Ready to Write? - Page 2 - Writers Forum

Trave_xx · 07-05-2007, 01:26 PM

Wow, this board helped me too! I'm fifteen as well, so I understand where you come from. I have the same problem! That's why I enjoy these forums, where I can read stories, understand different techniques, and write better in the end.

Azmakna · 07-05-2007, 01:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trave_xx

Wow, this board helped me too! I'm fifteen as well, so I understand where you come from. I have the same problem! That's why I enjoy these forums, where I can read stories, understand different techniques, and write better in the end.

HERE! you just need to know what to look for.

jtassinaro · 07-05-2007, 01:51 PM

When I was 13 my friends and I were obsessed with horror movies! I wrote a whole bunch of scripts that we made into movies with our camcorders. I still have the tapes and the scripts, and I'll go back and read or watch them just for kicks. You can tell that a 13/14 year old wrote them, but they actually have a lot of potential. I actually took one and used it for a novel I am now writing. Not to sound ego-tistical but I look back and I'm actually impressed with myself becausse some of it's pretty good considering it was written by a 13 year old. Back then I didn't think I was that good either, but looking back now, I actually was.

I think you should read as much as you can too. Read as much you can by as many different authors as you can in as many genres as you can. When I was young I used to always read mystery/suspense novels and that was pretty much it. I didn't think I'd like anything else so I didn't read anything else. I slowly but surely realized that this was one of the stupidest things ever and started reading all different genres. I'll read pretty much anything now, except romance novels and sci-fi. Could never really get into them. I still love my mystery/suspense novels the best though. Through reading all these genres and authors I learned what styles I like to read and therefore learned what styles I like to write in.

The point in all this rambling is that you should keep writing.

Lady_Kristin · 07-05-2007, 08:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sock

I feel like everything I write is trash, and I can never finish anything. I am fifteen years old, and I think that I am just not mature enough to really begin serious writing.

Do you think I should continue to read and grow intellectually, then try my hand at writing? Or should write now and build up my skill?

You're only 15. Hmmm.... that means you have time in your corner to become one of the best writers in future. I wish I'd started writing when I was 15. Instead, I'm jumping over those newbie hurdles and falling flat on my face much later in life.

You think everything you write is trash....

You know what? Most published authors out there say the same thing about their own first drafts. If I were you I would finish those first drafts first. I wouldn't judge your work so harshly until you're on your third or fourth. First drafts are supposed to be crap. It's perfectly okay that they are. It's their natural state. (For most of us anyway).

First drafts can be very difficult for me, but when they're finished there's a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. It's the stage where the foundation of my story is finally there.

I liken it to building a house. After the foundation/framework (first draft) is secure, then I can finally begin filling my house up with all the little pretty's and knick-knacks it's asking me to spoil it with so that others can (hopefully) ooh and ahh over it. So don't be so harsh on your work when all you've done is put up only half the foundation of what will become a beautiful estate. We really are our own worst critics.

If I were you I'd continue reading

AND writing

. You can't learn to drive a car just by reading about it. The manual can only get you so far.

Kristin

Sock · 07-06-2007, 12:46 AM

This is all very good advice, very helpful thankyou.

Ilasir Maroa · 07-06-2007, 03:02 AM

There's a book by an accomplished author: "Bird by Bird." One of the chapters is entitled: "Shitty First Drafts." The chapter is about how it's okay for the first draft to suck, because it's only there to get the story on paper.

RustyHicks · 07-07-2007, 11:38 AM

The advice offered in all of these post have been the best.
They took the words right out of my mouth.
Pratice and practice, learn to let go and
have fun with your work. Taking it too hard
can lead to block. Remember the first draft
of anything is a rough draft that can always be
polished later.

Azmakna · 07-07-2007, 11:41 AM

and polished and polished and polished....

CatchyUsername · 07-07-2007, 01:41 PM

Spread your wings and fly, Sock. You're still young and racking up life experience. There is no teacher like writing, re-writing, editing, etc.....sounds as though you are being prepared to have a great career in the future. Hang in there.....you've gotten great advice.

Good luck!

Azmakna · 07-07-2007, 01:46 PM

know your limitation. work to hone your work within those limitation. then you suddenly realize that your limitations have grown smaller. begin the process again and again for the rest of your life. that's writing.

SeattleCPA · 07-07-2007, 09:37 PM

This from someone who's written (and published) a lot...

I would read a lot of good writers ... and guys and gals in different genres.

I would write a lot... E.g., were I you, I would laugh in the face of a class that requires a 10 or 20 page paper... that'll be no problem for you because you're a writer.

Summing up... Read lots of stuff. Write lots. You will get better and better at your craft--and then who knows.

BTW, my first "professional" writing (er, like 25 years ago) was for a local weekly newspaper. I was a young CPA with an MBA in finance. I'd do little fluff pieces (for zero money) about how to invest, etc.

Then, sort of in sync with my real day job (which was working at Arthur Andersen, then the world's largest and arguably most prestigious accounting firm) I'd write little "honorarium" pieces ($300 a whack?) for esoteric computer magazines on topics like database design. (Really boring stuff that only my boss and mother read.)

Then I decided I wanted to write a book about a new spreadsheet program that Microsoft had created. (Something called Excel.) But the managing editor said I needed some magazine writing credentials to snag a book contract. (I was at this point, er, 25?). So I started writing features almost every month for Lotus Magazine (working for a wonderful editor named Chris Brown). Probably at this point I was getting paid $1 a word. So $1000 a piece.

Then, through a bit of finagling (sp?) I started writing (ocassionally) the finance column for Inc. Magazine ($1 a word)... and then the Excel book finally got sold and written (without an agent)... and then another book got sold... and then another to different publisher (Macmillan)... and next thing I knew, I had one book paying me $100K a year in royalties (this was Using Quicken)... and at that point (perhaps 1989? 1990?) I realized that I was a writer and needed to act like one.

P.S. By 2000 or so, after 140 books, I had basically burned out on writing. I only do a couple of books a year now...

Funkeh · 07-08-2007, 06:53 AM

Ah, I know how you feel. Im thirteen years old, and I just feel like everything I write could be better. The advice given is wll worth taking a look at, so I'm sure it will come off for you soon. I hope it helps for me too.

Labyrinth · 07-13-2007, 11:37 PM

I'm 15 years old too, and I sometimes feel that way. However sometimes I know I write better than some college writers, while other times I feel like I'm writing trash.

It's a cycle I go through, and right now I'm in the bad part of it. I haven't written anything serious in like 2 months. My last short story was outstanding... but now I can't seem to write a novel.

However keep trying, once you get that feeling of good writing keep it. You don't want to lose it. Honestly, I should read more often.

lin · 07-14-2007, 12:38 AM

You're too young to write yourself off yet, kiddo. Wait until you're old and wasted and debauched when giving up means something

I've written professionally for years and have recently finished stories that I started 20 years ago. Don't freak out just yet.

A big problem is that writing is an art where there aren't may child prodigies. Bach might have written symphonies as a fetus or whatever, but nobody would have cared what he had to say in a story.

You might just be biding your time until your life experience and writing muscles come together.

Meanwhile, stick with it if you think it's important.

Olly Buckle · 07-14-2007, 05:31 PM

Foxee is so right, Have fun with it, or at least do it because you want to do it, when something gets tedious put it aside, you may return, you may not. This applies to reading and writing, the last person who had a library with all the books in and had time to read them all probably lived more than 600 years ago. The other thing I would say is carry a note book, purely for your own use but if you jot down six words they can remind you of a whole train of thought that would have been lost otherwise. When I am stuck for inspiration I set about the task of transcribing my notes, putting them in various orders and trying to match bits together, I never finish, I always get sidetracked off into something.