/lit/ - Literature

Read about the subject or theme of whatever I'm writing

write some more

rinse and repeat

>>907091
it is also picking a subject which is hard to do, i have a lack of commitment in some situations i have tried:

sci-fi fail
crime fail
and recently i have started a zombie fable, but that has taken a turn for the worse, i left a lot of plot holes.

>>907101
woops i screwed that one up

>>907101

How, exactly, did you fail? Did you just lose interest?

>>907104
sort of both, i have a lot of ideas to begin, but as i progress i run out of information, and as i do not plagiarize, it is hard to actually make up something on your own which has never been written or used before.

i have seen a few people on here who have some writing acumen, and i would like to ask where they get their ideas from.

Stew in a mire of whatever emotion I feel at the time, then, in a fit of some sort, write 20,000+ words on that subject in 3 days and then never touch the story again because I realize it consists 90% of characters staring blankly at walls while remembering negative things that happened to them when they were younger while a basic plot moves along at a laboriously slow pace.

I... don't have any grand delusions about being a published writer but it is fun to just sort of go off like that from time to time.

>>907121
that's very modest, and sounds like the attitude of a true writer. i would like to be published one day, but most of all i want to create an excellent book if by consequence i receive funds for the laborious work. I would gladly spend it as i would of earned it.

>>907132
Ahaha, thank you for the vote of confidence

>>907140
no problem, i find it so challenging to actually finish a book. let alone get it published. i would like to write as a career, English is my strongest subject, and i feel that if i don't become a career writer, then i may end up with a dead end job...

>>907148
You seem very sincere
Good luck

>>907149
thank you, and good luck to you as well.

>>907114

>i have seen a few people on here who have some writing acumen, and i would like to ask where they get their ideas from.

I do not call myself a writer.

But since you're asking how I spin up a story, it usually goes like this.

I read, or watch, or hear something impressive that just sounds like a great tale. In this case, we'll go with the stories I wrote about the Viking Invasion of England after I read The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.

Now, a huge battle in this event was in 865, when an entire army of Danes landed on English soil. It swept across the isles, conquering all who stood in its path, and soon became known as the Great Heathen Army.

Prior to this event, this is what was written:

>In this year fierce, foreboding omens came over the land of Northumbria. There were excessive whirlwinds, lightning storms, and fiery dragons were seen flying in the sky. These signs were followed by great famine, and on January 8th the ravaging of heathen men destroyed God's church at Lindisfarne.

That sounds pretty badass, or so I thought. So I do research. I find out what it was like being a shit-shoveling peasant back then, or a noble, or a pillager. I learn about the popular culture back then, the technology, the architecture, the points of interest, the important people, and so on. Then I considered how this might go -differently-, while keeping true to the theme. I got the idea of having the local myths of the Danes and the English to clash. Dragons were mentioned. Perhaps the Vikings rode dragons. Perhaps they WERE dragons. Perhaps they were led by a mighty warrior who took the form of a dragon.

So then I got to thinking about Halfdan Ragnarsson, the leader of the Great Heathen Army. Successful pillager. Apparently he had a cruel streak. Aha, think I. This sounds like an INTERESTING CHARACTER.

[cont'd]

So I fiction him up. In my head I can already imagine him ruining people's shit with a broad-axe, pounding the table and calling for more mead, or wrestling some troublemaker to the ground and strangling him to within an inch of his life.

Stories don't just revolve around one character. He had comrades, so I also have like-minded people for him to interact with.

Then there's the opposition. Good King Edmund, ruler of East Anglia, happens to be one of the people who fall before the heathens. Naturally, he's a likeable sort of chap, stern, but fair, and dispensed justice, instead of listening to flattery. History presents me with yet another character pre-made, and so I start thinking about how he would respond to this massive crisis, and how to portray him as a character that people would sympathize with.
Which makes his death have that much more of an impact. He also serves as an excellent counter to the cruelty and chaos of the Vikings. He's trying to keep order. Halfdan wants to destroy it. They are in conflict. A STORY.

I make notes about everything I've learned. I jot down all my concepts, ideas, and character backgrounds, all the little details that make the story. I draw maps if I have to,so that I can understand how everything goes. Then I put together a plot - in this case history did most of my work for me, so the plotting of these stories went swimmingly. Plot is extremely important to me. I always know how my stories begin and how they end. If I'm having problems with a story part-way through, I write the end immediately, and then work from there, bridging the gap from start to finish. If I don't have a coherent plot I abandon the project.

[cont'd]

Then I organize the subplots supporting the main plot, create timelines marking events in the story, and then I can officially open up my word processor, and start on that Virginal Page. As you can probably guess, all the anticipation and build-up has me happily spewing words the way the blown rig in the Gulf is spewing oil.

At that point in time it's fairly hard for me to run into snags. I just reference my notes if I can't remember something, or encounter an obstacle. If I do have a serious issue, it's usually my own fault, and likely because I didn't do my homework thoroughly.