Not from Texas or a Minion. I'm a useless writer who has great ideas and has been trying to write a novel for more than ten years and hardly get past the first chapter because I know it's rubbish. Also have a concentration issue which means I don't often see what it is I'm trying to achieve. So I'm going to try and stick to small stuff and get better and get more into it so that I can just try and develop something or other. Also live in China in the haze of pollution, in a city with no sun, except, weirdly, on Sundays, when it's so sunny. This is annoying because I teach in a classroom on a Sunday which faces south, has big windows and no blinds.
Welcome. I know the feeling well enough, writing a chapter or so and then just becoming disillusioned with it. Stick some stuff in the workshop, some honest feedback will help identify what isn't working. What do you teach? English?
Yeah, I'm an English teacher in one of those after school/weekend schools. Kids have 1 1/2 hours a week. Was in China three years, left, then came back after travelling in Southern Africa. I've been looking at the Flash Writing thing, and having a go at that. Short and sweet. We'll see, need to wait two weeks to be able to post what I've got, so it's enough time to practice a little.
Do you know what helps me a little when I want to write something, ignoring chronology... I loosely plot it and jump around the parts that interest me. If I get stuck on a difficult section I leave it until something fitting occurs. How is China? Whereabouts are you? I went briefly but didn't stay.
I have a problem of even plotting. I try and make a plot, but that stifles my writing. I feel like I have to say this and that, and then stop being creative. I'm in Chengdu, the city of no sun (except Sundays at the moment). It's panda country (the Chinese think Pandas are cats, the name is XiongMao meaning BearCat, so they assume it's a cat and not a bear) and I've seen exactly zero pandas in my life. They're here but you have to pay a lot to go see them scratching their balls in some Panda centre and that doesn't appeal to me, I like wild animals. My Chinese is coming along slowly, I'm putting the effort in now, and have found someone to talk to, in order to be able to improve too. Another one of the things I fill my free time with, I have too many things.
Pandas are an evolutionary cul-de-sac... so many other species that could benefit from our attention. I spent some time in Vietnam. The intonation can add many, many meanings to the same word, which makes it incredibly difficult for Westerners. Similar in China?
Welcome to the forum. Here's our New Member Quick Start to get you started. If you're looking for some incentive to finish your stories, feel free to check out our Writing Contests. See you around! -Kat
