Why write something new each day? Because it feels so fantastic!

Published on November 16, 2007 in What's so great about writing?, Writing, creative writing and writing online. 0 Comments

I just read an article by Emma Darwin entitled the contemplative wolf which forced me to break away from my latest project of love which is my new online flash fiction site.

The target I set myself, three weeks ago, was to write a new flash fiction or short story each day for five days a week.

Each night, I read my pocket diary of story ideas so that, when I wake up in the early hours of the morning worrying whether I’ll make it up the creative writing tree for another day, I will have something to mull over.

Every morning, when I wake, after tossing and turning for much of the night, I keep my eyes closed going through my story options for the day, no matter whatever else is going on around me.

Sometimes the short story, flash fiction, or whatever comes refined after days of mulling over. Sometimes, it comes like a shaft of light shining into my soul.

Then, over breakfast, I’m pounding my laptop keyboard in the kitchen hoping I can get the words down before they disappear like the mists that drift across Exmoor each morning.

Finally, I can write ‘The End’.

I read it over aloud. I rewrite words and phrases. I put it away for several hours. Sometimes, I even get dressed before midday. Then I start putting it up on-line which gives me the chance to read it over again and still make some changes.

It’s the next moment that Emma Darwin describes so well.

The story somehow is suddenly born. It exists. It’s as good as I can get it - for now anyway - and to my best ability, it’s good enough.

I smile, leap of my chair and punch the air! Wow! (I really do).

In that moment it is crystal clear to me why I write, why I can’t stop and why I have set myself the task of writing a new story a day for as long as I can.

Yes, it’s scary. Yes, it’s hard work. Yes, it takes enormous effort. Yes I don’t know whether I will be able to do it again tomorrow.

But it feels so fantastic and I reckon Emma Darwin has described this feeling perfectly.

If you want to know why writing is worth the effort and how it feels, check her article out.

Bye for now

Rob Hopcott

(online author - fiction - news)

How authors can get more online readers for their creative writing

Published on July 27, 2007 in getting more readers. 0 Comments

Here’s my latest (crackpot) idea about how to get more readers for my online articles, short stories, online novels and online novellas.

See what you think.

All comments are welcome :-)

Rob

Is getting read more important that getting published?

Published on May 29, 2007 in Writing and getting published. 0 Comments

An interesting series of points about why we authors write has been posted by Abu Sadat Nurullah.

However, a lot depends on why you are writing.

Is it for money? Is it to be read? Is it for fame?

Perhaps all of us would like to enjoy all three (and more besides) but we live in an imperfect world and often have to settle for second best.

Personally, as an online writer, I get my biggest kick from knowing that lots of people have read my stuff over the years.

Also a few cents have come in through ad placement so I can genuinely say I’m published and paid.

I might not be published on trees but it’s good enough for me.

Bye for now

Rob

(Rob Hopcott - online writer)

Demise of the short story market intrigues Rob Hopcott

Published on May 24, 2007 in short story markets. 0 Comments

The demise of the short story market has been widely publicised but the reasons behind this self evident fact are intriguing.

Comparing short stories to novels is like comparing a song to a symphony. They have a different purpose. Radio stations play short pop songs all the time.

Is a small picture in an art gallery any less important than one that takes up the whole wall?

Certainly, a compilation of short stories can leave the reader feeling fragmented as they are plunged into a series of different mindscapes.

And, of course, one short story can’t be published for money as a paper or hard back.

But, perhaps the apparent demise of the short story is just about wealth. In a world where so many are driving SUVs instead of the smaller cars of yesteryear, perhaps they have cast aside the short story for a more expensive model … the novel.

What do you think?

Rob

(Rob Hopcott - online writer and lover of a good short story)

How I defeated writing block while writing my latest short fiction story.

Published on May 23, 2007 in writing block. 0 Comments

Whilst writing my latest short fiction story, writing block set in about half way through.

I’d set up the situation, felt happy about the characters and the general tone of the story but suddenly I had no idea about how I wanted to end the story.

Part of the reason may have been that I was tired. I’d been writing all morning and the day before had been writing for about nine hours. But I needed to get the story finished because I had mountains of web site stuff to deal with that couldn’t wait. Leaving a story midway is not a good idea for me because I tend to lose interest and it never gets finished.

So I was trying to cudgel my brain as to what to do. Then I remembered a writing tip I once put on the web:

In my experience, ideas usually surface in the course of doing something unrelated, so my best tip on how to write great creative short stories is to live your life to the full - enjoy yourself! A darkened room lit only by a dim and solitary lamp may sound romantic but will probably do nothing for your creative fluids. Instead go out into the world - walk the streets, visit cafeterias, play sport. Do the things you love - have fun. And here’s the secret. While you are having all this fun, observe people and situations as you go. Imagine a robber walking into your cafe or a handsome man or beautiful woman. Look at the people around you. How would they react? What would happen then? What would they think and feel? Have they secrets to hide and why is your hero there? In a flash, the creative fluids will flow. Your mind will be bursting with ideas.

If you want to read more about this, checkout these writing ideas

So I switched off my computer, left my dark and gloomy north facing room, jumped in the car and went for a walk around the nearby small town of Porlock.

Each shop I saw was woven temporarily into the fabric of the short story and then discarded. The museum stimulated thoughts that potentially completely changed the direction of the story. The people that walked past became new characters for an instant.

Writers are dreamers. It’s the biggest criticism of me that my friends can make:

“Rob you’re just a dreamer!”

I cringe with embarassment and wish I could think of some positive action that I could take to change the universe, my country’s destiny or at least my financial fortunes.

But why should I try to change my nature? Dreaming is what I like to do. I even do it quite well, unlike others who have never had a creative (or crazy, unrealistic, balmy, daft) thought in their lives. No doubt they will be far better than me at business, making a living, survival, earning a crust than I ever will. But, hey! My minds a beautiful place to juggle ideas, characters, concepts and short story scenarios and I love doing it!

Amazingly, by the time I had walked for half an hour, I was refreshed and had sorted out how I wanted the story to end. So I jumped back into my old beat up Ford Escort and hightailed it home before I forgot the changes I wanted to make. I ended the day exhausted but happy to have completed the short story.

See how you like it. You can find it here:

Piano Accordions and Chat Rooms

All best

Rob

BATTLE HYMN OF THE SNARK by Daphne Major gets Hopcott High Five!

Published on May 22, 2007 in Writing and humorous writing. 1 Comment

Occasionally, a blog post makes me laugh out loud, grabs my attention and makes the views of the green Exmoor countryside, yellow flowering gorse, red heather and contented browsing sheep for a short time less tempting to my wandering eye.

Daphne Major’s blog post BATTLE HYMN OF THE SNARK stopped me in my tracks with a great guffaw. Like all great pieces of writing, it is simple in it’s concept and reaches down into the commonality of all writers experiences to the essence of what we really care about, then suddenly takes us unawares.

Great writing Daphne.

You are hereby awarded a Hopcott High Five for a Good laugh.

Yoh!

Bye for now

Rob

(Rob Hopcott - online writer and occasional author of humorous stuff too)

Earn huge money from surveys … NOT!

Published on April 23, 2007 in traps for unwary freelance writers. 0 Comments

My foray into the world of paid surveys by Deborah Ng is a salutary warning to the many who may be tempted by the ‘get rich quick’ adverts that abound the Internet.

What is particularly nice about this post is that Deborah Ng says she eventually found success using her freelance writing skills.

Bye for now

Rob

(Rob Hopcott - online free fiction and comments to the universe)

Has the Grim or Happy Reaper got a computer? Death, online fiction, short stories and authors

Published on March 29, 2007 in writing longevity. 0 Comments

I was reading around about the point or pointlessness of writing online and a thought crossed my over fertile imagination about writing longevity.

When the Grim (Happy?) Reaper takes all of us online authors off into the unlimited blue, I wonder how long our online short stories, online novels, online novellas and ramblings will last?

Maybe quite a long time. Just possibly, given a bit of intelligent will writing which ensures the ongoing payment of domain and web space charges, it is quite feasible that just a tiny bit of immortality could be achieved.

Bearing in mind that gravestones can be dug up to provide space for new builds of the future all too easily.

In comparison, the Internet is vast and, quite possibly, timeless. The expense of keeping an author’s stories online is not much and there is even the possibility that our short stories, online novels and novellas might be passed from hand to hand virally in pdf files and the like. Perhaps our stories really could be read for ever.

Speaking for myself, I quite like reading my old online short stories, online novels and novellas sometimes. After all, I suppose they are exactly the stories I like.

So, when my time comes to leave this temporal Earth, I wonder if the Grim Reaper will will let me use his computer to go online?

Bye for now

Rob

(Rob Hopcott - free online author - feeling kinda old - Hopcott News)

P.S. Hey, Mr Grim Reaper Sir … I’m not ready yet :-) :-) :-)

Honest!

Aaaaaaaaarghhh …

Writing, rewriting and getting it right needs careful time management for bloggers and authors

Published on March 28, 2007 in writing time management. 0 Comments

I was browsing through Technorati ‘online novel’ listings and came across the writings of Rowan Dai who was talking about the amount of time it takes to get blog posts perfect and the consequent impact on time available for novel writing.

For me, getting something I’ve written right is just far too compulsive. I first have to read it aloud to make sure it scans well. Then I shorten the sentences, move the paragraphs around, and. before I know where I am, half a day has gone. Then I realize with horror that all this effort has been put into writing a comment on somebody else’s blog which may never even get past moderation and, even if it does, who reads comments anyway? Aaaaargh!

So the thinking behind the the article by Rowan Dai relating to author’s writing time management couldn’t be more relevant to me.

But I would hate not to visit other writers sites. Writing is a very lonely and solitary occupation and even us creative types need some cross fertilisation to get the creative juices flowing. Ideas bounce off ideas and, before I know where I am, there is a new idea for a novel - OK well at least an article for me to put on my site.

Hope you like it :-)

Bye for now

Rob

(Rob Hopcott - online author and expert writing procrastinator)

News from Rob Hopcott about articles and fiction

Sensational story first lines from short stories, novels and novellas

Published on March 23, 2007 in short story first lines and writing online. 0 Comments

I was glad to see Novas comments in distraction no. 99 about story opening lines. A few months back, I tried to start a discussion on a writing forum about best first lines people thought they had written but nobody seemed interested.

I suppose putting a mountain of difficulty right at the beginning of a story practically encourages writer’s block, even before getting started, for some writers.

I’ve had this first line going around in my head a while now:

‘1967 I started my short story … It’s almost finished.’

Problem is, I’ve got no story to go with it … :-)

However, I am quite proud of a lot of first line I’ve written. Here are a few…

From Holiday to Murder:

‘Slain woman with rose tattoo naked in holiday home rural retreat murder’

the headline screamed.

From Kingfisher Blue:

She walked into Smokey’s Bar like the breeze that sometimes caresses your face on a gray day. Her fair, nearly blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail with two wisps hanging down by each eye. The bustle of the bar absorbed her into its midst and I lost track of her until she surfaced by the gamblers.

From Blooding of Amelia-Rose:

Amelia-Rose struggled to hang the wedding dress on the line. The water-soaked material was heavy and she felt the sadness in her heart well up as she gently pegged it up to dry naturally in the balmy air. Memories were revived with each peg - good memories at first but then many bad ones. Soon they began to overwhelm her so she tried to make the thoughts go away by imagining them hanging up and being refreshed by the healing morning breeze.

From Unwelcome Paradise:

Rod deposited the offending jeans and three socks on the floor of his bedroom where they belonged, found the stolen computer’s power button and switched it on.

From Burglars:

Alice sat neatly down at the kitchen table of her 3 bedroom semi-detached in the suburbs of London. The burglar slouched at the other end of the vinyl kitchen table.

How did she know he slouched, she wondered. After all, the grey packing tape that blindfolded her excluded even the slightest chink of light. But she did.

From The Farmer’s Story: Cool Waters:

Cool waters glisten enticingly under a diamond blue sky.

My time on this earth in this moment seems to hang balanced between the ebb and flow of the tide that rocks against our tiny beach … and the scream of the herring gull.

Shudder … It fair makes my spine tingle reading them!

However, I’d better call an end to this post as I guess it’s becoming a bit self congratulatory :-)

Anybody else got any good story first liners?

Bye for now

Rob

(Rob Hopcott - online author and lover of great first lines)