Re: Reading, A Lost Art -- The DeVry School of Evil Geniuses Alumni Assoc.

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Subject: Re: Reading, A Lost Art

Author:
TechnoAtheist

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Date Posted: 21:47:21 06/15/01 Fri
In reply to: The All-Powerful Zaxor 's message, "Re: Reading, A Lost Art" on 12:03:41 06/14/01 Thu

>Apparently, I haven't checked this forum in too long,
>because there is this *huge* thread all about the pros
>and cons of web serials and how they relate to past
>and future writing mediums. So many good posts that I
>couldn't decide where to reply, so I just went off the
>main post.

Ooh, mind the rocks near the bottom.

[sadly it got the one about BBMcC which is not only a good read, but soon to be available at a Golden Arches near you]

>Anyway, my point was that I don't even remember how I
>got to The Files of Hydrogen Guy to begin with. I'm
>pretty sure I searched for something (probably
>physics-related, there's a few physics majors here at
>work) and just happened across it. From there I got to
>McCain and Ford, and then Grayhound. I happen to enjoy
>reading serials like this, although I don't subscribe
>to any magazines or anything.

Thank you.

>
>What you guys do always amazes me when I stop to think
>about "behind the serials". I've thought about trying
>to come up with something myself, but I can't ever get
>past the character design, let alone fleshing out the
>surroundings or anything. So my hat is off to three
>competent web authors, and I hope you continue to
>write.

If I may be so bold as to speak for JIM, I'd say, "There's not enough argon in this." No, wait, that's not quite right.

I'd say, just go ahead and start writing. JIM started HG long before he thought about sharing it with the rest of us. He wrote the first story to keep his mind amused and probably had no idea that anyone else might like it. In many respects, I really respect him taking the first big step.

If I can talk about myself, I had a couple of unrelated ideas loitering in the back of my head for years. When I started out, I had two characters who didn't even have names. A year ago I was talking with someone at work when we got on the idea of a superhero naming himself after Greyhound just because we thought it'd be funny having him stand around waiting for the next bus.

For the longest time I couldn't even come up with a descent villain, then again on a totally unrelated angle, I had to come up with ten really odd questions. One of them was talking about a recent graduate of DeVry School of Evil Geniuses looking for henchmen. The rest of Bob's personality comes out of mine.

Once I had those three, I then picked a city pretty much at random and had my setting. (I didn't want to use San Fransisco, because too many people knew what it looked like. So I picked somewhere that no one really knows, including myself.)

The odd thing is that the major plot lines didn't come to me until after I had written the first chapter. I literally had no idea where the story was headed. Then it just kinda clicked.

Try it. Write a few bits. Give yourself free reign. Even just write a scene or two. Leave it for a day and see if it is worth anything later. With any luck your muse will strike. (Hopefully with a lighter mallet than mine did)

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Replies:

Subject	Author	Date
Re: Reading, A Lost Art	JIM	19:50:35 06/17/01 Sun