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What's On Your Mind About Your Writing?

rwm4768

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Got about 1,700 words in today, and in the process, I realized that my two epic fantasy projects take place in the same fantasy universe. I hadn't intended that, but it's kind of cool.

Now I'm toying with the idea of having all my various epic fantasy projects taking place in the same universe (and maybe finding ways to make some subtle overlap happen, or perhaps not-so-subtle).
 

Chris P

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Got about 1,700 words in today, and in the process, I realized that my two epic fantasy projects take place in the same fantasy universe. I hadn't intended that, but it's kind of cool.

Now I'm toying with the idea of having all my various epic fantasy projects taking place in the same universe (and maybe finding ways to make some subtle overlap happen, or perhaps not-so-subtle).

That's cool. Might be your brain telling you to go for it. I write contemporary, so I was tempted for a while to set all my books in the same fictitious city and state my first novella took place in. I decided against it because, ironically, using real places opened more doors. I wasn't tied to the climate or geography of the imaginary city.

What's on my mind about my writing is that I haven't been doing much of it, much less submitting or querying. I'm in the final few months of my time in Uganda, and between trying to finish up and anxiety over what's next (I have no idea!) I can't get any momentum going.
 

Animad345

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When will my dream agent read my manuscript and respond?! It's been eight weeks and I am freaking out! On the website it says to wait ten to twelve weeks, but it's driving me up the wall...
 

buz

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I rewrote a problematic section of a manuscript that I'd already rewritten a bajillion times and then realized I screwed up the sequence of events so they don't make sense.

AAAAHHHH

I'm getting closer every time I rewrite it, but...I think I can only handle this one more time...:p

Hopefully that's all it'll take. ;)

Also, BRURUWRHUEHGURHRGUABIUFBISCDHSCHEVSC
 

aguywhotypes

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I discovered today what I really want to write is an interactive story. The reader gets to choose at certain points what they would do and the outcome is dependent upon their choices.
 

southbel

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I keep getting distracted today. Hate when I do that. Focus - so easy to say, so hard to do.
 

Gunga Din

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I just discovered a fantastic author who was a screenplay writer and his style is amazing. If you have not heard of him, check out Marshall Karp.
 

rwm4768

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I wrote about 3,000 words today and hit the 40,000 mark. So I'm (hopefully) about a third of the way through the novel. This one is also looking like something I'll finish. The only time I got farther into a book and didn't finish it was when I did NaNoWriMo during a very unstable period of my life.
 

triceretops

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I have a hard time focusing anymore. It used to be so much easier when I was younger, or even a couple of years ago. Now I can't...ooh, fluffy tailed, fat bottom squirrel!

Yep. I'm so much there at this point. Energy levels are down and inspiration seems to have taken wing for some reason. I need a shot of "happy" something.

tri
 

WriteMinded

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I think I'd be doing better if I could just lost those extra pounds I gained over the holidays. Yeah, that was a while back, wasn't it? Weight goes up, word count goes down. Up. Down. Up. Down.
 

Papaya

Unfold your own myth. - Rumi
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I have a feeling I’m going to be doing more of a rewrite than I originally planned. After months away from it, I skimmed over sections of the novel, and quite a few weak sentences jumped out at me. It’s amazing how fast a poor sentence can suck the tension out of a scene. Bottom line, I know I can tell this story in a more artful way. Turns out, time away was valuable in more ways than one.

What I have to decide is how much I want to mess with the plotline. I’m relatively happy with it, as is, but I’ve had all sorts of ideas that might make the story even stronger. I think I’ll just take it chapter by chapter, and see if changes feel appropriate.

Truth be told, I’m kind of relieved I can delay deciding what to do with it after it’s done. Plus, I’m excited for the rewrite, which is a first, I think.
 

mailtime

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I finished my first novel two years ago. One very important rejection said I wasn't quite up to traditional publication level. Have I read enough, studied enough, practiced enough to reach that level?
 

phantasy

I write weird stories.
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This might sound horrible, but when I write some scary scenes, I start giggling.

Wasn't sure why at first but I think I find them over the top sometimes. I mean you have basically tell the tale like you're sitting around the campfire, telling scary stories, waiting for your friends/audience to scream. It's a little much sometimes but you have to be to really push an emotion through I think. It's probably also because I'm an older sister and there's something about telling stories that's similar to bothering your siblings. In both situations, you try and manipulate the emotions of your audience.

Ok, so I'm terrible. :)
 

mailtime

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I'm getting a literary beat down right now, and it sucks. If this were boxing, I just hit the canvas, and my vision's blurry.
 

RedRose

By any other name...
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I'm up to chapter nine of a new story ... my instincts are telling me to work on this before I get to the second book of my YA fantasy. Some days are better than others. I always think just because I haven't written anything on certain days, it doesn't mean I'm not writing. There are some days you have to fill up your imagination/life tank. I might be thinking things over, trying to see my characters better, letting it sit in my subconscious so it somehow creates order when I write. If I get stuck, I do whatever I need to get out of it, unless I'm stuck for a very good reason--like I need to think things through and go deeper. I have fun.
 

VRanger

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What I have to decide is how much I want to mess with the plotline. I’m relatively happy with it, as is, but I’ve had all sorts of ideas that might make the story even stronger. I think I’ll just take it chapter by chapter, and see if changes feel appropriate.

Forgive me for being new to the landscape and the participants here. If this is all you're ever going to write, I'd say fiddle with the plot all you want.

If you write a lot of titles, or want to, I'd say think about taking note of those ideas and save them for later.

Patton said, "A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week."

So maybe a good book, finished now, is better than a perfect book next year. LOL

Now, I need to go take my own advice and probably just completely dump that one chapter worrying me so I can finish my current effort.
 

Blinkk

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I have nothing close to writers block. I still haven't written in a month straight. My schedule is way too busy and it's killing me. There's so much I want to write, so many scenes and so many new characters, but this is one of the busiest times of the year for me. I'm itching to have a day off and go to the library. Oddly enough, tomorrow is such a day, but the library is CLOSED.

My heart is sad.
 

southbel

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You know how you read something and think, "I could do better than that." Well, what about if you read something and think, "Crap, my writing sucks in comparison to this?" It's stressing me the hell out.
 

VRanger

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I can relate. One of the very first realizations I had about writing is that if you want to write a brilliant character, you might have to be even smarter than you want that character to be. :) At the time I was reading Gordon Dickson's "Tactics of Mistake", which was about a brilliant young military officer. I wondered if I could ever match such plotting.

A few years later when I read it again I wasn't as impressed.

If I leave a WIP for a while and go back to read it to "catch up" and get back in that frame of mind, sometimes I really like it and wonder if I can re-capture whatever I was doing to write what I really liked. It's tough to wonder if you can be as good as you! LOL

That happened to me just this afternoon. I pulled out something I wrote two chapters of some time back to stick the first three sentences in that thread. I wound up reading both chapters and kicking myself that I haven't written more of it yet. I liked it. I don't consider it bragging, for if we don't like what we write then what the heck are we doing?

Go back and read something you wrote and haven't read for a while. Do you like it as much as authors you've recently tried out? You very well might.

If you don't, think about what they did and compare. Any time we stop learning and stop improving, we're done.
 

rwm4768

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Got another 3,000 words written today in Lightweaver. I'm both excited and worried about the project. Excited because it's a departure from the usual type of plot I write. Worried because it's a departure from the usual type of plot I write.

It's a fair bit slower and more character-driven than my other epic fantasy project. A lot of the conflict is more internal. The characters end up questioning their beliefs.

There is some action, and there will be plenty toward the end (and later on in the series), but I'm still worried about it. What if it's boring?
 

PandaMan

Panda girls are the best!
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I sometimes feel torn between writing and photography. I love both and need both in my life. Sometimes they compete for my attention but at other times they clearly complement and influence each other.
 

triceretops

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At least I finished the massive rewrite on the science article and turned it in. If it comes back for more revision, at least I know it won't be such a huge assignment. I think I've about nailed it.

On the other hand, my sequel to Planet Janitor has been sitting for six months at 44,000 words. It's calling out to me. So is a small young reader picture book that needs about six pages completely re-written. There's no gun to my head--only the one I've placed there for these two projects.

tri
 

folkchick

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Not doing so good here. I'm in a bad situation--been that way for years, but I stayed quiet for my kids, and now it's at the point where I can't do it anymore. Which means I'll probably have to stop writing. When I wrote my first book--in the afternoons while the kids swam and played or took naps or watched Spongebob—I was told my writing was "killing the family" because I stretched the activity into the evening. So I stayed up all night. That got to be too tough. So I got up early in the mornings and wrote. For years. Good lord, how I have tried. I'll go get a job at a supermarket. I don't know. Probably won't have any internet for a good, long while. As painful as the idea of giving up actively writing is, at least I'll be free again, me and my kids. But yeah, it's my birthday and life kind of sucks right now.
 

LupineMoon

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This might sound horrible, but when I write some scary scenes, I start giggling.

Wasn't sure why at first but I think I find them over the top sometimes. I mean you have basically tell the tale like you're sitting around the campfire, telling scary stories, waiting for your friends/audience to scream. It's a little much sometimes but you have to be to really push an emotion through I think. It's probably also because I'm an older sister and there's something about telling stories that's similar to bothering your siblings. In both situations, you try and manipulate the emotions of your audience.

Ok, so I'm terrible. :)

That's not horrible. I get an adrenaline rush when I write gruesome scenes, which I think is more horrible.