Does the trickiness of endings prevent you from ending stories you'd like to, or are you able to slap on something just to finish and fix later?
I’m usually able to slap something on. I have dread for the ending but that’s just because i don’t know what i want the character’s futures to be exactly. I also haven’t written enough endings to have a huge opinion on endings.
Thursday, October 9th, 2025 @ 7:30 PM PT on Twitch!
Our yearly NaNoWriMo streams are back, starting with the traditional NaNoPrep/Preptober drop-in stream for chatting, sprinting, and sharing tips on how to prepare for The Big 50,000.
THIS STREAM HAS (OPTIONAL) HOMEWORK BELOW THE CUT!
If you can, the best way to prepare for NaNo is to write out everything you do in a day, in as much detail as possible. I like to go for 15-minute chunks and pick a weekday. Honestly and nonjudgementally record every single thing you spend time on in a single day, and we’ll look together to see where you can fit the writing in during the stream. I usually use a piece of notebook paper, like this:
(The above entire segment of text and image are from 2022's Preptober stream.)
Alternatively (or in addition!), ask yourself: what are you working on this year? What do you hope to achieve, and to what extent is it linked inextricably with the 50,000 word goal? How have your experiences with these sorts of challenges changed in accordance with your circumstances, and what do you think you can expect this year? How do you think things might go awry?
You don't have to do any of the above, but if you do, we'll have so much to talk about—and won't that be fun!
May 6: 160 | Reach for the stars by @the-wip-project
Hah, it was such a bad day, I'm surprised I could muster up this much. But we persist, because those cute stars are needed for a balanced mental health. I'm still getting through the set up of the last part of this chapter. We're almost there, lol. There's always a point when I'm writing longer chapters (this is gonna be around 5k at least probably) when I slow down for some reason, and gotta drag myself through that part, haha. But the thrill of showing some cool worldbuilding finally, one of my favourite parts actually, keeps me going at least.
Snip time:
Guardians Day was a holiday that cracked the most skeptical, sour people into an excited devotee. The air thickened with anticipation from the moment everyone left their bed early, starting the preparations with a reverence that few occasions brought out. It was a day of the gods when all sought to exhibit their best self.
Well, nearly all.
It's August so I want to remind y'all I'll be holding the "Trick or Treat" event during the last weekend of October! It's the third year and I'm looking forward to it.
I'll talk about it more in September so keep your eyes peeled 👀
@sabrina-author was asking about tumblr writing events, so I figured I’d put together a list of everything I’m currently aware of. please feel free to chime in with more, as I’m sure I’m missing things!
Ongoing Events:
World-Building Wednesday: send asks to fellow writeblrs with world-building questions
Blorbo Thursday: same, but with questions about OCs (blorbos)
Storyteller Saturday: same, but with any kind of writing question. can be about the writing process, their wips, etc.
Smut Sunday: post a spicy excerpt or prompt list
Fluff Sunday: (I think this is or was a thing?) post a fluffy excerpt or prompt list
Note: for ask-based events and games, you can always ask anonymously if the person has anon turned on for their inbox.
Ongoing Games:
Ask Games: you’ll see folks reblog ask games now and then, which are just lists of questions (like this one). you send an ask with one of the questions (usually sending the phrase or symbol that represents that question), and they answer it.
Picrew Games: usually just links to a picrew with rules like “design your OC with this picrew” or “design a cupcake/fishbowl/object that represents your OCs.” (Like this one.) you can tag other writers to do the game as well, but that’s totally optional.
Find the Word/Word Search Game: for this game, you take a set of words (like...soft, run, fast, and hard), then search for them in your wip, then post the snippet that uses that word. You can either grab words from someone else who has done the game, or you can make up your own to get a game started. in the snippet post, you also tag a few other writers and give them words to search for. I usually do three or four words, to keep it manageable. Here’s an example from a diff writeblr.
Last Line Game: you post the last line (or group of lines) you wrote, then tag a few other writers to do the same. Here’s an example.
If you’re not sure who’s comfortable being tagged in certain games, you can always create a post saying “interact with this post if you’re okay being tagged in games.” I have a list in my notes doc of who has said they’re okay with it and I refer to that list when I go to tag folks.
Time-Specific Events:
March: potential Pitch Event by @moondust-bard
April: Camp Nano (not a Tumblr-specific event, but several folks here participate; from the same org as Nanowrimo, see link below)
July: Camp Nano (same as above)
November: Nanowrimo (same as above)
Again, if I’m missing events, or if there are organizers I should link to events, please feel free to reply or rb with that info.
just thought of this randomly and now im curious; is there a unique mini event for thursday? like wip wednesday, fanfic friday...
i've seen these writing based mini-events for nearly every day but definitely not thursday (to my memory)
So, according to this weekly event list I rb'd 8 months ago, Thursday is 'Thirsty Thursday' and all about relationships (not just romantic, but others too).
But this also designates Saturday as 'Sit-Down' rather than 'Storyteller', so... grain of salt.
I also feel like there used to be an 'Author Thursday'? (it might have been Tuesday instead...) That was about asking others their about their writing process, style, inspos, etc, because Storyteller Sat was more about what you were up to.
The thing to bear in mind is there are so many completing things, for example some people do 'Worldbuilding Wednesday' (when you ask specifically about stuff going on in someone's world) vs WIP Weds, that really you could just make up your own thing to do. For example, @tracle0 started doing 'Snippet Sunday' which is getting a lot of traction.
Another thing to bear in mind is that, as far as I have observed, the whole thing is in constant flux anyway 😅️ What was going on 6 months ago might not be a thing anymore, and nothing is 'official' anyway.
Sorry this got a bit rambly (needs more coffee), but hopefully contained some of the answers sought?
Happy wording! ✒️
(OFC if OOMFs knows any different to me or can give a better answer, please do!)
Hello, hello, as you all might have seen floating around, I will be running a writeblr reading challenge in December.
What is the December Book Dragon Challenge?
In short, it’s a challenge designed to encourage engagement with people’s writing within the writeblr community.
Why should I join it?
Everyone who succeeds at my challenge gets art of at least one OC, people who super succeed get even more art of their characters, you may also find new stories you love or make more writer friends as you hunt around for good work to read, it’ll help spread around writing by our fellow writers and connect them with people who might not have otherwise found them, and I believe that all of us getting into the habit of engaging with each other’s work a little more frequently will be a good thing for the community as a whole.
What are the rules?
The rules are quite simple ^^
Starting December 1st 2022, anyone who succeeds at my challenge to read and reblog short stories/wips snippets/poetry will receive art of one of their OC or OCs of their choosing. What kind of art/how many pieces depends on which goal tier you reach.
To qualify for these prizes, you most follow the following rules for all of the tiers. Be sure to read them thoroughly or you won’t be able to claim the prizes. -
1. You must reblog all of the writing you read and leave a thoughtful comment of at least 3 sentences on each of these reblogs. I will be checking these before handing out prizes, so don’t skip this step.
2. Regardless of which tier goal you are aiming for, your reblogs must include works from at least 12 different writeblrs.
3. Writers who are on the opt out list, found at the bottom of this post beneath the readmore, will not count. Any stories/poems/snippets by them will not be added to your goals nor will they count as one of the 12 authors. I will be double checking this, so please respect their wishes.
4. Please copy and paste links to each of your reblogs and keep them saved. At the end of the event, you may either create a post with these links and tag me in it or share a google spread sheet with me for them.
5. In case something happens to where you saved your links or other unforseen circumstances where you can’t get me a list of your reblogs, please put #december-book-dragon-challenge in the tags of your reblogs so I can quickly find your reblogs for the challenge in your archive.
6. If you are a writer and would like to invite people to read your stuff for the challenge, you may make a post doing so under the #december-book-dragon-challenge tag. However, I encourage you to make sure that you have your writings properly tagged for content warnings and have the appropriate community labels active for smut and other sensitive topics beforehand. And please make sure you have plenty of writing for them to sort through ahead of time. I also have a writeblr list here that you may add yourself to for people to find - https://www.tumblr.com/ren-c-leyn/697902223446982656/december-book-challenge-writers-list?source=share
7. If you are a writer and would rather not have your works reblogged for the purposes of the challenge, please contact me with your writeblr’s blog name and I’ll add you to the opt-out list at the bottom of the page.
As a reminder, the writing content that counts for this challenge is short stories, poems, WIP snippets, and chapters of a continuing story in the writeblr community. Moodboards, character introductions, and the like will not count.
What are the goals and the prizes?
Ah, yes, the best part of the event ^^
If you reach the first tier - 21 different poems/stories/snippets by at least 12 different writers (only one a day for three weeks) you’ll win a drawing of one OC from the neck/top of the shoulders up.
If you manage to to do 42+ stories/snippet/poems you will win two OC drawings (they can be of different characters or the same one), and they will be at least from the hip up.
And if you go full book dragon mode and manage to do 84, four times the original goal or 4 poems/snippets every day for three weeks, you win a group picture of 3 to 5 of your original characters of your choosing as well as a solo full-body drawing of an OC of your choice.
I will have to request that you be patient with me, as depending on how complex people’s OC designs are and what’s going on with my life, these drawings can take me several hours and/or multiple days each.
After I verify that you have beaten my challenge, I will contact you regarding your character(s). The more references/accurate descriptions you can give me of what your character looks like, the closer I can get to what you’re picturing, so please have those ready.
Some notes regarding the art prizes -
* It has to be your own original character(s), no fan art of characters from other people’s works.
* I will not be doing anything NSFW or gory. I am also personally not comfortable doing anything horror related, such as demons, ghosts, ect.
* Some details/poses may simply be out of skill level but I will try my best to get it as close as I can.
* These will just be character art, so sadly no backgrounds will be added. Depending on the number of people who complete the challenge, they may just be black and white sketches as well.
* These will all take me quite a bit of time to complete, so I will ask that you please be patient with me as I work on the prizes. I will try to keep everyone updated on where I’m at with their prize(s), however.
I have had some artists volunteer to help out with the art early in the event’s planning, but most of them weren’t sure if they could commit to it then. If you are one of those lovely people and still have the time/spoons available to give me a hand, I appreciate it greatly. Feel free to contact me near the end of December and we’ll iron the details out.
The Opt Out List - Please respect these writers’ wishes and don’t reblog their work for the challenge:
Writeblr Battle Royale - Ametrine Versus Lyra! (Lyra POV)
Yes! That's right! Round 2 of the event @writeblrbattleroyale put on by @your-absent-father! This time my alien elf Lyra is going up against the ghost-fighting Ametrine (OC that belongs to @moonluringfrost)! And this time she actually does fight! You can read Lyra's round 1 here and Ametrine's round 1 here! Thanks, enjoy, and remember you can follow all the action here OR by following #writeblrbattleroyale !
Follow some awesome fellow authors and watch our OCs beat the shit out of each other (when they behave and do what they're supposed to do instead of things like trying to escape or have a pleasant conversation)
WC: 1,240
Tw: death
“And now the round 1 has ended. Unfortunately for me, some of you players tried to go against me, but I give you the benefit of the doubt. I haven’t introduced myself. People call me M. I don’t know if it’s my real name. I really don’t remember anything. I once was a full person that was cursed to roam the world, without being able to go beyond. I do have two goals I remember: I am the bringer of entertainment, and I am a bringer of death. This place really is the tight combination of both. You are my freak show now that my own freak was taken for me. I just need to make sure now you don’t try to escape.”
A woman appears in the middle of the arena in clothes that are almost stereotypical of a fortune teller. She’s south American, with a beautiful straight nose and eyes that seem to know everything you deeply want to know. “I am so sorry.” She points at Lyra and the new opponent, and the world shifted.
Flashes of her home. Devastated. Crushed and burnt plant matter, the giant carved pillars now broken and laying at her feet. Someone far away was laughing among the eerie quiet. A flash of dark and Lyra was running. Heading to the laughing. She emerged into the light and blinked. Her home, the island of her parents…it was all gone. Broken. Destroyed.
“Hail the queen!” A voice from beyond sight called.
Bodies began to move under the rubble, and Lyra glanced down. She was wearing the outfit of the highest noble. Queen. The stone fragments of all the clans were embedded into the leather wrapped around her wrist. A mark of what was never supposed to be.
“Queen of all!!” someone called. “Death-bringer!!”
The bodies revealed themselves, and turned to her with faces of shame, fear, anger and hopelessness.
“Queen of Elkien, conqueror and destroyer of the lands!!”
“My fancy little crew here are all my helpers whose soul is in their own little dimension. I won’t mind putting you with my little collection. So, now it’s time for round 2”.
Lyra blinked back into reality standing in an arena, a cold sweat covering every inch of her skin. That…so that wasn’t real, then. It was one of her greatest fears…and it had been brought to her mind by this ‘M’ character.
She wanted to draw an arrow and shoot it directly into the sky, directly to the place where M had been moments ago. But the sounds of people shuffling around, starting to murmur and talk and shout all distracted her. She pinned her ears to her head, giving it a shake. Focused on her opponent.
The sooner she could finish this, the sooner she could get to M and make him pay. For this game of death, for making them participate…for making her live the nightmare that haunted her like a shadow.
She took a breath to steady herself, facing the one opposite her. Pale skin, light hair, blue eyes. Petit build. But she knew enough to know that a size and shape were only minor factors in a fight. She couldn’t afford to take her opponent lightly.
Even so, she did not want to fight if she did not have to.
Taking a deep breath, Lyra called out, “Adversary! I don’t want to fight you. How much do you want to fight me?”
The response came. “Depends on if fighting will get me home faster than not.” The woman began walking towards Lyra, causing her back to stiffen just a bit. She began backing away. Keep the same distance between them. She didn’t know what her opponent could do and didn’t want to find out by letting her get too close.
“I don’t know if fighting will get us home. But I do know it will end with one of us dead.” The woman didn’t seem to change based on words alone, continuing to advance. Lyra let out a breath and fired a warning shot directly into her path, the arrow digging into the ground at her feet. “I don’t want to fight…but I will if I must.”
The woman across from her sighed as Lyra knocked another arrow into place. She seemed tired, and Lyra couldn’t blame her. “I have to try,” she called back. “There’s something I need to do. I’m sorry.”
She reached down and plucked Lyra’s arrow from the ground, keeping it with her as she began advancing faster.
Lyra grit her teeth. “Then I’m sorry as well. Good luck, adversary.”
The woman increased her speed to a near-run, Lyra keeping her arrow tight as she began to back up faster. Lyra tried to track her, but the woman’s evasive movements made for little opening. Eventually Lyra had to lower her arrow and focus on moving, on keeping up the distance and matching her speed to her opponent’s.
This was the best tactic Lyra had at the moment, not wanting to use her earth magic unless it was absolutely needed. The cost was high, and while she’d used it on the last little one it was simply because it seemed an easier way to end the fight than blood. From the way this new opponent moved, she would have to be more careful with her magic…something she was not prepared to do. Not yet.
And her reward was a sudden change in tactic, the woman suddenly changing course and speed, charging directly at Lyra. Lyra moved until her back was against the wall, waited until her opponent was nearly on top of her before stretching out her wings and flying into the air. Feet now against the wall, Lyra kept herself aloft while pushing off.
She looked.
Aimed.
Fired.
She tucked her wings and tucked herself into a ball as she landed, rolling with momentum and getting her feet under her as fast as possible, leaping into a crouch and spinning around to identify where her opponent was.
A body was collapsed by the wall.
Lyra waited for movement as the crowd around her seemed to hold their breath. A few began talking. Whispers among the specters watching. Then…
Cheering.
Lyra risked a glance up at the ones in the stands. A few looked genuinely shocked. A few looked genuinely pleased. Several looked as if they were forced into cheering, like puppets but ones that she could not spot the strings.
Standing, Lyra walked cautiously over to the body. The woman, her adversary, was dead. She rolled the body onto her back, removed the arrow, and closed her eyes, making a gesture that marked blessings for the dead. “I am sorry you did not complete what you needed to do,” she said softly. “But, if you have a next life, I hope you are able to find peace in it.”She stood and turned to face M. Took a deep breath and yelled up, “mxmuzacimo!!!” You are a bag of dicks!! before stalking back to her original spot. He was going to pay for making her – for making them – participate. She wasn’t sure how yet, not as well versed in life and death magic from her home and unsure if it would work in this place. But she was going to make sure she tried if she won her way to the top. And if not? She was going to try before she was taken out.