indigowriting

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You gotta write for funsies sometimes. Everything doesn’t have to be groundbreaking. Like. Who cares if it’s a little silly it is made out of love

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How I Wrote A Novel.

This, in a nutshell, is what I did to get a book with my name on it.

NOTE: This is just my personal way of making the words go. Other people have different ways to make their words go. In the world of words, there are no right answers. There’s just lots and lots of tea/coffee/tear stains.

1). The Idea

When I get an idea for a story, I open up a document, label it “Brainstorming,” and start making a bullet list of events that consist of the plot.

It has to be an idea with tangible weight. A stray bit of dialogue or something vague like Halloween, that doesn’t give me much to work off of. Halloween creatures living on the same street where it’s Autumn every day- now that’s something I can build from.

What kinds of creatures are they? What do they do? What do their houses look like? The best ideas are the ones that spark more.

2). First Draft

This is the easy part- and the most challenging. Easy, because there’s literally no bar. I just sat there and typed. But it’s a huge mental challenge.

When I was in first draft mode, I wanted that story out. I thought that by making it such a rough, far-away version from the concept in my head, I was only delaying the day where I’d hold it in my hands. Turns out, that’s what got it to take on physical form in the first place. So I quieted down, grabbed my laptop and some hot tea, and typed.

3). Dissecting the First Draft

After I finished draft one, I printed it all off and highlighted the scant amounts that were passable for the next phase. Dialogue, descriptions, setting- anything that didn’t look like it was up to par was scratched out and omitted.

I call the above pictures A Slow Descent Into Madness.

4). The Second Draft

On a fresh document, I rewrote the story altogether- and it make a difference. I was coming up with things I hadn’t even thought of previously. And it was surprising how much better the plot was than the first time around. But it was still rough.

5). Draft Three

My method was to start with the bigger, more obvious issues and work my way down. Any plot holes I found were noted, and my outline was constantly under revision. I cut out entire scenes and made mental notes on ways they could be fixed/replaced.

This is where I started cutting chapters in half to make the story flow better- but I didn’t bother writing in usable chapter titles. Instead, I improvised:

6). Drafts Four and Five

These were dedicated to correcting the smaller, less obvious plot holes. This was the point where the story finally started to look close to what would become the final version.

7). Drafts Seven Onward

With the story line looking how I wanted, I then moved on to sentence structure. That one song that looked terrible? Rewritten. Over-the-top descriptions and excessive prose? Gone.

8). Editing and Proofing

This is where I had outside help. Besides this useful tool, I had two people check for spelling issues and the overall story. Once it was in decent shape to be made public, I asked for some additional help.

9). Betas

My betas were in the age range that my novel was geared toward, along with a couple of teachers and parents (as it was middle grade). I gave them the full manuscript, along with seven basic questions like “Which characters were your favorite/least favorite and why?” and “Was there a part of the story that didn’t make sense?”

I gave my betas three months to read a 42,590 word story, and by the end they gave me back the review sheets.

10). Final Adjustments

After I read over the reviews, I let the comments sit for three days so that I could proceed with a clear head. I smoothed out any flaws, scanned over the MS twice to make sure everything was right, and that is how I got to the end of writing my first novel.

Next comes publishing- which is a different beast entirely.

#writing resources

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hate the english language. like dont piss me off

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not sure how to go about this, since this is my first time actually having a completed draft of a novel-length work, but! i'm going to start second drafting [REDACTED] wip soon, and i want to get suggestions on what should be added/removed/altered (i have my own thoughts, but i'd like some second opions). so, if you're interested in giving me your impressions on [REDACTED] wip's first draft, please let me know! (rough wip intro, slightly out of date)

#no idea how to tag this so i'm just tossing it out here in the hopes that it'll get seen #writeblr #indigo ink

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Then again, she supposes, she’d never seen the true Yu Xiyan until recently. It’s hardly as if she herself is unfamiliar with masks. Here, in this strange place, in this strange time, peeling herself out of the vestments of her past, she is more aware of the mask than ever—more aware that it has slipped, that it has been shattered into pieces on the ground by Yu Xiyan’s own hand. She hadn’t had any say in it, and she’d been kind about it, and that, maybe, is the worse part—that she had been kind, then, and angry, now. She, who is now without a name, sheds the skin of a snake in heavy, multitudinous red layers, each falling away like a physical weight from her shoulders, until all she’s left in are her inner robes, and then those, too fall.

giving myself the freedom to just write codas rather than working on my second draft and yeah i think letting them marinate in my head for a bit really helped because this coda has so much more presence than the novel does at the moment.

#writing excerpt #[REDACTED] wip #it's really fun honestly. i haven't written much but i love being in zxs' head #indigo ink

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oops sent the last a little early. here's what I meant to send.

from this ask game: 17: What writing habits or rituals do you have?, 24: Favourite genre to write and read, 25: Favourite part of writing

thanks for the ask!

17: What writing habits or rituals do you have?

for about the last year or so, i've been in the habit of writing at least one hundred words per day—any sort of writing, academic, fiction, or personal. i find that doing this has improved my ability to just. sit down and write my actual, creative writing projects. the other habit i have is that i tend to use writing as a reward for other things—if i finish x assignment, i'm allowed to write x amount on a project i have (usually 1k or one scene, depending on which one is more).

24: Favourite genre to write and read

i love reading science fiction! especially any sort of science fiction that is either, 1. based on a humorous concept (funny scifi i've enjoyed: fuzzy nation, and red shirts, both by john scalzi—though these are basically the only things by him that i like), or 2. which take a concept that seems absurd at the outset, and engage with it entirely seriously and rigorously (like the locked tomb series, or echopraxia). on the other hand, i'm not..........the best at writing proper, hard science fiction, even though i enjoy it. i've discovered over the past few years that i do enjoy and am good at writing historically-inspired science fiction, though, which is a good blend of my personal, academic, and literary interests.

25: Favourite part of writing

i adore prose. i just love it so deeply. i love describing things and i love putting meaning into the text through references or implications or one-off mentions. it makes me so very happy.

#games #inbox #indigo ink

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A Writer’s Ask Game

Send me an ask with the number(s) you’d like me to answer!

The Basics 1.     Do you listen to music when you write? 2.     Are you a pantser or plotter? 3.     Computer or pen and paper? 4.     Have you ever been published, or do you want to be published? 5.     How much writing do you get done on an average day? 6.     Single or multiple POV? 7.     Standalone or series? 8.     Oldest WIP 9.     Current WIP 10.  Do you set yourself deadlines?

The Specifics 11.  Books and/or authors who influenced you the most 12.  Describe your perfect writing space 13.  Describe your writing process from idea to polished 14.  How do you deal with self-doubts? 15.  How do you deal with writer’s block? 16.  How many drafts do you need until you’re satisfied with a project? 17.  What writing habits or rituals do you have? 18.  If you could collaborate with anyone, who would it be, and what would you write about? 19.  How do you keep yourself motivated? 20.  How many WIPs and story ideas do you have?

The Favourites 21.  Who is/are your favourite character(s) to write? 22.  Who is/are your favourite pairing(s) to write? 23.  Favourite author 24.  Favourite genre to write and read 25.  Favourite part of writing 26.  Favourite writing program 27.  Favourite line/scene 28.  Favourite side character 29.  Favourite villain 30.  Favourite idea you haven’t started on yet

The Dark 31.  Least favourite part of writing 32.  Most difficult character to write 33.  Have you ever killed a main character? 34.  What was the hardest scene you ever had to write? 35.  What scene/story are you least looking forward to writing?

The Fun 36.  Last sentence you wrote 37.  First sentence or your current WIP 38.  Weirdest story idea you’ve ever had 39.  Weirdest character concept you’ve ever had 40.  Share some backstory for one of your characters

The Rest of It 41.  Any advice for new/beginning/young writers? 42.  How do you feel about love triangles? 43.  What do you do if/when characters don’t follow the outline? 44.  How much research do you do? 45.  How much world building do you do? 46.  Do you reread your own stories? 47.  Best way to procrastinate 48.  What’s the most self-insert character/scene you’ve ever written? 49.  Which character would you most want to be friends with, if they were real? 50.  [Other question—ask me anything]

#games

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What i made instead of writing.....

#writer's problems

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Question for my writer/artist friends:

#concept! then characters #misc writeblr posts

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Some of my writer’s block cures:

Handwrite. (If you already are, write in a different coloured pen.)

Write outside or at a different location.

Read.

Look up some writing prompts.

Take a break. Do something different. Comeback to it later.

Write something else. (A different WIP, a poem, a quick short story, etc.)

Find inspiring writing music playlists on YouTube. (Themed music, POV playlists, ambient music, etc.)

Do some character or story prompts/questions to get a better idea of who or what you’re writing.

Word sprints. Set a timer and write as much as you can. Not a lot of time to overthink things.

Set your own goals and deadlines.

Write another scene from your WIP. (You don’t have to write in order.) Write a scene you want to write, or the ending. (You can change it or scrap it if it doesn’t fit into your story later.)

Write a scene for your WIP that you will never post/add to your story. A prologue, a different P.O.V., how your characters would react in a situation that’s not in your story, a flashback, etc.

Write down a bunch of ideas. Things that could happen, thing that will never happen, good things, bad things.

Change the weather (in the story of course.)

Feel free to add your own.

#misc writeblr posts

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Anyone who talks to me knows that when I start talking about writing, they have about point five seconds before I start shilling for obsidian.md. I made a post about why I use and love it here, and in it I mentioned plugins, which a few people were interested in.

There are so many plugins, an absolute plethora (I have about 40 or so on my main vault at the moment), but today I’m just going to cover my top 10 plugins for writers using obsidian!

presented in no particular order, and below a cut because it's pretty long.

(note: I’ve included links to the github repositories for all the plugins, but to find and install them in Obsidian, just search their names in ‘community plugins’ in the app!)

Templates

First up is a simple core plugin, that if you aren’t using it already…why??? I have so many questions about how you function ANYWAY

If you’re doing any kind of repetitive Writing Task, make a template. Character profile? Template. Worldbuilding note? Template. Scene? Template. Chapter? Template literally i have templates for everything. Set yourself a hotkey (I use ctrl+t), and let your dreams run wild with not having to write out the same information over and over and over again.

This is also vvv useful if you want to get into using metadata, because you can guarantee you don’t forget to add a field. (I might make a post with some of my templates later, if people are interested in some examples?)

Setting them up is very straightforward: enable ‘Templates’ under Core Plugins in Settings, set a folder in your vault to be a designated templates folder, and that’s it! Keep any templates you make in that folder, and go wild. As mentioned I use them for page structures, but also for things I don’t want to remember. Like tricky dataview queries, or infobox/callout structures. You can be so lazy if you make templates for everything, you’ll wish you had them in every app, I stg.

(You can use various other plugins in conjunction with templates to make them even more useful, such as QuickAdd and Commander, which I might talk about in another post if folks are interested.)

Workspaces & Workspaces+

Workspaces+ on github

Okay, so technically this is two plugins but Workspaces is a core features, and Workspaces+ adds extra functionality. At this point I’ve been using W+ for so long I genuinely do not remember which features are core and which it added. If there is one plugin I refuse to live without, it’s this one.

Workspaces are layouts you can save within obsidian: setups of tabs, sidebars, notes, etc. This is a fantastic bit of functionality that lets you make obsidian into an absolute powerhouse of seperate contexts. I set them up for different projects within my main vault (I have a workspace for my Obedience fics, one for my art projects, one for research, and many more), and for different needs in my worldbuilding vault (worldbuilding, outlining, writing, research etc).

Workspaces+ makes managing and creating your workspaces a lot smoother, and gives you the option to auto-save changes when you switch, which I like because my workspaces are very much active, living things that I don’t want to remember to re-save every time I change between them.

A NOTE!! - keep backups. keep backups, because sometimes - it’s happened to me twice - if you are syncing vaults between devices, the workspaces file can get wiped, and you do not want to have to rebuild them all from scratch. this is good advice generally, but KEEP BACKUPS! DO IT!

Longform

Longform on github

this is theeee writing plugin for obsidian. everyone recommends it, and that’s because it’s good! especially if you’re coming from Scrivener, as it adds a little of that flavour back into Obsidian.

with it, you can drag-and-drop re-arrange your scenes and chapters in the sidebar, which native Obsidian doesn’t let you do. my favourite feature is the project wordcount, because I like seeing The Numbers Go Up, and it will also show you per-scene wordcount, and you can set targets! (i don’t use the targets feature much, though, i track my words with Pacemaker)

it also has an export function that i have not played much with, but it worked very nicely to give me a basic file for the first draft of one of my long-fics, so that was pretty useful!

Kanban

Kanban on github

do you like outlining? do you like to-do lists? do you like drag-and-drop? me too, i have nothing else going on. i’ve been using kanban for book to-do’s for a while, and i’ve recently fallen in love with it for outlining chapters: yes, I can re-arrange things with longform, but with Kanban i can mark my scenes with various notes, and give myself a good visual overview of plot balance, and drag things around to arrange my book!

using it, i do recommend playing with some css snippets to add some lane wrapping, to get multiple lanes stacking. unless you like side-scrolling, i guess. (this is the one I use, which I got off the discord ages ago and I cannot remember who posted it, I'm so sorry TT_TT)

my top rec for using kanban in planning is to have lanes for ‘backlog’ ‘up next’ ‘active’ and ‘done’. this way you can list out all the million things you need to do, without getting overwhelmed about doing all of them at once.

completr / Various Complements

compltr on github / Various Complements on github

i have a lot of words to type and sometimes, i don’t want to type all of them! that’s where autocomplete comes in. I vacillate between the two, because VC has a tendency to lag my poor tiny laptop, but otherwise it’s great!

VC is the one if you’re doing worldbuilding, because the linking you can do is a lot faster, and it helps you remember all those ridiculous fantasy names you don’t want to type over and over and over. both have good settings for autocompleting/suggesting in metadata though, which is fantastic because then you don’t do what I used to do, which is forget how i structured my data and have four different versions of the same field.

however. neither are as good as the autocomplete from Libreoffice, which i miss dearly and is the only thing that is constantly tempting me to go back to drafting there.

Outliner

Outliner on github

This is a small and simple plugin, that adds some extra features to lists. I find it very handy because a lot of my outlining is done in bullet-points, and being able to quickly move items up and down a list with a simple button press is very handy for me.

Dataview

Dataview on github / Dataview documentation

okay so. strictly you don’t need this for writing. HOWEVER. if you like data, and organising, and tracking things for your writing, dataview is The One. It’s the one for auto-generating lists and tables, and you can, I’ve heard, do some buckwild things with it.

I am a simple man, and I use it in my writing for a handful of simple things: auto-listing characters and places in worldbuilding; making tables listing characters & plotlines & scene wordcounts; keeping track of my wips.

I’m not going to try and explain how it works here, there is an entire set of in-depth documentation for that. (also Danny Hatcher has a short and simple intro to the plugin here.)

Basically, anything you can add in metadata, you can pull into a dataview query. Status, character, plot — it’s the customisation thing again. There is no default, you get to pick what’s important to you, and then display it!

Here are some examples of my queries & their results, to give you an idea of what’s possible:

Left side: a query pulling the current fanfics I'm working on. Right side: what that table looks like in Reading Mode

Left side: queries pulling characters from the Renegade Prince series by race. Right side: What those tables look like in Reading Mode (each one displays the same, only filtered by the 'race' field I have in the characters metadata)

copy document as html

copy document as html on github

Another small, simple plugin that has been the saviour of my obsidian-to-AO3 export process for months. All it does is allow you to copy a note as HTML. That’s it. Which you can then paste into AO3’s HTML editor, clean up slightly, and be good to go.

For extra bonus points, you can set it up with a hotkey (or a commander plugin button, which. commander is a plugin tale for another list but OH BOY IT’S GREAT) and just one-click go. Fantastic.

I like it because much as I love obsidian, exporting things into other non-markdown programs can kinda be a pain. That is one of its weak points IMO. There are also plugins for exporting things in other formats, but that’s beyond the scope of this post.

Colourful Tag

Colourful Tag on github

This one I love because a) pretty and b) colour-coded plot tags my beloved. It gives you a simple, straightforward way to make your tags coloured (and to add emoji prefixes!). I use it in conjunction with kanban for outlining, as it gives me a really great way to visually track plotlines & character arcs.

You can see an example of this in the screenshot I posted for my kanban outline.

Smart Typography

Smart Typography on github

And finally, another sweet and simple plugin, that converts quotes to curly quotes, dashes to em-dashes, and periods to ellipses (it does a few other things as well, but those are the main ones). I like it, because I need those things for writing! Nothing complicated, just a neat little quality of life improvement that’s great for writers.

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And that's my top ten plugins! as always, shoot me any questions you have about these or anything else I do with obsidian, I'm always happy to answer. I'm aware there's so much you can do with the app, it can be overwhelming if you're just starting out.

As I said, I do use a BUNCH of other plugins for things that are not specifically focused on my writing, so I can always talk about QOL and other types of plugins that I use another time, if folks are interested?

Thank you so much for reading all of this if you made it all the way to the bottom. I genuinely adore obsidian and everything you can do with it, so it's really fun to write these posts!

#writing resources

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‘the point of fiction is to build the world we want to see!’ respectfully. No It Is Not.

#the point of [REDACTED] wip is 'would that be fun and fucked up or what' #misc writeblr posts

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What Eleanor meant to do: Use lightning magic to subdue the gnomes and burn away the vines binding herself and Mick. What Eleanor actually did: That, but also set the forest on fire.

Chapter six starting off great.

#writing excerpt #oh that is HILARIOUS

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betrayal! (for the ask game, specifically)

thanks for the ask! this is a very fun question :)

betrayal: Has your OC ever been betrayed by someone they thought they could trust? Has your OC ever betrayed someone who trusted them?

i can't think of times yu xiyan has betrayed anyone or been betrayed, but zhu xuanshu? oh, yeah. so much. some imperial court members she was raised by conspired to try and assassinate her and pin the death on her mother in an attempt to get her removed from the court. zhu xuanshu then spent the next fifteen-odd years systemically destroying their lives from behind the scenes, nevermind the regular betrayals being in a position like a court eunuch demands—saying the eastern bureau has some of the highest rates of betraying anyone who isn't literally the emperor wouldn't be an exaggeration; it's practically in their job description.

#games #[REDACTED] wip #inbox #i hope this reply makes sense! i've stared at english words so much today they're starting to look fake #indigo ink

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oc asks: not-so-nice edition

alone: How does your OC deal with loneliness? Have they ever been completely alone before? How do they act when there's no one around to see them?

betrayal: Has your OC ever been betrayed by someone they thought they could trust? Has your OC ever betrayed someone who trusted them?

bound: Has your OC ever been imprisoned or captured? What happened? How did they get out? Did the experience leave any scars?

break: What would cause your OC to break down completely? What do they look like when that happens? Has anyone ever seen them at their lowest?

desire: What's one thing your OC wants more than anything in the world? Are they open with that desire? Why or why not? What would they do to fulfill it?

failure: What's your OC's greatest failure? Have they been able to move past it? Does anyone else know about it?

fear: What is your OC's greatest fear? What do they do when confronted with it? Are they open with their fear, or do they hide it away?

future: What's the worst possible future for your OC? Are they taking steps to avoid that outcome? Are they even aware it's a possibility?

ghost: Who or what haunts your OC? What happened? How do they live with their ghosts?

guilt: What is your OC guilty about? How do they handle their guilt? Do they try to avoid guilt, or do they accept it?

hate: What does your OC hate? Why? How do they act towards the object of their hatred?

heartbreak: Have they ever had a relationship that ended badly? Experienced some other kind of heartbreak? What happened?

hide: What does your OC hide? Why do they hide it?

hunt: Who or what is your OC hunted by? A person, a feeling, a past mistake? Is your OC able to let their guard down, or are they constantly alert?

mask: Does your OC wear a mask, literally or figuratively? What goes on beneath it? Is there anyone in their life who gets to see who they are under the mask?

midnight: What keeps your OC up at night? Do they have nightmares? Fears? Anxieties? What do they do in the small hours of the morning when they should be sleeping?

mistake: What's the worst mistake your OC ever made? What led to them making it? Have they been able to fix it? How have they moved on?

monster: Is your OC monstrous in any way? Is there something that makes them monstrous? Are they aware of their own monstrosity? Do they accept it or reject it?

nightmare: What does your OC have nightmares about? How do they deal with their nightmares? Do they tell people, or keep it to themself?

pain: What's the worst pain your OC has ever felt? Do they have a high pain tolerance?

secret: What's one secret your OC never wants anyone to know about them?

skin: How comfortable is your OC in their skin? Do they grapple with anything that lives inside them—a beast, a curse, a failure, a monster? How do they face the smallest, weakest, most horrible version of themself? Are they able to acknowledge it at all?

torture: Has your OC ever been tortured? Would your OC ever torture someone else?

wound: How does your OC handle being wounded? Are their wounds mostly physical? Mental? Emotional? What's the worst wound your OC has ever experienced?

#games #this sounds fun! ask me for [REDACTED] wip :)

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calling all authors!!

i have just stumbled upon the most beautiful public document i have ever laid eyes on. this also goes for anyone whose pastimes include any sort of character creation. may i present, the HOLY GRAIL:

https://www.fbiic.gov/public/2008/nov/Naming_practice_guide_UK_2006.pdf

this wonderful 88-page piece has step by step breakdowns of how names work in different cultures! i needed to know how to name a Muslim character it has already helped me SO MUCH and i’ve known about it for all of 15 minutes!! i am thoroughly amazed and i just needed to share with you guys 

#writing resources

[indigowriting]

being a writer is so embarassing. i'm sitting on my bed, bopping to my music, kicking my feet, imagining scenarios. and i'm looking at internet pages about asbestos.

#writer's problems