Typing Monkeys! (writing accountability thread)
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- yeah, I definitely don't regret going to the write-ins in my area. An hours drive is a bit much though. If you can get out to them, I definitely recommend going, even if your socially awkward and shy... a lot of the other writers will be too! And if all else fails, you can hide in corner and ignore everyone saying you need to write, and none of them can fault you for it! This year will be hard for me though because I'll be living more or less in the middle of nowhere, and the closest write-ins will probably be a 2 hour drive away.
- yes, yes you should. :P I've been a bad monkey too, and I don't even have an excuse!
I collect these:
Who doesn&;t want a piece of our bad zombie selves?
Well, maybe the master of my college should tell you off, too?!
- Probably! I deserve it! I've been a terrible monkey!
I collect these:
Who doesn&;t want a piece of our bad zombie selves?
He said he has a whip in his office! I'm pretty sure he was joking though...
- What kind of school do you go to again? lol.
I collect these:
Who doesn&;t want a piece of our bad zombie selves?
Haha, university of kent in england :p
- it was a rhetorical question, but hey, now I can stalk you.... from across the atlantic lol.
Monkey has a writting related dilemma and needs help...
... So my friend sent me her 'novella' she calls it, and it's an adult book. She wants me to do an honest critique on it even though the only thing I really have to compare it to is fanfic (yeah, get the asexual to critique your porn), but the real problem I've having is that the main character seems Mary-Sue, in the original sense of the term, so not all glittery eyes, but a self insert who is very much a kin to the author, and while reading this, I can't help but imagining my friend doing it! It's really awkward and distracting. I dunno if I can keep reading. Should I try to keep reading and give me friend some feedback, or just tell her that it's just too damn awkward for me to read?
I collect these:
Who doesn&;t want a piece of our bad zombie selves?
- Oh gosh. That sounds incredibly awkward.
MONKEY ASSISTANCE
As far as I understand, that's how erotic writing is supposed to work--you're supposed to "be" the character. If you see your friend when you're reading, I guess that means she did it right? If I were in your situation, I'd be honest and tell your friend that it's too awkward to edit the writing. I don't know if the focus of the story is supposed to be the adult content, but if it's not, you could just skip the sexual scenes and keep editing afterward. If it is, there's really not much you can do to help without being uncomfortable.
General update, I've deleted all the bad writing I had and am working on a story board, which I should have done in the first place. Apparently all the ideas I had for this story make no sense when strung together so I'm trying to... simplify.
I should look into my new area then. I would always read how fun they were on my region board and wish I would have gone. Like you said, if it gets too much I can always just write. It would be the first time excusing myself from awkward social situations would be normal, lol.
- Did you delete? Or just strike through? I don't like deleting anything, I might want to go back and refer to it later, even if it's awful. I'm currently re-writing a section of bad writing, but the part I cut out is just striked through, and some of it has been re-copied into the new section and re-worked. Deleting writing bad! Yeah, look into the area at least. I like my region cus here, cus while it's not small, it's spread out so most of the gatherings are pretty small.
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Yay! Assist!
That's a good point. I think I'm gonna try to keep reading through it. It's mostly adult content, the characters don't even have names, which I guess goes back to point number one. At the very least I can tell her that in that respect she was successful, and maybe that's why the rest of the people she asked to read it didn't get through it!
I collect these:
Who doesn&;t want a piece of our bad zombie selves?
Everyone always freaks out whenever I tell them I delete stuff, lol. It works for me. I save all of my ideas on my mobile and then copy them to my email, so if one fails I have a copy of my notes. So when I write without story boarding and hate how things are going I can delete huge chucks of stuff without forgetting the original idea. Sloppy, useless writing is done away with. Plus, I should know better than to not storyboard at this point.
- I guess that works. I just find that if I delete something, it's never quite as good the second time. Same goes for my art. That's why I never delete anything, I like to have it as reference, that way I know if the re-write is better or not! lol. Story board... I should finish making one of those for my current story. Things keep happening that weren't planned though. I kinda like the spontaneity of it all. The major events are all in my head, just getting between them needs more work.
I collect these:
Who doesn&;t want a piece of our bad zombie selves?
My method is it always improves with practice, lol. My storyboards are very general and usually are only the first few chapters to start with and then I see what has developed and finish the story board. They're all on whiteboards so it's easy to alter and add things, I have a rather large collection of the things piling up.
Haha, come visit if you like, we can go to my on-campus club and you can get boozay in my kitchen with my kitchen-mates! (boozay is an 'our kitchen' word, by the way) As for your dillema, if it's too awkward you could tell her you feel awkward 'cause you're asexual, maybe? If she's not, she might not know whether that's normal for asexuals or not and just accept it. Or I could crit it for you? ;)
- Yeah, but I'm forgetful, and would forget key things that happen. for instance when writing today I had to go back to the strike through text to figure out if I had written the part about the walls in the original or not. I am a huge fan of white boards!
- w00! I like Boozay, only I would spell it boozah. Well it wouldn't be too awkward cus of being asexual, and that wouldn't work anyway cus she knkows the kind of fanfic I read, the critique is just a bit harder since I have nothing to compare it to except fanfic. (and she's well aware of that) But I'm seeing her tonight, so I might just tell her my thoughts so far, and gauge how mad she'll be that i'm ditching doing the critique. (and then maybe I'll ask you to read it lol)
I collect these:
Who doesn&;t want a piece of our bad zombie selves?
Hmm, okay, well, I hope it goes/went well! I don't mind reading it, so long as she's aware I'm at uni so I might get busy occasionally, you know? You can suggest it to her, if you like :)
I'm the opposite, I can't forget things no matter how hard I try. I also go about writing my stories a bit differently, I start with characters and develop them. Their back story, their thought patterns, how they react in different situations; then I think of the story I want them to tell. So, if I have an event happen that I don't like/doesn't fit I delete and think of a new one. So when I think of a story idea I leave it until I can find the characters that seem to fit it perfectly.
It's odd, I know. On the plus side I finished my storyboard so maybe I can finish this story by the time the person wants it. lol.
Your method sounds really good! It sounds like you could avoid inconsistencies and losing a character's individuality that way.
Thanks, most of the time when I tell people my method they think it's weird, lol. The only problem I find with it is that I play favorites and some characters don't get as much screen time as I think the amount of time that went into them warrants.
I can understand that. I'm not so good at character development. If I'm writing in first person, I stick to one character's perspective and everyone else kind of gets neglected haha! I'd be interested in reading something you've written though :)