Work Room - Week 15

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

It's a "writing oriented topic" for a group of writers! http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/759800.html

What could possibly go wrong? ;)

***

For those who are going "What IS that?" http://www.writingclasses.com/WritersResources/AskTheWriterDetail.php?ID=327

Not really anything else to say, without turning this Work Room completely meta. :)

Where is your head going on this one?

Comments

[kandigurl.livejournal.com]

Holy ballsacks, that's a long time we have to write! I do not have any ideas yet. *pokes Wikipedia entry*

[alexpgp.livejournal.com]

Wow, it's not often that one sees such a reference to the famous 19th century French novelist!

Oh. What a sec. You said "ballsacks."

Sorry. :^)

[alexpgp.livejournal.com]

Heh.

Heh-heh.

Hn-hn-hn-hn-hn-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HAAAA!

[halfshellvenus.livejournal.com]

Well, this could be good!

[kehlen-crow.livejournal.com]

First thought: I desperately need to watch the Star Trek ToS episode this icon has come from. (Yes, I have not seen the 3d season yet, lol.)

[anyonesghost.livejournal.com]

It's been a while -- is that from Spock's Brain? And if so, what was that doing on the wall?

[mac-arthur-park.livejournal.com]

Sheer, blind panic.

And I'm supposed to come up with something while I'm spending a long weekend canoodling with my girlfriend?

I don't like you right now, Gary.

[roina-arwen.livejournal.com]

a) You should obviously come up with something before the long weekend canoodling, or perhaps after. Or maybe during? Y'all can canoodle until you cantnoodle any more.

b) I love the word "canoodling". Makes me think of an odd blend of slurping long noodles while riding/paddling in a canoe. =D

[n3m3sis43.livejournal.com]

It's making me think of something I was pondering last week about the 'verse for my (never finished) novel. But the bad part is that I can't remember what it was now. Argh.

[anyonesghost.livejournal.com]

To the novel I wrote last year, where I used this device to fantastic effect. But now I can't use that for Idol. :-(

I admit, the first thing I'm thinking of is the serial-fic I've been doing. I've had an object floating around and changing hands for a little while now, and that was going to become important in the near future. So I could easily go that route ...

... except I'm sure the "casual reader" of my Idol entries doesn't want to trawl through the back catalogue (what is it, ten stories now?) to find the first-act references for this thing. And more to the point, I don't want anyone to get bored. ;-)

I've got time, though, so we'll see what happens.

[n3m3sis43.livejournal.com]

This is the problem I'm having. My head is so stuck in the 'verse for my novel. There is so much of this device but I don't know how to make any of it work in a short piece. And I can't think beyond that 'verse and aughhhhh. *tears hair*

I love your writing, but my memory is crap and if the "gun" is something that was in a previous week's piece there is a good chance I'll be like, "whaaaa?" Maybe this is just me, though. :)

[swirlsofblue.livejournal.com]

My head is still on how the hell are we supposed to write a story on this unless it's a story that tries to demonstrate the principal of not having anything unnecessary. Or a writer as a fictional character.

Non-fiction makes most sense for me idea wise at the moment, and that's scary because I can't really do non-fiction.

[roina-arwen.livejournal.com]

Which brings up the question - why can't you do nonfiction?

[roina-arwen.livejournal.com]

Wiki entry states: Chekhov's gun is a dramatic principle that requires every element in a narrative be necessary and irreplaceable, and that everything else be removed.

Remove everything that has no relevance to the story. If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it's not going to be fired, it shouldn't be hanging there. —Anton Chekhov

(The link above isn't quite right, although I'm sure it will be fixed shortly)

Now I just need to figure out what to do with this topic! *sigh*

[roina-arwen.livejournal.com]

Just to double-check: How many contestants do we currently have now? My spreadsheet says 109. Does that gel with everyone else?

[swirlsofblue.livejournal.com]

Mine says 109 also.

[dmousey.livejournal.com]

Oh, holy havoc! To write a story that also answers each question it brings to mind, with no extraneous details, while keeping the reader interested and entertained? Is this an appropriate synopsis? If so, yeah, its a stinker. Why? My brain is frying already!!!

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

Ohhh, I think I have an idea.

Hopefully it's not as gross or puzzling as last week's.

[zhent.livejournal.com]

As for our topic this week(s), I currently have nothing. I'll let it percolate for a few days and see what I can come up with though.

Of course my first thought was Star Trek TOS Fan-Fic...

[crimsonplum.livejournal.com]

Love it! I am now hoping you'll go there!

[bleodswean.livejournal.com]

Some of us vehemently refute Chekhov's Gun. In it's most literal of applications it can and will make a story predictable.

We see this most often in film. The strangely obvious inclusion of a scene, character, firearm in an otherwise stripped down and exacting story....and we know that the math that follows will be basic. The trick is to make an inclusion algebraic.

[dmousey.livejournal.com]

I think my brain just fried more...

[ellakite.livejournal.com]

Where is your head going on this one?

Well, first my head is going to Washington DC... then it's going to Boston, MA. Of course, the rest of me is going along as well.

(I'm preparing for a couple of weekend trips in August. I just couldn't resist.)

---

As far as story ideas go -- I dunno. While there is a specific scene from my saga which neatly fits the prompt, I already wrote and posted that tale for Idol a while back. So I'm going to have to come up with something "new"...

My issue with the prompt is a common issue with me story-telling: I want to surprise the reader in some fashion. So if I describe a "gun" in my story, I don't want it to be used in the way the reader expects. And yet... I don't want to "cheat the reader", either -- I try to include subtle clues in my work which show at the very least may warn the reader that the gun won't be used in the "expected" fashion.

I did a piece as part of an Intersection in Season 8 that perfectly shows the approach I'm referring to. And the prop in question is an actual gun. I'm rather proud of the piece:

http://ellakite.livejournal.com/333362.html

[eternal-ot.livejournal.com]

The story does explain your POV very well...and it was an awesome read..:) thanks for sharing.

[dmousey.livejournal.com]

Can this concept be brought in poem form? Is not an idle question. If so, does anyone know of any links? I've been toying with the idea and want research... thanks! :0)

[jem0000000.livejournal.com]

I think just about anything can be a poem, but in terms of poetry-specific devices -- have you read one of those poems that rhymes, neatly, and then carefully departs from the rhyme after having set up the expectation of a curse word, so that your mind automatically fills in the other word in place of the non-rhyming one?

The example I'm thinking of is in Shrek's "Welcome to Duloc" song, rhyming, "Keep off of the grass," with, "Wipe your [pause] face." There was a visual gag to go with that one, but there are songs that manage without a visual component just fine.

It's a bit of a subversion*, but it's the closest thing I can think of that's specifically poetry. Maybe one of the poets among us will have something better?

*In that rather than the element setting up the expectation, it's the expectation setting up the element (word).

[favoritebean.livejournal.com]

So it's really funny that Checkov's Gun would be the topic, because I was actually thinking about the subject all week. The question is whether to write the non fiction account I was actually mulling over, or to take the topic into the fiction world.

[n3m3sis43.livejournal.com]

I want to do fiction and it is driving me batshit that I can't figure out a viable way to execute it. :P

[ashgaelsonaria.livejournal.com]

http://ashgaelsonaria.livejournal.com/289841.html

Dark dreamer
Draw the shade
Fill the glass
The wine we made
Bitter sweet
The night we meet
In darkness weep
In sleep so deep

[dmousey.livejournal.com]

Am confused(a usual state!) Is this in response to my earlier question?:)

[eternal-ot.livejournal.com]

It's good to have heard about the topic beforehand for a change (it's bad not to have an instant idea about it)..my interpretation of it was every character in the story should be accounted for..as in the sidekicks should also have a role/character to play, not just the main character...but then it's good to remember when you are writing a full fledged novel.. How does it fit a short story?..well, let's see.

[kehlen-crow.livejournal.com]

It's definitely a challenge in a short story: how to balance enough description and enough details with a rhythm and development that will allow for an easy read.

[jem0000000.livejournal.com]

Those old-ish EQMM/Best Detective of 19xx/etc. shorts with the red herrings, and how they factored into the story in totally unexpected ways, while a smaller clue took precedence at the end. :)

[kandigurl.livejournal.com]

*finally reads what the hell it is*

Oh! Oh! I know about this! This is one of my FAVORITE WRITING THINGS!!!!!!

I still don't have any ideas. *heads off to scan workroom*

[dreamsreflected.livejournal.com]

I wonder what percentage of the entries are going to take a literal approach and write about a guy named Chekhov and his gun. Star Trek fan fic? anyone? Bueller?

[n3m3sis43.livejournal.com]

Not me, but someone has already mentioned that in a comment, so possibly a lot of people. :)

[kittenboo.livejournal.com]

Don't forget, it doesn't just mean introducing a clue and then using that clue later in the story. His point was to not include extraneous details. So one take could be to try and write in a minimalist style, where every word is important. There doesn't have to be any clue or twist at all even.

Or subvert the topic and do the opposite, way more detail, or lots of unnecessary detail but in an interesting way. Or a whole lot of clues or red herrings, and none of them end up being necessary, or all of them do. Or plant a clue but then use a deus ex machine instead.

[n3m3sis43.livejournal.com]

I've been considering a subversion, but a lot of people have been really literal in their topic interpretations this season and I'm sort of worried it won't go over well. Although me worrying about clear topic connections is... well, it's out of character.

Writing in a minimalist style would certainly be a challenge for me. XD

[penpusher.livejournal.com]

Well, I checked off on Chekov since the Star Trek helmsman spelled his name differently from Chekhov, the playwright. And Chekov wouldn't have had a gun anyway. It would be a phaser.

Unless Chekov was involved in "The City on the Edge of Forever" episode, which I haven't seen in a number of years, so I don't remember. He might have had a gun in that. But he would have been a minor player in that ep, since it was all about Kirk and Spock and that soup kitchen maiden played by Joan Collins.

And, of course none of this really helps. Except to rule out Star Trek for me, anyway.

[n3m3sis43.livejournal.com]

I think only Kirk, Spock, and Bones went back in time in that episode. And I can't remember if any of them used guns.

However, there was Spectre of the Gun, which contained both Chekov and guns. I don't remember if Chekov actually used one, though. And also, I had to look up the name of that episode because all I could remember was "they got stuck in a fake Western."

[dmousey.livejournal.com]

Hey guys, is this where I can ask for a beta reader and con/crit? This style is new to me and I want to be sure I'm capturing it correctly. Would anyone mind helping a noob out?
http://dmousey.livejournal.com/4123.html

[kehlen-crow.livejournal.com]

I think you may want to re-post the request in a Green Room, if you have a chance to do so right after a new one opens, because not everyone might have read all the way through the Work Room and this comment is the very last.

[eska818.livejournal.com]

No one is probably reading this room anymore but I'm so frustrated with this topic. I feel like I have a workable concept but I can't figure out how to execute it, or if it even will apply appropriately to how people view the topic. -bangs head into the wall-

[kathrynrose.livejournal.com]

I'm still tracking the room, and I agree entirely.

I've had three ideas - well, two and a half ideas - and they are all at least a little gimmicky.

I wanted to write fiction, but see above.

As to non fic, I really have nothing to say about the subject, and it just doesn't take me anywhere.