I'm trying to get back into writing after about 8 years. It's astonishing to me how much my writing has changed since then. What's on my mind? Trying to figure out this new voice that's coming out on the page.
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Basic Writing questions is not a crit forum. All crits belong in Share Your Work
What's On Your Mind About Your Writing?
- Thread starter Undercover
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Feels good to take a break after completing a very long first draft. Found a book online that will help me with future edits. It's nice not being stressed about jumping into another project. Maybe I'll do a super short one soon, but I don't have a monkey on my back pushing me onward. I can read leisurely!
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10,000!That's incredible.
I know, right? Even I can't believe it.
What kinds of characters do you like? Create characters based on people you admire.
Oh,10,000 is just incredible. You were white hot. Check that. You were nuclear hot. I've never done that before. Don't think I could.
10,000 is fantastic, that's awesome.
Reservoir Angel, what do you need them for? Are you getting bored with the current ones, or does the world feel underpopulated, or something else?
Reservoir Angel, what do you need them for? Are you getting bored with the current ones, or does the world feel underpopulated, or something else?
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Yesterday I wrote 2,000 on a manuscript and about 2,500 in another, for a grand total of 4,000 words. Today, I just finished writing my first 2,000 words of the day and now I'm in my second 2,000 on the same manuscript to write another 2,000 on my other manuscript. Don't worry. You're amazing.
Yes. It happened 2 days ago and I still can't believe it.
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Just watched The Man Who Invented Christmas last night on Amazon Prime and all of Dickens' characters came out of his head and laughed at him (a lot), and that's how I feel most of my writing goes. Anyone who can do 10k in day has my respect and a fair amount of envy thrown at them!
Magiee19:
Magiee19:
I finished my novel 
It landed at 73,000 words which I think is pretty perfect.
Now I'm a little lost because I don't have a WIP anymore... and I still love the story I just wrote. Still don't have an idea for my next novel so I'm just floating around with no creative outlet.
It landed at 73,000 words which I think is pretty perfect.
Now I'm a little lost because I don't have a WIP anymore... and I still love the story I just wrote. Still don't have an idea for my next novel so I'm just floating around with no creative outlet.
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I finished my novel
It landed at 73,000 words which I think is pretty perfect.
Now I'm a little lost because I don't have a WIP anymore... and I still love the story I just wrote. Still don't have an idea for my next novel so I'm just floating around with no creative outlet.
Wow! That must be amazing: pretty perfect and you're still in love with it.
I feel like I don't have enough to carry a proper world in the story. Like I'm trying to force all the heavy lifting entirely on the main characters because I don't have any other ones who feel like actual people yet.
I'm currently working on my prose after deciding that I can't use simple sentences a hundred percent of the time. Another improvement I decided to adopt is I'm memorized a 250 word list of strong verbs like "dangle" and "pluck". I award myself extra points for using a strong verb in a compound or complex sentence.
Oh yes, can't forget the commas and their placement either.
So that's where I'm at now.
Oh yes, can't forget the commas and their placement either.
So that's where I'm at now.
Wow! That must be amazing: pretty perfect and you're still in love with it.
Thanks
Yeah, it wasn't one of those "I guess I should finish this stupid draft" kind of stories, I just kept happily writing until the story was told.
Now I'm getting my sister (alpha reader) to read it, then maybe some beta readers, and then who knows? Maybe they'll like it as much as I do and I'll publish the thing!
I finished three short story writing projects in a day! I'm so pleased. I'm going to try and do a lighthearted one, then launch into writing a murder mystery for the first time. I'm looking forward to it.
you know your story best--but I thought I'd throw out there that small casts are okay, too. There are "tricks" you can use to make the world feel bigger if your preference is to focus on a tight group of characters.
I wish I could work on everything at once. There are short stories I want to write but also the novel calls, begging to be edited.
I'm debating whether to send my partially written 25,000 word MG to my agent. She doesn't even know I started one. They are difficult little suckers to write--more of a pain than YA. I'll tackle YA any day. MG is a different animal of sorts. I don't want her to heave it back in my face and say, "Uh, not quite."
Sigh. I--despite being a girl myself--can't get attached to any of my girl characters. I don't know why.
Sigh. I--despite being a girl myself--can't get attached to any of my girl characters. I don't know why.
What do you mean by "attached"? I have several female characters that I adore. I have several female characters that I'm not attached to. Regardless of my status, I write them anyway.
If you flip the gender, same is true for male characters. Some I adore, some I don't identify with. Have you tried the exercise where you purposely write an MC that you don't identify with?
Sigh. I--despite being a girl myself--can't get attached to any of my girl characters. I don't know why.
Interesting. I am a guy but when the character is male I found it actually harder to write, because I automatically think like myself and the male character starts to think like me, so I am always sort of writing about myself in some way. When the character is a girl it is easier because I have no idea how a girl thinks, so it becomes a more objective exercise of making something up according to the outline of the story.
I'm currently editing a young adult novel I wrote a couple years back. And by editing, I mean pretty much rewriting the whole thing. 
But I keep getting stuck because I'm afraid it'll never come together the way I want it to. It's easier to procrastinate than it is to confront my fears of failure.
I usually write a paragraph or two, then obsessively polish them for a few days before moving on, but that's not getting me anywhere. So tonight, I sat down and blocked out a chapter, cutting/pasting old passages into some semblance of order and filling in the gaps with stuff like "and put some descriptions in here" or "they argue back and forth for a few lines." It is super rough, but I can see it taking shape. This isn't the way I normally write, but I think I really need a change.
But I keep getting stuck because I'm afraid it'll never come together the way I want it to. It's easier to procrastinate than it is to confront my fears of failure. I usually write a paragraph or two, then obsessively polish them for a few days before moving on, but that's not getting me anywhere. So tonight, I sat down and blocked out a chapter, cutting/pasting old passages into some semblance of order and filling in the gaps with stuff like "and put some descriptions in here" or "they argue back and forth for a few lines." It is super rough, but I can see it taking shape. This isn't the way I normally write, but I think I really need a change.