Frustrated Writer Support Group

[Ookla she/her]

I've been away all day and just got back to catch up on the thread--you guys are giving some FANTASTIC advice!

TL;DR -- Let go of fears and be bold; let yourself write; build your legacy through the ideas you express and the stories you create, even if they're not very good, because someone will think it super awesome one day!  

Always, just keep writing. You don't have to feel like you're good at it; you don't have to feel passion for it every time you sit down at your writing-spot; you don't even have to write something publishable. Take all that pressure off yourself--let go of all your fears, because that's what these pressures really are. What matters is that you show up regularly and CREATE. The act of creation, I think, is what's important--why we all love to write so much. Sure, getting published is cool, but at least for me, it's the process of making something new that gives me joy.

It doesn't matter if it's good--it's yours, and it tells your story in a small way. It shows your journey. Becomes a part of your legacy. One day, your descendants (or even you) will look at what you've written and say, 'Man! It is SO COOL that [your name here] loved to write so much! I feel like I can get to know them through this stuff, and these ideas are awesome!' I don't think they'll care if it was good or not, because it connects them to you, and that's what matters.

If you don't write, though, they won't be able to get to know you that way. If you don't write, the world won't get to see how cool you are. And if you don't write, and you're a writer at heart, then the not-writing will eat away at you and make you feel worse. I've taken month-long breaks from writing before--and when I do, I feel like I'm going insane. I feel so much better, and less discombobulated, when I allow myself the freedom to imagine, to dream, and to write it down and see what happens!
 

... Um... I wasn't expecting this spiel to go on so long... But it's not all my ideas. The bit about fear and the bit about legacies came from presenters at LTUE the last couple days. Hopefully it's encouraging, because it's meant to be!  

[RoyalBeeMage he/him]

7 minutes ago, Ookla said:

I've been away all day and just got back to catch up on the thread--you guys are giving some FANTASTIC advice!

TL;DR -- Let go of fears and be bold; let yourself write; build your legacy through the ideas you express and the stories you create, even if they're not very good, because someone will think it super awesome one day!  

Always, just keep writing. You don't have to feel like you're good at it; you don't have to feel passion for it every time you sit down at your writing-spot; you don't even have to write something publishable. Take all that pressure off yourself--let go of all your fears, because that's what these pressures really are. What matters is that you show up regularly and CREATE. The act of creation, I think, is what's important--why we all love to write so much. Sure, getting published is cool, but at least for me, it's the process of making something new that gives me joy.

It doesn't matter if it's good--it's yours, and it tells your story in a small way. It shows your journey. Becomes a part of your legacy. One day, your descendants (or even you) will look at what you've written and say, 'Man! It is SO COOL that [your name here] loved to write so much! I feel like I can get to know them through this stuff, and these ideas are awesome!' I don't think they'll care if it was good or not, because it connects them to you, and that's what matters.

If you don't write, though, they won't be able to get to know you that way. If you don't write, the world won't get to see how cool you are. And if you don't write, and you're a writer at heart, then the not-writing will eat away at you and make you feel worse. I've taken month-long breaks from writing before--and when I do, I feel like I'm going insane. I feel so much better, and less discombobulated, when I allow myself the freedom to imagine, to dream, and to write it down and see what happens!
 

... Um... I wasn't expecting this spiel to go on so long... But it's not all my ideas. The bit about fear and the bit about legacies came from presenters at LTUE the last couple days. Hopefully it's encouraging, because it's meant to be!  

thank you for that. that gives me some motivation to start writing again. got an interesting plan that i have been playing with for a few days but i might start writing it now. the working name is monster hunting in London. i don't know if it will stay in London. probably will change

[Ookla she/her]

11 minutes ago, RoyalBeeMage said:

thank you for that. that gives me some motivation to start writing again. got an interesting plan that i have been playing with for a few days but i might start writing it now. the working name is monster hunting in London. i don't know if it will stay in London. probably will change

That sounds super cool! I'd love to hear more when you're ready to share it!

[RoyalBeeMage he/him]

2 minutes ago, Ookla said:

That sounds super cool! I'd love to hear more when you're ready to share it!

i would love to share. it is about a group of teens (15-16) who are amateur monster hunters. one of them finds some powerful artifact that turns them into some weird daylight/dawn ish monster hybrid at night. some dragon-human hybrids try to recrit him as the champion of the dawn to fight against the monsters of the night(evil monsters who want to destroy the world). he tries to say no but then someone gets kidnaped by a evil monster and he has to work with them to get her back. 

that's all i really have so far.

[Ookla she/her]

3 minutes ago, RoyalBeeMage said:

i would love to share. it is about a group of teens (15-16) who are amateur monster hunters. one of them finds some powerful artifact that turns them into some weird daylight/dawn ish monster hybrid at night. some dragon-human hybrids try to recrit him as the champion of the dawn to fight against the monsters of the night(evil monsters who want to destroy the world). he tries to say no but then someone gets kidnaped by a evil monster and he has to work with them to get her back. 

that's all i really have so far.

Ooh! I love it! You've got an awesome conflict there! 

[RoyalBeeMage he/him]

Just now, Ookla said:

Ooh! I love it! You've got an awesome conflict there! 

thank you. oh i forgot to mention. its run a little like a RPG where you have to complete quests and quotas to unlock better gear and tools. lets just say that the evil monsters might be a bit above their level.

[Ookla she/her]

1 minute ago, RoyalBeeMage said:

thank you. oh i forgot to mention. its run a little like a RPG where you have to complete quests and quotas to unlock better gear and tools. lets just say that the evil monsters might be a bit above their level.

Hehehe. Dungeons & Dragons, but a book! Dude, I'm just getting more and more excited at this point! Let me know how it goes! If you ever need a brainstorming session, I'd love to throw out some random ideas!

[RoyalBeeMage he/him]

Just now, Ookla said:

Hehehe. Dungeons & Dragons, but a book! Dude, I'm just getting more and more excited at this point! Let me know how it goes! If you ever need a brainstorming session, I'd love to throw out some random ideas!

yeah thats kind of what i was aiming for. throw your ideas away. i don't have much more of the planing done past what i have shared with you so far.

[Ookla she/her]

1 minute ago, RoyalBeeMage said:

yeah thats kind of what i was aiming for. throw your ideas away. i don't have much more of the planing done past what i have shared with you so far.

Sweet! Can I PM you so we don't overflood this thread?

[RoyalBeeMage he/him]

12 minutes ago, Ookla said:

Sweet! Can I PM you so we don't overflood this thread?

feel free.

[Thaidakar the Ghostblood he/him]

Y'all, I am here because I need to remind y'all writers who are just starting out about outlines.

When you think of an outline, or when I at least think of one, I think of x heading about y character. That is okay, that is a cool outline and I reccomend doing something like that, at least for your characters to get the ideas out of year head and onto paper. 

What I'm talking about, however, is not that.  Outlining, the deeper meaning of it, at least, is the map of your story. Now, when people talk about this, they usually say like "Ah, yes, bullet points with scenes and such." Now, I really did not understand what that truly meant till yesterday.

An outline is not a scene by scene summary, at least it doesn't have to be. An outline is a map to what you want to write. Now, what does that mean? It means that it is not the whole thing. It is different things about what different sections of your story will be. For me, I put down all the stuff I have thought of and can think of that I want in broad terms besides some specific scenes into my outline. This works for me because I write in a very discovery writer way where I basically improvise stuff and keep all the character arcs in my subconscious while I do it, just letting the characters write themselves mostly.

Outlines do not have to be specifics or any of all that. An outline is a brief scaffolding set up for your book that you can then use to make a more stable first draft. Then, that outline can help you with the later drafts so you can see what you did wrong structurally and fix it.

And, if you need a far more detailed outline, than that's good too! Or if you don't like outlines and are a discovery writer, then don't follow my advice.

[Hmmm lies she/her]

Wow, a perfect place for me.

Writing a novela, and noticing that one of my POV characters is easier to write and more interesting than the other. I, naturally, wish this wasn't the case.

Also all of my alpha readers are lazy have things to do, so I don't have much feedback.

[RoyalBeeMage he/him]

4 minutes ago, Hmmm lies said:

Wow, a perfect place for me.

Writing a novela, and noticing that one of my POV characters is easier to write and more interesting than the other. I, naturally, wish this wasn't the case.

Also all of my alpha readers are lazy have things to do, so I don't have much feedback.

i would be happy to provide feedback if i can

[Hmmm lies she/her]

3 minutes ago, RoyalBeeMage said:

i would be happy to provide feedback if i can

Alright, I'll PM you. Do note this is my first real writing project. Also there are still around 6K words to go.

[Ookla she/her]

10 hours ago, Hmmm lies said:

Alright, I'll PM you. Do note this is my first real writing project. Also there are still around 6K words to go.

Only 6K? You're doing good! The latest draft of my WIP has (by my estimate) at least 10-15K+ left for me to write!

[Hmmm lies she/her]

Well I've been working on it for almost 4 months now, and it's only going to be about 25K words. (Although, I might end up extending it tbh)

[RoyalBeeMage he/him]

27 minutes ago, Ookla said:

Only 6K? You're doing good! The latest draft of my WIP has (by my estimate) at least 10-15K+ left for me to write!

i have about 30k... not doing so good

[Ookla she/her]

19 hours ago, RoyalBeeMage said:

i have about 30k... not doing so good

You've got this! Just keep pushing forward!  

[RoyalBeeMage he/him]

1 hour ago, Ookla said:

You've got this! Just keep pushing forward!  

thank you. i am getting there hopefully

[Hmmm lies she/her]

A fun thing about writing is, if you are ever feeling stuck, just work on your worldbuilding notes.

[RoyalBeeMage he/him]

3 hours ago, Hmmm lies said:

A fun thing about writing is, if you are ever feeling stuck, just work on your worldbuilding notes.

or a difrent book. that always works for me

[Little_Dagger she/her]

Hey, guys, I just want to share something I've recently found. There is a website called Reedsy that holds weekly short-story competitions (1-3k words), where they release a prompt and let people from all over the world take a stab at it. You can submit your story for free if you just want it to be posted on the website or pay $5 to enter the contest. I found it to be super helpful for inspiration, because for each new prompt there are 300+ short stories to read each week.

Also, it's a safe way to experiment with a topic, take a break from a larger project when you are stuck and just write something different and new. If you are curious, here is the link (I'm not in any way affiliated with the website, but I did submit two stories there and really enjoyed the experience).

 Hope you'll find it helpful!

[Thaidakar the Ghostblood he/him]

Ahh, the little joys of writing.

Typos.

I accidentally wrote "He walked up to the sink and splashed some hair into his face and let it ripple through his hair." 

I'm pondering whether I should keep it for a few drafts or not.

[RoyalBeeMage he/him]

1 hour ago, Thaidakar the Ghostblood said:

Ahh, the little joys of writing.

Typos.

I accidentally wrote "He walked up to the sink and splashed some hair into his face and let it ripple through his hair." 

I'm pondering whether I should keep it for a few drafts or not.

keep it. see what revision thaid says when he remembers it

[Ookla she/her]

Working on revisions for my novella. Last round, it capped out at about 56K words. This time, I've just hit 25K and I'm already a lot farther forward in the plot than I was last time. I've heard the advice that says to write the thing as long as it needs to be to tell the story the way it ought to be told, but it's very discouraging to realize that I'm so much shorter than I was before, particularly in a format that's already really short. It's possible my brain is just sick and tired of this project (actually, that's probable; I've started jumping back to other stories when I'm bored instead of the one I'm trying to finish revising), and I might need a break, but I want to be writing and I want to be writing this project so I can finally try and get something published.

The other thing that's bugging me is that, due to plot changes, I've lost most of my favorite scenes from the previous draft. My poor MC has about gone through hell and back, and she's not done yet, and she hasn't gotten a chance to sit back and chill for a chapter or two. Unfortunately, I can't quite see how to give her the break she deserves before I, ah, kill her unicorn and make her sit through the volcanic eruption that results (It's magic system stuff; in this world, unicorns are so pure that when one gets killed the earth responds--usually violently. And they're going to be on an island that formed volcanically, and technically the volcano is only dormant, so... yeah).

Gah.

Aight. Back to work for a few minutes before I have to leave for school...