Comments for Get Me Writing

Comment on Inspiration vs. intimidation and reading good books by Matt

Matt — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 13:48:19 +0000

And I was so looking forward to your particle phyics book!

Comment on Inspiration vs. intimidation and reading good books by Craig O'Connor

Craig O'Connor — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 23:18:51 +0000

I’m not sure I can say I’ve been intimidated by books. Incredibly envious yes. You know how some books have that flow going on, that seem as if they were really easy to write, like they just flowed off the pen (Which we all know is rubbish, unless you’re Tom Clancy)? Books like that get to me, because writing for me feels like a total marathon, just going through the whole process.

Maybe I’m not AS exposed to it because I alternate fiction and non fiction in my reading. I dont get intimidated by non fiction books (Unless its a really thick one about something incredibly dense. Like particle physics) but as a writer I never feel that way because I have no intention of writing a dense non fiction book about elementary particles.

But I do know where you’re coming from. Oh, I’ll tell you a book that intimidated me, and for more than the reasons above; Cryptonomicon. This book is MASSIVE! Its massive, and its dense, and its packed full of information, both historical and fiction, but not at the same time, and its just… The sheer scale of the book is beyond anything I could write myself, and yet Neal Stephenson can write two, maybe three books like this a year!

So thats my vote. Cryptonomicon.

Comment on Getting a grip on structure by uberVU - social comments

uberVU - social comments — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 23:18:35 +0000

Social comments and analytics for this post…

This post was mentioned on Twitter by matty_gibbon: This is what I’m doing to get a grip on my story http://is.gd/7hS9x It’s all about structure, baby!…

Comment on Getting a grip on structure by Craig O'Connor

Craig O'Connor — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 23:10:54 +0000

So the chaotic writing approach isn’t for you? Its funny, because it seems that we’re talking abotu two sides of the same coin here. Of course, as you mention, it can be awful to plan too much, because it takes the joy out of the actual writing. I do a lot of my “planning” in my thought space. I’ll plot out scenes and dialogue in my head while I think about my work, and of course doing this can lead to many variations of the same scenes, different permutations as it were, and it also allows new paths to open up that you may not have thought of before.

Of course, it doesn’t help if you just keep them in your head and dont write them down.

While I’m still going with my “open, unplanned” writing (which I have actually plotted out in a fair amount of detail now) it has opened up a massive branching structure which makes me want to follow different characters on their own paths.

Procrastination is my dominant writing sin, it seems.

Comment on Keeping a Journal by Matt

Matt — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 14:17:28 +0000

For all those people looking at journals, here’s a nice array of them. They miss out Moleskines though (as noted by many in the comments):
http://www.fuelyourwriting.com/write-it-all-down/

Comment on Readers learn to write by Matt

Matt — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 13:19:30 +0000

Ooh, nice quote!

Comment on Readers learn to write by Rob

Rob — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 00:59:58 +0000

“In order to create, we draw from our inner well. This inner well, an artistic reservoir, is ideally like a well stocked fish pond… If we don’t give some attention to upkeep, our well is apt to become depleted, stagnant, or blocked… As artists, we must learn to be self nourishing. We must become alert enough to consciously replenish our creative resources as we draw on them — to restock the trout pond, so to speak.” — Julia Cameron

Comment on Improvising by Matt

Matt — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 13:53:08 +0000

Here is one writer who thinks differently. And I’m inclined to agree. Having tried the whole make-it-up-as-you go thing, I find I stall too easily (but then, I am naturally a planner). Check it out

http://writetodone.com/2010/01/12/climbing-mt-story-how-to-survive-the-creative-journey/

Comment on Self Publishing: A Good Idea? by Fred

Fred — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 22:57:18 +0000

thank you, very interesting idea

Comment on 2009 in review by Craig O'Connor

Craig O'Connor — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 01:55:03 +0000

I feel the same mate. I think about this past year compared to previous years, and it makes me sick as to how little writing I’ve done.

But I am remedying that! OK, so quitting my job might be a step too far, but since leaving my soul destroying nothing job, I’ve gotten up to speed on my new project. 11,000 words in a week! Only, I have a problem with that, since thats essentially just my prologue.

Oops.

I shall write up a post and get it to you asap.