's decision to add smell, taste and touch if he or she desires to and/or if its important to the scene.
I don't practice as such, I just write. Many of these writing exercises I've seen are not much more than a waste of time, imo. I'd much rather work on something that will end up being something, and that's how I learned and got better. Plus reading of course, all the time. Soaking up how the best writers did (and do) it.
That is actually a question of preference. As for me, my practice is very sporadic. Sometimes it's paragraphs a day, other times two sentences. You needn't feel self-conscious about how much or how little you write a given day. I use to think it had to be so much so many hours at a time. But you really can't go wrong with writing. It's quite a forgiving thing.
How quickly you write is less important than what is produced at the end. Some people can write 10K+ a day, others less than 1K - both can get you a great novel at the end of it.
I practice by writing, editing, and thinking. Reading rarely helps me, at least no more than a good TV Show/Movie does. Writing exercises are fun, but they don't really do much, IMO. And forcing myself to write every day just seems unnecessary. I write when I write. I practice when I actually have something that means something to me.
After listening to the 'Inside Creative Writing Podcast', I decided to try out one of the things that was suggested. Literally write out a film as if it were a novel. I just want your opinion on doing this and also some ways to approach the task
I see some value to it, particularly if you are having difficulty coming up with a story to write. The challenge is to recognize the difference between the two media, and to capitalize of the strengths of the novel. For example, in a novel you can focus on nuances of a scene that may be difficult or impossible to give the right amount of emphasis through a camera lens. A character can recognize that a certain mannerism is a tell that his friend is not telling the entire truth, without revealing to the friend that he picked up on it. Cinema can convey that, but not as discretely. On the other hand, cinema can use timing and visuals to present details that translate poorly to written text, such as intricate battle sequences. So the lesson is to keep the essence of the story while not trying to reconstruct the film version scene by scene. You learn what does and does not work well in linear text, and how to render a story to make the best use of the medium. What it won't do is develop your creation of characters, settings, and conflicts. The exercise of imagination is limited to presnting the same information in a different way.
Thanks for the reply Cog, I'm interested in seeing how this could help me so I am going to ask a few questions. My weakpoint in writing is dialogue. So, if I tried to write out a movie like 'Limitless' which has a lot of dialogue, would it help me improve? Maybe getting used to the way words are used and how people interact? I also thought about your point about the difference between books and films. I thought that maybe for an extra challenge I could add bits in and take bits out to make it more suited for a novel?
This idea reminds me of Walter Dean Myers' "Monster", a novel which consists of diaries, stage directions and dialogs only. I literally had a movie playing in my head. When I try to write like this, I succeed in the dialogs but disregard the use of the camera etc.; which ruins the whole idea to express the characters' emotions just by "showing".
De nada. Maybe some, but not much if you only recreate existing dialogue. It may help you practice proper formatting, but because the characters are already established and dialogue already written, you won't get much practice in shaping a character with dialogue. Even adding to the dialogue of existing characters won't do much to improve your skills. However, if you add characters that aren't in the original screenplay, you could develop your dialogue skills that way.
