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Young Writers Society


Ohhh, I knew it. ^^



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Thu Nov 18, 2004 3:26 am
iced.cappuchino says...



I totally knew Fantasy was going to be the most popular forum. :P

I will give a cookie to anyone who writes a mystery. ^^ Mystery stories are... a huge pain to write. Mind you, I've never actually tried, but that's beside the point. xD


Er. So.

In a blatant attempt to stir up some conversation and make my post have more substance, I shall now ask you, my fellow forum members, a question. Yes.

So, if you aren't allowed to write fantasy, because everyone writes that, what genre would you do?
  





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Thu Nov 18, 2004 4:33 am
Korin says...



Mystery, So I could be Knighted like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle..
  





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Thu Nov 18, 2004 5:05 am
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Nate says...



Aye, fantasy does seem to be getting the most attention. My favorite genre, though, is hard-core science-fiction by far. What I mean by that is I love books that go into the mathematics of black holes, calabi-yau folds, string theory, event horizons, etc. Of course, the characters and the plot have to be well-constructed too, but added in some stuff about quantum mechanics really helps.

And yeah, maybe we will have to add a mystery contest or something, lol. Or maybe I'll just get rid of that forum and all mysteries from now on can get put under "other."
  





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Thu Nov 18, 2004 5:25 am
Tessitore says...



Yes, indeed, fantasy is a popular thing.

I bet that's becauase if you try to pass off a wimpy little sci-fi story to the hardcore sci-fi writers/readers... they'll come after you with flaming torches and pitch forks... where as the fantasy people... will just say... "oh, this is nice... but a little sci fi" then wander off to dream about magical ponies and fairies...

:D

Or that's what I imagine half the time.

And I say *yay* to the motion that mystery is hard... to write...

I'll give it a shot, though... give me twenty minutes... i'll be back...

EDIT: Oh, god, never mind. this is too hard. *pokes computer screen* i have decided to give up what i thought would be a good mystery career... five minutes ago...

...i'm hopeless...
I'm not even angry... I'm being so sincere right now.
Even though you broke my heart.
And killed me... And tore me to pieces.
And threw every piece into a fire.
-"Still Alive"- GLaDOS
  





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Fri Nov 19, 2004 3:37 am
Korin says...



iced.cappuchino wrote:I totally knew Fantasy was going to be the most popular forum. :P


Actually, The Lounge is the most popular :lol:
  





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Fri Nov 19, 2004 5:03 am
iced.cappuchino says...



Tessitore wrote:Yes, indeed, fantasy is a popular thing.

I bet that's becauase if you try to pass off a wimpy little sci-fi story to the hardcore sci-fi writers/readers... they'll come after you with flaming torches and pitch forks... where as the fantasy people... will just say... "oh, this is nice... but a little sci fi" then wander off to dream about magical ponies and fairies...

:D

Or that's what I imagine half the time.

And I say *yay* to the motion that mystery is hard... to write...

I'll give it a shot, though... give me twenty minutes... i'll be back...

EDIT: Oh, god, never mind. this is too hard. *pokes computer screen* i have decided to give up what i thought would be a good mystery career... five minutes ago...

...i'm hopeless...


I agree that there is more pressure when writing sci-fi.

I guess Fantasy's popularity also has something to do with the huge amount of fantasy novels already out there. I think there's something of a subconscious urge to try and make a drop stand out from an ocean. I know I've definitely felt that urge. To write something that everyone else writes, but better. Har, I usually wallow in a pit of despair right after that, because I wasn't writing for the right reasons, but whatever. I've always told myself I write because I want to. xD

Or maybe because fantasy is a "safe" genre. You can create anything, and it doesn't really have to follow any rules, whereas in other genres, (I'm thinking mysteries especially) have to follow certain rules and such. Yep. It's easier to walk the worn, familiar trail than to walk in the underbrushes.

^^

I'd like to write a mystery one day.

Apparently, you have to start with the crime scene. Picture the crime scene, the crime itself, then plant the clues in the crime scene. (Without making them too obvious, duh) Then work your way backwards from there. ^^; It sounds like the obvious thing to do, but I would've never thought of it if I hadn't been told.

In any case, mystery is definitely a genre that requires extensive outlining and story-mapping. Not yet for me, seeing as I'm still a flightly head-in-cloud teen. xD
  





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Fri Nov 19, 2004 6:53 am
Elelel says...



I like fantasy.

I don't like it because it's easy and you can do anything and get away with it. I like it because it is what I like writing. It's worked it's way under my skin, I just love the magic... there's something increadibly free to it... and it's not because it's easy.
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Sat Nov 20, 2004 5:35 am
Tessitore says...



I have to agree, fantasy is safe. I say most of my stuff is fantasy, even if it isn't. Like HOPE. I posted it in fantasy, but Nate said it was more SCI-FI. I was all "Oh? I am part of the elite Sci-Fi writers now? How interesting". So sometimes I write different things, but fantasy is what I usually categorize it as... because that what I'm like...

...because if I write about unicorns and fairies, I don't want the die-hards running after me with torches and pitchforks...
I'm not even angry... I'm being so sincere right now.
Even though you broke my heart.
And killed me... And tore me to pieces.
And threw every piece into a fire.
-"Still Alive"- GLaDOS
  





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Sat Nov 20, 2004 6:48 am
Elelel says...



What ever fantasy is, it ain't easy!!! There's heaps of worldbuilding involved, sometimes countless languages to create, magic (of course it needs guidelines, it can't be a crutch) creatures... races, what else? To anyone who says it's easy, I'd like to point out my note book of worldbuilding and language stuff, it's big, messy and I write in it all the time. It is HARD to do all that stuff and still leave time for life... so I don't want to hear people saying fantasy is easy again.
Oh, you're angry! Click your pen.
--Music and Lyrics
  





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Sat Nov 20, 2004 2:15 pm
iced.cappuchino says...



Whoa, calm down Iloeri!

I don't think anyone's ever said writing fantasy was easy; read the topic before jumping to conclusions.

"Safe" doesn't mean "easy". I just meant that most novice writers would feel more "comfortable" writing fantasy than other genres (well, maybe with the exception of romance) because they have been exposed to more fantasy novels than say, sci-fi. Fantasy has more appeal because it is known and has been done so many times before. It has nothing to do with "easy" writing, because, technically, nothing in life should be easy.

But it is true that some genres are technically more difficult to plot out. Say, mysteries. (Gawd, I feel like all I'm doing is repeating this about mysteries xD)

And what I meant when I said you can create anything, is more on the plot aspect than anything. You can save the world, or destroy it. Go on a quest to save someone's life, or to get revenge. There are more possibilities in fantasy than, shall we say, in mysteries, where the plot would be to find the murderer, the criminal, etc.
  





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Sat Nov 20, 2004 4:12 pm
Perra says...



I enjoy fantasy because it's not real life. And you can do more with it. Plus, I daydream about it half the time. With more adventure and creatures than fairies and unicorns :mrgreen:

Hehe, I love that emo! :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: !

*ahem!* Anyway! Yes, fantasy writing does involve a lot of worldbuilding work. Which I started nearly a year after starting my story :mrgreen: , but I had some of it in my head, anyway.

So, I'm guessing you like mysteries... :wink:
Mysteries are cool. I want to write one about werewolves :mrgreen: . But my idea got a little complicated and ran away from me.... :mrgreen: (uh..I mean...) :cry:
YWS gives me carpal tunnel.

Need a Critique?

Evil lurks everywhere, often in plain sight...Can you lurk in plain sight? Or is that just walking?
  





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Sat Nov 20, 2004 5:48 pm
Tessitore says...



You know... not to sound... arrogant? But fantasy HAS always been easy for me. I don't know... creating worlds and magic and rules for my creatures has always come naturally. If it was ever tough, it was a long time ago, but not now. I guess I'm just lucky ^^.

But it's OK for things to be tough, it's OK to say that fantasy is safe. Definitely safe. It's tough for me to write sci-fi or mysteries or, say, real-life fiction... well, not that hard with the last example, but definitely the first two...

Hm... what I guess I'm trying to say is, being a writer is tough. It took an emotional toll on me a good two years ago so strong that I went insane for a while. It wasn't nice. You just have to be careful. And coming here and being able to talk to other writers is nice, since I can get a load off my chest.

So, yeah, hard. Writing hard. *grunt*.
I'm not even angry... I'm being so sincere right now.
Even though you broke my heart.
And killed me... And tore me to pieces.
And threw every piece into a fire.
-"Still Alive"- GLaDOS
  





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Sat Nov 20, 2004 11:18 pm
Elelel says...



Yes... well it's easier to come up with ideas for fantasy... but have you tried to invent a language lately? Hard. I'm not saying that fantasy is harder than other forms of writing, I'm just a little annoyed people see it as a... follow the tide thingie, because of all the attention Harry Potter and LotR lately, that they now want to do it too. Sorry if I jumped to conclusions.
Oh, you're angry! Click your pen.
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Sat Nov 20, 2004 11:23 pm
Nate says...



I've actually always seen fantasy as really hard to do. You always need to create entire little worlds, complex character interactions, and if you do anything wrong, you'll have a thousand people telling you as such.
  





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Sat Nov 20, 2004 11:37 pm
Elelel says...



*points finger and dances up and down* Yes! Exactly! That's what I'm talking about!


It's still fun though. I'm a fantasy writer all the way through. :D
Oh, you're angry! Click your pen.
--Music and Lyrics
  








"Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?"
— Albus Dumbledore