How Many of us Write?

[Spitfire]

I write too - for a living.
Advertising. Worked as Art Director for 18 years - worked myself into writing too. Been like that for the past 15+ years.
offtopic: 8 years ago I started directing as well)

I have also written several historical articles for local magazines and one novel and a moviescript.

 

[Atomic Glee]

I do, quite often in fact. Most of my output these days is at Fort Worthology, my urban news site. This also leads to occasional spots in Fort Worth Weekly, the local alternative paper. Other work of mine is at Atomic Glee Studios, my personal blog. Everything from fiction to random thoughts to poking fun at vintage ephemera. It's sort-of updated now, too!

My fiction writing has been a lot more rare lately, but I've got some updates coming soon to the web sci-fi/horror/goofy humor series "Bob & Ted, Destroyers of Evil" (available at the aforementioned Atomic Glee Studios and beloved by, oh, tens of people). Bob & Ted are vintage b-movie style "scientists," always wearing fedoras and lab coats, working in the small town of Somewheresville in no particular year, who solve science's biggest questions by day and battle the hordes of alien, undead, and quasi-mythological beings that always seem to find their way into Somewheresville by night (and also day). When not fighting beasts or working in the lab (located on the top floor of a four-story building in downtown Somewheresville that also contains a used trombone shop, a business that re-tightens loose cats, and a company that sells irregular greeting cards over the phone), they're often found at the local diner, "EAT."

I'm also pecking away at a slightly off-kilter '30s noir series. The main character, Mike Stevens, is a private eye in "Panther City, Texas," a sort-of parallel universe version of 1930s Fort Worth. I want to do some short stories in this universe on my site, and I've got one in the works called "Undressed to Kill" that features Mike up against a serial killer who's going after Panther City's burlesque dancers. I've also got some work done on a full-length Mike Stevens novel called "Panther City Blues." Have no idea when either the short story serial will debut or the novel will be ready, but it's been fun trying to get the mood and characters right.

 

[dr greg]

the pen

I was a rock journalist in the 80's and have a few examples of my Noir fiction (both period and contemporary)published, an example is on another thread here.

 

[BegintheBeguine]

May I take this opportunity to say how much I enjoyed dr greg's offering. I like the gritty stuff, and it was very well written. I'm working on a story this second, not nearly as good (why do I even bother?) so I'll get back later.

 

[pigeon toe]

I used to write a lot of short fiction, and poems (but I only wrote poetry for schoolwork). I'm not sure how you could describe my style. It's very succinct, yet descriptive. Kind of stream of consciousness. I don't use much dialogue, if any at all. All of my stories are either personal, or set in an ambigous time period where it's not really important. I have written one historical fiction story inspired by The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and post-WWI Germany. That was for a history class in high school.

I would love to post some of my writing here, but unfortunately I don't have any of it on my laptop (the only one crashed and I lost almost everything).

I have hard copies of everything though, and probably some of it saved on my parent's computer. Maybe I'll dig up some of it soon!

I've never been published (except for an interview with me for a book about HTML and zine savvy chicks), however I was heavy into the "zine scene" and self-publishing in high school. I've written two good zines, one a compilation of my short fiction, the other a more conceptual piece about language and my experiences with it. To be honest, I think I'm damn good and would love to be published for real one day!

Oh, and don't think the way I write on this messageboard is the way I write creatively! I barely have any sense of grammar when typing online, it's about a thousand times better in my real writing.

 

[CharlieH.]

I used to dabble in writing scripts, but I was never able to come up with decent non-corny dialogue. I now keep a journal and sometimes write heavily embellished stories about my daily affairs just for fun.

 

[AeroDillo]

So, assuming a bumbling heathen newbie such as myself was interested in posting a tale, might I inquire as to which forum might be best suited to that end? At the moment I'd guess the Observation Bar, but feel free to correct me if I'm mistaken.

 

[Lauren]

I write, but I rarely finish anything. I like to write fiction based on past eras, or fantasy style like Alice and Wonderland. The only writing I ever manage to finish are my short poems that are just an outlet for overwhelming emotion.

 

[carter]

Martinis at 8 and AeroDillo,

You should both post something you've written/are writing. There's a lot of fact/poetry/fiction going on here.

A good thread is the "Favorite Poems, Poets" thread in the OB. Some of the folks on this thread have posted there. Something gets posted there almost daily.

I write almost daily. Had some poems published. Nothing major.

I'm sure that there are people who are compelled to write. I'm one of those.

 

[happyfilmluvguy]

Screenplays, poetry, and short stories.

 

[Vintage Betty]

I tried some vintage inspired items and such, and they were a tremendously large flop.

However, on the volunteer side, I've written about 700 reviews and also had a website where I wrote about 800 pages, plus a number of other volunteer websites and monthly newsletters where I wrote all the text and some other various volunteer writing. When no one has to pay me, I do pretty good and they like my writing a lot more. lol

I just got asked to pick up my monthly volunteer column again plus a booklet. Agreed to the booklet, not sure if I will commit to the column or not.

Vintage Betty

 

[staggerwing]

Years ago, I wrote technical manuals. I currently write proposals and the occasional advertising copy. I'm (slowly) working on a mystery novel, but it's set in modern times.

 

[Undertow]

I'm a writer, and certainly not in the vintage sense. I'm more along the lines of Chuck Palahniuk and the rest of those brutal nihlists.

However, my current novel is a comedy and I'm definitely trying to break my own mold, so I suppose we'll see how things turn out.

 

[Jack Scorpion]

I'm a writer, and certainly not in the vintage sense. I'm more along the lines of Chuck Palahniuk and the rest of those brutal nihlists.

However, my current novel is a comedy and I'm definitely trying to break my own mold, so I suppose we'll see how things turn out.

I'm still wondering why I can't write comedy. I'm funny enough in-person (so I tell me), but on paper, all comedy I write turns out dark and twisted. As a fell nihilist writer, perhaps you can tell me your secret. How can you pitch for both teams?

 

[$ally]

Compared to the rest of you, no. I've had short stories and poetry published in very minor publications. I don't care for poetry writing though, it feels confined, self-indulgent and cryptic. I also write lyrics, reviews of books (for the Joe Bob Report), movies, and gigs.
My oldest brother is a professional writer. He can make a postcard read like a work of art.

 

[Midnight Palace]

(raises hand)

 

[Undertow]

I'm still wondering why I can't write comedy. I'm funny enough in-person (so I tell me), but on paper, all comedy I write turns out dark and twisted. As a fell nihilist writer, perhaps you can tell me your secret. How can you pitch for both teams?

Well, I know how you feel about things being dark and twisted; that's more or less our current style. In fact, someone recently told me that us nihilits, or otherwise us dark writers, are part of a new "movement" in literature. Someday, you and I might be looking back on textbooks detailing the such-and-such movement in literature and we can say, "Yeah, I don't believe in movements anyway..."

As far as writing comedy, I can say a few things. If you're anything like me, you have a propensity for focusing on the graphic, disturbing aspects of your characters and their behavior. In fact, you may tend to dwell on those things going as far as to base an entire story around it.

When it comes to comedy, some may point this out as your weakness. However, as Sun-Tzu would recommend, turn your greatest weakness in to your greatest strength (well, at least I think he said that).

So in my current story, rather than describing a shaking heroin addict huddled up in an alleyway begging for methadone, I turn that into something tragically funny: a small town elderly woman with really bad arthritis who begins recreationally using her pain killers and eventually gets the nickname "junkie" because she's always staggering around trying to pinch little kids' cheeks. Of course, context is everything, too, as in this case.

What I'm getting at is everyone likes an interesting character, even if they're just a static bump on the chart. So use some real doozies for your main character's interactions and you may just get a couple laughs.

Oh...and don't steal my character...her name is Ruth...and she wouldn't like it if you stole her.

 

[sweetfrancaise]

I'm still wondering why I can't write comedy. I'm funny enough in-person (so I tell me), but on paper, all comedy I write turns out dark and twisted.--Jack Scorpion

Well, for me, dark and twisted tends to be much funnier, and more true-to-life, than the fluff--you know, compare Sarah Silverman to Ellen DeGeneres. Both women are funny, but Sarah just hits it home.

Anyway, back on topic, I do write--most of my stories tend to be set in the near-past, 20s-60s. I can't say if they're "vintage", but I do take inspiration from the post-modernists (Stein, Joyce) in that I want to fully manipulate the language, and the reader, within my work.

 

[ClaraB]

I Write.

University has robbed me of any creative bone I had in my body. I write and write often but I write for school and thats about it. I recently rediscovered a bunch of weird little pieces I wrote about a year ago...mad musings about a building I lived across the street from and other strange stuff that make me think that I am a tad more crazy than I ever anticipated.
your smoke billows into the cold night air like ghosts, slowing rising and separating into thin finger-like strands reaching into the purple sky. what do you burn at night when everyone has gone home and all the lights are out? do you burn your secrets? your secrets of corruption and extortion or your secrets of something darker. extermination. liquidation. annihilation. - your g?©nocide nouveau. burning the bodies piled high with in your basement....

It just goes on like that.....disturbing really, I think I was trying to be funny.... I don't think the city was good for me...it made me crazy and dramatic....but at least I was writing.

 

[Mr. Lucky]

I'm still wondering why I can't write comedy. I'm funny enough in-person (so I tell me), but on paper, all comedy I write turns out dark and twisted. As a fell nihilist writer, perhaps you can tell me your secret. How can you pitch for both teams?

The key, for me, is, when writing comedy, keep in mind that the characters you are writing for have no idea that they are in a comedy! Just create odd and funny characters and they write the funny themselves.

And there's nothing wrong with dark, twisted AND funny. Look at The Sopranos or Deadwood - two of the best comedies in a long time!

Oh, and, yeah - I write.