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Whitman

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Author of 'How to write a story that doesn't suck' (and a bunch of stories that may or may not suck).

My Movellas (7)

My Mumbles (16)

  • Brick By Boring Brick - Chapter Four

    WhitmanSo, what happened to chapter three? Well, as I mentioned below, I lost a bit of momentum and Freak House kind of ground to a halt. Part of the problem is how hard the regression scenes are to write - I know how to write them, just not what the actual words will be. I have to describe Dr Holmwood's office in some detail - far more than I have to date - which is proving to be a block. So I wrote the next round of the Jenga game instead. I want to portray Jamie more sympathetically in this movella (it is all about him, after all), which I think I have achieved in this chapter. I also want to show how his relationship with the other freaks (especially Zac and Sophie) got to where it is during First Love. For those who haven't figured this out, by the way, the game is a method to explore character - it could be any task that all of the freaks have to complete. Their characters can be shown in how they play the game - Zac full of swagger, Maz very aggressive, Sophie cool and collected, Jamie like a nervous wreck. Which leaves Cass. How does she play the game? Let me know what you think.
    WhitmanKiller busy! Work, kids, projects with deadlines, you know the drill.
    deltabravoThats a good news. You've got a life.
    SlenderMan_Whitman! You've forgotten about movellas haha!
    Can't wait for you to write something new!
    Could you check this out?
    movellas.com/en/book/read/20120523161425..
    geoffrey stuartHI I am writing a gay story called, “The promise,” I would appreciate if next time your around you could look at it thank you.

  • Brick By Boring Brick - Interim Post

    WhitmanIt's been a while, I know. Since the second chapter, I've dickered around with Super Sonnet Love and How to Write. I won the Picture Prompt contest and I got my first hate mail. It's been eventful. But I haven't been able to put many hours in at Freak House. As frustrating as this might be to anyone reading it, I can assure you that I have been even more frustrated myself... and now my youngest has just woken up and I've got to get SJW2605 from school. No rest for the writer, eh? I'll post more this evening...
    Rob MarvinGood to see you back, Whitman! How can anyone hate you, anyway. No sense of humour at all....
    WhitmanThanks, Rob. The dude called me an "arrogant little shitbag". My son was so incensed, he complained. (Of course, he had been reading 'How to Write...', so I can see why he might think that.)
    Rob MarvinHaha, he couldn't even think of his own original word to call you...

  • Brick By Boring Brick - Chapter Two

    WhitmanMan, this is proving a lot tougher than First Love. That one practically wrote itself by comparison. After writing the first chapter, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with the regression sessions, but I've worn out a fair few thinking caps coming up with the other half of the story. I want this to serve as a prologue to the novel I will be writing, to establish history between the characters that should add heft to their behaviour and interactions (see chapter three of 'How to write a story that doesn't suck...' for more on this). Hopefully, both arcs will offer insights into the freaks' backgrounds and relationships. Returning readers will also notice a new freak at the table, Cass, and no Tom. This is meant to reflect the transitory nature of the placements at Freak House. Kids come and go, as the staff complete their assessments and decide what needs doing with them. Cass will have left by the time the novel starts, leaving a bed for Tom to fill. Thanks to everyone who is still following the freaks and feel free to ask questions in any comments you leave.
    WhitmanMore Freak House will be coming in the next few weeks. Happy to look at your poem, although bear in mind that I'm more of a prose man...
    AutumnFyreWhat do you mean?
    WhitmanJust got more experience writing stories than poems.
    BlueBooksMe too! I can't write poems...

  • Regression - Chapter One

    WhitmanIt's taken slightly longer than anticipated, but the second Freak House movella is underway. Jamie's arc consists of regression therapy he is undergoing with Dr. Holmwood, a technique that clinical psychologists and hypnotists use to help patients access painful or traumatic memories. It has taken me days to decide whether or not to frame the memory sequence within a session, or simply to go all-out first person present tense, like a flashback. With a frame for the memories you lose immediacy, but gain clarity of presentation, which is what I have opted for in this draft. There are other reasons for this decision, which will become plain in future chapters, but your feedback on whether or not this is the best approach would be greatly appreciated.
    Erling SiegfriedI am quite glad you opted for the session-framed memory sequence. So much better than a standard first-person view.

    -Erling

  • First Love - What's in a name?

    WhitmanI've made a few changes to my first movella - returning readers can see where in the final chapter. Most changes are based on the feedback many of you have given me, which I am very grateful for. One change, however, is not based on feedback: name changes for Mary and Dan. I've done this for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I know a Mary and a Daniel and I don't want them to think I've based these characters on them, especially as they share some superficial traits. Secondly, I try to name my characters very carefully. For instance, each of the names I've used is based on statistical data on popular names from the decade in which they were all born (a bit obsessive, I know) and I try to pick names that relate to the character. Sophie, for instance, means 'wisdom' and she is by far the most insightful of the freaks. Zac is short for Isaac, which means 'he smiles'. The meaning behind Tom's name is a secret, but it cuts to the core of his character. The changes to Mary and Dan's names connect better with their characters. Jamie is a variant of James, which is derived from Jacob, meaning 'supplanter' - which is exactly what a mimic does! I chose Jamie as it feels less masculine than James and less cheeky chappy than Jimmy. Finally, Maz is closer to the nickname of the real life Godhand (Masutatsu Oyama, shortened to Mas). That's right! There is a real life Godhand - check him out on wikipedia. Any comments on the changes are more than welcome and thanks once again for the support!
    Erling SiegfriedWow. That guy is impressive O.o.
    Can't wait for Tom to develop ;).
    About the obssession about detail, I do that as well : I am meant to hand in a piece of courseowkr on Databases. In it I was supposed to declare a way to store a number for account balance. I converted all the currency in the world into Somali shilling and based the size of the array on the number of digits in the result xD. Extreme.
    Having said that, attention to detail is what distinguishes the good from the brilliant, so I'm sure it's a good thing you're particular about how you write ;).

    -Erling
    Rob MarvinSecond Erling.

My favourites (10)

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