So many wips, So little words

She/Her//Writeblr

[haniawritesfiction]

About

I'm Hania, a queer aspiring writer who has more ideas than she has time. This is actually my second attempt at a writeblr (a long time ago my main @haniawritesthings was a writeblr and I follow from there ) and I'm hoping it will give me the motivation to properly finish projects.

I love writing about queer themes as well as complicated family dynamics and friendships. Historical fiction is my favorite genre, especially things set in the early 20th century.

Current Projects

(titles are very much place holders and intro posts are coming soon)

Lavinia Proust Is Not A Murderer (outlining)

Historical fiction/ lgbtq/ murder mystery

1875, London. When her husband of six months dies suddenly, newly widowed Lavinia Proust is the main suspect. As she rushes to prove her innocence, with the help of her brother and sister and law, romance blooms and she begins to question what she really wants in life.

Thicker Thieves (outlining)

Historical fiction/ heist/ lgbtq / third person past

It's 1933 and two thieves, Ruby and Lewis, have been hired for the biggest heist of their lives. The only problem? Someone is on their trail and determined to stop them. As Lewis, Ruby, and their accidental accomplice, a forger named Zohra, chase their prize across Europe, everything starts to unravel.

Writing resources: #resources

General posts: #haniawrites

Wip things: #wip-placeholder title

[wisteria-lodge]

So my problem with most ‘get to know your character’ questioneers is that they’re full of questions that just aren’t that important (what color eyes do they have) too hard to answer right away (what is their greatest fear) or are just impossible to answer (what is their favorite movie.)  Like no one has one single favorite movie. And even if they do the answer changes.

If I’m doing this exercise, I want 7-10 questions to get the character feeling real in my head. So I thought I’d share the ones that get me (and my students) good results: 

What is the character’s go-to drink order? (this one gets into how do they like to be publicly perceived, because there is always some level of theatricality to ordering drinks at a bar/resturant)

What is their grooming routine? (how do they treat themselves in private)

What was their most expensive purchase/where does their disposable income go? (Gets you thinking about socio-economic class, values, and how they spend their leisure time)

Do they have any scars or tattoos? (good way to get into literal backstory) 

What was the last time they cried, and under what circumstances? (Good way to get some *emotional* backstory in.) 

Are they an oldest, middle, youngest or only child? (This one might be a me thing, because I LOVE writing/reading about family dynamics, but knowing what kinds of things were ‘normal’ for them growing up is important.)

Describe the shoes they’re wearing. (This is a big catch all, gets into money, taste, practicality, level of wear, level of repair, literally what kind of shoes they require to live their life.)

Describe the place where they sleep. (ie what does their safe space look like. How much (or how little) care / decoration / personal touch goes into it.)

What is their favorite holiday? (How do they relate to their culture/outside world. Also fun is least favorite holiday.) 

What objects do they always carry around with them? (What do they need for their normal, day-to-day routine? What does ‘normal’ even look like for them.) 

[rodentwrites]

[ID: A collage of vintage newspaper clippings, overlaid with text reading ‘The Journal of Cypress J. Miller.’ end ID]

WIP Intro—The Journal of Cypress J. Miller

Idaho’s real pretty in the evenings. Every season’s better than the last, swear it. I wish you were here.

Genre—Historical fiction / Epistolary 

Summary— Cypress J. Miller uproots his life and moves from Texas to a farm in Idaho, avoiding the draft due to a childhood injury which left him blind in his right eye. When he finds out his sixteen year old brother lied about his age and enlisted, Cypress begins a journal of his time in Idaho, of his guilt and fear, all dedicated to Danny.

Characters—

Cypress J. Miller, Property of. he/him

⇢ Beacon of guilt ⇢ Writes his brother instead of going to therapy ⇢ Sketches sometimes

Maisie Frye. she/her

⇢ Stressed and pretends she isn’t ⇢ Cares for too many people all at once ⇢ Aspiring pianist

Daniel ‘Danny’ Miller. he/him

⇢ Far too young for all this ⇢ Likes westerns ⇢ Hides behind his letters

Taglist—Let me know if you want to be added!

[rodentwrites]

The Oak Association

Transcript and taglist under the cut

Keep reading

[robert-hadley]

A Damascus tile panel, probably Syria, 19th century or earlier.

[sleepyowlwrites]

What are writers if not liars

[sleepyowlwrites]

sometimes we also lie about writing

[kirkwallgremlin]

making ocs is so funny, especially when you get so attached to some and not to others?? it’s like yes these people live in my head and I love them. I love that one the most though.

[fanficmemes]

Oh shit y’all r doing nano rn???

[fanficmemes]

A quick demonstration of how I’m feeling this year snsnsnsnsns

[writeouswriter]

*Watches scenes from my WIP like a tv show on repeat in my head instead of ever writing them down*

[phantomrose96]

Must I publish a chapter for it to be read? Must I finish the chapter? Is it not enough to have an incoherent Word document filled with half-written and twice-written scenes? Is it not enough to have the rest of the chapter in my head?

[englishmajorhumor]

[rodentwrites]

nano 2021 update as of 11/9

yeah my laptop kinda broke. the battery no longer charges and at this point it would be cheaper to buy a new laptop than to replace/repair the battery!!! and i can’t buy a new laptop rn so for the foreseeable future i am both laptop-less and also unable to write or access my scrivener documents. fortunately, i do have backups of all my work on a hard drive but they are not 100% current, at least a couple weeks old.

really sucks this happened at all but especially during nano, i was hoping to make a dent in ML2 but that will have to wait a few months

[haniawritesfiction]

rip bestie :(

[raimi]

“This character deserves better,” I say, making things even worse for them.

[write-on-world]

[big-blog-of-cheese-day]

[ccorinthian]

Sometimes you gotta get down to brass tacks

[headspace-hotel]

writing can’t be that hard. all it is is just putting words in front of each other, right?

[headspace-hotel]

update: the wrong words are in front of each other. This is the worst thing ever to happen.

[caffeinatedrogue]

having ocs is so fun tho. It’s like playing with barbie dolls except we’re hallucinating it all vividly in our heads and everybody is emotionally scarred

[caffeinatedrogue]

after carefully reading the notes I can safely say that most of us are just continuing the childhood tradition of treating our dolls in ways that could easily be considered violations of the Geneva Conventions

[thewebranger]

One man’s war crime is another man’s CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

[penname-tbd]

the struggle of being in a one-person fandom for your wip is too real. i don't post about it enough for anyone to even know what the hell it's about but every once in a while my brain gets intensely consumed by the need to talk about every single aspect of it