What are you writing?

Oh well, this topic may be a complete and utter dud, but as I suggested yesterday, it seems to me that a lot of teachers in China fancy themselves to be writers.

I think that ericthered wrote at the start of the year that he was planning to do something with his novel, and I'm presuming that The Hiphoppopotomous is someone else that if he's not a writer, flaming well should be.

Maybe if people are writing stuff, we can encourage each other and even buy each others stuff, (as long as it's available for a fairly cheap price to download on to our Kindles etc).

Even if you're writing for fun, stick it on a blog or qzone, let us see.


I would suggest one thing. No criticising each other's work. This isn't American Idol.

So, I'll start off, just by telling you about an idea that I'm putting together at the moment; a crime novel set in China. A foreign teacher is found dead; apparant suicide, but the protagonist isn't so sure.

I know it sounds shit, but parhaps I'm deliberately omitting mentioning the elements that I hope will raise it slightly above toilet seat level.


 

I've been working on a dystopian novel for a year about a city where there is no daylight anymore. Got totally stuck to be honest, I didn't plan it properly and it's really hard to get all the ideas to tie together.
Also I stopped enjoying the book after a while and at the moment I'm eeking it out page by page

2 things I've learned are
1) that you really really need to plan properly, my plan was a couple of hours writing an outline of the plot and ideas, but I think I might have to go and do a 'play by play' plan of what will happen to make it work
2) it's really really difficult to write a novel. I think that mine is too ambitious for a first attempt, but even with a simple story, to make a plot and have it start and finish etc is tricky

I am currently trying to get at least an hour of writing stuffed into the daily schedule. There are several stories in the works. I find that writing anything, be it short stories, novellas or novels, all require the same thing: planning. As for what to write, I generally have one aim, namely to write something I would pick up in a book store. I like the weird, the odd, the strange. I do not, as such, judge a book by the cover but more the title. Most of the great books I have read I have come across due to the title. For instance, "Stories from the Reading Room of the Transylvanian Society of Science and Exploration" would be a book I would immediately pick up. I was recently reading Kurt Vonnegut's "Bagombo Snuff Box' and found his rules for writing rather cool to follow. I would add one rule to his, the rule that you should write something you yourself would read.
I am currently writing "Jack Ketch and the Disappearing Island", featuring the last in a long line of executioners/assassins employed by the British Crown, mad scientists, Atlantis and a cabal of resurrected criminals from history, Jonathan Wild, Dick Turpin, Jack Sheppard and so on.
"The Jupiter Report": the observations made by an alien on Earth.
"The Emperor's New Clothes: The Untold Sequel": Never wondered what happened to the boy who said "he's naked"? Or the fate of the swan who was bullied by all those ducks? Or the fate of that boy who liked to cry wolf? Well, I have and I am trying to write their stories.

Haruki Murakami's book about running and writing has some really good advice about writing in. That thing that eric said about making sure you do it every day is great advice I think. Murakami says he spends at least 3 hours a day at his desk, but that's his day at work so I suppose that's a lot for us amateurs

I stopped doing it every day cause I had a lot of part time work on and other stuff and it's much much harder to write when you aren't in any sort of rhythm...

I don't know, I'm thinking of getting into some freelance writing for extra money or some creative writing, just because I like it.

I'm currently outlining my next project here: http://alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=266576&page=2

(Caution: Nebulous Chinese and Soviet history involved).

A few years back, I self-published a facial massage manual based on the acupuncture points, facial typography and the meridians.

However, more recently I've been hashing out an outline for a series of themed gluten-free, vegan recipe books. My aim is to accomplish at least one task a day. It may be something as simple as researching a new recipe or getting in the kitchen to test out an alternative to eggs, or thinking up a fresh angle to a new chapter. The point is that I do something everyday so I don't stagnate and loose interest in the process. And that's what writing is to me. It's just anther facet of the creative process. So, it doesn't matter if I'm painting, writing or cooking, it is all part of the creative process.

Edit: I work hard at staying positive too. It's really easy to start with negative self-talk. Being consistent with positive self-talk requires a lot more effort. So, I listen to motivational speakers and try to put some of their stuff into practice. The motivational speaker of the minute is a guy named  Brendan Burchard. http://www.brendonburchard.com/videos

Zombie Story.

It had to be.

I can see the commentary on the story...but not the story itself. Am I missing it...or is this just a commentary on a work in progress?

 I had a friend who wrote zombie stories set in Bangkok. China also has the potential to be an intriguing setting. 

 After a year of procrastinating and not doing any new writing work except for revisions, I finally gave myself a boot in the ass and got started a new project. As I mentioned in another thread, it's about the 80's punk scene in my hometown of Victoria, B.C.

 I got the idea last year while talking to a friend who used to run an underground club out his basement. He promoted hundreds of (illegal) all-ages gigs and drew bands from as far away as Toronto and Texas. The dude has STORIES.
 
 He still lives there, but he told me last week it's getting torn down. So...it's now or never.

 It's going to be a lot of work. I still haven't really settled on a structure, but I know I'm going to have to do a lot of legwork, interviews, etc. One of the reasons I wanted to do this was because I thought it would be fun...and it WOULD be if I had time! But, I figure I can save myself a lot of time by doing e-mail interviews when possible.

 Anyways, I'm glad to be doing something new for a change.   

I can see the commentary on the story...but not the story itself. Am I missing it...or is this just a commentary on a work in progress?

The writing doesn't exist yet. What's in the blog is me kickstarting the engine. Rather than hold on for the story to present itself fully formed to my waiting fingers, which will never happen, I decided to think out loud and let that show me what comes next. I think it'll probably be, um, amateurish, but I don't mind. A mountain of crap is still a mountain.

I had a friend who wrote zombie stories set in Bangkok. China also has the potential to be an intriguing setting.  

It's probably really a foreigner story. Same difference maybe.  

After a year of procrastinating and not doing any new writing work except for revisions, I finally gave myself a boot in the ass and got started a new project. As I mentioned in another thread, it's about the 80's punk scene in my hometown of Victoria, B.C.

 I got the idea last year while talking to a friend who used to run an underground club out his basement. He promoted hundreds of (illegal) all-ages gigs and drew bands from as far away as Toronto and Texas. The dude has STORIES.
 
 He still lives there, but he told me last week it's getting torn down. So...it's now or never.

 It's going to be a lot of work. I still haven't really settled on a structure, but I know I'm going to have to do a lot of legwork, interviews, etc. One of the reasons I wanted to do this was because I thought it would be fun...and it WOULD be if I had time! But, I figure I can save myself a lot of time by doing e-mail interviews when possible.

 Anyways, I'm glad to be doing something new for a change.  

Sounds super.

Boy Meets Grr


So you all can say you knew me when.

I seem to be out of step here, the only one writing non-fiction.

I've got a technical paper in cryptography that I'm working on. The basic ideas have been online a while http://eprint.iacr.org/2008/473 but a much revised and extended version is coming soon.

I also do quite a bit of editing on various wikis, mainly Wikivoyage. One there that is nearly all my text is http://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Retiring_abroad Ones that I've contributed heavily to & that need more contributors include http://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Xiamen & http://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Teaching_English

I so desperately need to make more time for my writing schedule. I want to finish putting together my poetry project that I started almost 2 years ago. Would also be nice to finish those unfinished novels. Even after 8 months, I'm not quite used to this ridiculous work schedule (good thing I like my job).

It's all about a memoir for me. So I'm living it now (and taking copious notes as I do) and then someday when this adventure is all over, it will be time to do the blood, sweat and tears.

Aside from that I write kids books. Have two published already and hopefully more to come at some point in the future!

Not sure if yli would welcome me hijacking his thread, so I'm going to hijack one of my own.

I've done one of those reddit things. http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmAFiction/comments/1awljj/fic_iama_i_am_an_expolice_detective_and_current/

Maybe even more of a cliché than Yli's, but fictional detectives need to stick fairly near to established territory.

Chanhonam made me realise that I need to do my homework and read up on any Chinese crime fiction I can get my hands on. Difficult to get hold of translations, but it would definitely help to get a clearer idea of police and criminal procedures.

I am going to ask the local PSB some background questions, but there's probably more chance of them panicking and refusing my next visa than being invited to drive round with them.

^ re: that, I don't know if he's any good, but Qiu Xiaolong writes dick stories. Iz already English too.