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Post by Stacy on Jan 7, 2010 10:02:59 GMT -5
I love Edgar Allan Poe. He's definitely my main influence and the closest thing I have to a role model. So his essay about writing The Raven greatly interests me. The Philosophy of CompositionIt's very much not the way that I write, but it's food for thought. Only Poe could get me to consider doing the ending first. Last night my husband said that of course it wouldn't be similar to how I write because I'm not a dude living in the early/mid 19th century. To which I replied "How do you know?" and he assured me that I wasn't but I don't know. Like I told him, maybe I go for visits sometimes. Do you have role models and have they written anything about how they write? Has it influenced you? What's your philosophy of composition? I suppose mine is - think of words, type them, (occasionally the thinking of the words and typing them happens concurrently) look them over and try to make them better. Yeah. Not a whole lot of conscious thought there.
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Post by dbloveshermac on Jan 7, 2010 11:24:51 GMT -5
Two of my favorite authors wrote their first novels while working in wartime hospitals. Similar inspiration and environment certainly produced different types of works: Hospital Sketches by Alcott and The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Christie.
I've read that Alcott wrote to escape the confines her society placed on women as well as to support her family. I'd say motivation carried her a long way.
As for Christie, would you believe that some British researchers theorized that she used phrasing formulae designed to stimulate seratonin production in readers' brains? They think she chose her words to create some kind of literary high and thus addict her readers. Murder mystery junkies, anyone? Personally, I think she just had a rare gift for the trifecta: character, plot, and setting.
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Post by dbloveshermac on Jan 7, 2010 17:37:26 GMT -5
OK, now that I've reread what I wrote, it doesn't seem to make decent amounts of relevant sense. Let me try to add in what passed through my mind but didn't make it through my fingers to the keyboard.
It's fascinating to read what the process was in developing The Raven! I imagine many writers do start with the goal of having a certain effect, but I doubt many follow through with a full complement of other goals as Poe did. Linking this to my comments on Christie, those researchers claimed that she set out to hypnotize or addict her readers. She herself said that she started out with a murder and built out through methods, characters, and surrounding stories.
Do you think very prolific writers have a consistent composition pattern?
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Post by mdpthatsme on Jan 7, 2010 20:58:37 GMT -5
AVI is an awesome writer. He was told by everyone that he would not be literate or even write correctly because of dyslexia. However, he took a pencil and scribbled on a paper until he could write straight. That's inspirational. Now he's one of the best writers out there with some award winning books including Crispin and the True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle. I, however, do not write like him, but he opened my eyes that it doesn't matter what people say, if you have the passion, you can succeed and you can accomplish your dreams.
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Post by thelunarfox on Jan 8, 2010 1:34:50 GMT -5
I like the idea of thinking about the impression or effect you want to convey. But after you've written the story down, of course.
Pretty much, I do the same Stacy. I don't think of words though. I imagine a scene and usually hear a voice over, write it down (those two pretty much always happen at the same time), then I look it over.
Once it's out, then I think about the effect I want from it. But by that, I mean how do I want the reader to feel or think.
To be honest, I generally avoid reading about writing too much unless it's someone I consider a peer. I wouldn't want to put extra pressure on myself.
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Post by girlyesterday on Jan 8, 2010 6:45:16 GMT -5
I can't say any one author has influenced me because I read... an insane amount of books. It's only in the last three years that I've ventured outside of the fantasy genre to explore other genres including contemporary fiction and on one stint, romance.
I guess you could say I've been influenced by all of them in some way.
My philosophy on composition? I don't have one. I write what I feel and that's bascially it. If I feel the story in my heart, then I write it. I could be doing something as simple as grocery shopping and I see a person digging into a trash can. I might go home and write a short story about who that person was, how they came to be in that place and why and how this has affected who they are and how they see the world.
When I write something, it's to understand the world, the people in it and the reasons behind their motivations.
Lunar - Not reading about writing is a good way to be. I am getting like that myself.
dbloveshermac - Very interesting story about Christie. I never could get into any of her books. I don't hate murder mysteries, I've read a few, hers just never really sparked my interest.
I think prolific writers tend to rehash what made them successful over and over because that's what their readers want.
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