The Rules: I Will (writing thread)

[BlackShanglan]

Superb rules. Some I was doing already but I didn't know why. Another rule is why an entire play of mine doesn't work, but I couldn't figure out why. Here are some things I have in my head. I'm going to try to give them names for the fun of it.

1) Librarian Rule ....

I loved your rules both in names and in substance! So glad that they helped with your play. That rule from Sexton about characters having physical needs that could be physically shown to have been achieved was the scales falling from the eyes for me - damnit! No one in this bloody play knows what they hell they want in life, other than to pose around poingantly being themselves.

Heads will roll on the next revision.

Shanglan

 

[minsue]

Heads will roll on the next revision.

Ooh, I like the stern Shanglan.

 

[BlackShanglan]

Ooh, I like the stern Shanglan.

*arches eyebrow* *grins*

You have no idea.

 

[arienette]

Now, see, I've got a whole other point of view on this....

I will hate and despise bad and sloppy writers, especially those that are published and who SO don't deserve it!

I will assume that I'm right and everyone else is wrong. Except when they're right and I know it, even if I don't want to admit it.

I will be miserably unhappy when I'm not writing even though I know that my brain needs rest periods to refuel. Yes, that's the way it is, but damn it! I want to be writing!

Addendum to the first rule: I will really hate and despise any readers who are making a bad and sloppy writer who-doesn't-deserve-to-be-in-print popular. It's cliché dreck with cardboard characters and nonsensical plot lines! What's the matter with you people?

Hey. I know what I'm good at

I like you. Be my friend.

 

[oggbashan]

I will experiment with my writing and let the results sink or swim.

I will try to confound readers' expectations of what Og writes.

I will complete at least one currently incomplete set of stories each year.

I will enter every themed Lit contest even when I'm not eligible.

I will start writing competition entries before the first due date for submissions.

I will edit the errors in one of my posted works each year (I wanted to say 'each month' but that might compromise other targets).

I will enjoy writing for its own sake.

Og

PS. I will try to live up to these expectations even if RL interferes.

 

[oggbashan]

Added

I will include the occasional sheep in my stories.

I will sometimes mention a garderobe.

I will sometimes include Kookaburras. Drunk Kookaburras are optional.

Og

 

[Honey123]

I can't seem to write anymore...(and I use the word "write" loosely) ... and now thinking about "rules" to follow...I'm not good at following rules.

 

[oggbashan]

Stimulus

This thread has prompted me to submit another story today.

It has been a work in progress for three years as a sequel to 'Harold plays the Hero'.

'Harold Saves Her Husband (Part 1)' is just over 4 Lit pages and about 14,500 words.

Part 2, outlined but not written yet, will probably be as long.

Makes a change from 50-word stories. All three will be in 'Novels and Novellas'. Where else?

Og

 

[Guest]

*arches eyebrow* *grins*

You have no idea.

But many of us have INCREDIBLE imaginations

 

[BlackShanglan]

This thread has prompted me to submit another story today.

My work here is done.

 

[BlackShanglan]

But many of us have INCREDIBLE imaginations

There are more things on heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.

 

[CharleyH]

I will is a bit more extensive than I won't, but here it goes:

- I will never be beyond contradiction (a top priority) EDIT TO ADD, neither will my characters - I hope).

- I will always listen to editors and apply my own theories.

- I will always look at the world around me to make my stories better

- I will always (in the context of erotica) write what turns me on first.

- I will always try to be open in reading and writing.

- I will NEVER offer my opinion on grammar, unless it's a glaring faux pas that I cannot get passed.

That's it - I am pretty simple.

 

[Guest]

There are more things on heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.

Oh, I do So hope!


Should I really be thinking of genderless quadrapeds the way I am right now? I mean, PETA isn't going to start picketing my house, will they?

 

[BlackShanglan]

Oh, I do So hope!


Should I really be thinking of genderless quadrapeds the way I am right now? I mean, PETA isn't going to start picketing my house, will they?

I've always suspected them of loving animals in a less than conventional fashion. And please do continue to think of genderless quadrupeds in precisely that fashion ... at length ... in luscious prose ...

 

[FallingToFly]

I've always suspected them of loving animals in a less than conventional fashion. And please do continue to think of genderless quadrupeds in precisely that fashion ... at length ... in luscious prose ...

ewwwwww.. *goes squish*

 

[CharleyH]

I've always suspected them of loving animals in a less than conventional fashion. And please do continue to think of genderless quadrupeds in precisely that fashion ... at length ... in luscious prose ...

Speaking of which, and totally off track, I heard animals have a gender, and I also heard that girls who ride horses as children become Dommes. LOL It is what I heard, though! :| The bitchy pony players!

 

[Guest]

 

[Pure]

charleyH

CH - I will NEVER offer my opinion on grammar, unless it's a glaring faux pas that I cannot get passed.

for such would be a waist of time.

 

[M-Y-Erotica]

I loved your rules both in names and in substance! So glad that they helped with your play. That rule from Sexton about characters having physical needs that could be physically shown to have been achieved was the scales falling from the eyes for me - damnit! No one in this bloody play knows what they hell they want in life, other than to pose around poingantly being themselves.

Heads will roll on the next revision.

Shanglan

Did you read my play? This is exactly my problem. I created a heroine with some general angsty problem and then gave her two friends to talk to. They wander around, sometimes cracking jokes, sometimes dancing, sometimes flirting with guys, and sometimes crying on the bathroom floor. What does it all amount to? It pretty much amounts to crap, because I gave the protagonist nothing specific to desire and therefore I had no way of satisfying or frustrating that desire. The result is a collection of scenes of varying quality that have no purpose; i.e., there is no story. I will go back and try again one day - write after I finish this other story and that one and the last one I had in mind too. As long as I don't get distracted of course.

 

[FallingToFly]

I will, unconditionally, offer my support to new authors where and when I find them. If they ask for help I can give, I will. If I have a co-author on a story, I will do my utmost to find a happy medium between our writing styles, or admit that I cannot work with them without harsh feelings or rancor.

I will value the input of people who don't love me more than I will those who do.

 

[BlackShanglan]

If a genderless quadruped ever called my prose luscious, I would not not need AA batteries for quite a while.

I will read and comment something from Jammies in the next week.

 

[BlackShanglan]

I will recall the lesson I am learning at the moment: that chapter structure is built from within, not imposed from without on scenes already written. If the work will be long, I must learn to think in chapters. They must hook at the beginning and come to finish, like little sub-stories. And I must think about their length as well.