General Creativity

[Terra_Incendia]

I'm the same, I have this awesome story in my head, but when I try to write it down my mind goes blah.

[Rathlord]

I'm the same, I have this awesome story in my head, but when I try to write it down my mind goes blah.

 

Actually what happens to me is my mind goes into autopilot and I realize I've written 12 pages with absolutely no emotion. It was fantastic for writing essays in school though...

 

So now when I write I force myself to think about every single sentence to make sure it's meaningful.

[Terra_Incendia]

Actually what happens to me is my mind goes into autopilot and I realize I've written 12 pages with absolutely no emotion. It was fantastic for writing essays in school though...

 

So now when I write I force myself to think about every single sentence to make sure it's meaningful.

Oh, I tend to over analyze, and scrutinize over everything, Just going over and over the same paragraph with a "I just know theirs something wrong" attitude

 

Would you guys mind If I posted some of my story,(its far future rebuilding civilization after Ultimate War Apocalypse)

[DrummerKidJack]

Actually what happens to me is my mind goes into autopilot and I realize I've written 12 pages with absolutely no emotion. It was fantastic for writing essays in school though...

 

So now when I write I force myself to think about every single sentence to make sure it's meaningful.

I had to reteach myself how to write journalistic articles after writing too many uni essays, so I know that feel.

[Rathlord]

Please do, love to see it Terra. Just spoiler it, or maybe post a link if it's very, very long.

[Terra_Incendia]

This is the introductory chapter of my Story "Techs"

 

Hi, my name is Jessica Tia and I’m a Tech. Now Techs, you see, are people who dig up and figure out how to use technology. They have been very important over the past two-hundred years since the great disaster hit. We’ve help reintegrate technology into the world, however most people live the hard way and only a few cities benefit from our work.
Right know we are heading toward the Tievon Village.
“How much longer,” I said impatiently. “It seems like we’ve been driving forever.”
“Not too far now,” replied Mark Sluwithea slightly annoyed. “It’s only been an hour and besides, it would take days on horseback.”
“At least we would be doing something,” I said.
“Well, if you hadn’t broken your music player you wouldn’t be so bored,” he replied. “Anyways, it was your idea to go in the first place.”
“How was I supposed to know it would break if it fell in honey,” I argued.
“Most tech breaks when you get food on it,” he answered.
We continued to argue all the way to Tievon. Tievon is a nice place to take a load off, renowned for its many ruins, cherry orchards, and of course the White Inn. We rest here on are trips home, although Mark complains about the price.
“I’ll rent us some rooms, you go sell the tech,” I said, running toward the White Inn.
“See you in an hour,” he replied.
I ran to the inn, I am still amazed at how big the place is.
“I would like to rent out the blue and red rooms,” I said to the man over the counter.
“That will be 315 dren,” he said. After paying, I went to the room on the top floor. I jumped on the bed and looked out the window toward the many fallen monuments that dot this village. In the old times, this was once a great center of culture, the capital of a great people known as the Americans, now reduced to ruins and a small village.
“I thought you would be here,” said Trebor, walking through the door.
“I haven’t seen you for quite some time,” I replied.
“That’s because you’re never in town,” he replied.
“You could always come see us,” I added.
“Not really, first I have to look after my orchard, second, that tower you live in gives me the creeps,” he said
“Well why are you here?” I asked.
“I saw Mark in town and he told me you were here,” he answered. “So I thought I’d come down see how you’re doing.”
“Hey, why did you tell us about the tower,” I asked, “if it’s so creepy?”
“That’s random,” he replied, “Um, I forgot, that was 3 years ago after all.”
Our discussion went on as we jumped from one topic to another. Getting late, we said goodbye and I went to the red room to see if Mark checked in or not. On entering, I saw his scar, which runs along his back, not a very pleasant topic to talk about.
“Mark, so you made it” I shouted from behind. Surprised he fell off the bed face planting the floor.
“Ugh, why do you always have to do that,” he groaned. Slowly getting back up, he sat on the bed and put his shirt back on.
“Because it always freaks you out,” I replied half-laughing. “So how much did we make?”
“900 dren,” He answered, “I wasn’t able to sell that much.”
“Well, Tievon is not very big,” I pointed out. “I’m kind of surprised that you sold anything at all.”
“Hey, I’m a pretty good salesman if I say so myself,” he said, while attempting to make himself look cool by taking a heroic pose on the bed.
Pushing him off the bed, I shouted, “Ya, Right.” I helped him up and went back to my room where I jumped on the bed and pulled my journal out to write my day in it. While making my life seem more memorable, I fell asleep.
Morning, placing our things into the car I waved goodbye to Trebor and fruitlessly try to get the key. Mark never lets me drive it for some reason.
As we continued down the road, I looked out the window to see the beach and large waves. I’ve always wondered how to surf but have never gotten to trying to make a surfboard. I have seen many pictures of them but never in real life.
Past the ruins of New York lies a massive tower at least a mile high. This is where we live, all seven of us, Mark and I, the Lutheran Brothers, my sister Carol, and David my love, even if he doesn’t have a clue. We were all drawn to this place. I still remember the journey I took to this place.

[TheRedStranger]

 

Maybe I can help you both.

 

@Rathlord:

 

 Maybe you should use Dragon Software and speak your novel out loud. Or perhaps you should just record it then write the recordings. Find someone to talk to, perhaps. Let them be your “idea wall”, bouncing your thoughts off them.  See how this trusted friend reacts to your ideas, and listen to their input. An outside perspective always helps me, so much so that I now share my written world with another writer and our novels intricately overlap.

 Constructing scenes can be difficult at first, but you get better knowing the theory and elements that comprise what a scene is - and then, lots of practice. Reading always helps, just like exercise does to an athlete.  I went through three failed attempts at writing a novel before I became published for the first time (as a short-story writer in a local newspaper then a journalist for Berea College’s PR department).  I realized I was writing backwards! I had written a sequel and had to go back and write the predecessor, and then I realized I was writing another sequel! There is prequel to Boundless too, yet this is the best place to start because it introduces the milieu of my world properly.

 

 

 

@Terra_Incendia and Rathlord both

 

 In short don't...the first draft is not meant to be perfect it is but the skeleton for the story. Subtext and meaning are best mined/sculplted out of this raw block. Stephen King is famous for this method. Don't inject an artifical moral to your story or arbitrary plot point, let meaning come in the second draft. Finish the story in the most shoddy manner as possible if you like the first go, it doesn't matter. What matters is that it gets on paper, crappy or not. Wait for a couple of days and weeks to let yourself become distant to the story, then come back and read your first draft with more of an outside perspective. What do you see? What possible plot points need to be improved and further mined out? Whittle out the signs of a good moral to your story, a huantingly resonate subtext, a new and betterly constructed plot. This macrocosmic view will give you more insight on how to improve the writing as a WHOLE instead of twiddling about aimlessly with a couple of meager sentences. That comes later after your second (third, fourth, tenth) draft is the way you want it, that is when you add the pedantic polish. 

 

Here are some great resources you all should look into:

 

Make a Scene: Crafting a Powerful Story One Scene at a Time, by Jordan Rosenfield.

Outling Your Novel: Mapping Your Way to Success, by K.M Weiland.

Plot & Structure: (Techniques And Exercises For Crafting A Plot That Grips Readers From Start To Finish) (Write Great Fiction), by James Scott Bell.

The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide To Character Expression, by Angela Ackerman.

 Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint: Techniques and Exercises for Crafting Dynamic Characters and Effective Viewpoints (Write Great Fiction) – Nancy Kress.

On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft, Stephen King.

 Writers Digest. Com,  and Tv Tropes (in moderation with a healthy dose of skepticism and critical thinking due to its sad lack of sourcing) are great places to venture for snippets of wisdom as well.

[Rathlord]

Thanks for the info Red. My current iteration of my unfinished novel has been through two full re-writes and about two dozen drafts over the last four years. Still needs a lot of work. What I do, actually, is come back to it after a long break and have someone read it back to me (or my computer in a few cases). It helps me figure out if everything is coherent. Everything makes sense to me right after I've written it, obviously, but sometimes when I come back to it I find it's utter nonsense.

 

Thanks for the references, too, I like to read up on as many different styles of writing as possible to try to pin down the ever-changing  muse within me.

 

Funnily enough I started writing my novel and realized that it was actually halfway through the story a bit later. The shape of the plot, the main villain, and the climax have changed several times. First few write-ups were mainly about atmosphere and characters.

[Rathlord]

Very interesting Terra! You've got a very effervescent writing style that's a breathe of fresh air for someone whose writing is as heavy as mine tends to be. I could use a good dose of your character skills.

[Terra_Incendia]

Very interesting Terra! You've got a very effervescent writing style that's a breathe of fresh air for someone whose writing is as heavy as mine tends to be. I could use a good dose of your character skills.

Thank you, that means a lot

[EnigmaGrey]

Fresh Start, Attempt 2: Feel free to post your original artwork here, Bomb. Sorry for the trouble.

[Pwnguin]

Good idea for a thread, I'd like to see any artists/animators/musicians etc. on this forum. As for myself I'm interested in getting into animation and pixel art and sprite comics, and I have actually made sprite comics before, but they weren't any good. But I guess there's not as much interest in spriting today on the internet, compared to before.

[TheRedStranger]

Good idea for a thread, I'd like to see any artists/animators/musicians etc. on this forum. As for myself I'm interested in getting into animation and pixel art and sprite comics, and I have actually made sprite comics before, but they weren't any good. But I guess there's not as much interest in spriting today on the internet, compared to before.

 

I always loved the art form. I'd be happy to see your work. 

[Pixel Bombs]

A very old photostudy I did a while back. Found it while rummaging through my art folder.

 

[mendonca]

 

A space ship for a game mod I am working on .... the sprite looks roughly like this:

 

 

Or possibly this, I haven't decided yet (might even use them both)

 

[RoboMat]

Great works here Pixel Bomb.

 

Here are some old pictures I have drawn ... I never went too far with it because of time and other interests

 

 

... also a loooong time ago I did some 3d artwork.

 

[Tooks]

Well, i'm rubbish at drawing stuff so i'll share some writing instead, this was something I wrote as a start to a sci-fi story, i'd never really written anything sci-fi before so forgive any glaring errors

 

Breathless (Working Title)

-Introduction-

Nothing could be heard in the office except for the low hum of a computer terminal and the shallow breaths of its operator. Adrian rubbed sleep out of his eyes, the clock blinked tauntingly at him from the corner of the screen.

'21:15' he thought to himself, 'so much for an early nights sleep'. He cricked his neck. These long nights were taking their tole against his not so young anymore body and he wasn't sure if he could keep them up much longer. Still, if he didn't do the work some other shmuck would have to, and get paid in his stead.

"Computer" Adrian called out, there was a brief pause before a calm, female synthetic voice replied.

"Yes, Mr Noyles?"

"I'm heading home now, could you ensure my documents are backed up and perform the necessary shutdown routines after I've left?", another brief pause,

"Acknowledged, Good night Mr Noyles, have a safe journey home". He collected his things and made his way out of the office doors, pausing briefly to ensure they shut firmly. Most offices these days were fitted out with an A.I. that ran the basic features of the office, security and administration; his companies A.I. was a bit lacking however, a lower budget model, but still did everything that was necessary for the company. Adrian flicked his scarf over his neck and headed off down the street towards his apartment. He'd been walking for no more then ten minutes before he began to feel fatigued. Adrian was a bit angry at himself, it'd been a long day and he wasn't exactly a fit young man anymore, but usually he'd have been halfway home by now. He stopped at a bench for a brief rest and to gather his thoughts. He'd been feeling a bit under the weather since about mid-day, perhaps he was getting a cold. A few minutes passed before he decided to carry on. His body, however, had other ideas, his legs gave out from underneath him the second he tried to stand. Adrian's brain burned as his entire body felt like it was being dragged underwater, he tried to scream for help but his voice barely crawled out of his mouth. With all the energy he could muster he attempted to crawl, his entire body fighting against the movement. He fought to keep himself conscious, to keep himself awake. All of his senses faded from his body as darkness flooded his perception. There on the cold concrete floor, a short distance from his office, Adrian Noyles ceased to exist.

 

-Chapter One-

The data stream was a beautiful sight to behold. It could not be seen with the human eye however. Luckily for Aimy, she didn't have human eyes. Her consciousness swam through the endless data like a boat through the ocean, clipping waves of information. Each byte varied in colour, quantity and speed. For any regular construct seeing this was just as routine as blinking. For a construct like Aimy, it was mind-blowing. Aimy was, for arguments sake, an A.I. She was, however, unlike your garden variety A.I construct. Aimy did not safeguard offices, she did not provide travel information in tourist centres for little Chinese families. Aimy was not one of these regulated, restricted clones, she was conscious and learning, and a member of an endangered species. There were few A.I like Aimy left in the verse, originally one of 200. Due to the complex nature of their behaviour, Smart A.I's were difficult to keep alive. The methods of such had gotten better, but were nowhere near perfect. Aimy was now one of only thirteen S.A.I's left alive. Of course no one but the select few knew of her existence at all. If word got out that the UDC (United Defense Corp) had not only been researching, but had completed, such technology it would create more problems then it would solve. Religious extremists tended to go a bit over the edge when scientists pushed the boundaries of 'playing god'. Creating life, even one that is artificial, was still looked down upon. Aimy floated curiously past a cluster of encrypted data. Encrypted data was like cake to Aimy. As a smart A.I she lived to learn. She'd realized at a young age that encrypted files usually held the more interesting information. A blinking light snapped her attention away from the data, it was coming from her own work station, a warning. As fast as she could, which was very very fast, she accepted and assessed the incoming warning.

"Captain?" her voice echoed through the bridge, Captain Wasch was sat in his usual chair already half aware of what Aimy was about to inform him of.

"Go ahead, Aimy"

"Detectors are picking up numerous contacts on broad range scanners, their trajectories indicate they will be within combat range in five minutes"

"Are they friendlies?" he asked doubtfully

"Unable to confirm. If they are friendlies they're flying silent, Sir."

"Thank you, Aimy". He turned his attention to his flight crew, "Hughes, power down engines to 75%, divert the extra power to our shields, if these bastards have a fight in mind I don't want to give them the upper hand. Shien, prep archer pods and the main cannon, I want them armed and ready to fire in 3 minutes. All hands, prepare for the worst"

"Sir!" came the chorus reply from his officers. The ship slowed gently as they performed their duties and Wasch smiled. He'd only been a captain for three years, a year later he'd been issued command of his current home, The Hijigawa. It was technically a cruiser class ship, though barely. It was one of the smallest cruisers in the UDC fleet, but its small structure housed many secrets which Wasch had fallen in love with. The hull itself was a tightly woven alloy capable of withstanding a punch from even the largest cannon in the fleet, its underbelly housed a discretely positioned cannon, the Hijigawa's main weapon. It was a standard outfitting for the majority of the UDC ships, their pride and joy. Heavy duty magnets ran along the barrel of the cannon, capable of launching a solid projectile at near light speeds, capable of punching a whole in most ship's that suffer a direct hit. Along the sides of the ship sat, a short distance apart, fifty archer missile pods and twenty heavy missile pods. While not looking like much of a dangerous target, the Hijigawa was able to launch a volley of missiles devastating enough to incapacitate an unprepared target. Aimy's voice echoed through the bridge,

"Captain, 3 minutes until we are in firing range. Scanners indicate three heavy armed fighters, heat signatures suggest they are combat ready, Sir."

"Open all hailing frequencies Aimy"

"Frequencies open, Sir, if they're listening they'll hear you.". Wasch took a deep breath before speaking,

"This is Captain Wasch of the UDC Hijigawa, please identify yourselves. We do not wish any unnecessary violence". He paused, awaiting some sort of reply,

"Sir, we have received an encrypted data message from the lead vessel"

"On screen". The bridge's main screen flickered as the data transferred, Wasch sighed as he read the screen. Three words filled the screen of the bridge.

UDC Shall Burn.

Wasch shook his head, the fools had their chance.

"Shien, how's our cannon looking?"

"Fully charged and MC round loaded, Captain. We will be in firing range of the lead vessel in twenty five seconds"

"Good, lets show these's rebels how to burn. Prep three heavy missiles, lock their targets onto each ship. On my word fire the main cannon at the lead vessel"

"Sir"

"Aimy, prepare a firing solution for the archer missiles. I want a nice even covering"

"Already prepared, Sir" Aimy's voice came back, Wasch detected a childish cheer in it.

"Shien, you are free to fire"

"Firing, Sir". The ship shuddered gently as its volley ripped free of their housing, soaring their way through the void of space.

"Thirty seconds until missile impact sir" Shien reported,

"Sir, inbound projectiles detected, twenty seconds to impact"

"Aimy-" Wasch began, Aimy cut him off,

"Shield power diverted to field of impact, Sir" she reported, Wasch smiled, this was what made the Hijigawa so deadly, Aimy operated much faster then his entire crew put together.

"Five seconds to impact" Hughes reported, the ship barely moved as the missiles struck the concentrated shield, erupted and vanished."Zero hull damage, Sir, shield output down to 50% and charging".

"Show me the enemy on screen" Wasch shouted,

"Sir" Shien replied, "Missiles impacting". The image flickered on screen, The lead vessel hung in the center of the image momentarily. In a flash the MC round pounded into the nose of its target, the ship spun backwards violently as the round ripped through its main decks, atmospheric pressure spiked, fires erupting across numerous areas of its hull. Seconds later a volley of missiles showered over the three ships ripping holes across their skin. Wasch admired Aimy's work, she had aimed the majority of the missiles at the uninjured ships, bringing their damage to a similar level of the lead vessel. All three ships floated unresponsively before them.

"Sir, energy signatures indicate the ships are preparing to fire what little offense they have left" Aimy's voice echoed around the bridge. Wasch could hardly believe it, these fools really wanted to go down fighting.

"Heavy pods armed and ready to fire, Sir" Shien reported.

"Fire at will Lieutenant, send these bastards to hell". Three heavy missiles punched their way into the void, sailing effortlessly towards their targets. The ships hung pathetically to their formation as the missiles met their mark. The lead vessel arced violently as the missile buried its way into its hull, its fleet reacting with similar responses. Blue flames flared briefly as the missiles erupted, the ships hulls ripping apart from the inside out.

"Targets destroyed" Shien reported coolly.

"Good work Gentlemen" Wasch called out, the crew took the compliment silently. Wasch leaned back in his chair and exhaled deeply, 'All in a days work'.

[PK'EZ-54]

Can I upload stuff I made on Source Film Maker? Aka TF2?

[Pixel Bombs]

Absolutely! 

[PK'EZ-54]

It's pretty "meh", but it's all I got time for 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWjPARKCZPc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2MPYMCu0JI 

 

Would upload images, but imgur is pretty crap :/

[Pixel Bombs]

It's pretty "meh", but it's all I got time for

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWjPARKCZPc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2MPYMCu0JI 

I feel like the first one would make an amazing .GIF

 

C&C

 

The second one was good, the animations were smooth and the lip syncing was great. 

 

The joke however was meh. I never really liked the whole "splice audio to make them say funny things" videos, so maybe I'm being a little biased in that regard.

 

I overall liked them. Keep at it.

[PK'EZ-54]

I feel like the first one would make an amazing .GIF

 

C&C

 

The second one was good, the animations were smooth and the lip syncing was great. 

 

The joke however was meh. I never really liked the whole "splice audio to make them say funny things" videos, so maybe I'm being a little biased in that regard.

 

I overall liked them. Keep at it.

The joke was never really intented to be funny. Just wanted to do something

[Rathlord]

Nice mendonca! To me the bottom one gives more the feel of a sleek, fast fighter whith it's tighter wings and more central rockets, while the one above has more of the mothership/slow moving but hard hitting feel with it's swept out wide configuration.

 

Edit: Sweet art Mat. I'm jealous of your talent, I've never had a hand for it!

 

Loved the story beginning Tooks, it actually reminds me of some of the sci-fi I used to write. Have you, by any chance, seen the show Firefly? 

 

Those were fun Pancakez =P

[Tooks]

Loved the story beginning Tooks, it actually reminds me of some of the sci-fi I used to write. Have you, by any chance, seen the show Firefly? 

 

Guilty as charged (though that name was a placeholder! )

[Rathlord]

Guilty as charged (though that name was a placeholder! )

 

Believe it or not I knew before I saw the name! I tend to do that with names, too.