Guided Prompts

So I have a fun idea to get away from the blank page syndrome (a.k.a. writer's block, a.k.a. I-dunno-how-to-start-this-really-cool-idea).  Looking back at my writing history I realize that I write better (or at least more profusely) when working off a prompt.  This is why Role Play story writing is so successful.  Each time you interchange with a partner, it is essentially them giving you a prompt.  For any of you out there that might not know what Role Play (RP) writing is, it is just as the name suggests.  You write (in third person) the experiences and thoughts of a single character performing an act or a series of acts and then you have a writing partner have their character react to what you wrote.  It's a fun back and forth that is not only great writing practice but wonderful at helping you build and develop characters.  One of the reason's it's so fun and so successful is because you are kept wondering what your partner will write because that is your next prompt.

Back when Yahoo!360 was an active site (may it rest in peace), I used to write a few short segments based on prompts I found on sites like Writer's Digest.  One such story was about a person receiving a text from an unknown number.  I pumped out a generous amount for such a tiny prompt and had thoughts to even take it further.  Now, when I say 'prompt' it doesn't necessarily have to be 'It was a dark and stormy night when Mrs. Winters went outside to look for Pooky and found...' like that.  I mean even a self prompt like 'what would I do if I won the lottery.'  Things like that to get the juices going.  And this brings me to the point of this blog post: guided prompts.  If you have an idea and you want to write about it but aren't sure how to get started, try prompting yourself into scenes.

I have an android piece that I am itching to work on and so far I have about five different beginnings, all of which I despise and I know that it's because I'm putting too much pressure on myself to make it 'perfect' and I'm not letting myself just relax and write (which is kind of the point of writing, right?).  So what I'm going to do is give myself specific prompts.

Idea: Dystopian Android Tribe

Prompt: Leader of Android Tribe comes across a dead human.  What does he do?

Prompt: Androids find a baby and attempt to raise it.

Prompt: Androids think of themselves as 'living,' how do they react when someone tells them they have no value and are just pieces of machinery?

Prompt: Show the androids breaking or following the three laws of Robotics.

Prompt: Do androids really dream of electric sheep?

Prompt: It was a dark and stormy night... wait... no, I meant: one of the androids falls into disrepair, how do the androids react to the 'death' of one of their own?

These are all scenes that could potentially work themselves into the book, but the real purpose of these prompts is to get me somewhere in character and plot development and, ultimately, to get words on the page.  I will most likely be answering some of these tomorrow and posting them on my Gurgle Burp blog.   I know that the idea as I've written it is very vague (trust me I do have a bit more of a plan in mind than just that), but if you have any prompts for that idea, please post them and I will attempt to answer them as well!  Prompts are fun, dang it.  They shouldn't just be used to generate ideas, they can also be employed to fuel ideas that are already hatched and eager for development.

Amanda LaFantasie (Skoora) © April 2013

Online, long distance workshop idea.

One of my goals is to set up a workshop for writing. For myself as well as my writing friends, I hope to create and build a strong support group where we can bring our stories and ideas to the table. A place where we can relax, be at ease, set aside our egos and help each other with constructive feedback, creative brainstorming, and that pesky thing called grammar. 

  

My proposal is to start small and simple. Each of us picks a short story we want to work the kinks out of or need some help with. We send it to all members of the group by a certain date and we look over each story over the course of a month or four weeks. After the four weeks/month has passed e-mail our edits back to the story owners and we agree to a date and time to join each other on a Google Hangout, one I will set up, where we can discuss each story. After the session we can add new stories to be looked at while we make edits on the discussed stories and so forth you get the idea and I am really flexible so long as we keep some structure. 

Reason for Goggle Hangout. Not all of us are in the geographical location and using this service will allow us to get together without having to shell out money to meet. Also, I've used it before to chat with family and I've seen where you can add multiple people. 

The reason for meeting once a month: We all have other things in our lives that demand our attention aside from writing. I feel a month gives us enough time, without rushing us, to really looks at each other's work without scrambling to get it done along with everything else we have to do. With this I am also flexible. If someone needs to turn in a story or submit a story, we can bring it up with each other or we can also postpone the monthly meetings to give us more time. 

If this idea is something any of you are interested in, please comment below and we'll get something set up A.S.A.P.

A Lesson in Discouragement

In reading Edo Van Belkom's Writing Horror, I have come across a very interesting, though completely logical, idea.  The author of the writing guide talks about how he always tries to discourage amateur writers from continuing seriously in the craft.  His thought process if that if one man can discourage an ambitious writer to abandon their dreams then those weren't really their dreams, were they?  His point in all of this is that, as writers, we will be subjected to massive amounts of criticism, rejection, ridicule, and other forms of discouraging verbal abuse.  A real writer deals with this in whatever way works best (maybe they have a few minutes for a pity party), then they push forward and continue on writing, revising, rewriting, editing, submitting, and preparing themselves for a brand new round of rejection.  

The lesson in all of this, is to persevere.  If you are a writer - a blogger, an essayist, a novelist, a poet, or even an aspiring columnist - then you can't let anyone or any group discourage you from what you really want.  Thicken up your skin if you have to, and keep your rejection letters in a folder that can be easily thrown away when it becomes too overwhelming.  And also remember that rejection doesn't necessarily mean they don't like it - it just means your story is not what they are looking for right now, so either wait until your story is what they are looking for, or send it somewhere else where it will be better received and get your butt going on a new project.  So next time you're in a class, a writing group, an open mic night, or chatting in a forum and someone says that you should throw in the towel, just shrug it off because the only person who can make that decision is you and, if you call yourself a writer, then you've already made your choice.

Amanda LaFantasie (Skoora) © 2012

Taking a giant wall of paranoia and turning it into a stepping stone...

The Siamese looks like Pandora- a kitty I used to have.

On of the things my friends and family can safely say about me, at least those who really know me, is that I am generally very paranoid. I would say I have been blessed with a healthy dose of it, my paranoid parents might also say so, but others might frown on the extent of this particular trait. Lately I think I've decided that I should be a little less paranoid in one respect of my life and that just so happens to be my writing.

In such I've decided that part of my problem is that I am not getting the feedback that I need. But what to do? I've been around enough thieves and criminals in my life to be suspicious of every one's motives -I am being very serious here- and thus I narrow my eyes at the thought of letting people I'm not close too read anything but fan fiction, especially other writers. I'm not trying to be mean or make anyone think that I couldn't trust them, it's just well, I'm damn paranoid. 

Still, I need the feedback so I am going to have to start trusting people sometime, somewhere, and somehow. I am starting with Skoora and then I will branch out. 

But me reaching out for feedback isn't a one way street. I would like others to trust me enough to let me give them feedback as well. And as paranoid as I am of my own writing being stolen or abused, I really do understand another having the same feelings.