thoughts.. questions... and a place to post to online while I sit in computer class!

[shamguy4]

Hello people.
I have not been feeling well for like two weeks, and with my college semester coming to a close, and finals pouring in, it has not been good.

I have little time to spend on the book I so desire to write, and I feel so far away from it.
You'd think that the easiest thing to do while being sick is sitting down in a comfortable place and writing away.... I find it's hard for me to concentrate and I get tired... So I have not really been writing especially while I'm sick...

I also have not been reading any books lately -besides the college ones.

I know they say to write a good book, you have to read.
But does that mean I have to be reading a book?
Last book I read was like...months ago...
wait... the last book I read was harry potter 7!!

It's hard to also find a good fantasy book. At least for me... I'm bad a searching for books....
-yeah I like fantasy...
I just finished watching that kids movie... stardust... I never read the book... though I feel I could have written the story better!
But who am I to talk... I don't even have half a book written yet!

 

[Sapheron]

Re: thoughts.. questions... and a place to post to online while I sit in computer cla

See, don't look for 'a good fantasy book'. Read any genre, whether it's good or not. Read every book you can, fiction or non fiction, on the web, in writing, watch movies, anything. Just absorb it all from as many sources as possible. Don't search, gather.

 

[shamguy4]

Re: thoughts.. questions... and a place to post to online while I sit in computer cla

Movies?
I would say no problem!
but watching a movie is no way near the same experience as reading a book and I can't see it in any way helping me write.
a movie doesn't go into a characters head like a book does.

Anyhow I'm gonna hopefully push myself to start writing more today...

 

[Pyan]

Re: thoughts.. questions... and a place to post to online while I sit in computer cla

Seph's 100% right...read everything, read anything...read the bad books, it gives you something to compare the good ones with...read the good ones, and you'll find out why they're better...take advice, ignore it, follow it, it doesn't matter as long as you read something...

 

[Sephiroth]

Re: thoughts.. questions... and a place to post to online while I sit in computer cla

Seph's 100% right

Freudian? You were thinking about me, Great Old One?

I normally am, that is true.

 

[Commonmind]

Re: thoughts.. questions... and a place to post to online while I sit in computer cla

Any form of entertainment, be it traditional literature, film or even music, can inspire and get the creative juices flowing. One of my best writing sessions was after watching the film "The Notebook." I have read romantic scenes in novels before, but seeing the emotion acted out with subtleties that cannot always be described in the written word helped me through a scene I had been dreading writing for months. I've been inspired by R.A. Salvatore's fighting sequences, as well as Bruce Lee's. I've read Stephen Colbert's "I Am America and So Can You," and been inspired to write something of a comedic flavor after I was done - and I've had the same experience after watching the Colbert Report.

Opening your mind is one of the best things to do during the creative process.

In the words of an old Chinese dishwasher who taught me the fine art of cleaning my basting pot, "Be the sponge."

 

[Pyan]

Re: thoughts.. questions... and a place to post to online while I sit in computer cla

Freudian? You were thinking about me, Great Old One?

I normally am, that is true.

Come on now, what's a vowel between friends?

Sorry, Saph!

 

[RcGrant]

Re: thoughts.. questions... and a place to post to online while I sit in computer cla

I feel your pain - I've been ill the last few days and despite my desire to write, anything requiring concentration of five minutes or more just isn't working.

I agree with the other posters: read anything and everything. I find that if I'm having a hard time with fiction, I get hold of a selection of non-fiction that I can dip in and out of as the mood takes me. You'll be surprised how much you take in.

 

[Culhwch]

Re: thoughts.. questions... and a place to post to online while I sit in computer cla

I just finished watching that kids movie... stardust... I never read the book... though I feel I could have written the story better!
But who am I to talk... I don't even have half a book written yet!

Careful, a couple million Gaiman fans will lynch you for talk like that. In fact I'm sharpening my pitchfork as I type... But do read the book, it's much superior to the film.

And no, you don't have to be reading as you write. But to be a good writer you need to be well-read. And seeing as how no one else has said it yet - read everything you can!

 

[Lith]

Re: thoughts.. questions... and a place to post to online while I sit in computer cla

College is a busy time, especially if you're trying to hold down a job at the same time. It can easily push you into 60-80 hour weeks. Not a whole lot of time for writing at that point. I know, I've been there.

If you're not finding good fantasy, you could always skip out on the genre for a while. I had a lot of years where I found most fantasy just didn't live up to its concepts, so I bode my time with classics (college is the perfect time of life for such). But you do have to both read and write to expand as a writer. Perhaps take a literature course? Or two, or three? It'll give you plenty to read, as well as introducing you to critical aspects of writing.

Movies can be good for providing inspiration, but they're still movies, not books. In a sense they're the lazy way out, if you're not also reading in your spare time. There's not much work for the imagination, and nothing to force you to pay attention to detail. I'm not saying don't watch movies, but don't just watch movies.

And keep an idea journal with you at all times. If you don't have time to write those ideas into books now, you may find time in a few years when you're only holding down a job. (I know, four years seems like a long time away!) That and your life experience will grow a lot and your ideas will be better for it.

 

[quidscribis]

Re: thoughts.. questions... and a place to post to online while I sit in computer cla

Hello people.
I have not been feeling well for like two weeks, and with my college semester coming to a close, and finals pouring in, it has not been good.

I have little time to spend on the book I so desire to write, and I feel so far away from it.
You'd think that the easiest thing to do while being sick is sitting down in a comfortable place and writing away.... I find it's hard for me to concentrate and I get tired... So I have not really been writing especially while I'm sick...

You have my commiserations. I've been ill for, well, my entire life, and I can write perfectly fine (and work and go to school and function somewhat normally) for some definitions of feeling ill, but I'm completely unable to use my brain for much more than reading fluff for other definitions of feeling ill. Some kinds just rob me of all ability to pull out a coherent thought. So, yeah, been there, done that.

Don't know what your feeling ill is like, but if it's like one of those, then do what you can do when you feel that way, and if reading is one of the things you can do, then read. I'm with the others - don't limit yourself to one genre. Read everything - read from a wide variety of genres, styles, authors.

 

[Kissmequick]

Re: thoughts.. questions... and a place to post to online while I sit in computer cla

Writing when you feel ill is bleugh. I gave up for six months when I first got ill ( I have CFS, kinda like ME) due to the 'brain fog' that wouldn't let me concentrate for more than ten minutes at a time.

BUT, most writing isn't actually done while you are typing. For me at least, 90% of my writing is done while I'm doing something else - daydreaming while in the bath, or reading a few articles in the paper and playing the 'what if' game to get ideas. A good short story anthology helps too for reading, as you don't have to concentrate for too long.

As long as you keep your brain ticking over thinking about plots and characters, when you feel well enough to write again you'll have so much stuff you'll be off like a rocket!


Hope you're feeling better soon.