Category: Reflections

Stephen King: On Writing

by DTLCT, posted in On Writing, Reflections

Okay, this isn’t a review of his book. But I stumbled upon an article in my news feed so sort of want to cover it. I’m going down the list, so feel free to exit stage left whenever, lol.

#1. I need to do that. I don’t know. I couldn’t help myself at times. I swear I had cut back on TV shows in general, except for catching up on old TV series on Netflix. (And okay, the side soaps at times.) But really, I need to start doing that. Since sometimes I feel myself walking into a bad imitation of my favorite TV show and I want to smack myself on the head for it. But yeah…

#2. I think I need to practice this point to overcome my fear and take on some challenges as an immature writer. ‘Cause seriously, I find myself deleting or throwing out some of the works halfway through because I feel like I’m not going to get anywhere with it anyway. Maybe I should struggle a little longer before kicking it all together.

#3. OMG, this seriously hit home. I think it’s the sole reason why sometimes I hold back on my story. Although I claimed to operate on my own wavelength, at times I take those thoughts in too seriously and then I hold back on my plot or characters in general.

#4. Getting there, but not totally, because I think this one tie in with #3 for me. Because when you please others and not write for yourself, it becomes a disaster. Been there too many times.

#5. I need to keep this in mind.

#6. I wish I can, but this is definitely true if you want to get anything done in general, not just writing.

#7. Thank you for this one! ‘Cause I’m seriously feeling pretty depressed at times for my lack of complicated/sophisticated words at times. ‘Cause I feel like I’m writing at an elementary level if I don’t throw in big words. Yet this one makes me feel a lot better that I should write as I feel like it, not throwing in big words just because everyone and their cousins are doing it.

#8. Need to work on this one!

#9. I think I throw this out the window ages ago because I actually have to look up what adverbs are when I was going down the list, lol.

#10. So need to work on this one. I mean I need to provide enough to build the mood, character, and plot, BUT not get too wordy or long-winded.

#11. Almost there. Or maybe I’m just bluffing, lol.

#12. Yeah, I need to stay on topic sometimes, lol.

#13. Need to do this more.

#14. I literally laughed out loud at this one. Seriously! Definitely.

#15. I don’t think I’ve done it since I’m like totally way out of it when it comes to style or whatever. But if I do sound like I’m trying to mimic some famous authors, I didn’t do it on purpose.

#16. Still working on this. In fact, it sort of goes hand in hand with some of the previous points, especially how conveying the message so that the readers get it, etc.

#17. I always do! Okay, maybe my stories don’t seem that way at times, but I do take it seriously. Maybe sometimes too seriously.

#18. Trying to.

#19. OMG, this one couldn’t be any truer. If you don’t finish it within that amount of time or shorter, your tone will change. It happened with several of my stories. It did! I didn’t know where it went, whether was busy doing other real-life stuff or stressing over other matters, it takes it away. So even if I try to put some stories aside to not destroy the mood, I ruined the tone. Unless I go and read the previous parts again to find my flow. Yet it’s hard! If you don’t finish it ASAP, it’s going away.

#20. Totally! Couldn’t agree more. I remember rushing to finish stuff and then just plain get it out. But then later when I went back to some old stories just to confirm some details or try not to repeat some formula for other stories, I found even more mistakes than I didn’t realize. It’s SAD but it changes the overall feel of the story.

#21. Still working on this one. In fact, this is one of the hardest ones. Letting go. It’s easy to just say, “I give up,” and toss it out the window in the middle of the story, etc. But it’s harder to cut or let go when you’re already done with it and it seemed like you couldn’t let go of anything. But sometimes you have to sacrifice it for the overall plot. Or people would be asking, “What’s the story about again?”

#22. Um, I don’t know what to say about this. But I will have to agree that there will have to be some balance in life in order to focus on writing and writing well. Because when you’re stressed out over other elements in your life, it will drain you so bad that you can’t even write anymore. Well, you still can, but you will find yourself tossing out a lot of papers OR just plain backspace/delete or whatever else.

New Year Resolution

by DTLCT, posted in Reflections

NO, I’m not getting all personal and mushy on this blog. At least NOT that personal like on my FB. This is a resolution that belongs to the e-circle SO it’s relevant to put it here. Only ONE and I seriously hope I could keep it. I’m planning to place in the “One-Strike Code” from here on out. What in the world is the “One-Strike Code”, right? Well, it’s operating on the whole concept with the ‘three strike rule’, but this is just one. AND no, it’s not following some political agenda, lol. It’s more like those basic principle of life with giving people some chances before you totally give up on them (aka you’re dead to me kind of thing). BUT I just said no personal stuffs, right? And I plan to keep it that way. I’m incorporating it into the whole e-circle thing. For the ones I support, they all get “one-strike” from now on, regardless of obsession level. I’m NOT talking about trying to be some moral cop here, so don’t go accusing me about poking into their personal lives. I’m basing it on their career as an entertainer. At least this applies for all singers, and because I’m more into music than watching stuffs. When will I get to the point? Umm…okay…let’s see. The “one-strike” thing points toward the decision of their musical careers and albums. More specifically? I’ll allow one album to suck, when it gets to the second album, I’m gone. (It doesn’t mean the album sucks to the general public, just to me since I live in my own little ‘weird’ world.) AND it also counts toward how they approach it with the presentation. Their styles could change and they could get all creative they want with the music. YET if they decide to change just because of trends OR some other lame reason AND try to sneak it out as art, I’m out also.

Why so harsh all of a sudden when my music taste is all over in the first place anyway? I actually like people who are unique with their styles or have unique voices more than if they could sing really, really, really good or not. (Singing ‘good’ is important, seriously, don’t get me wrong. But there are so many people who sounds similar nowadays that doesn’t stick out to me anymore.) SO of course, their differences from others had drawn me in. Therefore, if they want to weave in and be like the rest of the crowd, I seriously don’t want to waste my time anymore. AND the more important point is, my money didn’t fall out of trees. I only bought like 4 albums last year, of two were TV series soundtracks. The economical state is only a partial reason SO it’s not like I want to use that as an excuse to not support some people anymore. I’m just sick and tired of some people ‘selling themselves (short)’ instead of their supposedly ‘music’.

Believe me, I support all sort of music and love pop to death too, but I think it’s about time I filter out more deserved talents (to me). Besides, it’s not like my opinion matters anyway since those who I no longer support will probably still have thousands of fans with them, not much of a lost, right? Oh, sorry for saying this wasn’t about a personal matter. Perhaps it was after all, lol. Because it is indeed my decision.

NOTE: This was written way before New Years and I had planned to place it in on the 1st or 2nd at first BUT had opted to not sound so negative right on those days so that was why I waited several more days.