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Brunei Darussalam622 Posts
That pokemon thread was getting a ton of attention so I was going to start a blog on me doing a Nuzlocke run with pictures and shit, but then I did a search of 'pokemon' right off the main page and found about 39 matches in o.oo5 seconds.
Figured it was about time to do something different. I thought about the other things I like and the most appropriate for the internet was literature. Only 11 hits for the word 'literature' and only 1 for 'literary'.
Since most of my free time not spent on videogames, surfing, or playing sports is generally spent on smoking and having incredible literary flashes of genius(haha), it might be cool to write it all down and share it with everyone.
Also, I thought it might be neat to interview the writers from the TL staff and just see how much of a role their writing actually plays in their life. (If thats you reading this, send me a pm  )
I'll have other shit, too (hopefully). Music and pictures and whatnot.
If nothing else, it will be cool at least to document some ideas and stuff before I forget, haha. Alright, thats it. Hope you guys enjoy --
![[image loading]](http://i26.tinypic.com/bhg0n5.jpg)
  
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I look forward to reading your incredible literary flashes of genius, best not disappoint.
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_._
all good writers are dead
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Brunei Darussalam622 Posts
Sounds like an opportunity to shock the world, then, doesn't it?
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I'll be looking forward to good writing then! :D
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This looks like a good place to drop literary insight.
Contrary Motion is essential. Everything in the world cannot be going the same direction at once.
This manifests itself in a hundred different ways, but the easiest to apply are probably:
1) No unconditional victories - something is always wrong
2) No unconditional defeats - something is always right
3) As threads of plot conclude, new threads are born (life goes on)
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I always really was into this
Vonnegut listed eight rules for writing a short story:
1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
4. Every sentence must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action.
5. Start as close to the end as possible.
6. Be a Sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them—in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.
8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To hell with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.
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Brunei Darussalam622 Posts
On July 26 2010 04:32 Severedevil wrote:
This looks like a good place to drop literary insight.
Contrary Motion is essential. Everything in the world cannot be going the same direction at once.
This manifests itself in a hundred different ways, but the easiest to apply are probably:
1) No unconditional victories - something is always wrong
2) No unconditional defeats - something is always right
3) As threads of plot conclude, new threads are born (life goes on)
1) Something is always wrong is true. Part of what makes well developed characters so interesting is that they have the bad along with the good. Then, playing their dynamic personalities and histories against each other is what really drives situations in a story.
Though, its not enough to give your character a bad habit or a troubled background and consider him finished. You have to work it into the story, into his every action. Every time you have him doing something, remind yourself of his flaws and ask yourself how that would change things.
It's easy here to be cheesy, though. Unless that is what you are going for, be careful to not fall into cliches and stock characters/situations.
2) I don't know if I agree here. Defeats can be unconditional. Sometimes, all there is to losing is that you lost. A good thing to remember here is that for every loss, there usually is a win for someone or something else. Don't be afraid to explore the other side.
3) Couldn't agree more, here. Plus, the market today is set up for sequals If you are looking to turn whatever into a commercial success, always leave yourself an opening for a 'next chapter'. You don't always have to do the next chapter, but why limit yourself. You may want to explore the work later.
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Brunei Darussalam622 Posts
On July 26 2010 04:34 ella_guru wrote:
I always really was into this
Vonnegut listed eight rules for writing a short story:
1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
4. Every sentence must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action.
5. Start as close to the end as possible.
6. Be a Sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them—in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.
8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To hell with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.
1. Not quite sure what you mean here. A total stranger as in a character? Or like an actual stranger on the street? I agree with the not wasting time bit, though. Have to make sure every sentence has a purpose. This is what the revision process is for.
2. Doesn't always have to be a 'good guy' either. Or even a straight up bad guy. Most of the time, people connect more easily with someone who is struggling with something. If they are in the same struggle, then they naturally will root for the similar character to pull through.
3. A professor of mine whom I greatly look up to wisely said that you HAVE to have conflict to drive a story. If you give your characters these wants, eventually the wants are going to conflict and you get action.
4. Agreed. Once again, revision is essential for fine tuning your piece to do exactly what you want it to do. Don't feel pressured to get it perfect on the first try. It can hang you up during the important initial writing stages.
5. I guess this is just a stylistic pacing thing. I say that if you think you can get away with having a story start far from the end and not have it get boring, then go for it. Nowadays though people like quick injections of literature rather than an elaborately laid out 800 page engineering job.
6. Again with the conflict thing. If no one suffers (or inversely, if no one profits), you just don't have a story. You just have a retelling of events.
7. I like this, I think. A major part of writing that a person forgets is the audience. If you narrow your audience down to as small as possible, it creates a new sort of product that has been shaped according to the tight parameters of the smaller audience. Stylistically, linguistically, content. You may not find commercial success right away, but hopefully other people will eventually catch on and learn to enjoy the new product. In terms of having a little artistic direction before I write, I always ask myself, "Who is this really for?"
8. Bleh, don't agree here. Would y'all still have watched LOST and 24 if you always had all of the information? I'm not suggesting leaving readers totally in the dark (unless that is your purpose), but a little suspense never hurt anything. Just be sure to reveal things slow to keep 'em hooked, but not too slow that things get stuffy.
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Ignoring for the moment that LOST and 24 are shitty, they're not short stories. Short stories don't have time to piss away.
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Brunei Darussalam622 Posts
If you can do suspense like Poe, then would it still be a bad thing to have in a short story?
![[image loading]](http://1.imimg.com/data/S/B/MY-1463439/edgar_allan_poe_250x250.gif)
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EPT
