#onwriting

[wordspinning]

GUYS the writing doesn’t even have to be good. I’m so dead serious. Tell the story. Stop giving a shit about how the prose flows or how many times you reuse the same phrases or whether your vocabulary is descriptive enough. Tell the story. Let the plot and characters carry and the elegance will come.

[onwriting-hrarby]

on writing, 15-11

i am feeling a little bit down with writing lately. the progress of my novel is going well, and i'm happy that i'm writing everyday, but i'm somehow feeling out of loop. like, i want to expose myself and interact with other writers and fandoms, and at the same time i just want to curl into a blanket and read books and not do anything at all. writing and publishing fics doesn't do it for me anymore (i had fun writing the ploy, but not uploading it... and it has been a little bit of radio silence, which doesn't help with the nervousness it triggers) but at the same time i feel like if i don't have a fandom, i don't have a safe space to go to when i'm feeling down.

so for now i'm re reading kono oto tomare in french.

[kidlitwriterconfessions]

I haven't felt the urge to write in a month.

I'm sorry to hear that. The fog is hard to see through sometimes. Try small steps like:

Making a map

Just outlining a scene

Talking about your work with another writer

Reading (I find audiobooks very helpful when the fog comes on)

It's important to take breaks. I'm sure the thought has crossed your mind that you might never return to the work and that can be frightening, but if you try to force yourself to go back to it that will almost surely happen.

Don't worry about taking breaks from your work. It'll be okay.

[noxinkwell]

Fanfiction/Novels and Popularity

So, I've been thinking about writing as a whole for the last two to three months in a lot more depth because I like to perseverate a lot, and I began to realize this morning that it's interesting that certain stories by an individual writer in fanfiction can be more popular than their other pieces or even in published writing... some novels are just more popular. I thought about how that relates to skill or quality of writing and realized: they're not correlated (unfortunately or maybe fortunately).

Before anyone decides to hit me over the side of the head or scream at me--I believe that most artistic works are subjectively good or bad, but I also recognize there is quite a bit of objectivity to art as well. We all know (inherently) what good writing or bad writing. We also all know what's a good song or a bad song and we also all probably know what's a good piece of art and what's a bad piece of art.

Some of the most popular books that we all hear about: Twlight, Fifty Shades of Grey, ACOTAR, Fourth Wing, some Ali Hazelwood books, some Emily Henry books, LoTR, Harry Potter, man the list goes on and on. And the same can be said for fanfiction. And I'll be honest, a lot of that has to do with luck and just the nature of becoming viral and some of it is marketing or word of mouth. While some of these stories are my favorite and some have my favorite prose or storytelling--there are flaws in all of them (subjectively and objectively, speaking). They all tell interesting stories or expand upon certain tropes. Some of them better than others.

All this is to say, one can be one of the best writers in the world, but it doesn't mean you'll be seen or noticed. There's no accounting for taste of the population reading your stories... and there's no accounting for luck. Sometimes it's about writing the right tropes at the right time and the simple act of word of mouth.

I say all of this because I've been constantly pondering what it means to be a "good" writer and so many people have a lot of fluff when they talk about it. If it was that simple, we'd all be famous writers, right?

[parvaavem]

{{Is anyone familiar with Cowboy Bebop or Samurai Champloo? It's fascinating to me, Watanabe (forgive me if I got his name wrong) was inspired by jazz for one and hip-hop for the other ^^; A samurai show of all things.

But...it did show me, fantasy can be anything a writer wishes I suppose?}}

[dildostiaurkitabein]

“While to write adverbs is human, to write he said or she said is divine.”

― Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

[tammydeschampsauthor]

Mistakes Were Made

Mistakes were made. I’ve seen so many of these baking sheet tartlets that I was fully confident I could make one with no recipe. This is how I go into any new endeavor. Headfirst, full of confidence from past experiences of doing other things well, and directly plant my face into a wall.  Do I think I’m a failure as a novice baker because these tartlets didn’t come out as expected?  Not at all.…

[jorgesette]

(via Stephen King Teaches Us How To Write Well)

[karenlojelo]

Passaggi di vento Così la piazza vuota la piazza piena nessun rumore troppo frastuono passanti ridenti tristi sorrisi apparenti sinceri sfuggenti a volte persi corri corri qui davanti Dov’ero ieri… dove resterò domani? sto passando adesso ma arrivo in qualche posto poi o rimango solo dentro? Fa giorno fa notte profumo d’estate alle porte sembra bel tempo questa è un’onda questo è un passaggio dove sono domani? Dove tornerò ieri… ti guardo stai attento a non allontanarti ti osservo ma mi perdo chi c’era ieri… chi tornerà domani? Io sono sempre qui in un altro posto con lo stesso cuore non bussare è ancora aperto Sono una che ha di quei passi che non sanno andare via per sempre ricordo la strada anche in un’altra vita Cicale all’orecchio oggi niente vento passa tutto mentre resta dentro. #karenlojelo #poesia #poesiadistrada #onwriting (presso Every Where) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cp4VMgMMBzZ/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[tonyhightowerv1]

Paris, Sunday: On Writing

I've been reading, for the first time, Stephen King's "On Writing." I'm figuring, if this move from NYC to Paris is a chance to reinvent myself a little bit, y'know, become someone a little more than who I am, then let's go back and fill in some gaps in my education.

"On Writing" is a very simple book. King was always a conversational-style writer -- even though I've heard maybe a handful of interviews with him in all my years, you read the text and you can hear him saying this stuff to you across a diner table -- so if you're looking for something more formal, you're guaranteed to not like it. He cusses. He worships at the altar of Strunk & White, but he specifically tells you that it's okay to break their rules when it serves your narrative, especially once you know what you're doing.

"Do everything right, and then do one thing wrong."

So I'm finally reading a book about writing that I should have read, god, 40 years ago (I know, it was published in 2000) (also, yeah, I turned 55 this week, sorry), and as I'm going through it, I'm realizing I was doing a lot of things right, even as I was getting no encouragement from my friends or peers.

(Getting encouragement from friends and peers is something he mentions in passing, and were I to write such a book, I'd move that much further up the priority list. Man, having people around you who respect the thing you like doing is such a huge help. Like, every day, even when you're not doing it, even when you're just doing other life things. The sun shines a little brighter, and so do you.)

Write what you know, even when you're writing about space colonies or tiny fish or whatever.

There s no good writing without tons of reading. When you don't read, you can't write.

Feel free to copy styles. You won't learn without trying on things for size. Trust in your skills as a shitty mimic.

Don't be afraid to read shitty writing. Great work can inspire you, and show you what's possible. Shit writing can also inspire you, by showing you what mistakes look like without you having to take the trouble to make them yourself.

I followed these rules religiously as a songwriter for 15 years, and I do truly believe I managed to squeeze every ounce of potential out of myself in a field, for the first time in my life.

It turned out I was good enough to be pretty good. I sold a few thousand albums, I toured across Canada a few times, I opened for some pretty big bands, I got laid a lot more than I could have reasonably expected, and right up until my last year in NYC, people would (very, very occasionally) come up to me and ask me if I used to be somebody before I got into trivia. "I was hunting around, and I found a torrent of this album, and -- is this you?"

Yeah, I used to be somebody. I got way more famous as a quizzer than I ever did as a musician, but yeah, I was a pop songwriter for most of the 1990s.

We can talk about how good I was, and what the hell I was doing, some other time. My point in bringing this all up isn't to brag, it's to say that I was following a better path toward becoming a decent writer than I thought at the time. It's nice to get confirmation about that after the fact, I guess.

[adamgnade]

https://www.patreon.com/adamgnade

[biffmitchell]

On Describing Writers

https://theweeklymancom.files.wordpress.com/2020/04/describewriters.pdf

[onwriting-hrarby]

on writing, 8-01

such a long time i didn't do a post in my writing diaries, didn't i? i have transitioned to a journal in paper—in which i vent in my native language and also about life in general—and thinking about journaling for me (and only me) has been gratifying and slower. about this, i just read an article yesterday about the impasse of writing for one-self in the age of sharing everything (here).

i didn't set myself any goals for 2023, only to write more (and hopefully, better). before my hiatus (i don't know if i'm back yet 100%) i realized that i was working too much, seeing too many friends, and although all of that makes me terribly happy, at the same time i was losing myself in a twirl of busy life and not finding the structure that i wanted—and that is writing. without writing everyday, i feel completely lost, kind of dizzying. however, when i looked back at the counter of december, i realized i had written everyday. strange. was i too busy that i didn't even recall that? that i felt like i wasn't really writing?

so, as a goal of 2023 (more like a purpose) i want to write purposefully. i want to set little goals or tasks and actually accomplish them. i am also tired in seeing everyone i know thriving as an author, and not me. i want to try to be less afraid and less perfectionist.

this past week (still christmas in my country) has been freeing because even if i still have a lot of work, i've managed to write a lot. i should have been focusing on rotten judgement, but i've been writing my erejeankasa story (the first part of the triptych of hurt) and plotting my short story for a submission on a literary magazine.

today, in just an hour and a half, i'm joining a meetup group in my city that write every sunday. hopefully, i'll feel less alone in my room.

i hope i can share much more things with you this year.

thank you for being around!

—hera

[kidlitwriterconfessions]

I'm afraid that even if I do get published that no one will like my work... and that my career will be over.

I think we all share this fear and I feel a deep level of camaraderie with you. But I think you know, if you let this fear stop you, your work will never be out there. You might be missing out on a huge opportunity because of it.

I know it's scary and that words don't often help with that, but you've got to, at least, try to get your work out there.

[claramarsmars]

Los 4millones de coups.

a 4 días de viajar a parís, primero a sao pablo, después a Paris

festival d’animation

observo la foto del perfil, esta el gato, reflexiono que he perdido a mucha gente que quiero mucho

perdido o desencontrado

a veces no se si usar palabras tibias o que ayuden a no derrotarme a las 8.48 en un dia de lluvia

la lluvia hizo que nick cave me respondiera, 

la lluvia hizo que conociera a un francés que sabia qué escena remarcar de Tarantino, pero de la vida? no sabia nada.

francia es una mentira

messi es una mentira

decir que todo es una mentira es sencillo

yo no digo eso

digo que Francia y messi no existen

son inventos que jamas conocerás, porque son imágenes en tu cerebro, nada mas.

[wordspinning]

welcome, friend 🌲

so glad you’re here 💕

fandoms: the last of us 🍄

wip: the stars incline us (ellie & joel & tommy & maria found-family/coming-of-age gen longfic)

🌿 i go by Mera, late-twenties, unironically Christian, painfully nerdy. this is primarily a personal blog. 🌿

favorite pastimes: writing, drawing, coding, 3d printing, cuddling my cat

🏷️ tags: onwriting, tsiu, personal, faith, meradrawsstuff

🔗 links:

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ao3