How Many of us Write?

[MrNewportCustom]

I'm new here, and got to wondering how many here write in a vintage style.

I wrote the following a few years ago; an attempt to write a poem in a noir style. lol


The Lady in Blue

I walk the dark streets of this rain-soaked city. Searching.
Black and gray Mugs and Dames pass without a glance.
Colorless buildings stroll silently by as I trudge along, tired to the world.
I’ve been walking these streets every night for weeks now.

Ladies of the night sell their wares to chumps like me.
But I don’t buy, because I'm searching for the lady in blue.
I met her at The Cafe on the corner of fifth and Broadway.
She was lithe and slender and her brown eyes pierced my lonely soul.

She added color to my black and white world and warmed the rain out of my hair.
She asked me to dance and I accepted; I would have been stupid not to.
I wasn’t about to miss the opportunity of a lifetime.
We danced all night and I fell for her like a ton of bricks.

Then I walked her to her car; the gravel parking lot crunching beneath our feet.
She turned and straightened my collar as she leaned against the door of her ‘48 Dodge
And then gave me a kiss that will haunt my memory for the rest of my life.
Then she got into the Dodge and drove out of my life with the turn of a key.

This dame has stolen my heart and mind, and I want them back.
I can’t concentrate on my cases anymore, the murders and the missing husbands.
So I wander these wet, lonely streets, my fedora shielding my eyes from the rain,
As I search for The Lady in Blue.


Lee
___________________

"Artists create an image to inspire the mind. Writers inspire the mind to create an image" - My Own.

 

[Jack Scorpion]

I write modern day stuff. But I draw my principle inspiration from fellows like Cain and Goodis. Short stories. As short as I can manage them. Vignettes on hardboiled humanity. Character profiles of the Noir "Outsider." Men are always losers or average joes being setup for heroism or tragedy. Or both. Women are either dangerous or perfect. Or both. The usual.

 

[beaucaillou]

I am a writer.
Short fiction, vignettes, plays, poetry, essays, wine/cinema/art reviews.

I don't write in a modern or vintage style per se, just in mine, which I've been told is 'timeless' in that it doesn't specify or lend itself to any one time in particular. That's not an effort in my part, just how it turns out.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I've been writing professionally my entire adult life -- but rarely in a creative sense since I got out of radio. Most of my work has been in a journalistic vein, with an emphasis on the clear presentation of well-documented facts. But at one time I did experiment with writing radio comedy -- which is about as vintage a style as you can get. Back in the mid-eighties I put together several sample episodes of a dialect comedy serial called "Over To Home," about life in a small Maine town called "Abysmal Point," which, I swear, bore no resemblance to any actual town living or dead. Sad to say, I was about fifty years too late with that idea, and nothing ever came of it...

 

[Amy Jeanne]

Some of my Live Journal friends have commented that I sometimes sound like an old magazine, but I don't see it. [huh]

 

[Nick D]

I write quite a bit. I've got 126 pages of manuscript for a story I'm working on sitting next to me. I also write a lot academically, since I was a history major/English minor in college. That will continue when I go to grad school and in my planned academic future beyond that.

I don't think I wite in a vintage style, but I do try to be precise, use grammar correctly, and use a broad vocabulary.

 

[Martinis at 8]

I write poems in Spanish. If anyone's interested I can post one here.

M8

 

[Doctor Strange]

I've been a tech writer by trade for 25 years, and I majored in creative writing (and history) back in college... but I haven't written any fiction in ages, just user manuals and articles.

Alas, the daily struggle of ordinary life has pretty much squelched my creative side...

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

I write in my journal, a lot, but not in a vintage style. Basically whatever comes to mind, random thoughts and such I put in there. I actually have been collecting different types of journals for a while now, and I fill them up quite quickly. I also love using all my different fountain pens with different colored inks. I find when I buy a new one I tend to write even more just so I have an excuse to use it.
I do write some poetry, but I've never shown it to anybody. I guess it's kind of personal. I'm in the process of writing a children's book. I've shared the idea with only one person, but he has yet to see what I've come up with. I guess I'm just a bit shy when it comes to sharing the things that I write. I do hope that one day my children's book could be published, even if by a small company. I think kids would really enjoy it. My nephew Isaac and one of my crazy cats as well as my late dog Carmina were the inspiration for one of the stories I wrote. The other story, if it's not published, could end up being printed out as a long pamphlet for pediatric dental practices. My Dad who is a dentist heard the idea and thought it was a good one. But he's biased! It would basically be a fun way to teach kids the importance of taking care of their teeth. It would be my dream some day to create a character for kids that would become a household name. Not for the popularity of it, but to make kids happy and smile while also teaching them something. But, these are a dime a dozen, and I'm afraid I don't have what it takes and my character would just end up another face in the crowd of a million. But I still work on the regularly and one day I'll get up the courage to send them to some publishing houses.
Before I bought my condo I had to get approval for my dog. This entailed writing a letter to the board of trustees in regards to her personality and temperament. I turned the explanation into a short essay about Carmina the wonder dog. The board couldn't resist, and when they called me to tell me she had been approved they actually told me they couldn't wait to meet her!! I wrote such a great first impression of her that the people in the building fell in love with her before we even moved in. Everybody was so happy to meet her. I was glad that something I wrote was enjoyed by somebody
But for now, I'm sticking to my journal writing and the occasional blog entry. Maybe someday, with lots of luck and good fortune, my silly little story will get published......

 

[Novella]

I also write a lot academically, since I was a history major/English minor in college.

Hurray for history majors! Academic writing is my life at the moment (and possibly in the future). There isn't much vintage about my academic writing - except for the subject matter!

Occasionally I write fiction with a vintage inspired flavor (dolls and gangsters! guns and mysterious dead bodies!). I never get past the first couple pages before I move onto something else. Creative writing is more mental therapy than anything else for me. I'm mostly a chronic journal writer. I first started writing a blog online when I was 15, and I haven't been able to stop since then.

 

[Senator Jack]

I write in a sort of mid-century British tone - Amis, Burgess, Greene. It's not really a conscious effort, but being they are major influences, it just comes out that way.

 

[52Styleline]

Writing vintage, or trying to write a story set in another culture is tricky. Lots of ways to go wrong and give yourself away as less than authentic. For example, I have read every Sherlock Holmes story and Pastiche I can get my hands on,and even I often notice clinkers when an American author (for instance) tries to write in the spirit of a Victorian Englishman.

I'm not saying that a 21st Century author couldn't write a successfull story set in the 30's (it is done regularly). It is just that little 21st Century or late 20th Century artifacts are likely to slip in no matter how hard the author tries.

 

[beaucaillou]

Writing vintage, or trying to write a story set in another culture is tricky. Lots of ways to go wrong and give yourself away as less than authentic. For example, I have read every Sherlock Holmes story and Pastiche I can get my hands on,and even I often notice clinkers when an American author (for instance) tries to write in the spirit of a Victorian Englishman.

I'm not saying that a 21st Century author couldn't write a successfull story set in the 30's (it is done regularly). It is just that little 21st Century or late 20th Century artifacts are likely to slip in no matter how hard the author tries.

I agree - it is done regularly, but the degree of success is negligible. Even with the appropriate amount of research, there are hundreds of ways to go wrong.

Adopting any kind of affectation or cliche is truly risky; most often I find that such attempts fail horribly.

 

[Twitch]

I am a writer mostly in the historical combat aviation and war tales genre. I've interviewed many veterans and put many articles together most of which were web-published. I used to write reviews of entertainment software as well.

 

[Fletch]

I sometimes get short writing assignments as part of my media consulting work. (I rarely do anything long-form - when I agree to write on deadline, it has to be meetable more or less immediately or it gets lost in the shuffle.)

Among other things I've gotten pretty good at writing vintage-style ad and radio copy - slightly formal, yet with verve and rhythm. It's pretty much a lost art, and in any case unsalable today, because it is neither exaggerated enough for camp value, nor is it particuarly hard-sell or soft-sell. I do occasionally get some into a liner note or layout for a vintage music CD.

 

[Steve]

I've been working on a manuscript for about a year and a half now, a period adventure story written in the vein of Haggard and Doyle. I recently started writing articles too, my first being hosted on The Fedora Chronicles as of now.

 

[Diamondback]

I'm something of an essayist myself, mostly politics and geopolitics, but also drafting the bones of what will be a most controversial thesis for my eventual Masters in WWII Studies.

 

[ScionPI2005]

I'm new here, and got to wondering how many here write in a vintage style.

I wrote the following a few years ago; an attempt to write a poem in a noir style. lol


The Lady in Blue

I walk the dark streets of this rain-soaked city. Searching.
Black and gray Mugs and Dames pass without a glance.
Colorless buildings stroll silently by as I trudge along, tired to the world.
I’ve been walking these streets every night for weeks now.

Ladies of the night sell their wares to chumps like me.
But I don’t buy, because I'm searching for the lady in blue.
I met her at The Cafe on the corner of fifth and Broadway.
She was lithe and slender and her brown eyes pierced my lonely soul.

She added color to my black and white world and warmed the rain out of my hair.
She asked me to dance and I accepted; I would have been stupid not to.
I wasn’t about to miss the opportunity of a lifetime.
We danced all night and I fell for her like a ton of bricks.

Then I walked her to her car; the gravel parking lot crunching beneath our feet.
She turned and straightened my collar as she leaned against the door of her ‘48 Dodge
And then gave me a kiss that will haunt my memory for the rest of my life.
Then she got into the Dodge and drove out of my life with the turn of a key.

This dame has stolen my heart and mind, and I want them back.
I can’t concentrate on my cases anymore, the murders and the missing husbands.
So I wander these wet, lonely streets, my fedora shielding my eyes from the rain,
As I search for The Lady in Blue.


Lee
___________________

"Artists create an image to inspire the mind. Writers inspire the mind to create an image" - My Own.

Very nice Mr.NewportCustom! I've always heard somewhere that guns don't kill detectives, love does. I'd say the character in your poem has certainly been wounded in that way. Nice touch.

 

[ScionPI2005]

I dare to call myself a writer every now and then. I wrote a detective novel when I was back in high school; probably considered fairly mediocre by now. Still, I wanted to get it published back then, and maybe one day I will. Still, college and work has kept me fairly busy for three years, and I haven't done much of anything.

Every now and then I start a new detective work, only to eventually get sidetracked by work again. Eh...I'm young, I suppose I still have time to get published one day.

 

[AeroDillo]

I have a 100K word nightmare lurking on my computer, plus too many smaller projects to count - some contemporary, one western, and a few set in the '30s.

It's a delightful side effect of having no social life.