#tryingtowrite

[tryingtowriteplease]

writing challenge for dec if anyone wants to join:

join me in attempting to commit to min 200 words per day for the month of dec!

additional optional guidelines below the cut

I will be attempting to keep my words to the same wip that i usually struggle to work on consistently

I am only counting prose, not including any additional world-building/planning documents I may work on during this time

Minimum 200—I very much encourage myself (and anyone else who joins) to write more if you’ve got it in you day to day

that’s pretty much it! feel free to rb if you’re joining or comment your daily word counts :)

[tryingtowriteplease]

hi just quick “not dead” post on this page—think i take things a bit too seriously when i consider the inevitable “god people are going to READ this” part of writing which is literally part of why i started this (to get over that).

basically part of why i don’t post a lot is like the complex idea of wanting to share? but not wanting to spoil a final product? which is silly because nothing i’m doing right this moment is anywhere near a final product. anyways, will try to keep that in mind and share a bit more of my work

[tryingtowriteplease]

anyone ever just manage to write entire spreadsheets of character worldbuilding without ever writing a single sentence of prose

[tryingtowriteplease]

ok having multiple creative hobbies is very fun but i made my own halloween costume and didn’t do anything else for two months

happy to report i wrote for the first time in that timespan this past weekend

[tryingtowriteplease]

internally frothing at the mouth with creative energies, outwardly sitting calmly with an iced tea and sunglasses nowhere near any of my creative projects

[tryingtowriteplease]

To write you must also read

i recently started reading a book about creative writing (which i will likely consume very slowly, since my access to it is digital & limited), but one of the main points of the first chapter was worth sharing:

to become better at writing you must also read.

i've been thinking about it a lot over the past week. the book suggests reading indiscriminately and heavily, which is well and good advice, but did not offer much beyond that. so here are my personal takes/elaborations:

read in a genre you want to write & pay attention to details like how the author world-builds, how they set scenes, or whether the story is character-driven vs event driven from your perspective

if there's something you want to improve in your writing, pay attention to how your favorite authors establish that. authorS plural, try to get more than one perspective

read some nonfiction. not your style/don't know where to start? find something niche and weird. my personal rec at this exact moment is one of Caitlin Doughty's books; alternatively pick one about a social issue you really care about or want to learn more about

read something you don't like every once and awhile. yeah. do it

re-read something you really liked when you were younger with a critical eye. (you can still like it)

read some poetry (unfortunately i don't have recs for this one, but if you do feel free to add)

read some fucked up short stories and then try writing your own shortened narratives. "The Ones Who Walked Away From Omelas" by Ursula K. Le Guin is p haunting. (disclaimer the short stories do not have to be fucked up)

feel free to add your own points, but the gist is to read with an eye for what you want to improve in your own writing, or to read with a mind for trying new things and getting new perspectives for what can be done with writing.

[tryingtowriteplease]

ooouuugh,,, arrrgghhh,, someone break into my house and yell at me to write

[tryingtowriteplease]

@waxywolf

being friends with other writers be like