"Douglas Noël Adams (11 March 1952 – 11 May 2001) was an English author, comic radio dramatist, and musician. He is best known as the author of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series.  "
                                                                                                                   -Wikipedia.org

"I love deadlines.  I love the wooshing sound as they pass by me."
                               -Douglas Adams

Name:   Lainey

So at my theatre conference this past week I attended several playwriting workshops.  They covered a variety of topics related to the subject of playwriting, but my favorite was one where we simply did writing exercises.  This exercise is a scene written for two characters that have an unequal power relationship.  The twist is that each line of dialogue must start with a sucessive letter of the alphabet all the way to Z!  I was excited because for the first time I finished, AND it made sense!  Please tell me if it makes sense!  

Here is the next writing exercise!

This is a point of view exercise.  It is supposed to help you get outside of your own head and experiences and be able to write from a completely different point of view on a situation.  Take any common household object [chair, blender, microwave, bookcase etc.]  and write a short narrative or scene from the object's point of view.  It can be real or imagined, but keep the point of view consistent.

Have a good week!

 
Subject:    First Post

Name:    Lainey

 paleography

The study of and the art of deciphering ancient manuscripts, inscriptions and writing.

Subject:   Addendum
Name:    Lainey

Of course there was something I forgot to mention!  

1.  When posting any of your original work please use what is known as a livejournal cut.  The button for it when you are posting is the sixth button from the right and the icon is a few lines with a sort of squiggle underneath  [eloquent phrasing I know!].  Once you click this you will be prompted to enter the link title and then a gray box will appear in the posting box.  Put your text in the gray box.  When you have posted it will show up as a link to the page with your text on it rather than taking up all the space on the main journal page.  I suggest this for anything over a couple of paragraphs.

2.  Another thing to consider when posting original work is to make it private.  I hate to be cynical about the world today but the truth is: people steal.  People steal things that are not theirs and then run off and make millions of dollars rather than you.  To make a post private once you have typed it in the posting box go to the drop down menu next to the 'Post to steamgeartavern' button.  Where it says 'Show this entry to' make it say 'Just me (Private)'  that way only those who have the secret login code can view the journal page and your work.

Now that all this beauracratic-ness is out the way!

Hello!

This first post is to sort of set up how this will work so that it will be beneficial to all.  If any of this doesn't make sense please reply to this so that we can clear up any misconceptions.

1. I will post writing exercises each Monday morning.  Each participant will have until the next Sunday to post their response.  These are not mandatory, but should be a lot of fun.  

2.  When posting your replies to the exercises please post as an entry rather than a reply.  That way it will show up on the main journal page.

3.  Also when posting a reply to the writing exercise please put this at the top of the post:
              Subject: [please put the subject of the original post]
               Name:   [your name.]
This will help us keep everyone's posts seperate in our minds as we read them since this is more like a shared blog rather than a community thing.

4.  Please feel free to post articles, your own work, book review, movie reviews as long as they are relevant!  Please keep them to the topics of writing, literature, literary theory, history and the such.  And remember when posting something like that to include your name so that we know who posted what.

5.  I am always open to suggestions!  Please feel free to email, or message me about new things we would like to try.  I want this to be fun, and not be the only one coming up with ideas.

6.  It goes without saying that because we are all different we have different opinions and that as intelligent adults we should be able to discuss differences in opinion in a peaceful and respectful manner. 

As the first writing exercise I would like you to read the profile for Steamgear Tavern, and create a character that you feel would inhabit, or frequent the tavern.  This is just to get the creative juices flowing so include as many details as possible!  

Thank you much!