writing practice
Oct. 21st, 2023 08:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
just_cydtrying to get into a regular writing habit, not just the manic brain-dumping of late.
"We should write a book!" Grace declares as I approach the the lunch table. "I mean, if Katie's coworker can publish that mess -" Grace continues, as Beth and I both squeal "The hot air balloon!" in unison. Dan, who had already become more interested in his fruit and yogurt lunch than strictly necessary, bows his head lower and becomes a telling shade of crimson.
While this is not our usual spot in the employee cafeteria, this is our usual group, and our usual conversation, picked up from the last time we were all together, or even carried over from a group chat at our respective desks. Even our lunch and seating arrangement is predictable: my leftovers and I are seated next to Dan and his yogurt and fruit, on the more easily-accessible inner side of the row of tables. Across from me is Beth with a sandwich, seated next to Grace with her fairly complex and partly home-grown salad, with their backs to the windows.
The book in question is an abysmal first attempt at fiction by a friend's coworker. I would be a bit more charitable, if only an editor had been employed in any capacity. Misuse of their/there/they're and apostrophes where they do not belong are criminal offenses in published works, and this woman should get life without parole for her bad grammar spree. No, I'm not being an elitist, because no, she was not using bad grammar to round out her characters: it was just bad writing, plain and simple. Beth agrees that had we not been passing around a borrowed copy, red pens would have been employed, and the results could have been mistaken for a murder scene.
As we continue to discuss bad grammar, bad decisions (both the author's and the character's), and the logistics of sex in a hot air balloon basket with the pilot right there, Dan keeps his head down, not contributing to the conversation. We are not excluding him; he hasn't read the book by his own choice, and he knows he doesn't really have anything to contribute, being out-numbered and out-personalitied. Is that a word? Grace and I can be a LOT, as can Beth, just at a much lower volume. Competing with that is a challenge for even the most outgoing person.
We re-direct the conversation back to us writing a book, and begin outlining the various adventures we've had since the four of us started hanging out. February 13, 2010 is the first night the four of us hung out together - the inaugural Donner Party. Wait - what? OK, I guess I need to back up a bit.
Dan had just started working with us the prior June, and Grace and I adopted him pretty quickly. He was new to town having relocated from Columbus, but from Buffalo NY, so he was ripe for picking. He was also the right kind of crazy, and knew a thing or two about cooking/baking. Without that proximity, I doubt we'd have ever spoken to him. If he had not had the perfect setup for firing rubber bands at me, I doubt we'd be best friends now, 14 years later.
Fall of 2009, I met Beth in passing in the cafeteria when she commented on my book (something by Barbara Kingsolver), and asked if I was related to Amy - they'd gone to parochial school together. Another run-in and another book, and she invited me to her book club. The were meeting at a coffee shop on the other end of town from me, but closer to where the other members lived. I agreed to give it a try. While there, Grace made an appearance with her daughters Lillian, who was getting a rare break from the hip harness, and Amelia, who had just turned three. Beth had ordered pizza from the place next door, and she called to check on the order. When she was asked to give the name, she gave the name "Donner."
I looked at her sideways - "i thought your name was Meece?"
"it is," she confirmed, "but Donner is easier to spell, and is fun if they get the joke."
The others in the group murmured in agreement as the wheels in my brain started spinning...
"We should have a Donner Party!" I proclaimed.
*~*~*~*~
Clearly, I have a lot to learn about fiction writing. the above is all pretty much true, and i get downright crazed if I can't/don't get the details right. I am also no good at story flow. i can brain-dump in a manic stream-of-consciousness form quite well, but to tell a story, to lay out a tale that's enticing and something people want to read? eesh. not a clue. I'm also not really sure how to NOT write in first person. and I SUCK at dialogue.
I found this site which is inspiring me to want to write. a new contest each week, 7 days to write and submit your story. Haven't dug much further than that, other than to read a few of one author's stories, and to be intrigued by a few of the prompts.
"We should write a book!" Grace declares as I approach the the lunch table. "I mean, if Katie's coworker can publish that mess -" Grace continues, as Beth and I both squeal "The hot air balloon!" in unison. Dan, who had already become more interested in his fruit and yogurt lunch than strictly necessary, bows his head lower and becomes a telling shade of crimson.
While this is not our usual spot in the employee cafeteria, this is our usual group, and our usual conversation, picked up from the last time we were all together, or even carried over from a group chat at our respective desks. Even our lunch and seating arrangement is predictable: my leftovers and I are seated next to Dan and his yogurt and fruit, on the more easily-accessible inner side of the row of tables. Across from me is Beth with a sandwich, seated next to Grace with her fairly complex and partly home-grown salad, with their backs to the windows.
The book in question is an abysmal first attempt at fiction by a friend's coworker. I would be a bit more charitable, if only an editor had been employed in any capacity. Misuse of their/there/they're and apostrophes where they do not belong are criminal offenses in published works, and this woman should get life without parole for her bad grammar spree. No, I'm not being an elitist, because no, she was not using bad grammar to round out her characters: it was just bad writing, plain and simple. Beth agrees that had we not been passing around a borrowed copy, red pens would have been employed, and the results could have been mistaken for a murder scene.
As we continue to discuss bad grammar, bad decisions (both the author's and the character's), and the logistics of sex in a hot air balloon basket with the pilot right there, Dan keeps his head down, not contributing to the conversation. We are not excluding him; he hasn't read the book by his own choice, and he knows he doesn't really have anything to contribute, being out-numbered and out-personalitied. Is that a word? Grace and I can be a LOT, as can Beth, just at a much lower volume. Competing with that is a challenge for even the most outgoing person.
We re-direct the conversation back to us writing a book, and begin outlining the various adventures we've had since the four of us started hanging out. February 13, 2010 is the first night the four of us hung out together - the inaugural Donner Party. Wait - what? OK, I guess I need to back up a bit.
Dan had just started working with us the prior June, and Grace and I adopted him pretty quickly. He was new to town having relocated from Columbus, but from Buffalo NY, so he was ripe for picking. He was also the right kind of crazy, and knew a thing or two about cooking/baking. Without that proximity, I doubt we'd have ever spoken to him. If he had not had the perfect setup for firing rubber bands at me, I doubt we'd be best friends now, 14 years later.
Fall of 2009, I met Beth in passing in the cafeteria when she commented on my book (something by Barbara Kingsolver), and asked if I was related to Amy - they'd gone to parochial school together. Another run-in and another book, and she invited me to her book club. The were meeting at a coffee shop on the other end of town from me, but closer to where the other members lived. I agreed to give it a try. While there, Grace made an appearance with her daughters Lillian, who was getting a rare break from the hip harness, and Amelia, who had just turned three. Beth had ordered pizza from the place next door, and she called to check on the order. When she was asked to give the name, she gave the name "Donner."
I looked at her sideways - "i thought your name was Meece?"
"it is," she confirmed, "but Donner is easier to spell, and is fun if they get the joke."
The others in the group murmured in agreement as the wheels in my brain started spinning...
"We should have a Donner Party!" I proclaimed.
*~*~*~*~
Clearly, I have a lot to learn about fiction writing. the above is all pretty much true, and i get downright crazed if I can't/don't get the details right. I am also no good at story flow. i can brain-dump in a manic stream-of-consciousness form quite well, but to tell a story, to lay out a tale that's enticing and something people want to read? eesh. not a clue. I'm also not really sure how to NOT write in first person. and I SUCK at dialogue.
I found this site which is inspiring me to want to write. a new contest each week, 7 days to write and submit your story. Haven't dug much further than that, other than to read a few of one author's stories, and to be intrigued by a few of the prompts.
