The Writer's Family {3} ~ The Grimoire

Discussion in 'Forum Families' started by Ars Nova, Jan 10, 2010.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Jiku Neon Kingdom Keeper

    Joined:
    Jul 24, 2007
    Location:
    Moe, Victoria
    1,258
    878
    Back after a while, will be gone for a while after this.

    Read Novas' blog post. Convincing as anything symbolic can be. I never really saw much of the fire:water::death:life (or life:death) symbol in anything I've read. I generally read comedy or whatever my high school lit teacher handed me though. So maybe I'm not the one to ask. Not to mention the fact that I hate being asked to actively analyze symbolism to my core. But in my experience, when fire is considered life it is juxtaposed with ice, as I noticed someone posted. Hel, where the word hell comes from, is the Norse goddess of death. Her realm is an icy river. So the ice as death this is very much a part of cultural attitudes. Just thought I'd say that here. (Factcheck that for me if you think I'm wrong because I was half asleep when I read the mythology book in class and you can'treally trust hearsay.)

    It's good to, not necessarily plan but, at least docuent your thought process while writing. This helps you to know where you're going with something and where you've been with it. This can be used as a springboard for planning or winging it depending on your personal style. But keeping your thoughts in order is better than not; whether planning is or not I can't say.

    I personally don't do a huge amount of planning per se. I think a lot about something before I commit it to paper or document file, but I don't do anything systematically. I avoid the use of the word holistic because there is a method to the madness, I just don't know what it is.


    Finally, my opinion on activity and whatever. I think that it's depressing to look at the Original Work section. I mean I don't comment on everything, but I do make an effort however small to encourage some level of activity on the part of others when I comment and critique. The Writer's Family, to my understanding, works to improve and proliferate our writing through sharing ideas and opinions. The Creativity Corner's goal is in effect the same, so I feel we need to get a little more synergy between the two likely oriented sections of the site population via actually finding the time to post a thread, a critique or a SoTM entry. Not that this means anything coming from me, just sharing some thoughts.

    That took longer than I wanted it to. Oh well.
     
  2. Luna Lovegood nani panda-kun

    Joined:
    Jun 13, 2007
    Gender:
    Female
    Location:
    Shirokuma Cafe
    294
    I usually have a very general idea of the plot, but I don't often plan how the story is going to get there. This leads to some insane writer's block, so I'm trying to get out of that habit and plan more.
     
  3. What? 『 music is freedom 』

    Joined:
    Jul 4, 2008
    Location:
    Surfing de Broglie waves
    2,756
    Enlisting in the author's army.

    I may as well contribute to the current topic at hand somehow.

    From what I have observed writers' block, or procrastination in general when involved in the process of creative writing, is usually derived from either a slight disappointment, uncaring, dislike of the writing material or a simple lack of ideas due to a very little amount of pre-planned development - one may not know where he or she wishes the story to go and as such may be confused over more minor yet primary plot concepts of the story. This would be, I suppose, one of the advantages of planning out things before writing, though there are indeed exceptions. Pre-planned writing, despite setting a standard and a sort of skeleton of the story, may allot to rushing the plot to major plot points and thus ruining the pacing of the story. There are advantages and disadvantages of both, however it would depend on the individual.


    This is already present in the Original Work section (although not being restricted to members of the family). However, as previously stated or implied by Jiku in an earlier post, perhaps the family may help with the contest itself or encouragement on the board in general in an effort for a greater amount of writing. A contest limited to the family may gain a sort of competitiveness with the public contest; the privatization of this family may possibly lead to a larger amount of entries than that of the public contest and thus render the public contest unneeded and useless - many of the usual public contestants are most likely to be members of the family, though there are indeed a few exceptions. It would be rather hard to continue with two different contests without one overtaking the other, so it may perhaps be more efficient to encourage the existing one while using this family for other writing games.

    Finally, I am in full support of the idea of a collaboration story. If we are to create multiple stories with concise beginnings and endings, however, we will require actual and very basic plots to follow. Perhaps every few months or so an idea for a plot can be either stated by one of the members or multiple plots being voted upon, with the option chosen being the plot of the collaboration story. This would, however, require more general activity.
     
  4. Chevalier Crystal Princess

    Joined:
    Jan 8, 2008
    Location:
    Trapped on an Island
    552
    I think we've all heard enough of the fact that we need to support the Creativity Corner section, and as a family of writers in the KHV website, we need to spend some effort making that section flourish. And from the looks of it I'm not the only one who thinks that way.

    So, it's safe to assume that the collaboration story is a go? If we were to do something like this, then I think people would visit the CC more. We just need a general plot, or theme to follow. I think allowing some freedom is key. We can give some pointers as to how the story should go, and provide the first chapter so that the next person continues it.

    Example:

    - Dark & Somber
    - Romance
    - Supernatural

    We create a theme around which the person can do a story, and once the person reads the first chapter, I'm pretty sure they can figure stuff out.

    Literary Discussions:
    Another suggestion would be to discuss different styles and things that writers use as resources, or techniques. We could discuss different things. Though, this raises some problems. the family thread would be filled with all of that discussion, and it would be difficult to skim through it all to find something specific.

    My suggestion to that is making threads about X subject in either the literature section, or in the discussion. This would keep either section alive, and allow other people to comment, aside from the family. It would also give us post count, without spamming. We'd have them open for a few days(because of the time zone thing) and then close them, and link to them in the family. My best bet is the literature section, even if it is discussion, it's more akin to literature. Plus, it would give that section something else to look forward to.

    The Writing Assistance:
    This suggestion is all about helping out fellow writers. We search through the Creativity Corner and decide to focus on a certain person to help out with their writing. It doesn't necessarily have to be a family member, though it would be good to start that way. If we help those eager to write, yet still rough around the edges, we can create a larger family, and more people to visit the CC.

     
  5. Ars Nova Just a ghost.

    Joined:
    Nov 28, 2009
    Gender:
    hungry
    Location:
    Hell 71
    2,986
    Glad to see everyone's sharing their thoughts on Midnight Star's question. Keep up the good work, fellas.

    Thanks for the input/background, Jiku. I've been thinking about the ice-death parallel a lot since I wrote that post. Parts of it make sense... but I dunno. Absence-of-heat/absence-of-life is definitely a strong link, of course.

    Welcome to the family, my posh friend. Hope you enjoy your stay, and I look forward to seeing more of your work.

    All right, I'm gonna go ahead and officially greenlight the collab. The bare necessities are already up in Current Events. I'd like everyone who is interested in participating to post some time in the next week or two. (Rissy might be interested but typically only has time to visit on the weekends, so we'll give her some leeway.)

    As for subject matter, I have an idea. The story would be a third-person prose narrative about a dying man who goes through a series of hallucinations, meeting strange and downright surreal things/people/creatures that help him to reflect on his choices as he lives out the last moments of his life. The hallucinations could be however the particular writer wants them to be, as could the mood they impose; one could be very dark and morbid, mocking the man for dying, and the next could be a whimsical trip back to his childhood where he relives his first visit to a carnival. The attempt would be to combine a mundane setting with fantastical element as well as leave the atmosphere of each individual chapter open to the writer, which would allow as many people as possible to participate because each writer can write to his respective strengths. We can decide on specifics and work out the kinks if everyone likes the basic idea, but in terms of the character's personality/history, I would prefer to keep it vague or let each writer plot it out as needed.

    Please feel free to submit your own ideas. And if yours doesn't go through, you can host your own collab later on, and I'll put it in Current Events, help you plot it out, the whole shebang.

    Lastly, about your suggestions, Chev:

    I like the idea to reach out to the literature/discussion sections. In fact, I'd been thinking of doing that for a while now. I'm going to post a thread on literary deconstruction/reconstruction soon. (It'll offer an explanation of what it is, so check it out whether you know what it is and want to discuss it, or would like to learn about it.)

    I'm not so keen on the writing assistance idea, at least the way you worded it. First off, I would encourage the family to reach out to aspiring/amateur writers to begin with, and I especially encourage those within the family to seek assistance from the rest if they feel they need it. It's all kind of what we're here for, anyway. I also don't care for the idea of randomly selecting someone to instruct; it could be construed as invasive to the recipient and favoritist to anyone else. What's more, typically people don't like to receive help from more than one or two at a time; makes them feel like they're before a judges' panel. I'd like to help people with their writing, but I'd prefer we not make it into a function or an event. We should just learn to do it naturally; it's common courtesy, helps us become better writers ourselves, and it's a helpful recruitment tool, as the ailing writers will likely want to hear from a greater assembly once they've begun working out the kinks and have something to present.
     
  6. What? 『 music is freedom 』

    Joined:
    Jul 4, 2008
    Location:
    Surfing de Broglie waves
    2,756
    Thank you, my good fellow.

    Joining this collaboration, however we will have to find a sequential set of writers to make sure the story does not wander everywhere with a large amount of loose points.
     
  7. Ars Nova Just a ghost.

    Joined:
    Nov 28, 2009
    Gender:
    hungry
    Location:
    Hell 71
    2,986
    Posted that thread I was talking about before. Y'know what I learned while I was working on it? Yu-Gi-Oh GX is actually a deconstruction. Go fig'.

    Perhaps. That was the reasoning for my theme suggestion. The idea would be to have every hallucination be very self-contained, with each writer leaving the dying man much as they meet him during their chapter; this would give everyone plenty of freedom to do as they like, long as they don't drastically alter the character, so there wouldn't be too much pressure to have a particular arrangement or demand much of the writers. But of course we'll have a little pow-wow to discuss it beforehand, in case there's any questions.
     
  8. BaseSebastian Kingdom Keeper

    Joined:
    Feb 2, 2008
    Location:
    Sunam City
    57
    853
    Collab

    I don't currently have a laptop at the moment, and school's been kind of crazy, (The real reason I haven't updated "Sunam City". Fun Fact: I have posted the beginings of a plentitude of stories in Creativity Corner, but none of them are finished due to my own laziness. I AM working on finishing them all so I can at least have a little creditability.) but I am rather interested in being involved with this Collab. I like the whole Status Quoe is God approach for the idea, that take's away the pressure on the several writers to greatly affect the character in anyway.

    Put me down for a chapter, please.

    P.S (As if it really matters, but if anyone ever POSSIBLY started reading the stories I began but never finished, here's a short list of the ones that I'm working on beside Sunam):

    1001 Arabian Tales Featuring Axel and Luxord
    Only Time will Tell (Set in the 1950's. I really want to complete this one.)
    Nobody treasure Featuring Zexion and Vexen (This never even saw the light of day on the forums...0_0)
    Sora's Fortune (Kingdom Hearts/Uncharted/Jak and Daxter Cross-Over, I also really want to finish this.)

    I won't be reposting the stories on any new threads, since I can use the old ones. But Sunam is my main priority with Sora's Fortune, Only Time Will Tell, and 1001 Arabian Tales right behind in that order. If you're interested, check them out, please. Most of those stories already have beginings, so there's that.
     
  9. Midnight Star Master of Physics

    Joined:
    Jun 7, 2009
    Gender:
    Female
    Location:
    England
    983
    753
    I like the idea of a colab story where everything says the same so there is no pressure to get it to one particular place and it should still make sense. I'd like to have a go at a chapter please, as long as I still have time to not fail my exams. It's a bit different to what I normally write so it should be fairly interesting.
     
  10. Plums Wakanda Forever

    Joined:
    Aug 21, 2009
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Konoha
    4,346
    A Wild Plums appeared! The Wild Plums wishes to join your team!

    /pokemon

    Anyway, I too like the idea of a collab story, but school is demanding some attention right now. And I also wish to finish rewriting three chapters of my story, which is probably going to take a bit of time.
     
  11. Ars Nova Just a ghost.

    Joined:
    Nov 28, 2009
    Gender:
    hungry
    Location:
    Hell 71
    2,986
    Welcome to the family, Plums. And if you'd like to take part in the collab, I could push your chapter back so you'd have more time to do it, if that helps.
     
  12. Luna Lovegood nani panda-kun

    Joined:
    Jun 13, 2007
    Gender:
    Female
    Location:
    Shirokuma Cafe
    294
    I'd also like to take place in the colab. I think it's a great idea, and the styles merging should create a great effect.
     
  13. Ars Nova Just a ghost.

    Joined:
    Nov 28, 2009
    Gender:
    hungry
    Location:
    Hell 71
    2,986
    Terribly sorry about the delay, everyone. I have some college issues to sort out, and it's kept my hands tied for a while. I hope to be back on track soon, but in the meantime I suppose I'll just leave recruitment open. If you're interested in the collab and your name's not on the list, I'd encourage you to sign up soon.
     
  14. Luna Lovegood nani panda-kun

    Joined:
    Jun 13, 2007
    Gender:
    Female
    Location:
    Shirokuma Cafe
    294
  15. Midnight Star Master of Physics

    Joined:
    Jun 7, 2009
    Gender:
    Female
    Location:
    England
    983
    753
    About the collab, I'm still interested but my exams are really close and I want to get them sorted before I commit to too much. I'd like do it once I've finished my exams, if that's okay.
     
  16. Ars Nova Just a ghost.

    Joined:
    Nov 28, 2009
    Gender:
    hungry
    Location:
    Hell 71
    2,986
    Yeah, I bet lots of others are in the same boat. Maybe we should push this back to later this/next month?
     
  17. Chevalier Crystal Princess

    Joined:
    Jan 8, 2008
    Location:
    Trapped on an Island
    552
    Where is Nova? I know he's been busy with college stuff and what not, but that doesn't mean that the rest of us have to let this die. If we do, then they'll be no point for the family, and it'll die again.

    As a matter of fact, I needed to speak with Nova. I hope he does return soon.
     
  18. Ars Nova Just a ghost.

    Joined:
    Nov 28, 2009
    Gender:
    hungry
    Location:
    Hell 71
    2,986
    ...Forget it. I can't do this. I'm no good at it and I don't have the time I ought to be dedicating to it.

    Someone else can take over. I'm lockin' the place up. Sorry, y'all.
     
  19. Rissy Queen of the Clouds

    Joined:
    Jul 16, 2008
    Gender:
    Female
    Location:
    in the Sky
    472
    I think you should give it another try, but it's your choice.

    I guess you're leaving perminantly then?
     
  20. Ars Nova Just a ghost.

    Joined:
    Nov 28, 2009
    Gender:
    hungry
    Location:
    Hell 71
    2,986
    Eh... Still mulling it over. Not particularly sold on leaving my friends here behind. Things are getting pretty busy though... But whatever happens, I'm not cut out to keep this particular section up. Hate to drop it so suddenly, but them's the brakes.

    If someone wants to take over, they could make a new thread, I guess. Same as usual.
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.