|
|
|
Soo, umm--long time no see? That's a whopping understatement, although with my insane journal entries, i can see why people would want to leave and....not come back. xp
Faaar too many smilies in that whole bunch, no da? (I think i just found my title for tonight. Guess i'll wait and see...)
Anyways, i've been meaning to write about this for a while...in fact, i've been meaning to writefor a while... Wellz, anyway, i'll have to go sometime other...
yea. this journal will be finished at a later date. how lame is that? My idea was to go on and on about realism in a story: so here's my basic theory....
People often say, about books/cartoons/anime/etc... how can you talk about the realism of a story when the mice talk and fly around with crows and stuff? Isn't that just totally fantasy?
But for anyone who knows anything about creating their own little fantasy world--for anyone who knows anything--it's not about the setting. It's all in the characters.
Hokay, so you've got your flat, dead, george-lucas-episode-two drama. * scream gotta give ya that one, george*. People just don't buy it when 'it' doesn't feel like the characters are real. You can have a setting where people walk upside down and wear purple monkeys on their heads, and as long as the characters feel like real human beings with souls--as long as its an accurate depiction of what that would feel like--people will believe it.
So that's a bit much, but you get the point. And maybe it would just feel ridiculous walking upside down with a purple monkey on your head. Go ahead. Write about it. The way people get things like this through is called 'suspension of disbelief', and it works wonders. People want new and different ideas, things that'll blow their minds. Don't ever worry about something being too fantastical.
Characters? Whole 'nother story, baby. You have to put as much emotion into a character as possible. You have to do something to make the reader willing to suspend their disbelief and say, hey, if it were ME, i might feel the same way.
I guess this is sounding a bit reader-oriented sweatdrop . So, what if i don't CARE about the reader? What if it's for ME? What if i WANT to write a story full of ordinary things happening to people who don't have anything remotely close to empathy with a reader?
Go ahead and do it, but stop reading this journal immediately. Go on. Shoo. Any story written for ME is going to be as realistic as i can make it feel. The characters are the life and breath of the story. Don't forget it. They make the setting and the plot shine or sink, amuse, terrify, entice, emote. They make it LIVE. (It's...ALI-EEEVE!)
Please don't forget it.
Well, that was a rant, but i hope it wasn't wasted. Pick what meager fact from it that you can. My eye is twitching and i guess i won't need to finish this later, because it seems complete to me. xd my ba-a-ad. Laterz, all!
~Steel
 Steelbright · Thu Nov 23, 2006 @ 08:22am · 2 Comments |
|
|
|
|
How the heck is there a happy face on this thing? |
|
|
|
|
|
|
gonk evil gonk cry gonk crying mrgreen scream gonk crying burning_eyes gonk mad crying emo wahmbulance
I just wrote a bunch of stuff...and accidentally deleted it!! that sucks!! i can't remember it all, so i'm gonna go to bed and try again tomorrow...like that'll help my memory...
HOW THE HECK IS THERE A HAPPY FACE ON THIS THING?!?!?!
die, green, die... evil
Steelbright · Wed Jun 28, 2006 @ 09:44am · 1 Comments |
|
|
|
|
Page after page after page... |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Why, hello, there, all you muchkins. all you taller-than-my-shortness munchkins... domokun Once again, i find myself on here rather late at night, pretending to know things about writing.
My friend VampireKingDuzell suggested i write about keeping a reader's interest, sooo...here goes nothing! xd But first, remember: always write what you want to write. Never never NEVER base your writing on popular opinion, the movies, what people say they like, whatever. Write what you feel like. But, under those circumstances, you have to be reasonable to the poor reader; not in the subject of the story, but in its construction. if you just don't care about readers at all...well, stop reading. right now! go! mad
I started to read The Hunchback of Notre Dame. You know why I stopped? The thing had page after page after page of descriptions of the city! page after page after page...And, as Duzell said, she can barely get through Tolkien.
It's not that they're not magnificent classics. it's the overwhelming description. We don't want to have thirteen pages about the main character's wardrobe, no matter how much it fascinates you...at least... stare not all at once. lol Yes. there is a shortcut, and it's called descriptive writing.
I know you're thinking, wtf? she just said that's a bad thing! scream but descriptive writing is different than pure description. When writing descriptively, you have to include the descriptions among the text and body of the story. If you single out a huge block of text for description, people will skip it, miss things... scream no....never! Keep any descriptive rants less than two paragraphs, and only when absolutely necessary. in some writing styles, you don't need any at all.
Okay, so you want to tell your reader that the hero has black hair. xp There are a lot of ways to do that. So, we ask, which way will people actually look at? a description, maybe. so another character looks at him when she's walking up to introduce herself. bla bla description, tall dark handsome bla bla bla... As they're talking, he runs his hand nervously through his hair.
WAIT! scream No No No! Bad author! evil
bad puppy... 3nodding When hero-man runs his hand through his hair, why not just mention that it's black there? soo bla bla bla, he runs his hand nervously through his shiny, black hair. okay, so maybe that's not the most original description on earth... burning_eyes The description goes with the action. 4laugh A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down!It's Mary Poppins...
Of course, description isn't the only reason the reader's mind can wander... it could be that the story is just plain BORING... gonk NOOOOO.... *melts* but don't worry, we can fix that too! to a point... ...BUT not right now. i need to go to bed... xp
I hope that was informative. This is Steelbright on channel two-hundred eighty- seven FOUR news... with a special bulletin from the brain: lol you likey? Try-ie! If you already figured this out, i commend you! Comment! even better, message me a sample!! mrgreen yes, i Know everything!
This has been Steelbright on channel two-hundred eighty- seven FOUR news! Have a great eve--ah, morning! That's all, folks! whee ~Steelbright
Steelbright · Mon Jun 26, 2006 @ 09:15am · 0 Comments |
|
|
|
|
It is FAR too late for me to be writing... |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ohhh...my head. it is far too late to be writing right now, therefore, I WILL WRITE! yes, indeed. xd
And yes, i'm going to write about...dun dun dun...writer's block! can you imagine? the thing is, i hardly ever get it. God gave me a gift, and i guess i have to share it with the world... sweatdrop right? uh huh. read on if you wish.
The thing about stories is, they're hidden everywhere you look. When you're a bored writer looking for things to do, just look around whatever room you're in...and focus on something. like your lamp. think about the lamp. concentrate.... you are now picking it up and bashing it against your head....
O-kay. It's FAR too late as i said before.
idea First of all, find motion. motion can mean anything: it can set a scene, end a scene, or be something a character is contemplating. try to think of how any random object--say, a tissue--relates to your life. met-a-PHOR-ic-ally. Like in Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, one character says her uncle compares people's lives to tissues that others just crumple up and throw away once they've used them up. ...and no, i didn't pre-think that...i actually remembered AFTER i mentioned tissues. Okay, you get the point.
idea another thing to do is to remember feelings that you get from places or things. try to think of a single location from your life, say, at night...in a parking lot of the place across the street. every little detail...just imagine it. and then put people in that fit that place. dreams are always good for imagination....
idea my favorite, of course, is just trying to figure out DIFFERENT stuff. think about the typical romance. try to figure out a way to make it un-typical... look down at the basic ways people act around each other and reverse it! Try it! it's really fun! xd
idea of course, you can also always set yourself bizarre sets of rules for writing tasks. Okay, what would a chicken do suspended three hundred feet in the air above Las Angeles? The answer must include three descriptive sentences and the word 'green.' mrgreen ... mrgreen mrgreen i love that thing...
Uhh anyway, my eyes are starting to hurt!!! question since it's summer break, i need to update this more often! and since Duzell is the only one who reviewed, i think i'll write on her request next time... surprised okay then....
neutral it is FAR too late for me. sayonara.
Steelbright · Wed Jun 21, 2006 @ 09:08am · 0 Comments |
|
|
|
|
Why is this thing green anyway? |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bla, bla, bla. biggrin Welcome to my random ...thing. i just don't feel like calling it a blog. hopefully if you come here, you're looking for xp writing fun xp ...or you're just one of my friends sighing and shaking their heads and saying, she's nuts, alright. blaugh
Anyway, just because i've written a novel, i somehow think i know how to write stuff. (i mean, it's not even published.) so if you want to listen to me, it's your own fault--but i wouldn't mind it. xd not one bit. Give suggestions for all i care! don't just stand there with your mouth hanging open like that!! scream (no...you wouldn't... stare )
So i feel like writing about writing. probably characters, style, sentence structure, genres, descriptive writing, relationships, metaphors, theme, stereotypes, and setting will all end up in here somehow...as well as any other junk i forgot to mention... and for my own amusement, i'll pretend i'm teaching a writing class. You don't HAVE to be the students. unlike the situation in my Lit class, no matter what my teacher says... "Hey...hey! Over there! LISTEN! ...Okay, don't, i guess... do whatever you want...I don't know why you kids don't listen to me..."
hopefully it WON'T be like that. Oh please God......... mrgreen why is this thing green anyway?
i just had a great idea! make the 'subject' an interesting phrase from today's lesson! isn't that fascinating?
Well.... until next mission, space cadets! over and out! ~Steelbright
Steelbright · Sat Jun 03, 2006 @ 09:00am · 1 Comments |
|
|
|
|
|
