What are you writing about now?

david_wendelken said:

"The Elements of Eloquence" by Mark Forsyth.

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I have, of course, now added this book to my library.

I also recommend writers read a couple books on Editing, so they understand the process Editors go through, and can do what they might to clear out some of the 'clutter'.
Not just to ease the Editor's work (though it helps) but because the funds a Writer pays for their Editor are better spent. The Editor has more time to focus on the deeper matters.
When I get a minute I'll go through my books and make a recommendation or two.

Everyone's writing projects still moving along?
Again, I slept on my Appendix for the Lore book, and decided to completely restructure it for better flow and impact.
Just finished that this morning so it's set up for Rounds 2 and 3 editing, then I'll get it back to the author.

And we've discussed some restructuring of the first 4 parts of his next book. Excited to get on with that.

Meanwhile, thoughts keep flowing into my notebook for the books on my plate to write of my own. (Still 6... can't seem to drop any of them. I'll just need to clone myself. Being tree-ish, maybe not so difficult.. we'll see.)

Keep at it everyone. Worlds await you; this world awaits yours.

Writing up more background material for my steampunk book. As with most of my books it likely won't see fruition but it's fun to write about in the mean time.

david_wendelken said:

I'm just finishing a really good read, "The Elements of Eloquence" by Mark Forsyth. It discusses the classical rhetorical flourishes of speech and writing in an extremely informative and entertaining manner.

I'm now going thru my book, one flourish at a time, to look for good opportunities to use them. My hope is that, by the time I've done that, my existing writing will be improved and all future writing will be as well.

At least it gives me new ideas to futz with existing writing instead of the worn out ones I've been using!

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I looked at a story synopsis in my appendices and decided to change the narrator and expand upon it. It was written with an impersonal narration of "just the facts" with the main focus on a funny incident in the backstory that had a bearing on the main flow of the book.

I want to practice the rhetorical flourishes and it dawned on me that this was when the main character met two supporting characters/comic sidekicks. They became great friends and companions but no explanation as to why was given in the narration. All three are playwrights and tellers of tales, and it occurred to me that I could have them enjoy a back-and-forth teasing banter using lots of different rhetorical techniques in a very natural way.

I'm off to a good start, but we'll see whether I can pull it off or not. It's going to be hard!

david_wendelken said:

It's going to be hard!

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Good..! This is where we learn.

Ent said:

Everyone's writing projects still moving along?

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Sadly, no. It's all I can do to survive work and school these days, but hopefully work will settle down in a week or so. However, I am keeping the writing muscle alive by doing a private RP with @Aredhel Ar-Feiniel , and a bit of wiki editing.

Maedhros_Nelyafinwë said:

It's all I can do to survive work and school these days

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Yes indeed, there are times in life when all we can manage is to stomp on the Orcs.
I MEAN.. uh... i mean... handle the business at hand.

But yes, I'm sure your 'muscles' are active. Every thing written is an opportunity.

I've started translating some of the songs in The Lord Of The Rings, and The Hobbit, into Old English, and then writing them out in Uncial Script, which is the alphabet used by Latin and Greek scribes from the 4th-8th centuries AD.

Ent said:

Yes indeed, there are times in life when all we can manage is to stomp on the Orcs.
I MEAN.. uh... i mean... handle the business at hand.

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True! My life has a lot of Orcs in it at the moment, but I'm gonna make them flee before my face!

Well, I'm in a bit of a lull on the Lore book due out in January. Author is putting in the final read on the text, and we're waiting on the artists' work.

Meanwhile, moving along on the next book... re-working all the front matter, then will get on with editing Round 2 through the work.
(then round 3 and 4.)

After that... "my stuff". (which I'm collecting stuff for all along the way as well.)

Let the words flow, writers. Let the words flow.

Sketch Artist is back. We've started work on the Gandalf pic for the Lore book for my 'Attachment A'. (Already have the Sauron pic done.)
More cover artwork to do... drawing close to the end.

I think the author will fire me after the work on this 2nd book. I'm going so slow. But it reads well, and I need to dig deep. Plus, restructuring all the front matter a bit for a better entrance into the work isn't an easy tweak...though it's incredibly meaningful.

His work is good to begin with...but I was wondering why I wasn't finding hardly any 'that's' much less 'that's' needing to be fixed. The ones there are correct and direct.
I forgot for a minute I've already finished Round 1 editing and touched them up, and I'm working on Round 2.

Age. An interesting thing.

But really, I just got back to book 2 here after getting all the input for the first one done. Maybe I just set goals too high. Always been a problem I guess.
In a few short months I'll be working on my own stuff in earnest now I suppose, and be hooming and hrooming about that stuff.

Anyway, keep writing folks. And keep reading, too. And watching movies. And whatever inspires you.
Jot notes. Fill notebooks. Sleep on ideas. Keep a pencil and paper on your nightstand.

As with @Maedhros_Nelyafinwë, there may be many Orcs at present, but one never knows when an Elf or Wizard may happen by, one bearing song, the other fireworks.

Still hashing out the details of my Middle-Earth Alternate Universe story. We're up to about the equivalent of the 3rd age but I've realized I haven't been keeping track of what all of the names I've made mean so I had to go back and search through all of my posts here to figure it out.

PROVIDE THE EYES:

Words, oh words, let's let them flow
so into others these may sow
wonderment letting them see
its through such words we are set free.

We are not bound to current date,
nor to this world of dismal fate.
Through time and space we still can fly,
rejoicing as our masters cry.

And when they ask how we still soar,
we can show them yonder shore,
inviting them to bondage break;
in freedoms new their joys to take.

They do not need their chains to wear.
There is a choice, new life to share
No need for shackles bright with sheen,
binding them to the machine.

It was for freedom they were born.
That freedom from them has been shorn.
It's just new eyes they need, to see
they really really can be free.

Halasían said:

Started a new collaboration project that is a Middle Earth/AU-ish interpretation of two rival kingdoms. Takes place circa 1200-1300 of the Third Age. It is sort of a prequelish spin-off of the Kin Strife series I have been a part of writing over the years, but takes some liberties with some places and events.

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One of my RPG campaigns straight up combines the Long Winter with the Fell Winter (TA) and the subsequent attack by White Wolves is likewise merged with the Orc invasion and the Battle of Greenfields. So in my campaign they're all one great, big interrelated event.

ZehnWaters said:

One of my RPG campaigns straight up combines the Long Winter with the Fell Winter (TA) and the subsequent attack by White Wolves is likewise merged with the Orc invasion and the Battle of Greenfields. So in my campaign they're all one great, big interrelated event.

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Ah yes, The Harsh Winters. Makes sense to do it that way, though I'm sure some self-important faux-Tolkieny types will roll their eyes at it. You reminded me of a collaborative RP I was in back about twenty years ago based on the Long Winter. Unfortunately I hadn't learned yet to keep a running back-up, and a server crash on TORc had the thread eaten by the ether. It was an excellent handful of writers in that.

Started again working on the 'Waning Days of Valacar' edits so may be posting them in The Red Book sometime this month.

Aethelwulf said:

I've started translating some of the songs in The Lord Of The Rings, and The Hobbit, into Old English, and then writing them out in Uncial Script, which is the alphabet used by Latin and Greek scribes from the 4th-8th centuries AD.

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Jeez, what a lightweight.. *slowly shakes head*.... do you think maybe you could have picked something a bit more challenging? 🙄

Deimos said:

do you think maybe you could have picked something a bit more challenging? 🙄

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Well I could be translating the Pyramid Texts into Mayan, and then writing it down in Chinese.

Aethelwulf said:

Well I could be translating the Pyramid Texts into Mayan, and then writing it down in Chinese.

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Yes, that is more your speed...Go for it! 😁

Right now I'm not working on any sort of fun writing, but academic writing, which I hate, but oh well. Currently working on an 8 page research paper on the national security of TikTok for my IT Auditing class. And I have to say, @Ent , you've ruined me! (I mean that as a joke). I'm seeing Useless That everywhere, including academic papers and news articles. I'm not always sure how to fix it without going through a bunch of verbal gymnastics, but I'm seeing it everywhere and it's bugging me, lol.