A Healthy Dose of PMS ~#

[Psychotic Maniacal Sanity]

I was thinking so, yeah. :3 I also want to bring the characters back to Cassie's original home at some point, perhaps as she goes back trying to find something, evidence or whatever, to go to the police with. But, of course, they get found there.

Bahaha. Now I have it in MY head.

I think a series like Ochrasy needs a pretty hefty introduction, though. You've invented a lot of stuff that readers could have problems getting into if you don't give them a proper intro. But I guess it's all about striking that fine line, because you don't want to end up with info dump. Is there no way you can start small, and end the first chapter or two with an action scene? That way the readers get a little information (or whatever) and then go on to see the action so that they know what kinda stuff is coming...?

Bah, I don't know. It's a very complex problem. X3

Edit: Also, I think I'll probably be around in AIM a little more now that my work has died down somewhat. Although I have to stick to a sensible sleep schedule (damn classes) so I'll be going to bed around 11pm my time. Will I catch you online at all? =D  

[Da Flea]

I had a whole response typed, and Firefox crashed and ate it. emo

It seems to me that if Cassie's involved with a thief, she wouldn't want the police involved in her life, although I guess that's not an option, since they must know the husband is dead and she's run off. XD But I could see that working, actually, if the police and gang were tracking her, and then Carmen knows so well how to avoid detection... ninja

I think I'm just calling everything in the first quarter of my novel 'intro', which does make some sense, but it's still funny to see them all listed like that.

Ochrasy isn't really as big and impressive as I'd like it to be. I've been reading those Forgotten Realms books, and their world is insanely complex. Makes Ochrasy look like a finger painting. In... words. Erm. Yeah. D=

I've tried several different ways to open. Using the rats in the theatre would probably turn away a lot of readers, just because of how weird and confusing it is. I thought having Descartes and the sparks was a nice intro to a foreign place, but overall, the response to it wasn't that good. o_< Trying to make a Maven chapter with action presented its own problems. Now, the new first chapter begins with a battle between the soldiers and an ether beast... I'm trying to tack on a small, quiet scene with Maven and Spaz. Then it would go to the action scene and hopefully get people hooked? Bleh. I dunno.

I'll turn AIM on, and I should be around most days, unless the weather turns nice and I get ambitious enough to mess around in the garden. XD  

[Psychotic Maniacal Sanity]

That's kind of my plan! Carmen should be a good character to play with, I think, because she'll have a lot of skills that, to Cassie, seem insane. Being a thief she'll be good at keeping hidden - but Cassie will also jeopardise that, since she'll be pregnant/have a kid in the later scenes, baha.

I always liked the idea of starting with Maven and Spaz. Especially because I like Spaz a lot. Personally, I liked the early beginning scene I read (I think that was Maven and Spaz, wasn't it?) because it intrigued me. But I also love the idea of the rats. That would make me want to read it more than putting me off. But I can understand why it might not appeal to everybody. whee  

[Da Flea]

Yes, small children are far from the stealthiest of things. XD

I'm not sure which ones you've read. I know you saw the very first bits of Ochrasy from way back, but after that... Although I'm not sure if you can judge the opening chapters, since you know stuff about the rest of the series and are already attached to some characters. The opening has to appeal to all the people who are picking this up between their rereadings of Twilight. rolleyes

Random: My governor has given himself emergency powers. Ultimately, it will include the ability to take over any town he deems to be in "crisis", dismiss its elected officials and hand ownership over to any individual or corporation he likes. Welcome to the land of the free. D=  

[Psychotic Maniacal Sanity]

I SWEAR I replied to this. Perhaps I just didn't hit enter. xd

That is, indeed, the truth. It could be fun to play with.

That's a very good point. I don't know if I could ever judge it from a realistic distance since you have spoken to me quite a lot about the series. Although, having said that, I still don't know that muc.? The problem, as you've said, is the Twilight generation. XD I've just given up.

I had a chat with a girl from my creative writing class today. She's really nice, but I'd never thought of her as a particularly 'good' writer from what I've seen in class. Yet, today she told me that her grades are on average 10 marks higher than mine in creative writing. I feel disheartened. If she can score these marks, then why can't I? Her work is often silly and trite (quite fun, I guess - hardly ever serious), and her characters don't ever develop. Her plot is pretty good, but it's not exactly anything I've not heard before. You know? I've never had feedback enough to tell me what's wrong with my writing - and when I say that I feel like she should get the same grades as me makes me sound really conceited... I'm not saying I'm good at writing, I'm saying that her writing doesn't usually seem any better than mine, and she still scores SO much more highly. Graaagh. >____>

Oh. Dear. That sounds horrible. D= I don't want to know any more!  

[Da Flea]

Most days, I'm not sure I even know that much about Ochrasy. rofl It's still slowly evolving in my head. A big problem is that I first intended it to be a little surreal, not matching up with realistic science, politics or economic development but kind of... not allegorical but... something. XP But as it's gotten bigger, I've had to make it a bit more realistic, and now I have some things that just won't fit. The timeline and history of the cultures is a total mess that I've pretty much given up on. *dies*

Speaking of messes, I'm trying to stitch together the first chapters from a mix of old and new prose. Please, kill me now. gonk

I don't think writing quality determines grades. Actually, grades don't seem to bear any connection to life, in general. It could be that what she writes appeals to the teacher more, or they just plain like her. I know that stuff isn't supposed to matter, but it does. o_< Maybe they are grading more on solid plotting, regardless of the rest? Like it doesn't matter if it's generic, so long as she's got a completed product?

Anyway, I think all writers feel that way. We're either in awe of someone else's greatness or we're thinking 'They're not that great...' We can't just be neutral. XD

Isn't the whole point of the class to get feedback? =/ Well, if you need an opinion, I'm always available to give feedback, even though my uneducated thoughts aren't worth much. XP

And here's a page of inspirational famous people, which might be more helpful - http://www.des.emory.edu/mfp/efficacynotgiveup.html I think my favourite might be Walt Disney, who was fired by an editor because he "lacked imagination and had no good ideas". rofl

I thought you were coming to America for the culture? XP It'll be fun. You can see how fascism starts. In Texas, they're passing a law that all voters have to have photo ID - but if you have a conceal-carry gun permit, you're exempt. Meanwhile, an official from NPR just had to resign because he made the horribly offensive remark that the Tea Party was a bunch of gun nuts. Oh, irony.

PS: I've had AIM on from about 11am my time until like 11pm. Are you not online at those times, or is my AIM broke? o_<  

[Psychotic Maniacal Sanity]

I've been on AIM this last few days. A lot. I was beginning to worry about mine being broken. xd Maybe we should both re-download or something?

Bahaha, Walt Disney. Thanks for that link. It's made my day. : D

Yeah. I guess that my classmate does often end up with something generic but totally complete. She has confidence in her ability to finish things (and I mean REALLY finish, you know?) whereas I'm always worried that my work will never be finished. Never be quite done. >___> Oh well. Maybe I'll do better in my script writing class? Who knows? Although, probably not. But, yeah...

I think that what I've heard about Ochrasy is amazing, though. I often find myself thinking about it. You write so well. <3

New and old? I can only imagine how hard that is. I find it difficult reworking week-old stuff. gonk

Your feedback is always helpful. You're more helpful than a lot of my teachers! Your feedback is insightful. They just say "Yeah, good. Not what I wanted to read, but I guess it's... good..." D= At least on the whole. Feedback at university is overrated.

Culture is fine. But what I REAAAALLY want is... Well, I dunno. I guess I'm hoping somehow that living abroad will heighten my insight into the world and make me better at writing and understanding people. Or something like that. Baaaah. Life.  

[Da Flea]

My work never IS finished, so I don't have to worry about it. I know it as fact. XDD

You think about Ochrasy? Quick, give me some ideas. I needz moar! domokun

I used to write well. Now if I manage to get a paragraph out, it's a miracle, and the writing itself is total crap. D=

Didn't I say something like that before you even went to uni? XD If there's one thing I did learn there, it's that you're better off learning to educate yourself. It seems counter-intuitive, but personal time is the time to learn and practice and worry, then university time is where you put on the Confident Face and act like you know what you're doing.  

[Psychotic Maniacal Sanity]

XD I wish I could finish, I really do. I mean, these days I can't even finish first drafts. I struggle an awful lot for no reason other than I guess I just don't have the time that I used to. Or the motivation.

To be honest, I just wonder how it's turning out. I've not read enough of it to be able to give you ideas. You should let me read some, and then I might be able to. ninja

Yes, you did say that. I should have listened. xd You're often right. The problem is, I was hoping that it might help me with the whole formal feedback side of things. I think that maybe I've gotten better at accepting feedback, and figuring out what parts of feedback are useful, but that's probably about it. My grades aren't improving, I still can't figure out what seminar leaders want from me (and therefore figure out what I SHOULD be writing, if you know what I mean... XD) and I'm not any more confident. In fact, since coming to uni I've lost faith in my ability to write. One teacher said that there was "signs of talent" in my work, but that they were buried. Or something like that. I don't know what that means. Does he mean that if I just did what he wanted I'd have 'talent', or does he mean that it's buried so deep it only SMELLS like a flower but doesn't have any chance of ever being anything more than a pile of dirt? >_>

Oh, dear. I should stop rambling. There's a creative writing scholarship on offer, for a 1,500 word piece of fiction. I'd like to enter, although I know I don't have a chance in hell of winning. The prize is £1000, which shows just how little of a chance I have. But, I feel like I'll never stand a chance of winning anything if I don't give things a shot... 1,500 words isn't very many, though. And March 31st is coming up quickly. =S  

[Da Flea]

I lost the ability to just sit down and write a long time ago. I can remember the early years when I'd pump out thousands of words without even realizing it. They'd all just flow. Now it's like I have to hunt and search for every damn word. What's that word, that verb that signals existence? Oh yeah, 'be'. They be walking... Wait, no. They ARE walking... Yeah. Wait. I shouldn't start a sentence with 'They are'. *dies*

Nuu. None of my writing shall ever be seen by the eyes of anyone. Ever. XDD

Have you tried going and asking the teachers about your work outside of class hours? If they're worth anything, they should be more than willing to schedule a private meeting to talk about where your strengths and weaknesses are and where they think you need to go next.

I was about to say that much wouldn't cover even a week, but then I remembered you're not in the US. XDD 1500 words isn't very much. I'd never make that limit. o_o; But if you have time and an idea, you should go for it. No harm in trying, right? domokun


PS: You probably don't know who Joe Dirt is, but you were totally asking for this. XD

 

[Psychotic Maniacal Sanity]

Graaaaaagh. Our internet has been down for the last 4 days because of "area problems". Wtf? Hopefully they'll have fixed it soon. Finding a computer on campus is like trying to hang yourself with a strawberry lace. gonk

I feel like if I thought more about my words maybe I'd write better. But if I think then I stop. And if I stop, that's it. So I just go and hope that my words are the right ones. Although usually they're not. D= Ha.

XD I know that feeling very well. I hate handing work in to be marked even here, when I'm PAYNG for it.

I have talked to teachers one on one before, but mostly they focus on a specific piece. Maybe I should see if I can schedule a meeting with a teacher who no longer teaches me. He always gave good feedback, and I guess it doesn't matter if he doesn't have the time. :3

I don't have an idea. Yet. I'm sure if I think hard enough I can come up with something. But, because it's for a memorial scholarship I want it to be better than just coming up with "something", y'know? I want it to be good. >___> Damn.

I think my brain broke. xd  

[Da Flea]

Mmhm. That's how education kills writers. XD They take people who had the heart to do it, then load them down with doubts until that's gone. The only ones who survive seem to be the people totally brainwashed into the academic, literary stuff, or the genre people too stubborn to believe they're anything but awesome. So quick, pick one of those paths and stick with it! ninja

Trust me, thinking about words doesn't make them better. In fact, it probably makes them worse. XP I only think because I have to, my brain works in jerks and starts, stopping in mid-sentence and leaving me hanging. Then I HAVE to think, but if you don't have to, then for goat's sake, don't. Write first, think later. Well, unless it's a little structural planning to make sure the plot points are right. I guess that thinking should be done first. Then the writing. Then the rest of the thinking. dramallama

Maybe it's because the teachers haven't seen enough of your writing to make general statements? Or they're confused about what feedback you want. Or they just think analyzing the one piece will translate to all the writing. I dunno. Teachers are complicated. =P

omfg. They're remaking ThunderCats. Seriously? Like we seriously don't have anyone with any new ideas? We've gotta keep remaking old crap? D= Blergh. Well, maybe it'll be good... At least it'll be a break from the endless sea of Caucasian action heroes? (Symbionic Titan just had an episode where the white princess brings education to the black tribespeople. Nevermind that this is an alien planet. Royalty is white. Natives are black. It's just how the universe works. rolleyes We'll also overlook how this creates totally the wrong impression of what Western imperialism was really like for native peoples... Whitewashed history? Yes, plz. I'll take some of that.) Yeah... I should stop ranting now. XD  

[Psychotic Maniacal Sanity]

I'm SO sorry about how long it's taken me to reply. gonk Combination of stupid internet trouble, and then directly after that I realised that I had far more work than I'd planned for. >_>

But, the biggest of those tasks is done, now. So hopefully I'll be around more again. I swear, university will be the death of my online social life. I just don't ever seem to get more than 2 or 3 minutes online at a time! D:

It's sad that they're remaking Thundercats, though. Seriously. You'd think with all those starving authors out there they could find somebody to write a good, new, original screenplay. whee  

[Da Flea]

Flea demands updates! domokun  

[Psychotic Maniacal Sanity]

I'm sorry! I don't know what's been going on.

Mini update: new novel started. I will say more if I keep writing. X3