folks
we did it
ended up writing a little over 1000 words on the day so far–tons of editing (and about 20k more words) before i post it publicly anywhere but it felt really, really good to start writing again
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Hey all!
It’s quite exciting that I’ve stuck with my WIP long enough to make it to a whole new Writer Support thread! Last month was great for my writing so hopefully here’s to another one. The People’s House is now reaching 100k words, which is insane to me considering it feels like just yesterday I thought up the idea and googled “ChoiceScript wiki” promptly before needing an ibuprofen for the first time.
I also took the leap and decided to start up a Patreon, something I had gone back and forth over for quite some time before choosing to just go for it – and I’m so glad I did. Because of the incredible support I recieved last month and the beginning of this month I was able to send myself out of the house and into a cheap hotel for a few nights just to focus on writing.
This next month, I’m hoping to get mostly through my third Chapter and just to keep writing! I’ve already had about four other ideas for what I’m going to work on next (I’m not even halfway done with the WIP I’m currently writing), but I’ve found that dumping all of my ideas into a google doc helps me to stay focused on one project at a time.
Best of luck to my fellow writers out there and good luck in reaching your goals this month!
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Maybe a bit more info on genre, scope, and synopsis would help; there are many more viable choices out there than even a few years ago.
The experiences of others that I know on Wattpad have been mixed – I would look hard and long at the other options before considering this one.
@writerindisguise, and @swatheford – Welcome to the support thread. 
@will has released the Gray Painter today! See the announcement thread for details.
@milaswriting – Thank you for sharing your frustrations … they are frustrations that many of us feel. Putting them out there is brave and it also helps others experiencing these same frustrations realize they are not alone.
Awesome!
Also – @CC_Hill — You snuck a new WiP in this week … I know your fans from Tumblr seem to be aware of it, but I’m sure it has pleasantly surprised many of us.
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Thank you 
this thread gives us the motivation we need to keep at it
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Long story short I decided to compromise the big plans with the urge of writing by writing short interconnected stories, not necessarly in order of continuity.
Basically I need somewhere where I can got feedback and flexibility to rewrite my works.
Tecnically I already have my small reader group (my cousin and a few friends), the problem is I have to wait even a month or more just to let them read a passage so short that I directly wrote in a email.
Yes I’ve discarted, sort of, Wattpad for quite a while; I was giving the benefit of the doubt.
PS By the way thank you again for the help and theese threads Eiwynn, they help.
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posted a (very short) demo in the interest check thread
not sure if this is the idea i want to stick with, but i wrote something and uploaded it and (ostensibly) people will read it. for the first time in a year! we’ll see if it’s good or not, but it feels like the bus is finally rolling along again
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I have to finish the final edits to Talon City by the end of the month. That’s my only writing goal for July, just to wrap that up.
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I am sure, Talon City will be another of my favorites.
It is good hearing from you! I hope your July goes well, and you are able to accomplish all your goals, writing and otherwise.
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Best of luck with your brutal editing! And thanks so much for the prompts and reliably posting these threads.
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I’d thought I would share the following words of George RR Martin:
Which shows that some of the most successful writers are “gardeners” instead of “architects”; or to use more common terms: some of the most successful writers are “seaters” instead of “planners”.
The main take-away in discussions of this nature is that each of us is different than anyone else, so we should always approach writing from the standpoint of: “what works for me” instead of what “others are doing”.
That is why I feel sharing what works for you is important, so that others can see that there is more than “one proper” way to succeed with writing.
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I disagree with Martin. He’s not a gardener like King, but a mix of gardener/architect. Although Martin could certainly use a healthy dose of outlining. It’s been a decade since A Dance of Dragons. Dare I say, it’s extremely likely he ended up stuck in a corner because of multiple plots, subplots and viewpoints. Outlining his story from start to finish would have rectified that, in my opinion, instead of relying on bullet points.
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Finally got that sprint to the finish I wanted in June. Ended up with 15,000 words; not a ton but more than I have had in a month for a couple years. Promptly finished the entire first draft for Day After yesterday. Need to do a fair amount of fine-tuning, but it should hopefully be ready to submit in a few weeks.
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Martin already HAS an outlining. It’s called the War of the Roses.
Oh, so we’re still pretending ASOIAF will have an ending? Good to know.
Maybe this will finally make the “Dany would never do something like this” people shut up, because that she definitely would is telegraphed as hell throughout the books.
It’s so close you can smell it!
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It positively reeks of satisfaction. And cardamom.
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I very much empathize with Martin. I think my best writing happens at the spur of the moment, and I enjoy writing a scene much more if I have no idea how it’ll go — sometimes how it’ll begin — as opposed to having it perfectly outlined in my head.
However, I did make an outline for the second book of my series and… I can’t deny its benefits either. It’s definitely assuring to have the whole plot laid out in front of you because now it’s a matter of simply writing. The story is there, I just need to pluck it out of my head.
Does that make writing a little less exciting? It does. But I made sure to leave some “dark” spots, some parts where I don’t have a perfect plan for how they’ll go — so, some conversations, for example, I simply have as “conversation” in the outline. Some battle scenes are just “combat”, and there’s a branch I’m really excited about that I purposely left as vague as possible.
I found what works best for me, a mixture of the gardiner and the architect. At least when it comes to long stories where everything has inevitably to tie together. I’ll have to leave my impulsive and carefree writing to short stories and smaller projects. Alas, they’re so fun but terribly unreliable.
Don’t say that 
I’m still holding onto hope.
Congratulations! That’ll be your third finished game, won’t it? Your work output is an inspiration.
As for myself, I know I’m very late, but I’d also like to once again re-join this support thread since I love reading all the posts every month. I’ll be traveling out of the country for vacation on the 24th, so since I don’t have a lot of time left, my goals for the next two weeks are humble but, hopefully, feasible.
- I want to finish all the edits and corrections my alpha testers have sent me for Book Two.
- I want to write every day.
I think I can manage it.
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This is one of the most important points, I think, when it comes to writing. Emulating successful authors is certainly well and good, but just because it worked for them doesn’t mean it will work for you too.
I’m still a new writer, compared to most of you here, but I think I’m much a mix of gardener and architect as well. Currently, my ‘plan’ for chapter one simply includes the main idea (example: rooftop conversation with milkshakes), and the ending sentence linking it to the next scene. That’s it. It’s working for me so far, but who knows how my planning process will change as time goes on?
And, @Anathema, don’t discount your own achievements too. Your elegant writing style and story are both awe-inspiring in their own right!
I’m late to this thread as well, due to work commitments; nonetheless, I really hope to be able to pick up as much speed as I can to write more over the next few weeks. My goal is rather ambitious, but I’m really excited to reach for it:
- I want to write the first draft of all 8 scenes for chapter one.
- stretch goals: edit up to scene three
Being able to achieve these two will set me up for a mid-August update, so that’s motivation in itself!
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Heh, that’s very kind of you, but considering that your own game is longer than my three combined, I don’t think it’s that huge of an output. Still, since the beginning of 2021 I have achieved a good level of reliability in words written, and hopefully I can continue that with The Grandparenting Simulator once I move on to that.
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Dude needs some sort of massive disaster plot point that simplifies everything by uniting everyone against a common enemy. If only he had something like that in his books.
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