Beginning Fantasy Writing

[AlexK2009]

HI. I'm based in Edinburgh, Scotland, and help run my wife's Bed and Breakfast.

I'm 67 years old and had some success with poetry in the 1990s. In 2017 I enrolled on the Writers Bureau creative writing course. Now I have reached the section where I learn how to write fiction and am gravitating towards some kind of fantasy fiction, other than classic dragon/goblin/elf/swords and sorcery form and gravitating towards speculative fantasy fiction. I don't think I can handle Steampunk and am still finding my strengths and weaknesses as well as trying to regain the talent ( if any) I had for poetry, with aliking for trying sestinas at present. I have currently had most success with non-fiction (history)/

Away from the keyboard I read, play Capoeira and have recently started Tai Chi classes. Despite this I try to avoid plots involving fight scenes ( I was pretty lousy with swords when I played Aikido though I liked the staff). I also take photographs, when winter is over: I hate cold and snow. Having been a Scientist, Mathematician and Software developer I am slowly working out how to include these in my writing.

 

[pmmg]

Howdy Alex, welcome here.

 

[AlexK2009]

Thanks Dark Lord.

 

[pmmg]

Heheh....Darklord is a tag the site put on, If I had my way, I'd not be one Pmmg mostly here. Dragon, or Goldie on some other sites.

 

[AlexK2009]

I like dragons. When my son was seven he liked my stories about the adventures of a vegetarian dragon. Unfortunately I can no longer think up stories about that dragon.

 

[pmmg]

We grow. On to better stuff.

My biggest issue is that I am sooooo slow. It kills me, cause I have ideas and I cannot get them completed fast enough. Often I watch a movie or a tv show, or read something and then BAM!....there is my idea, only someone else did it first. I hate that.

 

[AlexK2009]

We grow. On to better stuff.

My biggest issue is that I am sooooo slow. It kills me, cause I have ideas and I cannot get them completed fast enough. Often I watch a movie or a tv show, or read something and then BAM!....there is my idea, only someone else did it first. I hate that.

I tend to get ideas when I cannot write them down. Some days I get none.

If someone else did your idea change your idea a bit.

 

[CupofJoe]

Hail and well met AlexK2009
Good to have you here.
Luddite and technophobe that I am, I have still found the mobile phone a great help. I can record a fragment of dialogue or an idea when they come to me. What the people in the supermarket think of me as I do this, I do not know.
Leap on in and enjoy!

 

[AlexK2009]

I try to rely on Memory as the older I get the less reliable it gets.

 

[skip.knox]

Alex, may I suggest a small physical notebook. I carried one with me for years; pocket-sized so I kept it with me constantly. And a mechanical pencil because pens can be temperamental. There's almost no situation where you cannot take a moment to write something down, unless you're an air traffic controller or some such. Even then, there are bathroom breaks (I've made use of that dodge more than once). For the person operating machinery, such as a long-haul trucker, there's the cell phone's ability to record voice. All you need is to catch enough of the thought to get it properly caged once you get home.

Mothers of young children are flat out of luck.