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Post by Brownie on Aug 10, 2023 9:19:06 GMT -5
After over a year, I finally finished the next chapter of my Warriors fanfic! Whew. So that averages out to about 5 words a day. I have a very achievable record to break what an absolute mood also a yearly update schedule is totally legit
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Post by valleylight on Aug 10, 2023 11:19:32 GMT -5
Yay! Also Help: I'm trying to rewrite Into the Wild, Chapter 1, but I can't figure out what I want in the chapter! I have the dream starting the chapter written out, and I know I want the chapter to end with Charcoal (Graypaw) attacking Rusty, but I don't know what the 'middle' is. Any ideas? Should I look at other people's rewrites and see what they used? Should I completely scrap Chapter 1 and make up something different? I think it depends on what your goals are for the story overall. What important events/plot-beats do you have planned, that you want to lay the groundwork for? What character arcs do you want to build up? What themes or images are important? What parts of the source material best showcase and accentuate your lore/style? In deciding which scenes to keep/adapt/omit, keeping your goals in view might help!
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Post by Saint Ambrosef on Aug 10, 2023 22:17:57 GMT -5
My favorite mode of inspiration for writing is to think about time I've been disappointed by books. Which may sound a bit odd. But if I didn't like a choice the author made for the plot, it makes me think about what I would have liked it to go. What is it about it I didn't like? What do I think could be richer to explore by doing it different? And then I chew on that for awhile.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 11, 2023 6:55:10 GMT -5
Sounds interesting!
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Aroace
🎃ᦓρ꠸ᥴꫀᠻꪖꪀᧁ👻
does the candy hunting remind anyone else of cookie clicker? no… just me? okay.
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Post by 🎃ᦓρ꠸ᥴꫀᠻꪖꪀᧁ👻 on Aug 11, 2023 7:05:59 GMT -5
My favorite mode of inspiration for writing is to think about time I've been disappointed by books. Which may sound a bit odd. But if I didn't like a choice the author made for the plot, it makes me think about what I would have liked it to go. What is it about it I didn't like? What do I think could be richer to explore by doing it different? And then I chew on that for awhile. I actually do this too! It gives me more motivation to write, seeing how I could make things better.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 11, 2023 8:13:49 GMT -5
I'm wondering whether I should make Rusty's owner a bit neglectful and...mean. However the Rusty I'm using is not brave, he's a little cowardly cat.
I was he could run away to become a loner or maybe a join a cat gang to make him aggressive? Any thoughts?
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#a3c5e6
Name Colour
𝓣𝓲𝓷𝓾𝓿𝓲𝓮𝓵
Warrior Fanatic
All hail me, the flower-flushing queen of Prague
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Post by 𝓣𝓲𝓷𝓾𝓿𝓲𝓮𝓵 on Aug 11, 2023 13:18:26 GMT -5
My favorite mode of inspiration for writing is to think about time I've been disappointed by books. Which may sound a bit odd. But if I didn't like a choice the author made for the plot, it makes me think about what I would have liked it to go. What is it about it I didn't like? What do I think could be richer to explore by doing it different? And then I chew on that for awhile. I do this all the time. In fact, I feel like a lot of other writers do this too, hence why deconstructed tropes are a thing. After all, if you want something done, you might as well do it yourself, so spite tends to be a pretty powerful motivator. For example, one of my characters has a story arc in which it's essentially a deconstruction of romanticized abuse that's typically found in the YA genre.
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#f0a9e4
Name Colour
Captain Americat
"Don't frown, someone could be falling in love with your smile." - Teen Wolf
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Post by Captain Americat on Aug 20, 2023 8:28:48 GMT -5
Oh no! Not the second page!
I am here still xD I haven’t fallen off the side of the earth, haha. Just super busy.
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#f0a9e4
Name Colour
Captain Americat
"Don't frown, someone could be falling in love with your smile." - Teen Wolf
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Post by Captain Americat on Aug 22, 2023 15:39:26 GMT -5
I hope you have a good holiday! I just got back from mine (:
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Post by Deleted on Aug 24, 2023 13:05:53 GMT -5
Hello people! So I had been having trouble with the prologue for Journey Windward (writer's block, luckily it has passed). During the three days I couldn't write and whatever I did write I strongly disliked it. I was told "just write" and that made me more irritated than the writer's block did.
Has anyone been told "just write" by someone who doesn't write. To me its annoying, cause I have this whole process, so I can't do that. I don't know why, I tried it and the writing was...bad.
Also I listened to a song that fit the feeling I wanted on the prologue and it went really well, the prologue may or may not get released before its' intended release date!
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Post by Brownie on Aug 24, 2023 23:13:02 GMT -5
Hello people! So I had been having trouble with the prologue for Journey Windward (writer's block, luckily it has passed). During the three days I couldn't write and whatever I did write I strongly disliked it. I was told "just write" and that made me more irritated than the writer's block did.
Has anyone been told "just write" by someone who doesn't write. To me its annoying, cause I have this whole process, so I can't do that. I don't know why, I tried it and the writing was...bad.
Also I listened to a song that fit the feeling I wanted on the prologue and it went really well, the prologue may or may not get released before its' intended release date! I mean "just write" is the answer. It sucks and it's hard but if you want to get over it fast, that is the tried and true method. For me it helps if that warmup isn't the same genre as the project I'm currently stuck on; I'll just doodle something in a different tense or mood and it usually helps shake things loose. It's not easy but it works. First drafts are always bad so tbh as long as the words hit the page it's workable.
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Post by Saint Ambrosef on Aug 25, 2023 10:42:39 GMT -5
Hello people! So I had been having trouble with the prologue for Journey Windward (writer's block, luckily it has passed). During the three days I couldn't write and whatever I did write I strongly disliked it. I was told "just write" and that made me more irritated than the writer's block did.
Has anyone been told "just write" by someone who doesn't write. To me its annoying, cause I have this whole process, so I can't do that. I don't know why, I tried it and the writing was...bad. Oh yeah, I strongly loathe the "just write" advice. It works for many writers, but not all, and I hate how it's become such default advice that nobody seems to know how to help otherwise. When I tell people that doesn't work for me, I get told I must be doing it wrong, lol. I think it really depends on what kind of block someone is having, because the solution might look different depending on the specific struggle. Here's a couple varieties I often encounter: -- Stuck writing a specific passage doesn't seem to come out "right", and you can't figure out why -- Can't "make the words go" (your brain freezes up when you try to put words into a sentence) -- Unsure where to take the story from there - either too many options or no idea at all -- Feel overwhelmed and don't know where to start -- Can't figure out how to get the story from point A to C I'm sure there's more that other writers struggle with, but these are the main ones I deal with. The only one "just write" actually helps me overcome is the first, and in fact actively makes struggles two and four much worse. It's just the way my brain works. Often times my solutions are to walk away for awhile, to seek out inspiration by reading more, to go back to the drawing board and re-examine my plot intentions, etc. For me the productive answer is rarely "just write something". Honestly, this ties into one of my bigger issues with writing communities and why I typically avoid them. There's a tendency to treat writers as a monolith who all function the same, and as someone whose approach to writing isn't as mainstream, it's a big turn off.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 25, 2023 12:48:11 GMT -5
Yeah, this explains how I feel fairly well!
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Post by valleylight on Aug 25, 2023 15:15:06 GMT -5
I have a grammar/syntax question for y’all. When you set off an aside/interrupter with em dashes, how do you space things? I’ve always formatted like this: “Examplepaw— the most foolish cat in HypotheticalClan— spoke out at the Gathering.”
But I’ve started wondering recently if that’s correct or widely acceptable. I’ve noticed em dashes spaced these ways in published media: “Examplepaw—the most foolish cat in HypotheticalClan—spoke out at the Gathering.” “Examplepaw —the most foolish cat in HypotheticalClan— spoke out at the Gathering.”
How do you guys format this? Do you have an opinion on what way is correct or just looks right?
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#a3c5e6
Name Colour
𝓣𝓲𝓷𝓾𝓿𝓲𝓮𝓵
Warrior Fanatic
All hail me, the flower-flushing queen of Prague
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Post by 𝓣𝓲𝓷𝓾𝓿𝓲𝓮𝓵 on Aug 25, 2023 16:30:26 GMT -5
I have literally never seen it done the second way unless you count fanfics. It just seems way off to me, like if you were to put a space before a comma, so I've always gone with the first way.
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Post by Brownie on Aug 25, 2023 16:42:52 GMT -5
Ive seen both but prefer the latter
Then again I've read books that use 'x' as quotation marks and other odd choices so it really is what fits and what you like
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#f0a9e4
Name Colour
Captain Americat
"Don't frown, someone could be falling in love with your smile." - Teen Wolf
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Post by Captain Americat on Aug 25, 2023 18:00:28 GMT -5
Yeah, I don’t really like the “just write” either bc the whole point is I can’t write. So forcing it doesn’t help much. A lot of times listening to music or watching tv/movies helps for me to get back to writing.
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Post by Saint Ambrosef on Aug 25, 2023 18:22:57 GMT -5
I use em dashes without spaces on either end. That's usually how they are in published media I read, as well.
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Post by valleylight on Aug 25, 2023 19:55:25 GMT -5
Thanks everybody for the feedback! I think I’ll probably try to transition to no spaces for academic writing especially, and tend towards my usual spacing with stories (depending on the vibe, kind of play it by ear.)
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#f0a9e4
Name Colour
Captain Americat
"Don't frown, someone could be falling in love with your smile." - Teen Wolf
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Post by Captain Americat on Aug 26, 2023 17:32:27 GMT -5
hey!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 27, 2023 6:12:38 GMT -5
Hello!
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#f0a9e4
Name Colour
Captain Americat
"Don't frown, someone could be falling in love with your smile." - Teen Wolf
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Post by Captain Americat on Aug 27, 2023 16:48:52 GMT -5
What's up?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 27, 2023 17:10:49 GMT -5
Nothing much, but we can't chat on here I don't think, as this is a tread to talk about writing!
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Post by Saint Ambrosef on Aug 27, 2023 18:30:55 GMT -5
you can chat here lol
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Post by *Ɗαɾƙρσσℓ* on Aug 28, 2023 14:56:40 GMT -5
Coming in a bit late but oh well. "Just write" from a non-writer can be agitating cause they don't get what you're doing and what it requires, but I think it's generally intended as a way of saying "you can do it" so I try not to mind it too much lol
In my experience in writing spaces and in how I've used it personally, among writers "just write" or "write anyways" is more just telling you you need to practice like you would any other artform tbh. It's not really an absolute solution for a particular writing problem. When you're having issues with wording a scene or idea, or arranging a narrative/solving a plot problem/figuring out a character, that has a pretty broad range of solutions and they tend to vary by writer. Some people need to take a break and think about it, some might need to work on another project or artform, some might talk it out with a person who knows their wip or is a fellow writer, some might work on a more detailed outline or multiple outlines if they're caught between ideas, some might need to do more research on something or gather some inspo, or yeah sometimes the solution is practice and editing. Up to you to figure out what you need to progress around specific writing issues. When I'm in a funk my way around it tends to be either switching projects for a bit or writing random "for fun" scenes that aren't necessarily connected to the main narrative. In figuring out character arcs I've found it helpful to talk about it with someone and get some outside input. There's lots of ways to get over writing issues tbh, don't be too fazed by other people's input if you're confident in your process.
Also in terms of the dashes I think the first usage is correct but I always personally wanna write them in what is definitely the wrong way which is "Examplepaw— the most foolish cat in hypotheticalclan —spoke out at the gathering." Always have to go back and fix it afterward but that is how the sentence feels in my head idk how to explain it.
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#f0a9e4
Name Colour
Captain Americat
"Don't frown, someone could be falling in love with your smile." - Teen Wolf
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Post by Captain Americat on Aug 28, 2023 16:46:42 GMT -5
Nothing much, but we can't chat on here I don't think, as this is a tread to talk about writing! We can chat here, haha. It's a chat thread for us writers, but we don't have to just talk about writing XD We can talk about whatever we want to, haha.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 28, 2023 19:06:25 GMT -5
Nothing much, but we can't chat on here I don't think, as this is a tread to talk about writing! We can chat here, haha. It's a chat thread for us writers, but we don't have to just talk about writing XD We can talk about whatever we want to, haha. Okay then! How's your week been? Have you been working on any writing projects or gotten into new books/shows you'd didn't think you'd like?
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