Work Room - Week 11

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

There's a new topic in town: http://community.livejournal.com/therealljidol/419287.html

What's going through your head?

I was going to have a longer Work Room this time and get into it, but really, I think you guys handle things far better without me asking the probing questions.

What is going through your head? How do you get from Point A to Point B in your writing? What simple mistakes do you see other people making that you know that if they could just reign in, that their work would greatly improve?

These are starting points of conversations, not the scope of them.

Where you take them, and the topics, are up to you.

Comments

[sra33.livejournal.com]

IS IT HAUTE IN HERE, OR IS IT JUST YOU??

Sorry... I had to. You understand, right?

♥

[tigrkittn.livejournal.com]

It's just me! *winks*

[hosticle-fifer.livejournal.com]

OK, I've just sworn off work rooms. I hope you're happy.

;)

[momebie.livejournal.com]

Wait. If it IS haute in here, do we have to take off all our clothes?

[joeymichaels.livejournal.com]

"It's getting haute in here...
So put on fancy clothes..."

[solstice-singer.livejournal.com]

Haute? I've never heard of such a thing. At first, I thought my screen reader was being mean, mispronouncing things, but, when I looked at it character by character, there it was. I'm a very confused singer of solstices. I shall have to do some research, I think.

[roina-arwen.livejournal.com]

Mostly "haute" is used in terms like "haute cuisine" and "haute couture" - it's sort of like "high-classed" or "upper crust" in meaning.

[joeymichaels.livejournal.com]

The 1982 comedy book Do It Yourself Brain Surgery And Other Home Skills (http://www.amazon.com/yourself-brain-surgery-other-skills/dp/0891042644) had a section called Nouvelle Cuisine Terminale which hilariously described how you could make a splash in the haute cuisine world by making food that was either tremendously unpleasant (even impossible) to eat or that led to the immediate death of the eater. Reading the word haute immediately conjured images up in my mind of stories about different kinds of horrible cuisine.

Which, in turn, led me to think about one of my favorite Kids in the Hall sketches about haute couture:



I get these things out of my head here so I can attract something that doesn't rip either of these ideas off.

[team-jessie.livejournal.com]

"Let me! Is woman's work!"
*guffaw*

[esteletheque.livejournal.com]

I must admit, I'm torn over my entry.
My first thought went to a hilarious incident in French class when I was in high school ("haute" after all is a French word). But I'm also hesitant to write an entry that will thus either half be in French or have to use a "this was in French, I'm translating it" convention.
I'm also feeling nervous as I felt utterly awesome about my last two entries, but I've come at the bottom of my tribes both times. So maybe I'm missing something?
Hmm.

[momebie.livejournal.com]

I really like the idea of writing those bits in French.

[kehlen-crow.livejournal.com]

It would probably be best to only leave several catch phrases untranslated inside the entry and write the rest in English but marked as initially French (in italics, asterisks or brackets).

The problem is, are you sure it is not a wordplay that was hilarious? Those fall flat more often than not. (As you most likely well know :-) )

[joeymichaels.livejournal.com]

I'm also feeling nervous as I felt utterly awesome about my last two entries, but I've come at the bottom of my tribes both times. So maybe I'm missing something?

Really, the important thing is that you feel proud of your entries.

We all get voted off eventually and, in my opinion, there is comfort in being voted off knowing you wrote something that you are proud of. I have always thought it would be lame to be voted off after I wrote something that I was proud of because I was trying to increase my vote count, you know?

That all said, one of the things that helps me when I'm posting is that I work with a friend who proof-reads and offers feedback on my stuff before I submit it. That way, I know there's at least one other person who feels positive about my entry. :D

[momebie.livejournal.com]

I'm really interested in that question about mistakes, actually. If anyone wants to tell me mistakes I may be making I'm all ears. That's why I'm doing this, after all. To learn.

As for 'haute', I'm spending a little time meditating on the possibilities, which is generally what I do at the outset of each new week. Just kind of let the seed grow, you know. It's hard not to think about how I'm currently working my way through De bons présages in a mad bid to re-teach myself French. Though I'm not sure discussion of l'ange Aziraphale et le démon Rampa would be of interest to anyone. Even if I DO have tattoos I can use for illustration. :p

[joeymichaels.livejournal.com]

You know, an entry featuring pictures of your tattoos is genuinely a pretty interesting idea.

[team-jessie.livejournal.com]

Ok, so I've been referring to my tribe as "Murderers' Row", because the competition is pretty stiff. I've been hanging out around the bottom of the votes each week, which is making me wonder how to up my game.

I feel like the issue might be my voice in my writing (maybe?). I'm grappling a bit with what I want to say here, but I feel like my entries sound very pedestrian, while others in my tribe sound a bit more... flowery?

With the Icarus topic, I took a metaphorical approach and submitted a silly story about sliding on some ice. Others submitted lots of mythology and high fantasy styled pieces. I was feeling a little out of place.

That's not to say that I'm looking to force a bit of the Queen's English into a story that doesn't call for it, but I *AM* wondering if as the game progresses, my particular style of story telling isn't going to hack it.

Ironically, is my writing not what you'd call "haute"? :-D

Thoughts?

[theafaye.livejournal.com]

I have exactly the same problem with my prose style. I came fifth last time round.

Different is good. And as long as you're not last and voted out, it doesn't matter if you're not topping the polls because you've survived to write another day. However, if you're concerned, then try submitting a flowery piece and see how it does. I must admit that whenever I did that, my votes didn't do as well, not because I can't write in that manner (my alts have demonstrated that I can) but because people learn to expect something from you and if you deviate *too* far from their expectations, they don't like it.

I got pigeon holed as slice of life gal last time, despite a wide range of styles and approaches. So this season I am embracing that label and making it truly mine by doing nothing but with this ID.

How's this for an angle on the topic?

[beldar.livejournal.com]

When I saw the prompt, my first thought was Terre Haute, a medium-sized American city on the center of the left edge of Indiana.

*sigh* I've only been in the state just short of a decade, and I've already gone native.

Anyway, I don't think I'll have time for a Home Game entry (and I already have something up for votes in SCI) so I'll let someone else tackle that aspect of the word. Never been there? Well, creative people like challenges, right? =)

Re: How's this for an angle on the topic?

[joeymichaels.livejournal.com]

I toyed with an entry using the title "The Hot Terror From Terra Haute" for a while last night. Its not the entry I ended up going with, but I'd be happy to summarize it here if you're interested. :P

Re: How's this for an angle on the topic?

[onda-bianca.livejournal.com]

Haha...I'm originally from Indiana...nice idea...I LOVE it!

Re: How's this for an angle on the topic?

[beeker121.livejournal.com]

I think that's brilliant! I've obviously been out of Indiana for too long (I went to college there) because that didn't even occur to me.

[joyfulfeather.livejournal.com]

I've been struggling with something regarding my entry last week (http://joyfulfeather.livejournal.com/969202.html). It was about a person far from home, living on a spaceship that recharges by flying into stars. The entry was well-received, better than I expected. So yay for that! But I was somewhat chagrined to read the comments that said, "How creative!" and lauded the idea of flying into stars to recharge.

The thing is, I didn't come up with that idea. That ship wasn't my invention -- it's the Destiny, the ship that's the primary setting on Stargate: Universe. My entry was fanfic. The character was original, not based on one of the characters on the show, but the ship and the flying into stars thing aren't mine.

Should I have said something? Made it clear that this was a borrowed universe, not my own creation? (The entry is tagged "sgu," but I'm sure that doesn't mean anything to a lot of people.) I feel guilty, because people may have voted for me thinking I'm more of a visionary than I actually am -- and because I could have corrected that impression before the polls closed, and I didn't. Does it matter? Would it have changed votes?

[theafaye.livejournal.com]

Personally I would have made it more explicit in a note at the end of the entry, but I don't think it would have changed your vote total significantly. I think if you have an inspiration, it's always good to tell people about it, if only because you might win new fans for something you like.

[banyangirl1832.livejournal.com]

My first thought was "haute and cold", maybe making fun of the haute couture industry for making such impractical, ridiculous outfits (especially in light of the recent snow storms NYC has seen). Or "haute and cold" as it relates to random, obscure ice cream flavors. Everyone likes ice cream, right?

[joeymichaels.livejournal.com]

I am willing to confess that I love ice cream.

[tijuanagringo.livejournal.com]

Dire haute ou supérieure, c'est impliquer quelque chose de mieux. Mais il ya aussi les directions.

To say high or upper is to imply something is better. But there are also directions.

Como por ejemplo en Alta y Baja California for example.