Work Room - Week 1

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

The Week 1 topic is up: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/951685.html

I won't lie, I went back and forth on how to start this season.

Heck, I went back and forth on the deadline. At one point it was going to be Thursday (which happens to be Thanksgiving in the US) and Cynthia literally said "Don't be an asshole!" So I decided not to do that. I should, however, point out that this isn't the "regular schedule" either. It's part of the "slow start", that will even out as we progress through the season.

I landed on the topic due to a couple reasons: (1) My love for all things Beach Slang - I'll save you the Googling time and let you know that it's a lyric from one of their songs: https://beachslang.bandcamp.com/track/dirty-cigarettes and (2) a discussion about the line and how it felt like how they felt about their own writing.

So it seemed like a good fit, and the rest of the season seemed to fall into place for me after that. (more or less)

***

But it's not about where I go with it that's important - it's where you go.

I'm saying this both as a guide for newbies, but also a reminder for veterans, especially those who may not have been around in awhile - or have gotten rusty - The topic is the launching pad, not the destination.

This is your Work Room, a place to hammer out and discuss different ideas - or to just talk about writing in general. Really, it's whatever you need it to be.

At the end of every topic post, I say "Have fun", and I hope that you do!

Comments

[rswndrlst.livejournal.com]

first time I is first

because I kept hitting refresh waiting for the topic post...

[kathrynrose.livejournal.com]

When I saw that I figured it was a song lyric.

It makes me think of butterflies, but then I listened to the song and it's really not at all butterflyish. :P

I really only listened to a minute of the song, because that shit is um, not pretty. Sorry, Gary.

hmmmm

[xo-kizzy-xo.livejournal.com]

I listened to a bit of it, too. Not my genre nor cup of tea but the rest of the lyrics are interesting.

Makes me think back to college where I'd put myself into a frenzy writing a paper -- caffeine, nicotine, the whole bit.

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

There is a vulnerable and raw beauty in Beach Slang, but it's not for everyone.

[xo-kizzy-xo.livejournal.com]

I can see that via their lyrics :)

[xo-kizzy-xo.livejournal.com]

My first thought was back to an old manager of mine for whom stress was oxygen. If she was't stressed out about something, it was the end of the world, and alas something to be stressed out about.

Hmm...

[kathrynrose.livejournal.com]

or needing a poll deadline to actually write something?


Reading it again, it could be I need (the struggle to feel alive) or it could be (I need the struggle) in order to feel alive.


I'm over analyzing again. Stop me, please.

[xo-kizzy-xo.livejournal.com]

LOLOL, but why stop you? You're so good at it :p

...of course, your two interpretations also dovetail "WHY do I need the struggle to/in order to feel alive"?

[xo-kizzy-xo.livejournal.com]

There are some people who abhor stasis, my old manager I mentioned upthread being one of them (heh, no wonder why a lot of retail and food service types are adrenaline junkies of a sort).

There are some people who thrive on manic energy, whether it's imposed upon them, already part of their brain chemistry, or a combination of both.

When they burn out, they burn hot, fast, and ugly.

[alycewilson.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a good, concrete way to address it.

[xo-kizzy-xo.livejournal.com]

:nodding:

I'd like to think of other interpretations, too, other than the obvious like this!

[dmousey.livejournal.com]

It feels as if the whole of my life has been distilled to this one lyric...

[kathrynrose.livejournal.com]

Which either makes it a lot easier or a lot harder to write.

[harmony83.livejournal.com]

For me, when I saw the topic the first thing that came to my mind was battling depression and how I know I have to keep on fighting it no matter how hard the struggle.

stimulus : response (topic) = you

[tijuanagringo.livejournal.com]

I read your text and am glad you answered the topic call with your first thing that came to mind i.e. battling depression. I also bounced in with the first thing that came to mind which was a gut twist of some of my own personal pain embroidered with song lyrics from my ancient past and . . .

this recent translation/reincarnation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2shcYH3yL_k



and then a step earlier in the music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-buP_U0cEos

Re: stimulus : response (topic) = you

[harmony83.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[lordrexfear.livejournal.com]

My headache will not be in writing. Once it hits it'll hit hard.

It'll finding time to read and comment and read and remember. Spreadsheets aren't my thing.

I feel like the struggle is real. I don't need the struggle to feel alive. I need the struggle to end so I can stop feel like I'm dying.

Anyways... I still wanna read some week zeros even though it "no longer matters". But I also want to jump into this first real topic. I also want to care about the fact that I realize I don't care that I care.

BTW, I'll probably "cheat" and use Beach Slang as my jumping off point since Gary went and explained it in the Work Room. Cause... we can do that.

That's the tip Newbies and veterans. Don't take anything literally... use it as a JUMP OFF point to go in a direction that feels right to you.

[unmowngrass.livejournal.com]

" I need the struggle to end so I can stop feel[ing] like I'm dying."

That is an INCREDIBLE take on the topic. Twisted, but not so much that it obscures the prompt completely. Just enough :)

[lordrexfear.livejournal.com]

There are no rules for how much you obscure the prompt.

As Gary in the work room provided the reference one can twist it to be about the song... and therefore about the band and then therefore make it about Philadelphia then twist it to something built in Philadelphia, then twist it to something made in Philadelphia went on to be part of.

You can twist is so much that in the end you're writing about the TV show Benson. (if you want the math I'll provide it).

[kathrynrose.livejournal.com]

You absolutely can do that, but people are voting, and it's been frequently mentioned in the Green Room that some people don't vote for entries if they can't see the connection between the entry and the prompt.

[kehlen-crow.livejournal.com]

I don't like my first association with this topic.

I used to use deadline energy to spur myself on up until I overdid it and started to have anxiety attack when too many deadlines converged at once. That is not pretty, I have then to pause everything for the rest of the day, because I'm too jittery to concentrate.

I'd prefer to turn this topic into something more lighthearted.

[lilmissmagic71.livejournal.com]

So, that's a first I think. I decided to write a few notes on the topic, free associate it and whatnot... and accidentally wrote my whole entry and posted it. SO weird. Mostly weird because it is a total departure from my mostly semi-autobiographical style... It's more of a character study.

I'm not sure how I got where I was going.

[alycewilson.livejournal.com]

I would point out for newbies, though, that many people vote in part on how well you address the topic. So while you don't have to, say, quote the topic in your piece, it should still be obvious what the connection may be.

[kehlen-crow.livejournal.com]

Yes, the connection being ~very not obvious could tip the voting against themwriter, but starting thee entry with "I am going to write about..." is also awkward and irritating.

Subtlety is best.

[xo-kizzy-xo.livejournal.com]

+1

[kschlotwrites.livejournal.com]

When I read the topic, an idea came to me, and today I started doing some "writing" in my head. The problem is, the way it's forming is as journal entry. I worry that would be kind of like cheating or a cop out. I also worry because I love writing dialogue. Yeah, I can write some in a journal entry, but will I write too much? Will dialogue just end up hurting the writing?

Sorry. I think I'm done with my writing freak out of the day.

[xo-kizzy-xo.livejournal.com]

Why do you think it'd be cheating or a cop-out?

My own philosophy is, if it moves you to write, then write :)

I sometimes get caught up in dialogue too. I think everybody does because it's natural and flows easily. I always try to remember, though, that it's one thing if I'm writing, say, a scene from an imaginary play/movie (where the dialogue IS the thing). It's another thing if you're writing prose where, I think, it needs to be balanced.

I apologize in advance if I'm freaking you out more. I don't mean to. Right now I'm buzzing on my umpteenth cup of coffee, LOL.

[kschlotwrites.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure why I think that way. Maybe because, at least in my circumstance, it's the easy way.

[kathrynrose.livejournal.com]

Idol started as a journal writing competition. Many of us still write nonfic/essay/journal/so this happened/etc kinds of things for entries.

Write what you want to write. There's very little in the way of style or structure that hasn't been done at some point. :)

[dmousey.livejournal.com]

Struggle, and stress, and life! Oh my! Too, too many things in my life with this topic. Where to go...

[sarcasmoqueen.livejournal.com]

My first thought when I saw the topic was - "oh, crap, there are going to be some really depressing entries this week." That's not a bad thing, some people are trues artists at that kind of genre, but I am not. Then I saw Gary's comment that it was a song lyric. By that point, other ideas were starting to form, so I have chosen, especially after reading some people's comments about the song, NOT to listen to it. I have a nugget as a starting point, so I'm going to see where it goes. For now, it appears that it will be something more in my wheelhouse.

Newbie Here

[fabrisse.livejournal.com]

Brand new to doing this and I have several ideas. Deciding which to flesh out...

I could go non-fiction and write a post-election journal entry. That's my election, just for the record, though the national election may come up, too.

I could go original fiction, but the setting would be with a working class WWI officer and/or his family.

I could go fanfic, because, for the first time ever, a Harry Potter story has begun scratching at the back of my brain.

I could talk about my own experiences with depression which would get into religion and atheism.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

Re: Newbie Here

[kathrynrose.livejournal.com]

There's a pretty wide range of genres and styles submitted in Idol, so none of those will be "weird" or "wrong," if you're at all worried about that.

Also, while some people stick to a style or even a story line through the season, most of us switch things up from week to week, so I'd say go with what is "on top" and wanting to be written right now.

Re: Newbie Here

[unmowngrass.livejournal.com]

They all sound good, but in general I'd caution against fanfiction, just because you're relying on your audience to know all the backstory that you're writing about. I'd estimate Harry Potter is probably just about well known enough that you'd get away with it, but it's something to bear in mind.

That WWI story sounds great, though!

Re: Newbie Here

[ellison.livejournal.com]

Personally I'm intrigued by the WWI officer, but don't go by me! Go with whatever flows well when you start. You can try to write a few lines of each of your ideas and see what seems to lend itself to being written. :)

[ellakite.livejournal.com]

I have two ideas for the topic -- one based on my saga, one based on my real life.

Personally, I think the story from my saga is more interesting... but in order for it to have the impact I want, I'd have to include a *LOT* of detail... perhaps far too much for this stage of LJI.

So... I guess I'm writing about my life again...

[eeyore-grrl.livejournal.com]

This lyric makes me go political. I really didn't want to do two political poems in a row. We'll see.... :-/

[goldmourn.livejournal.com]

Speaking of needing the struggle to feel alive (maybe the creative struggle, the challenge, yes?) - Casey Neistat had a few words to say about this: https://youtu.be/l-yrXB95qDo (https://youtu.be/l-yrXB95qDo)

[my-name-is-jenn.livejournal.com]

I started and stopped a few entries/ideas before I finally landed on another journal-type entry. It wasn't exactly where I wanted to go when I started, but the idea struck me and I kind of couldn't stop.

[ryca.livejournal.com]

When I first heard the topic, I felt like I could relate to it, but only in a sideways kinda way, if that makes sense.

And then I spent the next several days getting further down the rabbit hole, obsessively reading posts and articles denouncing the election, the results ("rigged!"), long-shot hopes for the Electoral College, to-do lists and "concrete action plans"...

And then today I saw an article on Facebook about premature babies in Syria, in a bombed out hospital.

I lost it. Fortunately I was on my break, so there were no students to see my wandering and sobbing and keening and sniffling in my classroom.

I feel so overwhelmed. There is so much to do in this world and at that point I lost all ability to focus and triage. I have a good support system, thankfully, but I had to delete the facebook app from my phone and just back away for a while.

So right now I need anything but the struggle, and I feel a sense of guilt because of that, but I know that this break is ok - important, even, if I want to keep fighting, and doing whatever the hell I can to help.

I don't know how this relates to writing my prompt. I don't want to write in the first person, or about politics. God, anything but. I have no idea what I'm going to write, though.

[rswndrlst.livejournal.com]

well i'm having a minor freak out,

I feel like I connected too strongly to this prompt and have written pages and pages but nothing seems to be quite right. I don't even know what's good writing anymore. I've been flailing and head desking and I'm just going to go watch the dancing w/ the stars finale with my grandmother.

Procrastination, the struggle is real.

[bewize.livejournal.com]

I hardly ever write fiction for this competition, though I have. For me, the challenge to myself on top of the challenge is to write the "truth" of myself into words. For many entries, it comes out feeling like a public form of therapy. It's worked well; tis' been a disaster.

My entry is up, for better of worse. :)