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Writing and the Prompt
18 years ago
You have to keep a little crazy hidden away in your back pocket just to maintain your sanity.
Vixyy Fox
Vixyy Fox
Good afternoon... actually this originally said good morning, but after writing an entire post... well... something hapened, and I lost the entire thing. Bingo'd by the moofie monster.
At any rate - what follows is for my writing friends. No, I'm not going to get on a soap box and tell you this is how it's done and there is no other way. Leave that for the professors who haven't a clue in the first place.
We are all writers here, and I will leave out all the pretty adjectives. (new, old, professional, experianced, good, bad, whathaveyou) We are all writers, and we all do things differently. What I actually want to do here, is give you a peek into my thought processes during the write of this prompt - 'the ruins'.
As soon as I punched the stop watch, I wrote the first line, trying to let my head sink in and it was like... 'what on earth?' (Yes I use a timer, but only 'just because'. The writing took about 30 minutes and the edit stretched beyond four hours which should tell you how perplexed I was. The average edit for a prompt is maybe one & a half to two hours.) and so, with no forethought whatsoever, we (Vixyy and me) jumped into the dark water.
“Spin the wheel… and let’s see what it lands upon…. I am thinking the number 13.”
Now my head pops up and I gasp for air. My mind is screaming at me that I just took a terribly wrong first step, but we press on, dog paddling for all we're worth... Tense is next, and 'first person' jumps at me, slapping at my head and shoulders... yes we can talk, but who is speaking? Character is next... my fingers punch at the keys, and we now have a chicken. I'm swallowing brackish water knowing I've slipped over the edge. I've never written about a chicken in my life!
His name is Sparky, and settles well into my minds eye. Together we look back to that first line trying to figure out what it means. He whispers to me that we can do this.
“Number 13 ya mother… what do you mean… huh?” I says. “How come I’m now seeing the words ‘Happy Meal’ next to ya?”
By now I'm really confused so we go back to examine the prompt. Do you know how many types of ruins there can be? Sparky lists them for me... he's tossing me things that float, but I'm too busy trying not to sink to grab one. He begins to tell me about Martha the Fox, and I want to yell that he's crazier than me... but he's just trying to calm me down... prepping me for the next curve ball. By now my mind is screaming for me to 'PUNCH OUT!'
"Mayday… mayday… Happy Meal 13… hit and burning… gonna land at…”
Sparky prys my hand aways the eject button by talking about Martha again and her coffee. He then calmly takes me through a listing of ruins again.
By now I'm caught in one of those horror movie whirlpools and I'm splashing for all I'm worth. That was when the Police Chief sticks his head in the window and finally gives us a direction.
“Hey Sparky… come look at this and tell me what you think.”
The pieces of the puzzle finally fall together after being stomped on a lot... and Colonel Sander's smiling face peeks into my mind. I had to physically restrain Sparky by holding on to his leg. Actually Ronald and Wendy don't appear until the edit process.
Ok then... we have background, tense, character, and a villian. Sparky whispers, 'Told ya so,' and we roll to the conclusion.
Now then... the story is start to finish but we still have the edit to do. I have met writers who are like 'ink artists' - start to finish perfect in the end and no edit required. I will grumble my opinions of them, and then say, 'nice job'. I'm more of a charcole artist - eraseerase - smudge - burnish - erase more. Most of my work is actually done in the edit, and I never stop editing.
I finished last night at midnight, moving from the bed to the kitchen table when my battery ran out. I posted the story with red eyes, and this morning over coffee, I almost spit... (burned my tongue actually). I didn't like the ending. It was too much like finishing with a hammer poised in the air... sooooo... re-did the ending and snuck the final piece back in hoping not too many people had read it yet.
I'm sure I would find more things wrong if I went back in even now. That is one of my greatest fears.
The conclusion: (Oh... I need one of those don't I?)
Never ever think that your work is not good enough. Of course it is. We are all just at different stages of experiance and practice.
Sparky tugs at my elbow and hiss whispers, "That stunk."
"I didn't fart."
"I meant the conclusion."
"Don't you have a sunrise to crow about or something?"
I shoo the rooster back to the shadows from whence he came... keeping an eye to where he went... I will whisper to all of you as I watch him leave, 'He was a good wing man... but I still had to do all the leg work."
And now I shall watch out the window for the arrival of the bad pun police.
Vixyy
At any rate - what follows is for my writing friends. No, I'm not going to get on a soap box and tell you this is how it's done and there is no other way. Leave that for the professors who haven't a clue in the first place.
We are all writers here, and I will leave out all the pretty adjectives. (new, old, professional, experianced, good, bad, whathaveyou) We are all writers, and we all do things differently. What I actually want to do here, is give you a peek into my thought processes during the write of this prompt - 'the ruins'.
As soon as I punched the stop watch, I wrote the first line, trying to let my head sink in and it was like... 'what on earth?' (Yes I use a timer, but only 'just because'. The writing took about 30 minutes and the edit stretched beyond four hours which should tell you how perplexed I was. The average edit for a prompt is maybe one & a half to two hours.) and so, with no forethought whatsoever, we (Vixyy and me) jumped into the dark water.
“Spin the wheel… and let’s see what it lands upon…. I am thinking the number 13.”
Now my head pops up and I gasp for air. My mind is screaming at me that I just took a terribly wrong first step, but we press on, dog paddling for all we're worth... Tense is next, and 'first person' jumps at me, slapping at my head and shoulders... yes we can talk, but who is speaking? Character is next... my fingers punch at the keys, and we now have a chicken. I'm swallowing brackish water knowing I've slipped over the edge. I've never written about a chicken in my life!
His name is Sparky, and settles well into my minds eye. Together we look back to that first line trying to figure out what it means. He whispers to me that we can do this.
“Number 13 ya mother… what do you mean… huh?” I says. “How come I’m now seeing the words ‘Happy Meal’ next to ya?”
By now I'm really confused so we go back to examine the prompt. Do you know how many types of ruins there can be? Sparky lists them for me... he's tossing me things that float, but I'm too busy trying not to sink to grab one. He begins to tell me about Martha the Fox, and I want to yell that he's crazier than me... but he's just trying to calm me down... prepping me for the next curve ball. By now my mind is screaming for me to 'PUNCH OUT!'
"Mayday… mayday… Happy Meal 13… hit and burning… gonna land at…”
Sparky prys my hand aways the eject button by talking about Martha again and her coffee. He then calmly takes me through a listing of ruins again.
By now I'm caught in one of those horror movie whirlpools and I'm splashing for all I'm worth. That was when the Police Chief sticks his head in the window and finally gives us a direction.
“Hey Sparky… come look at this and tell me what you think.”
The pieces of the puzzle finally fall together after being stomped on a lot... and Colonel Sander's smiling face peeks into my mind. I had to physically restrain Sparky by holding on to his leg. Actually Ronald and Wendy don't appear until the edit process.
Ok then... we have background, tense, character, and a villian. Sparky whispers, 'Told ya so,' and we roll to the conclusion.
Now then... the story is start to finish but we still have the edit to do. I have met writers who are like 'ink artists' - start to finish perfect in the end and no edit required. I will grumble my opinions of them, and then say, 'nice job'. I'm more of a charcole artist - eraseerase - smudge - burnish - erase more. Most of my work is actually done in the edit, and I never stop editing.
I finished last night at midnight, moving from the bed to the kitchen table when my battery ran out. I posted the story with red eyes, and this morning over coffee, I almost spit... (burned my tongue actually). I didn't like the ending. It was too much like finishing with a hammer poised in the air... sooooo... re-did the ending and snuck the final piece back in hoping not too many people had read it yet.
I'm sure I would find more things wrong if I went back in even now. That is one of my greatest fears.
The conclusion: (Oh... I need one of those don't I?)
Never ever think that your work is not good enough. Of course it is. We are all just at different stages of experiance and practice.
Sparky tugs at my elbow and hiss whispers, "That stunk."
"I didn't fart."
"I meant the conclusion."
"Don't you have a sunrise to crow about or something?"
I shoo the rooster back to the shadows from whence he came... keeping an eye to where he went... I will whisper to all of you as I watch him leave, 'He was a good wing man... but I still had to do all the leg work."
And now I shall watch out the window for the arrival of the bad pun police.
Vixyy
V.
~pyro
By the way, don't forget to put a link to the story back on my journal entry...
V.
So glad to know I'm not the only one that's surprised by what appears on the page sometimes... very well written description of your writing process, I loved it.
On another note, could you give a little insight into your editing process? I'm sort of what you called an 'ink artist' in that I rarely edit after I reach the conclusion; most of my editing is done on the fly. However, I've been meaning to learn that particular very useful skill for a while now... any pointers?
I especially treat the text as a picture. When you do this, you will see the 'eye snags' a lot easier. Repeat words are a good example. This could be something as simple as using your character's proper name too much. He said/she said is another lurking monster and you will also see this as a series of repeats. There is also the 'Had' monster... more like a little troll actually since he doesn't stand out that clearly.
Repeat words could be anything and only as little as used twice but a sentense apart.
OK... the brain is blank now... and the battery is running low again. You be well... know that mostly it just takes practice, just like any other art form.
*hugs....
V.
*hugs back*
V.
My husband's always told me he's never quite sure what's going to appear on the computer screen when he sits down to write. He never knows what his characters are going to say or do...or really what they're personalities are like if they're relatively new. They always create themselves, either on the computer screen or in our conversations (one of the reasons I married a writer...long talks about my favorite characters that may never get written down! ^.^)
I'm also glad you like the behind the scenes... it was really a trip for me too, because there was a lot of it that was completely subconscious. I didn't really see the entire thought process until I went back through and asked myself what was going on.
V.
Here's his page link, he hasn't updated in quite some time though...busy with work and not many people seemed to be reading and want more. The "Mining Sapphires" story is finished, just not online.
I keep poking him to start trying the Thursday prompts! ^.^
For me, come here in your gallery it's a special pleasure you have many excellent works !!! *hugs*
V.
Now I gotta go read the story and finish my entry *sigh*
*hugs...
V.
Pretty much Poetigress puts out a prompt every Thursday - thus the title. You write a small story using this prompt with a time limit of 15 minutes... more time if you need it is fine. Take as much time as you need to edit - then we post our stories. I have a bunch in my gallery and favorites if you wish to see some - this particular story was one. They average about 3 pages. We then read each other's prompts and give critique. I love them... it really has broken loose the writer's block for me and it's good practice. I have a link tp Poet's page in my main page for more info.
V.
im not much of a writer, when i write for fun or because of inspiration, i just wing it. same thing with every essay ive done. then when and if i go back, its hard for me to remember that inspiration that made me write in the first place...
thats why i dont write much, its very scary. i prefer reading and enjoying the work of others, like yours! ^_^ *hugs*
V.