{ ＩＮＫＬＩＮＧＳ v.4 } A Thread For Writers

[Captain Peregrin]

Do you like "classic" books? Why or why not?

Yes! Probably at least partly because I started getting into them well before high school without being assigned them xD I totally understand why people who only experience, say, The Scarlet Letter or Of Mice and Men as a high school assignment would hate Nathaniel Hawthorne and Steinbeck - a high school assignment on a book that I LIKED (Call of the Wild) made me start hating it. But we had a ton of old books just lying around when I was growing up (we inherited part of my grandpa's library), one computer, and no gaming consoles. I didn't like all of them, of course (I didn't even comprehend all of them), but it accustomed me to old-fashioned writing styles.

[bee buzz]

Do you like "classic" books? Why or why not?

I suppose it depends on your definition. Regardless, yes. I haven't particularly found a piece of work I didn't enjoy in some way or other. If I can't engage in a works immediately, I put it down. If you refer to things like War and Peace and To Kill a Mockingbird, then absolutely, Some of my favourite pieces.

[Woogwoo Wren]

Do you like "classic" books? Why or why not?
Depends which one. Pride and Prejudice, which I'm half way through for school and am considering giving up, is boring. But ones like Anne of Green Gables I love.

[frankie (dup)]

Do you feel you have any writing quirks?

Hmm... the way I write flashbacks, maybe? This is how I write it:

-Character reflects on events-
-Small break as character reacts to these events in present day-
-Back to flashback-
Character reacts to events in present day-

I don't always do this, of course! In entire flashback chapter, I'd just say how long ago it was and jump right in.

How would you go about writing about a sensitive topic (mental health, some kind of trauma, etc)?

Similarily to watermelon here. I'd drop hints about a mental illness or roadblock. (MDD or a period of depression, as respective examples) and then confirm it.

As for trauma, I'd probably write it as shock or numbness. With first person perspective, short, blunt paragraphs filled with thoughts and emotion. Something like this:
I stared at the roof all day that day. Bathroom breaks were rare, and I barely ate or drank anything. I felt hollow as if my heart were as cracked as my parched lips.


For third person, I'd write something similar. It's hard to explain, so this is what it would look like.
Isaiah did nothing but stare at the roof of his bedroom. He rarely got up to use the bathroom, and eating and drinking became so infrequent that walking out of his bedroom was a struggle.
He felt hollow, empty as if his heart were as cracked as his parched lips.

And the reveal would go something like this. (Still same character, same situation.)
They say the first stage of grief is denial, and I can testify.
I couldn't believe that Malini death was a murder. It had to be a mistake, a bad dream.
Malini Chaudhari had died in a freak accident... right?

Now I wasn't so sure. Especially now that I was going to court. I was a witness, they said. Even though I had no recollection of Malini's murder that night.

In third person, it might be a character preparing to tell Isaiah, then the lead-up. In first person, I'd probably write something like this.

I saw Fausta running up to my house, and I opened the door before she even reached the porch.
"Malini!" She shouted, grasping my shoulders.
"I'm not Malini," I said, my eyes wide.
"I know that! But Malini... it wasn't an accident, Isaiah!"
She didn;t elaborate, just passed out in my arms.

A police vehicle pulled up to my door and the man who'd been so kind after Malinia's death stepped out.
"I'm sorry, Isaiah," he said. His eyes were red and puffy, he'd been crying.
"Your friend..." he coughed."She was murdered."


...I have to write this now, don't I?
Yeah, I do.

[Ranger of the North]

What's a story that has changed your mind about something?
Neither of them have changed my mind, exactly, but The Shack by William P. Young, and The Book Thief by Markus Zusak really helped open my eyes to things and helped me understand parts of the world a bit more. c:

1. How would you go about writing about a sensitive topic (mental health, some kind of trauma, etc)? Would you be starkly honest or upfront, or do you feel you'd hint at the subject in a way that lets the reader know what's happening, without going in to detail?

It depends on how I'm wanting to affect people, to be honest... I think I'd mainly be upfront, but depending on what message I was trying to get across I might be more subtle. It depends on what subject I was writing on, too. So yeah, there are a lot of variables and I don't really know :p

2. Do you feel you have any writing quirks? If you've ever read Wintergirls, for example, the author uses strikes, repeated words, capitalisation of some things and imagery for some things. I really love that kind of writing and I've found myself working it into some of my pieces - not all, it just doesn't work with some stories. If you do feel you have some, what are they? What do you think influenced them and how do you feel they help further your story?

I don't really know... I feel like it would be easier for different writers to spot my quirks and vice versa, tbh :p However, I do really like imagery — love vivid scenes. And emotions are good, too. I've also started experimenting a bit more with M-dashes, too, 'cause I'm really liking the emphasis they can give. I don't know if any of that ^^ would really count as quirks, though? *shrugs*


Do you like "classic" books? Why or why not?
I don't know if I've read very many, to be honest '_' And 'classic' is a pretty broad term, too, which makes it harder to determine XD But the ones that I've read were... interesting... that's for sure. :p The style back then seems rather bland and dry and more tell-y than show-y, to me, but the... I guess the stories between the lines are pretty brilliant; they stick with you. c:

[frankie (dup)]

yo! it's been a while since ive posted here,
but I wanted some opinions on this poem
I wrote a while ago. it's simply called
if only, and it bears a pretty serious
tone to it.

━━━━━━━━

If only I could release every wretched
twisted thought condemned
within my bellowing lungs

If only I could glare deeper
past the exterior of the skin
to snap apart the bones inside

If only I could release my words
from my swollen throat
onto your limp skin

if only I had the courage
to tear this world apart

Creepy but cool! It feels like there's some other message behind it- do you remember what got you write this? Did you just come up with it or did something inspire you?

Soooooo, I'd like to do an interest check on this:

On the Sims Writing Forums, there are these things called Reading Circles. It's a group of 4-10 members, who each give the story link they'd like to have up. The rules change depending on the circle leader and size, but usually, it's a cycle. First week/day/month/Blahblahblah, they read and discuss Story One. Then the next cycle. Story Two.

In some circles, the author asks the Circle questions about their story. Other times, the author selects a host.
So, to sum it up, it's a book club. :p

Maybe PM me if you want the link to it? Don't want to advertise here.

[Nocte Luna]

So I'm trying this whole 'finishing my book after a long hiatus' thing. It's going alright, I haven't written anything new yet (and I haven't written poetry in months either, yikes) but I'll get there. I just have to plow through - so seeing everyone here after months and months really makes me motivated to actually put out content instead of just making excuses for not writing.

Do you like classic books?
Literary canon is totally my best friend. As terrible and horrific as some of the books are, they're also incredibly important novels that are part of the canon (or more 'classic') for a reason. I adore some of the canon for the way novels are written, and when I was re-reading books from the canon from a literature class, I found my writing was influenced a lot by some of the elements writers used - different syntax or setting novels versus character novels really changed my writing.

Do you feel you have any writing quirks?
Oh yes, definitely. There's one author in particular (or maybe multiple) that I draw from that gives my writing a very grammatically wrong but more unique style. I honestly can't remember who it is, but I've been thinking more about how my sentences are structured and some can be a little odd. I also use a lot of interjections - note above my use of parentheses and dashes - which I suppose could help my writing, however, I can get a little short and choppy if I try and focus too much on keeping my sentence lengths varied.

How would you go about writing about a sensitive topic (mental health, some kind of trauma, etc)? Would you be starkly honest or upfront, or do you feel you'd hint at the subject in a way that lets the reader know what's happening, without going in to detail?
This is a really interesting question, because I think I try to be very cautious and politically correct author who doesn't want to offend readers, but I do also have stories to tell and I want to tell them using things I've experienced myself or using experiences that I've learned about from acquaintances. I definitely think I shuffle around these topics, but perhaps when I start to go back to revise my novel I'll go in depth about the depression my main character struggles with and make it more obvious and speak more clearly about it. Maybe it can be considered a 'technique' that many of us chose to make subtle comments about sensitive topics, because then only those who read our works at a 'deeper' level will understand? I think it could have some advantages for more careful readers with that sort of mindset.

[The Worst Username]

@Luna

Hey, welcome back to the thread! Good luck finishing the story.

Oy vey, that's a lot of questions.

Do you like "classic" books? Why or why not?

That really depends? To me, a classic is anything written between 1700 and 1970 that didn't necessarily reach success in its or our time, but it probably did. I like a lot of classics (e.g., 1984), but there's also plenty of ones that I hate (e.g., The Outsiders--cannot stand The Outsiders). I'm planning to read more "adult" classics like War and Peace, The Iliad, The Odyssey, and Grapes of Wrath if I ever have enough mental capacity to do so, but right now, I'm a bit young to wrap my head around most of the books considered "classics".

How would you go about writing about a sensitive topic (mental health, some kind of trauma, etc)?

For goodness' sake, if you don't have a personal experience to draw from, then research. Read books and articles by people who have the mental illness/traumatic past/whatever about said mental illness/traumatic past/whatever. Learn about symptoms, treatments, what people go through everyday, what lasting effects the mental illness/trauma/whatever have on people's lives.

Do you feel you have any writing quirks?

I use a lot of repetition (e.g., "she's dead, she's dead, my little girl's dead"), plus a ton of commas in most scenes and choppier sentences in action scenes. Lots of description and weird metaphors. I almost always write in present tense. Way too many semicolons, way too many expletives in first-person. Sometimes I'll write an action scene like "blah blah blah description and feelings blah bl--(new paragraph) action what the heck is going on"

There's more, but I can't think of them right now. I'm not sure what influences them, but most of my quirks end up putting focus on certain things.

[starstuff]

What's a story that has changed your mind about something?
For sure, A Wrinkle In Time greatly changed my mind about the universe, and how life works. I definitely recommend it for anyone, especially if you are into science!

Do you feel you have any writing quirks?
When writing, people always tell me that I have a way to really detail what's happening and make the reader sort of feel as if the are in the story. So my writing quirk is detail! Does that even count?

Do you like "classic" books? Why or why not?
I love the classics! Its always nice to go back and read them and see the early styles of writing. Not only that, they actually have good plots! Even though most people give them bad reps of being boring and all that.

[TheSongOfTheStars]

What are you inspired by?
I've noticed that recently, real life experiances are fairly inspirational. I take a situation I or someone I know has been in, then put my characters in it.
What's a story that has changed your mind about something?
Hmm, I think Enigma changed my ideas of how a villain should be portrayed. But really, I can't think of anything right now.

Do you like "classic" books? Why or why not?
Depends, a lot of them, like Newberry award ones, are boring. I realize that they're for children, but they honestly aren't really that great. And some of the others, like To Kill a Mocking Bird, I feel like they got attention because they put a minor situation that no one ever really thought of putting in a story at the time, but really it was a lot more about Boo Radley than social injustices.