A Suggestion for Todd, Andrew, Purgatory, Tall Allen

It's a great idea - I get a lot out of feedback from fellow writers. Because I write longish novels, it probably leaves me out. I've been trying to find some fellow novelists locally, but now I'm thinking that social media might be more fruitful. Thanks for the suggestion!

Tim G –

Well! You do me honor in suggesting that I might have something to contribute to the literary efforts of some of the talented writers here.

While not a writer myself, possibly I may have some small library experience that might enable me to make a comment or two within such a literary circle formed here. But the true talent and creativity within such circles always lies within its writers, not its critics.

All I can say is that it is an intriguing suggestion, and I am certainly interested to hear the opinions of others as to how we might proceed here.

Interesting!

Todd1963 said...
I am simple living life and letting people know they should try to live it too.

A more powerful story than all my creativity...

81GyGuy said...

All I can say is that it is an intriguing suggestion, and I am certainly interested to hear the opinions of others as to how we might proceed here.

There are a number of ways of doing this on-line - Facebook group, Google group sharing with google docs, blog site (private if needed), and even one place I know of that has a writer's forum where I think I could beg for and get a sub-topic started.

I've also seen a few "cancer survivor" writing sites and a large number general writers support groups.

The real problem with a writers group is getting a committed leader and a core group of people contributing to the group. In my experience critical mass for such a group is usually 5-8 active members.

In the back of my mind I've had the thought of making the effort of collecting stories and editing them into a book or on-line resource. I've also had the thought of driving up to Todd's place with my computer, camera, microphone, and making him write/tell his story (same with David and others). Sadly, my day job just doesn't give me the time at the moment to do or lead that kind of thing and I have other conflicting priorities.

sigh ... so many worthy projects and not enough hands to do them.

Still, if anyone has writing about PC they like to get feedback on, feel free to email me and I'll do what I can.
Peace,
Andrew

Hay-- sum if us kud rite to, yu now

Mel

u r a gr8 riter 2? some kind of special code talk? don't get it

Andrew said –

"texting speak, it's how the young ones in my office would write on their smart phones"

The accepted term that seems to be emerging to describe this form of written communication is "SMS language" (or "Short Message Service Language").

It seems to be a contemporary phenomenon, developed in recent years and continuing to evolve. The Wikipedia article below about it is very informative (actually, probably telling us more than we really want to know) and describes the various aspects of it (linguistic, cultural, social, etc.), emphasizing that in its current form it is virtually a new form of English language dialect:

/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_language

Purgatory might be especially interested in the section (page down in the article) on "SMS dictionaries," which cites (and translates) some of the more common SMS language "words."

Tim:

Congratulations. You put "mathematician" and "politician" in the same sentence, and it had meaning.

Mel

so what kind of novels do u rite Purg???

Writers write...dreamers dream...dreamers write...writers dream...is there a better... no letter appear..a share encased... without a face... lint of lace...taste of tounge.. mind undone...no one won...skin of the rind... wrap no bind.. taught hard fought...gleaned by all...more those distraught...elementary...Whot?

Mal: so good to see you around, my old friend. Hope you are faring well.
----------------------------
Bolo:

First published novel was Christian Historic Romance (based in part on a true historic event)

Second: Historic Romance (also based on a true event)

Third and most recent: Supernatural/Horror - definitely R rated or higher
------------------------------------------------------------
The romance stuff is too easy to write, if I wanted to (and I don't) I could honestly crank out 6 titles a year without breaking a sweat. On the first one, I wrote the last chapter first, then the first chapter, then filled in the middle. Yes, weird, but works for me. All you do in that genre, is give the reader what they are looking for, too easy.

My horror book was the real me, my real style, and the book wrote itself over about a six month time period.

One of my writing quirks, is that I never, ever, re-write. Not counting grammar and spelling errors, what comes out the on the first draft is the final product. I really think through ahead of time, of what I am going to write. There have been times that I will have an entire chapter pre-written in my mind, the hard part is the time it takes to get from my head via the computer, though it beat the old day when all my writing went from hand written to an old school electric typewriter - that was drudgery.

All writers have their own style, best writer's book I ever read/owned was Steven Kings, "On Writing", I believe is the title.

Been doing creative writing since age six, when I published my schools first ever school newspaper (1958). I still have the letter from the Superintendent of Schools for my efforts. And that's how it began for me.

bolo,

never understand, when some writer's go on about how they labor for hours over a single sentence or paragraph. I don't get that, but accept it may be that way for some.

never suffered from classic writer's block, i'm either in the mood or i'm not. problem is I haven't been in the mood since my last book was published. I tend to write in spurts when I am on a project, typically 3-5k words at the time per day. The average paperback book is around 75k, if I were motivated, I could write that in a month or less. Perhaps one day, I may go for one more.

One ideal I can't shake (have had it for at least 8-10 years) is a novel based on the Iraq-Iran wars of the late 70s and early 80's, but from an Iranian perspective. Don't ask me why this interests me, and not sure how much of a market there would be on such an obscure subject.

The other one that keeps floating around, would be titled "Widow's Walk", another horror slash supernatural book.

My last book, "Cold Spots", was based in part, on true local stories of how haunted the colonial house we bought back in 1985. House was built in 1765, and was originally a tavern house on an old coach road. When I purchased it, it had been on the market for 4 years, and according to the realtor, I was the only person that requested a showing, as the locals were too terrified of the house. The previous owners got so spooked, they moved out, leaving everything, and I mean everything but the clothes on their back, and refused to ever step foot in the house. They paid the mortgage for 4 year, while renting an apartment 20 miles away. When we moved in, still contained all their furniture, clothes, household effects, I mean everything they owned. I offered them the chance to come back and take all or whatever they wanted. They met me on the front lawn, but refused to step across the threshold or enter the house.

It was the real estate deal of the lifetime, even in 1985. Bought a riverfront colonial, about 3K square feet, fully furnished, on 2 1/2 acres of land, for 27K. We sold it at the end of 1988 for 135k cash in a fierce seller's market, having the house bid way over the asking price of 115k. Deals like that come once in a lifetime for most people.

And to answer a common question, no, nothing ever spooky ever happened the entire time we lived there. I had my wife and 3 young kids at the time. Their loss was my gain.