A Writer’s Journey

This is the second suggestion made to me on Twitter for what people would like to see on here. Suggested by Joanna Young over at Confident Writing. Very focused on community, it was no surprise that Joanna made this great suggestion.

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Roleplaying at its core is taking control of a single character among many to make a story with other writers. Building and developing a world in which to place those characters, developing plot, allowing relationships to form between characters, and finally completing the story.

But, is that it? Is there another aspect to roleplaying that the ‘general’ definition omits? I would say so: A side-effect of group creative writing would definitely be community.

Sites like Roleplay Gateway are a prime example of this. With forums for general chatter, a place to ’show off’ artwork and poetry, prose and music; Gateway (as it’s fondly referred to by its members) is a great example of a place where you are not just writing in collaboration, but also part of a much wider community. And with the added benefit of a chat built into the site, the community aspect is greatly increased.

So, why does roleplay open itself so readily to creating community?

It’s because communication is key when working together. Be it on the chat, on the forums, or via private messages and IM, you need to communicate for your roleplay to succeed. Planning on general plot, adding your own twists and sub-plots between characters/players; it all requires you to talk with your fellow writers.

Through this, friendships are created rather quickly: You get an insight into the writer as a person from his writing and ideas, conversations on plot turn into “Hey, how are you today?” and the next thing you know, a friend has been made. Overall, the experience is a good one, and the community aspect is something a lot of roleplayers actually roleplay for.

With so wide a demographic; from young teens just discovering the joys of writing, to seasoned roleplayers and writers up to within their 40’s (the oldest I’ve seen is 42, I believe), you also get to see a greatly varying view on the world. And it is that one mutual interest which brings together so many people.

Your experiences

Have you roleplayed in the past, or still do? Been part of a writing community of any kind? What were/are you experiences? Share them with us!

Saladin Akara General, Roleplaying community, Roleplaying

Yesterday on Twitter I ran a little survey about what people wanted to see on the blog. I got a pretty good response, and this is one of the ideas suggested to me. The suggestion came from Andrew Hayes and I felt it was a fantastic suggestion.

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The days are getting longer, the weather warmer and soon it’ll be Easter. That’s right! It’s the spring! A time of birth and new beginnings, and traditionally when feather dusters, bleach, furniture polish and all manner of cleaning stuff gets dragged from cupboards for Spring Cleaning.

As writers, maybe we too should do a Spring Clean. Our desks may or may not be cluttered with all manner of trinkets and pieces of paper, so maybe we should organise the area where we unleash our sword (pen… Or keyboard) to help us stay focused. I know that when I look at my desk, the thought of giving it a good de-clutter is daunting: Pens, old and empty lighters, scraps of paper, letters, CDs and DVDs with either music, movies or data on them; magazines, glasses and a teaspoon!

There is so much there to distract me from writing, many reasons to procrastinate, and with the TV remote on there in the mix too… Well, you get the picture, I’m sure. It certainly isn’t cohesive to healthy writing. So, what should I get rid of? What should I make sure is there?

Pens are a great idea. How else can I jot down those random ideas that come to me on a whim? Though scraps of paper don’t fit in with that: They can go. I’ll need a notebook, probably A5 in size, spiral bound. This makes note taking really easy and sometimes, let’s be honest, opening up a new Notepad window and typing your idea, even in this digital age can take a lot longer than using pen and paper. Note taking, as a writer is very important, as I’m sure you all know.

Cigarette lighters, mugs and teaspoons can all go in the bin or sink. Letters can go in the right folders and CDs and DVDs can go back in their cases, nicely neat and tidy. The TV remote, as much as I like being able to control the telly from my desk, can go on top of the TV where it belongs, I think. After all, I’ll be much less likely to turn it on when writing if I have to move to do so.

Phew! *Wipes brow* That done, and my desk looks a million times better! And with a tidy environment, my mind can work much more clearly. And I think it’s time to put my newly purchased notebook to use.

Spring cleaning for your mind is nowhere near as easy as your desk: It’s not just about removing anything distracting or messy. We’re now into the fourth month of the year… I wonder just how many ideas, thoughts, goals and other miscellanea have been floating around in your head since January? For me, there’s been a lot. All jumbled up and in no real order.

So, in this time of Spring Cleaning, maybe we should get our minds in order as well. Put down those goals, make them targets: Who, what, when, where and why? The ideas need to be jotted down, given order and organisation. Also, writing them down, like saying them, makes it all much more real than a mere whim. I spent a considerable while today getting my thoughts, goals and ideas in order. Maybe you should give it a try?

Bring your own duster!

What do you do when Spring Cleaning your desk and mind? Any hints, tips or tricks you find useful? Let us know!

And if we get enough ideas, I’ll throw together a nice post on Spring Cleaning tips from the Writer’s Journey community.

Saladin Akara General, Hints and Tips desk-tidying, goals, note taking, organisation, Spring Clean, targets

This is the first group write project I’m taking part in. The “What I Learned From…” groupwrite is a monthly project by Robert Hruzek at Middle Zone Musings and the Adversity theme is outlined here.

So, why do these? For a few reasons:

• Firstly, it will be a challenge to me as a writer and will hopefully help in my growth as such.
• It’s a great way for you, my blog readers, to find out about new places to visit.
• Links back here will help the blog to grow rather nicely.
• It’s fun and will allow me to meet more new people.

The lesson.

I think that for all of us adversity has been a part of our lives at least once. The American Heritage Dictionary defines adversity as, “A state of hardship or affliction; misfortune.” This, I believe, would fit what most people automatically think of. For me, however, I prefer the Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary’s definition of, “Opposition; contrariety.”

In this sense, I think we reach the core of what adversity truly is. It is something either in your control or not that is working in opposition against you acheiving your goals in life. Whether it be abusive parents, difficulties in school, poverty, war, or such conditions as depression. Even writer’s block. All these things are a hindrance to your growth as a person, or writer, or in relation to your desired career path.

Or, to make it a little simpler, adversity is simply hurdles in your path. You have two options, really: Run directly into them, or leap over the hurdle, ready for the next.

This isn’t as easy as it is looks, I know. But no matter the size of the hurdle, it can be done. All it takes is mental, emotional, and sometimes physical, strength to manage that leap of faith. It can be hard at times to know what you’re going to land in, but one thing is for sure - you’ll come out stronger.

Beating writer’s block will reveal to you new ways to keep that creativity flowing, as an example; strengthening your ability to write. Battling depression and winning will help you see new light and joy in life, making it easier to fend off such things in the future: Your defenses are stronger.

And that is what I’ve learned form adversity: Strength.

Saladin Akara Group Writing Projects

Following on from my previous post on realism, I was reading an article by Vicki Hinze on the Fiction Factor website. It discusses suspension of disbelief when writing fiction.

But, what is this idea of suspending disbelief? It’s all about making your readers be able to believe that what you are writing is, or could be, real. Whether it’s a romance, action-adventure or fantasy piece you are writing your readers need to be able to believe in what they are reading. Elves? Not in the real world, that’s for sure? Don’t be silly! If you can suspend their disbelief, however, then it could well be possible that elves do exist in reality.

It’s all in the detail.

How do we do that for a novel without an atypical or unusual element?
In a word, details.

And in that quote, Vicki sums up the concept perfectly. It is the tiny, seemingly unimportant details that are key to suspending your reader’s disbelief. From making sure your characters are believable and relatable through giving them ‘real’ personalities, to giving enough prior background for an event to be plausible.

An example by Vicki speaks of snow in Florida. Sure enough, a snow storm in Florida wouldn’t happen in real life (I think. Do feel free to correct me if otherwise), in your novel it could well be. A change in weather fronts and well developed plans by Organisation X to affect weather against the natural order? Sure, that could well make snow fall in Florida.

Consistency is key.

Throughout your novel or fictional piece you need to be consistent to maintain the suspension of disbelief. To continue the the ’snow in Florida’ example: Suddenly throwing in this Organisation X and all related factors in the chapter immediately before or after the snow storm will look very much like a desperate ’saving grace’ attempt that will make the reader stop, think and still believe it couldn’t happen.

Before and after the event, you need to continue suspending disbelief. As another extreme example: There is snow in Florida for the above-stated reasons one day, on the next, blistering heat once again. No, doesn’t sound real to me either, considering the information we’ve been given already. “Boo!” at the writer!

Informative delivery.

Vicki goes on to speak about how you give this details and ‘facts’ to the reader, and brings up an interesting point:

It’s widely accepted as fact that a reader believes what one character says to another far more readily than the reader believes what an author says to them.

And that, I think, gives point enough on how best to deliver the information that builds believability.

Over to you.

What methods to you use to suspend disbelief as a writer? As a reader, what are you most likely to notice that will reinstate your disbelief? Or what do you like to see to enable suspension of disbelief?

Saladin Akara General Writing, Hints and Tips fiction, hint and tips, suspension of disbelief, writing

Having seen George Angus’ review of the e-book publishing service Smashwords over at Tumblemoose Writing Services, I knew I just had to give it a try. E-books, while still only making up a very tiny percentage of book sales, are a growing industry. The proliferation of such gadgets as the Sony Reader and the iPhone’s Stanza application will only help the e-book industry to grow.

A free service that takes your Word document and converts it into various e-book formats, then, sounds very enticing. Especially to a writer like myself, trying to get into the industry beyond hobbies. I was itching to give it a try.

A Decision Had To Be Made

What, exactly, would I make an e-book out of? As a first attempt, I knew it best to follow George’s “An Inspired Query Letter” and make my ebook free. I didn’t, however, want any of my ‘real’ work to be readily available for nothing. So I had to decide on a subject matter.

I finally decided to compile an anthology of various roleplaying posts I had written. I did this for two reasons: Firstly, the content was readily available and required very little work on my part. Secondly, it would serve as a great way to display my writing ability.

So off I went, finding various roleplay posts from the two and a half years I’ve been taking part in the past-time. Organising them by date order, I made the rest of the content: An introduction to the e-book, and a small paragraph of background to each post.

The Process

I typed everything up in the Ubuntu equivalent of Notepad, then formatted the e-book as outlined in the Smashwords Style Guide. Or so I had thought (more on that later).

Registration was quick and easy, taking all of about three or four minutes including ‘account activation.’ The easy-to-use navigation gives a nice “Publish” link that, you got it, is where you publish your ebook. Allowing you to add a synopsis (400 or so characters long), tags, and categorisation the first page is nice and simple. You can also add an image to act as the front cover; something I opted out of.

Uploading your Word document is as easy as you’d expect: Browse to the relevant file, click okay, then click upload. Then your file is run through what is fondly referred to as the ‘Meat Grinder’ to be converted into the various e-book formats on offer. This took a couple of minutes for my 33 page e-book.

The Value of Proof-Reading

A greatly important lesson was taken from this little outing into the e-publication world: Proof-read, proof-read, proof-read!

I did have some initial formatting issues that meant the HTML Reader on Smashwords didn’t recognise any paragraph returns in my book; making it just a single block of text! This was my own fault, for not fully following the Style Guide, but I managed to fix it.

Then, the worst thing happened when I re-checked the HTML Reader (which thankfully was now working)! My actual roleplay posts, some of which were from as far back 2006, were riddled with various errors: Typographical, missing or added words, spelling errors etc.

I knew that none of my ‘new’ content in the e-book had any errors, and I had been sure that all my older stuff was proof-read back when I originally wrote them. Not the case. I had to read through everything once more to correct any mistakes, and then re-upload the e-book once again.

For this, it is really easy: There is an “Upload new version” option in your ‘dashboard’ on the site, and takes only a minute or so; needing only to upload the file and convert it - After all, the rest of the information is still there.

Finally, I’d Finished!

“Excerpts From Role Playing Endeavours” was at last published and suitable for being read.

Overall, the process was an enjoyable, and my own errors aside, the Smashwords service is fantastic. Simple, easy to use, intuitive and most all… Free to use! I expect that I will be using it again in the future. Perhaps to even publish some of my work non-free.

Thanks must be given to George, though, for sharing such a great discovery with us all.

Saladin Akara General, General Writing, Roleplaying e-book, proof-reading, smashwords, writing

For the past two or three weeks, I’ve been getting myself involved with Twitter for the first time. It’s certainly an interesting beast: 140 characters to get your message across. Anything from what you are doing at any given moment, to chatting with other Twitters in the ‘Twitterverse.’ Think of a heavily simplified Facebook and you pretty much have Twitter in a nutshell.

Yet, I cannot help but wonder what it actually does for me. It allows a much more open networking facility than Facebook, is less full of gimicks like poking and sheep-hurling while still maintaining that sense of connection. But what does it do for me as a writer?

• Teaches me to be concise. An average of 20-ish words isn’t a lot to convey what you’re thinking or feeling.
• Connections with other writers. At the moment I have only a small network and a fair few are writers. Who better to make friends with and have the opportunity of learning from.
• Offers inspiration. Such people as Joanna Young and Amy Palko and a few others near constantly seem in a good mood with motivating things to say that can inspire. Links posted from blogs or other such things also offer sources of inspiration: Be it photos, articles, funny stories, it all adds up to inspiring me to write something.

And on that last note, I must make mention of the Confident Writing community’s lessons from blogging, summarised here. A great collection of experiences and something I, as a new blogger, will find greatly useful in the learning process.

Your experiences?

How have you found the Twitter experience? Has it helped you in any way? If so, how?

You can follow me on Twitter: @MattHaywardUK

Saladin Akara General, General Writing

A couple of days ago I was discussing with a few people over on Roleplay Gateway about an idea to write something collaboratively, but with a slight twist on the usual roleplaying basis. The main jist of the idea can be found here and a thread for discussion here.

Essentially, myself and four other writers will be planning and writing a story entirely collaboratively, writing either a chapter or scene at a time each. Besides the usual roleplaying I do, this will be my first collaborative project. I have to wonder just how well it will work out. Will the other writers be to my standard? Will they be able to ‘keep up’ in terms of post frequency? Will differences in writing styles pose a future problem?

I’m not sure quite how it works when you see a book written by two people (David and Leigh Eddings, for example). Do they each write certain sections, or work together on every aspect? One person plans characters and the other writes the plot? So this will work as a nice experiment for me and potentially a nice journey of discovery. I’ll be sure to keep you posted on the progress.

Your own experiences.

Have you ever done any collaborative work? What did you find worked well? What didn’t? Any tips, advice or warning that could be helpful? Do let me know.

Saladin Akara General Writing