I figure we'll have enough off topic stuff regarding writing and editing that we could have a thread for it. I write fiction. I've never published any of it. I start projects and then I get an idea for another one. I have a favorite character...but the supporting ones are take em or leave em types. It may take 15 projects to find all of their voices, and then bring them together. I want to write without head-hopping (where you read from the point of view of more than one character) but it's the character building that's leaving me in a lurch. There are some awesome blogs for aspiring writers. I've even bought some digital versions of magazines that are aimed at writers (with my B&N gift cards I get through swagbucks). I have two friends that will be the ones to read over and edit anything I do end up wanting to publish. One is a best friend and avid reader of many genres. The other is my brother - absolutely one of the smartest people I know. He understands punctuation, tenses, structure...in more than one language. I know they'll both be honest without being hurtful. From doing cw Improve jobs, I can see how others present what they're given. People don't talk like they're going to be read. I think this is actually helping me think outside my own box. I also look over editing jobs, just to see what it looks like in it's final form. Trying to hand in something that's presentable (possibly) dozens of times a day does make me much more aware of what I'm typing everywhere else. sometimes i still get lazy and don't capitalize or use punctuation like i knows i should
You sound like me Whimsy. I've lost count of the projects I've started, and later abandoned, in favor of a new one. This has been going on since I was about 11, lol. My editors are my mom, who had a long education-related career, and an aunt who had a long career in advertising/marketing, an editing goldmine if there ever was one. My best friend edits the pop culture stuff because it often has slang (and some stuff my deeply religious mom and aunt would faint over and delete without question.) My kryptonite is comma usage...and I guess tense. I can change tense like nobody's business. Oh wait...lol. I can change tense *in the same sentence* and not even notice. My comma usage is atrocious, which is why I have never, and will never, count off for it in transcripts. I just fix it and move on, my fix being to just make it consistent throughout the transcript. I'm so glad you started this thread.
Well....you mentioned the editing and the writing and i figured an OT thread wouldn't be terrible. They unusually die quickly around here but that's because no one's interested, consistently. I like reading magazine articles - just to see how they cut out froo froo crap and get their point across. I don't like reading details about trees, the many colors of the leaves, the way the river sounds in the fall. And Nicholas Sparks. I don't like his stuff, it's S L O W. I'm an impatient person. I always want the next thing to happen. That's my kryptonite. Not developing properly because in my head I'm already there. I have to give a serious look -- and make myself give a serious go at -- the snowflake method. I've always dismissed it because it seems like too much work. Hello?! hahaha Laziness on my part. And a bit of stubbornness.
http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/art/snowflake.php << thorough others: https://www.google.com/search?q=sno...:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=fflb I will admit I've never started anything this way...and I've also never finished anything more than a few 500 word content pieces. lol
I don't think I like transcription anymore =/ I absolutely love writing. My own stuff, for my own gain, even if it's helping others in the process. I'm going to have to stop coming to this forum soon if I continue to not turk. It blows. I like you guys lol
I write! I like writing fiction (I'm a dork who writes sci-fi,) and I write "content" for money. I don't enjoy writing content, though. I actually basically hate it. lol. But the money is good. I don't mind editing, though.
Also, while we're here, if anyone wants to set up a workers' owned co-op for freelance writers, PM me. I'm pretty sure I know how to get business AND more writers on board AND target the 2-8 cent a word market. We could do it via mturk with a qualification system. All I need is someone serious with the resources and guts to set up an initial requester account.
Whimsy, I checked out the Snowflake method (didn't read all, will go back) and love it. It's easy to read and makes sense to me. Wouldn't that help with your character development? I too like to write but haven't done anything--yet--to publish, but have been wanting to for several years. I have written some things here and there and friends have commented that I write just like I talk, they can hear me in the words. I think that's good??? Makes me feel good anyway. Just this morning I sat down after a very long dry spell and started putting down thoughts for the blog I'm developing and it went from an "About Me" page to a hand written page and a half story about my Mom that I was totally unaware of....the story, not Mom..lol Anyway, point being, my writing often seems to have a mind of it's own. I just put it down and go back later and put it in the place it goes (if I can figure out what I was doing). Athena, am PMing you, more info please It's interesting how when I'm really ready to take the step into a blog/web site, there's all this other excitement about writing. "When the student is ready, the teacher will appear" and vice versa too. We are all sometimes the student and sometimes the teacher, yes?
I like you guys =) But I'm about to bust off on someone here in the forum and I may not be welcome here after that. I'll find ya after...(you too, Athena, btw)
Athena, we don't always see eye to eye but I like your idea. I have notebooks in every purse and every room of my house. Stacks of magazines and fully stocked bookshelves. I've wanted to be a writer since I was a kid. If there's decent writing work it takes preference over everything else in my Turk world and if there was steady work writing original content (I have more than enough rewrite work to keep me busy but that's worse than content) I'd be one happy girl.
I think that's great. You've already found your voice. My writing is still all over the place. I really lack focus, which is why my blog is empty right now. So, good for you! ITA. I quit a well-paying job and decided to take the sink or swim approach to writing. So far, so good. I'm not making big money by any means, but I've actually gotten paid for writing, which I didn't think would ever happen. @Athena: I'm going to PM you, too. I've gotten some good feedback from a couple of requesters, but seriously...one cent a word? Just no. So yeah, I'm interested.
Like you I despise commas! I wish they were never invented! Ugh! I may sound weird but my favorite punctuation is the ellipsis. I use them a lot...
The sad part is, 1 cent/word is usually the high end of the spectrum. And those get eaten up before they even appear.
Commas are the devil's minions! I've learned (after getting feedback and even a rejection over it) to go through and remove at least 1 comma from every paragraph. Even then I look at my work and swear I see them everywhere. I get nervous even using them now.
I've noticed. I do research on all the HITs I write, so I can't make any money except with Crowdsource. I love that their writing HITs seem to pay at least two cents a word. But since I'm new to them, I don't have anything but the newbie qual, and I rarely see anything for that one. And I'd like to officially welcome you and lilkolo91 to the "Commas Are Of The Devil" club.
Do I get to be the only one who likes commas around here? But then I also like colons and semi-colons and... Some people are just weird that way. Anyway, I think we should start a support group together. I have a blog site, all set up, with nothing in it and a whole lot of notes, ideas, plans, plots just waiting for me to finally sit down and DO something about it. I've taken courses in creative writing... Hell's bells, I've even taught academic and creative writing... Maybe I'm just in love with the IDEA of writing, not the actual, hard-work slogging that it requires... Maybe I like transcription because it's vicarious writing... Theoretically, there should be a third 'maybe' sentence here, but it's too early for me to think of one.
Ahaha the FYC (Fuck You Commas) club. Loves it. I wish CS had more writing work. It's so sporadic. I have a few intermediate quals with them but even those are inconsistent. The keywords are next to impossible sometimes.
I could have written the OP. The furthest I have got into a work of fiction was 18000 words for NANOWRIMO last year. I decided to do it on 31 October so had only a vague idea for a character and plot before I started. I ran out of steam, convinced myself every word was crap and laid down my pen! Strangely, I read some of the work yesterday and thought I'd done quite well (at the start, anyway, maybe I go off base later I didn't read that far!) I only managed 600 words the year before that so I was quite pleased on the whole. I am not sure if I will try it this year, should be working on a plot outline now if I am going to do it. Would any of you like to guest post on my blog? You're all great writers (as far as you can tell from blog posting). I really struggle for content (hence at the moment there is none published and a number of things half finished in the back end!)