Now that YOU are convinced I have talent....

I only hope that I can manage to convince myself at some point in the near future.

* shrugs *

Well...it's been a while since anything was posted here....but...

I wanted to let everyone know about a group that I am a part of. It's a Writer's Support group.

We are looking for published, self published, or non published authors to join up and add the insights or advice to aspiring writers.

The authors found in the group vary widely in what they write and they are all very friendly and helpful.

Anyone interested in joining up, or just going to the site and taking a look around, please email me and I'll get the link to you.

Once again, I have run into that situation where allowing the story to write itself works a lot better.

I sat down tonight with a specific idea of a battle between dragons and humans, and when I started writing, the characters didn't agree with me.

They wanted to go their own way and do things the way THEY wanted to.

There are times I have found myself being nothing more than the dude who does the typing. That's the way it's been more often than not.

And that means the characters have taken on lives of their own, and are going off in directions consistent with those lives.

Hey, it's happened to me, too.

Especially with this last book.

I don't ever want to be too rigid on a plot line -- because sometimes, out of nowhere, it's just "What if he does this other thing instead?" and off he goes....

And -- so far, anyway -- it has always worked out better that way.

But I've never been a big adherent of "the rules" anyway. If we never challenged those rules, never bent them a little, never broke them once in awhile, we'd all still be writing like Chaucer.

Honestly, I have found that I really enjoy] when my characters do their own thing.

I have never been a guy that thinks inside a box anyway. So having my characters actually do the choosing, rather than me sitting here directing traffic, allows the story to stretch it's legs so to speak.

besides. They always have better ideas than I do anyway. LMAO

The basic plot line I had in mind is still there, so all is fine in that regard.

It's the subplots and back stories that get changed up from my original ideas. But, again, the characters have better ideas than I do. The only drawback is that I don't make notes as I am going along, so there have been a few times I have had to look back for an item or some such thing that I forgot about until I started writing another part of the story.

But, this being my first real writing effort in a lot of years, it's still a learning experience for me.

The only big problem I have now is that the damn number keys at the top of my keyboard have stopped working and I need the nine and zero for the parentheses.

OOO OOO, this is great! I wanna play Can I can i??
I've been searching for writers on here for some time now. I only found one who really wanted to chat. I been working for a year on my first novel. It's about a couple of mentally ill college students. One who has schizophrenia and doesn't know it, and one who has manic depression and clostrophobia, who does know it. I'm going back now to read some of your excerpts, See you soon, don't go away now!! coffee all night long!!

Oh yeah, baby!! I can tell this is going to be fun. I love the idea of a girl who sees a color no one else can see. This is some rich material! I'd like to talk more about this one. Here's a piece of what I am working on...

Illusion Challenges Logic

There was one big problem with Phin's love of the coffee bean. They spoke to him. Every touch of his fumbling hands brought their oils oozing into his smooth skin. As they slipped through his fingers they said, "Don't drop me. I am the fragile one." And he knew from this that he had to practice his own death.

By a command, of which he was sure, the beans had instructed him to fall. Fall through the grates of the parking ramp in the next block. The same ramp where he had investigated car highjackings as a self-proclaimed citizen on patrol. He had given himself the authority, and the obligation, to personally call out to kids, warn young teens on scooters and bicycles, "Follow turns slowly, and watch out for backup lights!" They rarely listened to him, in fact more than a few laughed in his face. Now he was back at the parking ramp for a different reason. How would he fit his enormous body through the grates, as the coffee beans directed? He would have to pry them open. And so he did, easily. With the same pry bar found at the scene of Dawny Swan's near-drowning, the long metal grate in the floor had just enough weakness in the middle to bend and let Phin in. For a moment, he worried that the kids on wheels would drop in behind him.

I hope you guys are coming back soon. OK, well, here is what I think about the color blind story. I like how the art teacher seems to view her work in an entirely different way. He reads a lot of meaning into it. More meaning is what the child is looking for, and yet she doesn't understand. I think it would be rich if you interjected a few responses from the child. To make it appear to the teacher that what he is saying is getting through to her. Otherwise, I think I loose the ability to believe he would keep on espousing his theories to the child. Maybe she only repeats some of what he is saying, for instance,....the box She says, "The box," and nods her head. Just by having her repeat some of what he is saying, he is encouraged to continue, and the reader can believe he would.

I'm going to be trying to keep things moving in here a bit since I would hate to see another thread like this one fall by the wayside.

It's nice to be able to come to a thread and bounce thoughts about writing around.

I'm sure it was accidental, but it's still funny. I just came in here to ask if I could join you (fresh off the threadpress), and you posted this... to keep things moving? Woops, am I slowing you down?

LMAO.

No. You aren't slowing us down.

I was referring to the fact that there had been a few days between posts in here until I posted the problem I was having. I was also responding to your " I hope you guys are coming back soon ".

Then you came in and things picked up again.

No Problem, I see you're doing your thumb-up exercises. Don't wear yourself out, now. Gotta keep those typing fingers in shape.
Did you check your mail? I wanted to ask you for the link to your writer's group. Is there more action there?

I haven't gotten any mail.

There isn't a whole lot of action over there, but we are working on it.

The Conversation Within

The Coffee Bean was calling me. Not the beans, but the cafe. The Coffee Bean. Later on, I sort of figured out, it may have been the actual beans after all. They talked to Phineas, why not me? All I knew, was I had to get out of the house, per doctor's orders. This may sound silly to most people, just downright weak. I'll try to explain it to you another way, so you'll see why I actually prayed for the strength. A sick mind like mine, is telling you there is a whopping big snow storm whirling around just outside the window. One you cannot see, but you can feel it. Almost like farmers and Indians can read the weather, days or even months in advance. Have you ever seen street people dressed for Alaska in the middle of a hot summer? They're not just carrying all of their belongings on their backs. Well, they are, but it's more than that. In their heads, an icy storm is brewing. In their backpacks or stolen grocery carts are the makings of a campfire, and weapons, like kitchen knives or turkey thermometers. There is a war going on inside, projected to the outside, a famine, a plague, an end of the world. We are quite certain of disaster, and not much else. If the weather doesn't get you, a human will. And it's not even for wanting to live. Most of us would gladly take death over this kind of existence. Fear is fear, a connection in the brain that says "Panic now!"

Been writing a novel for the last past three years. Haven't decided if I will try to have it published or just turn it into "National Novel Writing Month" and call it a day.

After having finished it (the hard work that detailed) I can't see myself going through the further hard work to have it published. My writing is more therapy and boredom killer than anything, but I must admit that making a few pennies off of it wouldn't be a tragedy.

I would strongly suggest that anyone who takes the time to write a book should do their best to see it published.

There's nothing like the feeling of getting that proof copy in your hands and thinking, "Hey, I did this!"

I think you have the makings of a great writer

You and Lex are really inspirational to me to move forward on completing my book!

Thank you guys

Thank you for starting this thread!!

Thank you!

Actually, within the context of the overall story, this is a very minor blip of an incident and is not central to the main plotline. The reason I posted it here was to provide a brief sample of what I do, and I liked this excerpt because -- well, let's be honest about it -- I wrote Mr. Chastain to be a sort of pompous know-it-all blowhard who spends his time talking condescendingly to his students even though he probably knows less about "art" than they do!

(And I'm not oblivious to the "problems with authority" that such a snippet may convey, but I will pretend to be, regardless.)

But the actual story is really about Lyndsey's discovery of the new color and the ramifications this has for the entire multi-book storyline.

Thank you so much.

For the compliment AND for the thread. Like I said, it's nice to have a thread where we can bounce things off each other, discuss problems, and just chat with other writers. Being able to lend a little inspiration never hurts either. LOL

I know there are a few people who have been more than helpful when I needed names for characters, or just needed someone to bounce an idea around.

As far as possibly being a great writer....I would be happy to just be a GOOD writer.