the-ninnas-writes

[the-ninnas-writes]

Prompt #39 Stranded in space.

In space, nobody can hear you scream. On the uphand, nobody can you hear you sing, either. "This is ground control to Major Tom. You've really made the grade. And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear..." The name of the astronaut stranded out in space is not Major Tom, but *insert your OC's name and rank*. They float through the void of space, rotating slowly around their own little orbit in the direction of whatever nearest large space body's gravitational pull. Not that they could see much nearby. Most of space is much wider apart than the reach of the human gaze. They've been ejected out into open space from a rushing starcraft, the craft zooming away to one direction, and *name* propelling the way it came from. They've been through all the stages of being ejected out into open space by now. There's an actual list, derived from a research papers studying recovered space-suit recordings and, occasionally, actual survivors.

Technically, someone would hear them sing post mortem, if that were the case, so they'd disabled their suit's blackbox right around the last, seventh stage. The stages are such and typically in the following order: (1) hyperventilating in a state of panic or shock, with only a one percent occurrence of actual screaming, (2) self-negotiating and calming, with a repetition of one's native equivalent of 'okay, okay', (3) fiddling with one's suit to see any signs of nearby crafts, remaining oxygen levels, and attempts at distress calls if possible, (4) crying, (5) making amends with one's god or people in their lives, praying, or a lengthily monologue, (6) a long silence, sometimes interrupted by purposeful, stress-relieving screaming, and finally, (7) an appreciation of space, the zen-ness of the situation, and acceptance, usually signified by singing. *Name* is singing now, having earlier instructed their suit to lock the ability to check oxygen levels and not to notify when breathable gas was critically low, unless overridden by admin. God knows who the admin would be.

"I'm stepping through the door, and I'm floating. In a most peculiar way..."

If they just keep singing, role-playing some other tragic character, and not think about all this, they won't have to question whether they've had a good life, or whether it was worth it, or whether they're ready to go. They'll just try to ignore dying, ironically hoping it would go away on its own, like they did with every thing else they didn't want to deal with. And then, they heard it.

#writers on tumblr #writer's community #writeblr #writing prompt #writing prompts #story prompt #space prompt #scifi writing prompt #scifi prompts

[the-ninnas-writes]

*ADHD intensifies*

5 Tips to Avoid Burnout as a Neurodivergent Writer

When taking on a project as big as writing a novel, you may run into the risk of burnout. NaNo Participant Joana Hill gives some tips on avoiding burnout as a neurodivergent writer.

Burnout.  As writers, we all know it. For neurodivergent writers, burnout can be even more damaging than usual. We can be much more sensitive, both mentally and emotionally, than our neurotypical friends and family.

This means avoiding burnout, and taking care of it when it does happen, can be even more important for us.  I’m here today to provide some tips for my fellow neurodivergent writers to tackle just that.

1. Write What Interests You

Write what interests you rather than what you think you ‘should’ be writing.  Many of us get caught-up in pleasing others.  For neurodivergent people who’ve spent much of their life masking, or hiding their true personality and needs because of fear of rejection, it can be a hard habit to break.

If you want to write a 50k slow burn coffee shop AU of your favorite fandom, an epic space opera starring ants, or a main character with ADHD, autism, dyslexia, or any other disorder or condition you have, go for it.

2. Get A Support Network

For neurodivergent people, we’ve often lived our lives with special interests no one wants to hear us talk about.  It often results in us not talking about them at all before someone can tell us they don’t want to hear about it.

Whether it’s offline with friends and family, or online here at NaNoWriMo or other sites, having people who are actively interested in listening to you and helping you plot and write can be a game-changer.

3. Celebrate As Many Victories As You Want

Many years, my personal goal is that I can get the new Pokemon game, which always comes out around the middle of November now, once I hit 50k.  But you don’t need just one grand goal.

Get a bag of your favorite candy and say you can have a piece every so many words.  Find something on Amazon you want (and can afford to get!) and say you’ll get it once you hit the halfway point.  Whatever motivates you to keep going, set it into motion.

4. Plan For Flexibility

That may sound like an oxymoron, but hear me out.  Neurodivergent people often love to have a plan.  I know I can get frustrated and upset when I’m expecting something to happen and something different does.  For a big goal like writing a novel in a month, a lot of things can end up going wrong.

Carry a notebook and pen or tablet with a keyboard case in case an errand takes longer than expected.  Back your writing up to several places in case your main writing device crashes.  Make sure at least one of those is a cloud service in case you end up writing on a device that isn’t yours.  The more contingency plans you have, the better prepared you are when life happens.

5. Be Kind To Yourself

Some days you may not get the minimum goal, or you might not write at all.  You may feel like you just can’t do it because you’re behind on your word count, or you decide you don’t like what you’ve written.

I get it.  But don’t beat yourself up about it.  Take a break.  Play your favorite game or read your favorite book.  Go for a walk.  And remember that you’re awesome.  No one can write this story like you can.

Joana Hill is a writer of young adult stories, as well as novellas inspired by Japanese light novels and anime. You can find her books, social media, and anything else you could imagine wanting to know about her on her LinkTree. Photo by Andrea Piacquadio

#writing #nanowrimo #writing advice #neurodivergent writers #adhd writer

[the-ninnas-writes]

It's September which means soon it's October which means after that it's NaNoWriMo which means it's time to dust off the ol' writer's hat and scroll #writeblr and start mentally preparing for writing season.

#writeblr #writers on tumblr #writer's community #nanowrimo 2023

[the-ninnas-writes]

A tip for writing truly immersive environments and locations — building your very own Snapshot library.

How it started:

In real life I like to think I'm an observant person who notices the tiniest things around me, but when I sit down to describe, I don't know a forest — 🤯 poof, I'm blank. Can't remember a thing about my own town even.

The events of my current novel are happening in August. Writing any kind of non-plot related narratives throughout the year was very difficult, especially describing nature, and I kept waiting for actual August to happen in my city so that I can write in the moment.

When August came, I was jotting down everything about this time of the month. The weather patterns, what was flying through the air, what the people around me were behaving like and so forth. I was even able to divide those into subcategories like 'conversations I overheard' or 'internal character monologues while going from point a to point b'.

I called it a Snapshot of August.

So, how do I use these 'Snapshots'?

They're like a recipe cards for all kinds of situations — or at least the ones you've been. So you wrote a Snapshot about a coffee shop. You add more and more snippets every time you sit in a coffee shop. If my characters are in a coffee shop I pull up the appropriate Snapshot and start picking and choosing elements in order to build the environment. I'll take that description of couple these to highlight MC's low esteem, a pinch of cinnamon smell in the air, a dash of how square my butt felt against the uncomfortable wooden chairs...

Sure, I can just take a picture things then I'll have a stupor as to how to describe the picture later. Sure, I could try to write from memory and get two lines in, or you could be that mysterious individual at the corner of a bar peeking at people from under your glasses and scribbling away every curious individual you see every mannerism and the ways the light hits their beer glasses.

The difference is that I wrote those snapshots WHILE I was in those situations and locations, so I can describe in utmost detail the August frustration of constantly wiping my sprinkled windowsill from the winged seeds of catkins hanging from the branches of a silver birch outside my house.

I forget these things! Snapshots are both for little details and large, descriptive scenes where you can plug your character into.

This is especially crucial when you're in a unique place you can't easily access again, like when you're on vacation! And it's a powerful ally for never slowing down on things like narrative descriptions during a NaNoWriMo sprint.

I will update this post in the future with some snapshot examples.

#writing tips #writing notes #writers on tumblr #writer's community #writers of wattpad #writeblr #novel writing #fiction writing #nanowrimo tips #preptober #nanowrimo 2023

[the-ninnas-writes]

This has been unexpectantly effective in making my writing session longer or happen altogether:

- Every 200 words I hand-write in my journal, for when nothing seems to come out in typing, I reward myself with a sticker. I've a whole sticker book. Even when I'm dead tired, 'just another 30 words' doesn't feel so much like a pain if I get to browse my sticker book :D

- I bought one of those advent calendar chocolate boxes, and every 500 words I get to open a window and get a sweet. Keep in mind I am not allowing myself to eat any sweets at all, this is my only source of chocolate all of November. Again, 'just another sprint' and then 'another' in hopes of hitting 500 to get my next sugar hit has been really effective. The best part is that 500 is neither small nor too big, which plays with my inner gambler calculating my high chaces of getting that chocolate.

My goal this month isn't 50k, but just consisten writing habits.

#nanowrimo2022 #writers on tumblr #writer's community #nanowrimo #writing motivation #nanowrimo tips #word count

[the-ninnas-writes]

I share this post with everyone on my discord channels who struggle with putting things from their heads onto paper.

This is a friend-link that let’s you read the article for free on Medium even though it’s a member-exclusive. I wouldn’t ask people to subscribe and invest $5 to Medium unless they knew what they were signing up for. A lot of my articles are explicit in terms of showing exactly what I do, as is, so you see I don’t just advice bs that I don’t use myself. And if it works for me, I know there’s someone out there for whom this’ll be a game-changer in writing their novels. It’s a lot of heart I put into it.

Keep reading

[the-ninnas-writes]

Camp NaNo is coming soon and you know what that means. Time to revive Medium and Tumblr for even more overly-detailed, elaborate blog post tutorials on how to get that thing out of your head and onto paper! Cause once-a-year blogging is still blogging :D

#nanowrimo #nanowrimo2022 #camp nano 2022 #writer's community #writers on tumblr

[the-ninnas-writes]

Someone pointed out to me: "Anna, all these 'writing methods' you're coming up with by mashing different apps together and all is great if it works for you... but there ARE actual apps for writers like Scrivener, Campfire Blaze, Dabble, that new Plottr thing, etc. etc. etc."

And you know what, you're right -- I gotta review them all.

But also, you're wrong. These apps and all are ORGANIZATION tools. Meaning, a way to frame everything neatly and put it all together. Such an app doesn't tell you how to write, doesn't help you get through your creative block, and you're still stuck staring at a blank page unable to 'do the writing' and, well, have something to organize.

What I do is try to help get me and others from point A to point B in the story. When you kinda know what I wanna write but don't. When you're really lost about what it means when people say something like 'don't let your characters get what they want'. When you just don't know HOW.

When I come across these blocks, instead of going on a hiatus, dreadful to return to that manuscript, I push through, build myself towards a solution, then blog about it on Medium.

PS I take requests :D

#writers on tumblr #writing hacks #writing method #writing technique #writer's community #writer problems #writers block #writing is hard #writer #novel writing #how to write a novel #i hate writing #medium #cure for writers block #scrivener #nanowrimo #writing tools #writing advice #novel plotting

[the-ninnas-writes]

Any author who denies that films, tv and animations influence their writing style or stories - stop denying that films, tv and animations influence your writing style or stories, and learn what you can learn. After all, behind every visual media stands a screenWRITER (or screenwriterS) who set the ball rolling. No script, no film! So, yes, films and tv do count as 'writing' and totally counts towards 'writing research'. I'll stop spewing nonsense now.

NEW POST about how I make sure there's actual suspense / tension happening in my scene and it's not just me adding dramatic cuts and music in my imagination to a flat script.

PS If even a fraction of my mind maps looked like the ones on the feature image most of my focus-attention-chaos-organization problems could be... a little better.

#novel writing #writing #writers on tumblr #writers of wattpad #writer's community #writing methods #writing techniques #writing is hard #adhd writer #undiagnosed adhd #how to write a book #suspense #tension #writing tips #writing advice #thriller novel #writing suspense #how to write suspense #how to write tension #how to write a thriller #writing hacks #indie author #self publication #self editing #how to edit a novel

[the-ninnas-writes]

I am stoked! Do people say 'stoked'? All I can say is 'stoked'! This. This is a big deal for me and I am so thankful and happy. Honestly, I used to think I didn't have much to show for or offer when it comes to blogging or even helping other writers, well, write. It's been a long decade of beating myself up year after year for being 'slow', lacking 'focus', being 'pretentious' as an author. I couldn't understand why was 'just sitting down' and 'doing it' so hard. This 'what-if-you-never-know' submission is what made me realize I do have quite some tricks up my sleeve to share. Specifically, I wanna thank Jordan from nano hq whom I was emailing about the post, who could relate to the whole 'troubled attention' ordeal and said he was personally interested in this stuff. *Ding!*

Yeah, I've a disastrous attention span, my head is cluttered, my mind can't put two words together and finishing even one of my novels is impossible without a sudden change of mind about the plot, characters or moral. But through the years I tried to DO something about it and I know there are others who wish there was a science or clean-cut way to writing we could follow. In truth, there is! But it's up to you and me to find what works for us. So, as a problem-solver by profession and heart, I write here on Medium about the ways I work through my shortcomings using modern technology and convoluted methods that in the end help me write the thing I want to write!

Organizational Writing Methods for Messy Minds

Long-time Wrimo and soon-to-be published author Anna-Maria Ninnas is a Project Manager with a talent for organizing chaos into coherence. She has been test-driving software to find novel solutions for myriad rampant writerly woes and has put together this comprehensive overview to share some of her best technology-based tips with the community!

Sometimes, you need to put your creativity inside a box.

This couldn’t be more true for writers with a messy mind. The limitless possibilities of a blank page makes me freeze up. However, tell me to create a story out of the magnets on my fridge or using only Cards Against Humanity, and suddenly the limitations of these microcosms give me both a starting point and some rules to activate the brain’s problem-solving function. It takes a shelf to organize your stuff, and the same goes to your writing.

Which is why I love using digital tools and story progression ‘rules’ to find the right crooked mile to weaponize my hyper brain. Today, I’d like to share some of my tricks and digital workspaces with you.

Keep reading

#writers on tumblr #writer's community #writing hacks #writing methods #writing techniques #nanowrimo #camp nano 2021 #indie author #self publishing #medium #writing is hard #adhd writer #novel writing #novel wip #writer #adhd problems #undiagnosed adhd #adhd life #writeblr #writing

[the-ninnas-writes]

There's obviously a demand, but the publishing industry, like most creative and entertainment industries, are clunky, slow, rigid, but we can't just 'do it better' because of 'ownership rights'. But imagine a future where fanfiction (which is technically illegal) writers can earn from their own twists and spin-offs, all those amazing iterations, parallel universes, alternative endings, original characters and new unexhaustive story lines - and not having to deal with disappointing executions which still earn money because it's monopolized. And it would all be in the public domain the moment it's published, because it's all been profited from already - 'kickstarted' or commissioned to be created. Yeah, I am talking about and CRAZY INSPIRED by this video:

Things Traditional Publishers Can Learn From Fanfiction

tagging systems are a big draw for readers. both for content/trigger warnings, and for genre information. knowing the tone of the story and whether the ending will be happy/sad/satisfying is a deciding factor for many readers.

word count: especially important as digital books become more common. books are more accessible when readers have a way to check both the total word count and the chapter word counts.

there is a big audience for short stories featuring characters from book series. It used to be more common for authors to release short stories or anthologies in between novels, with shared characters & settings. (Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, P.G. Wodehouse, and the Rumpole series all did this.) Unfortunately this has fallen out of practice, but as fanfiction has shown, there is still a huge reader interest.  

there is a demand for expanded universe content, particularly for content with a different format or atmosphere than the original canon. audiences like variety; e.g. fans of high-stakes/dramatic stories are also interested in seeing their favorite characters in low-stakes/humorous situations. these stories are not inauthentic nor do they pander to the audience; they simply allow audiences & creators to explore characters through a different lens.

similarly, there is a big interest in spin-off content featuring secondary characters. audiences see a great deal of potential in supporting characters, with most fandoms having clear “favorites”. short stories expanding on such characters have a great deal of marketing potential, and allow writers to explore expanded canons without any risk of altering primary characters/storylines.

Give audiences accessible, satisfying stories in a variety of formats.

ko-fi

#fan fiction #copyleft #publishing #public domain #creative writing #intellectual property #writeblr #writers on tumblr #fan fic problems #kickstarter #fiction writing #copyright #the future #free stories #free books #author problems #fanfiction #wattpad #aot fanfiction

[the-ninnas-writes]

Prompt #38 Freewriting

Buy one of those lined stationery-store notebooks, the ones with like 50-100 pages.

The cover is your prompt.

Now freewrite a story by hand, never going back, rereading or rewriting. Work on it every day, little by little. Improvise, be spontaneous. Or sprint it in a single sitting like a madman, your call!

Wrap it up it by the last page of the notebook.

Congratulations, you finished a book.

I started with a title: 'An elephant named Fanta, or how to train your elephant'. Let's see how it goes.

#writing inspiration #writing prompt #writing ideas #writers block #writeblr #writers on tumblr #writers #writing challenge #free write #freewriting #notebook prompt #notebook cover #creative writing

[the-ninnas-writes]

Prompt #37 Forbidden Monster Love

In a world where vampires, ghosts and other supernatural beings live among humans, love between human and monster was always taboo.

Start your story with a protest. Banners, logos and a catchy motto. Is it pro or anti love? Take your story from there!

#writing prompt #love prompts #otp prompts #paranormal romance #vampire prompt #monster prompt #writers on tumblr #romance prompts #world building #monster love

[the-ninnas-writes]

Prompt #36 A Retelling of Tarot!

Sometimes writers take inspiration from the public domain. Retelling Cinderella, Pinocchio, Sherlock Holmes... Characters of their own well known archetypes.

The Tarot deck contains 78 cards - that's 78 archetypes within itself. Pick and choose your characters and tell the story of the Fool, the Page of Swords, the traveler in Two of Wands...

#writing prompt #tarot cards #tarot #writers on tumblr #writeblr #writers block #writing inspiration #writing ideas #writing prompts #story prompt #creative writing

[the-ninnas-writes]

Got to try them all :D

Seems like the silliest question ever but every idea I have seems so unoriginal. Do you tips or exercises to get the creativity going?

Getting the creative juices flowing…

I do! I have plenty of pep-talks and resources for this sort of thing, so I’ve organized them here by method (prompts/playlists/advice/inspiration/etc)

Articles

Coming Up With Scene Ideas

Coming Up With “Original” Ideas

How To Turn A Good Idea Into A Good Story

How To Motivate Yourself To Write

Reasons To Improve Your Lifestyle

Tips & Advice for Aspiring Authors, Writers, and Poets

Healthy Forms of Motivation

How To Have A Productive Mindset

How To Fall In Love With Writing

Writing Through Mental Health Struggles

Why “Burnout” Is Oay - The Creative Cycle

How To Actually Get Writing Done

Playlists

Things To Listen To When You’re Working

Classical & Instrumental

Ambient

Sad Scenes

Chase Scenes

Epic Scenes

Fight Scenes

Angst Scenes

Fun Montage Scenes

Climax Scenes

Calm Scenes

Resolution Scenes

Romantic Scenes

Action Scenes

Science Fiction

Our Day Will Come

Contemporary Poetry

MORE

Prompts, Prompt Lists, & Writing Challenges

Dark Quotes & Prompts

Challenges For Different Types of Writers | Part II

Angst Prompts

31 Days of Prompts : January 2018 Writing Challenge

20 Sentence Story Prompt

Dramatic Prompts

Suspenseful Prompts

Sad Prompts

Romantic Prompts

31 Days of Horror : October 2019 Writing Challenge

31 Days of Fantasy - December 2020 Writing Challenge

Fake Relationship Alternate Universe Prompts

Assassin Alternate Universe Prompts

Soulmates Alternate Universe Prompts

Advice & Pep-Talks

Restarting Your Writing Passion

On Hating Your Old Stuff

Depression As An Inhibitor

Dear Writers Who Are Hesitant To Start Writing

“All First Drafts Are Crap” – My Thoughts

Getting Back To Writing After A Long Hiatus

Wanting To Finish A Story You’ve Fallen Out of Love With

Getting Motivated To Write

Getting Burnt Out Near The Finish Line

–

Masterlist | WIP Blog

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[the-ninnas-writes]

Hot take: Actual literary analysis requires at least as much skill as writing itself, with less obvious measures of whether or not you’re shit at it, and nobody is allowed to do any more god damn litcrit until they learn what the terms “show, don’t tell” and “pacing” mean.

[the-ninnas-writes]

cool cool thx

#dystopia prompts #robot prompts #scifi prompts #writing prompts #writers on tumblr #writeblr #writers of wattpad