#im still figuring out whether or not i liked yanagihara's a little life

[ofherlionheart]

Babe I would love to know more about your writing process. Do you have a desk? Do you have any little rituals? Are you writing your whole story in one giant doc or do you have a separate doc for each chapter? Are you organizing all the information about your OCs anywhere?

babes i WISH i had anything remotely resembling a process but alas. there is very little order to my creative life

having a desk would do wonders both for my writing and my work efficiency but i don't have space for that in my room 🥲 so im either writing on the couch or in a semi-public space. haunting ik

usually i keep stories to a single doc but like the sun is gargantuan so i have diff docs for each new chapter now. said doc always has, near the top, a massive bullet list of all the OCs in order of appearance, their age at 101 AG, and other info. sometimes the info never makes it into the story (e.g., tuya's parents), sometimes i tack more information on later (e.g., # of siblings bishal has 💀). a little sampler:

yong (41) – nonbender, palace gardener, burn scar on neck from first husband

bishal (19) – bender, thick brown hair, a bender who goes for nonbending skills first b/c he was the only bender among his siblings n his parents always told him he cant fight his siblings w means they dont have avail to them, brown eyes, eldest of 5

kanya (19) – nonbender, short-cropped brown hair, septum piercing, short height

erhi (19) – bender, trans woman, daughter of yong, only bends for art, golden eyes, brown hair

ashok (23) – nonbender, writer/crew for theatre production group, brown skin, long black hair worn in ponytails, gap between front teeth

li bai (30) – bender, pale skin, black hair, dark eyes, thin eyebrows, middle city merchant

tuya (24) – bender, tall, stands w/ a sort of stoop, wide face, glasses, green eyes, black hair, mother from earth kingdom and father was in military

i definitely write in spurts as i have the time/energy/inspiration. sometimes if i get really stuck, i force myself to forget the project for a few weeks and really dive into my social life — getting out in the world is, as always, the best source of inspiration for me. reading good books also helps. not watching tv/movies/youtube also helps.

and if there's any consistent part to my writing, i think that i draft in a one step back, two steps forward way: when first starting a lil session i'll reread the most recent section or two, make edits, and then draft onwards. and im trying to start the habit of ending sessions mid-scene or, better yet, a little bit into the start of a new scene, so i already have some momentum to build on in the next session