Writer's Thread?

[jenaling]

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Congrats!

 

[sinon]

OK it looks like I need to up my game.

Congrats @Jaded! It's exciting when people see our work and like it. <3

 

[jenaling]

I wrote 4k today. Brain hurts.

 

[Jaded]

I wrote 4k today. Brain hurts.

Awesome job :o

 

[Jaded]

Hi writer's thread. How's everyone's writing going?

 

[sinon]

@Jaded congrats again on your books! I wanted to ask you something about your process. Did you do very much outlining, pants it, or a little of both?

Hi writer's thread. How's everyone's writing going?

Late reply is late but you inspired me to start again. I'm a few chapters in to this new book and I'm trying to keep the momentum going. How about you?

 

[Jaded]

@Jaded congrats again on your books! I wanted to ask you something about your process. Did you do very much outlining, pants it, or a little of both?


Late reply is late but you inspired me to start again. I'm a few chapters in to this new book and I'm trying to keep the momentum going. How about you?

Hi! Thanks.

For Out of Darkness/Light I didn't have a lot of outline, I just started writing and went back and changed/edited things as ideas appeared. I tend to pants things a lot. I'm trying outlining for the thing I'm writing now but it's a very very broad outline so it's mostly just pants with a sprinkle of outline.

Speaking of, I should get back to that, haven't touched it in days >.>




edit: Out of Darkness had more of an outline than Out of Light, but that was because it actually started out as the Prologue of OoL.

edit2: rearranging words

 

[themildone]

Hi! Thanks.

For Out of Darkness/Light I didn't have a lot of outline, I just started writing and went back and changed/edited things as ideas appeared. I tend to pants things a lot. I'm trying outlining for the thing I'm writing now but it's a very very broad outline so it's mostly just pants with a sprinkle of outline.

Speaking of, I should get back to that, haven't touched it in days >.>




edit: Out of Darkness had more of an outline than Out of Light, but that was because it actually started out as the Prologue of OoL.

edit2: rearranging words

oooh :o is it a sequel to the one you already published or is it something entirely new?

 

[Jaded]

oooh is it a sequel to the one you already published or is it something entirely new?

Entirely new!

Well, sorta. It's my own spin on Sleeping Beauty.

edit: Because, you know, Fairy Tales are super original and def not played out.

 

[sinon]

Hi! Thanks.

For Out of Darkness/Light I didn't have a lot of outline, I just started writing and went back and changed/edited things as ideas appeared. I tend to pants things a lot. I'm trying outlining for the thing I'm writing now but it's a very very broad outline so it's mostly just pants with a sprinkle of outline.

Speaking of, I should get back to that, haven't touched it in days >.>




edit: Out of Darkness had more of an outline than Out of Light, but that was because it actually started out as the Prologue of OoL.

edit2: rearranging words

Oohhh, I see! That's really impressive Do you think pantsing the writing process made your story more interesting for you? Like...how did you keep your interest alive while you were writing?

/me gets out pen and paper to take notes

I've been a panster since I started writing waaaay back, but up to this point, haven't been able to finish anything... I joined a writing forum a few years ago and everyone's riding the outlining bandwagon... So I've been trying really hard to outline, but I feel like it's really messing up my process :sob:

 

[Jaded]

Oohhh, I see! That's really impressive Do you think pantsing the writing process made your story more interesting for you? Like...how did you keep your interest alive while you were writing?

/me gets out pen and paper to take notes

I've been a panster since I started writing waaaay back, but up to this point, haven't been able to finish anything... I joined a writing forum a few years ago and everyone's riding the outlining bandwagon... So I've been trying really hard to outline, but I feel like it's really messing up my process :sob:

Honestly, I don't really like detailed outlines and pantsing it did keep it more interesting for me. I think that's why I've (temporarily) abandoned Changelings/Necromancer's Daughter (little side projects that I made semi-detailed outlines for.) Once I had their bones down, it was harder for me to go back and flesh them out into a "person." When I wrote Out of Light, I just wrote what I saw, so to speak, because when I write it feels more like I'm actually witnessing, rather than making it up. That literally makes no sense and ended up going a bit off topic. Anyway, I think that finishing is harder without an outline so, once I can figure out, roughly, where I'm going I'll usually write the climax and figure out how to get there from wherever I'm at.

So I guess I'm 3/4 pants and 1/4 outline. And a whole fuckton of rambling. (As seen here. )

 

[Jaded]

Honestly, I don't really like detailed outlines and pantsing it did keep it more interesting for me. I think that's why I've (temporarily) abandoned Changelings/Necromancer's Daughter (little side projects that I made semi-detailed outlines for.) Once I had their bones down, it was harder for me to go back and flesh them out into a "person." When I wrote Out of Light, I just wrote what I saw, so to speak, because when I write it feels more like I'm actually witnessing, rather than making it up. That literally makes no sense and ended up going a bit off topic. Anyway, I think that finishing is harder without an outline so, once I can figure out, roughly, where I'm going I'll usually write the climax and figure out how to get there from wherever I'm at.

So I guess I'm 3/4 pants and 1/4 outline. And a whole fuckton of rambling. (As seen here. )

I hope that was at least a little helpful cause I went on a bunch of tangents that I deleted and probably totally messed up the coherence of this paragraph.

edit: And good luck on your project!! :o

 

[sinon]

Honestly, I don't really like detailed outlines and pantsing it did keep it more interesting for me. I think that's why I've (temporarily) abandoned Changelings/Necromancer's Daughter (little side projects that I made semi-detailed outlines for.) Once I had their bones down, it was harder for me to go back and flesh them out into a "person." When I wrote Out of Light, I just wrote what I saw, so to speak, because when I write it feels more like I'm actually witnessing, rather than making it up. That literally makes no sense and ended up going a bit off topic. Anyway, I think that finishing is harder without an outline so, once I can figure out, roughly, where I'm going I'll usually write the climax and figure out how to get there from wherever I'm at.

So I guess I'm 3/4 pants and 1/4 outline. And a whole fuckton of rambling. (As seen here. )

Are you me? lol jk but honestly, I find that really relatable.

I'm a super visual thinker so I think I can understand what you mean by being a 'witness' to the story/what's happening. When I outline, it kinda makes the visual/imaginative process blurrier, if that makes sense. I think it's been the most difficult hurdle to grapple with in my murder mystery because it literally takes the fun out of the creative process in my mind... where I see it all as a movie >_> Like, I can get super stoked over a scene in my head when I play it out like it's a movie. But when I break it down into paragraphs of explanations/outlines, it's soooooo boring and sucks all the emotion and fun out of it.

I don't think you went off topic or were difficult to understand at all I really appreciate you answering my questions. I think I'm going to try to get back in touch with that part of my brain that concocts the stories through movies and work at my book from that angle.

I think you said (if I remember right) that you were working on getting editing done. Do you have any plans once that's done?

 

[Jaded]

lly

Are you me? lol jk but honestly, I find that really relatable.

I'm a super visual thinker so I think I can understand what you mean by being a 'witness' to the story/what's happening. When I outline, it kinda makes the visual/imaginative process blurrier, if that makes sense. I think it's been the most difficult hurdle to grapple with in my murder mystery because it literally takes the fun out of the creative process in my mind... where I see it all as a movie >_> Like, I can get super stoked over a scene in my head when I play it out like it's a movie. But when I break it down into paragraphs of explanations/outlines, it's soooooo boring and sucks all the emotion and fun out of it.

I don't think you went off topic or were difficult to understand at all I really appreciate you answering my questions. I think I'm going to try to get back in touch with that part of my brain that concocts the stories through movies and work at my book from that angle.

I think you said (if I remember right) that you were working on getting editing done. Do you have any plans once that's done?

Ha! Blurry is such a good way to describe it, we must write very similarly. I was listening to a writing video at one point, dont' remember which one, where the guy was talking about how someone he knew would do several drafts. First would be totally pants writing as they go, writing what they see and whatnot. Then they would use that as an outline for a total rewrite, snipping/fleshing out as they went.

Still saving up for edits. When I was getting quotes last year it was gonna be a good chunk of money (like $1k plus because of the word count.) I'd skip that if I could, but I don't trust myself enough not to have at least one other person look at it. It's hard for me to ask someone to read it though when it's 110k words and a sequel so they'd have to read both, so I haven't asked anyone (besides my mom, who doesn't really count. ) Once that's all done, I'm gonna publish on KDP again. I have a very foggy idea for a third book in the War of the Sisters world, but I don't know if I've fully committed to it yet.

If not I've got three other things started that I'll probably try and finish.

 

[sinon]

lly

Ha! Blurry is such a good way to describe it, we must write very similarly. I was listening to a writing video at one point, dont' remember which one, where the guy was talking about how someone he knew would do several drafts. First would be totally pants writing as they go, writing what they see and whatnot. Then they would use that as an outline for a total rewrite, snipping/fleshing out as they went.

Still saving up for edits. When I was getting quotes last year it was gonna be a good chunk of money (like $1k plus because of the word count.) I'd skip that if I could, but I don't trust myself enough not to have at least one other person look at it. It's hard for me to ask someone to read it though when it's 110k words and a sequel so they'd have to read both, so I haven't asked anyone (besides my mom, who doesn't really count. ) Once that's all done, I'm gonna publish on KDP again. I have a very foggy idea for a third book in the War of the Sisters world, but I don't know if I've fully committed to it yet.

If not I've got three other things started that I'll probably try and finish.

Visual writers ftw!

And good lord that sounds like my worst nightmare lol. The idea of writing several draft variations haunts me. One writing idea I really liked but have yet to utilize... I found in some book somewhere. The author said they can write a book in about two weeks. Their method? They do speed writes where they basically put out all the important stuff and almost write it out in play format. So all the dialogue gets fleshed out, but any actions they put in [brackets]. Then they can go back on their second time around and basically fill it all in. I kinda want to try it, but am scared it will still botch my visual/creative process.

I am honestly super stoked to see how your progress goes. I've longed to be an author forever but battling with myself is a daily process to make any progress, myself. So when I see others able to manifest their goals, it's insanely inspiring

Oh my goodness, editing sounds so expensive On the writing forum I mentioned, I just did a price comparison. There are editors on there that charge around $0.003/word, which if my math is right, for like a 110k word book is about $330. It costs $5/month to be on the forum but I wonder if it'd help your costs any

 

[Jaded]

Visual writers ftw!

And good lord that sounds like my worst nightmare lol. The idea of writing several draft variations haunts me. One writing idea I really liked but have yet to utilize... I found in some book somewhere. The author said they can write a book in about two weeks. Their method? They do speed writes where they basically put out all the important stuff and almost write it out in play format. So all the dialogue gets fleshed out, but any actions they put in [brackets]. Then they can go back on their second time around and basically fill it all in. I kinda want to try it, but am scared it will still botch my visual/creative process.

I am honestly super stoked to see how your progress goes. I've longed to be an author forever but battling with myself is a daily process to make any progress, myself. So when I see others able to manifest their goals, it's insanely inspiring

Oh my goodness, editing sounds so expensive On the writing forum I mentioned, I just did a price comparison. There are editors on there that charge around $0.003/word, which if my math is right, for like a 110k word book is about $330. It costs $5/month to be on the forum but I wonder if it'd help your costs any

I actually like to retype my drafts a couple times before I just edit line by line in Word, but I don't think I've ever tried to completely rewrite using a previous draft as just an outline.

:o Can you tell me the forum? In PM if you want, I wanna go poke around in it. There have been a lot of different quotes I've seen depending on the type of editing I want. When I did quotes last time it was for the more developmental/intensive edits because I really wanted to make sure the whole story was there.

I honestly wouldn't have finished OoD I hadn't told the forum about it. I tend to start things and then abandon them a lot. But then I felt obligated. (In a good way.)

 

[sinon]

I actually like to retype my drafts a couple times before I just edit line by line in Word, but I don't think I've ever tried to completely rewrite using a previous draft as just an outline.

Can you tell me the forum? In PM if you want, I wanna go poke around in it. There have been a lot of different quotes I've seen depending on the type of editing I want. When I did quotes last time it was for the more developmental/intensive edits because I really wanted to make sure the whole story was there.

I honestly wouldn't have finished OoD I hadn't told the forum about it. I tend to start things and then abandon them a lot. But then I felt obligated. (In a good way.)

Sure!

I'll get right on that PM.

Ahhh I know what you mean. I recently made an accountability thread on the forum I mentioned to try to spur me into action. So far it's helping. But I've gotta stay out of my head because that's when my progress gets stifled the most. Part of my brain thinks my writing is crap and the other half is cheering me on. The cognitive dissonance is one heck of a beast to contend with lol.

 

[Jaded]

Sure!

I'll get right on that PM.

Ahhh I know what you mean. I recently made an accountability thread on the forum I mentioned to try to spur me into action. So far it's helping. But I've gotta stay out of my head because that's when my progress gets stifled the most. Part of my brain thinks my writing is crap and the other half is cheering me on. The cognitive dissonance is one heck of a beast to contend with lol.

Ugh, yeah it is. I'm still fairly convinced my writing is crap even though people who are not at all obligated to lie to me have told me it's decent. I don't think that ever goes away Heads are the worst.

 

[sinon]

Ugh, yeah it is. I'm still fairly convinced my writing is crap even though people who are not at all obligated to lie to me have told me it's decent. I don't think that ever goes away Heads are the worst.

I really think there's so much truth in that saying, "we are our own worst critic."

And then once people start really making it in the writing world, there's the impostor syndrome thing to contend with.

At this point in my life, I've literally squandered like two/three years because of the crap my head throws at me lol. I've only got one life, there's no guarantee of tomorrow, and I am hellbent on making the most of it...so, critic be damned, I am finishing this book!

And for what it's worth, your writing isn't bad at all You've got an audience out there and if you keep pushing, you will reach them. :heart:

 

[Jaded]

I really think there's so much truth in that saying, "we are our own worst critic."

And then once people start really making it in the writing world, there's the impostor syndrome thing to contend with.

At this point in my life, I've literally squandered like two/three years because of the crap my head throws at me lol. I've only got one life, there's no guarantee of tomorrow, and I am hellbent on making the most of it...so, critic be damned, I am finishing this book!

And for what it's worth, your writing isn't bad at all You've got an audience out there and if you keep pushing, you will reach them. :heart:

Thanks <3

Now go write words :o (or not, I'm not your boss )