any of you write for real?

[uh-oh]

like english

i don't know what regular writing is called. but word if any of you do that let me know in here

im finally starting to organise my thoughts, write them down, and am gonna write my series of epic fantasy novels.

my problem is i never passed a high school level english class

so i need an editor.

in an ideal world i would write out the whole book and send a chapter or chapters at a time, in which someone who knows what they are doing, can RE-WRITE it all. not like just fix spelling, but actually write it and restructure it so it doesnt look like a retard wrote it.

just gauging interest really. i usually hound richard corey for this type of shit but he's too busy writing for a living to mess with a degenerate like me

i plan on this being my lifes work, so there is absolutely no rush, if i have to pay per chapter/section of editing/rewriting i will.

would any of you with a writing background be interested, and what type of pay would be acceptable per how many words/chapters or whatever

[PancakeBrah]

Certain

[Diode]

I WILL AUDIO TRANSCRIBE THE NEXT BOOK OF SHA'BAT WHEN IT IS READY

[Witty]

I could do it for sure, writing is all I do.

This rhyming stuff is just for fun on the side.

I have no qualifications or anything like that though.

Certain is definitely your guy, it's his profession, and he is much less lazy/less likely to be too high to help you 80% of the time.

[Lars]

yeah only Certain is the guy i know around here


i'm pretty good

but i charge

[Seyance]

I he is much less lazy/less likely to be too high to help you 80% of the time.

i'm the complete opposite.

[Witty]

i'm the complete opposite.

Are you one of those lucky souls who can write while high?

I can't....I get all my best ideas when I'm high, but I have to wait until I am not high anymore before giving enough of a fuck to actually write them down, and usually by that time it is just a vague memory of what was originally a mind bending concept.

[Witty]

Just saw oats....he could probably give you some help too, he's a teacher and stuff so he knows his shit.

[Seyance]

Are you one of those lucky souls who can write while high?

I can't....I get all my best ideas when I'm high, but I have to wait until I am not high anymore before giving enough of a fuck to actually write them down, and usually by that time it is just a vague memory of what was originally a mind bending concept.

naa, not at all.. i can always think of shit to write when i'm high, but when i start to write i also start to think why am i writing, i'm high.. then i stop and forget it all.

and i second the oats mention.

[uh-oh]

word bros

its gonna be a little while before i have any actual writings, like book wise to be looked over.

my main hurdle is there is at least 13 seperate nations involved. the problem is, i need to put names to these nations, i need to put names to the leaders, i need to develop there entire economies, i need to develop there lands, i need to develop there relations with every other nation, and stuff like that.

i want to have detailed references for every nation, and then detailed references for every character, at least the main characters of that nation, too. so when im writing i have a clear view of the landscape

cuz as it stands for example, one nation is near ruin. it has a disastrous trade agreemenet with the nation to the south, its in a constant state of war/raiding with a state to the east/northeast, and is surrounded by rivers and mountains. its farm land cant support its growing population and civil unrest is at an all time high with an all out war amongst the crime factions in the city vying for control of the slums.

like i know everything i want to do with that nation, i know its fate, i know all of its interctions with all the other nations

i just can't start writing about it until i figure out the name of that nation, the name of its leader. the name of the crime bosses. the names of there underlings. the names of the nations they war with. the names of the rivers and mountains on there border

all that shit.

thats not what i need help tho i can figure that all out. im just saying i want to have in depth backgrounds on everything BEFORE i begin actually writing. so once i have that done, then i will be looking for someone to help me edit and present the story im spinning in a professional manner that comes across as literate lol

[Eŋg]

have you ever read Gormenghast?

if your lore is going to be that deep you should probably start making notes. don't retcon. it sucks. or foreshadow too heavily -- my two pence.

i mean i'd help but yea i'm not qualified and i'm still a student so i would probably just put it off then not do it. Certain's probably the guy as everyone is saying.

[oats]

I could lend a hand, but be aware I'm prone to procrastination.

If there's any advice I'm able to give, it's to read a lot. That's the surefire way to figure out what works and what doesn't work. From what it sounds like, I think you could def stand to gain from reading the Hobbit and the Silmarillion by Tolkien, then see how all of that backstory found its way (or didn't) into LOTR.

what age group is this aimed at? is it like young adult fiction or more along the lines of fantasy for all ages? Totoro might be a good mind to leverage as well, I think he's more familiar with this type of genre than I am.

[oats]

as far as actually getting the writing done, which is no question that hardest part of writing (sitting down), carve out an hour a day and write daily on a scheduled time. That's been the most helpful strategy for me personally.

might not be the best analogy for you from how you speak about yourself, but think of it like working out. some days, you're in the zone and you have great workouts - some days, you're tired and don't really feel like it and you have shitty workouts. But you still gotta go and get it over with. There will be plenty of days where you don't feel like writing/uninspired/whatever and you start writing and it's shit, but you just gotta get through it for the sake of doing it.

[Ghost1]

Praise be to sha baat

[oats]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOTmdFw_YkM

[uh-oh]

word oats

its gonna be for adults, i mean teens and stuff can read it but its gonna be closer to game of thrones than chronicles of narnia lol

ive read a decent amount of fantasy, i always thought tolkien was the worst tho. the most boring writer of all time i could never get into the books id get a few chapters in and want to hang myself. but ive read them shannara books i forget who did those, ive read the song of ice and fire obviously, ive read the assassin novels by robin hobb and her other works, i've read alot of raymond feist and other terrible fantasy lol. a bunch iof the wheel of time books and stuff like that

thats a whole other thing i have to worry about too, is religion and gods for each people, but again really all i have to change are names i am loosely basing it off a time period of antiquity so the nations im loosely basing my nations around i will adapt there gods. but those are more names i have to think of

as far as "lore" or whatever im not delving too deep tho. this is fantasy only because its a made up world, but i plan for it to be as real as possible, the fantastical elements are purely gonna revolve around the peoples understanding of natural things. like any sorcerors are gonna be like alchemists/scientists. they aint mystically conjuring demons or any of that gay shit. no dragons. no zombies. just men and beasts. im gonna have them come into contact with chimps, and think they are demons or satyrs, like romans actually thought when they came across them. babboons will be like goblin like things, coming and stealing babies in the night

that type of shit

but no dragons, no wizardry nothing like that

just sword and shield, politics, and ignorance

[uh-oh]

i look at tolkien like curtis blow. hip hop needed him. and at the time i'm sure he was awesome. there is even some stuff that i can enjoy today.

but i cant bump a curtis blow album in 2014. like i can't read tolkien in 2014. its boring.

just a stepping stone in the evolution of something greater

[oats]

I feel you. I hated the LOTR books, but I really loved the Hobbit. I haven't read much in the genre though.

[uh-oh]

the problem with fantasy is its mostly trash

the wheel of time is really solid for awhile, but then got boring because the dude never finished it off, he just kept spinning more storylines into it until he died. and now some other dude is finishing the books so i havent cared really.

patrick rothfuss has a couple solid books out. the kingkiller chronicles or trilogy or whatever. that and the song of ice and fire (game of thrones) are probably the best out

but even they are over the top with fantasy elements. i want to stay away from that

like how every fantasy book has some dread lords type evil, the evil i want to portray is MAN.

[Certain]

Does journalism count, though? English majors would say it doesn't.

[Witty]

Does journalism count, though? English majors would say it doesn't.

Yeah but then again....who gives a fuck what English majors say?

[oats]

Does journalism count, though? English majors would say it doesn't.

isn't journalism an english major?


journalists always make great editors because that type of writing is more bound to traditional writing rules. plus nowadays with op-eds and creative nonfiction galore, journalism itself seems to be very different than it was 50 years ago. so to answer your question, journalism counts. this coming from a former "english" major.

[Witty]

isn't journalism an english major?


journalists always make great editors because that type of writing is more bound to traditional writing rules. plus nowadays with op-eds and creative nonfiction galore, journalism itself seems to be very different than it was 50 years ago. so to answer your question, journalism counts. this coming from a former "english" major.

sorry if my post offended you, i don't even know what an english major is, i just wanted certain to help uh-oh :(

[oats]

THE DAMAGE HAS BEEN DONE, WITTY.


I'm going to write a scathing poem about you, and I won't publish it until after I die, so it'll be reprinted in anthologies and collections for generations to come. The world will always have a reminder of your cowardice.

[Certain]

isn't journalism an english major?


journalists always make great editors because that type of writing is more bound to traditional writing rules. plus nowadays with op-eds and creative nonfiction galore, journalism itself seems to be very different than it was 50 years ago. so to answer your question, journalism counts. this coming from a former "english" major.

I was a journalism major. Some journalists are English majors. I agree with your point, though.

[Witty]

THE DAMAGE HAS BEEN DONE, WITTY.


I'm going to write a scathing poem about you, and I won't publish it until after I die, so it'll be reprinted in anthologies and collections for generations to come. The world will always have a reminder of your cowardice.

rhyming poem?

[oats]

I just always assumed it was a subset of English. Like you can major in English as a journalism major, literature major, creative writing major, poetry major, etc. How it worked at my school at least.

I can see you as an AMG writer.

[Swerve]

I was legit a published poet.

No troll.

That was a lifetime ago though.

[Wise Wiggles]

I could get a poem about shitting my pants published.

[Swerve]

As long as you have delicate imagery about it exiting through your rectum, I'm sure you could.

Maybe make it a metaphor for life's struggle.

[NYCSPITZ]

Na I'm the one writing thrones type shit g...

We enemies.

[uh-oh]

yours is probably GAY THO

but nah how do you approach writing something like this

im still trying to figure out the best way to organise my thoughts onto something i can access as needed

i was looking for different writing software, i mean i guess office type shit is the best. this pc im on was barebones tho so all it had was notepad/wordpad no microsoft word or nothing.

i got some libroffice writer thing that seems like its microsoft office lol

but i was wondering if theres something with like boxes, like i could make a graph with or whatever. i dunno. im probably just gonna make one in photoshop

somewhere where i can see a nation/faction and in that column i got all there characteristics, characters, foreign relations, all that. plus names of characters in each nation and all that

so when i begin writing i have the template im using there when writing i dunno

[oats]

uh-oh an endeavor like that is going to bring you very close to getting lost in squiggle town, the treacherous purgatory that has swallowed many a writer. Lately, I've found myself using a combination of character sheets and plot ladders.

Character sheets are relatively straightforward: name, age, description, how s/he speaks, how s/he is with people, worst thing that has ever happened to him or her, items in pocket, what s/he wants most in the world, and what stands in the way of getting it.

The plot ladders are really quite spare. They might have a line or two of prose, but unlikely. They have a setting, list of characters present, list of things that need to happen, and the suggestion of a hook to end it. That's it.

Most importantly, just gotta keep to a schedule and stick with it. Be disciplined and never stop working. My hiatus' from this site are usually to realign my writing effort; don't let NC take more of your writing time than this project.

[PancakeBrah]

more like pot ladders

[Sick]

uh-oh an endeavor like that is going to bring you very close to getting lost in squiggle town, the treacherous purgatory that has swallowed many a writer. Lately, I've found myself using a combination of character sheets and plot ladders.

Character sheets are relatively straightforward: name, age, description, how s/he speaks, how s/he is with people, worst thing that has ever happened to him or her, items in pocket, what s/he wants most in the world, and what stands in the way of getting it.

The plot ladders are really quite spare. They might have a line or two of prose, but unlikely. They have a setting, list of characters present, list of things that need to happen, and the suggestion of a hook to end it. That's it.

Most importantly, just gotta keep to a schedule and stick with it. Be disciplined and never stop working. My hiatus' from this site are usually to realign my writing effort; don't let NC take more of your writing time than this project.

Link me to your work, sir

oats

[Frank]

JUST WRITE YOUR SHIT IN CAPS & IMA COP IT.

[NYCSPITZ]

yours is probably GAY THO

but nah how do you approach writing something like this

im still trying to figure out the best way to organise my thoughts onto something i can access as needed

i was looking for different writing software, i mean i guess office type shit is the best. this pc im on was barebones tho so all it had was notepad/wordpad no microsoft word or nothing.

i got some libroffice writer thing that seems like its microsoft office lol

but i was wondering if theres something with like boxes, like i could make a graph with or whatever. i dunno. im probably just gonna make one in photoshop

somewhere where i can see a nation/faction and in that column i got all there characteristics, characters, foreign relations, all that. plus names of characters in each nation and all that

so when i begin writing i have the template im using there when writing i dunno

Every1 is dif. If it's Thrones type shit there's prob lots of ways u can change and bring new shit to the fore just via ur imagination. I had like 17 pgs of free flowing NOTES before I even wrote the first sentence down. Eventually you will want to structure it a little but thrones is mainly focused on telling a baller story. Write down what u think is cool and erasecorrectadd as it grows. Also fantasy stories tend either to have a good/evil dichotomy w. just and bad morality or just morality is subjective and the whole spectrum of actionsdeeds is natural (which is prob what ur doing cuz that's thrones). I would j read thrones and using it as a rough template transform it until it beccomes ur OWN WORLD.

I have 1298371237 suggestions but I wanna lift weight so imma leave u w/....

well let's send each other shit and review each other's shit once we gain some steam but also...

demand self confidence in urself and expect success...if u know ur getting published u will be motivated and happy 2 write BUT the golden nugget

Is research TOLIKEN, G RR MARTIN, JK ROWLING, any1 else u like

and create a ROUND TABLE in your mind where you have a conference w. them in your mind and they give you tips and tell u how they would write the story.

pz

[uh-oh]

word bro

i have the story itself and all that in my head. im mainly struggling putting names to everything. i was messing around all day yesterday procrastinating making a map in photshop and creating grid like things where i can easily write down the basic layout/info

i'm really struggling on names tho.

the main houses/factions/nations are based on real nations in antiquity, and the world im creating is one that leans more towards ancient times than medieval times like most fantasy. there aint any knights, or barons or any minor lordlings and that shit. i mean i guess there is but its different. theres the middle class/equite class and shit like that. but word i dunno

since each faction im loosely basing around a real nation in antiquity, i've been trying to name the nations and people accordingly

basically im stalemated at the moment cuz i can't put names to anything. none of the names feel right.

i still feel a farrrrr way off from writing anything. like you i want crazyyyyy amounts of notes, and want to write a dumbed down version of the story outline before i write it. like BLANK goes to BLANK, he's allies with BLANK until BLANK does this.

i just need to figure out the BLANKS

its rough

i almost want to just use completely random names as placeholders just so i can get the ball rolling

[Rawn MD]

@ uh-oh

sounds like u nd to visualize where ur going b4 u actually write it

try like a flow chart n sht

kinda like what oats was sayin

[uh-oh]

this is what i've been messing with these past couple days.

http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr74/uhohitsuhoh/withnames_zpsea2ebc9f.jpg

http://i471.photobucket.com/albums/rr74/uhohitsuhoh/booklayout_zpseba04723.jpg

photobucket automatically resized those, they are bigger files on my pc.

the names of the cities arent final. im struggling the most with names. but word i want to build the map of the place where this is all happening before i put a single word on a page. i also want to make the nations ALIVE. with there own agendas based on relations with other nations as well as the geography and the personalities of its main people. now when i right about a far flung nation like "batilla" i might not even right from anyone importants perspective. it might be some plebian nobody that has nothing to do with the main plots other than how they affect his life.

so him im not even worried about at this stage.

the main storyline, which nations rise, which nations fall, who wins, all the battles and how they play out and all that, is in my head already. i'll need to write it out sooner or later

but before any of that i want to have a complete understanding of each nation im creating and its main leaders and that

but word with what i have now, my next step is creating those character sheets like oats is talking about. before i do that i need to NAME the characters lol. i have an idea for the main ones based on where im taking the story. i just gotta get names down and then begin fleshing them out, there history and there etc

like all the actual writing tips help. like scheduling writing time and all of that.

but im a farrrrrrrrrrr way from actually WRITING the BOOKS. i feel like what im doing now is the hardest part.

like if i was building a house, i have the blueprint for the house in my head. i know exactly how its gonna be built, the dimensions and the looks of it. but before i draw up blueprints for the house, i need to level the ground, build a foundation and all of that shit

[uh-oh]

now as far as that map goes, im trying to make it while reading tutorials but im a noob at photoshop

all the green is basically where im focusing on. i need to put mountain ranges in, i need to put forests in, and i need to put deserts in

doing that neat and dope like is hard lol.

now you may look at the map and think wtf thats alot of land theres only 12 cities

well i don't have there zones of control yet, i just put the main settlements for each city, and with the batilla for example, they have no settlements, thats just a holy meeting place cuz they are horselords of the plains

but word, surrounding all these cities are towns and villages all under control of the main city states

thats more shit to add in.

and the more i add in

the more NAMES i need

and thats my number 1 dillemma. i know the terrain, i know how i want each nation to be, what there towns are like, what there villages are like.

BUT I DONT KNOW WHAT TO NAME ANYTHING ARHGGHGHG