h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi, Al! I never read this part about you... The castle in Scotland's great, but I'm more into liguistics and creative writing. I'm looking for something of that nature to study, but they don't teach creative writing in Universities here, so I wonder what it was like, and I'm naturally talented for studying languages, so I wanna know some about that, too.
And anyway, being my age and a great king all 'round, I think we should TALK!

Elly

Hi Elly Sorry I haven't really talked to you much, but with all the stuff that was going on with you and Inkwash, and then you and Bob, I felt a bit uncomfortable, given my history with Alien. Now it seems that it's quite genuine, and though the way it's turned out for you kinda tugs at my heartstrings a bit, I'm happy to see it... Anyway, enough of that...

Creative Writing...I've never actually taken a course in Creative Writing, though I might pick it up for a few extra credits to finish off my degree next year, depending on how things work out...from people I've spoken to who have done them, it seems that for about 60% of them it's quite helpful, and the rest not...it seems to come down to whether or not you like structure in the way you write/create...I don't, or more to the point, I like to follow my own setup, which I found myself...maybe a *good* creative writing course would have helped me find it earlier, it's hard to say...but if you do find one, make sure you talk to some people who have done it already...

As for Linguistics, I've historically been very bad at learning a particular language... I spent years studying French and got nowhere...now, I'm trying to learn Finnish , and that seems to be going a little bit better. I think a good part of that has come from my studying in Linguistics, because I now know English much better than I used to, in terms of its structure, usage, history...and that helps when you're relating to similar languages, such as most European languages, and also very dissimilar languages, like Finnish...it helps you to be able to understand the underlying concepts beneath what can appear very complex languages. That, and you learn some fun bits of language trivia...

Well- first things first- Me and Inky are just friends, who has decided to go really wild and do the marriage and lovey dovey thing. Nothing to pluck your heart strings there... Mike (Bob) and I are much different- there's actual love here and I'm moving to the UK to see if it can work for us. Gonna be hard, I'm sure, but he's worth the risk.

The Linguistics part sounds fun, but I have a major self-confidence when it comes to writing- I never think ANYTHING I write is good enough, and I over-criticise myself all the time. I usually throw all my writings to the nearest bin, and I have no structure whatsoever. I only write once, no editing, and what comes out- comes out.
Tips?

See? I don't even read my own postings...Major self-confidence ISSUES about my writing...

I knew that you and Inky were just friends, and that's *why* it was difficult - it was hard enough for me just to come back to h2g2, and the Kingdom, knowing I'd have to go over,at least to an extent, what happened with Alien and I...even just yesterday, someone I used to speak to on h2g2 came back for the first time this year, and the first thing she asked was "How's your Queen?"...now, I can handle it, but a couple of months ago it was pretty hard, and knowing that you two were just mucking around was worse than it being real...now that things are working out perfectly for you and Mike, and it might be seen that (God or Fate or Druw or Kevin or whoever) is going at me, it doesn't bother me oddly enough...

Tips...hmm...I also write once, no editing, at least until it's finished...with my novel which I'm writing now, I'll go back through every now and then, picking up little things like spelling errors or sentences that just look really clumsy...sometimes I'll fix them then, sometimes I'll leave them for another time...it's important, at least for me, to just let writing flow naturally...if something doesn't work, or I can't quite express what I'm trying to say, I just leave it, or write in a scene which is similar to something I might have read in a book somewhere, just to keep the flow going...then, when I'm going back through later, which I normally do mainly to get the flow of the story back into my head, I'll keep making changes to that passage until it scarcely resembles what it was in the first place...so minor editing whilst you're going is good, depending upon how long it is...as for the self-confidence issue, don't worry too much about it...first thing is, good enough for what? I don't know how long you've been writing for, or how many things you've written, but there's a saying that the first 1000000 or so words you write will be crap, no matter how talented you might be, or how successful you end up. Obviously it's not a hard and fast rule, but remember that you're always learning, both about how to write in a technical sense, and also how best to express yourself...what I'm writing now is the first thing I've written which I consider to be quite good...not because I think everyone in the world will like it, or that it will be publishable (though I hope it is both) but because it just feels good, it feels natural, it just seems to come out and be good...and that's because I've written enough (though I'm not sure I've written 1000000 words ) that I feel confident with what I'm writing...it's not perfect, but it just feels right...

I hear you, but I have the opposite problem, I think. When I just write for the hell of it, like letters, I'm funny, witty, sarcastic, pretty well timed, and my letters and birthday cards are my pride and joy. But when it comes to writing for the sake of WRITING- it all gets out laim and silly, kinda forced and flattened up. I get these great ideas and images that I KNOW I could use, and somehow I manage to kill the life out of them, and very thoroughly so... It really gets me, because I start up liking them and end up hating them and the use I did with them. And another thing- when I write in the purpose of actually showing it to someone, I get so selfconcious, that I just dry up all my creativity and imagination, and go for the common stupid stuff that everybody writes. I know I have the talent, I know I can do it- but it's damn illusive!!

I know exactly what you're talking about...that's how I always felt about my writing, it's only with this piece that it all feels right...tell you what - send me something, anything you've got (email address on my website linked from my h2g2 page), I'll have a look at it, and I'll send you back 2 pieces of writing - one that I wrote a few years ago and is just absoultely horrible, and some of what I'm writing now, and I actually like...deal?

God, that would be way too embaressing... Ok! What the heck!
Are lyrics any good? I really stink with most of them, so this way you could REALLY see what I'm on about.... Just spotting the inspiration to this whole sharade is hard enough and then you think- did she HAVE to add all those things around it??

I'll send it over in an hour, coz I have to go now.

Just remember- you've asked for it!

Ahem...
I...
Have sent it...


Have.... fun...I guess.

Okay, I got it, and I'm about to send two pieces back...in .txt format as attachments...?

Almost done...

Ok... I'm waiting.

Done and done...

Yay!!!
Going to check- slaughter me with your criticism in the meanwhile!

No slaughtering to be done!

Oh.... You've already done that...
Thanx. My reply should get to you by now...

I did not slaughter it! Two little things, that was all...

I'm just kidding, hun! I'm always abit dramatic...
Read it?