Here goes...I'm not usually shy, but I'm feeling in over my head in this forum. I came here because I was looking for a way to get started. I write, but mostly non-fiction and I really want to try something more creative. I have been a dancer my whole life and, more recently, a choreographer and dance teacher. I have constructed art with movement and music and now I'm trying to figure out how to make it with words. I can write a mean lab report or blog post for our dance school on "why parents should leave their cell phone at home during a performance." But tell a story? Not sure how to even get started. Yet I feel it, bubbling up inside, the same way choreography does when it needs to come out. So here I am. Nice to meet you all!
I totally understand the problem of shifting from an expository style of writing to a creative one. Many old habits to break, for sure. However, you sound as if you CAN write with accuracy, so that's a start. No big spelling, punctuation or grammatical issues for you. That means you've already got the tools sharpened and ready to go. So it's just a matter of shifting into a different voice, and using your skills to make a story come alive. Are you a reader? For pleasure, I mean. If so, what kinds of things do you enjoy reading? And are these the kinds of things you would want to try writing yourself? Poetry? Short stories? Novels?
A lot of people on this forum are in the same boat. If you keep up with recent threads about topics you want to know more about and read the discussion, you'll be surprised how much you can learn in a couple of weeks. Welcome.
Sorry for the delay getting back. Have had one heck of a time logging in and the website was all skewywompus for a while on my pc. To answer your questions. I love to read! Loads of sci-fi, fantasy mostly, but need to branch out. I would like to write about those things. I'd like to start with short stories and see how they develop. I like writing about dance and ballet because of what it has taught me, and the life lessons beyond plié and tendu that my students learn.
Well, the dance and ballet are specialist subjects, which I'm sure lots of readers would love to explore with you. You know what you're talking about when it comes to dance, so why not? Can you think of any issue regarding the dance world that would be worth a story? Or a human-interest story you could present in written form? Everybody and his brother and his dog are writing fantasy these days. If you're an expert on something very different that only a few other people can do, why not start there? You'll automatically stand out from the crowd. You might want to pick up a few books on writing short stories, if that's how you'd like to start. They should help explain the difference between novels and short stories ...which is lots more than just the number of words. It has to do with the focus, really. A short story normally deals with just one issue, or one event, or one idea. A novel develops slowly and covers a topic more comprehensively, and brings in many angles, many characters, lots of time goes by, etc. If you already read a lot, you'll know what I mean. Writing should be fun, so do have fun with this. The same as you would any hobby, initially. If you find it gives you pleasure and you do it well, then you can start focusing on getting published and maybe starting a second career! Good luck.
I know it's a children's book, which I read as a child, but I LOVED the book by Lee Wyndham called "On Your Toes, Susie," about a young girl studying ballet. I knew nothing about ballet, but that got me interested, and I started collecting things like coloring books and paper dolls about ballerinas. That's as far as I ever got, but I also remember being thrilled when a ballet company came to my (small) home town to do a series of dances. I got a front row seat. Which meant I got a close-up view of the unexpected dirty knees of the ballerinas and the men dancers. Why? Because the venue was one of our two movie theaters, which had a stage. The theater caretaker had removed the projection screen, but nobody had actually cleaned the stage before the performance! Every time somebody went down on one knee, they came up with a big black patch, and a little puff of dust. I still remember the face on one of the ballerinas. She was NOT happy.
That's hysterical! It would be great in a story. I've been in that situation many times in small town theaters, outdoor theaters and especially old european theaters. I even danced in a theater once where they hung poisoned bagels and donuts from ropes in the corners for the rats....ewwwwww
