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Seriously, nineteen parts in, only one to go and the writer's block picks now to hit me? You have got to be kidding me!
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Answer: CD's, Sarah Palin and newspapers/magazines.
Why: ipod's, such dumbassery cannot survive much longer, and because that's what the media tells me.
Answer: CD's, Sarah Palin and newspapers/magazines.
Why: ipod's, such dumbassery cannot survive much longer, and because that's what the media tells me.
Tags:
Because I think that would be awesome and I had to go look up the character's name because I still think of him as Logan Huntzberger in my head.
And I would totally write that if I didn't have a bijillion other things to write, right now and I was actually even writing anything.
[Error: unknown template qotd]I would have to say that the biggest influence on making me a better writer was a person. I met a woman on the internet who went by the username of Kira. Kira was a fan fiction writer and college student. We shared an interest in the tv show, Star Trek: Voyager. Through that shared interest, Kira taught me a lot about writing that has stuck with me for years now. Her advice is often the most prominent in my mind when I'm writing and it has made a very big impression on my writing style and what I aspire to do with what I write.
One of the most important things that Kira taught me about writing was the way that dialogue can define a story. Dialogue is just as important in creating the setting of the story as describing the contents of the room or the way that the characters interact with one another. The way that people speak - what dialect they use, whether they use contractions or don't use contractions - can tell as much about them and where they come from as a physical description of the character. And, especially when you get the dialogue of an established character wrong, it can completely throw the reader out of the story and mood that you as a writer are trying to create.
Kira was also major influence in teaching me about the importance of style in writing. Formatting the story properly, instead of displaying the entire story in one huge paragraph, was a valuable bit of wisdom that she passed a long to me. Other things, like leaving a line space between paragraphs, separating dialogue off into its own separate paragraph instead of mingling it with description, and ways of combining sentence length to keep a story from become boring, were also things that she passed along to me.
Attention to detail is another aspect of writing that Kira stressed. Laziness and sloppiness that could be avoided through a little bit of research was something that she discouraged. A good story is created by eliminating as many of the factors that could annoy readers as possible to let the actual content and merit of what is being written shine through, rather than being hidden by writing details that could have been corrected. As part of that attention to detail, Kira also tried to stress to me the importance of good spelling and grammar so that it also wouldn't be a distraction to readers. Sadly my grammar skills are still a work in progress.
One of the other pieces of advice that Kira gave me, and has stuck with me and held me in good stead, is to read as much other good fiction as I could get my hands on. Absorbing fiction by such respected authors as Anne McCaffrey, Neil Gaiman, Aaron Allston, Karen Traviss, Marissa de Santos, Emma Donoghue, Emily Dickinson, and many, many other classical and modern authors has done much to improve my own writing as I observe their style and the way that they tell their own stories.
All in all, the advice that I received from Kira has proved to stand me in good stead. Through her advice she has had a great impact on what I write, how I write it and the way that I think about writing. I will always appreciate what she took the time to teach me and be thankful for it.
One of the most important things that Kira taught me about writing was the way that dialogue can define a story. Dialogue is just as important in creating the setting of the story as describing the contents of the room or the way that the characters interact with one another. The way that people speak - what dialect they use, whether they use contractions or don't use contractions - can tell as much about them and where they come from as a physical description of the character. And, especially when you get the dialogue of an established character wrong, it can completely throw the reader out of the story and mood that you as a writer are trying to create.
Kira was also major influence in teaching me about the importance of style in writing. Formatting the story properly, instead of displaying the entire story in one huge paragraph, was a valuable bit of wisdom that she passed a long to me. Other things, like leaving a line space between paragraphs, separating dialogue off into its own separate paragraph instead of mingling it with description, and ways of combining sentence length to keep a story from become boring, were also things that she passed along to me.
Attention to detail is another aspect of writing that Kira stressed. Laziness and sloppiness that could be avoided through a little bit of research was something that she discouraged. A good story is created by eliminating as many of the factors that could annoy readers as possible to let the actual content and merit of what is being written shine through, rather than being hidden by writing details that could have been corrected. As part of that attention to detail, Kira also tried to stress to me the importance of good spelling and grammar so that it also wouldn't be a distraction to readers. Sadly my grammar skills are still a work in progress.
One of the other pieces of advice that Kira gave me, and has stuck with me and held me in good stead, is to read as much other good fiction as I could get my hands on. Absorbing fiction by such respected authors as Anne McCaffrey, Neil Gaiman, Aaron Allston, Karen Traviss, Marissa de Santos, Emma Donoghue, Emily Dickinson, and many, many other classical and modern authors has done much to improve my own writing as I observe their style and the way that they tell their own stories.
All in all, the advice that I received from Kira has proved to stand me in good stead. Through her advice she has had a great impact on what I write, how I write it and the way that I think about writing. I will always appreciate what she took the time to teach me and be thankful for it.
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