Scribblejitters

Jan 15, 2010 11:11

The good point is raised by purple_pen that if I can't bear the thought of being a historian (because I wouldn't be able to just make stuff up), then maybe I should try my hand at some historical or pseudo-historical fiction.

I am, as it so happens, doing a spot of writing at the moment. And the question of what to write is enormous, and paralyzing. ( Read more... )

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Comments 28

undyingking January 18 2010, 12:33:01 UTC
May I, contrarily, urge you not to write fiction?

I think that if one isn't one of those people who are Unable Not To Write, then one probably shouldn't. Heaven knows there are enough books in the world already, without extra people churning more of them out just for the sake of it.

You could design game settings instead -- you have a proven track record of excellence in that!

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verlaine January 18 2010, 18:49:43 UTC
Well, maybe writing a book is just a sort of time-consuming solo roleplaying game...

I have to say that I'm livid that Alexis and various other talented people get to spend their days constructing something like Echo Bazaar while I do not. If anyone wants to start up a similar venture I am willing to work for promises and peanuts!

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undyingking January 18 2010, 19:11:52 UTC
Drop him a line, you never know...

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mostlycrazy January 20 2010, 06:59:50 UTC
This might seem like oversimplifying but it's lifted creative blocks for me before. Basically, one of my favourite people once told me that you should make something that YOU like, and other people will like it too.

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verlaine January 20 2010, 16:27:35 UTC
It's a good plan. My worry is that I don't know for sure where "what I like" ends and "what I find easy" begins. Suppose that I'm not very good at description and plough past it into people shouting at and hitting each other. *I* might find that more enjoyable to write than a vivid visual evocation of the scene, but it might not be as good a piece of fiction. Tricky.

But obviously I'm not going to try to write a romance novel if I love crime novels, just because I think it would be easier to sell, or anything like that.

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mostlycrazy January 20 2010, 17:44:03 UTC
Not just something that you like making, but something that you like reading. So, you know, read it back and see what happens.

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verlaine January 20 2010, 17:48:08 UTC
Most books I pick up and read these days annoy me egregiously - I don't know whether that means I should feel good about striking out on my own path, or whether I just don't really like books any more! Once you start to read like a websurfer, smorgasbord-style, it's hard to go back.

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robynbright January 20 2010, 17:26:21 UTC
ask your dreams. Stop worrying about audience. Write the world that you want to be in, the one that is missing in Victoria. Stop thinking about how hard it will be and just enjoy getting up and writing. Find pictures and writing and songs of things that you love, things that make you most you, surround yourself in a Matthew paradise of ideas and then just begin. Write a love letter to the universe, starting out with how it's disappointed you and broken your heart but left you a dreamer still able to see, with a heart full of wit and music and games. And please shut the critics out becasue you can deal with that AFTER you've finished!

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mostlycrazy January 20 2010, 17:44:43 UTC
I feel like I would like to applaud...

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