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[postcardanswers]

I've just got in from work and written this short piece of almost-fiction. I haven't actually read it through yet, but it's the first time in a long time I've written something that is complete, so it deserves a posting. Read it if you feel like it, I have no idea how good/not it is.

Comments

[richcitrus]

Nice. effective.
you have a flair for descriptive action. you'd make a good screenwriter (my craft!) are you on some sort of creative writing course?

[postcardanswers]

No, not at all. I've never been taught how to write, which is why I get so daunted by anything longer than a couple of thousand words. I'd love to be able to write something of novel-length, but I get too caught up in how what I've written sounds, rather than actually telling the story, if you understand what I mean. I distract myself and then it kind of just fizzles out.

I've never really thought about screenwriting, and I'm not even sure how it differs from any other sort!

And thanks!

[richcitrus]

that sounds a lot like me before i came to uni

[postcardanswers]

Yeah I've written since I was about 14, mostly poetry and lyrics, though I occassionally have a shot at something longer. There are a couple of novel ideas that float around inside my head, I just need to have the discipline to sit and write them down.

That's really good advice about not re-reading until I reach a plot point. I'd never really stopped to think about it before but I think the reason I get so frustrated with it is because I over-read it and pick every word apart, so it never gets off the ground. In future I'll try not to read until there's something substantial there!

And you're also right about keeping everything, sometimes what you come back across is really good, sometimes it's really not, but quite often it's realy nostalgic to feel again how you were feeling then.

And don't apologise for long comments, they're always great!

[i_novander]

Read it if you feel like it, I have no idea how good/not it is.

On the whole, yay, except you switch tenses a few times. I don't know if that's intentional or not, but I found it odd.

[postcardanswers]

Yeah, you're right, I did! It was almost stream-of-consciousness, certainly very rapid writing so that I could finish it before the idea went away. I may edit it in the morning :-)

[lioninmaple]

It is pretty good. There are bits that could be tightened, some expanded or even refined a little, but that's about normal. The atmosphere is kept fairly taut which is difficult. I'm wondering if it might be better building up the tension a little throughout towards the climax.

Screenplays and plays are quite difficult I've found, without stage experience. I'm usually very good at dialogue, but somehow anything in 3D is a lot harder to pull off apart from the words.

If you want to practice writing occasionally with no real pressure I could give you links to a couple of very nice free to join forums if you want.

Do keep going though, there's a great basis here, you've got imagination!

:)

[postcardanswers]

Links to forums would be great, thanks :-)

And thanks for the feedback too! I think I'm somewhat the opposite to you, I can quite happily write background and scenery and feelings etc, but dialogue is where I struggle. I find it quite hard to make it sound real.