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3 Tips to Help You Reach Your Writing Goal

If you’ve been having difficulty finding time to write or creating a writing routine, you’re not alone. Don’t be too hard on yourself! Wrimo Jessica Harden is with us today to share 3 tips to help ease us into our writing goals:

Half the battle of writing involves finding the time. With things like the internet and streaming services singing a siren song for instant gratification, sitting down to do something that takes a lot of effort can sometimes be harder than the writing itself. I am a full-time student, a wife and dog owner, and I hold down a part time job. Writing can be overwhelming and exhausting to even think about with so much of your day demanding your time and attention. Here are three tips to help you reach your writing goals, even in the absolute whirlwind of your life:

1. Sitting with your story counts as writing.

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romancedawning-deactivated20210

Once when the gaang visits the Fire Nation, they’re all just on the side of too tipsy when Zuko leans in with the most grave expression imaginable.

“Aang,” Zuko says, “This has been… haunting me…. Why did your friends need to suck on those frogs?”

And Aang just gasps, and does not explain the frogs, because he has suddenly remembered that Miyuki is still wanted by the Fire Nation and that just won’t do. So Aang demands that Zuko pardon Miyuki for her crimes, which then gets the rest of the gaang to dogpile on and also demand justice for Miyuki.

Zuko is willing to hear him out.

…Zuko is significantly less willing to hear him out when Aang mentions that Miyuki is a cat.

(Zuko finds it difficult to believe that a cat is legitimately wanted by the Fire Nation)

But because they are all the worst, he relents and they all drunkenly stumble down to go find the records of Miyuki’s crimes and write her up a pardon, much to the chagrin of the night-shift archivist.

voidcenturyscholar-deactivated2

Zuko, staring blankly at Miyuki’s rap sheet:

The gaang:

Zuko:

Zuko: I don’t …. I don’t think I can pardon this…

snake-and-mouse

THIS IS THE MIYUKI BACKSTORY I ASKED FOR

austrohungarianwriteblr

The official beta reader call post!

Do you like classical music, forbidden love, unpronounceable Hungarian words, and exactly one brain cell shared among an entire cast?

Do you have enough free time during quarantine that reading your acquaintance’s third draft would not be a burden?

Are you willing to avoid the phrase “I don’t like romance but…” while reading this?

Then (as they say on VeggieTales) have we got a show for you. I am looking for around 15 beta readers for Unshakeable!

Here is a fabulous application form you may fill out to be considered.

The soft deadline for finishing is September 5!

Warnings: In general this is a very lighthearted story; no violence, minimal swearing, no major character death. However (and this is important) there are a couple of M-rated scenes (of the sexytimes sort). Therefore it would probably be best for all beta readers to be over eighteen. THAT SAID, if you are 17 and would like to read it with some minor alterations, please fill out the form and then DM me!

Tag List, in case any of you guys are interested:

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dantedevereaux-deactivated20201

LISTEN UP, FOOLS

So get this:

NO ONE IS NATURALLY PERFECT AT WRITING!

NO ONE JUST RANDOMLY PICKS A PEN UP ONE DAY AND CREATES THE NEXT NYT BESTSELLER!

NO ONE WRITES A PERFECT BOOK IN THE FIRST DRAFT!

Y’all need to stop being so damn hard on yourselves. Everyone has to start somewhere. Writing is the same as any other art. If you don’t practice and put yourself out there to receive feedback then you will never improve. End of story. I know it’s scary to put yourself out there, but it’s so crucial to take advice from others and see what you can improve on.

The other thing? You have to read. Stories are your writing textbooks. Look at the way an author words something. Pick apart their sentences. Hell, take their sentences and see if you can rewrite them a different way just to practice your own skills! You won’t improve without time and effort!

I want to see every single one of you succeed. If I die without having my mutuals’ works on my shelves, I will be sad. Bite the bullet and take the leap or whatever metaphor you want. But do not ever quit!

badwriterpositivity

Quick writing tip: if you want to write a scene, just do it.

Got an idea for a scene, but don't know if it would fit in your WIP? Just write it anyway!

Get a journal, or a new document, and write it. Yes, even if it's completely out of canon. Yes, even if it's self indulgent. Yes, even if it feels like a waste of time. Why?

Increases your worldbuilding and understanding of characters

Improves your writing skill

Parts of it could be used in your WIP

You could write an incredible line you would never have thought of otherwise

Stops burnout and creates passion

It's fun, and that's what writing should be.

Now go and write that scene! Have fun!

suninks-moved

idk who needs to hear this but just because you read someone else’s work and you think it’s better than your own doesn’t make your writing any less good. there will always be someone who has “better” writing than you.

also. what people post is the highlights of their writing. the good stuff. stop comparing someone’s absolute best to your absolute worst

elaichichais-deactivated2020121

ANCHOR-POINT // WIP INTRODUCTION

WARNINGS: anchor-point contains descriptions of mental health issues, self-harm, blood and gore.

GENRE: ya/na coming of age, sports fiction, dark academia, supernatural and mythological elements

STATUS: outlining and drafting

SUMMARY: Kriti Sinha had a plan— keep her head down, work hard, get a scholarship to a prestigious university, and build a life for herself and her ageing parents. When she received an offer letter from the illustrious Indraprastha Dwara College, she thought she had taken her first step to achieving her goal.

She wasn’t prepared for life at her new university, thought, where secrets lurked behind sandstone walls, the depths of mirroring pools contained more than just reflections, and archery – above all else—was God. She certainly wasn’t prepared for Arya Pandey: the spoilt, distant and obnoxiously talented star archer whose presence promised to change Kriti’s life—or to destroy it.

Nock, aim and release.

“Kriti pulled the bowstring back until the plastic fletching of the arrow touched her mouth in a feather-light kiss. She could feel the heat of the noon-day sun searing into the back of her neck and sinking into her shoulders. As the heat-fever slowly settled, the pounding headache and churning nausea faded away, leaving in their wake a calm, steel-forged focus. She closed her left eye, and waited until the target in front of her came into clarity with her right. Kriti loosed the arrow, and thought it didn’t make a sound, she imagined a sharp whistle as it cut through the air and embedded itself into the very centre of the innermost ring—a clean bullseye.

How had she lived without this for so many years? The sweet, perfect ache, like poisoned honey sliding down her back and dripping in her throat. Devoid of it, how could she ever go on?”

THEMES: ambition, obsession, perfectionism and its consequences, rivalry, tainted legacies, destiny, classism, colourism

TAGLIST: @nothingisliteral @infinitely-empty-pages @ma-setheneran @alicewestwater @theforgottencoolkid @atbwrites @austrohungarianwriteblr @rcvolutions @caelum-writes @chalkflint @aelenko @zarinaelahi @blossomvnk @mp-golfin @auriferous-angels @ashesconstellation @indeliblewrites @throughwars @sonderandspace @hazedartisan @apollosvotive @shortlittlestorythings @fingolfins (ask to be +/-, i promise i don’t bite!!)

elaichichais-deactivated2020121

reblogging the intro post to ANCHOR-POINT, my first wip and original baby, in case my new followers haven’t seen it!! if you like complicated and morally ambiguous female characters, messy wlw relationships, mythological retellings, dark academia vibes in a non-western context and stories about ambition and obsession, then this may be the wip for you!! all my posts about this wip can be found under the “wip: anchor-point” tag on my blog.

gingerly-writing

Prompt #2197

“You came for me?” The villain gritted their teeth, pushed the hope away. “To gloat, obviously.”

“No, no I wouldn’t- I came to rescue you.” The hero shook their head to clear the confusion. “I- did you really think I would come to gloat? That I would leave you here to endure this?”

“They told me you would. They told me that- that you put me here in the first place.”

iwhumpyou

Aesthetic: ‘Get Behind Me’

Oh, I love it when they’re overprotective like this. I love it when they actually do get behind them, despite their usual personality. I love terror in wide eyes, and desperate fingers gripping the hems of shirts.

I love outstretched arms. I love hands pushing them behind even as they fight to get out in front. I love that weird dance as the one behind tries to step to the side but the one in front steps with them, like that annoying truck that won’t let you pass on the road.

I love them being dragged behind, perhaps they’re fighting, perhaps they’re in shock. Perhaps the one doing the dragging is the first to react. It’s their first instinct to protect. I love when that is revealed of a character who didn’t seem like the protective type.

I love it when it isn’t just a meat shield. When the one doing the protecting is staring into the face of a monster, but a monster that they know, into eyes they once loved, arms outstretched and staring defiantly. “You have to go through me to get to them,” they say, hiding how their voice trembles at the thought of calling their bluff.

I love when the protector is injured. Weak and broken and shaking, spreading arms that are red with blood and black with bruises, swaying on sprained ankles. It will take all of two seconds to go through them but they stand and face their enemy because what they’re protecting is too precious not to fight for.

whumpqhs

PLEASE. ALL OF IT.

inky-duchess

Lessons Writers can learn from Hamilton

Guess who finally watched Hamilton? I love historical dramas and films and now historical musicals. I am a bigger nerd than before and I can't stop singing My Shot. So what can we learn about writing from Hamilton?

Aaron Burr, Sir

I really feel for Aaron Burr during the beginning of the story. Most of us have dealt with a similar issue: working hard yet somebody is always better than you. Even though Burr is technically the antagonist by story's end, most of the audience does get his point. But the problem with Burr, both by the audience's view and Hamilton's is the fact that he doesn't say what he believes in. La Fayette wants the fall of monarchy and better equality. Hamilton wants to make a place for himself in the world. Eliza wants her family to be happy. Burr tells Hamilton to keep his opinions to himself leading to Hamilton to ask, "Burr, the revolution's imminent. What do you stall for? If you stand for nothing, Burr, what'll you fall for?" Every character should have something they fight for. It endears them to the audience and allows us to stand behind them. Without goals and principles, a character will always just remain a name on a page and a collection of actions without meaning.

A different PoV- a different story.

During the Helpless section of the story, we witness the scene through Eliza Schuyler's eyes. We see her sister Angelica crossing the room to Alexander Hamilton to get him to dance with Eliza. Eliza sees Alexander as an honourable gallant, who has stolen her heart. Then in Satisfied, we see the scene from Angelica's PoV. Angelica is less naïve. She notes Hamilton's recognition of their last name, realizing that he's out to get a rich wife. She also realises that Hamilton will never be satisfied in life and that he's not a great catch socially or financially. "I asked about his fam'ly, did you see his answer? His hands started fidgeting, he looked askance He's penniless, he's flying by the seat of his pants". By showing this scene in dual PoV, we are awaken to both sides of Hamilton, the romantic version and the shrewd politician climbing his way up. By choosing a PoV character to tell a particular part of the story, you are moulding the events to the character's preconceived notions and opinions.

Foreshadowing

Hamilton does one thing exceptionally well. It foreshadows the ending very well. Hamilton repeatedly tells us that he isn't going to throw away his shot. We think it means his shot at rising up from poverty and his chance at notoriety in the Revolution. It starts becoming literal as Philip goes off to his first duel, with Hamilton almost begging Philip to fire his weapon away from his opponent. It doesn't do Philip any good. Later on during the duel against Burr, Hamilton intentionally misses his shot just as his son had only to die when his opponent discharged his weapon, killing him. Burr even called back to Philip's duel while describing Hamilton's affect before their own duel. You only begin to realise how profound the echo of My Shot is.

Alluding to a bigger picture

Hamilton may be a musical with no dialogue but that does not mean that there is no tell in the story. The actors do a great job of alluding to a deeper story behind the lyrics. During his last corporeal scene with Eliza, Hamilton's affect tells us that he at least very much suspects that he is not going to make it back this time. Lin Manuel Miranda's subtle expressions are just masterful. His mouth is saying one thing and his eyes are saying something completely else. In another brilliant Lin moment, the scene where Alexander blows up at Washington after the very first duel, you can see how angry Hamilton is. He is shaking despite his polite, yet curt replies. We don't even have to have the "Don't call me son" exchange. Lin's face tells us everything. Hamilton loves Washington like a father and resents him for rejecting his attempt to defend his name. We do not even have to be told, they showed us. There is always a deeper meaning to what a character does or says.

Your Protagonist is allowed do shitty things

A protagonist is not perfect. Most of the stories we read are narrated by people, who are by definition imperfect. If you look at any story the narrator/protagonist is usually a good person but has flaws or has done some questionable things. Hamilton is the good guy of the story, the protagonist, the hero. He's pro-Revolution, anti-slavery and has a troubled past. Even still Hamilton has an affair. It is not his best move or even the most savoury thing. There is no redeeming reason for him to cheat but even still, the audience either forgives him outright or takes it in their stride. Your protagonist does not have to be squeaky clean. They are allowed to make dumb decisions.

Remember History has its eyes on you

The one thing I often find missing in stories and worldbuilding is the media's/public's opinion on your characters or even the world around them. Hamilton hits the nail on the head. Your characters have no say on how they are perceived by their peers or the world around them. It is an interesting component to add in any narrative. What does the public say about your characters and world? "And when you're gone, who remembers your name? Who keeps your flame? Who tells your story? Who tells your story? Who tells your story?"

writemares

camp nano | day 8, 9, 10.

2,765 words on til morning.

writemares

CAMP NANO WEEK 3

TIL MORNING:

EXTINCTION EVENT:

goal: 7000. achieved: 8608.

writemares

taglist: (til morning) @heartnut @vandorens @emdrabbles @cerbywrites @ashesconstellation @rcvolutions @birdquils @semblanche @lottieiswriting @atelierwriting @sxnrising @waterfallofinkandpages @zmlorenz @samplewriting @cookiecutterwrites @writerystuffs @aelenko @therecouldbecolorsandlove @heyabella @scripturientworld @ofbloodandflowers @grab-the-monet-and-lets-gogh @noxstories @aepreall @nothingisliteral @lo-writes-things @bettsican @lemon-writings (extinction event) @adrestaie @aelenko

linariouswrites-deactivated2021

ayo, anyone interested in a short story about a couple of college kids who decide to go on a backpacking/hiking trip, only to have their lives ruined (then saved) by an antisocial geek with a prophetic iPod?

I am. And I’m writing it. Thanks, brain, I didn’t ask but oKAY I GUESS WE’RE DOING THIS!

linariouswrites-deactivated2021

ok ok ok, we have an excerpt!

tagging those who liked the original post, in case you maybe want to be added to the taglist for this? oh god I’m about to have 700 tag lists; I’ve been coming up with so many ideas lately - WIP intro to come! This is a one-time taglist; please let me know if you’d want to be on an official one.

@lanawritesalittle, @g-r-e-y-y, @keen2meecha, @dreameronthewind, @blue-jay26, @bloody-hugs

TRANSCRIPT:

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roses-raindrops-and-writing-dea

I’d love to be tagged!

boneyardchamp

Your professor will not be happy with you if he says the Stanford Prison Experiment shows human nature and you say it shows the nature of white middle class college-aged boys.

Like he will not be happy at all.

cannon-fannon

For real though. That experiment. Scary shit.

hollowedskin

This reminds me of a discussion that I read once which said Lord of the Flies would have turned out a hell of a lot differently if it was a private school of young girls (who are expected to be responsible and selfless instead), or a public school where the children weren’t all from an inherently entitled, emotionally stunted social class (studies have shown that people in lower socioeconomic classes show more compassion for others). Or that the same premise with children raised in a different culture than the toxic and opressive British Empire and it’s emphasis on social hierarchy and personal wealth and status. And that what we perceive as the unchangable truth deep inside humanity because of things like Lord of the Flies and the Stanford Prison Experiment, is just the base truths about what happens when you remove any accountabilty controlling one social group with an overwhelming sense of entitlement and an inability to feel compassion.

lady-feral

I will always reblog this.

shinykari

I just wanna say that the Lord of the Flies was explicitly written about high-class private school boys to make this exact point. Golding wrote Lord of the Flies partially to refute an earlier novel about this same subject: The Coral Island by R.M. Ballantyne. Golding thought it was absolutely absurd that a bunch of privileged little shits would set up some sort of utopia, so his book shows them NOT doing that.

roscoerackham

This is also generally true about most psychological experiments.

There’s an experiment called “The Ultimatum Game”. It goes something like this.

Subject A is given an amount of money (Say, $100).

Subject A must offer Subject B some percentage of that money.

If Subject B accepts Subject A’s offer, both get the agreed upon amount of money. If Subject B refuses, no one gets any money.

The most common result was believed to be that people favored 50/50 splits. Anything too low was rejected; people wanted fairness. This was believed to be universal.

And then a researcher went to Peru to do the experiment with members of the indigenous Machiguenga population, and was baffled to find that the results were totally different.

Because, to the Machiguenga, refusing any amount of free money (even an unfair amount) was considered crazy.

So the researcher took his work on the road (to 14 other ‘small scale’ societies and tribes) , and to his shock found the results varied wildly depending on where the test was done.

In fact, the “universal” result? Was an outlier.

And that’s the problem. 96% percent of test subjects for psychological research come from 12% of the population. Stuff that we consider to be universal facts of human nature… even things like optical illusions, just… aren’t.

You can read an article about it here. But the crux of it is that psychology is plagued with confirmation bias, and people are shaped more by their environment than we realize.

daggers-drawn

What this has created tho is a medical system that centers the psychology of middle and upper class white men.

headspace-hotel

This isn’t the bad timeline. It’s our timeline. Maybe there are worlds where good triumphs easily and things get better without a fight. Maybe there are worlds where everything is and always has been okay. Or maybe there aren’t.

But this is our world. Not the world where we have to live. But the world where we get to live.

World full of pain and darkness. World that is terrible in so many infinite crushing ways, world that is overwhelming and uncaring and unjust and where evil is rewarded and the innocent suffer. Disgusting, intolerable, broken world. World that we live in, together.

World that allowed us to live. World that allowed us to love each other. World of dinosaur bones and earthworms and snow. World where trees can be climbed, where there are beaches when the ocean meets the land, where cats have purrs and rain has a smell and lightning has a sound and the sky has a color and people have thousands of languages in which they say goodnight and goodbye and I love you and tell each other stories where a boy has a sword, where the woods are full of monsters, where a girl is cunning and clever, where a hero has friends at his side, where rebel bands are always ragtag and the dark side always more powerful and the escapes always close and the odds always nearly impossible.

Story where the bomb’s timer almost runs out, but doesn’t, and where the hero almost falls from the cliff, but is pulled to safety just in time. The dragon kills every adventurer that approaches his lair and one makes it out of the forest alive and no one has faced the dark lord and survived, but we tell this story anyway because maybe, maybe we can fight back, maybe, just maybe we live this time, maybe we make it.

Maybe we live when so many others did not. We mourn for them, hurt for them, and the torch is passed to us. The sword is left to us.

World where we can keep telling this story. World worth saving, whether we can save it or not.

World that lets us hurt. World that lets us feel this anger, world where we are descended from beasts that would lash out and bite, and where we became creatures that could reach out and love. Feel it, that unbearable burning inside you, that rage. Body where we are here, living, feeling. Self that responds to evil, that can feel anger, that can feel others’ pain, that burns with the suffering around us. World where we are designed and built not to lie down and bear this, but to fight it with claw and tooth. A part of us was made terrible, a roaring in our hearts, a terrifying animal that would tear the throat out of anything that tried to hurt those we love. This world did not shape us for giving up, but for fighting back.

This world is our home. It is the place where we meet one another. It is the place where every good thing has to live. Our world is dark, and terrible, and full of pain, and we get to live in it.

We get to create something worth fighting for. And we get to fight for it.

This is not the bad timeline. This is the timeline where we are allowed hope and a sword. There may be a world where we don’t get those things. There may not be any other world.

It doesn’t matter. We fight.

alexfeelyx

If your story had a fandom...

(Writers of tumblr! Ever looked at your favourite fandoms and realised, hey, my book might end up creating its own faithful bunch of raving lunatics to get into Discourse™ about it someday! Well wonder no more, just answer these questions and the future will be revealed!

Or not. Fandom is, after all, fickle and unpredictable. Still, it’s fun to try and guess!)

Shipping

What would be the most popular ship? Do you think it would be the official couple (if there is one)?

Any side ships that you think could become quite big? Why?

What ship(s) do you think would be totally vilified by at least part of the fandom? Would you agree with them?

Are there any ships you would consider a nOTP, but you’re quite certain that people would ship anyway? Would it bother you?

Tropes

What would be the most popular AUs for your story?

What do you thik would be more popular: angst of fluff? Why?

What would be the most popular fluff tropes? Which character(s) would get the most fluff written about them?

What would be the most popular angst tropes? Which character(s) would get the most angst written about them?

Crack

What popular incorrect quotes, Vines/TikToks, memes etc. do you think your fandom would latch on to? (If you have ever made memes for your own story, here is a good opportunity to share them! 😉)

Smut

Which characters would crop up in smut fic the most? Who would be the fandom bicycle?

What kinks would be the most popular?

Are there any smut tropes whose mere idea makes you shudder, but you’re pretty sure people are gonna write a lot of them?

Discourse™

Which characters will be considered the most Problematic? Why? Do you agree?

Will you be raked over the hot coals for any of your plot developments? What would your response be?

Have you ever, in the course of developing your story, changed something simply because you realised that it was in some way genuinely offensive or at least a little tone-deaf?

ciphers-and-tea

the Rapunzel Project

a WIP introduction

GENRE - Urban Fantasy, Crime Fiction, Fairy Tale Retelling

STATUS - Planning

POV - Third Person

SYNOPSIS -

Ffion Fairburn has been living a double life for years. Landlord of a florist and gardener by day, criminal, con-artist, and guerrilla gardener by night. And she isn’t alone. She’s accompanied by Mika Argyris, a minotaur gymnast with a work history consisting primarily of acting as hired muscle, Gemma Drake, a gorgon with a talent for disguise and sticky fingers capable of lifting belongings off of unsuspecting marks, and Fifty, a lockpicker who seems to straddle the line between the magical and non-magical world.

When a letter from no-one is slid under Ffion’s door, they’re called to investigate the wrongdoings of MAUSagriculture, an agri-tech company with a few skeletons in its CEO’s closet. But Fifty is quick to discover that skeleton’s aren’t the only thing that the CEO has hidden.

the Rapunzel Project is a retelling of Rapunzel. It’s set in a world where there exists a veil that keep those without magic from seeing anything magical as anything but ordinary. It uses aspects of the way that Rapunzel is primarily told nowadays, as well as the original fairytale, which was how I was always told it as a child. Hence the fact that the story heavily involves an agriculture company, since in the original, the reason that Rapunzel is taken by the witch was that she was payment for some Rapunzel (a plant grown in Europe commonly used in salads) that Rapunzel’s father had stolen.

In the Rapunzel Project, the prince who rescues Rapunzel from her tower is replaced by four thieves who share a hatred of those who use and abuse others for their own gain.

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