I was reading one of Mysteria's great stories, and saw a comment from her that really struck a chord with me.
Simplicity - Long month indeed for little sister. Nicely written M.
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Lush Gold member
Mysteria27 - Thanks so much for reading and your lovely comment...I guess we will have to see what happens...when I write this stuff I never know where it's going. I giggled when I saw what I typed. Xo
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I can't tell you how many of my stories start with an idea, and as I write, the story builds itself in ways I didn't expect. As a writer, I love when that happens and its good. I was wondering how many other authors find themselves writing words that they didn't expect to create.
-John
Make sure its done well! I read (and enjoyed!) a story recently published on this site that arbitrarily jumped between the two main characters. It was distracting.
That being said, I have a work in progress that jumps between four characters. There are sections I didn't like because 1) I didn't like how it read when I forced that first person perspective and 2) I didn't feel like the reader was going to follow who the current 'I, he, she, him or her' was.
I have most of it readable (in my opinion) because I force the perspective when I describe who is thinking thoughts, and then fall back to story telling when there is action.
My wife and I started swinging in our early 40's. She asked me to "take on for the team" when she fancied an older gentleman at a party. I met and liked his wife, and everyone was happy. I would have guessed that she was in her early 50's. We had a delightful time. She was very sweet (double entendre intended). Afterwords, she admitted that she was 66 years old, 24 years older than me. I can only hope that we can all be as youthful and entertaining when we mature!
I have two long stories that I wrote a couple of years ago. Both are many chapters long and I am afraid to look at the word counts. Both are 'early works' for me, and need A LOT of work to make them readable for others. I have too many fresh ideas percolating and waiting to get on paper, so I haven't worked on the older ones yet.
One thing I have seen a lot of on this site, and I think would be a good structure for me, is limiting ideas to three chapters. I am sure that is a rule I will break, but planning ahead to limit my thoughts will allow me to get in and out of a story, without feeling the need to force the creative process.
Rejection sucks. I wrote a poem, and I let the structure be dictated by the emotions that I hoped would be revealed by it. It was rejected because it did not fit someone else's definition of Proper Poetry.
Sometimes, it's better to to let the writing of the work be a personal process, and a personal release. When I read your poem, I was saddened by the tragedy as it unfolded, but I did not feel the tremendous loss that you had to have felt in losing a friend. I sincerely hope that writing and sharing this piece is helping you to cope with those feelings.
I also trust that you understand that having some heartless cynic reject your poem does not make your feelings less valid. In this case, I think it reaffirms that warm-hearted and kind people should stick together.
Write on, and keep the pointy side of the pencil on the paper!