Just thought I'd drop in and say hello, as that is the thing to do here I've heard! I used to belong to another writers' forum once upon a time, but that was 3+ years ago, and after a bit of googling I decided to leap into this place instead. Long story short, I loved the community there, but felt it was a little bogged down with negativity and writer's ennui. Favourite authors and writing influences, too many to list really. The most recent book I finished was The Disaster Artist by Greg Sestero (Oh, hai Mark...). Have endless love for dark wit and the likes of Douglas Adams and the (late, great) Sir Terry Pratchett. Frequent abuser of italics and dropping things into parentheses. (Trying to kick that habit!) Really, what I'm hoping most of all is to get my butt back in the chair and writing again, and hopefully give good input and motivate others to do the same!
Hey, thanks for your input earlier on my sexism thread. I'm pretty much the same boat as you, fell out of love with writing, but just can't stay away. Douglas Adams has influenced me as well although I could I never get into Terry Pratchett. I'm aware that probably makes me a terrible person.
I haven't fallen out of love with writing per se, the love is always there. That dreaded writer's block though, that's another question. And the previous writing community I was in started to feel like a group of debbie downers for lack of a better word, so I decided to jump ship to greener pastures. And you're only mildly terrible, you make up for it with the Hank Moody avatar I'm slightly biased with Pratchett, as Good Omens may be one the funniest books I've read to date. Adams is unparalleled for funny sci-fi though.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Writer's block! Y'know you can kick that with no effort? Learning to control it has got me through two complete drafts. I've done a metric f**kton of research on it...A book I can reccommed reading is "Psycho Cybernetics" by a Dr Maxwell Maltz. It touches on the creative part of the brain and how to clear mental blockages and "feed" your creative mechanisms. Too heavy for an "hello" thread? As for the Debby Downers, I've only been here a short while and I've seen the odd one. But the mods here tend to do the humane thing: take them quickly round the back and shoot them between the eyes. Ha! I'm glad somebody as got my avatar. Oh really? I didn't know he did funny. I thought he just did fantasy and general bearded whimsy.
Hello, I have not read much Pratchett yet but I do read a lot of Neil Gaiman. I thought that I had a fall out with writing but it turns out that I was just not being true to what I liked most. I kept pushing long novel length works but it's that shorts that really get me going.
I'll give this a gander! Thanks for the tip. As a lover of all things Asimov I'm definitely going to check this out. Especially with Nano starting, I'm gathering all I can to stoke the creative flames. Thanks! I seem to have the opposite problem, in all honesty. Short stories have always been a struggle to write for me (in general writing too, I find it much easier to be verbose than economic and concise). Probably because I have this notion in my head that a novel can say many things in the course of its unfolding story, whereas a short needs to pack a really powerful single punch, and feeling like I can never live up to or deliver that punch. Just me?
Short stories just usually don't interest me because the story I want to tell is often a part of some other world, and I don't get to talk about that part in a short story. It is true, however, that short stories are their own particular skill and that the skill involved is in many ways more technical than that involved in writing a novel.
Welcome to the forum replicant. Not read any Sir Terry Pratchett books but if you recommend one I will make it my next book. Currently reading "The name of the wind" by Patrick Rothfuss. See you around
I've found that using en dashes – like this – works really well when commas and parentheses wouldn't look right Though sometimes (like if you're going to have multiple asides) you want to use parentheses instead (like these), especially if you would be ending a sentence on an aside (like right now). ... Generally, you want to break those sentences up instead of leaving them like that, but just because you don't expect to use a hammer doesn't mean you shouldn't pack one just in case
Ooh, I've heard good things about the Kingkiller chronicles. As for Pratchett, I'll probably give the same advice anyone else could give, and that's to start with The Colour of Magic (first of the Discworld series). But if you don't feel like delving into a lengthy series just yet and want something short and standalone, I cannot recommend Good Omens enough (bonus it is co-written by Neil Gaiman!). That sentence made my little aside-loving heart swell. I do love peppering these in when writing informally, but I know not everyone is a fan of them, and avoid it whenever possible in my own work. I think to blame is my love of infusing comedy in writing, i.e. when the thing in parentheses is some silly non sequitur, absurd tidbit, or information which highlights irony or contradicts the given statement. The author influences I listed above are probably to blame for most of this!
Hello and welcome to the forum! I'm sure everyone will make you feel welcomed. I was the exact same with parenthesis - until about half a year ago - as I used to add what could be argued as unnecessary information to a lot of my work (which I think is necessary!) prior to someone suggesting I switch the use of these to dashes instead, as it made my work a lot easier to read. Might be a good tip for you to use, as you can use them for more purposes, like subordinate clauses.
Thanks for the welcome! The trouble with me is, my parentheses are usually some comedic bit or punchline, and I must think I'm very funny indeed because I always find myself wanting to keep all of them... I tend to stay away from dashes if possible because I don't feel as confident in knowing when to use them vs. not, though I do use them as well. Probably would do me good to read up on them! (Though a part of me worries if I become confident in my use of them all my parentheses will transmogrify into an overabundance of dashes— good god, you cannot win.)
I know the feeling! I tend to used dashes as commas to an extent, so that I can easily add subordinate clauses to sentences - and a tad of humour - to sentences. I suppose too much of one does create a very forces sentence - but as long as the sentence can be followed, I suppose it doesn't particularly matter.
Hello Replicant. A small welcoming gift: https://www.writingforums.org/entry/orys-writing-notes-introduction-and-thoughts-on-style.63609/ Good luck. -OJB
My narrator is an insufferable goofball who tries too hard to make everything funny, and I've found it helps to put the humor into the core of the sentence, not just the asides “Come on, man. We can do this. For Amy.” “How,” Jason asks, panting like a beagle in a trousers factory, “are we supposed to do that exactly?”
Thanks! I'll be checking those out. I see you mentioned Clive Barker, whose writing I absolutely adore. One of Horror's finest.
Hi there and welcome to the forum replicant Hope you're enjoying it here. It's a pretty great place if I do say so myself I've only read Douglas Adams from the writers you mentioned (though I really wanna read some Terry Pretchett as soon as I have the time), I love everything about Adams's writing, guy was a genius. I'm a fantasy guy myself for the most part. My other favorite writers include J. K. Rowling, Brandon Sanderson, George R. R. Martin, J. R. R. Tolkien, Richelle Mead, and a few other that I can't remember now. Oh and i've been reading the Dresden files by Jim Butcher and I'm loving it so far (I'm currently on book 2) despite some minor gripes.
I'll be continuing my study on him after Thanksgiving. If you go to my profile page on the site and hit 'follow' you will get notifications when I update the blog on him. Manchester University just released a collection of essays on his work I plan on obtaining before I continue on with his work. I've done a study on the Books of Blood 1-3 and will do 4-6 next.
Good Omens it is then I've read a couple of Gaiman's books; Stardust and Neverwhere. Watched both TV adaptations after reading them as I enjoyed them so much. I have American Gods sitting here waiting to be read as well. Probably shouldn't start another series just yet, I have to many on the go already. Just cant seem to stay focussed on one for to long. If only there wasn't so many good books out there shouting read me. At least then I wouldn't end up bouncing back and forth all over the place.
