McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
Arting Harder at the Pen Monkey Toiling Pit (Celebrate Them Pages Pt III)
pcpoet:
I just started writing last January. I spent the last year teaching myself to tell a story. I have had three false starts in writing a book because my skill at telling a story changed so drastically that I decided to start fresh. I am just happy to be at 11,000 word and not ready to start from scratch. I final am not embarrassed to show my work to others while my grammar skills need to improve. I have story flow and structure down. my writing so far has been free form no story board but I have decided that I got to sit down and outline my story so that I have belter structure to the writing.
pcpoet:
at the moment I am trying to get 1,000 words a day for me that is about 4 hours of writing.
The Deposed King:
Typing speed can be a big issue. Also as for story telling, I've found that running a D&D campaign and having to react to characters who without fail want to roam around outside of the campaign manuels to be excellent training. As is telling stories to my children where they can be the characters. It started with little red riding hood, my oldest son only hadto hear the story a couple times before he wasn't going up the stairs to see grama but wanted me to finish telling him the story all the same. Then all original stories with him as the star.
Other than that reading thousands of sci-fi/fantasy books. Practice practice practice.
I spent about 8-10 years never getting more than 10k in a story down and was asked if english was my second language. Then my life was falling apart and I decided I would either write a book or stop the dream. I sat down and even though my story skipped between 1st person and 3rd person and it stank so bad my brother and I had to do multiple rewrites, I didn't stop. Its a heck of a lot easier to edit a bad story than it is to write one.
My advice don't give up, don't stop, don't go back and rewrite. Just type until its done. Then go back and spend a couple weeks fixing it up nice and pretty. You'd be amazed.
The Deposed King
Snowleopard:
I have a book by Jon Winokur called - Writers on Writing.
It's all quotes by writers on the craft, the process, and their fellow writers. (There are some zingers in that section.)
One of the ones I like goes like this - "Get Black on White!"
Just like the Deposed King says - just keep on plugging at it.
pcpoet:
thanks for the advice on writing. I no the key is to just write. I myself decided to write because. my life sucked I suffer from bipolar illness and have been on disability for years when ever I have tried to work or go to school my illness would get in the way. Last year I was so tired of being sick and tired. I decided to take up writing and to treat it as a full time job. it feels good to do this because if anyone asks me how I spend my days I now tell them that I am writing a book.
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