McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
Bread & Butter Writing
blgarver:
That nonfiction suggestion nudged me in another direction. Thanks!
I am leaning toward doing a series of short stories and novellas based on and inspired by my life. Yeah I know...who am I and why would people want to read about me. Well, I'm just using situations from my life to fuel the stories. It will be set in a small local TV station and will deal with the lives of a small group of characters that work there, and maybe a few outside the station. It will be about the lowly production staff, though, not about the news anchors.
Yes, I work in a local TV station. I make local commercials. And there is a load of material that could be polished into a dramedy that goes on in this place. All kinds of crap. But a good portion of the stories come out of the things the characters (in RL, my colleagues and I) do outside of work. There are plenty of inner-station situations that are just classic as well. And I will probably work in some stories from my past, what i like to call "My Jerry Springer Moments" and other times.
I think this could work. I'm excited to work in another genre. Any thoughts? Anyone have some input about using one's own life as an ispiration for fiction writing?
Gman:
Writing well is difficult. It takes years to master and even harder to be recognized. I'd recommend start with short stories rather than a long book. Pick subjects you have knowledge of and are interested in. Stories based partially on things that happened to you and people you know is a good start.
blgarver:
Sweet, that's what I was hoping to hear. I'm confident in my writing ability. I'm no King or Crichton or Butcher obviously, but I don't suck. But I'm a no name, so I realize I have to start someplace. I have that novel on the burner that needs some work, and might have a chance at seeing the light of day at some point. But that definately won't be until I'm already known at least somewhat. It's a fantasy novel, naturally, so I'm automatically up against many many many many new writers trying to break in. But if I could find a niche for a series of shorts/novellas set in the TV station, maybe I would be on the right path.
I'm 26. It's definately time for me to hunker down and start actively working toward this goal. Maybe in my 30s I will see some sort of success.
Uilos:
--- Quote from: blgarver on July 11, 2008, 06:49:13 PM --- I'm no King or Crichton or Butcher obviously, but I don't suck.
--- End quote ---
Good, don't be them, be yourself, those guys are already taken.
One bit of advice, and this is something that helped me survive a two semester long writing workshop at college (that and happy hour) : Do Not Compare Your Work To Others. Writers are too far involved in their stories and are highly biased one way or the other. You can look at other writers and works, see how they did or might of done something, and then take that with you, do not judge your story based on the criteria of others, it never ends well.
blgarver:
Yeah, that's good advice. I don't compare my work with other writers, it's more my writing habits that I compare. Like, I kick myself in the ass when I make some lame excuse for quitting my session for the day, when after his accident, King would sit at his desk until he was in tears from the pain in his back and physically couldn't do it any longer. Pretty hard core.
btw, I started the first of the stories. One page in...Woo! So far I like where it's going.
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