#Camp Nanowrimo 2022

[werewolfsmile]

Okay so this is happening. Fix-it fic for Cornelia and Eli, set post-canon. I have no idea how long this thing is gonna be but I'm sure as hell buckling in for the ride!

Man I'm such trash for this show 😭❤️

[this-marvellous-world]

You've heard of spotify wrapped, steam replay, and other related things, so here's my 2022 year in writing! (only half a year late!)

Total wordcount for 2022: 103,087 words Month with most words: November with 30,687 words Story with most words: Venture Forth with 33,221 words Day with most words: February 24th with 4,855 words Average word count on days I wrote: 1,636 words Stories completed: one (1) Stories started: five (5)

I just did this for fun, and did NOT expect my total words to be that high! So I decided I had to make graphs and post it (eventually)

My new year's resolution is to get at least two more of these stories completed (I've already got one)

[nanowrimo]

5 Tips for NaNoWriMo First-Timers

Feeling nervous as a new Wrimo? NaNo Guest Demi Michelle Schwartz has advice for you! Read on for tips on how to make sure your first attempt at Camp NaNoWriMo is a great one.

Have you heard about the NaNoWriMo or Camp NaNoWriMo buzz? Are you on the fence about taking the challenge for the first time? If yes, I’ve been in your shoes.

Last year, I got a new novel idea I was eager to write. I love challenges, and NaNoWriMo looked like the perfect time to draft my story. Still, being a first-timer gave me nervous butterflies. Little did I know I’d win my first NaNoWriMo with a finished draft at 73,000 words.

Whether you’re planning on participating in Camp or thinking ahead to November, I have five tips for you.

1. Plot and Research in Advance

First, I can confidently say I wouldn’t have been successful if I didn’t plot and research. Having a solid story idea from the start gave my writing direction each day.

If you’re a pantser, this may contrast with your process. Rather than completely plotting the novel, see if you can at least plan major beats or turning point scenes. That way, you’ll have plot points to write towards.

Also, doing research in advance reduces the amount of times you’ll have to pause to look something up. You may have to google information here and there, but a head start will make these internet-surfing adventures minimal.

2. Plan a Writing Schedule

Planning a writing schedule is key. For me, I’m most productive when I first wake up before I’m swamped by the day’s tasks. Also, I write well before bed, as long as I’m not too tired. Knowing when you write best will allow you to plug in time to work on your story.

Also, look at your calendar and plan accordingly. Part of my NaNoWriMo goal was writing every day, but I had to work around other commitments. Last November was a busy month for me in my songwriting career. So, I had to adjust my writing schedule during busy release and press days.

Having a plan for when you’d like to write and being aware of days you can fit in more time with your story will give your journey structure.

3. Remain Flexible

I can’t stress enough how important it is to remain flexible. No amount of planning can prepare you for curve balls or days you’re not in a creative mood.

If you go into NaNoWriMo thinking all your plans are set in stone, you may find yourself feeling anxious when something veers off course. Remaining flexible gives you room to adapt while staying on track.

4. Interact with the Community

NaNoWriMo has a special community. Whether you’re connecting with other writers on the website or on social media, everyone is so supportive.

There’s nothing better than participating in an event where writers are cheering each other on and sharing experiences. You may make friends and connect with critique partners and beta readers. Most of all, you’ll realize you’re not alone as you take the NaNoWriMo challenge.

5. Celebrate All Your Wins

Finally, celebrate all your wins. Recognize when you draft your first chapter. Give yourself a pat on the back when you hit a certain word count. If you’re doing a streak, feel proud for writing several days in a row.

Sometimes, as writers, we only focus on our end goal. It’s important to remember the small wins along the way play a role in reaching the desired result.

There you have it. Those tips allowed me to succeed during my first NaNoWriMo. There’s an international community of writers ready to welcome you, so get out there and become a Wrimo!

Demi Michelle Schwartz is an author from Pittsburgh, PA. She writes young adult fiction and enjoys the mystery, thriller, and fantasy genres. After earning BAs in Creative Writing and Music from Seton Hill University, she went on to pursue her MFA in Writing Popular Fiction at Seton Hill and graduated with her degree in June of 2022. When Demi isn’t working on her manuscripts, she’s busy chasing her other dream as an award-nominated songwriter and recording artist. Check out her website, Twitter, and Instagram! Photo by cottonbro studio from Pexels

[myheartalivewrites]

2023 Writing Round-up

Thanks for tagging me @kiwiana-writes @cha-melodius 🩷 I've saved doing this for a little while just because I wasn't sure I was quite done for the year.

JANUARY

Happy NY (E, ~11k) started in 2022, finished in 2023. Henry and Alex meet for the first time at a NYE party, have a super intense hook-up--and then Alex disappears. An NYE story in two parts.

Down by the Water, I Saw You (E, ~63k) another fic that started in 2022, finished in 2023! Exes to lovers, meeting on holidays/vacations, angsty-emotional-horny.

Tumbled Down and Tangled Up (E, ~4k) canon divergent, hooking up for the first time in THAT hospital cupboard.

FEBRUARY

Started writing Deep Blue, wrote Don't Wanna Be A Fool, no idea why I didn't publish it straight away. I've got a feeling I was a lot shyer back then.

MARCH

Don't Wanna Be A Fool For You (E, ~6k) roommates to lovers, mutual pining, Henry-based angst.

APRIL-JUNE

Gave myself a nice little patch of writer's block. Read a lot. ✌️

JULY

Love and War (E, ~11k) WWII training camp 1st meeting, no angst. Had a lot of fun writing this in one day.

Finished writing Deep Blue and started posting it.

AUGUST

In His Wildest Dreams (E, ~11k) went on a big family holiday, wrote this incredibly horny post canon somno fic. The way the brain works is truly baffling.

Awakened (E, ~2k) a little Alex POV follow-up to the fic above, again: super smutty. Uh, also written on (a different) holiday for some reason.

SEPTEMBER

Oxford Days (E, ~6k) my ode to slutty Henry, a roommates in Oxford fic.

Deep Blue (E, ~76k) started in July, finished in September, don't know which month to put this in. Seaside dreaminess, angsty writer!Henry, lawyer/waiter!Alex, pining while fucking.

Just like that. (E, ~10k) roommates + getting together + prostate orgasms + lots of feelings. Most surprising performer of the year for me.

OCTOBER

Twice the speed (of you and me) (E, ~17k) Alex/Henry/Pez threesome, some of my favourite smut I've ever written

NOVEMBER

NaNoWriMo! I managed to reach 50k on my NaNo project, but that means very little fic writing was done.

"Please, I need you to." (E, 0.1k lol) rimming drabble-ish for Smutsgiving 2023

DECEMBER

Red Light Indicates Doors Are Secured (M, ~3k) bickering co-workers getting trapped in a cab together (and figuring shit out)

***

2023 has been SUCH A YEAR for writing RWRB fic, it feels really good to see it all lined up like this. Open tag for everyone who wants to do a little self round-up!

Here’s to more next year! x

[trollprincess]

Okay, so some of you might not know this because I did this before I returned to Tumblr from the bird site, BUT. Last year I dictated almost two entire books to my phone.

Let me explain. One of my jobs is a twelve-hour weekend night shift. Six PM to six AM Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, so thirty-six hours with the other four hours paid just as long as we do the entire weekend. I first took it so I could have the rest of the week off, and then proceeded to go back to work at dog camp those days. For the most part, over the last five years, I have only have Mondays completely off solely because that’s when my therapy sessions are.

Anyway, my weekend job is full-time, dog camp is part-time. The weekend job is factory work, making helmets, a lot of which are for the military. (Which, as a pacifist, I manage to stomach because hey, it’s just protective gear.) The thing is, like a lot of manufacturing work, it’s boring and repetitive. Think about how bored you are after five or so hours of an eight-hour shift. Now imagine it’s one o’clock in the morning, you still have five hours to work, and you would literally rather shove nails in your eyes than work. It sucks.

Meanwhile, my free time is spent trying to work at my third job (making @disasterarea-podcast) and attempting to work on getting published. I had all these grand ideas about getting traditionally published back in my twenties, and now I’m 46 and I’m struggling just to come up with any ideas at all a lot of the time. Three jobs doesn’t help. Depression and anxiety don’t help. So for a while there, I had terrible writer’s block when it came to my novels.

So last year, I decided to try something. I have these massive baby-pink noise-canceling Bluetooth gaming headphones with a mic which I wear to work. Why not try dictating a first draft to my phone? Obviously it wouldn’t be exact, since voice-to-text dictation isn’t perfect under the best of situations, and certainly not with loud factory noises around you. But I tried it on dictating notes for my podcast a few times and it worked pretty well, all things considered. And a bad first draft is still a first draft.

So I figured, fuck it, and one night I just started dictating a story off the top of my head. No preparation, no outlining, no worldbuilding - just pantsing HARD with nothing but an annoyance following a Teen Wolf rewatch and a resolution not to edit until after I churned out a first draft.

It took fifty-one days.

Eighty thousand words or so later, I had a dreadful first draft which needed an absolute fuckton of editing and continuity correction and character work. BUT I had a finished first draft of a novel. Which is something I hadn’t had in a good long while.

So I tried it again for NaNoWriMo. I got up to 65k words. So I won NaNoWriMo, but I put the story aside because I hit a bit of a wall. Still! That’s almost two full fiction manuscripts in one year, AND the nonfiction memoir I wrote about my road trip to disaster sites during the pandemic. 2022 was a good writing year.

So I did what I do with first drafts and put them aside for a while. I knew they were awful. I knew they needed a ton of work. And maybe that was a tad intimidating, which is why I only JUST picked up the NaNoWriMo first draft to work on it and finish it off. It’s queer, it’s got time travel, it’s got disasters. It is right up my fucking alley. I may be just a tiny bit obsessed with that story.

Unsurprisingly, going through it now is taking more than a little while. I sit down, I spend an hour working on it, I maaaaaaybe get two paragraphs polished. If that.

But the fact that I’m working on ANY fiction is kind of remarkable. And fingers crossed, maybe I can get this damn thing, and the other manuscript, AND my road trip book, finished and polished over the next year so I can submit the fuck out of them.

NOW. Someone send me a twenty-pound bag of rooibos vanilla chai and ten pounds of red licorice laces. Mama’s gonna need it. *cracks knuckles*

[radiowrites]

2023 Writer Year-In-Review

Hi, I’m RaisedonRadio & FortressofmyPast on AO3 and FF.net. This is an on-going tradition since 2015. Check out my past year-end posts: 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015.

Tagging a few, but if you come across this, consider it an open tag! You’re welcome to tag me back, I’d love to read it!

@writercorianarose @shesailsships @talesofsorrowandofruin @azdesertwillow @goneahead @littlemissfandomworld @dreams-of-kalopsia @halleyuhm

Big change for me compared to last year—in addition to NaNoWriMo, I actually posted fanfics! I tried to add some new questions to this year’s edition, I hope they might even move out of my tiny circle.

Total Word Counts: 51,920 for 2023 NaNoWriMo 15,570 on 2022 NaNoWriMo project 19,193 for July 2023 Camp NaNoWriMo (mostly fanfics) 28,310 in published fanfics (this number is overlapping with camp nano, I wasn’t paying attention, so I’m not going to add everything together)

Total Number Of Completed Works: 10 Total Number of WIPS worked on this year: 10 or so How Many WIPs do you still have: 23

Looking back, did you write more than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d expected? I wrote way more than expected! I seriously didn’t think I would do NaNoWriMo again. And I published ten fics! That’s ten more than last year!

Did you take any writing risks this year? The NaNoWriMo project was definitely a risk for me. I basically had an idea and no outline. It was quite a challenge to my perfectionism issues—I had to basically never reread anything and just keep going, fully aware that I can better foreshadow the ideas that came up halfway through in the next rewrite.

Biggest Surprise: I wrote for NaNoWriMo again, which I was pretty sure wouldn't happen lol, and hit the word count, all through discovery writing, and having very little idea where I was going with it.

Biggest Disappointment: I dropped that above mentioned project the moment November ended! I can tell it has potential, hidden in there. I will definitely return to it.

Do you have any writing goals for the new year? I’d love to at least finish the first draft of the 2023 NaNoWriMo project, bringing it to a tentative end so I can actually reread it and go from there. And keep writing fanfic, and maybe even work on the 2022 nanowrimo project…

Fanfiction Questions Below! (if you don’t write fanfiction feel free to skip or rework the questions for your original works.)

Fandoms I’ve written in this year: I wrote fics for 7 different fandoms! For the following kdramas: Island, Tale of the Nine Tailed, Memorist, Royal Secret Agent, W: Two Worlds, May I Help You?, and a little Korean Web drama called Handmade Love.

Your most popular story of the year? That would be Besides You with 327 hits and 47 kudos. However Superhero got the most comment interaction with 4!

The story that was easiest/or most fun to write: I Think He Knows was fun to write! I do just love brooding with a heart of gold formerly immortal male leads.

Hardest story to write: Rescue Me, Superhero, Restore, and Prayers & Promises were four works that I had left for dead, and came back and found them to be basically finished and just needed proofreading. (So just in case anyone wondered how I turned out three of those in like two days: they were actually done and I was hellbent on getting them out of my WIPs list)

Your sweetest story: That would definitely be Superhero. I altered my normal narrative style to better fit the child’s character, and I was really pleased with how it turned out.

Your saddest scene: I feel like I hit a lot of angst this year, but nothing really sad?

The sexiest moment you’ve written this year? *coughs* I wrote five pieces of smut. (Half of my fanfics were smut this year?!) Umm, I’m torn between Beside You and Don’t Blame Me? But also Never Be the Same and Take On Me???

Your favorite tag: (whether you use it the most or just something witty/perfect for the story) My brother announced to me that he reads all my tags (he was trying to embarrass me about one of my smut pieces) so I did a shout out to him in the next fic. He saw it within the day, I was actually impressed.

Most unintentionally telling story: (have you accidentally or purposefully exposed a detail about yourself?) Religious guilt seems to be a reoccurring tag this year. In all seriousness, not quite sure why, but yet it kinda makes sense? (its complicated lmao) And for some reason not one, but two fics ended with marriage proposals?! (I’m so single.)

Are any of your fics named after/heavily inspired by music? I’m RaisedonRadio and it would be concerning if—checks list—less than 8 of the 10 fics weren’t named after songs, haha! (I’m actually just really bad at naming fics…)

Good To You and Besides You are both songs by the band Marianas Trench, and are heavily inspired by the songs. Rescue Me is by OneRepublic, one of those more vibes than lyrics inspired. I Think He Knows by Taylor Swift was definitely on repeat for that fic, as well as Don't Blame Me. (Poems), Prayers, and Promises was more a steal the name of the song by John Denver, for some reason I think Cold by Corbyn was on repeat when writing that one. Take On Me was named more for the similarities between the MV and the series! Never Be The Same was for the vibes of the song by Camila Cabello but not really the lyrics.

What’s your own favorite story of the year? Maybe it’s cheating but I’m not sure if I can really choose? I know it’s not a common writer sentiment but I really do like them all for different reasons.

Like I churned out Good To You and Besides You within ten days of each other in July, after not writing any fanfic basically for a year and a half.

And then I pulled Rescue Me out of the dead drafts pile and made myself work on more description.

I Think He Knows was my first foray into a brand new fandom.

Don’t Blame Me is one of my rare canon divergence fics.

Restore was another dead draft that I found to be mostly complete, and decide to release into the world even if I knew there was so much more I could have done with it.

Prayers and Promises was not only another new fandom, but for some reason, I decided to write for a side character. It’s still sitting on just 1 hit and that makes it all the better that I really wrote it for myself.

Superhero was out of my comfort zone of writing for a kid’s perspective and I was so happy with how it turned out.

Take On Me was a draft sitting at less than 1k words and I challenged myself to finish it before the new year, and got it done in two days.

And then, to finish it all off with the intense desire to have ten fics under the belt for 2023, I wrote Never Be The Same in less than two days for the last drama I had watched, and the speed that the last two fics were actually finished was a huge change for me.

Fanfiction risks you took this year? I wrote fanfic for not one, but two fandoms that I had to create the first tags for on AO3! Also, as I started to slip into just writing for kdramas this year, I’ve basically become my own proofreader and editor at this point. Any mistakes are my own, lol.

My favorite part of fandom this year: That would be getting two kudos and a comment on I Think He Knows, one of the fics that is the first in its fandom tag. To actually connect with more fans of such a tiny project was so cool!

Thanks for reading and here’s to next year!

[little-peril-stories]

hi!

Hiiiii! It's still July 1 where I live, so I'm sneaking this in. I probably won't participate in every day of this event, but I'll try to jump in where I can! <3

You can find my 2023 reintro here!

I'm pretty much at @little-peril-stories fully now, but you may see some posts from my sideblog @littleperilstories floating around. I recently migrated from there!

name: Kate | age: grownup | pronouns: she/her

I love: captivity, kidnapping, dungeons, angst, historical and fantasy whump

I write: all of the above, and apparently romance with whump, now, too

I read: whatever strikes my fancy in the moment + whatever I need to read for my day job

I listen to: punk-pop-rock that was cool (questionable) when I was in high school, musicals

Favourite season: autumn

Average amount of sleep: lol

Blog established: just before Whumptober 2022

Reason for URL: I like to lean into dread, angst, and—you got it—peril in my stories; I like how open-ended the idea of peril is.

Favourite whump tropes: noble sacrifice. tied/chained up. kidnapped. arrested. collapse/fainting. defiance. hair grab. chin tilt. manhandled. angst. fear.

Projects you’re working on:

On Tumblr

>> The Queen of Lies, an AU for my complete historical prison whump story The Prince of Thieves. Expect: nineteenth century prison, shackles, corrupt authorities, romance, mean men, angst

>> angsty heist wip, which does have a title but only I know it. Expect: kidnapping, blackmail, power plays, romance, mean men, angst

Off Tumblr

>> Book 2 of my YA fantasy trilogy, abbreviated to I&I. This is my Camp Nanowrimo project!

Favourite colour: blue or green!

Thanks for reading!!

[splat-oc-tournament]

Character information under the cut:

Lyon (@a-gay-gremlin):

Lyon is a male octoling with light pink tentacles (with pale yellow accents), the raspberry eyes, and the slit eyebrow. Taller than average, he's punk, has ear piercings.

He fled from Octo Valley to pursue sweet sweet rock music, stayed in Inkopolis but left again, wandered the desert for a while and ended up in Splatsville where he's now a guitarist, drummer and singer. People tend to be afraid of him and think he's quick to fight, but while he takes no shit from anyone he's usually nice and he's very loyal to his friends.

Link (@tristringerloveblog):

Link is a part of a TRON crossover I wrote during April Camp NaNoWriMo 2022. He's a Splatoon 2 player character whose real-life player is a dataminer. So Link, who has no idea he's in a videogame, has to venture out of Inkopolis, where he's always lived, into the code of the game itself. He's a B-rank N-Zap '89 main who has to fight against programs with discs! There's a lot of themes about identity, reality, and, although I didn't quite get far enough in the fic to carry out this theme, losing your childhood. Very strong "we have the right to mod our own hardware/software" energy, though. Outside of being a hacker against his will, Link likes ranked battles, gaming/building his PC, and a good hot meal after a day of hard work. He's aromantic and asexual.

[yvesdot]

yves. 2022 Fiction Roundup

Before I post my 2022 Year in Review, I'd like to compile all the new writing I've posted up this year: over 77,000 words of it! (That's roughly the length of the first entry in a certain disgraced magic school series.) Catch up on what you missed, remind a friend, or simply bask in a year well-read—and, as always, tell me your favorites in the tags!

April

HOUSE RAINIER (Discord writing crawl; fulltext on Patreon) | 13K

THAT’S NOT HOW THE GAME WORKS.

A Camp NaNoWriMo choose-your-own-adventure game in which participants wrote words to unlock various options while staying with the Rainiers for the summer.

Exhaustively (new edit) (Patreon -> Tumblr) | 9K

“This is not an optional question. Are you speed-stacking in my house?”

Everyone's favorite novelette about a college student, a golem, and a bad memory.

May

Something Weird I Heard About Rebecca (zine -> Tumblr) | 1.7K

“When you get older you have to do sex with guys and shave your legs.”

Rebecca is not going to be a little girl when she grows up. She is going to be a vampire. (Brooke has some concerns.)

Kay/Atlas college AU (KAY fanfiction) (Tumblr) | 3K

It’s the barest kiss—a kiss completely naked, without accessories or fanfare.

What if Kay and Atlas were in college instead of canon... and they were both girls?!

July

softball gf + goth gf AU (KAY fanfiction) (Patreon) | 6.9K

This puts a sharp spear through Kay, a little reef fish.

What if Kay and Atlas were in high school instead of canon... and they were both girls?!

August

Paper Tigress (Tumblr) | 3K

“Really?” Vidalia asked. “That doesn’t pass the Bechdel test.”

A cynical transgender woman enters a reality competition show.

An Impossible Thing (The Left Hand of Darkness fanfiction) (Tumblr) | 1.2K

I may remove this from my account. No doubt it is inaccurate, if not openly disrespectful, and I am not sure myself that I intend for anyone to see it.

A missing, very intimate chapter from one of my favorite books.

September

The Locked Tomb fanfiction (Houses I-IX) (Tumblr) | 3.2K, 4.2K, 13K

You have always been mine, my burden to carry, my villain to fight, my girl to envy.

Nine fics featuring various AUs, alternate paths, and ships.

October

Hallowdrabble 2022 (Tumblr) | 3.1K

“Oh, yes!” Mel had forgotten that the patch would have purchasable pumpkins. Perhaps primarily, per pumpkin patch particularization.

Mel and Jenny of Something's Not Right fame go to the pumpkin patch!

December

The Scar (Patreon -> Tumblr) | 750

Maybe that's my problem.

Horror flash piece about bystanding an abusive relationship.

Tragic Accident (Patreon -> Tumblr) | 650

I'm sorry for his loss. I'm sorry for mine, too.

W + transgenderism + girl in the walls haunted house flash fiction.

Long Line (yvesdotafterdark) (18+) | 14.5K

“You always come when I call.”

Two girlgamers start a long distance relationship, with many benefits.

THANK YOU for another beautiful and successful year of reading and writing together! I can't wait to see what we get up to in 2023.

[sound-of-light]

State Of The Author :: July 2022 - May 2023

I swear I didn't forget about this (I know, I've said that before). Fact of the matter is that when I don't get a lot of writing done, I don't post about my progress. And I definitely did not get as much writing done over the last 10 months as I would have liked. But I did write. Works In Progress

The Luckiest: a chapter and a half finished, and 8,903 words written - new total word count 22,796.

The Broken Country: this is a short story I'm writing for submission to an Australian/NZ neurodivergent speculative fiction anthology next month (for once in my life being autistic is good for something) - I'd really hoped to have a lot more written by now, but uni and not being able to come up with a title got in the way. It was inspired by the Carrington Event of 1859, which was the most intense geomagnetic storm in recorded history. Its probable cause was a coronal mass ejection colliding with the atmosphere, and it was powerful enough to cause worldwide auroras and to bring down telegraph networks in Europe and North America. I figure that if something similar happened nowadays, seeing as how dependent we are on technology, it would be far more catastrophic. It might even bring about the apocalypse. So far I have 776 words out of a planned 6,000.

Camp NaNoWriMo: Camp is coming up next month, and I'm tossing up between working on The Luckiest and a new story based on my anthology submission. I'll probably flip a coin. Aiming to write 10,000 words.

[ladyniniane]

Happy birthday to me!

I’m 27 now! Some musings below the cut.

So this last year was good…but also pretty hectic in some places? I’m happy that a solution has been found to my cat’s health problems. 

The biggest change for me right now is that I’ve decided to leave my job. Long story short: they didn’t keep their promise of giving me a raise (and it’s almost impossible to get one). I’m fed up of not getting enough recognition and being just an expandable employee. Plus, my manager had been petty for no reason. So it was starting to take a toll on my wellbeing. To be honest, I’m going through all sort of emotions at this moment, sometimes I wonder if I made the right choice, but deep down I believe I did. It’s a big jump into the unknown and it’s a bit scary. But I will try to find a way. Beside, I can still be proud of my work achievements. 

A year ago, I started taking driving lessons again after…4 years without driving. I was determined to get my driver’s license, but sadly I didn’t. I’m even more afraid of driving than I was before, because the exam was an extremely…unpleasant experience to say the least. Going back to driving and taking these lessons took a lot of energy and I feel kinda burned out when it comes to driving. Getting help isn’t easy, and even if I know that I sound like an emo kid, many people don’t really understand what I’m really going through. This experience leaves me a taste of failure, but we will see later.

A thing I’m proud of is writing. I’m able to write consistently and I did my best word count ever during NaNoWriMo in November 2022 and I did all the Camp NaNos. I’ve been able to move forward on many projects. I’ve also published stuff on the internet again, something I hadn’t done in 3 years. But, that’s where the disheartening part starts. My stories get (some) views, but barely any interactions (shout out to those who did interact, you’re axe some) I feel like I’m screaming in the void. I write for myself, but I also write to connect with other people, especially since I put a lot of time and effort in it. I know that it happens to many people and that at the end of the day I’m not entitled to anything. I hope that it doesn’t have anything to do with the quality of my stories, I think that it’s just that my audience isn’t there. 

There were also many pleasing moments, travels, food, books and all the little nothings that make life beautiful. I’ve progressed at dealing with some doubts, traumas and anxieties even though some new stuff has taken their place (put a coin in the jukebox and whe start again?). That’s funny because when I turned 25, I thought that things would only go upward from this point on. Turns out that they’re still a little chaotic and that I still have many things to figure out (and that makes it even more sad for people who think everything is over at 25, come on, that’s just the beginning). Anyway, that’s just life, trying out stuff, making mistakes and at the end, maybe, find your place. 

There are good things to come, I think, and right now I’m excited for the FE OC Week. 

Anyway, happy 27th birthday to me! I’m happy to turn 27, I like this number and beside, every year imparts me with more wisdom and life experience. Which is good. And as Julian of Norwich wrote: “All shall be well and all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well”. 

[pterawaters]

Ptera's WIP List (6/2023)

Recently Posted

The Pelt (Complete) - Stranger Things, Steve/Chrissy, Werewolf AU, E rated, 1529 words

In Progress

Stranger Things

Hold on to Your Heart (WIP, 11/15 chapters posted, 12 written) - The older teen polycule, Jonathan/Argyle, Eddie/Chrissy, Steve/Nancy, Robin/Nancy, Steve/Eddie, Argyle/Eden, E rated, 59k

Post S4 Stoncy (editing, will post for @julybreakbingo), Stoncy, T rated, 8k

Demogorgon Steve (WIP, 7 of 9-ish chapters written) - Steve/Demogorgon, horror/body modification, some noncon, E rated, 30k so far, might finish up for julybreakbingo

Wrong Bed Coffee Shop AU (WIP, my main julybreakbingo fic) - Chrissy/Steve, Steve/Nancy, Jonathan/Nancy, Jonathan/Chrissy/Steve/Nancy, aged up, pregnancy, E rated, 21k so far, maybe 40k when it's done?

King Steve - Steve takes on a greater protector role starting in S1, 6k, not sure where it’s going exactly, but I'm not ready to abandon it

Wednesday

The Beast in my Bones (#3 of When is a monster not a monster?) - Tyler/Xavier, Xavier & Wednesday, eventual Wednesday/Tyler/Xavier, season 1 rewrite with Xavier as the Hyde's master, 13k and 3/~6 chapters? I need an outline for the rest

Original Works

"The Cave" - a 7.5k fic that will be included in a future anthology put out by Duck Prints Press, more info to come

Overnight - Magnolia Way book #3 (polyam/bisexual MCs), 25k, Coming Soon! (beta readers needed!)

A call from his dad ruins Brad Shepard’s plans for a relaxing weekend off work. He has to pick up his high school memorabilia collection from his dad’s place before Monday if he wants to save it from the dump. Time for an eight-hour road trip! Brad’s boyfriend, Sean, tags along for moral support. Along the way, a flat tire leads to an argument that threatens their relationship.

With the boys gone for the night, April and Jaime decide to throw a sleepover with April’s friend Nisha, the cute college girl from across the hall. Despite a rocky start, Nisha and Jaime get along better than April could’ve hoped. A night of movies, snacks, Truth or Dare, and karaoke ensues, though they’ve got to keep it down to avoid a visit from their cranky, homophobic landlord.

Moving day rewrite - Magnolia Way book #1, 14k of about 20, I felt like I could make some vast improvements with a rewrite, so I’m working on it!

Phase shift - Nyctophobia book #1, 99k, Sci-fi novel about a small-town family fighting interdimensional aliens and the government trying to cover up the invasion. In revisions.

Inertia - Nyctophbia book #2, 80k, I have about 15-18k left I think. I focused on this one a lot during Nov 2022 Nanowrimo and April 2023 Camp Nano, but I haven't worked on it much since. I could use some cheer readers, if anyone wants to read it and help me wrangle the ending.

"Many Hands" - I submitted a pitch for a polyam erotica anthology and I'm waiting to hear back if I got in!

GYWO Progress

My pledge for Get Your Words Out this year was 350k. Currently I'm at 165k, right about where I should be to reach my goal by the end of the year.

[clarislam]

Writeblr Intro: April 2023 Edition

Hi there, fellow readers and writers! I’m Claris (she/her).

I write a wide variety of works including poetry and fiction. I also post book reviews biweekly and fanfics weekly, though expect more of my focus to be on original works this year!

Click here to check out my website! Or, if you want to read a fuller-length version of what I’m up to for this month, click here to read my official April 2023 writing update post!

See this Carrd to find links to my website, other social media, and fanfiction!

Fiction:

I published the first book in my murder mystery series, “Winner Takes All: A Harlow Mystery” in June 2022, and you can click here for more details about it! Please feel free to support me by buying a copy, spreading the word about it, or even requesting your library to get it in their e-catalogue. I appreciate all the support in my writing journey.

Also, I’m participating in this month’s Camp NaNoWriMo event! 

I have no specific project I’m working on for this time around, as I want to use it to just write as much as possible. The goal is 25,000 words written overall!

Click here to check out my NaNoWriMo profile! 

Currently Pitching/Querying:

“Sadie’s Search For The Missing Necklace:” A kidlit fantasy book inspired by Gwyneth Rees’ Fairy Dust series and Daisy Meadows’ Rainbow Fairy series. As of this writing, I just pitched this book to a traditional publisher and (hopefully) they’ll let me know by late April/early May latest if they said yes to it or not! Wish me luck!

Current WIPS:

A fantasy novel inspired by the video game series King’s Quest. I am currently still writing its first draft and I’ve spoken a bit on this blog about how it’s going so far. I just finished writing the first draft in mid-February, so this WIP is on a break for now while I work on...

"An Engagement To Die For:” The sequel to “Winner Takes All,” the murder mystery that I self-published last year (June 2022)! I am still currently editing this novel but I hope I can have them completely finalized by the end of April!

I also have other novels I’m writing during this time, butttt I won’t tell you what they are yet because they’re very early in the writing process. XD

Fanfiction:

You most likely know of my writing fanfiction for The Last Story, Bravely Default/Second, and Escape The Night.

I’m currently posting chapters for a The Last Story/Super Smash Bros. crossover fanfic called “Super Smash Bros: The Next Story!” You can read it on either Fanfiction.net or Archive Of Our Own! New chapters come weekly!

I also have been posting occasional oneshots as well.

Check out the posting schedule on my site (or on my Tumblr blog) for what you can expect to see from me!

What I usually post here on Tumblr:

Links to my posted book reviews, and other important news from my official website

Links to any new fanfics or fanfic updates

Musings of a writer

Funny writer-related memes

Writing advice that I think can be helpful

Positivity!

Commentary on video games, fiction novels, and other fandom-related material that I usually don’t share on Twitter/Facebook/my official site.

I hope you enjoy reading my works, whether it be my original fiction, poetry, fanfiction, book reviews, or anything else I share!

Want to follow me? Find links to my website, related social media, and other works through this Carrd!

[nailamoonsi]

2 and a half years worth of Blue Horizon book 1 pitches (mostly Pitlight) [and a bit of light novel and book 2]

The first "pitch" ever, and it mostly dealt with draft 1 of Blue Horizon book 1--back when in my mind I fancied writing a simple novella with the dads, Ranvir and Armando, before tackling an epic novel project after that (but that's now book 2).

I realized a lot in the process of figuring out book 1 through 2020 and 2021, however, and it quickly grew into a monster of a project--yet another epic science fantasy book for the series in my head. In my head I think of it as "the prequel novel." However I've long called it "book 1" online, so it'll stay "book 1." (It is complete but not yet published.)

Some parts of the pitch above barely has anything to do with book 1 as it is now...for Ranvir and Armando and friends. Weirdly, it might work for characters who show up later within book 1.

The moodboard above I'm very fond of as the first moodboard ever, and it involved the Chandrani family's energy re: ocean and water as well as a concept for "a wide open world." However I rarely wound up using it compared to the later regulars. (And apparently never for pitch practice again or any pitch event.)

A big note for all pitches is that any photography is by someone else and gotten from free-to-use stock image sites like Pexel and Unsplash BUT any drawn art is mine.

Above is the first times I tried bringing up the eerie aspect AND the soft aspect of Blue Horizon book 1. This was my experimental stage in all ways--a pitch with a mood and my first attempt at a "typical" moodboard, though obviously I wound up dropping these moodboards immediately. As can be seen with the moodboards I would settle on hereafter, I did need this stage to understand what I really wanted to go for!

As for the pitches--in the former, it basically revolves around the way the reader first walks into the novel, so to speak. In the second, it hints something about Ranvir and Armando, and brings up the Protector of Worlds without naming the role.

THIS WAS THE FIRST DEBUT OF MY MAIN 2 MOODBOARDS!!! And the first Pitlight I ever took part of in 2022. It somehow got to 23 notes without retweets (that 1 is for a quote retweet).

This was a quick Nanowrimo write-up--I can tell why people didn't take to it, but I guess in terms of pitches, I was learning and it didn't really matter, especially in the early days. Currently I'm doing Camp Sapphic instead.

This was the first time I referred to the Protector (of Worlds). It's technically a typical storyline across epic fantasies and many other types of stories--a "chosen one," so to speak, but in reality this is a job that's passed from person-to-person in their world, and was once representative of their place in the galaxy.

So this pitch very much focused on Ranvir and Armando right as I was finishing up Part 1, which is largely THEIR story arc! I'm very affectionate of it.

For a few posts in the early days, I kept reusing the first digital Armando and Ranvir art I ever drew. ; v ;

This was the first time I brought up the Mysterious Children (they keep appearing before Ranvir and Armando at different ages). This wasn't the first time I utilized this moodboard--the first time was January 2022!

But as people can tell at this point, this moodboard actually represents Alejandro Altaha and Antonio Chandrani-Rivera! Specifically, the sun, moon, lavender clouds, and the white clouds with shadowed figures skating across them with a teal sky surrounding--the shadowed figures are Ale and Tono.

I reused the same pitch for the later November Nano:

--this year however I'm doing Camp Sapphic and have let go of Nanowrimo due to its controversies. Edit in the evening is that this was the first time I got an agent like!

Even though this was extremely exciting and kept me going, I'm solo self-publishing Blue Horizon.

Next, back to summer 2022 pitches:

This was something I was hoping people would like, and in the end wound up one of my most popular pitches! :D This focuses on the warmer side of Blue Horizon and brings up a key character we all know by now--Antonio Chandrani-Rivera--for the first time!

(I'm unsure how much agents can gauge from this pitch, but I do like the feeling of it though and thus obviously used it for Pitlight.)

The rest under a cut because honestly I'll admit this is insane long.

This was the first time I brought up the children borne by magic lore! I forgot I did that when I looked back at old posts like 2 weeks ago. I'm actually surprised it got 11 likes, as I wasn't sure how people would see the children borne by magic subplot. Noticeable through the webcomic already!

So these two pitches are nearly identical; I was just worried one of the first pitch wasn't specific enough. However the first pitch got more retweets, likes and views, LOL. (It's an interesting situation--I think sometimes you wind up lucky with pitches.)

It'll become noticeable that I wanted to start referring to Antonio and Alejandro's conflicts, but Layla and Alia are major characters too, and thus I tried to put Layla in as well. However, at one point, people mentioned Layla comes off a bit random at the end of these sort of pitches. :"3c I do get that, but aw...

Overall, I realized what was best to focus on--Ranvir and Armando and their son (a.k.a. a direct connection) Antonio Chandrani.

MY FIRST OFFICIAL AGENT-RELATED PITCH EVENT... QueerPit! Official pitch events have been sporadic on Twitter since around 2022 but I was happy to catch this one.

Since I wound up emailing a lot of agents I decided not to take part in that many official agent-oriented pitch events in the end--my last was only my second one I believe, a.k.a. DVPit (unless I've blanked out another agent-oriented pitch event on Twitter). Those I won't show here directly from DVPit on Discord but from what I dropped for Twitter afterwards.

FOR THIS ONE... It was the first time I ever pitched... THE LIGHT NOVEL (also completed but unpublished). Just wanted to try.

This wasn't a real pitch exactly, and I dropped it on Twitter on September 28, 2023! However, this was the first time I brought up the scope of the epic science fantasy book 1 and its LGBT romances. My last Main pitch for Blue Horizon back a few days ago focuses on that too.

SO THIS IS THE FIRST OF 2 NEW PITCHES THAT I CRAFTED FOR BOOK 1 IN THE DVPIT SERVER ON DISCORD FOR THE OFFICIAL AGENT-ORIENTED PITCH EVENT, DVPIT...

For some reason neither were very popular on Twitter, but I like both of them a lot. My guess is due to the decision to try using a video for this one and a cropped art for the other one. [I did get agent likes...for the pitch I reused from QueerPit 😂 (which thankfully also got agent likes). However, I'm solo self-publishing Blue Horizon, as most of y'all know.]

Above is the first moment I was stressed, but thankfully by early this month I wound up cheery again.

So this was my first serious dud pitch after a very long time (i.e. my first Nano in March 2022). This one isn't the one I dropped on the actual NYEPitch day (also 1 like)--I'm embarrassed to show that one, but I was excited over people having fun about sun mage OCs at that time around the original day of January 1, and didn't think about terminology (I paid attention for my book)--since I use the term "water-bearer" and "ocean-bearer" a lot in my book, I ORIGINALLY used the term "bearer of the sun" for Alejandro [who's part of a binary star system] and "moon-and-sea-bearer" for Antonio in the pitch. (I do not use anything near "bearer of the sun" within Blue Horizon's epic fantasy books as I don't want to use similar terminology used in a popular published book.) I realized my mistake very late and changed it on January 5th, after 4 days! There's also the fact that this wasn't a pitch for book 1--I wanted to relax and try a first and second-to-last pitch for book 2~

However, thankfully that started my artist adventure because I got gloomy over only getting 1 like for the original and decided I wanted to destress.

I think it's also partly due to my showing up late and not participating with others due to it (I was feeling nasty tbh), possible shadowban (my posts at this time started plummeting in views compared to before in the months prior), and not specifying in the post that it isn't a sudden change from book 1 pitching, but a random attempt at a book 2 pitch.

It's because I got really emotional over finishing a story arc between Antonio and Alejandro for book 2, essentially.

THIS WAS THE SECOND DVPIT PITCH I CRAFTED IN THE DVPIT SERVER, AKA FOR THE OFFICIAL AGENT-ORIENTED EVENT... The only change from DVPit server is that I used Antonio's surname there, a.k.a. used Antonio Chandrani.

This IS about book 1; the epic science fantasy is a multi-POV book. I liked this one too, but I'm guessing either Antonio's depression era POV or the cropped-looking art made it not appetizing? This pitch is essentially a flip in perspective to Ranvir and Armando's perspective, and done partly due to my admitting that obviously Antonio Chandrani-Rivera (and Layla Chandrani) are the "traditional" main protagonists (though it's a very ensemble cast-oriented epic science fantasy book [and comic]).

This was for ChaosPit. Pitch as badly as you can, iirc.

SOOOOO AFTER A LOT OF STRESS AFTER AUGUST... I'M GLAD MY LAST PITLIGHT AND PITCH EVENT FOR BLUE HORIZON WENT OFF WITH A BANG...!!! On April 6th:

FOR THIS LAST MAIN PITCH FOR BOOK 1, I really really wanted to show off the "epic science fantasy" scale as well as mention tons of BIPOC and LGBT characters existing in it! (Calling back to that earlier proto-pitch.) I'M REALLY GLAD IT WAS WELL-LIKED.

I liked being able to use those emojis, too! They just feel like they give implications and have a weird or '90's clipart vibe together.

This is still the same Pitlight! I just wanted to try pitching the completed (but unpublished) light novel before I stopped pitching for Blue Horizon. Surprised and glad it was liked more than I expected! :D

Since it was my last time pitching for Blue Horizon after 2 and a half years, I wanted to drop one pitch for Book 2~! The first story arc is pretty serious but I thought it'd be an interesting note for anyone curious about Blue Horizon book 1 and the light novel.

AND FINALLY... I originally wanted a "cyclical" ending to all those months and even years pitching by utilizing my first Pitlight pitch ever (which was never reused in the interim).

It would've looked dreamy like this. However, I f*cked up the pitch due to changing the first sentence BUT MAKING A HUGE ERROR. LAST PITLIGHT WAS FUN. That's all!

[nj-stone]

6-27-2023, Sunset in the Sunset District SF, CA. I'm debating doing Camp NaNoWriMo next month. I have 2 lesson plans to complete: Learn Scrivener Fast & AI for Authors. I lost 50k words from 11-2022 due to a bad thumb drive. Rewrite that or write new? Stay safe and be well.

[fiddlystuff]

5 coisas que me ajudaram no Camp NaNoWriMo 2023

Ontem a noite eu consegui completar a minha meta do primeiro Camp de 2023. Não foi uma meta muito alta, só 25 mil palavras (em comparação às 50 mil do NaNoWriMo), mas ainda assim considero uma vitória, especialmente porque estava tendo dificuldades para trabalhar nos meus projetos desde o início do ano. Algumas dicas e atitudes que me ajudaram a alcançar a meta:

Não trabalhar no projeto que estava cobrando mais energia do que eu tinha disponível: Ao invés de me forçar a revisar o rascunho que eu escrevi no NaNo 2022, que eu venho tentando fazer desde Dezembro sem tanto sucesso, eu me dei uma folga e comecei a planejar uma história que demanda menos pesquisa e é ligeiramente mais leve. Isso me ajudou a sair do bloqueio e produzir mais.

Escrever fora de ordem: Apesar de eu sempre recomendar aos amigos do NaNoBr que escrevam as cenas fora da ordem em que acontecem no livro quando estão travados em alguma cena no meio, eu tenho muita dificuldade pra escrever fora da ordem cronológica eu mesma, inclusive durante o planejamento. No projeto do Camp NaNo eu consegui enfrentar esse bloqueio essencialmente pulando ou deixando um [inserir X aqui depois] quando estava realmente travada e indo trabalhar em cenas do final da história. Para a surpresa de ninguém, deu certo. Agora é tentar lembrar no futuro!

Experimentar métodos de trabalho novos: Eu acidentalmente encontrei um canal no YouTube que faz vídeos com timer de método Pomodoro ao som de músicas lofi, jazz ou piano combinadas com animações pixeladas de gatinhos caminhando e deitando (ou fazendo bagunça) numa mesa de trabalho. Eu nunca havia usado o método Pomodoro pra escrever seriamente antes, mas entre o timer, a música e os gatinhos acabei batendo meu recorde de palavras diário. Obrigada, gatinhos pixelados. Também me convidaram pra experimentar uma sala do Studyverse criada por um membro do servidor NaNo Br, que foi outra plataforma bem interessante que aplica o mesmo método. Não é algo que posso usar sempre, mas em algumas circunstâncias funcionou pra mim.

Me lembrar que, ei, eu SOU boa nesse negócio de escrever: Mais ou menos na metade do mês, eu subitamente voltei ao espaço mental pra começar a revisar a história que escrevi no NaNo 2022 e, no processo de reler e analisar o que poderia ser melhorado no primeiro rascunho, acabei relendo algumas das minhas cenas favoritas da história. A chance de rever essas cenas depois de passar tantos meses sem tocar no texto fez com que eu sentisse quase como se estivesse experimentando alguns momentos pela primeira vez, do ponto de vista da leitora ao invés da autora. O que me fez perceber que... E!! Eu escrevi algumas coisas muito boas, ok??? Afinal, EU sou o público-alvo da minha história, e se reler essas cenas me deixou sinceramente emocionada (eu quase chorei), eu devo estar fazendo pelo menos alguma coisa certa, né? Acho que por isso muitos guias de revisão, inclusive o do NaNoWriMo, recomendam deixar seu livro de lado por algum tempo e depois voltar pra ele e reler com olhos de leitor, realmente é uma experiência valiosa. E agora eu estou 100% determinada a revisar e escrever o segundo rascunho!

Não escrever sozinha: Seja fazendo sprints com o pessoal do servidor NaNoBr, encontrando um amigo pra escrevermos juntos num café ou juntando pessoas na sala do Studyverse, eu me dei conta de que escrever lado a lado com outras pessoas (ou separados por telas), fazendo pausas para trocar ideias e experiências realmente me ajuda a produzir mais. A consciência de que não estamos encarando o desafio e as metas sozinhos faz uma diferença grande. Eu demorei algum tempo pra ter coragem de participar da comunidade brasileira do NaNoWriMo, porque fico ansiosa pra falar com pessoas novas, mas definitivamente recomendo a experiência. O mito do autor solitário realmente é um mito: existem pessoas que podem entender as suas dificuldades porque passaram por algo parecido, e a experiência de apoiar e receber apoio de outros autores é muito valiosa. Encontre a comunidade em que você se encaixa e até o desafio de escrever 50 mil palavras em um mês fica mais fácil!

É isso, gente! Ainda não cheguei ao fim do Camp NaNo de Abril, tecnicamente, mas queria registrar um pouco da experiência esse ano. Em Julho vai acontecer o segundo Camp, e provavelmente eu vou participar de novo. É um evento que eu definitivamente recomendo pra quem ainda não teve a coragem de tentar o NaNoWriMo em Novembro, porque a meta é mais flexível e é uma boa forma de testar o que funciona ou não pra você na hora de planejar e escrever um projeto. E por enquanto, continuamos criando!