{ ＩＮＫＬＩＮＧＳ v.4 } A Thread For Writers

[The Worst Username]

and i feature middle-easterns quite a bit too because i feel they have such a rich culture that people overlook because it's tainted by terrorism

Have you ever read The Kite Runner? It's a fantastic book about people living in Afghanistan, and besides featuring the culture that is usually drowned out in books by terrorism, it has a great cast of characters. Plus, the writing is beautiful.

[blackbird.]

Have you ever read The Kite Runner? It's a fantastic book about people living in Afghanistan, and besides featuring the culture that is usually drowned out in books by terrorism, it has a great cast of characters. Plus, the writing is beautiful.

i have, actually! and watched the movie too. you're absolutely right, it's utterly fantastic and well-written, and i love the fact that it deals with such heavy topics of redemption and friendship. i like that it doesn't "fluff" the violence that happens there, it's just right in your face because that's how it really is. a truly accurate portrayal of the horrors of war and the destructive force of terrorism.

another novel that i personally feel emphasises culture more heavily is persepolis by marjane satrapi. it's an autobiographical memoir written in a graphic novel form and it depicts the iranian culture so well. one of the big ideas in the novel is the iranian vs the western culture so it's definitely going to feature lots of the iran and its culture. satrapi's purpose of writing it (or one of it) is to show the iranian culture, and to show the world that the iranian culture is more than just terrorism and fear. many forget that one of the ancient civilisations is persia, and so its culture and history is incredibly rich!

[Pyjaks]

The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani is another really good novel that has an emphasis on culture! It's about a young woman in 17th century Iran who uses aspects of traditional Persian culture to help her get through some pretty rough times. The writing is beautiful.

thank you 10th grade art teacher for giving me that book ahem

[The Worst Username]

Have you ever read The Kite Runner? It's a fantastic book about people living in Afghanistan, and besides featuring the culture that is usually drowned out in books by terrorism, it has a great cast of characters. Plus, the writing is beautiful.

i have, actually! and watched the movie too. you're absolutely right, it's utterly fantastic and well-written, and i love the fact that it deals with such heavy topics of redemption and friendship. i like that it doesn't "fluff" the violence that happens there, it's just right in your face because that's how it really is. a truly accurate portrayal of the horrors of war and the destructive force of terrorism.

another novel that i personally feel emphasises culture more heavily is persepolis by marjane satrapi. it's an autobiographical memoir written in a graphic novel form and it depicts the iranian culture so well. one of the big ideas in the novel is the iranian vs the western culture so it's definitely going to feature lots of the iran and its culture. satrapi's purpose of writing it (or one of it) is to show the iranian culture, and to show the world that the iranian culture is more than just terrorism and fear. many forget that one of the ancient civilisations is persia, and so its culture and history is incredibly rich!

I'll have to check that out! Thanks for the recommendation.

The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani is another really good novel that has an emphasis on culture! It's about a young woman in 17th century Iran who uses aspects of traditional Persian culture to help her get through some pretty rough times. The writing is beautiful.

thank you 10th grade art teacher for giving me that book ahem

That sounds really interesting. Three cheers for your art teacher.

[Heavenly paws]

Have you ever made a drawing or painting that influenced your writing--by this I mean inspired you to make a new character in your novel, a new plot twist, even a whole new story?

Haha, yes. I have seen plenty of art that made me write whole new stories!

[Silverhart]

Have you ever made a drawing or painting that influenced your writing--by this I mean inspired you to make a new character in your novel, a new plot twist, even a whole new story?
Like most of the people here it seems I more often draw scenes or characters that I've already written or outlined. But on occasion I have sketched out a random character or scene that inspired a story, or scene.

How is your writing influenced and inspired by visual art/sculpture?
I'm an extremely visual person and like to write and illustrate comics, so what I see and observe of others' styles goes into that, of course. When it comes to just plain writing I try to apply the observational skills I use in art to writing. When writing certain time periods I find that the art from those periods is extremely enlightening and inspiring, especially folkart. I also like writing characters who enjoy creating.

How is your writing influenced by movies, music, and other art forms?
Well, I think everyone is influenced by the media around them. We take the stories we see and hear in film, and music and painting and we build on it. I've often sat, listening to music and envisioning scenes of my characters. I sometimes do that with film too, but much more rarely (anyone else like listening to movie trailers and revision them with your characters in the roles? Yeah. I'm such a nerd XP). I think the real influences are things we can't even put words on. It's like when a song, or a film, or a painting just moves you, and you're not sure how or why, but you just feel powerfully inspired. It's like finding an important part of yourself that you knew was there but couldn't put into words, and now you've found those words. It's the best feeling.

What is a flaw one of your characters has?:
Most of my characters tend to be extremely prideful. Like a lot of people, they find it hard to admit when they're wrong, and often delude themselves into believing that they're right, often hurting those they care about. This seems to be a theme in my stories.

How diverse are the characters in your story?:
Wherever possible I try to shake things up by adding characters of many different nationalities, cultures, races, faiths, genders, abilities, beliefs, orientations, personalities etc. If it doesn't negatively effect the story, why not change a character's race, or gender or whatever to something else? Or why not take a culture or faith you're not familiar with and make a story about it? I think both are great ideas.
Since I do write historical fiction it can sometimes be a bit tricky, depending on the exact era, and location, but it's not impossible, especially with larger casts. My current novel takes place in 18th century lowland Scotland, and has a very small cast of characters, so there's not a lot of variety to be had there in terms of say, race. But the characters offer up many different opinions and views, hold vastly different values and beliefs, and all come from very different backgrounds.

[Aliria]

How is your writing influenced by movies, music, and other art forms?
I tend to get a lot of ideas from books I read, and sometimes movies/TV as well. Music doesn't usually have much of an effect on my ideas, but a lot of my characters have a theme song or three.

What is a flaw one of your characters has?
I try pretty hard to make my characters have plenty of flaws. Let's see... Milo's very shy and tends to be extremely passive instead of actually getting things done. Ty is very attention-seeking and tends to get into a lot of trouble for the sake of fun. Lennox has a lot of issues which I can't figure out how to put into words right now. Victoire is extremely shy and withdrawn. Cress is an annoying little know-it-all. Dart is extremely immature.
Then there's Aria, who is like 90% flaws. She is trying to do the right thing the whole time, but doesn't really have any clue what the right thing is. She's overly violent, doesn't have much of any empathy, somehow simultaneously hates herself and thinks she's better than everyone else, and a lot more.

How diverse are the characters in your story?:
My characters tend to all be white, which is definitely an issue. I'm working on it, but to be perfectly honest, I'm not doing a great job.
I have a lot of queer characters - in fact, I often have to force myself to not make everyone queer. Except then I'm terrible at writing romance so there's usually no way for readers to actually tell my characters aren't straight. Oh well.
Quite a few characters have depression and/or anxiety. A few have other mental illnesses, but I mostly stick to the stuff I know a decent amount about so I don't accidentally do anything offensive. I don't have a huge number of characters with physical disabilities, but one of the major characters in my current story is mostly deaf.

[The Worst Username]

I have a writing challenge!

This is something I did a while back when I was going through a block. I took a story I wrote in about 500 words, then I tried to rewrite the same story with very, very small word limits.

So, here's the challenge:

1. Find a story of 400 or more words that you've written--or even that someone else has written; credit the author.
2. Rewrite that story in 100 words.
3. Rewrite the story in 50 words.
4. Rewrite the same story in 30, then 10, then 5 words.
5. Write the entire story in just one word. Post it here if you want to.

Here's mine (I couldn't find the original):

100 words
Siokul curls up into herself as sweat glues hair to her skin. The moon paints the jewel-clad wolves in front of her with white light. “I—I’m sorry that I left, Mama,” she says, “I’m sorry that I ever left home. I’ll never see you again.” Her voice is barely there, and just as well; no one is listening.

The great horde swells around her, snarling. She watches their leader approach: a white dire wolf, wearing sapphires. The image of his eyes gleaming in the moonlight freezes in Siokul’s mind as he leaps toward her, claiming the first bite.

50 words
And so the Tijalkians approach; Siokul believes that she is done for. They swell around her, a great horde of jewel-wearing beasts, and each one snarls. Their leader comes up: a great dire wolf, white-furred and wearing sapphires. His eyes gleam in moonlight. He takes the first bite.

30 words
Siokul is surrounded by Tijalkians: done for. They swarm her; the leader approaches her. He is white, wearing sapphires, and he glows in the moonlight. He gets the first bite.

10 words
Tijalkians surround Siokul; their leader attacks and gets first bite.

5 words
Surrounded by Tijalkians; leader attacks.

1 word
Savagery

[blackbird.]

The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani is another really good novel that has an emphasis on culture! It's about a young woman in 17th century Iran who uses aspects of traditional Persian culture to help her get through some pretty rough times. The writing is beautiful.

thank you 10th grade art teacher for giving me that book ahem

ooh, sounds fantastic! i'll definitely check that one out.

[Greenleaf]

@Worst: wow, that was super nice! :D I always have trouble writing flash fiction but you did it marvellously.

1. Find a story of 400 or more words that you've written--or even that someone else has written; credit the author.
2. Rewrite that story in 100 words.
3. Rewrite the story in 50 words.
4. Rewrite the same story in 30, then 10, then 5 words.
5. Write the entire story in just one word. Post it here if you want to.

I'm going to go with The Hunter. An old piece, but it should work for this, lol.

The Hunter

100 words
It is cold and dark, and his beloved is waiting at home hungry. He levels his rifle for a shot, but a sudden cry startles him and sends the deer fleeing.

"You have no place to - " he snarls, then stops. The young girl that has appeared is frightened and terribly lost.

--

The woman, standing at the door of a ramshackle cottage, chokes. "My daughter is dead."

"No, she's right - " But he turns, and sees no one.

--

The grave is old, crudely but lovingly marked. His coat, given to her, rests upon it, and a faint breeze caresses his cheek gratefully.



50 words
He levels his rifle for a shot, but a plea for mercy sends it wild. The deer escapes, and he finds a young girl instead, scared and cold in the night-veiled forest.

He helps her home, but she disappears. He then realizes she had never been alive in the first place.
(I'm counting night-veiled as one word lol)


30 words
He aims, but misfires when a cry sends the deer fleeing. The child that emerges needs help finding home.

He misses a vital fact, instead finding her grave, lovingly tended.


10 words
Aims, but shot goes wild. He helps her home instead.


5 words
Missed shot leads her home.

1 word
Closure.

10 and 5 just sound like murder or something, rip.