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1 year ago
Moving to Wordpress
I’m switching to Wordpress blogging for a few reasons, but one of the biggest is that I like to think that I might actually have readers who enjoy my blog and want to follow and comment on them. Tumblr was fun and looked great, and was easy to use, but it was lacking a few qualities that I really wanted.
I’ve been thinking a lot about my blog, and decided that for the most part, I want to stick to the theme of writing. There are several reasons for this, one being that I want to meet other people who like to talk about writing. Another, that I want to record my experiences as I learn, bit by bit, through trial and error and advice of professionals, how to become a professional myself.
This is useful to me, and I sincerely hope it will be useful to other aspiring authors as well. From time to time I’ll talk about a movie I liked or something fun that happened recently, but I really want this blog to be writing-focused.
That means most of you will not be very interested in this. I guess I can come to terms with that, as soon as I find the case where I store my vanity, when I’m not using it.
Meanwhile, any of you friends who ARE interested in writing - please, drop by, and comment. All comments are appreciated, and make me feel warm and fuzzy inside. Feel free to share your blog with me, because I like to stay updated on the interests and lives of my pals.
As soon as I fix my domain link, I’ll be forwarding the blog to www.samuelloveland.com. Until then, my new blog, “The Ventures of Sam Loveland”, can be found here;
http://samuelloveland.wordpress.com -
1 year ago
Sara and I Ramble…
Me: We go together like laugh and cry.
Her: What does that mean?
Me: It would really suck to have one without the other.
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1 year ago
On Stephen King’s book, “On Writing”
First, I’d like to announce that this is my fourth day in a row waking up before 7am and exercising. Insomnia? Bite me.
As you can probably tell by the title of the blog, I’ve just finished reading (via audiobook) On Writing, by Stephen King. It’s pretty much on my top list of things a writer should expose themselves to if they really want to do this seriously.
There are tons of good messages to be had from the book, but from my own current state of figuring out what to do next, there was only one message for me. I wish I’d received it when I was first graduating High School and was confronted by some unsavory people telling me I’d never succeed at this. The message, themed repeatedly in his book, is this; Write with the door shut, and edit with the door open.
This means you write the first draft for yourself, and nobody else. You write without worrying how it will be received, or how that awesome writer friend of yours, the one who seems to be the epitome of eloquence, will react when they read this part. You write without worrying if this is really representative of the State Police of Pennsylvania, or whether dogs can look up.
During the editing phase, you write with those things in mind, but I’ve never much struggled with editing. The hardest, but also the most exhilarating part of writing, comes when you’re first playing around with your keyboard or pen and paper. You’re having fun with it. You’re telling a story.
There were, of course, other phases to addressing my Writer’s block. A technique I think all writers who write must have mastered, is being able to honestly take a look into yourself and figure out why you aren’t able to write right now. Sometimes it is classic Writer’s Block, one of “I don’t know what comes next”. As often, or more often, you might find that there are things pressing on you to get done, or that you’re simply afraid of something. (My most common fear is that I’ll put so much energy into something that sucks.) Sometimes, you just need to grab some lunch before you can focus.
The trick, I believe, is the honesty. Being able to look inside and ask yourself, “What is it that is keeping me from writing right now? Am I afraid? Is there a more pressing matter that is bothering me?”
To some extent, people have to deal with this kind of honesty if they want to get anything done. When you go to practice your music, art, or to exercise, you might just need to ask yourself the same question. Bullying yourself into the “I must do it anyway!” attitude is very American, but it’s like pushing snow. You push and push and you feel it give for awhile, but eventually the mound of snow you’ve gathered will prove too much, and you’ll collapse.
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1 year ago
The Science of Being Goofy Writer People
So I can’t write. I think it’s been too long, and some rust has built up. Despite all of business Sam’s yelling, it’s not happening. So, on to the next best thing.
Reading?
I think so. Reading always gets those gears turning, and gets me all excited. Nothing exhilerates me more than reading an excellent book and wanting to write my own, or reading something that is almost excellent, but with things I would do differently.
Honestly, the move and the stress and the crap of this summer has been hard, but what killed me on writing was TV. I can’t believe how much time it is easy to waste in front of the darned tube, watching things I don’t even like. I keep trying new things, thinking “oh, this might be good” just because I don’t feel like turning it off. Turns out? It’s usually no good.
I am a big fan of DVR. However, that’s expensive. Nothing felt cooler than telling DVR - “Hey, catch all those Avatar, Psych, Mythbusters, and other shows I happen to actually like for me, so I can watch them whenever I want.”
The cool thing about that was, watching them was under my control. It didn’t kill my writing, because I could decide when my TV breaks were without having to catch the good shows when I know they air. (Actually, I don’t even know when most of those shows air anymore, which is half my frustration with TV nowadays. None of the stuff I like airs when I turn the thing on.)
I’ll have to figure out an alternative. Hulu might work.
In any case, I need to read more than I watch TV, that’s for sure. As far as reading warming me up for writing, it’s worked in the past, so hopes are high.
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1 year ago
More Schitzo-Sam
Hello, deep dark internet. It’s your friendly neighborhood… um, Sam. We really ought to give you a better name. Mine is still cool though. =)
So. I’m pretty much killing time until the pool opens. I can’t focus on reading, and I don’t want to play video games. I want to write. I want to give you guys Chasing Clouds, because I keep promising it to you, and to myself. I feel frozen though, since I’ve never written anything like it before.
I don’t know what else to do, though. If I don’t write that, then what? World of Warcraft had another contest recently, and I just couldn’t come up with anything. I want to write my own fiction, not fan-based stuff. I was on a roll during the semester, but got thrown off completely by the move.
So, what to do?
I’ll tell me what to do. (By the way, for those of you new to the show, Sam is a total schitzo. I think Business Sam is about to take over.)
Business Sam: Write it. It’s going to suck, man. Just deal with that fact and get it out there. Assume it’s going to suck and write it anyway. You just might look back at it and realize, “Man, that SUCKS… but I really got better because I wrote it.” Hell, you may even look back sometime far in the future and go, “Man, that SUCKS, but it doesn’t suck as bad as I thought it did.”
Artist Sam: But… I don’t WANT it to suck?
Business Sam: What do you want more, to write something that sucks and get better, or to never write anything at all because you’re acting like a pansy about it?
Artist Sam: *Sniff* … the second one…
Business Sam: Damn straight. Now go swimming and eat something. You can’t write when you’re hungry.
Artist Sam: Ok, thanks business Sam. I love you.
Business Sam: Shut up and get outta here.
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1 year ago
Tracy Hickman on Writing Excuses (LTUE)
Tracy Hickman: “Writers basically believe that they are never going to be or are already has-beens. The thing I try to tell writers all the time, and I have to remind myself is that we have not yet written our best work. The best is yet to come. It could be that next book, it could be two books away, but it’s in our future because every time we write we improve our craft. Every time we put word to page we improve our craft.
The fact of the matter is the first books you write are not going to be good. They just aren’t, ok? Sorry.That’s just how it is.
The first book I wrote was in fourth grade, I decided that the way that you wrote a book is that you kept writing a little more every day, and when you had enough pages you had a book. So I wrote this book about a destroyer that went to the South Pacific and was attacked by 50 planes and sank - on page 2. I had writer’s block in fourth grade, I didn’t know what to do with it, I mean - the boat sank. The boat was the main character, man!
I tried to fix it, writing on that big chunky paper with those dotted lines so that you didn’t go too far with those little letters - but I couldn’t do it. The point is that your first stuff isn’t going to be as good as the second, and the second thing you do is never going to be good as the third. You make rag shoes to begin with, and the second thing is going to be better. You just have to keep going.”- Guest Starring on Writing Excuses at Life, the Universe, and Everything. (Season 2 Episode 24)
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1 year ago
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1 year ago
Writing Exercises
Here are some Writing Exercises I just came up with for myself. They are each designed to be done in as little as 5 minutes, yet expandable (If you really get into what’s going on you could go on writing for hours). I thought I’d share them - if they inspire any writing exercise ideas from you, feel free to share! =)
Word Association; Pick a news article (online, serious or funny) and take a subject from the headline, then brainstorm words associated with that subject. Take one step further by choosing one of the words from that list and repeating the process. (Missing Person - Runaway, Arrested, Kidnapping. Kidnapping - Child Custody, Ransom, Poisoned Candy, Aliens…)
Character Creation; Start filling out a character profile much like you would for a game. Ask yourself questions to delve further into that character. (Sex, Age, Job? Good job? Like job? Family? Married? Good or bad marriage? Why is it bad? Kids?…)
Character Viewpoint; Figure out a short scene where something happens. (I.E. Some people are riding through a medieval town and are halted by a funeral procession). Write out the scene two or more times, from different character viewpoints. Make each scene different by what that character notices or finds important during the scene.
New Plot; Pick a favorite character or historical figure. Figure out one major concept of that character, and twist it around to get it’s opposite. Now write a profile for that character. (I.E. Aragorn, instead of what happens in Lord of the Rings, takes the ring for himself and becomes the next Evil Warlord… i.e. Arthas from World of Warcraft)
Motivation/Quirk; Add three motivations or quirks to the list of motivations/quirks. I.E. Character wants to record and organize compiled lists of all the grasshoppers in the world. Character has a caffeine addiction. Character’s personal hero is Bill Clinton.
Resolution Exercise; Start with “(Name) is (doing something) but is interrupted by (?)…” – Now turn that into a plot arc and finish it. (This is the hook, figure out a resolution, the plot step to get there, and a pinch.)
Dialogue Exercise; Cast a character in your head (feel free to steal the voice from any story, movie, game, etc.) And write out something that happened to you this week, as if that character were telling you. If you want to take it to the next level, cast two characters and write the second’s reactions to the first one’s story.
Transformation; This can be used to expand anything you’ve come up with from the “New Plot” exercise. Take any kind of word association topic and figure out it’s opposite. Write those down, then write down one thing that might help in getting from one to the other. Then, repeat the last step. This can be a plot (a selfish man becoming more altruistic) or an opposite of something we’ve seen before (Mistborn). (I.E. Demon – not a demon. One might become a demon by selling their soul for revenge. One might want revenge if they found out they were cheated on.) (Another I.E. Magic City – Desolate Ruin. A Magical city might become a desolate ruin if the source of magic were cut off. The source of magic might be cut off as a result of some natural disaster. See Elantris.) (Last I.E. Prophesied Hero of Ages to defeat evil – Hero fails to defeat evil… see Mistborn.)Scene; Take a result from any of the previous exercises and write one scene, around a page or so, that is associated with the results of that exercise.
Detail; Find a picture of something - a person, place, or thing. Describe that picture in a paragraph of disgustingy complex detail. Use a thesaurus to make the paragraph as convoluted as possible. Next step; Sum it up in one sentence, with only one adjective. See if you can do without that adjective by using a different verb or noun.
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1 year ago
Sam’s “Romance-O-Meter”
“You complete me” = Cheesy but Romantic, if there’s history to back it up.
“I loved you since the day I met you” = Twitterpation = Not Romantic. “I knew I found you interesting the day I met you, and came to love you” is cool, and “I loved you before I met you” conveys an idea that the person fulfills the things you need in a relationship and is tolerable.
“I want to grow old with you” = Romantic.
“I can’t live without you” = Not Romantic - You’re obsessed. I’ll give room for someone who is finding out that their lover is dead or dying - but I hope that person realizes, over time, that the person who they lost would probably prefer them to live life.
Sam’s Preach-of-the-Day; First, Get a life of your own. This is the MOST important step. Become a happy person while single. Eventually, you might meet another happy person, and possibly have a happy relationship with said person.Then, let time work it’s magic. Two sad people might find twitterpation, but they’re too self-absorbed in their own sadness to have a solid relationship. If you get all concerned with “Destiny” and “The One” or “True Love” (True love meaning obsession) you just might make life harder for yourself, wasting a lot of energy that might have been used on your own fun, career, or interests.
Amen.
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1 year ago
ZOMG, Horror
I’ve been fascinated in horror lately. Most especially “My Last Dutchess”, “A Tell-tale Heart” and “I am Not a Serial Killer”
One of my “writer-weaknesses” right now is that I’m not practiced in making things as dark as I want them to be. When I read a really good Fantasy, I often sit and ponder in dismay at how the author was able to make the villain so bad/ the main characters so flawed/ have something so horrible happen to the characters we love.
I know I have my own tastes, as well. Reading some horror has helped me find where the parameters of these tastes end.
I used to say I hated horror. Now I know I was wrong, but not about modern horror - most modern horror falls under “slasher” or “demonic possession”, and I am still not in the least interested in these stories.
But classic horror involves a character facing an external darkness, and at the same time dealing with an internal darkness. In this way, horror is a very moral genre.
Take “I am Not a Serial Killer” for example. The main character is John Cleaver, a fifteen-year-old sociopath. He his a messed-up kid, and thinks about some really awful things. However, he is very strict with himself. Having a fascination with serial killers, he noticed some parallels between these killers’ early behaviors and his own. For this reason, he sets himself some very strict rules. Thematically, the second book goes even further into John’s struggle with “Mr. Monster”, and so far it is my favorite in the series.
The parameter was very comfortable for me. John thinks and says some pretty disturbing things. Sometimes, when life is getting out of control and his grasp on things loosens, he is capable of some pretty disturbing things as well. But John does not want to do bad things - in this way, he’s a very good person.
So far, that’s where I feel comfortable. Yesterday I wrote my first draft of a horror short-story, about a man becoming a demon. The whole story is based around what could happen to turn a good man into an evil one; and because it is being told to you past-tense by the demon himself, it can be very disturbing.
What I hope will be most disturbing about it, once it’s been through a couple more drafts, is the amount of human you can see in him. The story is meant to be dark and tragic; but is there a little bit of the man left in the demon, when all is said and done? Is he beyond salvation still?
Sam Loveland - The Protector of Italian Virginity
Fiction @ http://samuelloveland.livejournal.com/
Facebook @ http://www.facebook.com/ssloveland
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