CERAMIC DM March 2012

Rodrigo Istalindir · Mar 29, 2012

Piratecat said:
I have the problem that I'm a literary sponge, so I can't read extensively when doing Ceramic DM. Last time i was re-reading the Travis McGee books and I started to write like John D. McDonald. Same thing with George Macdonald Fraser, Donald E. Westlake, Scott Lynch... It actually screwed up my own style a bit.

I'm the same way; I have to drop the casual reading while writing.

OTOH, I find having the TV on helps with writing dialogue.

Piratecat · Mar 29, 2012

Rodrigo Istalindir said:
OTOH, I find having the TV on helps with writing dialogue.

If all my characters start sounding like Sterling Archer, you know you'll have done your job.

Hellefire · Mar 30, 2012

innagodadavida....baby!

Wild Gazebo · Mar 30, 2012

Hellefire said:
innagodadavida....baby!

By I. Ron Butterfly.

Hellefire · Mar 30, 2012

I am a Polish Boyfriend...
Not as funny as Testosteron, Day of the Wacko or Sexmisja, but then again those are movies.

Piratecat · Mar 30, 2012

So we're waiting for a few more judge decisions and then round 2, right?

Picture selection always fascinates me. Even more important, it always surprises me how much easier it is for me to write when I'm given the photo constraints. If you said "Hey, write a story!", I'd be more likely to suffer from analysis paralysis.

To me, this suggests that any writing I do should have artificially applied constraints on it. Don't say "write a novel," say "write a novel about a one-legged dwarven whelk-wrangler who must travel to the Bubblesphere for sausages." Much, much easier.

Anyone else have this happen?

Hellefire · Mar 30, 2012

Piratecat said:
So we're waiting for a few more judge decisions and then round 2, right?

Picture selection always fascinates me. Even more important, it always surprises me how much easier it is for me to write when I'm given the photo constraints. If you said "Hey, write a story!", I'd be more likely to suffer from analysis paralysis.

To me, this suggests that any writing I do should have artificially applied constraints on it. Don't say "write a novel," say "write a novel about a one-legged dwarven whelk-wrangler who must travel to the Bubblesphere for sausages." Much, much easier.

Anyone else have this happen?

Same exact thing for my coding...tell me 'write a program' and I'll look at you blankly and pour another round. Make it 'I need an object-oriented isometric game with melee and ranged combat and blue dwarves' and I'll...well...pull out a requirements analysis sheet and start asking questions. But at least I'll be moving!

UselessTriviaMan · Mar 30, 2012

Piratecat said:
Anyone else have this happen?

Yup. I think the pictures actually helped - they were anchor points that kept my story from straying too far away from where it needed to go.

Rodrigo Istalindir · Mar 30, 2012

Usually it's one of the pictures that gets me going, and wedging in the others that takes the time.

Hellefire · Mar 30, 2012

Rodrigo Istalindir said:
Usually it's one of the pictures that gets me going, and wedging in the others that takes the time.

Finding those common threads that spark ideas and connections in your mind seems to be the trick. I usually look at the pictures for their similarities first, then go from there. And usually 2 have a decent connection, sometimes the third has a...bit of a connection. But invariably the 4th (and sometimes 3rd) have only very ephemeral similarities.

The beach picture and the shark-gull picture, for example, go together nicely, because that is where gulls are and sharks are nearby. The tree-bee-thingy...well, there is a bit of flora on the beach picture, and I am from a small town in Alaska on the ocean, with mountains and forests going down to the water, so that...can fit. The foot? Well. Hm. It's. Part of an animal. The shark-gull is. Kind of an animal. The tree-bee-thingy is. A. Being. I guess.

So, there ya go, all the inner links I need to write a story.

Personally, I thought my set of pics was moderate level, but I thought...hold on I have to go check the pics again....

match 1 - not similar at all (the bird and the water/boat go together maybe), but not radically different (like a spaceship and a scene from Sparticus) - moderate
match 2 - disassociated AND various genres (trippy mind/sci fi and trippy fantasy) - difficult
match 3 - not similar but seems rather same genre (fantasy-ish) - easy
match 4 - disassociated but not forcing different genres/times/planets - moderate
match 5 - some parts seem to fit very well (old guy looks similar enough to be same guy) and some see very disconnected and difficult (woman with antlers) - moderate
match 6 - disassociated but not forcing different genres/times/planets - moderate (maybe on the light side)

So, I found them all in roughly the same ballpark, though I thing match 3 pictures had a more general theme and match 2 pictures has more diverging themes.

Note this is not a criticism on the judges or any participants - writing styles and finished product are not necessarily a product of the difficulty of pictures. I think the harder the pictures, the more the writer has to concentrate on melding the story around them and the less time to touch it up, and the harder it is to use all pictures eloquently, but the more chance there is for creativity and thus 'wow' factor. Kind of how gymnasts and ice skaters and horse-jumpers and divers and rodeo riders get more points for more difficult feats.