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I'm still writing my own trilogy about The Third Crusade. It can be viewed at www.awriterslife96.blogspot.com

Wow, I've never posted in this thread before!

I've been writing academic essays for 15 years now. I started writing entertainment journalism in 2009 with a 2-year stint at AslansCountry.com. I now own SkandarandGeorgie.com.

I wrote a little poetry in an undergraduate creative writing class in 1999, but nothing since. Then last month I started writing poetry again, after quoting Philippians 4:13. I've also written one very short story (humor).

I have accounts on FictionPress.com and ReadWave.com. The first contains links to my personal blogs (2) and journalism portfolios (2).

Six months ago, I started writing a book called "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader: Essays and Reviews." It's still a draft, but people can read it on Authonomy.com (HarperCollins).

So I have a writing question. Several months ago I wrote a short story about a group of friends. Two of them decide to trick the others by pretending to be a ghost. My question is: should the fact that its a trick be obvious to the reader, or should the reader think the ghost is real right up until its revealed to be fake? Would that reveal be too lame or clichéd?

Lady Haleth wrote:So I have a writing question. Several months ago I wrote a short story about a group of friends. Two of them decide to trick the others by pretending to be a ghost. My question is: should the fact that its a trick be obvious to the reader, or should the reader think the ghost is real right up until its revealed to be fake? Would that reveal be too lame or clichéd?

I don't think any idea in and of itself is "too cliche". What matters is not the idea, but the way the idea is executed. You can take any cliche there is and present it to the reader in a way that can still feel fresh.

Having said that, both situations you're considering for the story sound acceptable to me. So it all depends on what direction you want to go with it.


~Riella

Lady Haleth- I agree with the above post... try it both ways, and use which seems the most natural.

Ok, question you guys... do any of you have a writer's journal? I've been thinking about starting one. It might just help keep me writing, and get unblocked. Thing is... what sort of things should I include? I've looked at many different ideas online, but wanted your opinions. Thanks!

Oh, and Merry Christmas! (a bit early )

PA: Do you mean where you would write down ideas, story plots, and the such? If so, yes, I have one. Though I suppose it's more of a binder, but same concept.
I currently have two binders. One for 2013, one for 2012 NaNo. I work on two computers (one conveniently without internet, which helps with not procrastinating as much), so I like having my info on paper as well.
Basically I put in whatever I think I'll need to write the story. I have the character's basic looks, age, and back story. I'm not very good with outlines, but I try to include that as well. Sometimes I'll put random things that won't actually come up in the story, but will help me with the character/plot anyway.
EDIT:
Oh, and I was wondering if anyone has heard of or has an account on Figment? They don't seem to have very many good stories (or maybe they do and I just haven't found them), but I was still curious about it.
I can't access the Narnia Writer's Guild. Could anyone tell me anything about it?
Merry Christmas to everyone, as well!

I'm still dealing with this silly little ghost story. It's suddenly grown a lot longer, and there's a sort of subplot about how the guys from the country believe in ghosts, while their city friends don't; and how scaring your friends by dressing up as a ghost isn't a nice thing to do when they actually believe in ghosts. I don't know whether I like this new version better or not.

Anna, I have a writer's journal. It's more like a file, since that helps puts in scraps of paper and such, but I do keep it to write. I find myself writing on scrap paper more than I do in the book, but I use the book to write writing tips and quotes to keep me going.
Lately, and unusually for me, writing on the computer has been more productive than writing on paper.

I think I've grown as a writer in these past couple months. I took a Composition course, and I was able to write after experiencing writer's block after a long, long time. I learned a lot about style and voice, and I'm looking forward to developing that. Though I'm disappointed by how long I went without writing, in some ways, I think it was good, because I was able to stop writing in the voice that I was previously using and put it under scrutiny to make it more concise and more like what I actually want to write like. But now I have to force myself to practice.

I also expanded my writing goals to more than just novel writing, screenwriting, and poetry; I would like to be a scholarly/academic writer, as well as a non-fiction writer for history, writing, science, and other things that interest me.

However, I'm having a serious Mary Sue problem. I think it will be a passing phase, given my age, but man, it's irritating. I am trying to create character profiles and write them out in order to avoid fragments of characters. As much as I want to be a writer, I'm currently trying to evaluate my goals in writing--do I have something to write, or do I simply want to "have written"? Prose comes a lot easier than plot for me. I've never written a novel, but I am working on changing that.

I've been submitting work for publication, and I'm running into the problem that I have trouble writing a decent short story. My ideas are often novel-length, and I end up trying to cram them into short stories, but the results are less than satisfactory. I have a few ideas for short stories, but they're often vignettes--they don't always have an overarching plot. I've got a few right now, and I think they've got decent plots. But the better ones always tend to be on the longer side. This is the opposite problem from what I had when I wrote papers for school. I had trouble getting my papers to be long enough, and my short stories aren't short enough.

@Lady Haleth: I can't give any story advice because I can't write fiction. I tried in a creative writing class in college, but my two short stories were really awful. I'm very good at writing academic papers/essays though. My longest, in grad school, was over 30 pages. My best essays are on Student Pulse. Most of the creative writing I have published online is poetry, except for two short stories. I'm rather proud of one of them, called "Jalapeno Babies."

@Princess Anna: I used to keep a writing journal, but it didn't have story and character ideas. Instead, I copied interesting quotes that I found in books (including favorite songs from The Hobbit) and my reactions to visual art.

*Dusts off another old thread*

A writing journal is such a good idea, whether it be a book to write everything down in, or a drawer or file to hold all the little scraps of paper with scrawlings. At present, I have the drawer, but I'm wanting to put it all in one place--all the story ideas, short and long; the lists of names, including the ones I've used already or have plans for; profiles, and maps, and character studies, webs and plot outlines and potential illustrations. You know, all that stuff.

It can also be a tool for tracking writing patterns--to see when you write most (and best). What I'd also like to use it for is to keep track of when I wrote this story or that, when I started a novel and (hopefully) when I finished, and just when I came up with that grand idea for a plot. I've kept a reading journal for the past 14 years, and have found it to be very handy at times.

Most of my stuff will end up on the computer in one form or another. There are many organizational tools for that, but I was struck by a thought the other day--why shouldn't I use the HTML template from my genealogy project to do profiles for characters? With a little bit of tweaking and adding, I'll be able to have a document with tables and links--all without having to reinvent the wheel.

Young Writers' Treehouse blog looking for guest posts! Submit your writing!

If you like blogging, consider guest posting for us. Your post will be shared with our community, and you will get full credit and a link back to your own blog. If you want to share your writing with us, we’d love to post it on the blog! Send us an excerpt of your novel, a poem, a short story or an article that you would like us to post.

Here is a link to the submissions page: http://youngwriterstreehouse.blogspot.c ... to-us.html

Hope this isn't too "advertisement-ish" I just thought it might be something y'all would like to get more exposure on your writing

Oh wow, it's been years since I've been on here! I'm rather amazed I still remember my password! Now, why can't I remember the password for my work employee portal...
That's amazing news, shastatwin! I was looking for something new to read, so I just bought your book on Kindle!
I just finished the first draft of a novel and I'm working through the second draft now. I'm pretty excited! I do have a published work out, an anthology about being a CNA that I wrote with two other CNAs...but this is the first novel I've ever assembled. As opposed to my usual unfinished stories.

The CNA stories https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01AIOZV ... ref=plSrch