Post by Amry on Jan 31, 2009 20:52:34 GMT -5
So I know I've mentioned this at meetings, but it's a cool thing and I'd like to discuss it further, so I'm bringing it here. It's group writing and prompt writing, whether separately or in conjunction. Here're my thoughts on it, and I want to hear yours!
GROUP WRITING.
This is pretty much the only way I write right now - in a group. For those of you who read "Prayer" on the showcasing board, it's an example of that. My writerly friends and I get together and create these enormous universes to put our characters into, and then write them and expand them with our writing. There's no limit to what we can do, and our characters and settings get extremely developed this way. "Prayer" is set in our fictional city Carbon, which has been in development for over two years and is so much it's own world that I could write a novel set there without ever running out of material for it. Gillian and I designed a 'verse with a love story - we designed two gods who fell in love, wrote the rest (or one small part, anyway, because it's enormous) of the pantheon, wrote Heaven a history, and then attached the accompanying religion to several stories we'd written individually and created a multiverse.
This is fun and great brainstorming because you literally never run out of ideas. In linear writing - like a novel - a lot of time is spent staring at the paper/screen, wondering what's going to happen next. Because these universes aren't linear, you can pick a place in the character's timelines and simply write them without stress. Bored with one character and want to write another? Go ahead. Think it'd be great if these two people in your head met? Design them a niche in the universe and let them go. Need some character development but your character's own world isn't testing him enough? Put him/her in a 'verse that will and get to know them better. Got a totally cool scene in your mind? Write it out. Need a starting point for a short story? Bounce off something in the multiverse. This makes writing every day downright easy.
Group-writing is also fun because you always have someone to read what you wrote who will enjoy it as much as you do. Carbon has its own LiveJournal community where we post what we've written for it; it's a lot of fun to write something you're proud of and have someone reply to it with an accompanying story or just squee at you over how OMG HAPPY they are to see you writing something with the characters they designed.
PROMPT WRITING.
You all know prompts, of course. Gillian posted all those awesome photo prompts and Hutch gives us cartoon prompts and picture prompts every meeting. They're awesome because they give you a starting point that's totally open to interpretation.
My universe-writing friends and I pass these around all the time, and it's been keeping me writing pretty much every day. The prompts might be 'verse names or character names; they might be song lyrics or just random words thrown together. Once Gillian and I collaborated to write short pieces about our divine couple for every single song by Vienna Teng, and within a few weeks we had written dozens. Some of them turned out really, really well.
I love prompts most in conjunction with group writing, though. Together, they ensure that my inspiration never dries up. If I want to write but don't know what to, I'll ask someone for prompts. They'll throw me four or five, and I can pick and choose how many I want to use and what I want to do with them. It's a lot of freedom, but just specific enough to provide ideas. If you can't find anybody to give you word or picture prompts, there are entire websites devoted to this, with enormous tables of prompts and randomizers to help you pick out a few.
SO, YEAH.
Anybody else done this kind of writing? Any other world-builders or LJ-comm prompt-scourers on here? Anybody interested in trying either of these methods, possibly at future meetings or with fellow club members? Ever written anything awesome on a set of prompts or got a killer awesome world you built just for your characters? Share!
And if any of y'all ever need word prompts, I'm here for you. XD Message me or something. I love 'em.
GROUP WRITING.
This is pretty much the only way I write right now - in a group. For those of you who read "Prayer" on the showcasing board, it's an example of that. My writerly friends and I get together and create these enormous universes to put our characters into, and then write them and expand them with our writing. There's no limit to what we can do, and our characters and settings get extremely developed this way. "Prayer" is set in our fictional city Carbon, which has been in development for over two years and is so much it's own world that I could write a novel set there without ever running out of material for it. Gillian and I designed a 'verse with a love story - we designed two gods who fell in love, wrote the rest (or one small part, anyway, because it's enormous) of the pantheon, wrote Heaven a history, and then attached the accompanying religion to several stories we'd written individually and created a multiverse.
This is fun and great brainstorming because you literally never run out of ideas. In linear writing - like a novel - a lot of time is spent staring at the paper/screen, wondering what's going to happen next. Because these universes aren't linear, you can pick a place in the character's timelines and simply write them without stress. Bored with one character and want to write another? Go ahead. Think it'd be great if these two people in your head met? Design them a niche in the universe and let them go. Need some character development but your character's own world isn't testing him enough? Put him/her in a 'verse that will and get to know them better. Got a totally cool scene in your mind? Write it out. Need a starting point for a short story? Bounce off something in the multiverse. This makes writing every day downright easy.
Group-writing is also fun because you always have someone to read what you wrote who will enjoy it as much as you do. Carbon has its own LiveJournal community where we post what we've written for it; it's a lot of fun to write something you're proud of and have someone reply to it with an accompanying story or just squee at you over how OMG HAPPY they are to see you writing something with the characters they designed.
PROMPT WRITING.
You all know prompts, of course. Gillian posted all those awesome photo prompts and Hutch gives us cartoon prompts and picture prompts every meeting. They're awesome because they give you a starting point that's totally open to interpretation.
My universe-writing friends and I pass these around all the time, and it's been keeping me writing pretty much every day. The prompts might be 'verse names or character names; they might be song lyrics or just random words thrown together. Once Gillian and I collaborated to write short pieces about our divine couple for every single song by Vienna Teng, and within a few weeks we had written dozens. Some of them turned out really, really well.
I love prompts most in conjunction with group writing, though. Together, they ensure that my inspiration never dries up. If I want to write but don't know what to, I'll ask someone for prompts. They'll throw me four or five, and I can pick and choose how many I want to use and what I want to do with them. It's a lot of freedom, but just specific enough to provide ideas. If you can't find anybody to give you word or picture prompts, there are entire websites devoted to this, with enormous tables of prompts and randomizers to help you pick out a few.
SO, YEAH.
Anybody else done this kind of writing? Any other world-builders or LJ-comm prompt-scourers on here? Anybody interested in trying either of these methods, possibly at future meetings or with fellow club members? Ever written anything awesome on a set of prompts or got a killer awesome world you built just for your characters? Share!
And if any of y'all ever need word prompts, I'm here for you. XD Message me or something. I love 'em.