My friend and I will be participating in the Day of Blogs event on Saturday, July 26, and I thought I would extend an invitation to members of this group to join the discussion. This year we will be discussing various subgenres of Fantasy and Science Fiction. It will mostly be done as a sort of introduction and overview, covering everything from books to movies to art, as the event draws a widely diverse group of followers. But, we would love for anyone with an opinion or recommendations to drop by and add your thoughts and comments to the topics as we go. Comments on the blog are being handled via Disqus and the feed will be coming through FriendFeed as well, so you can all follow along here if you like. :-D - Kirasha
“I just released my first novel - Prince of the Elves - through BookSurge. I know, I know. A parent always thinks their's is the best. But really, it is a great story.”
I plot, jot ideas and notes, write snippets, and write chapters mostly in a Google Sites wiki. But I often post stuff to Evernote via my phone, or jot stuff in a Moleskine. I used to do the ideas and plotting in Google Notebooks and a Moleskine and write in Google Docs. Presently, I'll probably keep my first draft in the wiki, then eventually move to Google Docs. - Bill Bittner
I'm an old school girl - I go between pen and ink to MS Word and back. If I'm working on something with my writing partner, from pen and ink to our private message board with back-ups on my hard drive. Research notes and clippings from the web are put into Evernote for ease of transfer between work and home. But, I guess I find a blank page in a notebook less daunting than a blank computer screen. Plus, breaking out a laptop on the subway is a good way to get it stolen. heh. - Kirasha
Most of the work happens in my brain, usually while listening to music. I scribble here and there, and then "draft" by writing it down, pretty much in rough draft form. I have some cursory outline stuff, but not much. When it comes to rewriting and organizing, I use Scrivener. It's the best program for me, and sort of forces me to be organized and think strategically. It's Mac only, which suits me fine. :) - Natania
like everyone (it seems), I use evernote to gather ideas, dramatica to form and shape the idea, and pages to write. - Eric Dorsett
I'm with Kirasha lately. Notebook to word. Rinse. Repeat. - Jeremy James
For quick ideas, I send emails to myself, 'save to draft' is a great function. - sergiooo
Pen and paper, or a standard word processor. Sometimes even just a text editor. It's easier to think with a pen in my hand. - Elizabeth
Does anyone else come up with great ideas that you start jotting down notes for, and then a movie comes out that uses the same basic premise? It's happened to me a couple of times. Kinda kills the will to develop it. Luckily there's no shortage of 'big ideas.' - sergiooo
That used to bug me when I started writing. But over the years I've looked around and noticed a lot of duplication with a lot of movies, books, and genres. I've accepted the fact that anything I write will unlikely be as original as I intend or hope it to be. So I just focus on making the work as good as possible and the characters memorable and endearing. - Bill Bittner
Used to bug me, but no longer. Because a movie is not so good at presenting the psychological journey. So even if a movie has the exact same premise as an idea I get, the novel / short story could still be worthwhile if it presents the psychological ramifications of the protagonist effectively. - Jeremy James
