SusanJillParker, writer and author will answer your creative writing questions.

[JackLuis]

I am plotting a story that takes place in ~2350BC, in order to make use of Akkadian theology. They had some very randy Goddesses. The story is about The King, when he asks the Gods to help him counter the Assyrian aggression on his northern border. A demi-goddes shows up and helps him but in exchange for her help sets him a task, to satisfy each and every one of his concubines in 10 days. He has 30 concubines, 21 Nymphs and 4-500 female harem workers.

My problem is that most of the vocabulary we use as English speakers is based upon Greek and Latin, which hadn't really developed in 2350 BC. Now the vocabulary of the Akkadians is only partially recovered and explaining it to the reader will take an enormous amount of time, words and disrupt the flow of the story.

I had thought that in the forward I'd explain that problem and say that I would use modern vocabulary except where Akkadian was needed to explain the concepts discussed. Then I thought, "What the Hell with fucking Gods and Goddesses, Witches and Warlocks, why should I worry about the small shit?"

Am I over thinking this?

 

[SusanJillParker]

I am plotting a story that takes place in ~2350BC, in order to make use of Akkadian theology. They had some very randy Goddesses. The story is about The King, when he asks the Gods to help him counter the Assyrian aggression on his northern border. A demi-goddes shows up and helps him but in exchange for her help sets him a task, to satisfy each and every one of his concubines in 10 days. He has 30 concubines, 21 Nymphs and 4-500 female harem workers.

My problem is that most of the vocabulary we use as English speakers is based upon Greek and Latin, which hadn't really developed in 2350 BC. Now the vocabulary of the Akkadians is only partially recovered and explaining it to the reader will take an enormous amount of time, words and disrupt the flow of the story.

I had thought that in the forward I'd explain that problem and say that I would use modern vocabulary except where Akkadian was needed to explain the concepts discussed. Then I thought, "What the Hell with fucking Gods and Goddesses, Witches and Warlocks, why should I worry about the small shit?"

Am I over thinking this?

Before I started writing, I read a lot. When I was in college, I read so very much, 2 to 3 books a day, and I didn't write a damn thing, unless it was an English paper.

Yet, once I started writing, I stopped reading. The weird thing is reading stops my writing and vice versa. My point is this, what I hated reading was when the writer wrote with an accent, such as a Scottish accent or used and archaic language. Every time I started getting me in the story, it knocked me out of the story.

I wrote a story for a gentlemen from Switzerland. The story was set in Munich, Germany in the early 1900's. My story, posted on Literotica, was called, Born Beautiful, Rachel's Story.

The story was about the sexual, physical, and emotional abuse that a mother and daughter suffered and endured under the hands of a drunken father and incestuous son.

I struggled about the story not being in Germany. Yet, being that I don't speak Germany I left it up to the readers to make the leap of faith and understand why everyone was speaking English (lol).

I had the same problem with a story that I wrote for a woman from Dubai. She is a 40-something mother who is sexually attracted to her 20-something-year-old son. Being that the authorities don't subscribe to incest and being that she was a transplanted American executive in a large oil company, she stood much to lose if anyone discover that she wanted to have incestuous sex with her son.

So...we discussed this at great length and came up with the solution to set the story in 15th century England, the period of the Tutors. After extensive research, I wrote Queen & Prince Together Forever. Six chapters are posted on Literotica. She did not want me to post the other chapters that have explicit, graphic mother and son sex on Literotica.

My point is, allowing the reader to make the leap, I didn't write in the language of the period. I just wrote in the language of today, which is what I think that you should do.

Listen, we're not writing for the New Yorker magazine and this site is not the Harvard Review. You are free to write whatever you want and whenever you want to write it. What joy?

Good luck with your story.

By the way, before writing for Literotica, I used to read your stories when I was writing on Igor's My Story Board on VoyeurWeb under FictionWriterBoston back in 2005.

 

[SusanJillParker]

I just had an interesting question. Someone asked me how to develop characters.

I could write a book. There's no simple answer.

Characters are developed by naming them, describing them, giving them reason to be in the story and/or a purpose. They could have a nickname, a tattoo, a scar, a birthmark, a limp, an affliction, a health concern. They could be angry, sad, happy, or depressed. They could be rich or poor. We can get a sense of them by the clothes they wear and the car they drive.

Showing the reader their personality is a way to develop them and identify them. Their diction is another way to develop their character. Giving them a back story too.

As a writer, it's up to us to make the reader see what we see. If we don't show the reader what we see, they not only won't bond with our character but also they won't be interested in reading the rest of our story.


The best way to develop a character is to get in her or his head. You need to see things through his or her eyes. He or she will have unique dialogue so that even if you don't tag who's talking the reader will know.

The worse thing you can do is to jar the reader out of your story by giving your character a line or an action that doesn't fit in with the character that you've created.

For you to have a believable story, you need to write about real people. Just because it's fiction, doesn't mean that it's not real.

One of the best courses I ever took was Creative Autobiography. Oxymoronic in definition, how can you write a biography that's creative? Well, keep to the facts but embellish them to make the biography more interesting aka Forrest Gump.

I know I've developed my characters when I can not only see them as if they are there before me but also can hear them as well.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Whatthe hell is that in your AV?

My dog troll.

 

[HectorBidon]

What I'm staring at is pages of different ideas, many notepad files of characters having different conversations that play out in different ways, comparing alternate versions of the same situation and trying to decide which one fits with what other piece the best, what helps flow into another thing.. this is where I get caught up.

I spend 4 or 5% of my "writing" time actually writing, and the rest is all me trying to piece it all together into a coherent story. My 'cut content' folder of scrapped dialogue and situations is already several times larger the totality of my finished chapters.

Sometimes I find myself in Susan's realm where I'm able to conjure text just by opening myself up to my inner voices. But mostly I'm like you, scratching out, rephrasing, cutting and pasting, re-editing, polishing, crumpling and tossing, taking another stab. (Hemingway's dictum, from another thread: write drunk, edit sober.)

When I was in grade school, I had a friend who was pretty good at drawing. He would start with a blank piece of paper and just lay down these perfect strokes, as if he was inking in a picture he saw in his mind's eye. I could never do that. I would have a vague idea of what I wanted, and I would sketch and erase and assess and re-assess and re-erase and re-sketch and occasionally end up with something half presentable.

The point is, I guess there are people who, like Susan, are natural raconteurs, natural oracles of some pre-existing vitality---in a word, creative artists. And there are people who sort of recognize vitality when they see it and try to hack away at what they come up with to fashion something that sort of rings true.

If you are a hack-and-erase type of artist, my advice is still to try to follow Susan's lessons. Listen to your characters rather than your own cleverness. Don't be afraid to throw away the paragraph you wrote yesterday if it no longer rings true today. Keep in mind that you are trying to convey something beyond yourself. Remember that nobody is particularly interested in what you have to say, unless what you have to say somehow resonates with the way the world actually works.

 

[SusanJillParker]

Sometimes I find myself in Susan's realm where I'm able to conjure text just by opening myself up to my inner voices. But mostly I'm like you, scratching out, rephrasing, cutting and pasting, re-editing, polishing, crumpling and tossing, taking another stab. (Hemingway's dictum, from another thread: write drunk, edit sober.)

When I was in grade school, I had a friend who was pretty good at drawing. He would start with a blank piece of paper and just lay down these perfect strokes, as if he was inking in a picture he saw in his mind's eye. I could never do that. I would have a vague idea of what I wanted, and I would sketch and erase and assess and re-assess and re-erase and re-sketch and occasionally end up with something half presentable.

The point is, I guess there are people who, like Susan, are natural raconteurs, natural oracles of some pre-existing vitality---in a word, creative artists. And there are people who sort of recognize vitality when they see it and try to hack away at what they come up with to fashion something that sort of rings true.

If you are a hack-and-erase type of artist, my advice is still to try to follow Susan's lessons. Listen to your characters rather than your own cleverness. Don't be afraid to throw away the paragraph you wrote yesterday if it no longer rings true today. Keep in mind that you are trying to convey something beyond yourself. Remember that nobody is particularly interested in what you have to say, unless what you have to say somehow resonates with the way the world actually works.

Thank you for this.

Having never been with other writers while they go through the process since my days of attending writers' workshops, I never saw the other side.

When I first started writing, I'd sit there wondering what to write and most times not writing anything. Then, as if magical, a window of inspiration and what I wrote in that 5 minute period was the best paragraphs that I had ever written. Then, as if pulling the shade across my mind, the window of inspiration closed.

Eventually, with writing every day as a discipline, I was able to keep that window open longer. Now, I can leave the window wide open for hours, especially in the early mornings.

Most times, before I write, I can see the whole story from the beginning to the end. Most times, I know the names and descriptions of characters, even chapter titles As if it comes to me like a fast forward movie, sometimes I can't type fast enough.

Then, when I have written what I remember, I go over and over it blowing up each paragraph with more imagery, description, character development, dialogue, tension, and plot.

When first writing it, the story is black and white until I go back and add the color and fill in the lines. Sadly, I've forgotten more stories than I've written. I just don't have the time.

I write every day, 7 days a week from 4:30 am until 11:30 am. I can't go a day without writing. Writing makes me happy. Then, after writing, when I go for a walk or a bike ride, I bring all of my new characters with me while thinking of new lines. I write because I must. Writing is my therapy but forsaking everything else to write, writing is my torture.

 

[Saxon_Hart]

My dog troll.

Is that what happens when Gizmo does shrooms after midnight?

 

[SusanJillParker]

Thank you so very much for moving my thread back up to the top of the board. You are very kind.

 

[SusanJillParker]

I started this thread in good faith. I thought this thread was a great idea. I'm surprised by how so very few questions were even asked of me, one of the most prolific authors on the site, about creative writing.

Before I enrolled in college for English with English Literature and Creative Writing minors, I had lots of questions. The only way I could find answers to my questions was to read books. I book every book I could find on creative writing that had to do with plot, dialogue, tension, description, imagery, backstory, et al.

I had no one to answer my questions. Now, here I am availing myself to answer questions about creative writing that new writers and experienced writers may have but no one seizes the opportunity to gain more knowledge.

I used to think getting my degree in English would make me a better writer. It didn't. Other than term papers, I didn't write a damn thing in college. I was too busy reading 2 to 3 books a day just to keep up with my full-time course load.

What I learned was that no one can teach you how to write. Professors can teach the mechanics of writing but either you can write or you can't. A life long apprenticeship, it takes hard work and dedication to become a writer. I figure in 40 years, when I'm 83, I'll be a wicked good writer.

If anyone has any questions on creative writing, I'm here to help. If not, this thread will drop with the others.

 

[SusanJillParker]

Questions? Does anyone have any questions relating to creative writing?

Maybe you need help writing a story or developing your characters. I'm here to answer your questions.

PM me if you prefer and would rather ask me your question in private.