Work Room - Week 18

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

The new topic went up yesterday http://community.livejournal.com/therealljidol/441220.html

Where are you at right now with it?

Has a couple weeks of "Open Topic" helped your creative process or thrown a penny on the train tracks of your imagination?

Comments

[alephz.livejournal.com]

I'm having trouble. But, then, I always do at first.

But the constricted due date... hoi. I knew it was going to happen eventually, but I was hoping it'd take a little longer.

Still, it's time to be daring!

Or is it constricted? That could just be the time difference where I am making it feel like we're down a day. I 'unno.

[comedychick.livejournal.com]

We're down a day, but also it seems even shorter because we had extra time with the open topics.

[mstrobel.livejournal.com]

Considering I have to work Monday until 9 and Tuesday until 10, it feels very constricted to ME! Super glad I managed to get mine written up just now - the typing up part can wait for the morning. Zonk.

[theafaye.livejournal.com]

I know what I'm writing for both but whether I get to write them any time soon is down to a fractious baby who has had a fever for the past 24 hours and is either crying or sleeping on the boob. Doesn't leave much headspace for creating. Fortunately everyone is spared a very boring entry about how to decide what to take when emigrating by a minor bit of inspiration while shopping.

[ecosopher.livejournal.com]

Can you type and breastfeed at the same time? I find it's frustratingly slow... Hope your young one feels much better soon.

[the-vernacular.livejournal.com]

I am working on mine!

I spent last night and this morning doing a bit of research on period and sources for the story I want to tell and now I'm about 300 words into writing.

I hope it comes out well!

I don't know if Open Topic hurt or helped, really. I was extremely proud of my Open Topic entry the first week, but the second week, I don't know if I turned in my best work. I just felt like it was time to do some non-fiction again. I've been trying to alternate a bit but I find myself gravitating toward fiction most of the time and usually have to force myself to go the non-fiction route.

I do like having a topic better because it focuses me and forces me to find a connection that might not be something I was planning on writing on my own. In some ways, Open Topic is harder because I don't have something to meditate on, but having a named topic is more challenging because it tests my imagination.

[ravenshrinkery.livejournal.com]

Having a topic often gives me a point to focus on, and having not had that for the last couple of weeks was definitely harder than I expected!

As for this week, I have a pretty good direction of where I'm going with it and now just need to tie it all together. :)

[applespicy.livejournal.com]

I'm about 3/4 of the way through mine. I had my idea immediately, I just had to work out the kinks... I do think I'll let my bf read over it before I post, though, just to make sure I didn't make this one too confusing.

[momebie.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to figure out how to fit the new topic into where I was planning to go with the story. I'd considered writing something more personal, but people are liking the story so I might as well stick with that. And of course, the story is pretty personal too, even though it's not presented as such.

Though, the topic DID cause my friend and I to create an origin story for Ursula the sea witch over twitter last night.

[comedychick.livejournal.com]

Over Twitter? LOL. I'm kind of tempted to ask you to repost that to LJ so I can read it :P

[xo-kizzy-xo.livejournal.com]

Well, I've got a general idea -- helps to remember snippets of dreams! I've been playing around with it off and on since this morning. Thing is, I'm not quite sure how to piece together the events leading up to the general idea. I probably should step away from it for a bit before my eyes begin to cross!

To paraphrase what ravenshrinkery said upthread, a topic is quite useful as a means to focus. Sometimes the Muse is there when Open Topic comes around, but when it isn't...

[ravenshrinkery.livejournal.com]

I never thought of myself as a fannish author, and especially not particularly attracted to any given fandom (Ok, I confess, I love Firefly, but have never written fic in the 'verse - maybe sometime...). I've been writing a lot of dark "slice of life" stuff lately and really needed a break from it. This topic gave me the break I needed. I'm about 2/3's of the way done with mine now and of course will have cheshire23 read it over before it gets posted.

Yes, I'm writing another fic, this time off a song.

[beldar.livejournal.com]

I've got a couple of serious ideas in mind for the topic, but then my mind keeps getting this song running thru it:
"Meet George Jetsam!
His boy Elroy!
Daughter Judy!
Jane, his wife!
dee dee-dee dee-dee-dee, dee dee-dee..."

Yeah, it's distracting. =)

[ravenshrinkery.livejournal.com]

I vote for crack. :)

[the-vernacular.livejournal.com]

Oh god now it is in my head too!

[ecosopher.livejournal.com]

I really want to branch out with this one, but I'm not sure where to take it other than my original idea, which is basically a relationship story. I feel as if I've been writing so much about myself (not that exciting), and even my fiction is too realist. Not sure if I can pull of anything really fantastical, though...

What do others do to really switch thinking around, to try and think of something a little different, other than the first ideas (unless they're good ones, of coures)?

[comedychick.livejournal.com]

I think the only fantastical stuff I've written was my pirate screenplay and my dragons on another planet piece in yako. There's nothing wrong with realistic fiction! It's what I usually stick to, also.

I don't know that there's really anything specific that I do when I decide I want to switch things up. It just sort of... happens.

[the-vernacular.livejournal.com]

I finished my entry! I'm very pleased with it. Again this week I was worried that I had chosen something so obvious that someone else was likely to do it first, but nobody had by the time I posted it. Unless you count comedychick who also mentioned mermaids, but that would be a major stretch!

[comedychick.livejournal.com]

LOL I spent pretty much all of Sunday working on my entry because I thought The Little Mermaid connection was so obvious and wanted to get in first with it! But even so, I think my ramblings about Disney won't be like what anyone else will submit.

I like that I submitted this early so I can actually try and keep on top of reading this week. Will check out your entry later today :)

[mstrobel.livejournal.com]

Curiosity here: how *closely* do people like the topic tied in, for reading purposes? Is metaphorical jetsam enough, or do people prefer things to be more explicit? Or does the topic not so much matter once you've begun reading a piece?

(I know I never think about what the topic is once I begin reading)

[joyfulfeather.livejournal.com]

I'm sort of wondering the same thing. Mine fits the first dictionary definition -- something "cast overboard to lighten the load in time of distress" -- but I don't know if the connection is going to be obvious to someone reading it. I'm debating putting the definition at the top or bottom of the entry, but I'm afraid that will seem too pointed.

[myrna-bird.livejournal.com]

I think when the actual word or phrase is written out, it IS easier to get it but I kind of like the mystery of figuring out *how did this person incorporate the topic?*
As long as I can find the gist of the topic in the story somewhere, I'm usually satisfied.

[soprano1790.livejournal.com]

Still haven't thought of anything... I always think of things at the last minute.... Grrrrrr. I hate that! I'm really excited though. It sounds like people are writing some good stuff. I can't wait to read it all. Need to start reading quickly because I'm going out of town next weekend.

Yeah, I find that writing fiction is a lot easier than nonfiction for me. scriblesnbraile talk about this all the time. I just enjoy making up characters and getting into their heads. It's fun!

[ecosopher.livejournal.com]

That's interesting, because I find nonfiction so much easier to write. I think it's because I worry that my characters will be weird, unrealistic and unsympathetic.

[comedychick.livejournal.com]

As I've mentioned in response to a couple of people in comments, I already got my entry in. When I saw the topic, as I imagine what happened to many others, my mind instantly thought of the eels in The Little Mermaid. Since I was raised on Disney, and that's the first film I remember seeing in the cinema, I ran with it and wrote about a fraction of my Disney obsession.

I dug up photos, artwork, a video, an mp3, and even a journal I wrote when I was 7. My entry is quite the multimedia experience!

I'm excited because this means I'm in better shape to keep up with everyone else's entries from the start. :)

[beeker121.livejournal.com]

At this point the word 'jetsam' is just bopping around in my brain occasionally and bouncing off things that make me think "that might be neat to write about" and then bouncing some more. So pretty much the usual.

[snarkerdoodle.livejournal.com]

I have several ideas in my head, each of which I think I could work into a good piece -- I just don't have any *time*, lol. I think I'll be doing more writing in my head than usual this time around, and hopefully find a couple hours tomorrow night or tuesday morning to get it actually put down on 'paper'.

I absolutely love the free form of the Open Topics, they don't really throw me any more than usual. (I either have some ideas or I don't -- whether it's an open topic or a prompted topic doesn't matter much in that regard.)

[ryca.livejournal.com]

I have no idea how to take this topic and use it for a "Part II" for the story that I began last week (http://ryca.livejournal.com/809684.html). Does anybody have any ideas??? Thanks in advance.

... ?!

[ellakite.livejournal.com]

I've got a couple of ideas, but none that I'm thrilled with.

I've thought about doing a piece about literal jetsam, and a friend has suggested that I might do a bit about "psychic" jetsam. However, what I'd *REALLY* like to do is rather... offbeat. Let's just say that it involves a bit of wordplay. The real problem is that at this instant, I've only got the vaguest impression of what I'd like to write about.

PS: I had *NO* time to write this weekend... and right this instant, Monday isn't looking any better.

Can you say "*CRUNCH* TIME"?

Re: ... ?!

[comedychick.livejournal.com]

Word play is fun. If I hadn't written what I had, I might've written about a superhero named Jet-Sam :)