The Writers Hotline

[carsonshepherd]

there needs to be a writer's crisis hotline for when you're reading through your latest story and it suddenly all seems like complete and total shit.

My writing style is bullshit. The story is okay and the characters are fine. It isn't them; it's me. I suck.

But let's face it, I'm in too deep to quit now.




from the blurt thread...my random frustration/whine for the morning

 

[Guest]

ok, i volunteer to be the ring leader of the hotline...
976HOTBABE
ok, fine its a trick to make you pay 5.99 a second but itll be worth it
something like a suicide hotline that puts you on hold

 

[carsonshepherd]

It's 3rd person point of view that's doing it to me. I'm so used to 1st person - it's so much easier to get close to the narrator's thoughts and emotions. 3rd person seems so formal

*whimper*

 

[Guest]

It's 3rd person point of view that's doing it to me. I'm so used to 1st person - it's so much easier to get close to the narrator's thoughts and emotions. 3rd person seems so formal

*whimper*

ah babe, if anyone can do it, you can.
stick to it.. write it in first person and then transpose when youre done. just an idear..

 

[dr_mabeuse]

I don't know about a hotline, but if you think of writing as a journey, you're in the part known as the Valley of the Shadow of Death. I think most writers pass through it at some time, and I seem to be such a regular these days that I've taken a room at the I Suck Desert Motel

The parking lot is filled broken down plots, most of them ubelievably old, and the coffee shop is crowded with cardboard characters or people who all look the same.

There's a pool of despair you can swim in, and if you're up for a little entertainment, at night you can go to the Futility Lounge and hear people read passages of really good literature while you sit around and cry into your beer

There's only way one way out, though, and that's through the other side. You can't really go back. You just kind of have to hold your nose and just keep going.

Sometimes, though, if you show what you've got to someone else, they can tow you out far enough for you to get started again. A little feedback can do wonders.

 

[carsonshepherd]

yeah, the whole first draft is on my Live Journal and I;'ve got a few devoted readers who've stuck with it from the beginning. I'm trying not to revise much as I go - like you said, just holding my nose and getting through it. I'd hang out at the Futility Lounge every night if I don't just push on.

I just went through the last 2 chpaters and took out every "suddenly" and "quickly" I could find.

 

[BlackShanglan]

Dear one. If it sucked, you know that I would say it sucked. I'm loving it, and I especially want to point out that you're actually handling the third person beautifully. Bran is an intensely likeable character; I was sucked in from the first page.

Here, for what it's worth, is my thought - derived from my own experience. If you typically write in the first person, it is hard to make that change to third person. However, the difficulty is not all about execution. It's also about expectation. When one writes in first person, one of the great advantages is the very intimate sense of the speaking character. It's necessary to realize that third person does have limitations. It's harder to get that intimate sense of self; in fact, I would say that it's really never going to give you the depth, in a single character, that you could get in first person.

We used third person for different reasons. It's not "first person with NEW added extra characters!" Rather, it's a POV that makes some trade-offs. You lose the intense single-person characterization of first person, but you gain breadth and scope. You may not get every quirk and darting thought of a single lead, but you learn a fair bit about everyone. It's a different balance of focus.

I mention this because when I tried writing some third person work, at first it frustrated me because the characters didn't seem to have the depth I wanted. I gradually realized that the POV I'd chosen had a lot to do with it, and that my expectations needed to be in line with the POV. Certainly, they should be rich and well-rounded characters. But I needed to accept that the intense sense of voice that comes through in first person isn't always part of third person, and that I needed to examine what other benefits third person gave and use those to my advantage. So - to use an example with which Carson is familiar - while Sebastian's voice never comes through with quite the dominance and power that Pope's does, the trade-off is the scene where Sebastian is lying to Basil and Basil is secretly pitying him for being so obvious. Neither gets the complete dominance of voice that he'd get in first person, but there's something gained in hearing from both of them. I think your piece is coming along very nicely in that sense. The characters are seperate, interesting, exciting people with their own voices, and I think you're handling 3rd person quite neatly.

Shanglan

 

[carsonshepherd]

*sniff* Thank god you like it. I'll shoot you chapter 6 today, and hopefully by this afternoon I'll be finished drafting chapter7 - I've only got one scene left to write but it promises to be a tough one.

 

[Celtic Princess]

I you, Shang. You used technical logic and stuff.



I think you're doing a brilliant job, even if you don't. I wouldn't lie to you. When you write something that isn't quite right, I tell you. And remember, it doesn't do you ANY good to edit right now. Even to pick out the "quickly"s and "suddenly"s because then you start looking for more stuff. Make a note of what bugs you, and move on.

You've got more important things to focus on, like Sidwell.


*loves you*

 

[Samandiriel]

there needs to be a writer's crisis hotline for when you're reading through your latest story and it suddenly all seems like complete and total shit.

My writing style is bullshit. The story is okay and the characters are fine. It isn't them; it's me. I suck.

But let's face it, I'm in too deep to quit now.




from the blurt thread...my random frustration/whine for the morning

grabbing you by the shoulders , shaking you for a moment and slapping you across the face...

SNAP OUTTA IT!!!

I've done all I can.

 

[carsonshepherd]

thanks. Once in awhile I need that.

You're hired, but I warn you, the boss is an asshole.

 

[Samandiriel]

thanks. Once in awhile I need that.

You're hired, but I warn you, the boss is an asshole.

You are very welcome.

I'm expensive but worth it .

All bosses are assholes...it the nature of the beast.

 

[carsonshepherd]

I guess I forgot to mention the pay sucks, too.

 

[Samandiriel]

I guess I forgot to mention the pay sucks, too.

Oh what the heck, if I get to slap you around and verbally abuse you, I'll take it.

 

[LadyJeanne]

Oh what the heck, if I get to slap you around and verbally abuse you, I'll take it.

You're easy. I demand free coffee too.

 

[Guest]

*Wanders in...*



*Smacks Carson about*


BIFF!
*!*!*
BASH!
!*!*!
BOSH!
*!*!*
SMACK!
!*!*!
SLAP!



*Wanders out again...*

 

[carsonshepherd]

okay, you're all just enjoying this way too much...

 

[Samandiriel]

You're easy. I demand free coffee too.

I'm not a tyrant.

 

[Guest]

okay, you're all just enjoying this way too much...

Damn right!

 

[Samandiriel]

Damn right!

Slag.

 

[carsonshepherd]

Slag.

*makes mental note to start using that word*

 

[Guest]

Slag.

TWAT!

 

[Samandiriel]

TWAT!

Wankers dream

 

[rgraham666]

Wankers dream

She is indeed.

You ain't arf bad yerself.

I haven't, yet, thought my writing sucks. But I am a lazy sod.

 

[minsue]

I don't know about a hotline, but if you think of writing as a journey, you're in the part known as the Valley of the Shadow of Death. I think most writers pass through it at some time, and I seem to be such a regular these days that I've taken a room at the I Suck Desert Motel

The parking lot is filled broken down plots, most of them ubelievably old, and the coffee shop is crowded with cardboard characters or people who all look the same.

There's a pool of despair you can swim in, and if you're up for a little entertainment, at night you can go to the Futility Lounge and hear people read passages of really good literature while you sit around and cry into your beer

There's only way one way out, though, and that's through the other side. You can't really go back. You just kind of have to hold your nose and just keep going.

Sometimes, though, if you show what you've got to someone else, they can tow you out far enough for you to get started again. A little feedback can do wonders.

I think I love you.