Poll of the Day > Why is it so hard to be creative any tips?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I am trying to write a story about a transgendered female who is Jewish and ridiculed in a small town. Her parents are dead and she overdosed on her medication while playing a game and is sucked into the crt tv where she must engage in the clash between the analog and digital realms. There she sides with analog creatures and enters grids (invasion points) to battle off digital invaders to save the analog realm.

I have all these ideas for like different analog technologies being towns and creatures. But I recognize it is kind of totally a rip off of Digimon.

I plan to make it a novella series with multiple protagonists of diverse backgrounds who come together in the end to fight in a grandiose last stand.

I also want to write a novel about a black female that is kinda like blade runner meets ghost in the shell with like hybrid humans and genetic engineering.

I really suck at composing my thoughts though. I bought a dictionary thesaurus and vocabulary builder pack off Amazon for like 13$ but I am just a lazy leech.

could I be sued for being derivative of others ideas?

if you're buying a dictionary thesauraus and vocab builder at this stage...

either take creative writing classes, quit, or try to put a certain amount of hours in a week as a hobby to get better.

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How many words have you written? The general advise is to read more of the genre you're trying to write. You'll develop your own style as you write more and the real work (supposedly) doesn't start until after you've finished your first draft. The revision process is where the polishing happens; you'll flesh out the details more and fill any plot holes you missed on the first run through.

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I've never understood the point of writing from perspectives one doesn't fully understand/relate to. Other people don't seem to care, but I find it detracts from writing.

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the only trick to writing is to write

and write some more

then write some more

and maybe some more

then finally write some more

ReturnOfFa posted...

I've never understood the point of writing from perspectives one doesn't fully understand/relate to. Other people don't seem to care, but I find it detracts from writing.

I wanted to be a woman at one point I just wasnt brave enough to come out. I figure anyone can relate to an oppressed minority somewhat if they take a time they got shit on and multiply it exponentially and realize it is a reoccurring thing for minorities, women and the lgbtq.

I find there are plenty of cishet white male main characters and I lack the talent or writing chops to differentiate myself from the market. Ergo I selfishly resort to parlor tricks and exploitation of curiosity to attempt to entertain. I am just writing as a hobby.

Sycophant posted...

But I recognize it is kind of totally a rip off of Digimon.

I was going to say Reboot

If it helps, most stories are unoriginal derivatives of other stories, and often a straight up adaption of the Hero's Journey monomyth:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero%27s_journey

As long as it's not word for word, shot for shot, you could write some utter derivative trite and still not be sued. Of course someone could claim they came up with a similar idea and sue, but they would still have to meet a burden of proof acceptable to the court.

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Cool I just want to entertain people and I am fascinated by Jewish culture. I also like African American culture. I just want to entertain people. If I make my novel free online I definitely can not be sued by Digimon people for using digital realms and analogue realms (a rip off of the digital world I guess) right?

Like Death Note for instance. Some people are just blessed with great ideas.

To the person who asked how much I wrote. Not much, https://tomalevine.blogspot.com/2021/03/analog-creatures.html?m=1

ReturnOfFa posted...

if you're buying a dictionary thesauraus and vocab builder at this stage...

either take creative writing classes, quit, or try to put a certain amount of hours in a week as a hobby to get better.

Yeah I am 28, it is probably way to late for me especially since I have an average IQ but I hopefully can improve my vocabulary a little.

Sycophant posted...

Like Death Note for instance. Some people are just blessed with great ideas.

To the person who asked how much I wrote. Not much, https://tomalevine.blogspot.com/2021/03/analog-creatures.html?m=1

Yeah I am 28, it is probably way to late for me especially since I have an average IQ but I hopefully can improve my vocabulary a little.

I was kind of negative. But just set yourself to do a bit every day. As a musician that isn't a working musician - you can start at any time. It is tough, but just come up with a plan involving consistency.

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writing isn't that much different from computer science
if you don't live and learn you have nothing to write about

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RoboXgp89 posted...

writing isn't that much different from computer science
if you don't live and learn you have nothing to write about

Orwell vs. Dan Brown lol

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Your original story sounds more like Narnia than Digimon.

Don't worry about being derivative. Everything is derivative. Lotr is derivative of the Catholicism.

Sonic the Hedgehog is derivative of Super Mario

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well if I do manage to finish any of my derivative works. How will I be able to publish them to get them read by people for free? Do I just email Apple or Amazon and say I want to publish free? Obviously I cant go to a major paperback publisher and expect to give works for free.

I really want to read Karl Marx which might deviate me off my path but I like communism from what I heard about it.

The greatest lies are the ephemeral ones instilled in ourselves from external stimuli.

Alexis Bunker is about to learn this. As a child going through hormone treatment by supportive parents she lived a solitary life but a blissful one. Being homeschooled after ridicule from the peers of her small town She mainly played video games to escape the cruel nature of reality. To much her distress her bourgeoise paradise came to a standstill when her parents car slide into a fatal crash on their way home due to the ice on the road. Alexiss family largely disdained her since her transition. Her fathers proud reform Jewish dad whom lost his wife to cancer was the only one to auction for custody.

Alexis loved her grandfather who would instill her with a love for Judaic values. She was taught that she had a purpose to bring joy and happiness to all jews and goyim alike. Her grandfather would play video games with her and make her feel like she mattered in the world Unfortunately much akin to her former world shattering experience her grandpa developed pneumonia. The doctors tried to treat his disease but Ralph Stein ultimately passed away at the age on 87.

Living off life insurance money she never passed the test to qualify for a degree or GED. She tried to get odd jobs here and there but was ridiculed and called a freak. She felt either ignored or scorned. As her financial world came crumbling down she couldnt afford her treatment and to keep her video games.
Faced with the terminal decision for her to give up her means of escape from a world destined to prove its cruelty to her and what kept her from feeling like a stranger in her own body she began to tear up. As the streams of saline came cascading down her cheeks she grabbed what remained of her medicine (two bottles) and engulfed the supply contrary to directions of one pill a day.
She decided to play a game As she played and played the world began to spin. What was once the seemingly harmless stream of clear liquid became emblazoned as her mouth spewed a dark red volcano of blood.
No visible person there to ask for help, but would they even assist her. She grasped her Star of David necklace contemplating if she even wanted a life let alone an afterlife. It would be okay if it all ended here.

That is not here story though, Analog Creatures is her story set in 1999 Pennsylvania.

is my current beginning

I am trying to get to the part about her being sucked into the tv and describing the realms. Should I flesh out her being bullied more to build more sympathy? Obviously most my readers wont be trans women or Jewish

I can relate. I am not creative, so I have the same problem.

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The key to good writing is applying lots of pressure. If you don't break 2-3 pencils an hour, you aren't writing hard enough.

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Sycophant posted...

is my current beginning

Reads a bit like an overworked movie pitch, or a dust jacket synopsis, or a Rod Serling intro (You have entered, The Twilight Zone) the criticism you would receive, show, don't tell, let this information come out organically through the story. Though what you do have gives me a David Wong vibe, similar in style to the opening of John Dies at the End.

The best advice: write, write, write, and then write some more; once you have written it all out, read it over, the rewrite it, then do it again, then let someone else read it. The first draft is meant to be a bloody mess, the raw emotion of what you want to express; it will be bloated and meandering and have plenty of extraneous stuff that will need to be cut out, and that's okay.

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