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XuanMai
Over 90 days ago
United States
Forum
Active Ink Slinger
I've not been that active as a reader, so I don't have that many to choose from. But, I just finished two books by Kazuo Ishiguro: "Never Let Me Go" and "When We Were Orphans". Both are amazing, not what I expected, and have me still thinking of them, and both got me to thinking about writing a little differently.
Active Ink Slinger
Quote by gypsymoth
I wrote one story that is posted in four chapters, and there is a drop off in the number of readers towards the last one. I just figure it reflects the number of people who actually would have read it through to the end, if I'd posted it as a whole.
That's a great point. A lot of us have some stories that are longer, and if you look at the views vs. votes, it's sometimes 100 or 200 to 1. I think a lot of those are people who get halfway through and then get distracted.
I just started a multi-chapter story, and at least right now, it feels freeing.
Active Ink Slinger
I only write one draft, but it takes me a long time to finish it. Then, like Lisa, I go through and try to find my mistakes. This also takes a long time, and even then I don't catch everything. My own editing would go quicker if I knew more of the actual rules of punctuation. Hopefully, I'll get better at it by hanging around websites like this one.
Active Ink Slinger
When I finally awoke, my eyes opened to see the forest passing at a blur. I was in the car, warm and secure, and I knew I was being taken away in the nick of time. I turned and looked at Lola, serenely and happily driving; she hadn't noticed me stirring yet, or so I thought. Just then, she told me it was my life, but she'd love to be the one that helped me grab onto it again. Her voice was steady but gentle, barely rising above the sounds of the heater and the road underneath us. I turned again to gaze out the side window. The snow had been on the ground for three months, and would soon thaw, exposing the constant flaws yet again, for another long season. I nearly smiled, then fell asleep again, this time in a far better place.
Active Ink Slinger
This is just a fun one that hopefully will work the creative muscles, too. Make up a short scene- longer than a sentence, but no more than a paragraph- about the person above you.
Since I'm first, I'll choose: Chuck, since his story was the last one I read.
Chuck parked his car a half-block away, and watched. The sun was high in the cloudless sky when he got there, but now, he was shrouded in darkness. The orange glare of a nearby streetlight providing the only illumination, but also would make it hard to go unnoticed on foot if he had to. He'd been here, on assignment, for nearly three weeks. Always a different car, sometimes even with different disguises, but always for the same purpose. At some point, something would happen, and when it did, the hundreds of hours of boredom would give way to a few moments of sheer panic.
Since I'm first, I'll choose: Chuck, since his story was the last one I read.
Chuck parked his car a half-block away, and watched. The sun was high in the cloudless sky when he got there, but now, he was shrouded in darkness. The orange glare of a nearby streetlight providing the only illumination, but also would make it hard to go unnoticed on foot if he had to. He'd been here, on assignment, for nearly three weeks. Always a different car, sometimes even with different disguises, but always for the same purpose. At some point, something would happen, and when it did, the hundreds of hours of boredom would give way to a few moments of sheer panic.