write till your ink be dry

CC | middle aged adult | they/them | 🏳️‍🌈 original writing blog

[misc-chronicles]

name: CC pronouns: they/them main blog: @misc-magic fandom side blog: @misc-obeyme

about: Well hello there, friend. You have found my not-so-secret writing side blog! I use this blog to post original writing, reblog general writing inspiration, and talk about the writing struggle lol. My ask box is always open for any kind of discussion you may wish to have! Also sorry about my random ass tagging system. If it’s story related it’s all tagged accordingly but general writing stuff just has whatever tag I think of at the time.

writing masterlist

active project: The Vampire Next Door (or vnd because I'm lazy)

Thanks for stopping by! I appreciate everyone who has followed me and is interacting with my posts! Thank you for being interested in my original works!

[auspex]

*thinks about OCs* *Thinks about OCs* *thinks about OCs* *thinks About OCs* *thinks about OCs* *Thinks About OCs* *thinks about OCs* *THINKS ABOUT OCS* *thinks about OCs* *thinks about OCS* *thinks about OCs* *THINKS about OCs* *thinks about OCs* *thinks ABOUT OCs* *thinks about OCs* *thinks about OCs* *Thinks about OCs* *thinks about OCs* *thinks About OCs* *thinks about OCs* *Thinks About OCs* *thinks about OCs* *THINKS ABOUT OCS* *thinks about OCs* *thinks about OCS* *thinks about OCs* *THINKS about OCs* *thinks about OCs* *thinks ABOUT OCs* *thinks about OCs*

[misc-chronicles]

There is a piece of writing advice that has been extremely prevalent for as long as I have been reading writing advice (decades). And that is to write every day.

Aside from the obvious ableist vibe of this statement, I also think that it’s too simplified. What do you mean write every day? Write 1600 words a day, NaNoWriMo style? Write for an hour a day? Write at least a single word?

I just feel like writing is such an individual process that to have a blanket statement like that for it just confuses people. It makes new writers think they aren’t real writers if they can’t write every day. It makes veteran writers feel guilty when they can’t keep it going. It’s pointless and as far as I’m concerned it’s useless advice.

I would argue that the best thing you can do is actually to think about your story every day.

Yeah that’s what I said, think.

Keeping the momentum can be as easy as daydreaming about the next scene you want to write. If you think about your story on a daily basis, eventually the itch to write it becomes too great to ignore. And you’ll fit it in where you can in an otherwise busy life.

Sometimes not writing helps more than forcing the writing.

Today I wanted to write but I only had fifteen minutes to do so. I thought I could just open my project and start a few sentences then leave the rest for tomorrow. But I couldn’t. Something wasn’t right. So I just sat there and thought about it for a bit. And then I realized I needed to rearrange some scenes and combine some others because some of the plot points were out of order. So I made a note for myself for tomorrow - a list of the scenes in their new order, indicating which needed to merge, which needed to be added, and which needed to be deleted. It took me about fifteen minutes.

I didn’t write a single word of actual story. But I still made significant progress. And tomorrow I can just dive in because I don’t have to figure this part out anymore.

I think there’s a lot to be said for simply thinking about your plot and your story. Keeping yourself interested in your own characters, letting your ideas flow in and out.

It doesn’t have to be write five pages a day. It just has to be as much as you can.

[misc-chronicles]

Oh we are making big changes. I’m gonna hafta update the character profiles AND the character tags… I couldn’t stop thinking about them last night and now I have had too many ideas…

[ladyignatius4]

Mentally making a cup of tea and giving a gentle forehead kiss to every struggling writer on my dash right now.

Your story matters, your ideas are good, and someone out there is going to fall in love with your world.

[misc-chronicles]

When your writing time is mostly spent world building or brainstorming instead of actually writing, it feels like you did nothing. But it’s all part of the process. And you have to trust the process.

It’s not about being productive. It’s about creating a story you love.

[misc-chronicles]

I’d been going back and forth about whether or not to make vnd more humorous or more dark. Initially it was going to be more humorous, which is why my characters are so silly. But I have since changed my mind. I want it to be dark and unhinged and I want them to be more interesting and complex.

I’ve been thinking about them a lot lately and I’m making some changes. Mostly to Jack who was supposed to be pretty but kinda naive and a little dumb. However I’m changing his personality a lot. Dominic is fine the way he is but Jack needs to be more interesting. I myself find him a bit boring.

Sooooo I may have to update their character profiles at some point. Changes are happening!

[unusual-suspects]

x

[sandmandaddy69]

[sahonithereadwolf]

I want to see the vampire who lives in this. I bet his name is Chad or Hunter.

[marlynnofmany]

And he's ready to crack open a boy with the cold ones.

[misc-chronicles]

I wrote the first scene of vnd ages ago, but the whole story has been on hold while I'm finishing something else. And now that I've had time to let it simmer in my brain juice a little longer, I think I need to rewrite what I wrote anyway.

It's too boring. It starts out promising, but the next part is kinda meh in retrospect. I have a few ideas about it, though. Also I made one of them a lawyer and I know nothing about lawyering and I don't have the time to research it thoroughly enough to write it believably, so he's gonna end up being a kind of amalgam of all the lawyerly stuff I've ever seen on TV lol. Sorry Dominic I love you but the original version of you was an architect and it was like... not even important to the story. It was just like, well this guy needs a job I guess.

BUT. He's also a supernatural lawyer, which isn't a real thing, so I do have a little room to make stuff up. I'm hoping this'll be enough for me winging it to be believable lol.

Anyway I'm gonna post about it still while I'm finishing my other thing, just little things like this because I want to actually use this blog I made more. Plus writing out the stuff that's been sitting in my brain is helpful.

[cbk1000]

So, I lurk in some writer subreddits, and a frequent topic of discussion is prose: what constitutes good prose, how do you write it, how do you improve it, etc. And yesterday I stumbled across one topic about the difference between good descriptive prose, and purple prose. OP asks people to share some of their favourite authors who they think write beautiful prose without tipping into purple. No problem; people are happy to oblige.

One person says that Steinbeck is one of their favourite authors for prose, and then they share an example of what they would consider purple prose. It is so violetly awful that I think the poster must have written it themselves as a kind of parody of purple prose. Other people assumed the same.

But as it turns out, they are quoting from a book written by a YouTuber whose channel ia dedicated to talking about writing (namely, their own writing, which is genius, but often not comprehensible to the drooling plebs).

Naturally, I read the free sample of their book in awe and horror, and I'd like to share some screenshots with you. If you also have trouble defining or understanding what purple prose is, it's this.

Yes, every single fucking page is written like this.

[cbk1000]

Reading some more of the preview for this book, and I realise this is by far not the biggest problem, but I'm begging this guy to just use 'shadow' instead of 'umbra'. I promise I will not accuse you of being a philistine.

[cbk1000]

'Noctilucent orbs'. Even fanfic written by a 14-year-old wouldn't dare.

The author is a man in his 30s, btw.

[the-pen-pot]

*throws this in the face of everyone who has ever accused me of writing purple prose*

[neverwalka1one]

I thought the Amelia Peabody series was purple. I owe the author an apology. Uffda

[michaelmoonsbookshop]

illustration from a Victorian children’s book c1885

[misc-chronicles]

I was at a family function recently and found out that my cousin and aunt that I haven’t seen for years and years are still patiently waiting for me to get published so they can read my books. I dunno about my cousin, but my aunt is a Trumper. The only things I’m working on right now are a fantasy story and my vampire story both of which feature multiple gay and trans characters. And the vampire story is likely to be full of smut.

I didn’t tell them this, but now I really want both stories to get published just so they’ll have to read them. Hell, I’ll even send them signed copies. Then years later when I see them again I’ll be like so what did you think of my books? 😈

[ocprompts]

where does your oc spend most of their time?

[yayxstitch]

[innerchildabortionclinic]

everyone who is an excellent writer thinks they suck and will never get published. everyone whose writing sucks ass is actually getting published and displayed in barnes and noble

[misc-chronicles]

I went to the salon today and while I was sitting there with dye on my hair, I was writing vigorously on my phone. Which when I think about it now, I’m wondering if my stylist thought I was texting someone… when really I was just working out plot points in my notes app.