So what do people think of including non-English words in a mainly English story? Like having a Hispanic-American referring to his father as papi?
I hope to have at least 100 pages of the book written by the end of January.
The more I write the more characters I add.
If I am going to kill off a character I need to include him in more scenes to make his death more impactful. Hopefully, it’s a gut wrenching surprise when it happens.
I am hoping this book is at minimum 200 pages long but considering I still have a lot of ground to cover it might be longer, which I wouldn’t mind.
NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is a wonderful event where writers connect with each other and support each other throughout the month of November, all in hopes of reaching a goal of 50,000 written words by the end of the month. This is a really fun month long opportunity to focus on your writing projects in the coziness of November. I am personally in need of the camaraderie this year to get to the finish line a couple of personal projects.
We have just built the a group on Facebook for witchy writers participating in NaNoWriMo. The goal of this group is to offer an inspiring and encouraging space for writers planning on writing witchcraft, magic, divination, metaphysics, and/or supernatural topics. Whether you plan on following the traditional path or have less conventional goals (like I do), I invite you to join!
This is so far a small group and a wonderful opportunity to work side by side with other writers. If you have any questions please feel free to leave them in the comments or send me a DM.
Sometimes I wonder why I bother making plans, since things so seldom go the way I hope they will, even when I’m working hard to make them. March, in this case, featured a lot of health nonsense, and a number of demands on my time—and, as a result, I wasn’t able to write as often as I wanted to. Despite that, I’m proud of the fact that I managed to mostly stay on-track with my biggest goal during March, and make the days I wasable to write really count.
Total wordcount: 9, 046
Highlights:
I did, in fact, go back to the novel rewrite the way I’d planned to, writing about 4.3k of it, which was about half of the total words I wrote in March
I finished the short piece I’d started at the end of February—a Steter birthday piece for asarcasticwitch, which can be found here
Sometimes I wonder why I bother making plans, since things so seldom go the way I hope they will, even when I’m working hard to make them. March, in this case, featured a lot of health nonsense, and a number of demands on my time—and, as a result, I wasn’t able to write as often as I wanted to. Despite that, I’m proud of the fact that I managed to mostly stay on-track with my biggest goal during March, and make the days I wasable to write really count.
Total wordcount: 9, 046
Highlights:
I did, in fact, go back to the novel rewrite the way I’d planned to, writing about 4.3k of it, which was about half of the total words I wrote in March
I finished the short piece I’d started at the end of February—a Steter birthday piece for asarcasticwitch, which can be found here
Sometimes I wonder why I bother making plans, since things so seldom go the way I hope they will, even when I’m working hard to make them. March, in this case, featured a lot of health nonsense, and a number of demands on my time—and, as a result, I wasn’t able to write as often as I wanted to. Despite that, I’m proud of the fact that I managed to mostly stay on-track with my biggest goal during March, and make the days I wasable to write really count.
Total wordcount: 9, 046
Highlights:
I did, in fact, go back to the novel rewrite the way I’d planned to, writing about 4.3k of it, which was about half of the total words I wrote in March
I finished the short piece I’d started at the end of February—a Steter birthday piece for asarcasticwitch, which can be found here
Sometimes I wonder why I bother making plans, since things so seldom go the way I hope they will, even when I’m working hard to make them. March, in this case, featured a lot of health nonsense, and a number of demands on my time—and, as a result, I wasn’t able to write as often as I wanted to. Despite that, I’m proud of the fact that I managed to mostly stay on-track with my biggest goal during March, and make the days I wasable to write really count.
Total wordcount: 9, 046
Highlights:
I did, in fact, go back to the novel rewrite the way I’d planned to, writing about 4.3k of it, which was about half of the total words I wrote in March
I finished the short piece I’d started at the end of February—a Steter birthday piece for asarcasticwitch, which can be found here
Sometimes I wonder why I bother making plans, since things so seldom go the way I hope they will, even when I’m working hard to make them. March, in this case, featured a lot of health nonsense, and a number of demands on my time—and, as a result, I wasn’t able to write as often as I wanted to. Despite that, I’m proud of the fact that I managed to mostly stay on-track with my biggest goal during March, and make the days I wasable to write really count.
Total wordcount: 9, 046
Highlights:
I did, in fact, go back to the novel rewrite the way I’d planned to, writing about 4.3k of it, which was about half of the total words I wrote in March
I finished the short piece I’d started at the end of February—a Steter birthday piece for asarcasticwitch, which can be found here
When programmers invented rubber duck debugging they were right but what they don’t tell you is that this also works for like 90% of other complex intellectual tasks. Nothing solves a problem faster than just trying to explain it to somebody.
so i just googled the phrase “toeing out of his shoes” to make sure it was an actual thing
and the results were:
it’s all fanfiction
which reminds me that i’ve only ever seen the phrase “carding fingers through his hair” and people describing things like “he’s tall, all lean muscle and long fingers,” like that formula of “they’re ____, all ___ and ____” or whatever in fic
idk i just find it interesting that there are certain phrases that just sort of evolve in fandom and become prevalent in fic bc everyone reads each other’s works and then writes their own and certain phrases stick
i wish i knew more about linguistics so i could actually talk about it in an intelligent manner, but yeah i thought that was kinda cool
Ha! Love it!
One of my fave authors from ages ago used the phrase “a little helplessly” (like “he reached his arms out, a little helplessly”) in EVERY fic she wrote. She never pointed it out—there just came a point where I noticed it like an Easter egg. So I literally *just* wrote it into my in-progress fic this weekend as an homage only I would notice. <3
To me it’s still the quintessential “two dudes doing each other” phrase.
I think different fic communities develop different phrases too! You can (usually) date a mid 00s lj fic (or someone who came of age in that style) by the way questions are posed and answered in the narration, e.g. “And Patrick? Is not okay with this.” and by the way sex scenes are peppered with “and, yeah.” I remember one Frerard fic that did this so much that it became grating, but overall I loved the lj style because it sounded so much like how real people talk.
Another classic phrase: wondering how far down the _ goes. I’ve seen it mostly with freckles, but also with scars, tattoos, and on one memorable occasion, body glitter at a club. Often paired with the realization during sexy times that “yeah, the __ went all they way down.” I’ve seen this SO much in fic and never anywhere else
whoa, i remember reading lj fics with all of those phrases! i also remember a similar thing in teen wolf fics in particular - they often say “and derek was covered in dirt, which. fantastic.” like using “which” as a sentence-ender or at least like sprinkling it throughout the story in ways published books just don’t.
LINGUISTICS!!!! COMMUNITIES CREATING PHRASES AND SLANG AND SHAPING LANGUAGE IN NEW WAYS!!!!!!!
I love this. Though I don’t think of myself as fantastic writer, by any means, I know the way I write was shaped more by fanfiction and than actual novels.
I think so much of it has to do with how fanfiction is written in a way that feels real. conversations carry in a way that doesn’t feel forced and is like actual interactions. Thoughts stop in the middle of sentences.
The coherency isn’t lost, it just marries itself to the reader in a different way. A way that shapes that reader/writer and I find that so beautiful.
FASCINATING
and it poses an intellectual question of whether the value we assign to fanfic conversational prose would translate at all to someone who reads predominantly contemporary literature. as writers who grew up on the internet find their way into publishing houses, what does this mean for the future of contemporary literature? how much bleed over will there be?
we’ve already seen this phenomenon begin with hot garbage like 50 shades, and the mainstream public took to its shitty overuse of conversational prose like it was a refreshing drink of water. what will this mean for more wide-reaching fiction?
I’m sure someone could start researching this even now, with writers like Rainbow Rowell and Naomi Novik who have roots in fandom. (If anyone does this project pleasetell me!) It would be interesting to compare, say, a corpus of a writer’s fanfic with their published fiction (and maybe with a body of their nonfiction, such as their tweets or emails), using the types of author-identification techniques that were used to determine that J.K. Rowling was Robert Galbraith.
In an earlier discussion, Is French fanfic more like written or spoken French?, people mentioned that French fanfic is a bit more literary than one might expect (it generally uses the written-only tense called the passé simple, rather than the spoken-only tense called the passé composé). So it’s not clear to what extent the same would hold for English fic as well – is it just a couple phrases, like “toeing out of his shoes”? Are the google results influenced by the fact that most published books aren’t available in full text online? Or is there broader stuff going on? Sounds like a good thesis project for someone!
You know those things you think you can’t write because they’re an emotion not a plot?
Tryoneshots!
Oneshots are great because they can be just a single scene or moment. They allow you to write that one conversation you want to write without needing to create a whole story around it.
You wish you could just write about that character getting a damn hug for once? Do it! Who needs a huge context? Just put it out there!
Oneshots, people! Write them read them. Love them. They’re awesome.
May I also suggest for consideration, the drabble?
100 words. Just enough for that trivial exchange you can’t get out of your head. Or a sucker punch of an emotional moment. All with a handy word limit to give it a ‘writers challenge’ credential.
And if you need a little extra, a double drabble!
And if you’re looking to explore a character or a relationship in more than 100 words but still without having to have plot, may I suggest my favorite form, the 10x100?
Ten separate drabbles of 100 words each, all little windows into a life or a pairing or a place or whatever tf you want. I use them to figure out who characters are and how they’ve changed over time. Has the bonus of feeling artistic and moody and meaningful even though you just slapped ten disjointed thoughts together and called it a day.
I’ll also add, since some people may think “But do readers want to read that?”
Yes. I want to read that.
Sometimes I want to read fic but my fave stories haven’t updated recently and I am not mentally ready to commit to a new, long story. Short fics like these are perfect for those moments. They scratch the itch I have for fic without becoming a big time commitment, or the dread that the story I’m loving may never be finished. They’re the perfect, say, lunchbreak read. I love oneshots for this reason. Write them, people will read them.
Also, one of my favorite things about fanfic as a genre?
Emotion is a plot.
I discovered this and haven’t ever looked back.
Fanfic is a character-drivem genre, rather than a traditional plot driven genre. We come for the characters, for thier emotions, for thier interactions with each other. That is the plot.
Don’t sell yourself short, as I used to, by saying you don’t have a plot because all you have are emotions. Emotions can and do spiral into complex stories.
…….take a look at my stupid high word count based solely on comfort the sad boi he is hurt
(Pls note: I fully support all of the above advice. This is just an extra idea that actually got me into writing)
So last year I wrote this piece for my Minimum Standards Practise Test. I got level 4 (The Highest) and was pretty proud of my result. Anyways here it is. The question asked was “If you could go back in time where would you go”
So, you want to know where I would go if I was given the opportunity to travel back in time? At first glance, I might’ve said something along the lines of; ‘To reconcile with my past self’ or 'To watch a large historical event take place’. Alas, this question requires a larger quantity of thought than that. The question refers to you as going back in time, not stating whether or not you could go back to where you began. If the offer was to go back and not return to the exact point of which you left I would not go anywhere. Let’s assume for the following that it also included the ability to go forward, how many times would I be able to move fluidly through time. If I get one chance, one moment to go back and glimpse at myself the smartest act would be to preserve my chance, so when I lay cold and full on my deathbed I can go back in time and watch my happiest moment play through my head one last time.
But! But, but, but, but! Say I was given more than one chance to fluidly fold through the veil of time, my choice would be very different. Sure I would go back and watch everything play out, I have a rule not to change any events, but after that what would I do? Now we come to another question, am I travelling alone? If Doctor Who is anything to go off then travelling by oneself might become empty and tiresome. Although if I was alone there is one thing I would do. I would test time and her laws myself. Travelling through time I would test theories, change minor events and see how much I can do before time snaps. Can two of the exact same beings exist at the same time? What happens if I kill something in the future and bring it to the past, what effect would that have on the future? Alas if I did do this I would be driven to complete my final question. What happens to me if I kill myself in the past?
It’s quite clear to see that sending me back in time alone is a very bad idea but there is one last and final question you must ask about the situation, can I choose where I come out? If I could fluidly travel back and to the point I left in time, if I could travel with a partner and if I could travel more than once then can I have the ability of teleportation ingrained into that? This question is vital as if you went back in time and found yourself, in a hostile place, inside a mountain as the ground level changes over time, your body contorted into a tree as one has existed where you stood or witch no currency and no way to travel the entire aspect of time travel is completely ruined. Unless you could somehow see the exact place that you are going to at that exact point in time so your body would still remain whole I would not travel at all.
Although I did say the previous question was my 'last question’ there are so many more that must be addressed before even attempting to go through time. A main one of which is how will you get there and in what form? On the topic of 'how’ I refer as to whether this is an ability, you can do with your mind or an ability you can do with a vehicle or enclosure. Inside an enclosed area would be the safest way to travel if you could bend around time. Bend around the objects that are there at that time and completely prevent the last problem from even existing. Although the form is very important too. Will I be able to touch things or simply spectate in a ghostly apparition. Not being able to touch things would ruin most of my plans.
Now that my queries have been addressed I would like to give you the answer you’ve been waiting for all this time. if i could go back in time, bend around the objects that are there, influence and touch the world, travel with others, be able to teleport, control where I go from my mind without an enclosure, travel to the moment I started at, do it more than once and see where I would appear directly before I do I would explore the wonders of the world. I would grow old with a friend, I would show artists how great they became, I would see the paths of history truly play out as they happened, I would be the mysterious stranger know throughout time for helping others. I would become a myth, a hero, a legend. I wouldn’t go back in time and change the person that I am, I would go back and help people. Because if my deepest desire is to go and help, I wouldn’t need to change a thing.
Hi guys, okay new to Tumblr and trying to locate the amazing community of authors and artists I heard so much about in here!
A little about myself.
I’m from Denmark and am writing my first book called “the truth about hell” I am self taught in English so has a long way to go with editing and rewriting but that’s part of writing am I right?
I am also avid reader and love art. I have a whole library at home as my friends call it, due to collecting books since I was a preteen. I also is a huge fan of anime, though in the later years have falled a little off the vagon but wanna try and get back into it! I would love to find others that has some of the same interests as me and it seems like they’re is some amazing ppl in here that have just that! If anyone is interested in fangirling over series like supernatural, Sherlock Holmes and marvel or the likes or even books I am down! Or heck even talk about the book they’re written or have already written!
