Writing • Page 17

I've got about one scene left to write for my story... and it's the last scene

I can't help but feel bittersweet about this 4-5 year experience (of writing the actual story) coming to a close. Does anyone have any general "what now" suggestions if I want to publish this thing in the hopes anyone wants to read it?

 

Have people whose opinions you trust read it first

 

Besides that! I've already chosen my select few to read it. I'm also part of a workshop group so I'll be printing copies and sharing it with them if/when we ever get more than 1-2 people to join the group. So I'm mostly asking beyond the editing and revision process, how does one begin the publication process for a story about 100 pages long (on Word)?

 

A year ago I was able to write poems. Unfortunately, I've lost that talent and miss that very much.

 

Idk if this belongs in here per se but
For class we had to give a presentation about something personal to our identity and include a creative representation of it such as a song or comic or zine or poem etc etc

So I talked about body positivity and performed a slam poem bc it’s the only thing I can remotely do creatively
It was my first time ‘performing’ a poem though so that was interesting

I got a lot of really positive feedback which made me very happy

 

I finished my story.

What a surreal feeling.

 

I have 65 named characters for my first book so far and I haven't started writing. It will probably be closer to 90 when it's done

 

Thinking of purchasing this software to make a map for my world, thoughts?

Wonderdraft

 

starting point for the world my story takes place in

 

Anyone listen to any good writing podcasts?

 

interested to know this too.

Also, what do you guys use to write? Word? Google docs? Typewriter?

I'm thinking of using Google docs so I can easily access it from work.

 

Word since it’s industry standard

 

Managed the first 1,450 words today. What a rush. Haven't written anything like this in years.

 

Been planning out a series of novellas and short stories that all connect around one moment in time, but are otherwise disconnected. Just wrote the opening little section (~4 pages) that each of them will begin with to show that they're connected.

 

so who here has a writing blog?

I have a tumblr, had it for over a decade now lol, but i'm uninterested in continuing it. I actually made a wordpress today hoping to consolidate the excess shit and revised a couple poems and posted them on there if anyone is interested. I'll be trying to update it fairly regularly with a new poem/prose piece bc i eventually want to delete my tumblr for good and switch over to this

One Bird Speaks

 

Well I guess I might as well post here. It's been a dream of mine for years to be a novelist but for one reason or another I never end up finishing anything. But I'm determined to actually have something to show you guys by either the middle of this year or the end of the year. I don't have enough confidence to share the idea I have in this thread, but if anyone's interested I can PM some of the details to you.

In the meantime, I'll share this. This was an assignment I did for a creative writing class the one semester I actually went to college. The class was honestly fucking stupid (it was just the professor talking about the famous people he knew for 3 hours) but it's whatever. I did get enjoyment out of these assignments called word salons where you're given one word and you have to make a story using it only once. The word for this one was "wind". Now, bear in mind that I almost never write in 3rd person because for me, writing is a very personal thing and 3rd person feels, well, too impersonal. But I'm still very happy with how this came out.

"Clein stands at the edge of a cliff with the city below. "Is this it?", he inquires. "No, the journey has just begun", Lanneya responds with a melodic quality to her voice. Keeping a placid smile, she says "Your journey is not straightforward. View it like the wind. A continuous current that carries you along." "Yeah, I guess so. And we're all like fish, swimming down that continuous current." Clein is almost dumbfounded by his own words, but he has gained a new confidence. Lanneya smiles back, and they're ready to start the next chapter."

It's not something I plan on expanding at all, but I have used variations of the scene in other things I've written. A sort of signature thing of mine, if you will.

 

Don’t tell me not a single one of you poor souls is daring enough to share your creative writing blog? Must I beg, so as to better develop ourselves as a tiny writing community? Friends, I want to read your innermost thoughts and I want you to read mine!

 

I used to track my progress on my old Tumblr but I don't use Tumblr anymore. I've considered making a WordPress or something, but I dunno. Still undecided.

 

I have a wordpress but I don’t post anything other than old pieces from college and random free writing blogs. I don’t put anything up I may eventually want to sell.

garrettmlemons.wordpress.com

 

managed to finish the prologue. Sitting at 6,687 words and 10 pages. Only 33 chapters and an epilogue left to go.

this might take some time..

 

Hi guys, I attend a weekly group in Washington DC for a 2-hour writing workshop. I recently became organizer and it made me think to suggest it to you guys in case you live in the area. We write whatever we want for one hour, then read (if we want)/politely listen and share feedback. It's super informal and it's a small group, but it's been incredibly helpful in keeping me actively writing and meeting other budding authors. It's also just fun and something to look forward to every week.

Here's the meetup page on the off-chance you guys live near DC and are interested: DC Creative Writing Read & Critique (Washington, DC)

 

Writers, how do you describe the characters of your stories, appearance-wise, without it being too clunky? I don't want to just dump a host of details like complexion, body type, posture, etc on a reader. But I also don't want to leave them in the dark.

 

What I'd do is probably introduce the character in the midst of an action, but carefully describe how they're doing it. And when I say "an action," I mean something that gives them a sense of identity. Give small details that deal with the character's physical appearance. In my opinion, you should be able to capture a character's identity by gently revealing smaller details of their appearance, rather than bluntly summarizing. Here's an example from Murakami, an author I respect a lot:

 

is it first, second, or third POV? Close or omniscient?

 

Third, omniscient. Kinda like Game of Thrones or Malazan.