I used to write macabre/weird fiction. Pan paperbacks used to publish an annual horror anthology called Dark Voices (it began life as the Pan Book of Horror) and I got a short story published in that, which was very satisfying. But I now write crime fiction, which I find amazingly rewarding. All of those hidden motives, the secrecy of apparently normal people with warped minds and how they justify their actions...and that's just the publishers! I haven't had anything published in that line yet, but I'm going to give it a go.

Don't ever give up on your writing! If your novel ended up taking an unexpected turn you can go with it and see what happens. A lot of fiction is written this way, where you ride the story as it evolves and use your instinct to guide it or interpret what happens and develop it further. I wrote a novel a while back to see if I could do it (short stories are a different breed entirely) and all I started with was a situation (a young petty thief being dumped by his girlfriend) and took it from there. Three and a half weeks later I had a 50k + novel that felt like a gift. I just wrote what the story needed each day, hit my daily word quota, and there it was, done. I've reread bits of it since, and while it won't ever challenge Tolstoy, its really not bad. With some reworking it might even become half decent.

The other popular approach is to make extensive notes and blueprint the novel, but that kind of saps the pleasure of discovery that I enjoy. I'm yakking like I know what I'm talking about here, but my personal experience is that I like to just sit down and see what happens. A bit like going to the lavatory, I suppose, except you end up with something you'd like to keep and might even show to your friends. That's a truly dreadful analogy, but it does sum up the fun I get from the process. Find some characters you like, let them do some interesting/entertaining things, and you never know, they might end up taking you on an enjoyable journey. This, at least, is what I've found.

Wow, you have an interesting artistic path !
I would have loved to be a scenic artist :-)
And what do you write ?...

You have also been gym instructor ?... what haven't you been yet ? :-D

The problem is not really what people might think ; it's just... people. I'm afraid of unknown people.
I'm afraid of what we see on TV, we hear on the radio, or read on the Internet. Our society is full of self-centered and ill-intentioned people, and with the economic crisis it's getting worse and worse... :(
Staying in a room with unknown people wouldn't make me feel well... (I'm a bit claustrophobic too)... I think I'll try to walk instead. Outside. :)
Anyway, the less I go out (alone), the more I am afraid to go out... I really should work on that. :-|

What is Bf?
Here it's hovering between 35 and 40 MPH.

-17C here winds about the same as yours. Not real unusual for January but fortunately we only get 10 days or so that are this cold. Problem is snow is coming and with the wind and cold it gets pretty miserable. My nerves are still chewing at me today and being housebound is a bitch. :/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaufort_scale
Puts you at 7-8

dis sit iz frnt fer loomynarty!!
GOG haz 3 lettrz triangl haz 3 sids=loomynarty comfirmed!!!
realiz da trhth pps,loomynarty exsts
liek if u cri evrytim

I've been a member for years, wanna join? ;)
I'll dream about the Indian girl now. ;)

Aww he's so cute! :)

That's great, I'd love to get something published but I'm a bit rubbish at short stories (mainly keeping them short... my story lines tend to span multiple novels). I've never been much of a reader of crime novels, but I know I couldn't write them. I think it's quite a talent to be able to keep the reader guessing right to the end, and it's one I don't think I have. I hope you have success with it.

I haven't quite given up (on that novel yes, but not on writing), I just put a lot of work and effort into it and found it wasn't really going to work out as I'd intended. So then I was going to do a rework and wrote about another 20k words in chapter summaries and character outlines etc. but found I no longer really liked the story and it didn't grip me any more.

But I've got a world in my head just begging to be written about, but I'm using it as a setting for my game first (programming comes much easier to me) and hopefully will write some stories in it once I've developed it a bit further.

I've tried both the planning and just letting it flow methods and not had too much success with either. I find I'm able to write if I just sit down and let it come, but then I struggle to take the story anywhere. So I try planning it and end up with a fleshed out idea but not able to write the actual story... I'll get there eventually though, it's definitely on my list of things I want to do.

I understand your feelings completely. I try not to look at the news - I used to read/watch the news stories as a way of preparing/arming myself for potential attack. There are so may ignorant morons out there who only want to cause harm, but the more I watched the more depressed it made me, so I stopped. I now exercise by walking and/or doing things at home and this suits me well. If you want to swim and have friends or family to go with then that would be ideal, but I imagine going alone would make you feel vulnerable. Walking in a group is very enjoyable as well as good for you. My girlfriend and daughter like walking in the countryside but I worry when they are out without me. I like organizing it so we can all go out together, that way I feel they're safer and we can get some healthy exercise at the same time. I like picking places where people don't go - I don't like large groups. If I can find somewhere like that, then I'm happier. I've got the kind of mind that remembers all of the bad crime stories and I see danger all over the place. Its good for my writing (I write crime fiction) but it doesn't help when I'm out of the house. I choose when and where to go and who I want to go with, and then I feel more relaxed. Its a shame to be over-cautious, but society has gone that way and you have to adapt to it. But there's still a lot of good stuff to do ;-)

Mornoon, Agent !! :))
Too bad I can't watch your video with sound ON at work...
(is it Chandler from Friends ? õ__õ what is this movie ?...)

Wow... We have many aspiring writers on this forum !! :-)

God must like me, when I went out to tend the animals he turned the 1 foot visibility into 2 feet! XD

I bitch and moan but I really do love it here. That being said I'm not stepping foot outside until tonight when I have to put them to bed.

Yes, it is. The movie is "Almost Heroes" directed by Christopher Guest. It is a spoof of the Lewis and Clark expedition.

I wouldn't have said it better...
I used to go to swim with a friend, but I changed job a few months ago, and we can't meet at lunch time as we did before...
I don't think we can be "too" cautious... sure it makes ourselves miss a few things, but I wouldn't want to loose everything... I'm afraid for the kids, above all...
Having said that, I must acknowledge that there are good people too, who worth to be known... :)

These are all experiences I've had, literally to the word. Creativity is such a personal thing, we're like pioneers of our own method of doing it. It comes if we stick at it, at least that's what I've found.


Back in a while - my head has started to pound and my stomach's joining in...

Sometimes it’s a good idea to do some sort of “blueprint” for your story writing, especially if you plan to publish your work, as readers tend to notice plot holes and inconsistencies. I haven’t published a novel yet, but all the successful writers I’ve met have warned me about making sure to tie up loose ends as much as possible, or readers will complain and write to you to point them out.

I’ve been working on a series of fantasy novels for over a decade, developing over 300 characters (over 30 main) and multiple worlds. On each world, I’ve had to name continents, oceans, mountains, rivers, and the cultures that inhabit those lands, as well as doing a 5000 year history for each world, to give life and purpose to the peoples there.

I’ve even created the prehistory as an outline (another series perhaps) of the events that lead up to the story being told in this first series. It is a huge project, overwhelming even, but nonetheless rewarding just working through all the thousands of short stories, much of which readers will never read, as it is mostly foundational work to help me keep track of who is who, and what is what. It is very much like weaving a tapestry.

My only advice to aspiring writers would be not to choose to write a series of novels as your first published work... and, always try to finish what you start. ;)