There were the usual complaints about the popularity
of vampires and a certain shade of color on the spectrum, along with witticisms
about the misuse of punctuation and the travails of publishing in general. There were also several guilt-ridden quips
about taking the time right then to tweet about writer hell.
I'm of the opinion that exercises like this are
great for the writer-mind. Like yoga for synapses, we get the chance to limber
up, stretch, and oh my− even interact at times (something becoming
increasingly rare on twitter with the addition of hootsuite and tweetdeck).
Question:
What do you get when you put 400 writers together on the internet?
Answer:
Automatic messages hawking 400 books.
Now there's one part of writer hell we forgot to
mention. But getting back to #writerhell the other night, it was a genuine and
interactive experience to exercise creativity, watch other writers do the same,
and even start some dialogues. Activities like this are opportunities not just to
get out of the box, but to blow the box up and start thinking sideways. As a
writer, sideways thinking comes in handy. Then again, I'm the one during the recent Hadron Collider
news whose impulse for hours was to make as many Higgs-boson quips as I could concoct.
I'm weird like that, but take advantage when
something comes along that adds vitamin C to your own creative juices.
Facebook
has a number of author groups that offer opportunities for writing exercises as
well. There are worse things than testing uncharted writing waters among
like-minded and supportive authors. Some of the groups are based on promotion
while others bar promotion and are simply there for support. A few of the Facebook groups that regularly have
participatory writing exercises are: "Beta Reader Writers Club", "First
5 Chapters", and "Indies R Us";
a couple of others that offer different types of support are "Tweets4authors"
and "Review Seekers".
I
certainly got my exercise from an hour in writer hell as did a number of
others. According to us, writer hell
varies from hells of format, dead authors, the writing process, and ones actual
location in the underworld. And while it may be hell, the witmosphere is dry−
very, very dry.
In writer hell, writing may be.......hell:
·
In
#writerhell there are no odd jobs to do, no paperclips to unclip, no email
inboxes to sort out. Courtesy of
@etakelly
·
In #writerhell you must diagram all your sentences.
·
In #writerhell you are paid based on the number of people
who understand your writing as you meant it.
·
In #writerhell psychopaths had kind fathers and authors
have to *think* about why some people bury others alive. Courtesy of @ChrisEverheart
·
In #writerhell, the only font available is wingdings.
·
n wrtr hll thr r n vwls Courtesy
of @etakelly
·
Virgil lives in #writerhell...Dante visits on occasion...patronising
git. Courtesy of @etakelly
·
Where Gore Vidal hears The Simpsons given as the
definition of wit.
·
In #writerhell
Kerouac is in charge of format and Cummings is punctuation editor.
·
When you start
writing a flashback and suddenly find yourself at NASCAR. Then you realize
you're in a Burroughs cut up novel.
·
Where metaphor is illegal, verbs & nouns require
American Express and adjectives are served free with cocktails.
·
In #writerhell, syntax is something we grape refrigerator.
·
An eternal night for the larks, an eternal dawn for the
owls: working days in #writerhell. Courtesy
of @etakelly
Most
surreal writer hell:
·
Where discovery of
Higgs-boson is explained by national media. Or is that science hell? Streams
cross. The Stay Puft Marshmallow man goes down.
·
Where dictionary.com
is the etymology resource of expertise.
·
Where the Algonquin
Round Table is held at Amazon.com.
·
Where you must fit
all the creativity of the universe into a wee box called "genre".
·
Where books are declared passé by 12 year olds.
·
Where writers chastise other writers for writing in
#writerhell, then themselves. #Writerhell trends. Presses stop. Cats twitch.
·
Where
"work" is actually that thing that takes you AWAY from writing. And that is why writerhell flows with ink stained tears.
Finally, remember: the road to writer hell is always paved with bestseller
intentions.
If you have a fantastic #writerhell quip that you think
should be included contact kd.rose@aol.com or @kdrose1 on Twitter.
I really enjoyed this even though I'm not a writer. Funny.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
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