Showing posts with label Wordtrip. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wordtrip. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
2008 Writing New Year Resolutions
So last week I finally decided on a writing New Year Resolution. I'm going to write a poem and short story per month based on challenges from WordTrip.com. I've already written a poem this month so that just leaves a short story . . . and 5 days to do it in.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Are writer's paranoid?
Are writer's paranoid? Or I guess I should say are all "beginning" writer's paranoid? I'm a moderator on a writing website and I constantly hear beginning or new writers say they don't want to post their stuff on the website for several reasons: 1) they don't want it to be considered "published" already if they end up submitting it somewhere, and 2) they don't want someone else to steal their ideas. Even on a nonwriting forum someone had this to say:
I can see the point of not wanting yourself "published" until you actually send it somewhere where it can be published in the official/traditional sense of the word. But we have one member on the site that regularly participates in our writing challenges, posts his stories and then turns around and sells them to someone where they will be published somewhere else. What he posts for the challenges is just a rough draft so he works on the stories until he gets it as close to perfect as he can before sending it out. There are some publishers that are sticklers for that "has anyone seen this yet" type of publishing and some who don't care. I say read their guidelines and know your markets if you have any doubts.
As for the second fear does it matter? If you post something online there is a posting stamp that gets attached to whatever you put up on the net (whether you can see it or not). People will know exactly when and where you put something out there. As far as someone stealing your ideas and claiming it as their own they'll have to prove that they came up with the idea before that date of your posting. Believe me that's a much harder thing to do.
As for someone taking your idea and being the first to get it out there in the traditional publishing world well, why aren't you doing that yourself? If you've got an idea that you think is so great and special why aren't you taking the time to get that idea out there? Write. Submit. Publish. Too many beginning writers have the egos that think they've written the next great American novel and the paranoia to think that everyone is out to steal it. I hate to tell you this but I'm pretty sure all the stories ideas and combinations of what could happen in a story have already been done before. You're not going to really write anything new. You'll just have a different spin on things. And when you think about it only you can put your unique spin on things. If someone else took the same basic idea their going to have a completely different story on their hands than what you might have done.
If you want to write and get feedback from some kind of writing group but don't have the means in your neck of the woods the internet is a good place. Just look around for websites for writers that offer private writing groups so that when you post something for people to look at the only ones who see it are those in the group. It would be no different than if you passed out a piece of paper to group that met in the library once a month.
Most of all know your markets. Know what publishers will accept and what they won't. If you have a story that has been "published" on the internet in some forum or another and a publisher won't take that type of writing, write something else for them that hasn't been published. Above all don't' be paranoid. Fear gives in to procrastination and writer's block. Don't put the cart in front of the horse to use a stale old cliche. If you spend your time worrying about if the horse is going to throw a shoe or if the cart is going to break a wheel instead of getting out and starting the journey you're never going to get there. Be brave. And keep writing.
Not only that but I am rather fond of my ideas and stories and don't look forward to having them ripped off or stolen by some passer through. It is not the main users of the site that I fear/don't trust. It is the public nature of any person being able to access my hard work and swiping it for their own purposes.
I can see the point of not wanting yourself "published" until you actually send it somewhere where it can be published in the official/traditional sense of the word. But we have one member on the site that regularly participates in our writing challenges, posts his stories and then turns around and sells them to someone where they will be published somewhere else. What he posts for the challenges is just a rough draft so he works on the stories until he gets it as close to perfect as he can before sending it out. There are some publishers that are sticklers for that "has anyone seen this yet" type of publishing and some who don't care. I say read their guidelines and know your markets if you have any doubts.
As for the second fear does it matter? If you post something online there is a posting stamp that gets attached to whatever you put up on the net (whether you can see it or not). People will know exactly when and where you put something out there. As far as someone stealing your ideas and claiming it as their own they'll have to prove that they came up with the idea before that date of your posting. Believe me that's a much harder thing to do.
As for someone taking your idea and being the first to get it out there in the traditional publishing world well, why aren't you doing that yourself? If you've got an idea that you think is so great and special why aren't you taking the time to get that idea out there? Write. Submit. Publish. Too many beginning writers have the egos that think they've written the next great American novel and the paranoia to think that everyone is out to steal it. I hate to tell you this but I'm pretty sure all the stories ideas and combinations of what could happen in a story have already been done before. You're not going to really write anything new. You'll just have a different spin on things. And when you think about it only you can put your unique spin on things. If someone else took the same basic idea their going to have a completely different story on their hands than what you might have done.
If you want to write and get feedback from some kind of writing group but don't have the means in your neck of the woods the internet is a good place. Just look around for websites for writers that offer private writing groups so that when you post something for people to look at the only ones who see it are those in the group. It would be no different than if you passed out a piece of paper to group that met in the library once a month.
Most of all know your markets. Know what publishers will accept and what they won't. If you have a story that has been "published" on the internet in some forum or another and a publisher won't take that type of writing, write something else for them that hasn't been published. Above all don't' be paranoid. Fear gives in to procrastination and writer's block. Don't put the cart in front of the horse to use a stale old cliche. If you spend your time worrying about if the horse is going to throw a shoe or if the cart is going to break a wheel instead of getting out and starting the journey you're never going to get there. Be brave. And keep writing.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Expressing yourself?
You know, I'm sick and tired of people saying "all writer's have the need to express themselves". Or that "writing is the means to discover who you are".
Hog wash!
I don't write to "discover who I am" or to "express myself". I write to discover the story bumbling around in my head. It has nothing to do with anything other than the fact that I'm the only one who can get this particular story out. My ego is not involved in my writing at all. And for these "people" it seems that's all there is to writing.
If I write a story about death and angels (which I am currently working on) that must mean I'm thinking about my mortality and what awaits me beyond the grave. Like I said: Hog wash! I'm writing this story because of the snow. Yep snow. It's a challenge up on WordTrip where you're asked to describe snow. I should know. I posted the challenge. As I thought about how I wanted to describe the snow, the story started to take shape but only because I needed some context for my description. I wasn't thinking about dying or angels or Little House on the Prairie style living. This is just the story that came out when I started to think about snow. And for me the snow is still the main focus of the story despite what those people might think.
For those "people" who think writing is done solely to express yourself or discover who you are, they are no different than elitists. They're like painters who think that anything they splash onto the canvas is art because they say it is and who are you to argue with them. They're writer's who think that only "literary fiction" is where the good writing is happening and that "genre fiction" is full of hacks and people who sold their souls to the devil. It doesn't matter what spices a chef puts on filet mignon or how they cook it . . . it's still going to be filet mignon. It doesn't matter where it's cook or buy whom. It's about how it tastes in the end. And it's ALL a matter of taste.
I'm not autobiographical in my writing and I have difficulty with anyone who is. Even Stephen King when he wrote himself into his Dark Tower series. When I sit down to write I leave my ego at the door. When I write it's for the story, whatever that may be, and just getting that out onto paper. Is my writing filet mignon caliber? Absolutely not! (See I can leave my ego out of that too.) Right now I hope I'm working with ground beef. Do I want to get up to filet mignon? Absolutely yes! But until then I'm happy cooking with what I've got.
And now if you'll excuse me, all this talk of food has made me hungry.
Hog wash!
I don't write to "discover who I am" or to "express myself". I write to discover the story bumbling around in my head. It has nothing to do with anything other than the fact that I'm the only one who can get this particular story out. My ego is not involved in my writing at all. And for these "people" it seems that's all there is to writing.
If I write a story about death and angels (which I am currently working on) that must mean I'm thinking about my mortality and what awaits me beyond the grave. Like I said: Hog wash! I'm writing this story because of the snow. Yep snow. It's a challenge up on WordTrip where you're asked to describe snow. I should know. I posted the challenge. As I thought about how I wanted to describe the snow, the story started to take shape but only because I needed some context for my description. I wasn't thinking about dying or angels or Little House on the Prairie style living. This is just the story that came out when I started to think about snow. And for me the snow is still the main focus of the story despite what those people might think.
For those "people" who think writing is done solely to express yourself or discover who you are, they are no different than elitists. They're like painters who think that anything they splash onto the canvas is art because they say it is and who are you to argue with them. They're writer's who think that only "literary fiction" is where the good writing is happening and that "genre fiction" is full of hacks and people who sold their souls to the devil. It doesn't matter what spices a chef puts on filet mignon or how they cook it . . . it's still going to be filet mignon. It doesn't matter where it's cook or buy whom. It's about how it tastes in the end. And it's ALL a matter of taste.
I'm not autobiographical in my writing and I have difficulty with anyone who is. Even Stephen King when he wrote himself into his Dark Tower series. When I sit down to write I leave my ego at the door. When I write it's for the story, whatever that may be, and just getting that out onto paper. Is my writing filet mignon caliber? Absolutely not! (See I can leave my ego out of that too.) Right now I hope I'm working with ground beef. Do I want to get up to filet mignon? Absolutely yes! But until then I'm happy cooking with what I've got.
And now if you'll excuse me, all this talk of food has made me hungry.
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