Struggling with a prompt

[nico1908]

Last month, Actias luna, my dear beta for "Found, Never Lost" (which is largely an info-dump but may be interesting if you want to see a beginner progress from the typical 3rd person omniscient to a limited 3rd person POV), suggested we start what I like to call a "no pressure prompt exchange".

It goes like this: we take turns picking a prompt at the beginning of each month and at the end of the month we exchange our results, whatever they may be - drawings, poems, lyrics, paintings, fanfiction, doilies, short stories, novels, needlepoint... - and in whatever stage of completion (or lack thereof) they may be.

I volunteered to pick the first prompt. It arrived in the form of a message on the back of a Dove chocolate wrapper and read, "Go ahead - have another :-)". I successfully resisted the urge to take the prompt literally but have been literally struggling with it.

I typically write longhand first and then do the first major edit when I type up the material - which results in frustratingly little useable lines; sometimes a whole page of scribbling and crossing out and re-writing yields just a paragraph (if I'm lucky). And then I fuss and fume over it, find it horribly cliche and wonder why on earth I think I may have anything to say that is worth putting in writing.

So here is my question to you writers out there: Is writing a pain or a pleasure to you? Do you wish you could plug your brains into the computer and make your thoughts flow into Word or does the process of typing do something for you? Do you need a certain place and set of mind to write or do you just sit down and type up whatever passes through your head (which in my case seems to be hot air most of the time)? Do stories just materialize before your inner eye or do you have to chip them out of the bedrock of your imagination? - Just wondering...


I'm also wondering why the LJ cuts don't seem to work properly...

Comments

[grey-hunter.livejournal.com]

I'm also wondering why the LJ cuts don't seem to work properly...

And your letters are also sort of very small most of the time. At other times, they are huge.

But to answer the question, I always write on the keyboard nowadays and edit while I write - and rewrite and then edit again when I start over... you can tell that most of the time I don't write smoothly. Probably because there are too many things that divert my attention from it. I never thought I'd wish the times of no internet and boring television programmes back, but there it is. I'm currently struggling with my hp_darkfest fic. I'm only at the beginning which is bad because I gave myself until the end of the month to write it. But I think I'm getting a hang of the voice now and that's when it starts flowing more smoothly. I usually do put down a plot before I start writing - or should be as I generally can't get it right until I know most of what is going to happen. But I have a friend who works a different way: she works out her characters' personalities, motivations and what direction she wants them to develop on the course of the story. I can't really understand how she'll have a story out of that, but apparently it works. She calls my way plot-oriented writing and hers character-oriented (which is probably the official term since she has the appropriate education degree, I don't). Either way, some serious brainstorming does preceed the writing.

On the other hand, when I write a comment... do I talk too much, I wonder? ;)

[nico1908.livejournal.com]

No, you don't talk too much! I appreciate your comment!

"And your letters are also sort of very small most of the time. At other times, they are huge."

I don't know what's up with that. It's very annoying, that's for sure! - I always make sure to remove all formatting before I paste something from Word, and regular posts I do via LJ directly. No copying and pasting.

I don't write enough to know what kind of writer I am - plot or character -, but I have to withdraw into a certain place within myself before I can write at all. If I haven't completed all my chores around the house and my husband, I just can't seem to get into the necessary mindset for writing. :( Maybe it takes practice...

[grey-hunter.livejournal.com]

Oh, I don't write nearly enough. :( I just know that I have to have some basic concept in my mind for the fic to statisfy me. Otherwise, I always go back, thing about sentences and edit while I go and that's when I lose the track of my thoughts. Very annoying. So, yes, in a way, I also need to be in the right mindset.

No idea why LJ does that. I usually post with Semagic or regular LJ posting interface but I don't use the formatting options (I don't think my browser is cut out for it, actually, which is only good for me).

[nico1908.livejournal.com]

While struggling with the prompt these last couple of days I just wrote down everything that came to mind. I ended up with a bunch of fragments of varying lengths. Then I took the longest fragment and added on the smaller pieces that fit the overall mood.

I got up at 3:30 this morning because I couldn't sleep and the house was so nice and dark and quiet... I typed up all my notes and did a first polish. Now all I need is an ending. Some sort of BANG... :)

[grey-hunter.livejournal.com]

That sounds good! :)

[nico1908.livejournal.com]

I think I'll post it to Skyhawke after the exchange. They have an "Original Fiction" category, if I'm not mistaken.

[grey-hunter.livejournal.com]

I don't have a Skyehawke account but I seem to remember there is one.

[nico1908.livejournal.com]

We'll have to get you a Skyhawke account! You're too good to NOT have one!

[grey-hunter.livejournal.com]

I didn't know skyehawke was selecting based on quality. I thought it was a circle of friends. I prefer TheHexFiles because there's an extra validation phase, which is like having a free beta. (However, I do know someone who would like to have a Skyehawke account.)

[nico1908.livejournal.com]

Well, there is some badfic on Skyhawke, but the last time I checked (which I admit was a while ago) it wasn't near as bad as in other places.

You have to be suggested by a Skyhawke account holder, but I don't know if either the suggester or the suggestee (not sure if that's a valid word) are required to submit a writing sample.

[grey-hunter.livejournal.com]

No, I've never seen badfic at Skyehawke of the calibre of badness like the majority at ff.net but I've seen a few fics with pretty dodgy spelling (it must be if even I notice) and... well, there are fics whose spelling and grammar is correct, I just wouldn't call them good fics, per se.

[nico1908.livejournal.com]

If your friend doesn't fall into any of those categories, send me a writing sample I'll put in a good word for her/him.

[grey-hunter.livejournal.com]

Really? That'd be nice! Thank you. Her LJ is kestrelsparhawk. She has two HP fics (as of yet). One is Squib and the other is In Which Harry Potter Discovers a River In Egypt. She also has LoTR fics (under a different name) but I'm too lazy to find the link to the archive and she promised me she'd type in the Kirk/Spock fic she wrote when she didn't know what slash was but people told her it was slash and here I'm hoping she'll get in the mood to type it in once she has an account where she can post it. Hell, I'd type it in for her if we didn't live on different continents. XD And she didn't know I asked, she wanted to ask someone but she doesn't know many people here, so it'd be cool to keep it a surprise to her, if that's doable. :)

[nico1908.livejournal.com]

I'll get to it as soon as I can, but it may have to wait until this weekend. :)

[grey-hunter.livejournal.com]

Thank you that's very nice!

Oh and I saw the invitation to the comm. Now I know where to find your fic. :) I don't know whether or not I should join. I'm terrible with writing to prompts. I always want to write something for awdt, too, and never finish it by the end of the week so my hdd is full with unfinished fics because I also have to write these fest fics. :P I guess this is when I say never again to fests - which will last until next year's hd_hols, I bet. ^^

[nico1908.livejournal.com]

Just go ahead and join! You know you want to.. :)

Maybe one of our prompts will inspire you to finish some of those fics!