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[Conkersbadfurday]

How's everyone's writing going?

Complicated. I took today off to edit, to try and get some character voice back, and realized that I've only really improved on some of these characters as I've gone on. As always, the first like three chapters are a mess and then things get way better. So basically I went through four chapters involving this soldier named John, and tomorrow I'll write the next chapter with him in it.

For good measure though, I've started this books bible NOW so I can keep notes as I go and not on draft two. Ideally that'll help.

What do the rest of you do to get yourself out of that negative funk?

Normally I just kinda brute force my way through it. It never really goes away for me though; always this haze of sorts. I'm three months into a ton of rejection letters for my second book, and the publishing house that was going to get back to me by October 1st is still silent, which cannot be good. Figure they ran out of steam, which means another no. Maybe not, but I really don't bother with positivity here. Just stubborn. Spite too.

Sometimes writing while sipping whiskey helps, though sometimes writing while sipping whiskey leads to more problems than it solves

 

[Valdfellgar]

For good measure though, I've started this books bible NOW so I can keep notes as I go and not on draft two. Ideally that'll help.

One thing I definitely recommend for keeping writing together is the techniques I was taught in Film School. The strategy I ending developing was after developing the basic through line for the story-- to sit down and come up with the core characters. From heroes, to villains, to supporting cast, really flesh them out. Asking questions like what they look like, what their goal is, their history, their skills, etc. And get that all fleshed out.

Then, if it's a particularly long story with a wealth of background: Fleshed out time line. The current book I'm writing has a history dating back to like ten years from now, with all major events that effect the book's modern day plotted out with enough detail that I don't feel like I'm totally bullshitting my way through.

Then I write an outline, approximately 25 pages long to make sure I have the whole thing set from beginning to end. Things of course change, and I've had to go back and add in detail I'd left out in the outline and flesh out some side characters I hadn't counted on, but I find those steps really help me from needing to rush back and do major overhauls.

I apologize if that's all obvious or stuff you're already doing, but just figured I'd mention my methods in case they'd help prevent another situation like you're in now. I once had that happen with a script, was a nightmare jumping back and forth rewriting it. Did turn out to be the script that took 3rd place in a contest though, so they're always salvageable.

 

[Elfforkusu]

How's everyone's writing going?

Bad

 

[Valdfellgar]

Bad

What's the trouble?

 

[zulux21]

What do you think threw you off? One thing I know that always ruins me is I generally only have a solid hour to write in the morning. I can technically write later at night after the day is done, but 9 times out of 10 I'm too exhausted from churning out Anime and Manga reviews for my Wife and I's website. So I write in the morning, for sure, in that one hour before we start work. Trouble is if I don't sleep well, and the last few months have been rough, I generally just end up shitting on the page.

oh that is easy.
as I said I have book 2 first draft done, and am working on 1.
the last third of book one I just did a quickish outline for as I wasn't sure how I wanted things to play out.

I have slowly been working things out and getting through the stuff I didn't write the first time, but I am still not sure how I want things to go.

the reason writing went decently last night is I finally decided on what i wanted to do as well as some extra character design stuff that likely won't ever be revealed in story

but yeah it was merely I got stuck on a scene that I needed to be right, and on the second version of the first book I couldn't leave it nonexistant since it is kind of the climax of the first book and kind of needs to hook people so they will be interested in reading the next book

I also had to take some time to research things, such as how quickly someone would burn if left in the sun, more exact how long it would take to get a third degree burn from the sun.. which I think is possible, but wasn't easy to research as most people don't have data about basically having someone forced to be in the sun without protection for days.

I was also having issues figuring out how to write out a scene to music as I have a very specific scene in mind for part of the climax and it was stupid hard to get it to work even a little bit.

I've also been taking some time to make sure details are correct.
it gets kind of complicated with two worlds of history, and keeping track of what characters know what, and who knows the actual history (of both worlds so really I have 4 history lines) ect

luckily it's a very long running series, so I don't have to cram that info all in one book.

 

[Conkersbadfurday]

One thing I definitely recommend for keeping writing together is the techniques I was taught in Film School. The strategy I ending developing was after developing the basic through line for the story-- to sit down and come up with the core characters. From heroes, to villains, to supporting cast, really flesh them out. Asking questions like what they look like, what their goal is, their history, their skills, etc. And get that all fleshed out.

Then, if it's a particularly long story with a wealth of background: Fleshed out time line. The current book I'm writing has a history dating back to like ten years from now, with all major events that effect the book's modern day plotted out with enough detail that I don't feel like I'm totally bullshitting my way through.

Then I write an outline, approximately 25 pages long to make sure I have the whole thing set from beginning to end. Things of course change, and I've had to go back and add in detail I'd left out in the outline and flesh out some side characters I hadn't counted on, but I find those steps really help me from needing to rush back and do major overhauls.

I apologize if that's all obvious or stuff you're already doing, but just figured I'd mention my methods in case they'd help prevent another situation like you're in now. I once had that happen with a script, was a nightmare jumping back and forth rewriting it. Did turn out to be the script that took 3rd place in a contest though, so they're always salvageable.

See, I prefer the "write by the seat of your pants" strategy where I don't think anything through and just jump in and hope for the best. This method is usually really awesome for the first half of the book and then bites me in the ass during the second half.

I then have to edit the novel four or five times before it's not a piece of shit.

So yeah. Trying something new and taking notes as i go instead of on draft two when I'm looking for continuity errors.

My reasoning for not doing outlines or character sketches is that I find that thinking stuff out is the fun bit, and I want to do that while I write. if I do it before, I'll just have the hard bit left. It makes for some dreary days of banging away at my keyboard. I guess even if the prose sucks on draft one, at least the ideas are fun and new enough to keep me going. Like while I was brushing my teeth I got some badass bits for my next chapter, but just enough to get me started. Dunno where it'll go until I get there

 

[kevin1025]

How's everyone's writing going?

My progress has been pretty solid lately. I've been writing a young adult science fiction book for the past couple of months, and feel more confident in it than I probably should, haha. I write very strange, though (at least, with other writer friends I've talked to), where I can't write in a linear fashion and jump to scenes or sections I feel like writing at the time. So a lot of the middle and big battle at the end is written, and the beginning is very bare bones for the time being. But yeah, it's going well!

 

[H.Protagonist]

Has anyone ever made a trailer for their book? I'm thinking of doing one, and I'd love to check one out/hear about how it was done.

Other than Nano Planning nothing for me. Would be cool tho to do some horror side story.

Do it, Del! It could be your NaNo warm-up to get the writing engine going. Or a mini-novella to put on KU at Halloween! Horror-story-pub-challenge time?

I have two scenes left in part 1 of book 2 in my series. I want to finish that this finish month, edit it, get a couple of beta readers to give some feedback, and then I may very well self publish part 1. Haven't decided. May depend on beta reader feedback.

Wow. You're so close! I'm impressed, especially since I now know what it's like to try and write with a mini. If the feedback is good you're going to shop it around, I imagine? I'll bet agents might like the sound of a set deal since book 1 is already out and to good review.

I've been planning for awhile now to write some stories for 'No Sleep' on reddit. The plan is to try and become a regular poster there to try and gain a bit of a following. Long term goal is to have enough people there like my work that when I probably self publish a collection of horror stories next year, I will actually have an audience who will want to buy it.

Sounds pretty tough to gain a following in general. I remember someone recommended Wattpad to me for that, but it seemed like something you had to relentlessly post to or you'd be quickly forgotten. And if I had that kind of energy I'd just pump out books like sirap (the mini-book challenge we did for that was surprisingly profitable considering the effort put in, relatively speaking). Sounds kind of fun, though, since you'd get insta-feedback. I'll have to check it out when you start, so be sure to update.

 

[stenbumling]

Do you guys write in or out of order? I feel writing scenes as they come to me much more enjoyable and less stressful, but I suspect it will be the opposite once I get to the organizing part.

 

[AngmarsKing701]

Wow. You're so close! I'm impressed, especially since I now know what it's like to try and write with a mini. If the feedback is good you're going to shop it around, I imagine? I'll bet agents might like the sound of a set deal since book 1 is already out and to good review.

I'll probably just self publish again. The big challenge for me will be getting the 2nd part written in less than a year, so that the two parts can be packaged into a complete book 2. Part of me feels like I could wait for the full book to be done, but there really is a significant break, as I go from a first person perspective in part 1 to a 3rd person perspective in part 2.

It's also darker--waaaaay darker--than Ahvarra.

It'll be interesting what feedback I can get. I'll be looking for anyone who's read Ahvarra to take a stab at the 30k words or so that's in part 1 to give me some feedback.

Any volunteers?

 

[SolVanderlyn]

Do you guys write in or out of order? I feel writing scenes as they come to me much more enjoyable and less stressful, but I suspect it will be the opposite once I get to the organizing part.

My book so far has been in order for the first draft, completely hap-hazard editing for the second, and then adding in entirely new chapters/scenes with the third.

So.... both?

 

[Mr-Joker]

Do you guys write in or out of order? I feel writing scenes as they come to me much more enjoyable and less stressful, but I suspect it will be the opposite once I get to the organizing part.

Well in the new book that I am working on I have the start of the story and third of the ending.

My middle section is shattered but last night night pre-planing help made the gaps smaller.

 

[Elfforkusu]

What's the trouble?

Time, energy, inspiration, distractions

So, you know, the usual.

 

[Nappuccino]

Do you guys write in or out of order? I feel writing scenes as they come to me much more enjoyable and less stressful, but I suspect it will be the opposite once I get to the organizing part.

I typically write in order and then realize I missed a bunch of key scenes, so I go back and fill them in.

Honestly, if you are excited to write a scene, write it. Just, like you said, editing for continuity can be difficult.

 

[sirap]

Brandon Sanderson's BYU course is available on youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4ZDBOc2tX8&feature=youtu.be&list=PLH3mK1NZn9QqOSj3ObrP3xL8tEJQ12-vL

 

[Crimson_Justice]

Brandon Sanderson's BYU course is available on youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4ZDBOc2tX8&feature=youtu.be&list=PLH3mK1NZn9QqOSj3ObrP3xL8tEJQ12-vL

With this and his podcast Writing Excuses, this guy is doing a lot of good work for online writing education. I'm going through Writing Excuses now, starting from the first season, to get myself in the writing mindset every day.

 

[Kalentan]

We going to have another one of those:

Nanowrimo things again?

 

[NintendosBooger]

How's everyone's writing going?

I'm about 108,000 words into my own novel, a conversion of my very first screenplay with tons of fleshing out, rewriting, reimagining etc. I discovered that if you breach 100k words on Microsoft Word for the mac it stops tracking word count in the bottom indicator <.<

Sometimes I think what I'm writing is exactly what I want on the page, and other times I feel like I'm not really saying what I'd like to say. I really hate that about me and writing, the highs and lows and what that does to my ego on a regular basis. I suppose it partly comes from how long I've been a writer without a 'real' win, you know? I've done 'okay' in a few screenwriting contests now and again, but never anything big, never anything that lead to some real recognition or cash flow with my work. Sometimes it makes me feel like a real failure and I wish it didn't.

Sorry if that got a bit dark or whatever, I guess I'm just in one of those moods where it's hard to convince myself that my writing and talent are good, that I'm just lacking the big break and opportunity. But my wife has a lot of faith in me, heck she moved across the globe to be with me, so I sometimes have to remind myself that her taking that huge leap means something.

What do the rest of you do to get yourself out of that negative funk? And my above question about how everyone's writing is going still stands.

You sound a lot like me.

My wife, too, has placed a lot of faith in a husband that left his grueling job to pursue his writing dreams. Currently, I'm living off 10 years of 401k contributions, so we're doing fine for now. My 80k word novel is 99.99% complete. Just need to clean up three more chapters before I pass the story along to select friends and family members.

As far as getting out of the negative funk, I've begun to read a lot of Victorian-era poetry. It's true what they say: every novelist aspires to be a short story writer and every short story writer aspires to become a poet. Poems are succinct; deep meaning condensed into fewer words, which is what I strive to duplicate for my story. Every time I read a line that I like, I think, "Wow, this reminds me of a scene in my book that I can cut down to fewer words."

I have reoccurring doubts about it, for sure. Sometimes I wonder if I've wasted my time (and savings) on a boyhood fantasy, like some hobbyist. You get familiar with something so much, you think it stinks. Then I recall stories of authors who were equally disenchanted with their first story. We've all heard the one of Stephen King dumping his Carrie manuscript into the trashcan. I re-read stuff like that every once in a while to give myself a shot in the arm.

That's all I can say for right now. I hope everything works out for you, my man.

 

[Freeza Under The Shower]

About that trashcan suggestion:
I don't remember King doing that coming up in On Writing. Just browsed through the pages of it (he talks about Carrie around page 80), and it wasn't mentioned. He just didn't like it, but his wife did, and from the start.

 

[SolVanderlyn]

Lately it's been like this for me.

Day 1: Write a lot

Day 2: ON A ROLL

Day 3: What

Day 4: Do I write

Day 5: Now, I think I have writer's block

Day 6: Wow, I've barely written all week *MASSIVE CRUNCH-INSPIRED SELF-IMPOSED DEADLINE MOTIVATION ACTIVATE*

Day 7: Decent progress

Rinse, repeat

 

[AngmarsKing701]

Lately it's been like this for me.

Day 1: Write a lot

Day 2: ON A ROLL

Day 3: What

Day 4: Do I write

Day 5: Now, I think I have writer's block

Day 6: Wow, I've barely written all week *MASSIVE CRUNCH-INSPIRED SELF-IMPOSED DEADLINE MOTIVATION ACTIVATE*

Day 7: Decent progress

Rinse, repeat

Replace "Day" with "Week"

Spoiler

or even "Month" sometimes unfortunately

and you have my current writing process

 

[Freeza Under The Shower]

.

 

[Burbank_]

Should nicknames be capitalized? Eg. I have a guys whose nickname is "the barber". Should it be written as "the barber" or "the Barber"?

And is it ok to change tempus/temporal form between paragraphs if you want to or is that bad english?

 

[AngmarsKing701]

Should nicknames be capitalized? Eg. I have a guys whose nickname is "the barber". Should it be written as "the barber" or "the Barber"?

And is it ok to change tempus/temporal form between paragraphs if you want to or is that bad english?

Yes, nickname should be capitalized. Otherwise, if you say "the barber" then it's questionable whether you are talking about a specific person or a generic barber.

 

[Valdfellgar]

You sound a lot like me.

My wife, too, has placed a lot of faith in a husband that left his grueling job to pursue his writing dreams. Currently, I'm living off 10 years of 401k contributions, so we're doing fine for now. My 80k word novel is 99.99% complete. Just need to clean up three more chapters before I pass the story along to select friends and family members.

As far as getting out of the negative funk, I've begun to read a lot of Victorian-era poetry. It's true what they say: every novelist aspires to be a short story writer and every short story writer aspires to become a poet. Poems are succinct; deep meaning condensed into fewer words, which is what I strive to duplicate for my story. Every time I read a line that I like, I think, "Wow, this reminds me of a scene in my book that I can cut down to fewer words."

I have reoccurring doubts about it, for sure. Sometimes I wonder if I've wasted my time (and savings) on a boyhood fantasy, like some hobbyist. You get familiar with something so much, you think it stinks. Then I recall stories of authors who were equally disenchanted with their first story. We've all heard the one of Stephen King dumping his Carrie manuscript into the trashcan. I re-read stuff like that every once in a while to give myself a shot in the arm.

That's all I can say for right now. I hope everything works out for you, my man.

It's nice to know there's someone else out there in a situation similar to mine. I don't have a 401K to fall back on, I've been very fortunate to have a family willing to support me while I try and break into the film industry or novel world. Getting married though just seemed to add even more pressure to things, especially since I've been at this five years, with a few 'almost made it' deals that fell through at the last minute.

That's an interesting story to hear, like said above I don't know that the details are true, but I've also recalled hearing that Stephen King was less than enthused with his first story, and tales like that give me a bit of a pick up. Another one I try to think about as I turn thirty next year is that George RR. Martin didn't really come into his own until around my age. He had an easier time breaking into the film industry (not surprising, was easier back then) but found very little of his work made it to the screen, eventually he became fed up (kinda like I have) with the industry and went to novels and eventually, boom made a success of himself. I'd like to think I can do similar.

Thanks for sharing! Knowing someone else is struggling along with me and following their dreams helps. I have a friend, one of my two best, who gave up his pursuit of an art career. He transferred into computer science stuff and never looked back. He's got a solid job now, his own place, etc. I'm happy he's doing well, but I always fear that I've made a bad call sticking with my passion, worried that I've no talent to back that drive up. Then again, they also say as long as you keep trying you'll make it, and there are some super bad TV shows, Films, and Books out there....

 

[Conkersbadfurday]

It's nice to know there's someone else out there in a situation similar to mine. I don't have a 401K to fall back on, I've been very fortunate to have a family willing to support me while I try and break into the film industry or novel world. Getting married though just seemed to add even more pressure to things, especially since I've been at this five years, with a few 'almost made it' deals that fell through at the last minute.

That's an interesting story to hear, like said above I don't know that the details are true, but I've also recalled hearing that Stephen King was less than enthused with his first story, and tales like that give me a bit of a pick up. Another one I try to think about as I turn thirty next year is that George RR. Martin didn't really come into his own until around my age. He had an easier time breaking into the film industry (not surprising, was easier back then) but found very little of his work made it to the screen, eventually he became fed up (kinda like I have) with the industry and went to novels and eventually, boom made a success of himself. I'd like to think I can do similar.

Thanks for sharing! Knowing someone else is struggling along with me and following their dreams helps. I have a friend, one of my two best, who gave up his pursuit of an art career. He transferred into computer science stuff and never looked back. He's got a solid job now, his own place, etc. I'm happy he's doing well, but I always fear that I've made a bad call sticking with my passion, worried that I've no talent to back that drive up. Then again, they also say as long as you keep trying you'll make it, and there are some super bad TV shows, Films, and Books out there....

Thought ol' Georgie started with comic books.

@Bold helps me keep going too. If fucking Divergent can get published, then my half-baked trash can.

 

[SolVanderlyn]

188140 words right now. I intended to write a book half this size when I started, and I'm not even done adding in this extra chapter yet.

I hope it's good. I put my heart into it, which is what counts. I just want someone to read it and say, "I like this." I don't care if it makes me any money, I just wrote what I thought my 15 year old self would love to read. I don't think you all know how comforting it is to have this community of aspiring (and successful!) writers to talk to. It constantly reminds me that I am not alone, as cheesy as that sounds.

 

[kevin1025]

188140 words right now. I intended to write a book half this size when I started, and I'm not even done adding in this extra chapter yet.

I hope it's good. I put my heart into it, which is what counts. I just want someone to read it and say, "I like this." I don't care if it makes me any money, I just wrote what I thought my 15 year old self would love to read. I don't think you all know how comforting it is to have this community of aspiring (and successful!) writers to talk to. It constantly reminds me that I am not alone, as cheesy as that sounds.

Wow, that's a sizeable book! And you have the exact right mindset, you're writing for yourself. Getting published or the chase of getting published is all well and good, but what you said right there, writing something that your younger or current self would love to read, that's the key, I think.

 

[Valdfellgar]

Thought ol' Georgie started with comic books.

@Bold helps me keep going too. If fucking Divergent can get published, then my half-baked trash can.

Hmm I don't think he did, at least not according to the Wikipedia. He was sort of a failed novelist when he made the jump to TV, I think he was just an avid comics fan, but I could be wrong.

And yeah, it's the trash of the literary world that shall keep our passion burning bright!

 

[Timu]

Who's ready for NaNo?

I am!!!

 

[H.Protagonist]

Who's ready for NaNo?

Hmmmm... Perhaps it's time for something...silly.

 

[Freeza Under The Shower]

.

 

[stenbumling]

Never been ready. Wasn't born ready. Probably won't be ready.

But looking at Westworld, I've run out of time to hold off on writing a robot novel before someone beats me to it (the show, thankfully, does not -yet- ). So being ready be damned, it's happening.

Being first is overrated anyway. It's all about execution.

 

[Freeza Under The Shower]

Being first is overrated anyway. It's all about execution.

That's not inherently true. It's easier to forgive relative boringness of a new road than it is to abstain from pointing out just how boring the known road is.
Differently put: a good new idea told in a mediocre fashion (but not poorly) will be somewhat more appealing than a mediocre told story already told better once before (even if the better told will still be the better work).

Though this may be just a long-winded way of saying a different execution is also 'being first'. Boop.

 

[stenbumling]

That's not inherently true. It's easier to forgive relative boringness of a new road than it is to abstain from pointing out just how boring the known road is.
Differently put: a good new idea told in a mediocre fashion (but not poorly) will be somewhat more appealing than a mediocre told story already told better once before (even if the better told will still be the better work).

I am very much a (sub-)mediocrity when it comes to writing, so my prose or storytelling ability will not be what will convince someone to read anything I would write. Nor would I be particularly interested in telling a story I already know was told (better) by others, nor can I expect to have a sudden dramatic increase in skill since that is purely practice based.

Though this may be just a long-winded way of saying a different execution is also 'being first'. Boop.

I do think I have a few ideas that nobody has done though. Or at least not yet.

I agree, I also tend to write stuff I think (and hope!) no one has written before. I just meant that you don't necessarily have to give up on an idea the moment you realize that it has been done before.

 

[UCBooties]

Updates:

I submitted a story for Writers of the Future Q4. It is my first submission this year and I have a good feeling about it. My story The Thousand Faces was an Honorable Mention last year and I am hopeful I can place this year. If some of my other work sells and I get more contract work I may soon be ineligible for the contest. I'd really like to win before that happens.

I have a story submitted to a micro-press anthology. It should be going on sale shortly but I can't talk about it until it's officially announced. The anthology is political with a sci-fi horror bent and my story is a pretty hard sci-fi take on the concept. Not much to say about it except that I am excited to have my work in print (ok, e-print, but still).

My other big project for October is a short story that I was contracted to write as a tie in for an upcoming table-top card game. So far, that seems to be going very well. I'm getting good feedback from the developers and I am hopeful that they will give me the green light to give this to my beta readers for feedback and polish. Once the NDA is up, I will be posting about the project here and in other appropriate threads.

Work on the Three Sisters series is stalled but the plan is to pick back up with that in November in lieu of participating in NaNoWriMo. Skipping NaNo is a blow but I owe it to myself and to my story to finish the rewrites for The Sword, The Crown, and The Scroll. I'm close and once the draft is submitted I can finally pick back up with the draft for Out of the Empire. There were perfectly good reasons to stop work on Out of the Empire when I did, but now that those other commitments are being dealt with, it is time to get the draft done. After that it goes to Beta readers for feedback and things will be pretty quiet unless I pick up some more short story or free-lance work. Planning for Ashbringer should begin sometime in spring of next year and my goal is to have it ready to begin drafting in time for NaNo 2017.

If I end up with enough wiggle room in my schedule, (and depending on how quickly I get workable feedback on Out of the Empire) I may draft Ashbringer early and start work on the first book in the Calorine series for NaNo instead. Planning for the Calorine series is already done since I was planning to draft the first book for NaNo this year, but again, I made the decision to prioritize the Three Sisters series at this time.

Appologies if these update posts are overly self-indulgent. They help me conceive of my work as a process that is being actively pursued and not just a pile of projects.

 

[Lynx_7]

My main problems with writing, so far, have been time, ideas and motivation. Whenever I open up my "novel"(it has, like, a chapter lol) I start thinking "I should be doing my college thesis/assignment instead", which has been a soul draining experience for me because I just want to be done with this terrible graduation I shoehorned myself in due to high school not preparing you at all to choose a career, and also for a lack of options. I just feel very unmotivated in general due to feeling creative careers are a dead end on Brazil.

Then there's the whole ideas business. It's not exactly a lack of ideas, but moreso a lack of ideas that I feel reach a certain "quality standard". Like, I have a few ideas that I think would be cool to write about, but I always end up feeling like nobody would read said story because I see no examples of similar stories being successful in the national market so what's the point if there's no audience to share it with? Writing for oneself is fine, but ultimately you want at least a few people to give you feedback if you're going to spend so much time and effort in a project. It's why I have an easier time writing fanfics than novels, since standards are lower and I don't stress about my ideas being too niche or not good enough for a book. Also I can just post it on the internet and be done with it.

I also have an unfortunate problem with timing. I can't even remember how many interesting scenes and character moments/conversations I've lost to time due to thinking up these scenes in the middle of a bus trip or veeeery late at night when trying to sleep because I have to wake up early in the morning.

Then there's the fact that when I do write something, I usually abandon it for another project due to feeling the story isn't as interesting as I initially thought, or just being disappointed with my writing itself. Like, is that a problem with any of you? When I read another person's novel, it just flows well and I don't stress too much about details. When I read my own work, I feel like my narrative abilities suck. The text doesn't flow naturally, or "I already used that word", or I keep being inconsistent with my voice, sometimes narrating with the past tense, sometimes in the present, things like that.

I don't really know what's the point of this post, I guess I just want to share it here and hope that maybe it'll motivate me to actually write something today.

 

[AngmarsKing701]

My main problems with writing, so far, have been time, ideas and motivation. Whenever I open up my "novel"(it has, like, a chapter lol) I start thinking "I should be doing my college thesis/assignment instead", which has been a soul draining experience for me because I just want to be done with this terrible graduation I shoehorned myself in due to high school not preparing you at all to choose a career, and also for a lack of options. I just feel very unmotivated in general due to feeling creative careers are a dead end on Brazil.

Then there's the whole ideas business. It's not exactly a lack of ideas, but moreso a lack of ideas that I feel reach a certain "quality standard". Like, I have a few ideas that I think would be cool to write about, but I always end up feeling like nobody would read said story because I see no examples of similar stories being successful in the national market so what's the point if there's no audience to share it with? Writing for oneself is fine, but ultimately you want at least a few people to give you feedback if you're going to spend so much time and effort in a project. It's why I have an easier time writing fanfics than novels, since standards are lower and I don't stress about my ideas being too niche or not good enough for a book. Also I can just post it on the internet and be done with it.

I also have an unfortunate problem with timing. I can't even remember how many interesting scenes and character moments/conversations I've lost to time due to thinking up these scenes in the middle of a bus trip or veeeery late at night when trying to sleep because I have to wake up early in the morning.

Then there's the fact that when I do write something, I usually abandon it for another project due to feeling the story isn't as interesting as I initially thought, or just being disappointed with my writing itself. Like, is that a problem with any of you? When I read another person's novel, it just flows well and I don't stress too much about details. When I read my own work, I feel like my narrative abilities suck. The text doesn't flow naturally, or "I already used that word", or I keep being inconsistent with my voice, sometimes narrating with the past tense, sometimes in the present, things like that.

I don't really know what's the point of this post, I guess I just want to share it here and hope that maybe it'll motivate me to actually write something today.

Just from this post it sounds like you have things you could be writing about. Don't feel like you need to tackle a novel. Take things in small chunks. Write a short story. Write one about a student struggling to complete his thesis. Write one about high school not preparing a student for college. Use first person or third person. Create conflict, either internal or external.

In the OP there is a link to Chuck Wendig's blog about writing 250 words/day, 5 days/week.

Now, I'd love to tell you I'm following my own advice on this, but well, that wouldn't be true. I seem to write in spurts these days. Nothing for 2 months and then 3K words in one sitting.

 

[FlowersisBritish]

Just from this post it sounds like you have things you could be writing about. Don't feel like you need to tackle a novel. Take things in small chunks. Write a short story. Write one about a student struggling to complete his thesis. Write one about high school not preparing a student for college. Use first person or third person. Create conflict, either internal or external.

In the OP there is a link to Chuck Wendig's blog about writing 250 words/day, 5 days/week.

Now, I'd love to tell you I'm following my own advice on this, but well, that wouldn't be true. I seem to write in spurts these days. Nothing for 2 months and then 3K words in one sitting.

This is some solid advice here. I feel like when everyone picks up writing their first go to is "I want to write a novel!" but I've never thought novels were the best for starting out. Short stories are really great because you can get a pretty good grasp of how stories work from them: rises and lulls in action, consistent symbolism, character growth, varied sentence structure, and just plain old experimentation. There is also a nice confidence boost in being able to complete any project, especially one that takes a few days. I recently finished a short story that took me about an entire week to write and when I was done it felt like such a nice sigh of relief. I'm planning on editing it along with two other short stories before Nano officially starts. Novels give you a better high, but they're also month long time sinks(and that's not counting the editing). It can be tough to finish one if you're just trying to swing back into writing.
I'd recommend the Writing Challenges Threads but disclaimer: today was the last day to submit and we're probably temporarily closing up shop after this challenge for Nano. Still, when we start back up in December I absolutely recommend them, just hit subscribe and keep an eye out for the new thread link. I've been participating in almost every challenge for about two and a half years now, and I don't think I'd be anywhere near as good a writer with out them and all the wonderful feedback I've received over the years.
A hidden beauty in short story writing is how you can really see you're own personal growth within them. I look back on stories I wrote years ago and its amazing how different my writing has become sometimes(In a lot of good and bad ways). I don't think you can really appreciate that the same way with novels, because no matter what cog you look at its all has to be taken with the perspective of it being part of a bigger machine. By looking at my older short stories, i can reflect on what I used to do that I really liked but stopped, and the stuff I now have a better comprehension of. And above all, they're just good practice, whether it be descriptions, dialogue, or any other kind of scene you're not sure about but want to try your hand at.


As to the writing every day bit: yeah, also great advice. Personally i keep a log of how much I write everyday just to keep an idea of how productive I am overall. It is also really great for guilting you into writing on days you just don't feel like it("It's been since Tuesday and I only did three hundred words, suppose I can just type for an hour or something...")

 

[Conkersbadfurday]

I want to write but I'm too drunk/tired to churn out anything of use. I usually take Friday and a cheat day, but I'm feeling guilty as fuck about it for some reason. I did a 100 pages the first month and will maybe hit 80 this month and I feel like I should be able to do a 100 pages >:[

Which is stupid since I give myself a 100 days to finish a book and am way way WAY ahead of schedule in terms of that. Got until like December first to finish this fucker. Easy peasy. I hope.

I mean it's garbage but it will be done.

 

[Jintor]

Anyone know of any good writing apps/programs with a dark background or night mode or something? If I'm going to be staring at a screen for a while it'd be nice if the thing weren't bright white.

Free is preferable since I'm just writing big posts or notes or whatever.

 

[Lynx_7]

Yeah, I know I should probably try some short stories first, but I'm one of those people that wants to bite more than they can chew. I just get excited about an idea and then want to write a whole novel about it.

I do have an idea of a story that's more segmented in nature, like an episodic sort of thing which consists basically of a bunch of short-stories whose only common element is sharing the same protagonist and the same world. Kinda like the first two Witcher books, or a few of Sandman's volumes. Maybe I should start with that since it also gives me freedom to try out different ideas. Thanks for the tips, everyone.
Also, do you just use Office to write your stories and that's that, or do you use any other programs to help? Like, something for character sheets or timeline events or anything of the sort?

 

[Krowley]

Anyone know of any good writing apps/programs with a dark background or night mode or something? If I'm going to be staring at a screen for a while it'd be nice if the thing weren't bright white.

Free is preferable since I'm just writing big posts or notes or whatever.

Writemonkey is a very cool distraction free editor with markup support that has quite a few advanced features under the hood if you do some investigating--almost comparable to Scrivener really, in some ways--and it has fully customizable background and text color. It's donationware that you can use free as long as you want. I'm writing the first draft of my current WIP on it, and the rabbithole of features has really impressed me, but even if you don't need a huge amount of depth, it's also really good for any sort of basic writing.

Q10 is also good, but a little more basic and the interface is strictly keyboard based.

Yeah, I know I should probably try some short stories first, but I'm one of those people that wants to bite more than they can chew. I just get excited about an idea and then want to write a whole novel about it.

I do have an idea of a story that's more segmented in nature, like an episodic sort of thing which consists basically of a bunch of short-stories whose only common element is sharing the same protagonist and the same world. Kinda like the first two Witcher books, or a few of Sandman's volumes. Maybe I should start with that since it also gives me freedom to try out different ideas. Thanks for the tips, everyone.
Also, do you just use Office to write your stories and that's that, or do you use any other programs to help? Like, something for character sheets or timeline events or anything of the sort?

As mentioned above, Writemonkey is an excellent and full featured tool for creative writing. Scrivener is also fantastic, and even more full featured, but it isn't free. I have Scrivener, but I'm using Writemonkey because sometimes I like to write on my android tablet, and pretty much all android editors that are worth a crap are strictly txt based, so for easy transferablity, I need to use a txt based editor on my windows system too. With Writemonkey as my primary editor. its easy to store my whole book in the cloud and work on it wherever I happen to be, with whatever software I have on hand. Sometimes that might even be notepad. Markup syntax makes it possible to put formatting like italics into basic text files in a very simple way so that they can be pasted into an RTF or DOC based editor at a later time. I'll be using Scrivener to edit because Writemonkey is not really well suited for that, but for cranking out a first draft it's a fantastic piece of software.

 

[SolVanderlyn]

Ok, now that I've polished up my manuscript for the third time, I have another question.

I went and removed the character's internal thoughts and replaced them with third person narration, but I'm not sure if that was a good idea. I know it's a matter of taste, but what do you tend to find more effective - third person with internal thoughts or descriptive thoughts?

Ex:

SolVanderlyn posted on NeoGAF. "I hope I get some good feedback," he thought to himself.

SolVanderlyn posted on NeoGAF. He silently hoped to himself that the other posters would give him some good feedback.

I'm a bit torn right now...

 

[Conkersbadfurday]

Ok, now that I've polished up my manuscript for the third time, I have another question.

I went and removed the character's internal thoughts and replaced them with third person narration, but I'm not sure if that was a good idea. I know it's a matter of taste, but what do you tend to find more effective - third person with internal thoughts or descriptive thoughts?

Ex:

SolVanderlyn posted on NeoGAF. "I hope I get some good feedback," he thought to himself.

SolVanderlyn posted on NeoGAF. He silently hoped to himself that the other posters would give him some good feedback.

I'm a bit torn right now...

For my first book, I did a bit of both though mostly stuck to the first one. However, since the thoughts were in italics I removed all instances of "so and so thought" since it was obvious by the change in type.

For my other books, I've gone towards the second. I like having it IN the prose as part of it, and it adds more character to the writing, I think. It's a bit more difficult to work with because if I fuck up the character's style, then the paragraph or section goes to shit. It's why I have to reread a bunch of previous chapters before starting another one. Make sure I'm staying consistent.

 

[AngmarsKing701]

Ok, now that I've polished up my manuscript for the third time, I have another question.

I went and removed the character's internal thoughts and replaced them with third person narration, but I'm not sure if that was a good idea. I know it's a matter of taste, but what do you tend to find more effective - third person with internal thoughts or descriptive thoughts?

Ex:

SolVanderlyn posted on NeoGAF. "I hope I get some good feedback," he thought to himself.

SolVanderlyn posted on NeoGAF. He silently hoped to himself that the other posters would give him some good feedback.

I'm a bit torn right now...

I used the first person internal in italics in Ahvarra.

 

[Valdfellgar]

Ok, now that I've polished up my manuscript for the third time, I have another question.

I went and removed the character's internal thoughts and replaced them with third person narration, but I'm not sure if that was a good idea. I know it's a matter of taste, but what do you tend to find more effective - third person with internal thoughts or descriptive thoughts?

Ex:

SolVanderlyn posted on NeoGAF. "I hope I get some good feedback," he thought to himself.

SolVanderlyn posted on NeoGAF. He silently hoped to himself that the other posters would give him some good feedback.

I'm a bit torn right now...

I always do the second. I don't think there's anything wrong with the first, but my personal preference is that the narration feels better, and while maybe not more natural, tends to maintain a better flow for the reader.

 

[Freeza Under The Shower]

.

 

[Krowley]

Ok, now that I've polished up my manuscript for the third time, I have another question.

I went and removed the character's internal thoughts and replaced them with third person narration, but I'm not sure if that was a good idea. I know it's a matter of taste, but what do you tend to find more effective - third person with internal thoughts or descriptive thoughts?

Ex:

SolVanderlyn posted on NeoGAF. "I hope I get some good feedback," he thought to himself.

SolVanderlyn posted on NeoGAF. He silently hoped to himself that the other posters would give him some good feedback.

I'm a bit torn right now...

I move back and forth between the two pretty liberally from one moment to the next. I kind of mix it up.


Example:

-------------------------------------------------------

I hope I get some good feedback, he thought to himself.

Some of the posters in the writing thread were helpful and experienced--he'd seen them answer questions many times and had learned a lot of great stuff from their advice. But would those particular posters be online today? Would they even see his post?

Weekends were kind of tough to predict. Sometimes the thread would drop all the way off the front page for long stretches. The other writers might be busy doing fun, weekend sorts of things: partying on their yachts, guzzling buckets full of whiskey, smoking ganja...

Oh Christ! Stop being a negative Nancy. They'll come through. And even if you have to wait a few days, it's no big deal.

"Yeah," he muttered as he scrolled to the bottom of the page and navigated back to the gaming forum. "It'll work out fine. Need to quit worrying so much about everything."

-----------------------------------

Basically you can weave them together. It's not necessarily one or the other. They each have a different feel and it's a rhythm thing. Or at least that's the way I approach it, and a lot of writers I admire approach it the same way.

Endless stretches of italicized thoughts can get overwhelming. Frank Herbert uses the tactic very heavily in Dune, but most writers I've seen tend to lean on the italicized approach mostly as a way to get some character voice in there and make thoughts feel more immediate.When you italicize and use the character voice directly, the thoughts become actions, and they feel like they're happening in real time, which can make the internal parts of a story feel more lively. But if you want to get really deep and explore complicated concepts, normal narrative is more flexible.

Sometimes I will open a long section of internal monologue with some italicized thoughts as a way of centering the reader firmly inside the character's head, and then I'll slip into normal narrative.Other times I'll use italicized thoughts at the end of a long internal section to pull the reader back into a real-time feeling.

 

[SolVanderlyn]

Thanks for the great responses, everyone (especially the above two, wow).

I had everything internal until I realized I shift characters sometimes throughout the story. It's not like Chapter 1 is Character A and Chapter 2 is Character B, though - there is one main MAIN character and occasional breaks to see things happening in another place. Example:

SolVanderlyn was posting on the GAF writing thread, and he was immensely pleased, if not a little surprised, to see the enthusiasm with which people responded to his post. It was a good sort of surprise, of course - the type of surprise one feels when they receive a gift on their doorstep that they had not been expecting.

-----------------

VanderSol prepared to knock on the door. "It's now or never," he said aloud.

The --------- break is always used as a sort of meanwhile... in my story, but the secondary characters never have internal monologue. I went back and took out the main character's inner thoughts to keep it consistent. I suppose I could have added internal monologue to the secondary characters, as well, but I want them to feel secondary, so I have reservations about allowing the reader inside of their heads.