andrewducker | Interesting Links for 02-12-2011

Hanko Dobringer wrote (in 1389): People who are afraid of swords should stay away from swordfighting.

In the same way, people who need a digital kitten to motivate them to write, should probably stick to WoW. If it's not more fun than other activities, then it is honestly not worth it.

I think you might be taking it a bit more seriously than it was intended...

I agree though - writing is something you do because you love it, or because you have to do it for work. If you don't enjoy it then don't do it unless you have to!

And I think the kittens are designed for people who have to do it. If you need to write an X sized essay for work, or for university or for school, then the kittens can help.

And I note that Warren Ellis has been using, whilst not a kitten, a ticker for counting up his progress towards projected completion on his current novel. Of course, he's reached 100% (80,000 words) and not yet reached the end of the book, so he's carrying on.

my biggest block to writing is my conviction that I'm a terrible writer.

by contrast, people who've read my work have near universally loved it. Figure.

nothing would motivate me less than a digital cat. and I love cats
Gods I'm a miserable bugger

Just do it.

You might take a look at what's driving the conviction you're a terrible writer.

Possibly useful: 7 Secrets of the Prolific by Hillary Rettig (a book about writing while being happy and not wrecking your life) has a fair amount about the effects of traumatic rejection on writers, and how to get past it.

probably lack of consistency, or similar.

I can write a scene. I can make that scene very, very good, with convincing characters doing convincing things. Once that scene is done, I have *no idea* how to connect it to the next scene.

so what I end up with is a load of relatively well written shorts with nothing filling the space.

I thought a while ago that the ideal solution to this is to write a lot of connected short stories, but then what I write isn't short stories, it's just snapshots of something happening.

further to that, I have dirt-poor understanding of the technicalities of English. I still can't, e.g. tell you the difference between a noun and a verb. I also *absolutely don't care*.

Doing careful study of how other writers get from one scene to another might help.

Are your short scenes sometimes from what might be a single story, or are they completely separate?

That ability of yours to do convincing writing sounds really valuable.

The overwhelming majority of my writing is for a single project, a fictionalised history of Edinburgh. I have various snapshots ranging from c1600 to c1850, all seen via one family through generations of only-sons.

the fictional aspect is in assuming that the superstitions and supernatural beliefs were completely real, and genuinely happened.

this is where being able to write as though it's actually happening is fairly valuable. I'm assuming it's a direct effect of having spent my entire adult life in or around the city, and apparently knowing it better than the local historical society [who have made some truly bizarre errors and assumptions, such as getting the route of the Flodden Wall wrong]

to inject a little positivity, the thing I tend to be good at is making something convincing.
A location I write will look, sound, smell real. You'll probably picture it exactly as I intend. Conversations will feel right, as if it's something a few people really would say to each other
[dialogue in the vast majority of novels I've read is fucking dire. I read it and I think, dude, have you ever actually *listened* to a conversation? People just don't talk like that]

I just can't keep it going for more than a few hundred words.

Would you agree, then, that people who need/want money to motivate them to write should probably stick to something else?

not necessarily.

I know an awful lot of people who love doing stuff, but get to the point where it's just not feasible anymore.
In fact, I'm painfully close to dropping a lot of activity that's been a major thing in my life because I just can't afford to do it free.

there's a world of difference between not having ideas [and needing a digital cat for 'inspiration'] and just being beaten down by the need to eat.

unless I'm missing your point?

LOL.
Time is money. So most writers aren't motivated by money, but want the money in order to have the time to write.
For example, I have one (1) clear day a week for writing. I expect to be able to manage 1.5 novels a year once underway on the two series I have built. I am 43, so have a mere [don't want to think about it] writing years ahead of me. I have more tales to tell than time to write them - unless I can get a living wage out of my writing, then I can write more.

If somebody - because I feel that's where this question is leading - pirates a writer's work, then they are eating into that time. No matter how clever the argument about IP, that's what it comes down to.

Interesting Links for 02-12-2011

Writing Motivation

Re: Writing Motivation

Re: Writing Motivation

Re: Writing Motivation

Re: Writing Motivation

Re: Writing Motivation

Re: Writing Motivation

Re: Writing Motivation

Re: Writing Motivation

Re: Writing Motivation

Re: Writing Motivation

Re: Writing Motivation

Re: Writing Motivation