As a writer hoping for that big break, one of the characters in my stories is often what I wish to be. Less often, I will dress up like a cos-play character while writing but less often venture out in public. I have my own collection of role playing clothing. For me, cross dressing would mean wearing pants, perhaps cowboy boots and grumbling in as deep a voice as I can manage. I'd have to call myself Ahab.
Do real authors do such antics when composing their stories. I wonder.
Ahabidah
Comments
While I don't
wear anything different, I typically talk out the dialog, with the accompanying voices.. One thing to note? You ARE a real author. I wish you success!
Love, Andrea Lena
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Lately, I find sites with pornographic content to be tiresome, though I know that I've heard that writers use that as a creativity tool. BCTS seems to hold it down pretty well, though I'm not TG and don't wish to write about that. It is frustrating that some of the story sites I've been to have members who think they are English teachers that are hostile to any mistake, though some of what they might bridle at would be acceptable in England.
I haven't tried to submit even unpaid stories to Amazon, though I have heard they can be hostile and userous.
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Ahabidah
of course
there are many ways to 'get into character' for writing. I will admit to using clothing to help get into character sometimes, much like experiencing doing something - that said, i don't need to sit at the kb in 'costume' to write.
As an example, the experience of wearing a particular garment, lets say a ball gown, can't be described with any accuracy without experience of doing so, the weight, the movement, the inconvenience etc, etc. It's the same with other things, unless you've had your tongue pierced how can you possibly describe the feelings related to it?
One thing a lot of writers get wrong with costume is sizing, again, if you have no experience / understanding of these things you will be quickly found out. Heels for example, its not just the how you walk in them but whether its physically possible. This lack of understanding is very common where a character is described as being small/dainty but then given 6" heels to wear, wehich they have no problem with. But there would be a problem, my size 42 feet are at the bigger end for women, more typically an adult female will have something more like a size 36-38 or smaller. Now i can just about balance on 6" but walking is nigh on impossible, you literally can't get smaller feet over such heels and not be stood en point, its just not physically possible.
Then there are physical activities, have you actually climbed 300 steps to know the physical effects, been in a narrow cave to feel the claustrophobic effects, experienced the adrenalin high from a sporting perspective or a near death experience. If not, the cliched 'adrenalin pumping' sentence is a real giveaway.
Grammar is another thing altogether, a minefield indeed. Let's be clear, there is only one language called English despite what some people think, there are regional variations in usage which might refer to a whole continent or a more discrete area. depending on where you are you may favour one usage/spelling over another and then of course there is the actual language used. For me in the UK, i adhere to 'proper' grammar as much as possible except where characters are speaking, i'll often use dialect or other means to bring characters to life, after all, no one actually talks using correct grammar, we use contractions, bad sentence formation and so on.
Some people write well, some write good stories badly, some should stick to reading! But have a go, write what you know, practice by doing short essays, describing an anecdote is pretty good.
Madeline Anafrid Bell
Speaking as a cosplayer...
I'm a cosplayer, so I'm no stranger to dressing up in crazy outfits and going out in public. It's rare that I'll do it when composing stories, but I have been dressed up as a character a couple times to get a sense of little inconveniences and impediments which I'll then sprinkle into the story.
And sometimes I'll take pictures to then incorporate into a story. Case in point, several years ago I cosplayed as my character Prodigious Girl that I introduced in my Identity Crisis story. So when my friend got in on the fun and we made up a character called The Lavender Scare, I wrote a fun little short story that featured pics of us in costume. It makes for a fun time! :D