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VegetableMan
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28 Jan 2021, 10:03 am

I started put writing poetry in my late teens. In my 20s, I had close to 100 poems published.

The worked as a freelance copywriter from age 24 into my 30s. I was on Hallmark International's freelance roster for about three years. I wrote only humor.

At the moment, I'm primarily a ghost writer for online content.


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AnonymousAnonymous
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28 Jan 2021, 10:10 pm

My father loved reading & watching Westerns and his favorite Western actor was Clint Eastwood.

For my own Western script, it will be female-centered and IMO, if one movie genre deserves a comeback, it would have to be the Western genre.

(And I am NOT a huge fan of Westerns! :lol: )


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Kraichgauer
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30 Jan 2021, 12:22 am

I grew up listening to my dad talk about the fiction he had read, particularly horror and fantasy stuff by Lovecraft, Bloch, and Howard. To say that I was programmed to be a writer and a lover of fiction would be an understatement. Hell, even though I majored in history in college, it was the historical narrative that captured my imagination. Since, I've had three books published, along with fiction in anthologies, all on Amazon.


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JustFoundHere
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03 Feb 2021, 3:44 pm

KitLily wrote:
Yes, I love writing, editing and reading writing books. I read a great one- Story Trumps Structure- recently.


Stephen King's 'On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft' is a must read:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10569.On_Writing



KitLily
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05 Feb 2021, 1:55 pm

JustFoundHere wrote:
KitLily wrote:
Yes, I love writing, editing and reading writing books. I read a great one- Story Trumps Structure- recently.


Stephen King's 'On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft' is a must read:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10569.On_Writing


Is King a plotter or a pantser? I got far too hung up on 3 act structures and rising and descending tension and midpoints and what have you. But the Story Trumps Structure says forget all that and just write logically what the characters would do after certain events e.g. go and confront someone who had hurt them, instead of doing what you think they would do because it fits your structure.

Sorry, just rushing off for dinner, hope that made sense!


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JustFoundHere
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06 Feb 2021, 4:00 pm

KitLily wrote:
JustFoundHere wrote:
KitLily wrote:
Yes, I love writing, editing and reading writing books. I read a great one- Story Trumps Structure- recently.


Stephen King's 'On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft' is a must read:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10569.On_Writing


Is King a plotter or a pantser? I got far too hung up on 3 act structures and rising and descending tension and midpoints and what have you. But the Story Trumps Structure says forget all that and just write logically what the characters would do after certain events e.g. go and confront someone who had hurt them, instead of doing what you think they would do because it fits your structure.

Sorry, just rushing off for dinner, hope that made sense!


Thank-you for your response!

The following 2016 story in 'The Guardian' may be on interest: Three, Six or 36: How Many Basic Plots Are There in All Stories Ever Written?
https://www.theguardian.com/books/books ... er-written



DuckHairback
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06 Feb 2021, 5:03 pm

I re-read Stephen King's On Writing regularly, it's fascinating.

At the moment I'm reading George Saunders A Swim In A Pond In The Rain. If you don't know George Saunders he writes brilliant short stories and this is a book version of the course he teaches at Syracuse uni. I think its going to be another book about writing that I'll return to regularly.

In a section I just read he stated that one of the big differences between a published and unpublished writer is the handling of causality - i.e. the way events in the story cause subsequent events. I'm thinking about that a lot at the moment.


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KitLily
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07 Feb 2021, 11:57 am

JustFoundHere wrote:
Thank-you for your response!

The following 2016 story in 'The Guardian' may be on interest: Three, Six or 36: How Many Basic Plots Are There in All Stories Ever Written?
https://www.theguardian.com/books/books ... er-written


That is interesting, I read another blog about those rise-fall, fall-rise-fall plots, but I bookmarked it on another device. Very clear but also not too prescriptive.

Another interesting book is Save The Cat Writes a Novel. It is based on Blake Snyder's movie theory of the structure of movies, but obviously based on novels. I can't remember the author's name. It's fascinating about Blake Snyder's originally named 10 genres of movies/ novels, which include things like Golden Fleece and Dude with a Problem.

However, I got really caught up in structures when I wrote stories, far far too caught up and found that my writing was getting too forced and fixed. So that's why I read Story Trumps Structure, if I ever write stories again I will just start writing :lol:


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KitLily
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07 Feb 2021, 12:02 pm

DuckHairback wrote:
In a section I just read he stated that one of the big differences between a published and unpublished writer is the handling of causality - i.e. the way events in the story cause subsequent events. I'm thinking about that a lot at the moment.


That is exactly right I'm sure. The Story Trumps Structure book by Steven James (I seem to be going on about that book quite a lot, sorry! :lol:) says a similar thing: when your characters do something, think what they would logically do next. Not what you *think* they should do to fit your plot.

Another great writing book I read is Write From the Middle by James Scott Bell. It advised to start writing from the middle of your story (where they can sag) and work out what led up to that middle and what happens afterwards.

These theory books are so interesting :)


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DuckHairback
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07 Feb 2021, 12:59 pm

KitLily wrote:

These theory books are so interesting :)


They are, but I agree with what you said about getting too focused on structure. I got very interested in a guy called Dan Harmon (US sitcom writer; Community/Rick & Morty) who did some theory work on story structure and came up with these story circle diagrams that he uses to create stories. It's broadly Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey stuff. But it does map on to most stories.

Anyway, I tried writing stories that way and they came out formulaic and uninteresting to me. Where I have found it very useful is when I'm writing a story and I come to a point where I don't really know where it's going or what should happen next. If I can find out where I am in the story arc, I can usually figure out what needs to happen next to keep things moving.


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07 Feb 2021, 6:06 pm

KitLily wrote:
JustFoundHere wrote:
Thank-you for your response!

The following 2016 story in 'The Guardian' may be on interest: Three, Six or 36: How Many Basic Plots Are There in All Stories Ever Written?
https://www.theguardian.com/books/books ... er-written


That is interesting, I read another blog about those rise-fall, fall-rise-fall plots, but I bookmarked it on another device. Very clear but also not too prescriptive.

Another interesting book is Save The Cat Writes a Novel. It is based on Blake Snyder's movie theory of the structure of movies, but obviously based on novels. I can't remember the author's name. It's fascinating about Blake Snyder's originally named 10 genres of movies/ novels, which include things like Golden Fleece and Dude with a Problem.

However, I got really caught up in structures when I wrote stories, far far too caught up and found that my writing was getting too forced and fixed. So that's why I read Story Trumps Structure, if I ever write stories again I will just start writing :lol:


Thank-you for adding that dynamic to this discussion thread.

Anybody aware of the writing APP (Granthika) that applies artificial intelligence to augment the development of stories for both amateur and professional authors alike?

LINK: 'A Code-Obsessed Novelist Builds a Writing Bot. The Plot Thickens'
https://www.wired.com/story/code-obsess ... -thickens/



KitLily
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09 Feb 2021, 10:24 am

DuckHairback wrote:
Anyway, I tried writing stories that way and they came out formulaic and uninteresting to me.


That's the problem I found with these structures, I've given up on them. For me, they don't work but I'm not saying they wouldn't work for everyone :lol:

Also I've tried dictating a story, that is quite fun. I work on the screen all day and dictating gives my poor old eyes a rest! :idea:


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KitLily
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09 Feb 2021, 10:26 am

JustFoundHere wrote:
Thank-you for adding that dynamic to this discussion thread.

Anybody aware of the writing APP (Granthika) that applies artificial intelligence to augment the development of stories for both amateur and professional authors alike?

LINK: 'A Code-Obsessed Novelist Builds a Writing Bot. The Plot Thickens'
https://www.wired.com/story/code-obsess ... -thickens/


I'm not sure what your first sentence means? Help me, I'm autistic :lol:

An AI writing bot. OMG.


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JustFoundHere
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09 Feb 2021, 5:33 pm

KitLily wrote:
JustFoundHere wrote:
Thank-you for adding that dynamic to this discussion thread.

Anybody aware of the writing APP (Granthika) that applies artificial intelligence to augment the development of stories for both amateur and professional authors alike?

LINK: 'A Code-Obsessed Novelist Builds a Writing Bot. The Plot Thickens'
https://www.wired.com/story/code-obsess ... -thickens/


I'm not sure what your first sentence means? Help me, I'm autistic :lol:

To clarify: I enjoyed reading your responses to this discussion thread.

An AI writing bot. OMG.



KitLily
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10 Feb 2021, 9:14 am

JustFoundHere wrote:
I'm not sure what your first sentence means? Help me, I'm autistic :lol:

To clarify: I enjoyed reading your responses to this discussion thread.


How very kind and unusual. Usually I get a blank stare or just ignored 8O :heart:


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kitesandtrainsandcats
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10 Feb 2021, 6:31 pm

AnonymousAnonymous wrote:
For my own Western script, it will be female-centered and IMO, if one movie genre deserves a comeback, it would have to be the Western genre.


This may be of interest, for inspiration of ideas, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/ent ... ofie-dalia

Quote:
Sofie Dalia Herzog, pioneer physician and first woman to serve as head surgeon for a major American railroad, was born in Vienna, Austria, on February 4, 1846. ...

In the early 1900s, when railroads were proliferating in Texas, the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway began laying track in South Texas. The job was hazardous, and workers suffered frequent accidents and illnesses. Dr. Sofie was often called to construction sites to tend injured or ill men. She was willing to use any transportation available-train engines, boxcars, handcars-to outlying areas at any time of night or day. She became well known to officials of the railroad, and when the job of chief surgeon opened up, they readily endorsed her application. But when eastern officials of the railroad realized a woman had been appointed to the post, they asked her to resign. She refused, telling them that if she failed to give satisfaction, they could fire her, adding that she asked "no odds" because of her sex. She remained a highly valued employee of the railroad until her resignation a few months before her death.

Dr. Herzog operated a drugstore in connection with her medical practice and made many of her own medicines. She also built a hotel, the Southern, across the street from her office. ...

... She was as famed for her forceful personality and eccentricities as she was for her skill as a physician and surgeon. Gunfights were common in the area, and she prided herself on her skill in removing bullets. Eventually she took twenty-four bullets she had extracted to a Houston jeweler to be strung between gold links for a necklace. She wore this necklace as a good luck charm for the rest of her life, and at her request it was placed in her coffin.

...


And for general information, http://railwaysurgery.org/HistoryShort.htm

Quote:
The Train Doctors
A Brief History of Railway Surgeons

(There is also a longer version which contains all the content below, and more.)

By Robert S. Gillespie, MD, MPH

Copyright 2006

Railroad surgeons formed a unique medical specialty, operating a vast and innovative network of railroad hospitals and clinics. Nearly forgotten today, this relatively small but dedicated group of doctors made many advances in medical science and embraced an innovative payment system now used by many health insurance plans.


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