I want to start writing, I know of a few sites already that pay 'under the table' so to speak. However, these sites require that my writing gets viewed and it would help if ads were clicked as well.

I have no previous experience as a writer, though I can do it and can do it pretty well I lack popular terms (for search purposes) and credibility as far as some of the things are concerned. How do you write? Obviously as far as Lex goes he I'm sure has a publisher he goes through to dispense his writing to a larger audience, I will not share this same luxory. Matter of fact, as far as any luxory in writing, I really won't share any.

I need help, this is a dream so to speak and I do have a very underlying love for writing. Any assistance is still assistance, so if you have any advice I'm all ears here.

Why was this moved? Let alone to poetry? Really is a general type of post...

I have a couple thoughts on this

Mark Twain said the most important thing is the story telling. A terrible writer who can tell a good story will do better than a perfect writer who cant tell the story

Isaac Asimov said the science fiction was not about the scientific marvels, but about the effects of those marvels on the people

My English Perfessor in school said "you have to create tons of bullshiit to get a ounce of gold. so you may as well get to work on the bullshiit and get it out of the way"

I used to write a lot. took creative writing classes just for the fun of it and am really a pretty good if lazy writer

the hardest part of it is just the sitting down and doing it

what works for me is to just sit down and start typing thoughts. after a few pages those thoughts turn into ideas for scenes and conversations. and in keeping with my english perfessor's advice I can get three or four pages of workable stuff out of that and throw the rest in the trash

I've written for the site that I'm talking about and they are really keen on key words for searches, it doesn't pay a lot but I'm looking at it as more of a 'foot in the door' type of deal rather than a paycheck. They look for product reviews and stuff like that which kind of kills what if any creative juice I can run into the writing itself, but I was thinking of doing theatre review of some sort which would pay pretty good but at the same time theatres are rather limited anywhere you go.

I'll keep your recommendations in mind, and your professor was correct, you really do have to create a ton of ******** to get an ounce of gold in writing.

Why won't you share? I mean, isn't that what writing to a public audience is all about?

Before authorship, I was a technical editor for a publishing company. After editing a
couple of books, they asked if I was interested in writing (technical writing, that is),
so I responded, "sure". Chapter work led to co-authorship, which led to lead author.

The advantage I had starting as a technical editor is I got to learn the ropes in the
publishing world and it gave me a sort of "foot in the door" ... as a technical editor,
I had established a relationship for the publisher and had the connections.

also he said, on the difference between technical writing and creative writing,

"writers write. plumbers plumb. plumbers dont say 'I only do drains'. and real writers don't say I only do fiction (or poetry, or technical articles)"

so I would think any form of writing is gonna be good experience and practice. especially if you're getting paid for it

If I am a good fibber and story teller does that mean I am a fair writer Mr. Twain?

If you're willing to go through a "publish on demand" website, you won't have to have anyone prescreen your work. You send the files in (PDFs for the cover and the text), they send you a proof copy, if you like the proof, you give them the go-ahead and they add your title into their inventory.

Since they only print copies when someone orders them, there's no need for tremendous piles of books to sit in a warehouse somewhere.

It's also very affordable. There's the cost of a proof copy and that's about it.

The downside is that they do very little in terms of promoting/publicity. Some of the sites do offer optional (paid) services which are intended to enhance your visibility (i.e., sending preview copies to publications that do book reviews, etc.) -- but the fees vary, and there's no guarantee that it will do you any good.

Agreed. The last book I worked on (800+ pages), I broke up the
creative flow into two activities: 1, jotting down notes (outline form)
in one of those spiral-bound pocket notebooks, 2, transforming
those terse thoughts into sentences/paragraphs/chapters.

The most difficult part was the first paragraph of a chapter - that
could take anywhere from 10 minutes to 2 hours. Once that first
paragraph was finalized, the rest of the chapter flowed. For me,
that first paragraph is what sets the tone, direction, and so on.

BTW - the notes I wrote in the pocket notebook - those were
jotted down while sitting at the [Friday's] bar, after work,
sipping Long Island Ice teas :)

You have to attend physical meetings in your area - actual writing groups. This is the only way that you really network and that you can establish yourself. Start locally, and try to branch out from there.

Set a goal for every day or every month. Some people decide the goal to be five pages a day, no matter what. Others say that every month they will have one notebook filled. So if it's the last day of the month, and you're missing sixty pages, you have to write sixty pages that night.

Stick to your goals and work your *** off. You got it.

That was what I was thinking, the college out here has some writing groups. So I guess I'll head over there and check it out, and like you said 'network' myself out there and see if maybe somebody likes my style of writing...Hunter, here I come.

read some of Kinky Friedman's stuff

he is pretty gonzo too

I'll look into him, love my gonzo.

1. Think about what you want to write.

2. Think about who you want to write to.

3. Sit down and write it out.

4. Sit down and go over what you have written.

5. Sit down and go over what you have written again.

6. Decide if what you have written says what you want to say
to the people you want to say it to.

7. Repeat steps 4, 5, and 6.

8. Write letters of inquiry to publishers and agents.

9. Be prepared for rejection.

You have to go in with the realization that this is something of a long-term project. Very few of us are what you would call "overnight sensations."

I've been writing for years. I've done magazine stuff, website stuff, even comic strips. If it didn't make me a millionaire (it didn't), it was still all worth doing for the experience, for the learning.

I see it as something like exercising a muscle -- the more you use it, the stronger and better it gets. One of the reasons I've got 24,000 posts in these forums is because it helps me work on things like sentence structure and word choices.

So I try never to lose sight of the idea that writing is writing is writing, and if I don't work on my next book today, I can still write something.

Just for the hell of it, I recently wrote an on-line product review of a hard drive enclosure I bought from Amazon, and another review of a collectibles store.

But I'm still a long way from where I want to be as a writer. I'm working on that.

So my point is -- DON'T STOP!

That is what "THS: It Ain't Easy Being Green" is for...always staying with it and keeping it afloat, amazingly it has done real well on staying on topic. Little side project I guess you could call it.

Terry walked out on to the faded wood porch of the old run down gas station. March was a shiitty time to be trying to ride across West Texas. The wind still had an arctic bite as it blew dust and tumble weeds down the empty old main street.

He slugged down the last bit of Coke and spit out the peanuts. It was a kind of a homage to his childhood to pour a package of peanuts into the Coke bottle he had just bought. Remembering a time when he and his younger brother rode in the back of the old Oldsmobile on family road trips and eating peanuts out of Coke bottles. But his memory had failed him. Peanuts in Coke tasted like shiit so he just spit them out. He pitched the empty bottle into a trash barrel and stepped off the porch.

Straddling his motorcycle, Terry adjusted the doo rag on his head against the wind and put on his sunglasses. He zipped his jacket tight against his throat to keep out the wind. He sighed and started the bike, he had a long ride to get to Las Vegas and find La Bamba. And his back was already acheing. He pulled the yellow bandana up over his face for some protection against the chill and used his feet to push the bike backwards until he had room to pull out of the parking lot.

Pulling out of the gas station on to the highway he wondered if Jess had found his note yet. She was going to pissed when she realized he was gone again.

But at least he always came back to her. Sooner or later

He roared down mainstreet on the Harley towards the interstate. With any luck if he road through the night he could be in Vegas by morning.

And then a visit with La Bamba. In and out. Fast and hard. The old son of a biitch wouldn't know what hit him.






writing is fun

I just made that up on the spot


my problem is in finishing. I get a good story with good characters and a developing plot with great conflicts and then leave em hanging and never finish

poor Terry is gonna be on the highway to Vegas forever freezing his azz off muahahahahahaha

Great thread.

Vegas in the morning. La Bamba hated it. Vegas was like a woman. At night, under the lights, glittering and glamorous. In the day, in the sunlight Vegas was a harridan with too much makeup, crumbling and phoney.

La Bamba rode in the back of the black limo with two of his crew, Paulie and Gordy. Paulie sat across from him. Long hair, perfectly coiffed, Paulie always had a smile. Like he knew a secret no one else knew. Even when he killed Paulie smiled. Gordy, short and wide, was the oppposite. Always serious. Gordy never joked or cut up like the others. La Bamba depended on them. Paulie and Gordy had always had his back from the beginning. The two had been with him in the old days, running mota and mojados across the border.

The black limo pulled in at the casino and La Bamba and his boys got out. Paulie and Gordy surveying the morning crowd. Eyes glittering and constantly scanning the tourists for threats. Sunburned retirees in shorts and sandals reflected in a dozen mirrored and polished surfaces.

La Bamba hated Vegas in the daytime

He felt rather than saw Gordie tense and straighten. Something had gotten his attention. La Bamba turned to look and saw a biker riding up through the buses and limos to the front of the casino. He was dressed all in black leather, chaps and jacket with a yellow bandana covering his face.

Something about him was familiar but La Bamba couldn't place it.

The biker pulled up to a stop just behind La Bamba's limo. Balancing the big Harley, he pulled the bandana down to his throat and La Bamba recognized him. Too late. The big man was already pulling a sawed off shotgun from his saddle bags.

Gordy reached for the 9mm concealed behind his back but was too slow. The 12 gauge pellets shattered his face and spattered blood and gore all over the limo. Paulie never even had time to reach for his gun as the biker shot him in the stomach, almost cutting him in half.

Suddenly the casino driveway was awash in blood and chaos. Stunned valets cowering and panicked tourist screaming.

La Bamba tried to run for it. Pushing tourists out of his way he scrambled to the street. The biker behind him calmly popped open the shotgun, ejected the spent shells and shoved two fresh rounds in the 12 gauge. He twisted the throttle and roared back out onto the street after him. La Bamba tried to duck around a taxi sitting at the curb but was too late.

The last thing La Bamba saw was Terry staring him down over the twin barrels of the shotgun.