Hello Writer's Chronicle Forum!

Hi All,

J.P. here. I am new to this forum. Took a quick look around and I like what I see.

Like many of you, I am an aspiring fiction writer. I am currently stationed in Baghdad, Iraq with the U. S. Navy (what's the Navy doing in Baghdad? Good question...) and I recently made the decision to start writing again on a regular basis. I have a BA in English (Creative Writing Major/Playwrighting Minor) and wrote when I was younger--but I have been rather unproductive for the last few years. I am also unpublished.

I am embarking on a new project for 2010 and this forum looks like a great place to share ideas and contribute. I look forward to meeting and getting to know some of you better.

Cheers!

Hey, J.P.! Glad you could join us. I'm Novel, one of the mods here. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions or comments.

Baghdad, huh? I have a few friends with family there now. Be safe.

ONce again, glad you can join us, and glad you're kicking off 2010 with writing goals in mind. Best way to start it, I say. Welcome!

Thanks Novel. I appreciate the warm welcome!

Welcome to the forum Jon, its great to have you!

I'm emily also a mod on this forum, if you have any questions or queries about anything feel free to pm me or the other mods (like novel).

I know myself that i've got great plans for 2010 (finally start/finish a novel and stop procrastinating) so you're not alone

If you feel comfortable with it, some people like to tell us a little about what they are working on or maybe the genre that they like to read/write in?

Thanks Emily.

I write mainstream fiction mostly, with a slight literary bent and a dash of magical realism thrown in to keep things interesting. I would not consider myself a prolific writer (though I aim to change that ), so frankly I am still working to refine my "style."

It's been a long time since I wrote on a consistent basis so I am now in the process of knocking the rust off. I am working on several short stories, but the big news is that I have commenced a novel. I am about half way through a treatment and so hope to have a first draft completed sometime late this year.

I really enjoy authors like Flannery O'Connor, Michael Ondaatje, Kerouac, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Henry James, Crane, Joyce, Bukowski, and Salinger, so my interests fall all over the map. I haven't read as many recent authors, but since I am interested in writing for the market, my plans include updating my reading list to include those folks. Recommendations are welcome!

Well there are a number of literary books i'd recommend (i like magic realism myself) - Isabelle Allende is excellent.
Marcus Zusak's The book thief is one of my favourite books ever, although its been marketed as a kids book in some markets (and adult in others), i highly recommended it.
i also liked the gargoyle by david anderson (which was warmly recieved in uk/ireland but not in US for some reason).
i've just finished something wicked this way comes by Ray Bradbury, which i'd recommend purely because of his unusual writing style!

I've a load more on my list but on the WC blog, i did a post on Magic realism and have a list of authors and books in that genre. Heres the link: Magic Realism

Hope it helps

and fair deuce tackling Joyce, i 'tried' but never 'got' him.

Thanks for the link. I'll check it out. And the reading recommendations too.

As for Joyce, I prefer his earlier stuff. Some of his short stories and his novel "Portrait of an Artist As a Young Man" are very accessible. And I think he is one of the kings of verb choice, so I refer back to him from time to time.

Of course, my Irish heritage probably has something to do with it too!

Jon Paul wrote:

Of course, my Irish heritage probably has something to do with it too!

Well being Irish hasn't helped me at all with him

I think i need to sit down and reread Portrait because when i was 'trying' to read it before it was part of an english literature course and the lecturer wasn't a big fan himself, which can influence students (even if he doesn't mean to).

I pass him almost everyday though (his statue is 'lovingly called "pr**k with a stick")

J.P., hello and welcome! Tell us more about the genres you write and your Work in Progress (wip).

Emily, what I really love about Joyce is his prose. His plotting is very subtle, and I do find myself when reading him sometimes going back and reviewing--so I concede that this could be a weakness. But his images and scene-setting are really amazing IMHO, such as:

"It was the last tram. The lank brown horses knew it and shook their bells to the clear night in admonition. The conductor talked with the driver, both nodding often in the green light of the lamp. On the empty seats of the tram were scattered a few coloured tickets. No sound of footsteps came up or down the road. No sound broke the peace of the night save when the lank brown horses rubbed their noses together and shook their bells.

They seemed to listen, he on the upper step and she on the lower. She came up to his step many times and went down to hers again between their phrases and once or twice stood close beside him for some moments on the upper step, forgetting to go down, and then went down. His heart danced upon her movements like a cork upon a tide. He heard what her eyes said to him from beneath their cowl and knew that in some dim past, whether in life or revery, he had heard their tale before. He saw her urge her vanities, her fine dress and sash and long black stockings, and knew that he had yielded to them a thousand times. Yet a voice within him spoke above the noise of his dancing heart, asking him would he take her gift to which he had only to stretch out his hand. And he remembered the day when he and Eileen had stood looking into the hotel grounds, watching the waiters running up a trail of bunting on the flagstaff and the fox terrier scampering to and fro on the sunny lawn, and how, all of a sudden, she had broken out into a peal of laughter and had run down the sloping curve of the path. Now, as then, he stood listlessly in his place, seemingly a tranquil watcher of the scene before him.

—She too wants me to catch hold of her, he thought. That's why she came with me to the tram. I could easily catch hold of her when she comes up to my step: nobody is looking. I could hold her and kiss her. But he did neither: and, when he was sitting alone in the deserted tram he tore his ticket into shreds and stared gloomily at the corrugated footboard." (from Portrait)

That's one of my fav bits, btw. Though I enjoy reading him, I probably respond to him more strongly as a writer than as a reader.

Thanks Renu. As for genres, I am really a mainstream guy, primarily. I covered it in a little more detail in a post above.

As for WIP, I'm afraid mum's the word for now. I have a bad habit of running off at the mouth about how I'm going to write such and such, then not following through. My short ignominious writing career is littered with hundreds of good ideas--but no pages to match. In fact, it's happened so often it feels a bit like a jinx.

So, I'd prefer to wait until I have some pages in the can before I go talking about how it will be. Once I've made some progress, I'll disclose all. Cross my heart.

BTW, thanks guys for the warm welcome!

Welcome, Jon Paul! I pop in here from time to time, though not as often as I'd like. This is a great place to share ideas.

Thanks M M. Or should I call you Sesquipedalian, or S?

MM is fine (and easier to type than Sesquipedalian), though I'll also answer to Mary.

OK.

A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mary.

It's a pleasure to meet you as well, JP.

Welcome to the board! Be safe over where you are and welcome once more!

Thanks Gobble! I appreciate it.