Hello all! It's been a while, and as you all know, life gets in the way of things...including this class, unfortunately. All of the books I was using in this class were destroyed when my shed flooded a few years ago. I have been trying to collect them all again in order to resume class. Do I still have participants in this class? And what do you want to learn? I'm going to try something new that can be ongoing for the creative artists
How to tie a knot in a maraschino cherry stem with my tongue. Or at least, describe it in a colorful manner.
Hohoho! There are lot of things, where you could help me. For the beginners, how I do not write myself to the level where I have to use deus ex machina?
Well I'm not the teacher here, but what I'd do is quit working on something if its plot/purpose/argument/characters are not strong enough to carry it through. If working on fiction, I'd write out several versions of the plot structure, and I would "live with" the characters for as long as possible in order to make them strong enough in your mind. Think through tiny details about them, imagine the kinds of things they'd say and do, make sure they are entirely necessary. Make sure you know what your peice of writing is achieving, write out a little maifesto for its purpose so you don't get lost too much. And don't worry too much about making something fantastic. Make it for you and edit later so that self-consciousness doesn't make you lean towards sensationalism or triteness.
Malia, do you have any good tips to get out of perfectionism? Sometimes it cripples me to the point where I'll be stuck on a paragraph for a whole day.
I don't really get how the classes on HF work, but I'm interested. I would just like to see some writing exercises or prompts. Sometimes prompts can actually turn into a great story.
I definitely have lists of prompts I can use. As for perfectionism, Fingermouse, I have the same problem. What I do is time myself...I'll do a minimum of 20 min at a time and just write without looking then go back and edit later. Timing yourself is the key if you don't want to keep returning to every sentence after you write it and editing it over and over. And Interactivemonodrama, Fingermouse is right...they say in most creative writing classes I've been in that you need to know everything about a character/plot structure before developing them into your writing. Make sure you know everything from the character's goals to their favorite color-even if neither are mentioned in the story. When writing to the plot structure you've created, remember to jazz it up a bit but never stray too far off of the goal you have in mind. A lot of great stories with terrific plots can be ruined by a simple change of pace in the plot structure. You want your writing to be fluid to the plot line so there are no areas that would make a reader go "hey, something is off here." I'm going to start a prompts thread tomorrow. I also plan on using a few more lessons from the original syllabus I created. If anyone would like to learn something different, just let me know! I'm always open to new lessons and would like to keep this class as an ongoing thing.
i would be interested in this too lovelyxmalia, on a beginner level. i'd like to learn whatever it is you think is appropriate information for a beginner
Thanks for the reply! I want to write a story, which was inside of my head for like two years...but I have always changed something about it, so I could not finish. But it seems that you are much more experienced in this topic than me, so my question is, could you help me, or would you like to help me? The main reason why I joined to this forum, was because I want to learn from the others as much as I can.
Thanks for the reply!Your knowledge is the only solution, for the mess I made for myself in the latest years. If I succeed with this, even if it is not for the money, but through this work I could finally understand who I am. Would you like to help me too?I need advices like yours!
I'd love to help you! I think between posting in this class and in the writer's forum/group, you will get a lot of really good feedback.
Most of the lessons on this forum are great for beginners when it comes to writing and discovering the "self." I'm restructuring the class now in order to make it more user friendly and easier to navigate.
I would like to write a 2 act play. I don't know how to gather thoughts to condense them into act 1 about 1 hour and act 2 about 45-1hour. I have the story line from an Irish book. A story that happened during prohibition. Irish immigrants forced into bootlegging. The story would revolve around a little girl in act 1 and the end of her life in act 2. It would be a travesty/tragedy play. Hope that is enough info. I have looked at the internet and I can't seem to get going. Maybe writers block? thank you
I have became a writer two years ago. I'm write completely right. But it will be useful for me to learn some things in writing, dunno...
