#wordsforwriters

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WORLDBUILDING THROUGH CULTURE

Writing a Secondary World book or series, and need some help constructing your setting?

Worldbuilding is more than just maps!

Creating a believable secondary world, with consistent internal logic, language, taboos, and politics can be tricky.

Luckily, this workbook is here to help you devise the best possible setting for your #SFF story.

Based on a lecture series I used to do one be before the pandemic, this is a workbook that's really meant and designed to WORK.

Write in it, paste in pictures, doodle, add extra notes or change your mind and erase things!

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Writing a #SecondaryWorld book or series, and need some help constructing your setting? #Worldbuilding is more than just maps! Creating a believable secondary world, with consistent internal logic, language, taboos, and politics can be tricky. Luckily, this workbook is here to help you devise the best possible setting for your #SFF story. Based on a lecture series I used to do one be before the pandemic, this is a workbook that's really meant and designed to WORK. Write in it, paste in pictures, doodle, add extra notes or change your mind and erase things! Get your copy here

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@NaNoWriMo / #NaNoWriMo is here! It's time to sit down and craft those perfectly curated little stories, right? WRONG. It's time to sit down and just GET IT ON THE PAGE. No matter how messy, ugly, and not-right it is. I say this so that you come into NaNoWriMo with a clear understanding of what it is EXACTLY that you are creating and that it will be, in all honestly, a bit crap. And you know what? THAT IS FANTASTIC. ALLOW YOURSELF TO BE A BIT CRAP. The truth of the matter is… first drafts are always a bit crap. In fact, first drafts are MEANT to be a bit crap. That’s the nature of first drafts. And the reason you allow your first draft to be a bit crap is because the important part of creating a first draft is not to write a polished, perfect, incredible novel. The point of a first draft is to get the STORY onto the PAGE. All the magic of tone and form and style happens in editing. But all the magic of running and jumping and loving and hating and living and dying and killing and screaming and kissing … that happens in the first draft. And it is supposed to sweep you away and plunge you into your world and make your chest ache and your stomach twist and your eyes swim and your mouth grin. And you can’t do that if you’re self-censoring every time you pick up the metaphorical (or not) pen. So allow your first draft to be a bit crap. Because fearing to write because you’re going to be a bad writer is silly; if you hate everything you put on the page, if your inner editor cringes at each typo, then how will any of it get ONTO the page? Embrace that your NaNo is going to be a bit crap and use that as permission to keep writing. Think: “Oh, well, this scene is a bit crap. But that’s okay, because I can edit later! LATER! For now I will follow my fingers and my imagination wherever they shall lead and it will be GLORIOUS.” So there it is. There’s my advice for NaNo. BE GLORIOUSLY, WONDERFULLY, UNASHAMEDLY A BIT CRAP.  #writingadvice #amwriting #writing #wordsforwriters #writersofinstagram #authoraodinstagram #author #JMFrey #wattpad #wattpadstars#nano #nanowrimo20 #nanowrimo2020 https://www.instagram.com/p/CHDV9Y6goUJ/?igshid=y9egw309wp3r

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In light of everything that's happening, I thought it was time to revive this #WordsForWriters article from 2014 (with a few small updates). "My Writing Sucks and I Hate Everything. Or, Being a Writer While Human" is now live over on #Wattpad. (Link in Bio) #writingtips #writingadvice #amwriting #writingcommunity #writersofinstagram #authorsofinstagram #authorsofIG #JMFrey #Protip #writingtip #keeponauthoring #writingadviceblog #writingblog www.jmfrey.net | @scifrey | scifrey.tumblr.com   https://www.instagram.com/p/B_SeXO8ABN_/?igshid=9bdt6rszdz63

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I have uploaded a new "Words for Writers" post to my website, this time on the importance of having a second pair of eyes on your manuscript. Called a beta reader (like a beta-tester in programming), a secondary reader, or sometimes just a straight up editor, having someone else read through your work is an invaluable step in the editing process. This is important because while writing a story, writers live very deeply within them. We can be blind to all sorts of mistakes - little ones like typos, or big ones like failing to close a plot gap, or to make a Chekov’s Gun payoff, or changes to a character’s appearance, or simply forgetting to write a whole chapter. I’ve done all of these things. It’s easier to miss than you’d expect, because youthink you’ve done the thing and when you re-read the story, you can easily see what you intended to put on the page, instead of what you really did put on it. Of course, putting a story away for awhile and coming back to it with fresh eyes is a great way to find errors and ensure the book you’re working on reads as intended, it’s still easy to miss things, or to assume something works when it doesn’t. After all, it’s nearly impossible to be fully objective about writing we ourselves put on the page. To this end, that second pair of eyes is a vital part of the process of turning a first draft into something professional and legible. Read the rest of the post here: http://jmfrey.net/2019/02/words-for-writers-beta-readers/ #WordsforWriters #protip #writingadvice #jmfrey #writingblog #blogpost #authorshelpingauthors #writblr #writeblr #writersofinstagram #authorsofinstagram https://www.instagram.com/p/BtwM3c7n9bw/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=ohe8lx4t17tg

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It's been a bit quiet on the blog

Hi! I'm still here though! I wanted to let you guys know that I am editing THREE novels right now, gearing up for the release of "The Silenced Tale", and i just started a fantastic full time job (that I frankly adore).

I may be a bit more sporadic in the next six months, but I still love you all tons.

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As @neilhimself is fond of saying: In draft one, write down everything that happens in your story. In draft two, go back and make it look like you knew what you were doing all along. So where and how do you start? LINK TO #WORDSFORWRITERS ARTICLES IN BIO #WritingCommunity #Editing #writingtips #amediting #amwriting #protip #storyteller #writer #writersofig #WritersofInstagram #authoring #AuthorsofInstagram #writingtip #WritingBlog #WritingAdvice https://www.instagram.com/p/CdQ9_QXLiNq/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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Now that you know what a subplot is, and you’ve decided what kind you’re going to write, it’s time to figure out what shape that subplot is going to take. Link to the article series in bio. . . . #WordsForWriters #writingcommunity #writingspace #writingtip #WritingBlog #writersblock #writing #writersofinstagram #WritingAdvice #writersgetit #writeaway #writersofig #AmWriting https://www.instagram.com/p/CYMZPczL89C/?utm_medium=tumblr