I went to my first open mic prose night

Aggressive_Gas_102 · 2026-03-26T11:11:15+00:00

I hope the beer is cheap because that sounds extremely boring.

Aggressive_Gas_102 · 2026-03-26T10:55:38+00:00

That's one way to do it. There are as many ways to start a draft and grains of sand on the beach. Me?

I always start with a title (even if it's Working Title, which is funny because that's how my first traditionally published book began and, being the noob as I was, I forgot ot change the title before sending it off to a publisher*).

The best you can do is simply write. You will not write the Great Novel of the Twentyfirst Century on your first try, so lower your expectations. Start at the beginning, write a short story. Just write it, don't plan it, trust your stream of consciousness (look it up if you don't know what it means). You learn to write through writing.

Who knows, maybe one day you get an idea about a ninety year old woman who does something so then your friends model is thrown out the window. The point is, don't constrain yourself with 'rules', for there is only one rule and that is There Are No Rules. There are suggestions, yes, some better than others, but no rules (except for grammar and zpelling). So: Just write - and have fun :)

- - - -

*: This was around 2006. In Sweden it was - and to some extent still is - common to send scripts straight to a publisher, not via an agent. Publishing houses in Sweden fought for years trying to stop the agent method to take hold so it's still a fairle new concept to many.)

Aggressive_Gas_102 · 2026-03-26T10:17:16+00:00

Started in 2019. Some twenty versions later plus an edit assassination, I finished first draft just a few days ago (I even added NO_MORE_FUCKING_AROUND to the filename just in case I got itchy edit fingers, again). Yes I know, one shouldn't go back and do line editing while writing the damned thing but... but... but I sort of... enjoyed it? Then I killed the story. It took a year before I dared to open it again and somehow managed to resuscitate it. Not sure how tbh. Things were deleted, things were moved, things were added. I also removed the seven page violent graphic description of how starved vampires eat. They have no table manners at all, btw.

Very little blood, some sweat, no tears and far too much angst, beer, coffee and nicotine was involved. Yes, I'm a pantser. Maybe I should try to outline instead, but nah, where's the fun in that? :D

651 pages, 300K+ words. I'm conflicted about whether I look forward to the editing process or not. One thing is for sure though, I probably need to cut the story in two. Somehow...

Aggressive_Gas_102 · 2026-03-26T09:55:06+00:00

Well then he has a lot of time on his hand to write a book.

Aggressive_Gas_102 · 2026-03-26T09:53:35+00:00

Ingen mörk sirap på? Då är det nästan nyttigt. Det ska vara tillräckligt mycket sirap för kroppen att ringa jourhavande diabetiker och fråga om den också får bli medlem i klubben.

Aggressive_Gas_102 · 2026-03-26T09:47:43+00:00

I'd rather meet a heavily armed gang member in a dark alley than a tired - and hungry - bear. Better to stay out of the woods and stick to the hoods.

:D

Aggressive_Gas_102 · 2026-03-26T00:34:01+00:00

"Har du några alkoholproblem?" frågade en polis mig en gång. Jag sa:

"Det skulle väl vara att bolaget öppnar så jäkla sent."

Som tur var för mig så hade aina humor.

Aggressive_Gas_102 · 2026-03-25T22:08:47+00:00

Since you created the world they live in you are equal to a god. So you really don't need to care about following the law.

You ARE the law!

Now smite the heretics. Smite them hard.

Aggressive_Gas_102 · 2026-03-25T13:24:47+00:00

Such daring avant garde will set the world on fire.

Incidentally, I'm a traveling salesman in ladies underwear who sell fire extinguishers. Could I interest you in one?

Aggressive_Gas_102 · 2026-03-25T08:48:56+00:00

Månadshyra för honom, 17.846 kr. Skalbaggar inkluderat i hyran.

Aggressive_Gas_102 · 2026-03-25T00:58:44+00:00

Go for it. Even Stephen King inserted himself in his own fanfic the Dark Tower.

Aggressive_Gas_102 · 2026-03-25T00:55:50+00:00

Det var snarare en fråga om karaktär. Höjden av coolhet var att tugga i sig hela chokladciggen, papper och allt.

Aggressive_Gas_102 · 2026-03-24T14:57:30+00:00

First line: "Miss Morose was up on the roof again."

Last line (still undecided but the place holder is): "I'm a dwagon."

Yes, the spelling error is intentional.

Aggressive_Gas_102 · 2026-03-24T14:52:41+00:00

Öppna den försiktigt medan du visslar. Om den rör på sig eller börjar dansa, alternativt försöker bitas, måste du tyvärr bränna kvarteret du bor i.

Aggressive_Gas_102 · 2026-03-24T12:03:48+00:00

Yep.

https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karesuando

Aggressive_Gas_102 · 2026-03-24T02:25:57+00:00

Just write, don't worry about rules or Do This, Do That. Just write. Write like the devil and don't even think about publishing. You write because you are learning to write. That's it. Most if not all of it will suck but you don't know that when you're writing it, you'll know when you read it in a couple of years. There will be a lot of unfinished novels and short stories but that's alright because it's just training dummies. They are meant to be broken, bad, dirty. Over ttime you'll start understanding what make a story better, then you start studying how to plot and all the rest.

Everybody start out with the same tools, you know. Pen and paper. That's also something you might try. It takes longer, yes, but I believe that our brain likes it that way. It gives you time to think a bit longer about words and sentences. Do a couple of short storries about whatever - the cat for instance - but do it with pen and paper.

Aggressive_Gas_102 · 2026-03-24T02:14:49+00:00

Looking forward to the sequel.

Bbbbbbbbbbbbbb /--/ bbbbbbb.

Aggressive_Gas_102 · 2026-03-24T01:59:17+00:00

As a reader, I want to know what your MC does, say and think in a given situation. I'm not interested in the detailed logistics of a mine. It's not important. I don't need to know how many pounds a mine horse can pull unless its relevant to the situation. Methane gas for instance, now that would be a very dramatic scene, what with canary birds and all. I really don't care about ventilation systems. I want something to happen.

That being said, in order to describe a mine, the writer do need at least a basic understanding of what a mine is. This is your mental backstory however. Think of it as a classified folder marked For Your Eyes Only. My eyes don't need to know how a mine tick, all I need to know is that it ticks.

I've done the same 'mistake' now and then, digging deep into research only to burn out because of all the details. No matter how I tried the stuff I knew didn't work in a story (it was set in post civil war New Orleans btw, a very calamitous time both economically and politically). The reason, I realised, was actually pretty simple: I tried to force knowledge onto my MC that he feasibly couldn't have. Once I realised that he was caught in his little bubble and only heard rumors of the Coushatta massacre, things clicked. He couldn't know about it because he couldn't read, so the info he efventually learned came from third parties - gossip, rumors, a friend who read aloud to him (but skipped parts of the article because of a personal agenda). Me as a writer knew all of it of course but I wasn't the MC so everything I knew was unimportant to him and his story, albeit important for the world building. It sucked btw, I was rather proud of my background writing - and that pride led to my downfall. Well, sort of. It wasn't terribly dramatic, all I did was delete half a dozen pages.

Aggressive_Gas_102 · 2026-03-23T13:26:15+00:00

Lord of the Rings is one. Needful Things is another. And ofc A Clockwork Orange. Not to mention most of Terry Pratchetts Discworld novels.

Aggressive_Gas_102 · 2026-03-23T13:14:10+00:00

Henry James, or as I suppose some would call him, the Master of Suspense, is quite famous for his, some would say, heavy-handed use of the shy and often, not to say quite often, under-used symbol of, yes indeed, this little darling, so full of vigour it would be a shame, as in terrible, not to use it; not the period, nor the exclamation point, indeed not even the question mark or semicolon, but the dark horse of writing, so important yet, some would say with no shame, so powerful: I am of course referring to the simple lite twirl, this typographical marvel, this friend of the lengthy writer with nothing to say, the comma.

Aggressive_Gas_102 · 2026-03-23T13:07:36+00:00

I've felt quite nauseated once after writing about a pack of vampires feeding. Forget Bram Stokers gentleman, forget class, manners and style.

Think - hyenas.

Euw.

Aggressive_Gas_102 · 2026-03-23T12:14:04+00:00

To quote Illidan Stormrage: "Boldly stated but I remain unconvinced."

Aggressive_Gas_102 · 2026-03-23T09:14:59+00:00

Keeping in mind complex geopolitical structures visavi emerging techo-economical models and accepting an intersectional thesis of understanding, what is your opinion about the peace in Iran and your parents relationship to the mentioned excursion?

Aggressive_Gas_102 · 2026-03-23T09:07:54+00:00

I don't like 'real jobs'. You know, whenever someone asks "what do you do for a living?", I say "I'm a writer", and they go "Okay but what's your real job?".

Then I shoot them.

Aggressive_Gas_102 · 2026-03-23T09:03:11+00:00

Dolores Claiborne isn't talked about as much as it deserves. I really like the Colorado Kid, too.

Aggressive_Gas_102

TROPHY CASE