Writers Untie...er, Unite!

[kes7]

...but I simply cannot see it as the idyllic paradise that some people do, and I simply can't shoehorn myself into some of the philosophies that some insist have to come with being a fan.

I understand that totally. A lot of whta I've written recently is about peopel fed up with the bullshit of the Federation.

I tend to create my own corner of the universe to do such a thing though... I'm not one for writing, or re-writing someone elses character.

I find one of two things trip me up-either I know exactly where I'm going before I start and I get bored and don't feel like finishing or I don't have a clue and write myself into a corner. I do best with an idea and a vague sense of the ending. Like, I want to start here and I think I'm goiing there-but the middle is the mystery.

I have that too.. though I also have a weird thing with characters. When I flesh one out I tend to pre-plan the end of their story, whether it be a happy ending or death etc.

The Federation is full of bullshit. There are people around who are fully devoted to its ideals, sure, but there's always seemed to be just as many who pay lip service to its ideals while doing what they feel is necessary under the radar. Not just Section 31-type stuff, either -- normal starship captains, doctors, ensigns, enlisted, etc. -- even admirals, though they tend to be noisier about it. I won't argue that one side or the other is right because I see both sides. But not everyone in Starfleet is a "true believer."

 

[kes7]

Oh, NG, everyone loves Cardassians! True, they've got a bad rap the past few decades with all the fighting and occupations and the like, but every species goes through their own troubled times.

Lar'ragos especially loves Cardassians, with a little yamok sauce, of course!

Tastes like ... alligator?

 

[mirandafave]

Writer's Block? Ugh!
Well it seems sometimes the only way to get over writer's block is to write. But although there is truth to that, it seems to somehow lessen or curb a story all the more if it is too forced. So that doesn't tend to go over too well with me.

So sometimes experimenting with other stories or doing little character studies helps. It gets me writing but doesn't force the story I was working on. Often times the writing itself amounts to nothing but sketches out other story ideas or concepts or characters totally unrelated to story with the block.

The other thing I will do is listen to music to get into the right frame of mind - and sometimes the challenge is trying to find the right piece of music that reflects the tone, emotion or action of the piece I'm stuck on. The other thing i sometimes do is play around with either photoshop to create scenes from the story or a book cover. Not very productive but it keeps the story in mind.

A trick I have used in the past is to take some of the characters and set them in a conversation - perhaps reflecting on something in the story supposed to be happening but not getting written. Such an approach can be useful as it creates a road map - particularly if prior to that I had nothing planned out. It also helps to get the emotion and feel of what should be written.

Sadly, such an approach does lend to a lot of squandered writing that otherwise might be perfectly good but can't be used - either redundant afterwards or spoiler filled if published otherwise. It also gives me one of big faults of passive writing. Just a bad habit now at this point. The other bad point - though good too - is that it drives more ideas and allows for reflective more character based pieces later. Alas this means some of the stories I'm more invested in grow larger and larger by the day. It seems like the plot is forgotten about but it is still there! Just taking its time to unfold and play out.

Lastly, a great tip for writer's block is to put your writing mind to productive use by at least reading. That way you learn from skilled authors who do great stories, characters or use wonderful language in their writing. That way, I learn from others much better at this whole game than me plus I get a good read.

 

[Gibraltar]

Oh, NG, everyone loves Cardassians! True, they've got a bad rap the past few decades with all the fighting and occupations and the like, but every species goes through their own troubled times.

Lar'ragos especially loves Cardassians, with a little yamok sauce, of course!

Tastes like ... alligator?

That's what I'd guess. He insists Andorians taste like chicken, though... who knew?

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Oh, NG, everyone loves Cardassians! True, they've got a bad rap the past few decades with all the fighting and occupations and the like, but every species goes through their own troubled times.

Lar'ragos especially loves Cardassians, with a little yamok sauce, of course!

Tastes like ... alligator?

That's what I'd guess. He insists Andorians taste like chicken, though... who knew?

At least we don't count sentient species as appropriate meal fare...

 

[Sovereign_One]

Lar'ragos especially loves Cardassians, with a little yamok sauce, of course!

That's a skeeery boy you've got there.

My biggest problem is that I'm a lazy bum. I've got three stories going right now...wait...

*counts*

...four actually. Very little written down.

And, no, Sutek is not being stubborn. Just quiet.

 

[kes7]

Sadly, such an approach does lend to a lot of squandered writing that otherwise might be perfectly good but can't be used - either redundant afterwards or spoiler filled if published otherwise. It also gives me one of big faults of passive writing. Just a bad habit now at this point. The other bad point - though good too - is that it drives more ideas and allows for reflective more character based pieces later. Alas this means some of the stories I'm more invested in grow larger and larger by the day. It seems like the plot is forgotten about but it is still there! Just taking its time to unfold and play out.

I have pages and pages and pages of conversation, character thoughts, and background written for Tesseract that I can never use, haha. Sounds like our methods are similar. And ditto on the passive writing ... that's why I end up rewriting everything three times! It's slow going ...

 

[mirandafave]

What would he recommend to use with Jem'Hadar? And would he suggest fries or mash as a side?

 

[CeJay]

My writing approach is very methodical. I try to outline the entire story from beginning to end which for me is quite crucial because my novels tend to go on for a while and I need to keep track of all the different story lines and characters.

The great thing about having a detailed outline is that you know exactly what you have to write next and that makes things very easy once you get going. And even though everything is nicely outlined it doesn't mean everything is necessarily written in stone.

At some point during the writing process things might take a slightly more organic turn and I might decided that I need another scene somewhere or that one is really superfluous. A lot of the time I'm surprised with how a scene or segment comes out and it actually might open up new story or character elements I didn't think of before.

I've been having a hard time finishing my recent novel because the ending was never clearly outlined. I knew what I wanted to happen but no so much how. So naturally after hundreds of pages of more or less smooth sailing I finally hit that proverbial brick wall myself.

The downside about a detailed outline is that it takes a lot of work and I normally don't start writing a story until it's done which can take weeks, sometimes even months.

I'm also notoriously bad at editing. Thanks to the outline it is very rare that I rewrite something completely or decide to drop scenes. That's good. What's not so good is that my current story feels a bit like War & Peace, that's how long it's getting.

 

[PSGarak]

I've struggled with that in the past when writing serialized fiction, that eventually the story gets too big. It puts off new readers, because it can be very daunting wading through sometimes hundreds of posts! If it's a collaborative effort, it's even bigger. To work around that in the past, I have done some stand alones, or close enough to stand alone that the reader didn't need a lot of background info to enjoy the story. Plus, I'd usually highlight a character or two. If they got interested in those characters, they had more incentive to go through the other stuff, too.

Engaging the right brain hemisphere (doodling, drawing, playing an instrument) is very helpful for me when I'm stuck. If I try to force things, it's like trying to shove a square peg through a round hole. It doesn't fit right, and it doesn't look right. If I relax and "let go" a little bit, not the easiest thing for me to do as I'm very type A, whatever problem I'm wrestling with usually resolves itself in one of those "Aha!" moments.

I wish that I could listen to music when I write. I can listen to it before, but never during. However, ambient sounds or random noises don't distract me. I'm not sure why that is.

I just finished another fanfic. I'm waiting for it to go through its approval stage over at the Ad Astra site. I bit the bullet and wrote for two major cannon characters for the conflicting character's challenge over there. It was nervewracking, but I'm glad I put myself through the mental exercise. I always feel more of a sense of accomplishment when I write outside my comfort zone than when I stick to what I know best.

 

[Sovereign_One]

Cool. I'll check it out.

 

[Gibraltar]

PSGarak, it appears to be up now at Ad Astra.

 

[mirandafave]

It is and it is great.

 

[BolianAuthor]

Well, in my case...

Style-wise, I like to write in "real life", and what I mean by that is, that I write dialogue with the same pacing and feel as if you were seeing someone speak in a real conversation. Also, when writing for characters, if it's an established person, like Captain Picard, or Gul Dukat, I write with the actor's voice and inflections in mind... for me, it HAS to feel exactly as if you were hearing the character speak those words in an actual episode... it has to fit the actor like a glove, or it won't be believable.

Also, regarding style, I write all my fic as if it were an actual film or TV episode... it has to have the same scene pacing, the same appropriate points at which to break from dialogue, and show a space shot, etc... it HAS to look, sound, or feel exactly like if you were imagining an actual episode, in your mind's eye. At least to me, this is VERY, VERY, important.

For instance, with my "Battlestar Urantia" fanfic... the real BSG has a certain style to its look... a trademark of the show, are the hard zooms/pull outs, and ammunition tracers, and missile contrails. I try VERY hard, to do my very best to convey that, in my writing. Wether or not it comes across, I know not. But I hope it does, and I make a very studious effort to try and pull it off. I want the mind's eye of my reader to think that they're REALLY imagining a real episode of a BSG series.

As far as word counts, forget it. I pay them no mind... that's not how I write. I have an idea, and a story to tell. I do what I need to do, to tell it. That's it. Hopefully, someone enjoys it.

With writer's block, I just take a break from a story, and work on another one for a while, until something inspires me to get back into the groove of the first story. Right now, I'm in a bit of a block with my "Shades of Gray" story, but when I do come up with fresh stuff, I put it down. When I was reposting my "Star Trek: Entomalians" fic on the Subspace Comms Forum, I had a MASSIVE block for a while, because at the time, I had just begun BSG Urantia, and was in the full mode for that. It took me a LONG time to get back into a Trek groove, but it happened. Just pace yourself. Don't be in any rush. You can't rush-write a good story. The more time and care you put into it, the better quality your result will be, and it'll show. It took me TEN years to fully flesh out and develop the "Entomalians" story, before I first posted it, here on the Trek BBS.

Inspiration-wise, I get a LOT of my inspiration from music. There are many things that inspire me, but music is probably the biggest one. I have to listen to music while I'm writing... I HAVE to. I can't be creative, otherwise. When I was writing the "Entomalians" saga, I listened to a lot of Adiemus, Phil Collins, and a lot of Star Trek music. When i write for "Urantia", I listen to a LOT of Blackthorn, which is a Celtic folk band, and Bear McCreary's BSG music, as well as "Aqua Vitae". Music is a huge inspiration for me.

I hope this helps a little bit.

-BolianAdmiral

 

[hellsgate]

Don't force your vision. Just go with whatever bits & pieces filter into the adventure on its own. Other than that, keep a journal, thumbtacks, & a corkboard to re-arrange the segments of entries, so they'll make sense. A good word processor (microsoft word/works,) that easily translates to adobe ".pdf" or ".html" formats.

Flow charts often work for a lot of people to figure out how to map out relationships/conflicts, treknobabble, timelines, alternate universes, & resolutions.

 

[PSGarak]

Well, in my case...

Style-wise, I like to write in "real life", and what I mean by that is, that I write dialogue with the same pacing and feel as if you were seeing someone speak in a real conversation. Also, when writing for characters, if it's an established person, like Captain Picard, or Gul Dukat, I write with the actor's voice and inflections in mind... for me, it HAS to feel exactly as if you were hearing the character speak those words in an actual episode... it has to fit the actor like a glove, or it won't be believable.

I couldn't agree more with this. Use your own words and own scene, but if it's a well established character, the inflection and voice HAVE to be there, or it simply doesn't work. I've noticed that some people's writing styles and stories are incredibly cinematic. In truth, I'm a bit jealous of that ability. I always feel awkward when trying to write in that style.

Finding a voice is hard for an author, I think. I'm pretty sure we all start out as imitators of those whom we admire the most. If we're lucky, we hang onto the strengths we pick up from other authors, but in time our own style emerges.

The wealth of advice that has overflowed in this topic already has me itching to try new things and techniques. The only drawback is that I now also have so many stories I want to read, I hardly know where to start!

 

[Gibraltar]

Tastes like ... alligator?

That's what I'd guess. He insists Andorians taste like chicken, though... who knew?

At least we don't count sentient species as appropriate meal fare...

Geez, unnecessary cut on the Blue-Boys!

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

You should know by now...PAVA was the butt of that joke.

 

[Gibraltar]

You should know by now...PAVA was the butt of that joke.

Well, if the guy would have just stayed down, he'd still have his antennae, wouldn't he? And it was just a nibble, a nosh, a veritable sampler, if you will.

 

[BolianAuthor]

Well, in my case...

Style-wise, I like to write in "real life", and what I mean by that is, that I write dialogue with the same pacing and feel as if you were seeing someone speak in a real conversation. Also, when writing for characters, if it's an established person, like Captain Picard, or Gul Dukat, I write with the actor's voice and inflections in mind... for me, it HAS to feel exactly as if you were hearing the character speak those words in an actual episode... it has to fit the actor like a glove, or it won't be believable.

I couldn't agree more with this. Use your own words and own scene, but if it's a well established character, the inflection and voice HAVE to be there, or it simply doesn't work. I've noticed that some people's writing styles and stories are incredibly cinematic. In truth, I'm a bit jealous of that ability. I always feel awkward when trying to write in that style.

Finding a voice is hard for an author, I think. I'm pretty sure we all start out as imitators of those whom we admire the most. If we're lucky, we hang onto the strengths we pick up from other authors, but in time our own style emerges.

The wealth of advice that has overflowed in this topic already has me itching to try new things and techniques. The only drawback is that I now also have so many stories I want to read, I hardly know where to start!

Thank you. I'm glad I'm not alone in this conviction. If you find yourself having problems writing for the actor, stress not... just image the actual actors playing out the scene, in your mind's eye... either it'll fit, or it won't, and go over the same scene over and over, substituting certain words that may not fit, for those that work better, until it sounds the way you want it.

-BolianAdmiral