Kiln-Fired Ceramic DM

Actually, I wasn't saying that snarkiness is a GOOD technique. It just happens to be the one I'm stuck with.

You know it's going to be a good day when, first thing in the morning, someone tells the truth about The Mouse.

Siala, I'd love to answer right now, but I'd be late for work. I'll have to do it this afternoon after work. Curse the no internet policy!

orchid blossom said:

I've considered doing a story hour, and the campaign I'm playing in is certainly worth writing about. Sadly, we've been at it for over a year now and my memory closely resembles swiss cheese. If I can think of a way to write it without having to cover the last year in more than summary I might try it.

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mythago said:

Make it up. If nobody else wrote it down, who is to say your recollection is the wrong one?

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Oh, I've got it mostly written down. I kept a journal for my character, starting it two months of game time after the campaign started (I think I started it after 4 months of real time). So, there are gaps in the beginning, but it runs well for a while. There is another large gap where his cohort died which spans five months. But, now that his cohort is back, I've resumed writing. Since I'm writing this as if it was his journal, summarizing things isn't hard. He glazes over things and places and doesn't talk about things he felt weren't worthwhile. So far, I'm at page ten of this second volume of the journal and he has yet to mention anything about his cohort's death. All he's said so far was a quick paragraph about them bringing him back. Perhaps in later entries I'll be able to coax more info about that particular event.

I try and immerse myself in the character when writing the journal, which isn't always a good thing. For example, I had to write a very depressed entry last night. I say had to becuase I would have just kept mulling over it in my mind until i got it jotted down somewhere. I had to wait till Orchid finished Monsters Inc. and went elsewhere before I could get into the right mood to write that entry. Guess watching a comedy wasn't helping.

So far, the only one besides myself that has seen the journal is the DM, and even he hasn't seen the whole thing. I intentionally didn't write it in the best manner, trying to write as the character would, so it is very much stream of consciousness. I enjoy writing it and rereading it, but I'm not sure it would make a very good storyhour.

Sialia said:

How much of ENworld's savings account do you want to spend on legal fees?
Amusing as this story is, I am not certain it is worth baiting The Mouse.
There are things in this world scarier than undead. The Mouse's lawyers are among them.

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Oh, Sialia, you wound me.

Gonna be a LONG time before I can picture The Mouse without hearing the squeaky-voiced invocation to the Dark Gods...

mythago said:

Oh, Sialia, you wound me.

Gonna be a LONG time before I can picture The Mouse without hearing the squeaky-voiced invocation to the Dark Gods...

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What, you were able to picture him without it before?

mythago said:

Oh, Sialia, you wound me.

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I'm sorry. You can be scarier than undead, too, if you like.

Sialia said:

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Good stories are like that--they are obviously about something that is important to the author, even if the author never tells the reader what the literal truth behind them is. We instinctively feel that there is something important going on, and each person reads thier own anxiety or hope into it, drawing signal from the noise. Surreal or fantastical stories are fun because they are blurry, vague, amorphous and leave lots of room for people to recognize their own issues. They also allow the author to write without recognizing what she is putting down, only to look at it later and recognize wehre it came from, what it was all about really.

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Agreed. Although very often I think even the author doesn't know what it's about. I mean, I'm still trying to figure out why I always want to write about pregnant women or the relationships between brothers and sisters.

More than you ever wanted to know, huh?

My creative writing prof in college always tried to get me to quit writing fantasy, she considered it "not literature." i.e. crap. It always made me angry, cause I've always felt fantasy was one way you could really get into issues that people will refuse to face if it's in their world.

Sialia said:

So I always made sure that before I used the things in the photo, I put them into the world.

As far as themes go--I think writers always reveal a bit about what is really going on in their minds, even when writing fantasy. You just can't help writing what you know, even if you are writing about things wholly imaginary. It's the way our minds put dreams together. They're never literally about what they are about, and the images that are meaningful to you are often meaningless to anyone else.

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It is fascinating to read your thoughts Sialia. In some ways, I wish I could rebut you. But, I have to admit that the (few) stories I write say far more about me than I like to think while I am writing them. It's when I go back and read them that I am able to acknowledge the meanings that drift in subconsciously.

Sialia said:

For example, I have recurring dreams about my fish swimming out of my fishtank--they fly around the room, and I keep trying to chase them back into the tank before they suffocate or dry out and die, because they haven't the sense to realize that they can't live in the air, even if they can swim in it.

These dreams always come at times when I feel like my responsibilities are getting to be more than I can handle. That seems obvious when we're awake and I'm explaining it to you, right? But not so clear before I said so, or when I'm asleep, 'cause I fall for this every single time as if I'd never had the dream before.

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Umm, my dreams usually scare me, when I remember them. Sometimes, I wonder if that is part of the reason why I stay up so late, so often. I haven't had a recurring dream that I recall in years. Which is fortunate, since it always ended up with me dying in the same way. Unfortunately, while that dream always made me uncomfortable, it didn't truly scare me the way some of my other dreams do.

Sialia said:

Good stories are like that--they are obviously about something that is important to the author, even if the author never tells the reader what the literal truth behind them is. We instinctively feel that there is something important going on, and each person reads thier own anxiety or hope into it, drawing signal from the noise. Surreal or fantastical stories are fun because they are blurry, vague, amorphous and leave lots of room for people to recognize their own issues. They also allow the author to write without recognizing what she is putting down, only to look at it later and recognize wehre it came from, what it was all about really.

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I definitely agree here! One of my personal hangups is that I feel the need to try to explain everything. I need to understand it and all too often I feel like I need to explain it. Sometimes, it is best to write what you feel and then leave it at that. Let the reader find meaning and don't foist your meaning onto them.

You know, 14 years ago, I got my first computer so I could be a writer. I found that I enjoyed figuring out the technology and I have been sidetracked ever since. It pays the bills pretty well, but I haven't really been a writer for 13 years. I wasn't much of a writer before then either. But, I think I might be getting back toward the tracks I wanted to follow. It's inspiring to read all of your stories, and all of your comments. Thanks!

BardStephenFox said:

I definitely agree here! One of my personal hangups is that I feel the need to try to explain everything. I need to understand it and all too often I feel like I need to explain it. Sometimes, it is best to write what you feel and then leave it at that. Let the reader find meaning and don't foist your meaning onto them.

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I have the same problem. I had to keep reminding myself that I only had 5,000 words, and there just wasn't room for it. And the story was much, much better for it. The story itself had to carry my thoughts and feelings, I couldn't explain them.

For some comfort, inspiration, and just handy advice, check out "Writing Down the Bones," by Natalie Goldberg. It might seem a little new agey, but it's helped me a great deal. Even when I have troubles that have nothing to do with writing, it's a help. I find as I write now my mind goes back to a lot of things she mentions, and one of them is if the piece is successful, the reader will get you without need to explain.

My stories almost always tend towards having a bumbling, unlucky hero. Kind oif odd, especially since my first round story was supposed to be about a hardened London gangster, but he ended up being an unlucky, humorous, bumbling guy. I'm kind of glad that i broke the mold with my second round entry.