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[Tova]

You may already have encountered the concept of the Shitty First Draft. If not:

The Art of the Shitty First Draft

I think that one thing that great writers have in common is that harsh inner critic, but during that first draft, you need to tell that inner critic to STFU for a bit. It's hard, I know.

[TorporChambre]

Interested? switching authorship, a next scene: loose, but some, narrative coherence---unreliable narrators? Anyone writes next of same story.

Why fulfill today what safely delays to morrow?

Longtemps, the day, done. Sleep to order---donwanna. Letters swim, the paper composing, singleyed sare, dancing molassic, digits spindles sub broad handbacks. Shuffles,
my favrite an musician's, fortechous piano, neat počm. Clean. The kitchenlight---blue tinsel forgotten by housemates long vacuate to dreams to discuss asleep, towards morrow's class---reminds a thirst. Night unsleeping. Sure. But that blue tinsellight searing; the longfinger, thumb choking sub brow; pace towards tepid clarity. Valve; gurgle---pitch tinsellight oughtta switched rising---burble---up instead cord pulled, reëying to---tirtchl---full: flickŋ. Sweet water. Sleepy.

[Morituri]

Wanna play 'writing prompts?'  I'll start:

"Mike!  Damn glad to see you, I was just .... Say, you're looking younger than usual; is this the first time we met?"

[N.N. Marf]

"Mike!  Damn glad to see you, I was just .... Say, you're looking younger than usual; is this the first time we met?"

Mike: ``Do I know you, mister? My parents said I shouldn't talk to strangers.''

[...] Sweet water. Sleepy.

Ghosts, aliens, squamatic overlords.. it's all passé. Bygone art of the last knowers. Our world cannot live in such simple answers anymore. Contemporary youth are driven to solace in the ineffable, from complexities governing their days. That's where our rumors that the premiere, in his sleep, hears devil's whispers. They say God, but I know better. What are his instructions? File a few papers here, sign a few papers there. It's nothing! God! The truth of the matter is, those papers follow their chain of command, all down to this lone чекист cracking fresh instructions---burn after reading---to whisper in the president's ear:

[LeeC]

I'm working on the synopsis to send in.

In the far-flung future of the 41st millennia, under the rusty sands of Ophiuchus IV a dark secret sleeps. Aneksi, a Rustwalker, scavenges the desert with her friend Jaira for anything that will allow them to have a new life on a better world. Aneksi finds a damaged cyborg with co-ordinates to something big. Big enough to sell to the Adeptus Mechanicus and get her the new start she longs for, and away from this smog choked urban hellscape. Where she hoped to find her salvation, she uncovers an ancient alien war under the desert of her world. Lost in an ancient ruined city with danger around every corner, she must find her way back to warn the planetary governor without waking the abomination that would plunge the galaxy in darkness.

I'll need a one page (500 words) extract too. I am trying to figure what scene to send in. Should it be something atmospheric, exciting, a cliff hanger, or mysterious?  I had one in mind, but for it to work it would need be about 3 pages long.

[LeeC]

I have a couple of days left to submit. I have my except and need to rewrite my synopsis a little. Some of my beta readers on the synopsis felt a little lost, so I need to rewrite it. I also didn;t realize it needed to be 100 words so I may need to also reduce it in size.

[LeeC]

I just submitted everything. I am excited, and a bit nervous. My wife helped me edit it a bit and I rewrote parts of the excerpt, but its done. The die is cast.

[TorporChambre]

Mike: ``Do I know you, mister? My parents said I shouldn't talk to strangers.''

``Mick‽ Innit whatsisname. Dofronna Mikey.''
``Whattawannaasday'' curtain ``hoffenagotttellem!'' peek---``Sam?'' crank crank crank ``Ho! Trynarnewtea! Sorryrbellsout.''
``Mike? Spittnerface, almosthuir''

in the president's ear:

Explorations 1--6:

• Enormous Expansion
• The Absolute and Essential Role
• Public Perception of Reality
• Transcendent Idea of Reality
• The Collective Unconscious
• Long-Overdue Recognition of Our Own Significance

You and your flock shall see the promised land, but only if you first destroy
the Twin evils of Godless communism abroad, and Liberal humanism at home.

An excellent soporific! They don't make 'em like they used to.

[FreshScrod]

A gentle young prude was appalled
This person would harbor the gall
To scribble awry
Insufferably dry
Oh, limerence. Not this at all.

[Theta9]

Is there still a Writing Club here, or is it just a post-whatever free-for-all now? I would be interested in trying the "write something about this idea" format that this thread started with.

Here's my situation: I enjoy writing, and I'm good at it. I just wrote a little piece almost 13 thousand words long, the first fiction I've written in over 20 years. Another writer that I showed it to praised the characters and the "snappy dialogue". I'm strong in the nuts-and-bolts of grammar, spelling, and punctuation; and apparently in narrative, characters, and dialogue as well.

My weakness: coming up with something to write about - a situation, a storyline, dramatic conflict, anything to make it interesting and invest the reader in the outcome.

So I'm thinking I'd like to find a writing partner: somebody maybe not so skilled in the craft of writing, but who can plot and outline a compelling story that I can flesh out. Together we would complement each other's strengths and weaknesses.

[N.N. Marf]

So I'm thinking I'd like to find a writing partner: somebody maybe not so skilled in the craft of writing, but who can plot and outline a compelling story that I can flesh out. Together we would complement each other's strengths and weaknesses.

I have the opposite problem. I have lots of ideas, a few that I plot out, but I never get to the point where I sit down and write out. Here's an idea, centered around marine life. Especially dolphins, octopodes,, `intelligent' marine life. There's also non-marine life that plays a part in the story. For example, there's an entrepreneur obsessed with learning (then selling) dolphin folklore, and developing them a durable-communication method, akin to writing. There's probably going to be marine biologists involved in the story, working with this entrepreneur.
I think it could be really interesting to have it be from the perspective of the marine life. Definitely be some first-contact stuff. Probably multiple independent perspectives, and not only from marine-life. I imagine a novel, or a few, but we can start with a small part. If we do more, it'd be nice to integrate the various stories into something more coherent than a few stories set in same/similar worlds, so that may be something to consider when composing.

Where might one find a sample of your literature?

[Theta9]

[PM sent to Marf.]