ghastly-words

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Returning to writeblr?

Wow, I sure haven’t used this blog in a long time! I got real sick last year and so my productivity went way down. BUT--I’m doing a little better now, feeling productive and looking to get back into writing, so I guess this is a tentative return to this blog.

I really, really want to take my writing more seriously now. But my confidence in my skills took a huge hit, and all my projects are big things, so perhaps I should should start small? Relearn how to write and all that lol.

If anyone has any tips on how to slowly get back into writing, I’d love to hear them!

#writeblr #ghastly speaks #my posts

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Writers,

Right now, you're working on someone's favorite book. Keep going.

#YES #writing #motivation #positivity

[ghastly-words]

There’s an audience for everything! There’s an audience for everyone! Sure, one person might hate what it is you’re planning, but it’s another reader’s dream come true. Focus on the support you’ll get, don’t dwell on the negativity!

And, of course, it would help to write it, so we can get to that part a little faster.

#writing #motivation #positivity

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It’s a constant state of being 

#lol #relatable #writing

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Seeing a lot of new faces around Writeblr...

So the anxious, overprotective parent in me feels the need to drop a dime.

I cannot say this strongly enough: PROTECT YOUR WORK. Don’t rely on anyone else, or common decency, to do this for you. There is an entire branch of legal practice devoted to arguing about intellectual property (frequently short-handed as IP) rights. If there’s an entire branch of legal practice devoted to arguing about a thing, it means that it’s important (and often, that there’s big money at stake).

A few good strategies to protect your work/IP:

1) KNOW YOUR PLATFORM. Every platform has different rules. Some have more robust IP protection than others. Here are Tumblr’s:

HOWEVER (AND THIS IS IMPORTANT!!): other platforms do not necessarily have the same protections. I regret to say that I have personal experience with this as far as Discord and other DM services go; DM services have almost no protection, even with date/time stamps, while most blogs have protections akin to Tumblr.

2) Put all of your OC–art, writing, whatever–under a Read More tag. This ensures that if you ever choose to delete it, it really disappears from Tumblr, because even people’s reblogs won’t have the text–only a link to an abandoned page.

3) Limit how much OC you share. I know, this is Writeblr, sharing is kind of the point. What I mean is, don’t share long, continuous chunks of text. I’ve learned over time to keep it to 1-2 pages (~300-800 words).

4) This one is a kick in the head, and I’m sorry: there are people who have no qualms or scruples about stealing the hard work of others. The law of averages dictates that some of them are on Writeblr. My life experience outside of Writeblr tells me that wolves wear sheep’s clothing, and I see no reason to expect that would be any different here.

Be safe, my darling creators.

#writing #advice

[ghastly-words]

250 words = 1 book page

OUT: I wrote only 1,000 words today :/

IN: I wrote FOUR whole pages of my book! ♡

#writing #positivity #motivation

[ghastly-words]

Remember that with each first draft you have:

Some fantastic writing, some writing which you might not have even realized was beautiful when you wrote it, some writing which will still be there through rewrites and revisions because it was just that good.

Some terrible writing, writing that’s just absolutely awful and you’ll have to rework once or twice or even three times.

This is normal and okay. 

Some days the words come at us like a glorious hurricane and carry us away, and other days that hurricane drowns us instead. It doesn’t mean you’re a bad writer. And it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t write on the bad days.

No word is worth less than any other in your rough draft, except for the words you didn’t write.

#writing #motivation

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Why, oh, why is it so damn tricky to name characters sometimes? I’ve had this wip for 2 months now and the main characters are still just written down as Dad and Daughter 😂

#well i still have a lot of brainstorming/plotting to do #so maybe the names will just pop out at me sometime soon #ghastly speaks #my posts

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One day I’m gonna read a bestseller with your name on it

#YES #motivation #positivity #writing

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I would advise any beginning writer to write the first drafts as if no one else will ever read them — without a thought about publication — and only in the last draft to consider how the work will look from the outside.

Anne Tyler (via writingdotcoffee)

#writing #advice

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OKAY LISTEN UP YOU BEAUTIFUL OC-DEVELOPING FIENDS

After my long and lengthy years of developing characters (not really) I have a nugget of wisdom for y’all.

Do this:

Look. You don’t need any artistic talent. Hell, this could be a vaguely brain-shaped oval with some words in it.

But the point of this is that you draw your character’s brains and fill it with the things they think of most, the things that matter to them most, the things that are so essential to them that they are nothing without it.

I find that doing this helps so much when shaping a character’s voice, and it visually maps out their personality in a way that character sheets can’t.

For example, my character Isha is logical and she compartmentalizes things, so I drew a more angular design, while Aster’s mind more resembles her anxiety and wandering thoughts.

Yeah that’s all.

Knock yourself out friends.

#this is such a cool idea! #advice #writing

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Your story has no deadline.

Unless you already have a publisher, your story does not need to be finished by a pre-determined time.

Don’t stress about finishing the story NOW.  No one is saying it needs to be done immediately.  Take your time to flesh out the characters, expand on the world they live in, and how they fit into it.

Write down the major plot points you need/want to hit. Jot out what themes you want your story to touch on.  The subplots that’ll happen in the background.

And don’t stress about getting things done in a timely manner.  Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither will your world be.  Take the time, decide what you want to have in your world, and decide what is important enough about the world to have in your story.

I’ve been writing Godlings since 2007, i finished the first draft in 2010, and it’s still not done, though I am getting closer to a product/story I’m happy with :) that’s 11 years to get a story right to the point that I wouldn’t mind others reading it. It’s gone through 3 edits, and currently going through a total re-write.  There is no one saying you need to get it written now.  Take your time and build your world, step by step, brick by brick, and soon enough you’ll have your own Rome.

#writing #motivation #advice

[ghastly-words]

So lately, after watching the movie Dark Shadows, Netflix’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, and playing the game Don’t Starve, it appears I have some new horror idea trying to brew in my head about really Odd characters, in the Oddest of towns, with the Oddest of lore/worldbuilding/etc.

And I’m super excited, but at the same time it’s like brain please we already have a billion things to work on, how could you betray me like this again asdfghjkl

#i just needed to vent about this haha #best to get it out of my system first so i can focus on my actual projects #i love the beginning part of new ideas #when everything is fresh and exciting #best feeling lol #ghastly speaks #my posts

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What are some good tips for getting started with writing a book? I have a concept but i can't put it into place.

Getting Started with Your Story

There’s no one way to start writing a book. For some people, it’s enough to just jump in and start writing to see where the story takes them. If you’re not too keen on that idea, then here is one process (as in, not the only process) that might help you move beyond your concept. 

Concept ≠ Plot

Many writers mistake concept for plot, but they’re actually two very different things. A world where everyone grows up with superpowers is a concept; the plot is what you decide to write about within that concept - the specific characters and what happens to those characters; who your antagonist is and what conflict arises when that antagonist goes after what they want. All of these things contribute to your plot. 

So first, define what it is you actually have at this particular point. Do you just have a concept? If so, you’ll need to take the necessary steps to develop that concept into a plot. 

Concept >>> Plot

If you’ve decided that all you really have is a concept, then how do you take it and turn it into a plot? You brainstorm. All brainstorming really amounts to is expanding your ideas. All you’re doing is asking questions about the concept and delving deep into the answers. 

The most simplistic way to start this process, especially if you’re struggling, is to ask one of two questions (or both, if applicable). These two questions: What could go wrong? What could go right?

Going back to my example about a world where everyone grows up with superpowers. If I were to ask the question “what could go wrong,” I’d end up with a whole list of possibilities. 

The powers suddenly disappear

People start abusing their powers

Someone figures out how to steal powers

A hierarchy of strong vs. weak powers develops, creating superiority/inferiority dynamics

Someone is born without a superpower

There are many more possibilities I didn’t even think of here, but any one (or more) of these could become a plot. Choose one that sounds interesting, and then ask yourself “and then what?” 

Say I choose: Someone figures out how to steal powers. Then what does that person do? Do they recruit people to do the dirty work for them? Do they work alone? Do they hoard these powers and barter them for other goods? Do they attempt to enslave people? Do they attempt to take control of institutions? What do they do?

Your goal is to take your ideas and turn them into actions taken by characters. People doing things. And each piece you add will usually lead into another. If you went with the idea that this character is stealing powers and essentially selling them for other goods, you’d have to ask yourself follow-up questions. First, who are they selling to? Why would anyone buy a new superpower if they already have one? What uses would they have for additional ones? What is the key demographic that this person is trying to reach? Secondly, what are they selling them in exchange for? Money? Favors? Souls? What is this character getting in return?

Now that you’ve examined potential actions that the character takes, you’ve also exposed potential new characters. 

People they’re stealing from

People they’re bargaining with

People that try to police these crimes

People that try to copy this character’s process

At the beginning of this section, I talked about using “what could go right” as another optional jumping off point. This is a good path to follow if your concept is already really negative. For a concept where someone is killing people for some pointed reason, you might ask “what could go right” and explore ideas where the killer is caught and brought to justice. 

The point of all this is to think about change as a means of taking your idea from concept to plot. A concept is static - it doesn’t move, evolve, or change. By developing a plot, you’re forcing the concept to be challenged in some way. If you think about it that way, you’ll be able to formulate conflicts, and the people that orchestrate and fight against those conflicts. 

On that note, I think we’re ready to move onto the third piece of my graphic above. 

Plot = Character Actions and Consequences

At this point, you have sketches for characters. You’ve got this nameless, faceless person that is stealing the powers, and all these other nameless, faceless people that I listed above. In essence, we have character concepts. And just like we turned our initial concept into a plot, we have to turn these character concepts into actual characters. 

The basics are the easiest way to start. You figure out their name, their gender identity, their age, their appearance, some brief backstory and personality traits. I personally prefer the simplest questionnaire that I put together back in the early days because it hits on the poignant pieces of a character without overwhelming you with 100s of questions. 

Now that you’ve given your character concepts names and faces and potential behaviors, you start to consider how one character’s view of the world inspires them to take certain actions, and you then think about how those actions affect your entire story. 

We already kind of talked about the motives of the power thief in our example, but definitely delve deep here. On the surface, this character seems bad - stealing from people and then selling what they steal. But depending on what it is they’re getting in return, could we not argue that this character is a supernatural Robin Hood? Maybe instead of selling, they’re giving, and maybe the characters they’re stealing powers from are people that abuse and misuse their powers. Character motives can take a plot and turn it on its head, forcing you to reconceptualize everything. And that’s okay! That’s part of the process.

But separate from that idea, if we have a character concept of someone whose powers were stolen, and after developing their basic backstory, we discover that person’s name is Rose, and she has an especially close relationship with her brother. So when her powers are stolen, how does this affect her life? Was she using her powers to keep her brother alive and protected? What she using them to keep a roof over their heads? Was she using them as part of her job, as a means of providing? What happens to her life when her powers are stolen? And what will Rose do about it? Whatever Rose does will impact the story. If she does nothing to get her powers back, how does she solve her problems and does that make for a good story? If she does decide to act, then you’ve moved onto a new plot point to dive deeper into.

My point is, character concepts come from plots, but characters themselves often create plot, as their decisions and mistakes and successes create new outcomes. So if I could modify my original flow chart:

Before you develop something, you conceptualize it. You have a concept, then you make it a plot. You have concepts for characters, then you make them characters. And those characters end up driving your plot, to the point that this happens:

Plot inspires character. Character inspires plot. And it just keeps going around and around and around. Breaking it down into these pieces helps organize the process, but developing a story is rarely this neat and tidy. You’ll get ideas that don’t make sense, ideas that aren’t cohesive, characters you don’t need, characters that piss you off, problems you can’t solve, or plot points you’ve committed to that you no longer like…it will be messy. But it’s your mess, and the more you work on developing your own process, the more it’ll make sense to you. And it’ll become easier to know how to go about fixing it when something’s not right. 

Have fun with this process! It’s supposed to be fun. When the pieces start to become clearer, you’re able to put them together in a rough outline. And once you have a rough outline, you can start writing, and really see it take shape. 

-Rebekah

#writing #advice #long post

[ghastly-words]

Ahh, I’ve been away from this blog for too long! I have so much to catch up on and writeblrs to check out :O Quite exciting!

Also, hi to new followers :D

#i thought i'd make a quick post #as i try to jump back into being creative again #ghastly speaks #my posts

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THE FIRST DRAFT:

THE SECOND DRAFT:

THE THIRD + DRAFT:

THE FINAL DRAFT:

Never be discouraged by your first draft!

If you work it long enough, it will bend and mold into your hands until it transforms into whatever you wish— don’t give up!

Also: Never compare your first draft to someone else’s final draft!

There’s a ton of revisions, rewriting, and editing that goes on that readers never get to see. Nobody’s first draft comes out looking like their final draft!

#writing #motivation

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#lol #writing #relatable