Third meeting

The third meeting is due today.

In the email circular our leader suggested that there would be less projects and more fun in the classes.

This time I am way behind with my homeworks. We had like 4/5 tasks and I'm finished with 2.

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One of them was to revise one (or one part of) my previous work.

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I have two ongoing projects (wips). One is Halo, the other one is called Copper Moon. I have not contributed a single line to the latter in more than a year. Do you think it means I will never ever finish it? I don't think so. I want to finish Halo first, you know.

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So, since none of my longer-sized wips are ready I re-composed a poem instead.

It is a simple 8-line paganistic poem.

I adjusted the number of syllables so as to have the same length of lines, removed 2 cliches and 1 inappropriate word. I chose more suitable words and expressions. Also I changed 1 word to avoid unnecessary repetition.

This poem is written in Hungarian.

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I usually do this revision as a habit, you know.

Now the strange thing was to do it deliberately and with defined methods.

I tend to write impulsively, which sometimes results in quite a flow of words, sometimes with not a word at all for weeks. I assume this is not the right way, but I find it hard to manage and control my inspiration. I don't even know if any control is possible.

Whenever I'm finished with something I usually check the thing over to remove and unwanted repetitions, cliches, misused words, inappropriate subjects and objects, verb usage, grammar and so on.

I do it impusively, too -

How your writing's going?

Another task

We were given lots of tasks in the first meeting.
Some of them I described in the posts beneath this one, and there's one left.
It was called : Change your life.
At first, you had to choose an important event of your life. Most preferably, it needed to be a conflict, an exciting moment, something with lots of emotions involved.
Once you had this memory in mind, you had to write it
1-in first person singular
2-in third person singular
3-having different POVs, preferably from each person involved
4-with all the persons 15 years older/younger
5-in a completely different set of emotions (say, if the original story was happy, now you had to write a sad one)
6-in a completely different set of events, but with the exact same set of emotions (say, if you had an uplifting story with a birth involved, you had to re-write it about, say, a car accident, but with the same uplifting tone.)
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I'm sorry but I don't have the time to translate my versions, I might do this some time later...But not now.
I chose an event that happened to my son in his classroom.
There were him, his best friend and a bad guy (a third classmate) and this bad guy's best friend in the story. I wrote it from each of their point of views.
I chose to re-write the story when the characters were 20 years older. The guys became co-workers. The whole event has taken up a more detached tone, with a tired feeling.
For number five I chose that the bad guy was good.
For number six I changed the setting to a skiing camp, where the main character decides not to go on with the camp so as to avoid something that made him fear.
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It was really interesting to see how different the monologoues of the different characters were. The most difficult thing for me was to define the range of emotions (for tasks # 5 and 6).
The most challenging task was to write #6. Interestingly though, once I had a sparkle of inspiration I finished it off quite quickly and nicely.
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This #6 was the one I read aloud at the second meeting.
I wonder what people thought the original story was....
:))))
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'll be back with more news soon.
Cheers,
SzF.

My answers and a new task

Dear readers,
I am thankful for your answers for my three *whatif*s.
The game is not closed, so you may all contribute another completion anytime you wish.
Yet, as I promised here are my three finishing lines:
1-What if everyone in a park suddenly fell asleep?
Everyone would be having the same dream in which they are having a garden party with balloons and funs and jokes so that when people gets awake, with the same memory in their mind, they all share smiles and laughter with each other.
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2-What if someone, working in a car repair shop fixed a tank (a sturdy army machine) out of the parts the shop normally uses?

Suspecting conspiracy, he starts his own private investigation into the company.

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3-What if a family found out that they have to move into a foreing country?
A painful farewell party is organized and given, when love-and-hate relationships formerly hidden came into the front, leaving former friends as enemies, and former neutrals as close friends.
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And now, since my computer is due to another re-installation, I'm leaving you with another task. I mean this is a task we were given, but it's kind of fun so you are encouraged to share your results with me.
The original task was to pick a recent day of my life.
I had to write about the events in a.) first person singular; b.) third person; c.) in sentences containing not more than 10 words; d.) in one long sentence; and finally e.) using only nouns, with a limit of 40 words for the day.
I did it dutifully, but it was a tedious task.
I found doing a.) and b.) a bit boring, but the difference between various POVs came out nicely.
Task c.) was really, really boring, because I love long sentences when it comes to description. I think this task was to make events appear faster than they really were. Any opinion on that?
Task d.) on the other hand was really challenging, because we were not allowed to use 'and' as a connection. Task e.) came as a refreshing one and it created a dramatic effect.
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Now, if you are still in the mood for a game, pick any of a-e. and write it in the comments section.
And as I'm taking this course in Hungarian I will not translate tasks a.-d. - anyway, they are quite boring, but I'm presenting you with my solution for task e.
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March 3.

Awakening.
Chicken.
Corn.
Bed.
Kitchen.
Breakfast.
Quarrel.
School.
Discussion.
Notes.
Plans.
Pen.
Writing.
Music.
Exercise.
Tiredness.
Slaughterpants.
Garden.
Chase.
Axe.
Neck.
Feather.
Skin.
Intestines.
Meat.
Lunch.
Boy.
Girl.
Games.
Joy.
Home.
Table-tennis.
Tiredness.
Laughter.
Dinner.

Homework for April

The followings were among the homework we had to finish before our April meeting - my notes are in italics.
Task One:
Complete three sentences starting with 'what if'. I guess this exercise helps gathering new ideas, finding a nice start for a plot perhaps. Strange as it may seem but I'm new to the terminology of writing. If I misuse any word, please let me know so that I can use it correctly.
We had to write our threes right during the meeting and our homework was to answer each of those three questions in one sentence.
Hear my three 'what if'-s:
1-What if everyone in a park suddenly fell asleep?
2-What if someone, working in a car repair shop fixed a tank (a sturdy army machine) out of the parts the shop normally uses?
3-What if a family found out that they have to move into a foreing country?
You turn - if you have time and willingness, that is, of course.
Finish my 'what if'-s with your answers. One sentence per each question, please.
I've written my three answers to these, and will be willing to give them away within a couple of days.
But I'd love to see your versions, too.
Let's play, if you're in the mood for a little game.

The first meeting

Hosted by the local library, the the first meeting went easier than I expected.
I had this fear of getting into
a.) a group of published, and/or otherwise famous authors, where I would definitely feel minor and unworthy,
b.) a bunch of people with no talent, in which case the idea of visiting the group would deem pointless.
It turned out that the group consists of aspiring authors with talents of different kind. They both have the drive to create and they are eager to learn.
I think this is an inspiring environment for me.
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The leader of the group is an author of several fiction books. He's middle aged. He listens to our works and takes his job seriously. He's kind but firm when it comes to managing a debate. So far, first impressions are good.
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And now about the actual events:
There were two newcomers, including me. When everyone arrived, we introduced ourselves. I'm far too shy when it comes to public self-introduction. I want to make a good impression yet stick to the truth - the outcome is an honest, but not-so-flattering mumble of words. Pfft.
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The leader talked about some basic aspects of writing a longer piece of work.
Most of the topics he covered were covered with my fellow bloggers. I recall Charles having mentioned the importance of pacing (i.e. alternating between fast and slow, events and dialogues, etc.).
He emphasized the importance of an outline.
These things may seem far too obvious, but the main point is that they only seem so. The leader admitted having to send 100k of his new novel into the Recycle Bin due to the lack of a coherent outline.
I think his honesty may make these sessions more valuable.
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Every once in the while his speech was interrupted by handing out and/or checking exercises.
One of them was to analyse three poems by a famous Hungarian poet named Pilinszky János, one of them was to write 3 sentences starting with the ever famous 'What if...'.
Then, we were to read our writings.
As I gathered, each time tasks are given. Everyone gets the same set of tasks as a homework.
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For this occassion one of the homeworks was a so called self-inducing paragraph.
The task was to write the first sentence just about anything we want. The second sentence however, had to be composed by using 2 or 3 words of the same sentence. The third sentence had to contain 2 or 3 words from the first two sentences and so on - until you feel it's finished. Here's my job (translated into English)
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Looking out of the window she saw braches covered with snow, sparkling in the sunshine against the clear blue of the sky. The world was covered with snow; branches were mixed with the sunshine. In front of the window on the small garden path a cat shook some snow off of himself. Mixed in his coat, there were black and grey mixed with the shower of snow falling off the branches. The path was grey; his pupil was black against the blue of the sky. In the frame of the window, under the branches a hunter was on his way on the garden path.
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I read my version, others have read theirs, too, and we had a little discussion.
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Finally, we got our homework for the April meeting.
Pending computer availability, I will probably inform you about those as well.
But since the language of this course is Hungarian, I will or may not be always supply you with the actual texts I write as homework.
Yet the problems explored in a homework are universal.
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My overall impression was that I will definitely attend next time to see how it goes. To floow the others, to improve myself...
When I informed my husband about the nature and quantity of homework he raised his eyebrows….
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One

Phew, I'm back from the writers' club event I attended for the first time last evening.

- I'll be back with details soon.

a simultaneous post

Well, my home computer is broken but will be up and ready within a few days.
Surprisingly enough, I seem to enjoy the peace the lack of internet means in our home.

In the meantime, let me draw your attention towards my other blog called Gondolatok az erdőben. Don't get warned away by the Hungarian title. I write my blog in English (well, the one I know).
The Hungarian title means 'thoughts in the forest', or 'forest thoughts', and is basically about anything I face in my real or imaginary life.
Whenever I have anything to publish is getting published here. Poems, writings, photos and musings about everyday...it's all there, while this one is about writing only.

Thanks for your attention.

Dear all,

Blue death has taken my home computer. This I write from the office PC of my husband.
We are trying to find the best solution as soon as possible.

goin' local

while I am an advocate for local thinking (as an opposite to globalism) it never occurred to me to actively search for a local circle of writers...
it seems now that the opportunity is just here fine at this very point of my life :)
reading my mailbox I came accross an ad for the March session of the local group of writers/poets. As far as I see, this is a helping group, a writers' class, if you like, for any unpublished writer or writer-to-be.
I remember when Paul wrote a post about going to the first of his writers' class. His was excited about it and so I am.
I don't know anyone.
I contacted one of the organizers in an email and got my first homeworks...
More on those later on...
Did I tell you I was excited?

funny or sad?

I returned to see how can I possibly finish writing Halo. I opened the word document, isn't that great? This is something I have not done in weeks.
I found 22,000+ characters and a couple of instructions to move further on.
I also found this particular sentence labelled (by me) as **a bad example of mismatched subjects and actions**
Here we go:
Hail’s left foot moved forward and raised his sword above his own head.
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Oops.
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The online game is over

inspiration here you come?
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I'll be working on it ;)
Cheers,
your not-a-writer

*covers head*

hm, the server I'm playing is about to close within two weeks now.

Which means I'll have more free time and brain capacity to focus on the work I've started.

As a (bit of a silly) New Year Resolution, I woved to finish Halo this year.

I have no illusions about it - since at the moment I haven't got the slightest notion and inspiration as I used to have. But I'm being patient with myself.

when? ever?

I'm sorry to make you wait so long for any update in about the story I write...

To be honest I have not added a single line to Halo since 12 September.

My hero, Hail is addicted to a computer game.

And so am I.

Being addicted did help me writing in some way abut obviously hindered me in many other ways.

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But there are promising signs on the horizon.

I do not feel as much addicted as I did recently.

Secondly, and more importantly, the server ends within the couple of weeks and so does the game I play. It is the nature of this game that is lasts for a certain, restricted period of time. So unlike Hail, I will be able to quit.

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In the last post I referred to a piece of writing that was inspired by the game I play. I wrote that in Hungarian and just a week ago, I added another part to that piece.

I loved writing that one, too.

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writing in Hungarian

Dear readers,
first of all, I'm sorry about being a rare poster.
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Now, onto business.

As some of you might remember, my WIP is about a person who finds pleasure in computer games. Guess what. I find much, too.

Now, I'm in a multiplayer online game (those are the worst, believe me) and it takes quite a time from me. Sometimes I find it hard to accomplish my normal duties.

The server I'm on will finish somewhere between late December to mid February, depending on the state of the war we're fighting.

Does it sound ridiculous?

Or is it a shame?

Chances are, both.

One might think this 6 months I've been playing this game so far is a waste of time. I'm not sure.

I keep telling myself I've made some friends, I've learned some more about human nature, and most of all, I've learned a lot about myself.

I also keep telling myself that this experience will help me write my WIP with a better grip on the subject, that is, being addicted to a game.

I hope this won't turn a lie.

I hope I do write this thing of mine.

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The funny thing is that some of the playersI'm playing with have started writing a series of short stories that revolve against the topic of the game.

They started writing a story set in a medieval aura.

Guess what.

Did I join by adding a story to the flow of stories written by fellow players?

Bingo.

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And I loved it.

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LOVED, LOVED, ABSOLUTELY LOVED WRITING IT.

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I incorporated some of my fellow virtual friends into my story. Those who read it, liked it.

That was all for today.

not quite there yet, but...

I started writing this WIP of mine for various reasons.

As you all know, it started as a contest entry for one of Jason's competitions. It gained no medal or special price whatsoever, but readers found it likeable and suggested to expand the original 250-word piece.

And I gladly started doing so.

Now the word count is 5,200 - including the newest addition of... uhm:47 words, yes, forty-seven... I wrote this very today whooohooo!

This made me wonder about the fate of Halo.

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I am almost a hundred percent sure that it will not be published in any form.

I do not dream of being published and I do not wish to suffer through the various step and stages of publishing either.

I'd definitely like to get Halo read, at least by those I like, by those whose opinion I count upon. It is a piece of my soul, like a child, or like a secret garden within me I'd like to share.

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And here comes the thing: I am almost positive that I have made some mistakes: grammatical or other. I would like someone read it before I make it available for all those people I value. Or...I might hand it out to those I think I will and ask them all to comment on anything they would like to comment.

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I don't know yet.

Charles and Bernita, thanks for your kind words. And basically, I would like to thank all of you who visit and comment here or on my other, English language site...

I just wanted to let you all know that your feedback matters much to me.

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I feel connected, I feel being heard -

thank you.

was it really me?

Uhm...

I took a glimpse into my long-abandoned WIP. I found it interesting and started asking myself: was it really me who wrote these lines?

Perhaps I should be waiting for an inspiration.

The drive to finish it is here all right, and I've got a few ideas, too - but I don't feel I can write up to the standards of those lines, paragraphs and even pages. It's not that I feel I wrote something extra-special and outstanding.... I did not.

I simply like what I read.

And now I'm further away from composing a sentence or two.

Perhaps I should blame it on the long interval of non-writing...

*sighs*

Creeping back

Summer's almost over, at least, speaking of a school-kid's view.
I hope to return to blogging very soon.
Jason's inspiring poetry about a rock and Bernita's musings about the simple monetary facts of real life and their usual lack in fiction were two threads to start to lead me back to where I feel some part of me belongs.
Whew.
What a long sentence.
I'll be back I think.
I'll be writing Halo again, finishing it one fine day...
Hmmmmmmmmm...
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How was your summer?
What are your plans for the near future?

summer's toll

It's been almost a month since my last post.

I try to collect my thoughts, but my days are so loud and noisy I can't really think about writing as such. There are some ideas lingering in my head, as to the upcoming end of my Halo, but...the noise around...and within my head...Can't wait to see the school get started :P

I keep visiting the blogs I like and although I do not comment as often as I used to do, I do read them all, and enjoy them anyway.

That's been all for today and it's almost midnight.

Under another Full Moon, I'm falling into the bed now...

some

oooops, I killed someone else HERE. This is, as per usual, a great contest by Jason, with lots of supportive comments and nice feedbacks - go, I say, over to Jason's and help yourself among the many surprising and well-written entries*.

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In other news, Hail's still alive, immerged in computer games I suppose...

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How often do YOU do something else INSTEAD?

To be honest I'm quite satisfied with having done at least SOME-thing.

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*I found it quite to hard to praise the entries in one go when mine's there too - I hope you don't misunderstand me.

have not

yet.
'll be back.
'm drowsing off to
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