"A human who has no stories is someone who has not been loved and not been able to love." Fits better than I would like. Never connected it with not having stories to tell.
How to write good. 1. Avoid alliteration. Always 2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with. 3. Avoid cliches like the plague. They're old hat. 4. Comparisons are as bad as cliches. 5. Be more or less specific 6. Writers should never generalize. Seven: Be consistent! 8. Don't be redundant; don't use more words than necessary; it's highly superfluous. 9. Who needs rhetorical questions? 10. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.
+TriZane 01 1. Avoid alliteration, see Kerouac. 2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with - this rule I could do "without". 3. Avoid cliches... ok, "I agree you hit the bull on the head here."
well nothing does action better than a movie, nothing can beat music in energy and unity, nothing is more physical than dance, nothing more immersive than a video game, nothing can convey as much as a painting with so little ... all the mediums have their strenghts ... writing however seems to be the purest form of storytelling there is. its like telling a story, while being able to think about every word and for the listener to take their time when they have it and really focus and listen
+Marc Kael The great thing with a book, is that the reader can perceive his/hers own movie, music, colours and moves just from those printed words. Just using some homegrown fantasy, at no cost.
The hardest part of writing is looking at what you've done, maybe 1,000, 3,000 words, or more, and realizing that it's just no good and you have to do it over. A few times.
For some of us that’s the easiest thing and the hardest thing is to stop messing with it after a thousand drafts and trust that someone else might like it.
Everyone has a story in their head and they think is worth telling. It is like looking at a sunset and realizing it is beautiful and wanting to put that beauty onto canvas. The trick is: how do you do that? I don't think that knowledge can come from writing classes. No matter what kind of instruction, or how much practice, it is unlikely that a random person can climb into a racecar and be competitive.
I'm Nigerian. I loved The cave and Cain, and All the Names to an extent. I hope that changes your perspective. Underrated is not necessarily the same as overly exposed.
Here is an advice for writers: Write your story and when it is finished, put it away for a few weeks, then go back to it and read it. You will find plenty holes in your story as well as grammatical errors. You have to do that a few times to produce a well-written story..
I agree with the idea of writing the story, then putting it away for a few weeks and then going back and examining it. Most of the grammatical flubs can be found and weird sentences can be redone. But it still will not put artistry into the writing. The story may be wonderful but if the writing does not contain a richness, the public will not read the story.
I have never read a book. EVER!, except for picture books, I do read on the internet. But it would be called casual. oppose to feeling pressure from myself to intake information and read a novel, I love to write also, its a lot of fun. But seeing what you wanna write and knowing you can't write it down is even better.
He wrote in English...there's actually an anecdote about him becoming severely depressed b/c some critic (or editor) mocked his english speaking/writing abilities (and he was too long removed from his Polish language roots to write well using that language).
My relative Henry Cary wrote the translation of Dante into English. I wonder if it was his version that Yann read? I'd love to know seeing as it was the most monumental book he has ever read.
I loved Dante Devine comedies maybe not to read as much, I only fond one or two stanzas of Dante Infernomelodically pleasing, but going through the references of Greek and Roman mythology is just about the most fun you could have with a book. Plus I love how the Russian writers are so intense and striped down of redundant parts. I get them explained to me I tried reading some would do it again if I were not so fuuuuuucking lazy.
I think the idea is to read what you want to write, but not limit yourself to that specific genre. You may find, say, the way a character in a romance novel explains the beauty of his/her lover striking. You may decide to use a similar approach describing the horror of a murder from the murderer's point of view. Or something.
Charles Dickens, "naturalistic"? He is (or was) the wordiest sonofabitch of the Victorian age, and dry dry dry. Wilde certainly wrote some long-winded monologues, but at least his were interesting and insightful. Conrad, by comparison, was far more terse, and in my view, rich, for not having all of Dicken's fluff.
If one uses the definition of "pertaining to nature" then Dickens does not qualify. If one uses the definition as being realistic descriptions, as in as close to their real nature as can be described, Dickens only does this some times, and other times, not. Such as when he uses symbolism. For example when he wrote "Implacable November weather. As much mud in the streets as if the waters had but newly retired from the face of the earth, and it would not be wonderful to meet a Megalosaurus, 40 feet long or so, waddling like an elephantine lizard up Holborn Hill." Descriptive, sure, but not literal or naturalistic at all. Later he writes "The raw afternoon is rawest, and the dense fog is densest, and the muddy streets are muddiest near that leaden-headed old obstruction, appropriate ornament for the threshold of a leaden-headed old corporation, Temple Bar." This is more poetry than prose, and certainly not naturalistic. While there is nothing wrong with the style, Dickens goes ON and ON.
By that description we read "...Literary movement that sought to depict believable everyday reality, as opposed to such movements as Romanticism or Surrealism, in which subjects may receive highly symbolic, idealistic, or even supernatural treatment." How does Dickens qualify, given his mixed use of symbols and clearly supernatural references, especially in A Christmas Carol, arguably his most popular work? Even a Tale of Two Cities, often cited for being realistic, often invokes the spiritual notion of Resurrection.
I enjoy anyone who writes well but does not let me guess what will happen next, as well as the ending. Agatha Christie is one of the only ones like this. Stephen King is a good writer, when he is not in 'automatic mode', but still, I can basically guess what happens in most of his books.
Id say video games one up writing for greatest representation, it's the avengers of art forms. You can have a setting way in the past and have writing within the game that pushes you even further.
+Joe Smith exactly! like the game 999 it uses written word to explain humanity in a way impossible on paperback. The only way it works is on a DS as a game, seriously try it and get the true ending and tell me it doesn't change your life
+Joe Smith it's a visual novel by the way, like the choose your own adventure novels but on deeper philosophical level, like where one page may effect another earlier in the book
I would disagree that the hardest part of being a writer is opening the door and having people see what you've created. Because it's usually at that moment that all that work really comes to a head by what the person is going to say about it. It may sound petty and needy but as Stephen King pointed out, "Writers are needy people by nature."
I think everything has a story, the universe has a story, but it has nothing to do with love. What makes humans unique is actually the ability to stand upright and bend backwards, no animal has ever been able to that.
Yukio Mishima The Divine Comedy Dostoevsky Tolstoy Turgeniv Gogol Thomas Hardy Charles Dickens Joseph Conrad Hemingay Faulkner Sinclair Louis Flaubert Diderot Beckett
Writing is very cerebral. It gets into your head in a way nothing else does. Even if all your doing is writing your memoirs. The biggest payoff for a writer is for someone to tell you that your story got in their head. That is the goal, but it is not one easily achieved. For those just starting, put down the thesaurus. Stop trying to be clever. Just let the story tell itself.
I hate writing and writers r even worse! I like telling stories and creating characters, but I completely hate the snobbery of the writing community. If I never publish a book, beyond self-publishing anyway, so b it. I'd rather enjoy what I'm doing than stress about what others say I should b doing.
well, trust me man, french writing system is fucked up. Of course there are poeple who don't do spelling errors, but they are rare. In my university, even third year students still do some. I study linguistics, so I know a bit about a lot of languages, and let me tell you that all the alphabetic systems I've studied are very simple. Only germanic languages (including english), and maybe celtic, are quite tricky to write down with the latin alphabet (hence this video). As for romance languages, well there is nothing complicated, but for french... it's just so fastidious. Andrew Murphy
1. Write, step away when you run into a problem. 2. Read widely if you want to write well. 3. Engage the world be human. Have to say this was slightly underwhelming.
blinkinglightbeacon The right to criticise isn't restricted by objective standards of 'good literature' (which don't exist) or the 'intelligence' of the critic. It's more likely that you adore Dostoevsky and feel attacked by anyone who criticises him.
I totally agree that the hardest part about being a writer is that you have to be in your own "world," sometimes. That's why I'd say its important to do a physical art as well. Dancing, acting, and drawing are great for writers block and to get yourself out of your own mind so much. Haha!
In terms of the question "Whats the hardest part of being a writer?"...He nailed it on the head. I was actually thinking about this the other day... My social circle and my upbringing is primarily made of artists of different mediums; painters, musicians, thespians, etc. Being a writer is sometimes so frustrating to me because whereas my friends and family can quickly produce a physical expression of what they are getting at, I, as a novelist, cannot. The only time I can get remotely close, is if i finish writing my book. And doing that, is no small or quick feat for me. And even once my work is done, it still takes time and dedication to read the work lol.
true! I've tried a couple of times. My mom is very good at it and I've envied that lol. I'm not too bad but i find that the plots i think of are never really appropriate for short stories. My style is pretty detailed so its better suited to novels or at least novelettes. I just end up writing too much for it to be considered short story-worthy. Maybe i just don't try hard enough to condense my work or to think of plots that work as short stories. its a good idea though.. Im sure ill try to do it again sometime.
