Getting into Writing

[James282]

Writing is something I've always been very interested in, and while I've written some critical pieces that were of considerable length(50pages+ typed), dabbled in poetry, and written extensively on here, I've never taken a stab at writing ficiton. I'd love to learn how, since I read and write a lot as it is, and it seems like now would be a good time to get into it more seriously. Has anyone here approached writing in a serious way? I'm out of college, but wouldn't be averse to taking a class or two on writing fiction - and would love any book recommendations as well. I don't think I'll ever sit down and try to write a novel or anything, but the process intrigues me. Gotta go for now, but I'd love to hear peoples thoughts and experiences having to do with this stuff.

James

[george w]

i like stephen king's On Writing.

[Actual God]

Sit down
Make something up
Write
???
Profit

[El Diablo]

Actual God: As insightful as that is, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say James might have that much down already.

James: A lot of people I've talked to have had a lot of success writing short pieces on their blogs. Even with small readership mainly of friends, they still get great feedback, which is a big element in developing as a writer.

[PokerFink]

James,

Many communities have local groups of writers that meet on, say, a monthly basis. There is a group called the "Nittany Valley Writers Network" here at Penn State, for example. It's mostly old people who meet once a month in the library to share what they're working on and have guest speakers. Poke around on the 'net or in the yellowpages - there's probably a group near you.

Blogs are good too, and you can always post stuff in OOT or here. I've gotten some good feedback from OOTiots on my writing.

[Go_Blue88]

i dunno, it depends on what type of story you're interested in writing. i guess put differently, if you have a really good idea, the story will prolly write itself (eg- a cool idea for a mystery w/ at least two cool characters).

i took a creative writing class here and it was alright, but i didn't learn anything too insightful.

again, if you have an idea of a really cool character, a fun idea, and some knowledge of how to write, then i don't see how you can screw up. just put your character in a crazy situation and see what happens to practice.

i know you're asking for books on writing, but i think you should read a couple of books by John Irving--his books are based on really crazy characters (at least the ones I've read).

[cbloom]

So far as I can tell it's just practice. Most real/serious writers set schedules for themselves, like "I must write 1 page each day". Many days you will just write crap that you will wind up editing out down the road, but some days you'll write gold, and over time you get better & better.

[casaubon]

As Isaak Dinesen said, write a little every day, without hope and without despair.

Just write, write, write. Get in the habit of it. Learn what works and what doesn't. For a long time, your ideas aren't going to be good, and the words and thoughts won't match. It's unbelievably frustrating.

Over time, you'll start to learn how words work, how sentences work, how commas work, and how they build something. It's very much a craft, and it takes a lot of time and patience to even start getting good.

Find a network, whether a blog that some friends read, or a class, or a group that meets once in a while. Getting feedback is hugely important, because so many times, you'll know what you're trying to do, but you're not going to be getting it across to others. You'll need to see your stuff through the eyes of someone who doesn't know what you're saying, but wants to.

Finally, most importantly, read more than you write. Read great stuff, of course, but read the borderline, or even cr@ppy stuff too. With the bad stuff, you'll see the mechanics. There won't be much art to it, so you'll see how the thing gets built, what works, what fails, where things breakdown.

Good luck. It's incredibly rewarding once you get there, but the work is daunting, to say the least.

[adsman]

James,

Read George Orwells Collected Essays. Specifically, 'Why I write', 'The Prevention of Literature', 'Politics and the English Language', and 'Politics versus Literature'. They can all be found in the one volume.

Any would-be writer who hasn't read these doesn't know his craft and is just a pretender.

Writing is a lonely business. At the end of the day you have to just sit down and write. Find what works for you, every writer is different. Find one person whose opinion you greatly respect and get occasional feedback off them. Show nobody else your work - you will be deflecting from the main issue which is writing.

Write for yourself. Do not write for acclaim or praise, you will be writing for the wrong reasons and it will show in your work.

Treat your reader with intelligence. Leave things unsaid but implied. Don't ram everything through their skulls with a four by two alla Dan Brown. Hemingway and Greene were masters at this.

Write short sentences. Persevere.

[Roan]

Disclaimer: I am not a good writer, but at times in my life I have tried to be. Here are a few things that help.

1) A Copy of Strunk and White goes a long way to making you seem like you know what your doing

2) On Writing Well helps to keep you on task and exposes you to a wide variety of ways to approach writing

3) I try to carry around a notebook for when I hear an interesting turn of phrase or situation that I think would make a good topic

4) Read - Self explanatory, but dont just read stuff you like, read something that is a "classic" but that you dislike and try to find out why it is regarded so highly