#mareebrittenford

[the-wip-project]

SloMo WriNo Update: Write your novel in 2024

In October, without a lot of planning or intention (ha, sound familiar?) I suggested an alternative to Nanowrimo, which I dubbed SloMo WriNo, or a Slower Method for Writing a Novel.

And via writing about my writing process I was able to help people develop some new skills and make progress with their writing.

After some actual consideration I’m ready to take this thing through a full year, with posts about each stage of the writing process, encouragement, updates on my own writing progress (I will be holding myself to the same kind of goals that I encourage everyone else to set) and responses to any questions anyone wants to ask.

Yes, you should expect that it will take a year to write your novel, and that’s a long time. But as the famous tumblr post says: the time will pass anyway.

Do you want to write a novel, in a way that's kinder to yourself, and lower stress? Then join me in writing slomo.

—Maree

You can find my posts here on tumblr (Follow the tag #slomowrino)

You can also Subscribe to my substack to make sure you don't miss a post,

I'm also around on the WIP Project discord, or you can message me directly on my personal blog mareebrittenford

[the960writers]

5 things I like to write about

Thank you for the tag, @verba-writing! (I figured I make a new post before the other gets too long)

5 things I like to write:

Characters growing

Grumpy and serious characters finding joy again

Conflicted people

Women getting shit done

Men being soft

Tagging: @shesaidclud, @randomstupidchaos, @mareebrittenford, @tsfennec, @myuntoldstory

[did-i-do-this-write]

It's Okay to Ask (pt. 2)

And here is the second installment of writeblrs who agreed to being sent an occasional general, writing related ask! As I said I'll be sending out asks to you guys every other week!

@whogavemeapen

@imaginativemind29new

@the-world-is-a-poem

@carpe-noctemseries

@forthesanityofstorytellers

@big-maggots-writes

@sam-glade

@mayarab

@flock-from-the-void

@chrismerle

@caxycreations

@sun-god-cometh

@yesireadbooks

@dandelion-jester

@i-am-hughesgroup

@the-mindless

@dontjudgemeimawriter

@elean0rarose

@sometimesraven

@spare-stories-archive

@faithfire

@the-tropes-are-hungry

@e-lisard

@mixing-bowl-of-stories

@ruinmegently

@mareebrittenford

@ace-malarky

@fattybattysblog

@residentdormouse

@tea-and-mercury

@werehamburglar

@romances-not-tragedies

@apteryxdrake

@worldofthraeia

@outofthepapers

@heavenssexiestangel

@harps-for-days

@bluberimufim

@crowandmoonwriting

@theroseempress

@enne-uni

@briarborealisocs

@guessillcallitart

@full-on-sam

@authorlaurawinter

@natyune-writes

@13shadesofanni

@sviancontrast

@ashwithapen

@ohnomybreadsticks

No slots available. Ask to be removed.

[dairogo]

Character poll

Tagged by @griseldabanks and yaaay for a chance to ramble about my OC idiots!

Pick one of my characters that sounds interesting, and whichever one has the most votes will get a full description!

Then create your own poll of characters from a WIP/story idea and tag more people to do the same. Characters can be from fanfiction or original, they don't necessarily have to be a character you made up--the point is to have fun describing them. ;)

Tagging @mareebrittenford, @fullmetalscullyy and @cyborgartalchemist2

[barbex]

Books of 2024 (2023 or close to it)

@hoochieblues tagged me to list books and in that moment I immediately forgot about any book I have ever read. Did I even read a single book in 2023? But thank you for tagging me, I'll do my best.

��the game is to share 9 of my favourite books from the last 12 months, or 9 books on my tbr list for this year”

I'm tagging: @mareebrittenford, @dyrewrites, @tryingtimi, @tsuraiwrites, @midnightprelude, @lesetoilesfous, @tarysande

Let me list nine books I liked, I don't know if I read them all in the last 12 months, I just went to my Kindle and picked what sparked a good memory.

Band Sinister by KJ Charles M/M romance, regency historical Lots of pining and repressed feelings in this one, until it leads to wonderful sex and love. Kj Charles knows how to do it.

A Game of Hearts and Heist by Ruby Roe F/F romance, fantasy Fast paced and very sexy fantasy heist. So much sex that even I, certified smut queen, sometimes thought "Now? Really? Don't you think you're kind of busy right now?" But I enjoyed it a lot and there's two more books in the series.

Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree cozy fantasy with a little F/F romance, fantasy This book has started a whole new trend of cozy fantasy. This is a story about what happens if the barbarian warrior lady hangs up her sword and opens a cafe. The romance is not the main story. I would have wished for a bit more introspection from the main character but I know how difficult it is to write a stoic character who doesn't want to think about feelings.

The Calyx Charm by May Peterson M/M romance, trans main character, fantasy, magic Beautiful prose! Sinister magic, darkness and families at war. Two characters so very much in love, the transwoman loved and accepted by her lover. This is the second or third book in a series but I read another book in the series and it didn't feel all that connected. And the prose was not as pretty as in this one.

Unmasked by the Marquess by Cat Sebastian NB/M romance, regency historical The main character uses she/her pronouns but I read in an interview with Cat Sebastian that, would she write the book today, they would probably use they/them pronouns. But it really doesn't matter much for either main character, the main male character already falls for the nb character when they dress and act like a man. A high stakes regency romance with the expected societal problems and lots of love.

Taji from Beyond the Rings by R. Cooper M/M romance, science fiction This book is so good! Cultural differences between species making romance and connection dangerous, feelings, sex, and politics raising the stakes every minute. I read this book again right after I finished it, it was so good.

The Elf Tangent by Lindsay Buroker F/M romance, fantasy A fun story about a human princess who loves mathematics and an elven warrior, trying to stop a war from happening. Nerdy and clever heroes with a bit of enemies to lovers.

The Hidden Moon by Jeannie Lin F/M romance, set in historic China This is like book five of a series but that didn't hinder my enjoyment. A woman, too smart for her own good, trying to solve a crime in a time when women were not allowed to do anything, especially not investigate assassinations and talk to street scoundrels. Or fall in love with said scoundrel.

---

Phew. That was a lot. Happy reading.

[gnomer-denois]

13 books tag game, as tagged by @vanillivilovesreus

1) Last book I read:

A Nobleman's Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel by KJ Charles. The second in a series of historical gay romance novels I've read. The first was recced by @protect-parker-jones and I've promised not to spoiler this one.

2) A book I recommend:

Camp Damascus by @drchucktingle. Mind, it is horror and thus you might want to check about any triggers you have before starting.

3) A book that I couldn’t put down:

The Starless Sea by @erinmorgenstern. It's extremely excellent and I'm going to suggest that the answers to questions 2 and 3 could apply to either question.

4) A book I’ve read twice (or more)

This isn't something I do very often. I guess since I bound my own copy of Trail Magic and I have read it more than twice, that counts?

5) A book on my TBR

Star Wars Jedi: Battle Scars by Sam Maggs is going with me on a trip for travel reading.

6) A book I’ve put down

uh. Gone With the Wind. Never finished it.

7) A book on my wish list

Bury Your Gays by @drchucktingle again. If by "wish list" you mean "pre-ordered".

8) A favourite book from childhood

Let's say Camp Fear by Carol Ellis. I borrowed it once in 5th or 6th grade and it got me into reading horror book.

9) A book you would give a friend

I have given friends bindings of their own writing, does that count? Otherwise, it would extremely depend on the friend.

10) The most books you own by a single author (physical books only)

I think that will be Michelle West. As long as I'm not required to find said books since they are in storage.

11) A nonfiction book you own

Patterns of Fashion 3, there's a fashion history book about the Tudors around somewhere, plus books on religion.

12) what are you currently reading

Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree. My loan ends soon, so I need to finish it in the next couple of days.

13) what are you planning on reading next?

Jedi: Battle Scars as mentioned above, or We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian. Depends on if I need something to read physical or on my laptop.

Who to tag. um. @mareebrittenford @quill-of-thoth @tentacleteapot @happinessisntfun and anyone else who sees and wants to give me more ideas of things to check in my library for answer.

[jadefyre]

Making a new post because the last thread was getting long!

Tag nine (9) people you’d like to know better

(thank you @starberry-cupcake :D)

Last song: DotA by Basshunter. We were in the mood for a little throwback :)

Currently watching: I’m actually not watching anything right now. (she says, with several unfinished series lurking around the corner)

Currently reading: Just last night I started Time to Orbit: Unknown by @derinthescarletpescatarian and let me tell you: if you like sci-fi with a healthy dose of mysterious happenings, you’re gonna love this. It’s free and on their website! Go check it out!

Current obsession: See above!! But also, I’m cycling through ye olde hyperfixations, and am currently thrilled to be back at it with my original fiction (and editing my friends’ original fiction too, which financially supports my own fiction-writing habit 🩵🩷)

Tagging (only if you wanna!): @mareebrittenford @little-box-of-wonders @poppypopp @cicadaknight @buggirlthorax @aloy-sobek @juliannos @penpalpixie @lunellum and literally anyone else who wants to do it, consider yourself tagged~

[js589]

WIP anagram Game

rules: you will be given a word, and you must share 1 sentence from your WIP/s that starts with each letter in that word! (for dialogue, feel free to include the descriptor as well)

Your word: YOUTH

Thank you for the tag, @twiilys! 😁 (Still working on that other tag game...)

Here's 5 lines that are all from a "Fittes Ball but make it D&D(-ish)" Lockwood & Co WIP that I have not had nearly enough time to work on lately. It's not my only WIP, but it had the best lines.

Y: "You're still stuck over here, and if your friends don't do something soon, it'll be permanent."

O: "One death for another, indeed," he mused.

U: "Unless Lucy has physically possessed your heart at some point, that does not count."

T: Thankfully Anthony was in a position to defend himself, but now, the body he was fighting would feel no pain. It wouldn't stop until it was completely destroyed—or its opponent was.

H: "However you might, I'm told, notice a chill beginning to set in."

Tagging @practicallyasleep, @mareebrittenford, and @musing-and-music if you haven't done this already.

Your word (and y'all are gonna hate me) is MAGIC. Happy hunting! 😁

[the-wip-project]

SloMo WriNo: Q & A

A few questions about how the SloMo WriNo challenge have come in, so here's the answers to a few of the easy ones. (Don't worry, more complicated questions will be getting their own posts!)

When does it start? The official start date is November 1st.

However this challenge is about you finding your own long term writing rhythm. So if there’s some reason why you can’t begin for a week, a month, or even until next year, that’s fine. Feel free to jump in at any time, and even if you feel like you can’t ‘officially’ start your novel just yet, perhaps you can still begin trying out writing in a SloMo way. You may find yourself easing into things anyway!

Is this plan/event supposed to be just for novels?

Definitely not! I’ve had one person express their intention to write a series of novellas, another to do a second draft, and others plan on writing fanfiction. It’s for whatever you want to write but have been struggling with.

Do those min/max brackets apply for everything one would write in the year? Ideally yes! At least when it comes to writing you’re doing for your own self. (Writing for work and school obviously need to get done at whatever pace you’re required to do them!) The goal here is to establish writing as a long term sustainable habit. Now as time goes on you will probably want to tweak your minimum and maximum word counts, as you get more familiar with your own process. Please go ahead and do that, and then keep on writing within that adjusted ideal zone.

I’m kinda burned out. Should I even try to attempt this? That’s a tough one, and really something you need to answer for yourself based on your current situation and emotional state. If you do decide to attempt the challenge, I recommend keeping your goal word counts (at least initally) at a level that feels ‘too easy’ and taking at least two days each week off writing. If it starts feeling like too much, dial it back even further, or take some time off. This challenge will be going on all year, so you can hop in and out whenever you need to. No guilt needed!

Who are you and why are you claiming to be an expert on this stuff anyway? Actually no one has been so mean as to say that, but there’s been a little confusion about who I am and why I’m posting here. My name is Maree, and Barbex (the one who actually runs this blog) was kind enough to help me out with this challenge and let me post on the WIP blog and the WIP discord. (you can find my own blog at mareebrittenford.)

I completed my first novel in 2015, and since then I’ve written 8 novels, as well as assorted shorter stories and a few (okay maybe more than a few) fanfics. I have managed to publish 4 of the novels and a few short stories have made their way into magazines and anthologies. Now I don’t claim to be a great writer, but the one thing I’m confident of is that I’ve become very good at is Finishing My Stuff. (And finishing stuff with ADHD is a very special skill!)

I created this challenge to share all my tips and tricks, and hopefully help other people also Finish Their Stuff.

If you have any other questions about the challenge (or for me personally) you can reblog with comments, send an ask, or hop onto the WIP discord

[the960writers]

SloMoWriNo

Over on @the-wip-project, @mareebrittenford started slomowrino, a challenge of writing a little every day to write one book (or more) in a year.

For this we're supposed to set a minimum goal and a maximum goal for our daily writing. And I must admit, that stumped me for a moment. Setting a minimum is easy enough, I've done that often enough. But a maximum? I have never set a maximum and for a little while, I kind of resented that idea. I mean, if I can write thousands of words more, why would not want that?

But as she wrote in the post:

The goal here isn’t to wring every drop out of your creative well in a single session, but to create a long term writing practice.

The point is to develop a habit, without burning out. And yes, I can see how a maximum would be a healthy limit. If I think back to the one time when I won nanowrimo, finishing by writing over the 3000 words every day during the last week and how I couldn't write anything for the next half year — yes, I get it.

So, this is my engagement post for SloMoWriNo. I'm setting my goals as

200 words minimum

and

2000 words maximum.

Uhm, yeah, that feels about right. I can always rejiggle this when the situation changes but I feel confident I can stay inside these two borders every day.

Interested in this challenge? Come over to the @the-wip-project and check out the intro post. We also have a discord server.

[ofliterarynature]

@mareebrittenford was this @ me?

I did not, that’s really neat! That’s usually a preorder thing right? I think I’ve got doodles in some other books but not The Scorpio Races, alas. I’ve got the US hardcover (signed in person!), the OwlCrate hardcover, the US paperback, and the red UK paperback. I’d like to get the other UK cover as well but then I think I’ll be calling it quits 😁

[elismor]

Reblogging for @mareebrittenford 's very excellent addition.

Wet can also happen in sexual situations without consent. It's biology, not necessarily enjoyment.

Three things I wish All Fic Writers Knew About Sex

1. 5ml.  That is the high-end average volume of semen released when men come. For those of us who are metrically challenged, that equates to about a teaspoon (aka the amount of vanilla extract you put in a batch of chocolate chip cookies). Some will have more. Some will have less. Point is: it's not as much as you think it is. 

2. Vaginas are built to allow a whole ass baby to pass through on its way into the world. That dick? It WILL fit. It will be more comfortable if the woman is relaxed and wet, but this is not a multi-minute process requiring specific prep (foreplay is the prep).  At least, not on average. Some women are smaller than others, some women are harder to get aroused than others. 

3. There are positions that are more conducive to deeper penetration. One of these is from behind (vaginally, I mean). To get deep penetration in the missionary position, a woman's legs must be spread quite wide (think about pelvic exams) and/or her hips need to be angled upwards.

Bonus Thing: Women should not taste sweet, yeasty, or fishy. These are all signs of vaginal infection.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

[dairogo]

I’ve been challenged by @mareebrittenford to write 3 positive things about my wip and oh boy if you’re not tired of hearing about my writing at the moment then I love you

I'm really enjoying character creation again! For a while it was hard because doing fanfiction forever means that characters come pre-built, so I wasn’t sure how this would go - if they’d seem a bit flat - but I’ve found if I push through the first chapter in a POV, I can get a handle on them, flesh out a backstory, and by the second chapter in their POV, I get to play with all sorts of temperamental quirks in fun ways.

It’s so fun to put people in Situations >:D Gotta have a whole lot of those Situations so characters can earn their soft endings, right? I love imagining what a fandom would do with the finished product - who they would want to put in a Coffee Shop AU so they could finally just have some peace, and who they’d want to throw facedown in the dirt and make suffer more.

The story sure ain’t slow. At least, from my perspective it isn’t. I’m having to remind myself to pause and let the characters understand what’s going on (and the readers), but even my pauses are littered with “foreshadow x” and “refer back to y”, and I enjoy that.

[barbex]

WIP quotes game

rules: you will be given a word, and you must share 1 sentence from your WIP/s that starts with each letter in that word! (for dialogue, feel free to include the descriptor as well)

Your word is FRIEND

Thank you for tagging me, @mareebrittenford. This... was less complicated than I thought it would be.

I'm tagging @midnightprelude, @tsuraiwrites, @mordinette, @only-slightly-terrified

Your word is: WITCH

Ok, here we go. I exported my current fantasy WIP, which is called "fantasy 2 Kaden and Aksel" because I hate naming things and is about halfway done.

F: For a second, Kaden wonders if he should just turn around and leave.

R: Raising his head, Aksel looks directly at him, his eyes glowing with something like defiance.

I: I have lived this hell all my life.

E: Even at this stage, when he barely knows how to do anything simple as heating up a liquid, he glows with magic.

N: Nobody has ever held him like this, like he can protect him from the rest of the world.

D: Demon wings, many call them because the shape is that of a bat, not a bird.

---

This WIP will get done at the 40k in 42 days event.

[shesasurvivor]

Hey I think you're being incredibly brave speaking truth to power. Fandom has such potential to be a safe place for people who don't fit but instead it's often more like a nightmarish exaggeration of the pecking order of high school cliques. I opted out of the whole thing and have been much happier since. You are one of the handful of people I followed from the fandom when I switched to this account. Hugs!!

Thank you!! I totally agree. I hope you’re doing well!

[jadefyre]

(via @mareebrittenford)

@wilwheaton can you confirm?

just spent 25 minutes trying to figure out whats going on with wesley crushers orange sweater from tng 06 where no one has gone before. yep. awesome.

(its insane theres diagonal everything theres cables theres REGULAR FABRIC??? its seamed everywhere possible and everything is ribbed EXCEPT the cuffs on the sleeves and body)