I thought I'd like to share a short story I wrote a couple weeks ago if you're interested. Hopefully you like it!
Also, I'd gladly take any comments on how to improve, so if you think of something let me know!
I thought I'd like to share a short story I wrote a couple weeks ago if you're interested. Hopefully you like it!
Also, I'd gladly take any comments on how to improve, so if you think of something let me know!
This is AWESOME, @Limitless
Loved the depth, loved the character descriptions, and I especially loved the little touches you had in there, such as the font changes. My heart went out to the main character. It's as if I've been in her position before, and thought you portrayed her emotional processing and hesitance in the new environment well. Thank you for sharing! Don't ever stop writing!
Last edited by applejacks; 01-26-2015 at 02:35 PM.
And if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow, won't he more surely care for you?- Matthew 6:30
Heyo , kid, I'm reading the thingy , great idea that you posted. I'll let you know what I think just cause you remind me of my last INFp crush .
It is a very well-written story. The person whose "work" I sent you is going to read it and send me some feedback. I will pm what he says.
“My typology is . . . not in any sense to stick labels on people at first sight. It is not a physiognomy and not an anthropological system, but a critical psychology dealing with the organization and delimitation of psychic processes that can be shown to be typical.” —C.G. Jung
I've been recruited. (I'm a book editor.)
You've got a great talent for narrating fiction. It's not something to take for granted, a lot of ppl just can't do it. To be able to narrate with a lot of deft, original twists of language and an assured tone that draws in a reader is even rarer.
I'd have to go back through it to critique it bit by bit . . . as far as story structure goes, I'd say you haven't learned that yet. The non-urgent pace and the open-endedness, the lack of a clear obstacle established at the start and uncertainly and high stakes regarding its outcome, these aren't present. So you might say that though those might also not be there yet for you were this a section from a longer-form work, the pace you establish actually is more novel-like. Which in a sense is good, because the novel is a saleable form vs. the short story.
Another feature that will improve as you further develop your craft is the avoidance of back-storying (+ explaining, defining, summarizing). Continuous action will serve you and the reader a lot better. Explanations to orient the reader can be carefully tucked in among the action, briefly. A question to ask during revision processes generally is, Can I show this in the action, show rather than tell?
I really, really, REALLY encourage you to keep writing, like, I think you could pursue this as a career, and I have read a kajillion submitted manuscripts from would-be authors over the years and I have said that to . . . no one? Or virtually no one? That is, I always want to encourage people, but probably not to this extent.
Fantastic work and thanks for sharing this.
Wow, what a great review from Golden! She knows. I just read your story and I liked it very much, too. I wasn't expecting to, either. I guess because good writing is not that common. Your story really touched me; it seemed so real. I was very interested especially because my son is a child of divorce, and I never imagined not having an intact family and for his whole childhood after the divorce (grade 2). And, not waiting for my deathbed, I always had an ache and sorrow for what he missed out on, not having an intact family. It pretty much never left me. Truly the very best thing for every child is to be raised in an intact home with his own mother and his own father. But we are in a world of brokenness and it doesn't always work out that way. My son is 18 now and seems to have made it just fine. I pray all the time for him and for whomever will be his wife, that he can have that intact family I was not able to give him.
I was glad Marlow made the friend she didn't think she needed! Hope she realizes now that while aloneness is good there can be too much of that good thing. People need people. I was always especially glad for my son's friends, even in the case of one whom his Dad and I agreed was not ideal. (I just prayed a lot for that one!).
I do hope you keep writing! Keep in mind Editor Golden's comment! Pretty special!
"A man with a definite belief always appears bizarre, because he does not change with the world; he has climbed into a fixed star, and the earth whizzes below him like a zoetrope."
........ G. ........... K. ............... C ........ H ........ E ...... S ........ T ...... E ........ R ........ T ........ O ........ N ........
"Having a clear faith, based on the creed of the Church, is often labeled today as fundamentalism... Whereas relativism, which is letting oneself be tossed and swept along
by every wind of teaching, looks like the only
attitude acceptable to today's standards." - Pope Benedict the XVI, "The Dictatorship of Relativism"
.
.
.
STATIC OVERLOAD
http://wikisocion.org/en/index.php?title=Statics_and_dynamics ?
Heyo , kid, I'm reading the thingy , great idea that you posted. I'll let you know what I think just cause you remind me of my last INFp crush .
Okay I’ll look forward to you’re reply!
It is a very well-written story. The person whose "work" I sent you is going to read it and send me some feedback. I will pm what he says.
I would LOVE that! Thank you!
It's a well-written story. I congratulate your use of language. I would remove that blank page at the end, though. (That wasn't intentional, was it?)
Oops! No, not intentional...
I've been recruited. (I'm a book editor.)This was sooo encouraging!!! Thank you, @GOLDEN! It’s so exciting to have been able to share it with you, and I’m SO glad knowing you liked it!
You've got a great talent for narrating fiction. It's not something to take for granted, a lot of ppl just can't do it. To be able to narrate with a lot of deft, original twists of language and an assured tone that draws in a reader is even rarer.
I'd have to go back through it to critique it bit by bit . . . as far as story structure goes, I'd say you haven't learned that yet. The non-urgent pace and the open-endedness, the lack of a clear obstacle established at the start and uncertainly and high stakes regarding its outcome, these aren't present. So you might say that though those might also not be there yet for you were this a section from a longer-form work, the pace you establish actually is more novel-like. Which in a sense is good, because the novel is a saleable form vs. the short story.
Another feature that will improve as you further develop your craft is the avoidance of back-storying (+ explaining, defining, summarizing). Continuous action will serve you and the reader a lot better. Explanations to orient the reader can be carefully tucked in among the action, briefly. A question to ask during revision processes generally is, Can I show this in the action, show rather than tell?
I really, really, REALLY encourage you to keep writing, like, I think you could pursue this as a career, and I have read a kajillion submitted manuscripts from would-be authors over the years and I have said that to . . . no one? Or virtually no one? That is, I always want to encourage people, but probably not to this extent.
Fantastic work and thanks for sharing this.
I actually had a couple questions for you as well, hopefully that’s alright…
I’ve taken a couple English/Creative Writing courses now, but I still have a difficult time feeling like I’m able to turn more abstract concepts into concrete ideas. They talk about developing metaphors to help represent these things, but I feel like there are a lot of different ways I could illustrate a particular concept. (Like, I could say, “love is like a pillow” or “love is when Mom cleaned up that milk stain”) So I was wondering, do you have any pointers on how I could narrow it down? (Like, should the metaphors be related to the timeline or characters? Hopefully this makes sense. I’m just wondering if when I get to this point in fleshing out a story, there would be an easier way to decide what I should do with the concepts.) For example, I’m trying to write a poem right now on “being grateful” and I was tapping into the creative flow for maybe 15 mins or so, until I realized I have to choose how to show this instead of writing “oh, being greatful is such a wonderful thing!” lol. I just walked away feeling overwhelmed and I haven’t gone back to it because I feel like I’ll just sit there not knowing how to do this.
I have a huge complicated story I’d like to write that would probably be about book length, but all my classes thus far have all focused on smaller stuff l ike poems and memoirs. It feels like a daunting task since I don’t feel very familiar with books and this story line is a really promising and interesting story, so I really want it to turn out mega high-quality. In general, are there any pitfalls that I should be aware of before starting? Or maybe any basic tips?
Also, out of curiousity, what’s it like being a book editor? Do you receive all the drafts by email or do you actually meet with the authors on a regular basis to discuss the development of the book (kind of like a music producer)?
I know these questions are a little vague, but hopefully it was clear enough for you to be able to understand!
Thanks again!!! It's made my week (as all these comments have) and it’s a comment I don’t think I’ll ever forget!
Wow, what a great review from Golden! She knows. I just read your story and I liked it very much, too. I wasn't expecting to, either. I guess because good writing is not that common. Your story really touched me; it seemed so real. I was very interested especially because my son is a child of divorce, and I never imagined not having an intact family and for his whole childhood after the divorce (grade 2). And, not waiting for my deathbed, I always had an ache and sorrow for what he missed out on, not having an intact family. It pretty much never left me. Truly the very best thing for every child is to be raised in an intact home with his own mother and his own father. But we are in a world of brokenness and it doesn't always work out that way. My son is 18 now and seems to have made it just fine. I pray all the time for him and for whomever will be his wife, that he can have that intact family I was not able to give him.@Eliza Thomason, I’m really sorry to hear about how you’ve worried about your son but I’m SO glad he seems to have made it through alright!
I was glad Marlow made the friend she didn't think she needed! Hope she realizes now that while aloneness is good there can be too much of that good thing. People need people. I was always especially glad for my son's friends, even in the case of one whom his Dad and I agreed was not ideal. (I just prayed a lot for that one!).
I do hope you keep writing! Keep in mind Editor Golden's comment! Pretty special!
It’s helpful getting all this external input since I’ve never actually had that before (except for family) and I’d always wondered where exactly I’d measure up in the writing world. I’m so glad you’ve liked it and especially am happy to hear you were able to feel like you were experiencing what Marlow was going through, since that was probably my main goal through it all!
Thanks for taking the time to reply and offer me a glimpse into a day in the life of a book editor! It’s exciting, being able to look into this in more detail. I think, too, it’s helped confirm my suspicions that I probably wouldn’t like being an editor as I had once wondered.
I haven’t had the chance yet but I’ll check into the links you sent me when I get some free time. It looks interesting and that’s the sort of stuff I’ve been looking for because I’ve always been interested in learning from an author’s own personal experience. I read “The Practice of Creative Writing” recently which I really enjoyed because I felt like it was really useful learning about the way the author personally undergoes her writing endeavors. The study especially looked exciting, so I can’t wait to check it out!
I’d love taking some sort of class for writing longer stories at some point, or even looking into another creative writing course would be fun, although I don’t have anything planned at the moment. I’ll be keeping my eyes open for some since I think it’s something I’d like to be able to do for my whole life, regardless of whether or not I end up pursuing a career in it. I’d like to go further, so if there are any online classes you'd recommend feel free to let me know!