Michael’s Comments (group member since Jan 29, 2018)

Michael’s comments from the Navigating Indieworld Discussing All Things Indie group.

I clapped, now to share!

So after a year of being on hiatus, writing randomly, starting but not finishing my bigger projects, I finally accomplished something. I finished my first story to be included in my sequel of short stories since I've moved to Texas!!! So happy.
I now have 7 stories ready for my sequel and need the final third for my first novella

Anna Faversham wrote: "I have maps for my villages and surrounding countryside. I also have 'maps' of the inside of houses/cottages. I sometimes have to consult them and let my fingers do some walking around."

See this is something i would love to do in creating my own world, keeping streets in line with each other and what not. but I've the same problem as Amy. I'm terrible at planning, and rely on memory to get things done. This doesn't really work too much since things are constantly evolving and I don't want to set anything in stone (publishing) only to contradict later on in my stories.

This is actually all something I remember reading in Stephen King's On writing. Really great advice.

How do you all, as writers find ways to direct what's happening in your scene though, and translate it onto the page? Do you all act it out, draw/storyboard, etc.?

That sounds really good actually. Beast the whole spreading yourself thin kinda thing.

I think I'm sort of guilty of the fluff as you describe it. Not because I want to make it so many words or pages long, but because since I mostly specialize in short stories, i focus in on the details to give it the atmosphere.
Granted it's seen a lot more in my early stories (in my book you can tell which are older just by the amount of fluff I'd say), but I always took it just a style.
the thing that's dangerous about that is when you lose the balance of style over substance. It's something that gets away from me easily, and not something i thought about until your comment, so it's nice to think back on. Thank you for the reply :)

I think the site works really well. I like the banner, ti all seems to work pretty nicely.

what are you thinking of doing to help keep the consistency going? just curious because i have this issue as well. So much so i turned hermit for a full year and then some.

Been asking this one around because I've been watching a lot of interviews between directors and all those behind the scenes workers. Just the craft about movie making. So I'm curious,

what everyone's process is for writing their scenes. What do you all do to help write what's going to transpire, be it dialogue, action, setting the tone, etc.

How do you imagine the rooms, the setups, angles that you're portraying your characters and the like? And how do you keep track of what's part of that original vision and get it all on paper.

Crap this reminds me I need to backup all my updated work. Welp I know what I'm doing tonight.

Julia wrote: "Michael wrote: "I always saw romance books as a feel-good kind of read, which was always why it was more popular. Plus the smut, but that was always my outlook on it.
Tried to give it a shot, and ..."

Exactly. Even building believable relationships that fall into romance with each other is very hard. Much respect to those that can pull it off

Erica wrote: "Congrats on the book progress, Michael!"

thank you!

Some good news from me, is I finally broke through my block last night. It was only three pages worth but regardless, I stayed up until 2 a.m writing with a bead of a story coming through.

Also got some new books from my family in Minnesota, and I am such a happy camper.

So yeah, yay! h

Thank you, wish you the best as well!

It can be Judy. A great kind of hard work, but it really is a sudden change from single life and responsibilities to a whole new set of things to do and take care of.

Oh definitely. I just became a stepdad and holy crap do I feel like there's so much to do. I'm running around doing this doing that, then remember there needs to be writing and editing.
Slowly falling into a schedule but that thinness is still there.

I really hope not, but at the same time, am not surprised. It always seemed like something that could get too much for people. Especially with the large amount of requests they'd get.

this is really cool. especially with the slight block I've come across as of late. thanks for this!

I always saw romance books as a feel-good kind of read, which was always why it was more popular. Plus the smut, but that was always my outlook on it.
Tried to give it a shot, and holy crap there is more to romance than mushy gushy sex sex sex. Gotta give props to those that can successfully get theirs written.

I used to bounce ideas off this grandma of sorts (she adopted me as her little whippersnapper throughout the years). She was a huge fan of horror and would seriously work hard to get my ideas polished out.
Then I moved, so I'm left with finding someone else.