words words words

Okay, so a while ago I said I was thinking about doing some entries on writing – just a compendium of the knowledge I’ve gained as a writer. Things that I know/have learned. That never went away; I’m just incredibly good at procrastination. Really Kimbar? A year or more since you mentioned it? That’s more than just being really good at procrastination. That’s flat out LAZY ASS!

Anyway, I’m still thinking about it. Haven’t decided whether I want to or not. But! There is something that I do want to do soon: workshop cliches. Why? Because I’m supposed to be work-shopping these three stories for my fiction seminar and as a method of procrastination, I decided to look up writer’s workshop cliches. And what I found were workshops on writing cliches. Okay…not quite the same thing.

When I say writer’s workshop cliches, I’m referring to things like the following:

"I’m not sure this ending is deserved…"

"This part needs to be fleshed out."

"The character feels flat."

Right. Okay…what the hell is a flat character/why does the character feel flat? What the hell does "It needs to be fleshed out" mean/how do you want it fleshed out? How can an ending be deserved/how do I make it deserved?

Heh. Alright, most people in writers workshops know the answers to the first questions there….what a flat character is, what fleshing out means, and how an ending can be deserved or not. The questions that we need answered are more like, why does the character feel flat, what exactly needs to be fleshed out, and how can I make it deserved or what would be a more deserved ending?

What I kind of want to do is make a list of writer’s workshop cliches, explain what each one means to someone who’s never been in that kind of workshop and doesn’t understand what those things mean, and then give an example of a better way of phrasing it or explaining it that would be better for a writer to hear. Why? Because I FEEL LIKE IT!!! Muahahahaha! I don’t know. I’m bored. And I kind of want to go into that. If only for myself, so that the next time I have to workshop pieces like this I don’t find myself sitting there going, "Um…crapstick. Okay…well, I really enjoy this character, but that character feels a bit flat. I think the scene where such and such happens could be fleshed out a bit, but everything else is really well done. I’m not so sure about what happens at such and such point…it doesn’t really feel deserved. I like where you’re going in the end, but I feel like you stop before the story stops. It doesn’t feel like it ends there."

HELLO Vague-City! Ah, how I’ve missed you! You’re like my own personal Vegas! Without being like Vegas at all….in fact you kind of just suck.

Anyway. I’ll work on that and it will get posted at some point in the near or distant future. Whenever I feel like I have acquired enough cliches to define and fix up. I’m going to head to sleep and I will write these critiques in the morning, when I no longer feel like I can procrastinate. It snowed here! So the elementary school that I work at has been closed…I don’t even know if I’ll have class tomorrow, because I was supposed to meet with the prof from that class today but she cancelled as she was snowed into her driveway. (I also had my two classes for today cancelled as well due to snow…so I have had one class and no work this entire week. It’s been pretty damned sweet! Especially since I’ve been sick and haven’t wanted to leave my bed…..)

One more thing that I want to give to you peoples (it’s funny for everybody but I suppose it’s probably more useful for those of you who are also writers….):

25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing

Later folks! It’s been good getting to talk to you again =)

– VdS