#writernichequestions

[flotsamie]

I feel like a noob for asking but what is WIP short for? Work in progress?

Yep! WIP is otherwise known as a work in progress.

If you ever see some words in the writing community you don’t understand, here are some glossaries (of sorts) for writing/literary terms. 

Traditional Glossary of Fiction Writing Terms

Common Writing/Publishing Terms

[flotsamie]

11 and 12?

11.) describe your writing process from start to finish.

This one is a pretty long one so I might make another post about this. And remember, it’s always important to know that there is no single process that works for everyone, you’ve gotta come up with what works for you by testing stuff out. 

I use OneNote, so my writing process is split up into different sections: Notes, Worldbuilding, Characters, Planning, Outlining, Story, and Edit. 

Within my Notes section I mostly brainstorm. I write down inspirations, aesthetics, themes [motifs, symbolism], premise, and aesthetics. Here I’ll also put down sample pieces of the work I’m working on, if they come to mind. Notes is the rough and basic planning. 

Worldbuilding and Characters are pretty self-explanatory sections. If I have a fictional world I’ll create pages on culture, government, magic/science systems, religion, etc. The most important part of my worldbuilding process is the geographical design, in which I format the actual location out using a world/country generator and organize where all the important locations are. Worldbuilding is usually optional if I’m doing a real-life location or a fictional town. For a real-life location, I’ll usually do some research on the side and put all the necessary information into the Worldbuilding section. For a fictional town, I mostly just design the basics for the setting likes landmarks, etc.

In the Characters section, I’ll create a list of all the characters in the novel and do biographies for the POV, antagonist, and secondary characters. 

Planning is where it gets tricky and I’ll probably go more into it in another post. For Planning, I essentially try to expand the main conflict and premise as well as designing character arcs and subplots on the side. 

Outlining is where I get rid of all the creative fluff of writing and smash some scenes together to see if they work. Usually I’ll create a list of what I know needs to happen in the story, then fill in the blanks with necessary links and subplots in order to flesh out the character’s arc. Then I’ll put everything in chronological order and divide the scenes into chapters. 

Story is where I write. Simple enough. Also, important note, I don’t write in chronological order. And, trust me, it helps a lot if you’re struggling with writing currently. 

Editing is where I edit. This consists of re-organization chapters, reading them over and adding notes on the side. After I’ve finished with this, I usually re-write. 

12.) how do you deal with self-doubts?

I look them dead in the eye and say: “fuck you, doubts,—I do what I want”. 

Then my doubts laugh in my face and make me spent my entire night wondering if I’m meant to be a writer. 

Just kidding (not really). 

In all seriousness, you’ve got to confront your self-doubts and tell them to fuck-off. Otherwise, you’ll never get anything done. It’s hard and I definitely fail at it sometimes, but the only way you overcome something is to face it. 

It’s better to face it and fail, then to never face it and suffer the consequences of you not following your dreams to the fullest extent. 

Thanks for asking!

Ask me more questions from this list: https://writerniche.tumblr.com/post/169315634497/new-ask-game-for-writers

[flotsamie]

I am thinking of writing a story, where a woman starts a self help group that uses some self help philosophy she came up w . My idea is for the group to turn cultish because of actions from others in the group & because of a literary descent to madness( fame/power/$$). How do I keep the character relatable/likable to readers?

Personally, I love a good morally corrupt character more than I do morally righteous characters. They add an interesting layer to the story, they’re intriguing to write motives for, and they typically are more headstrong in progressing the plot forward (especially the more extreme they get). But alas, sometimes this can isolate the readers or just make the character plain unlikable. 

Usually when I write corrupt characters, I give them something (like a hobby, an aspect of their past, a personality quirk, etc.) that grounds them more into reality and helps the reader understand the character more and where they are coming from. Adding depth to your character is always vital, but in situations like these, depth is all the more important. You can make your characters horrible human beings but it has to be genuine.  

Here are some articles that explain in detail how to make your characters likable:

How To Make Unlikable Characters Likable

5 Ways To Create Three-Dimensional Characters

On Writing Sympathetic Morally Ambiguous Characters

Tips For Writing Lovable Jerks

On Writing Misfits, Loners, & Malcontents 

Good luck writing, my dudes.

[flotsamie]

1, 5, and 14 please!

1.) favorite place to write.

The folding chair in the corner of my bedroom. Been writing in it for as long as I can remember, hasn’t done me wrong since. Except maybe a few back problems. 

5.) books or authors that influenced your style most.

The author that really inspired and influenced me most is one from my childhood. Ellen Raskin, the writer of the Westing Game. She was the first writer that ever made me want to write something and her writing made me a steadfast third-person POV devotee. The oddness and uniqueness of her writing was a gateway for me into more zany and avant-garde writing that I now practice. Also, the way she formed intricacies within characters and their relationships stuck with me since I was a child. 

A Song of Ice & Fire by George R.R. Martin and J.K Rowling’s Harry Potter Series influenced the genres I write in. I basically only write fantasy and science fiction currently because of this and really focus in on worldbuilding. 

Last but certainly not least, the author that currently influences my style the most is Chuck Palahniuk. Palahniuk is famously known for writing Fight Club. I adored his straightforward and terribly honest style, especially the blunt (humorous) way he describes violence/gore. It’s dark and not for everyone, but it’s definitely attention-grabbing. 

14.) what’s the most research you ever put into a book?

I’m a pretty anti-research person. If I come up with an idea that needs crap-ton of research, I run away screaming in terror. I’m one of those people that fall into a deep, dark, endless research hole that completely destroys my ability to actually write the story. 

However, I do specifically remember one WIP in which the planning was heavily research-based. It was a book about immortals and it was multi-POV. There was about over five different main characters from wildly different backgrounds and covered entirely different locations around the world. So, I had to go really in-depth to other country’s cultures evolving over time for about ~200 years then relate it back to the each character’s backstory, as there would be multiple flashbacks needed. 

Thanks for asking!

Ask me more questions from this list: https://writerniche.tumblr.com/post/169315634497/new-ask-game-for-writers

[flotsamie]

3, 40, 43

3.) Least Favorite Part of Writing.

Definitely, definitely, definitely, the outlining process. This is the part where I blindly try to connect all the loose-end, weird scenes in my head with some sort of clever logic. Everything creative seems to be sucked out of scene organization, at least for me. Geographical worldbuilding comes in a close second just because of how much a pain in the ass it is to figure out locations and distances for everything. However, nothing quite compares to the existential void of outlining. For the most part, the outlining process is me throwing back advil as I stare at a blank page for about a half hour and wonder if I’ll ever actually get to write the damn book. But it’s a necessary evil in my process and I couldn’t write without it. 

40.) Original Fiction or Fanfiction, and why?

I tried the whole fanfiction thing a while ago, but I’m an original fiction writer at heart. I have too many ideas, worlds, and characters floating around in my brain to write something based on another’s work. I do love reading some good fanfic though. 

43.) Are you an avid reader?

I wish I could say “well, no, duh” to this one but I really fell back on reading recently. I used to read a lot, like a book a day kind of a lot. But now, I’m mostly just an avid reader during the summer. 

Thanks for asking!

Ask me more questions from this list: https://writerniche.tumblr.com/post/169315634497/new-ask-game-for-writers 

[flotsamie]

New ask game: #40–45, please!

41.) how many stories do you work on at one time?

Currently, I have around five story ideas that I’m playing around with. Basically I’m just brainstorming for the majority of those stories. I have three stories that I’m actually working on with outlines and worldbuilding. Usually I like to keep it around two stories so the tones and such don’t get confused. 

42.) how do you figure out your characters looks, personality, etc.?

In this area, I’m one of those “off-the-rails” kind of author. A character begins to form in my head first with their voice and personality. Usually there’ll be a voice in my head saying something, anything really from a witty line to a whole emotional speech. From that, I gather the character’s personality and it starts to snowball out of control there. I don’t really control this process, it just kind of happens involuntarily in my thoughts. Occasionally details will be left out, like eye color, background, etc. For this I’ll just fill in the blanks with whatever fits or look at some photography and music to get inspiration. 

44.) best piece of feedback you’ve ever gotten.

I don’t really share my work often with others. But I remember working on a humor piece for my school’s newspaper, and the people who edited it in my group gave genuine laughs. Not really much feedback, but it was still special for me. 

45.) worst piece of feedback you’ve ever gotten.

Someone very close to me said I was bad at writing and my story idea wasn’t good enough.

Thanks for asking!

Ask more questions from this list: https://writerniche.tumblr.com/post/169315634497/new-ask-game-for-writers

[flotsamie]

A few years ago I left my notebook - the only copy of my WIP, complete with intricate character portraits and bios, historical timelines, outlines of three different languages and cultures, etc. - on a train. I was devastated. Since then the story won't leave me alone. The characters are still vivid, the ideas intriguing in my head, but whenever I try to write the story... nothing. Lately, whenever I try to write ANY story... nothing. I'm petrified of losing my work again. What can I do?

I truly feel for you on loosing your WIP like that, I can understand how difficult it must be to loose all that hard earned work. I would definitely suggest creating a harddrive copy of most of your stuff. (Even if it is just outlining and planning pages). 

It seems like you’ve got a bad case of a mental block on your writing. Maybe the incident of loosing your work left you with some sort of anxiety of creating something again, or, maybe it’s just one of those bullsh*t writer’s block moments that plagues us all occasionally. Either way, if you genuinely love writing and creating fictional worlds, then you already know what you have to do.  

You have to push through your writer’s block. 

You have to push and push, and it’s certainly not going to be easy for you. But you know what? It’s going to be worth it. 

However, the limits of someone pushing through writer’s block are different for everyone. And there are times you need to stop, take a decent break, and then start again. We writers work with our brains and like every living thing, sometimes you need a break. 

There are plenty of resources online in which you can practice writing so in turn your WIP will become a better finished product. @writing-prompt-s is an ingenious wealth of prompts that you can practice with or even draw inspiration from. And there’s plenty of generators online that can help you with basic ideas, such as:

Plot Generator

Writer’s Plot Idea Generator

Random Plot Generator

If it is the legitimate flow of words that is troubling you, I would suggest reading as many books as you possibly can at the moment. Writing comes from the heart, and as cheesy as it sounds, we store some of our most beloved stories and lines of literature in there. The more you fill up yourself with the styles and the diction of other authors, the more you will probably be able to gain footing by yourself in writing. Practice will put this stored information to the test later. 

Writer’s block and things like your particular mental block suck. But it’s how we push through those things that make us the writers that we are supposed to be.

Good luck, guys ! And remember my ask box is always open for anyone regardless of the issue. 

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