Concept: An Apocalyptic Or Post Apocalyptic Tv Show Centred On A Group Of Disabled Protagonists

Concept: an apocalyptic or post apocalyptic tv show centred on a group of disabled protagonists

Must include:

-enough details about how they survive that no one can call it “unrealistic”

-mental and physical disabilities 

-a character who isn’t necessarily contributing to the survival of the group, but is not abandoned or looked down upon

-at least one character whose disability is actually less of a problem for them now that the world is ending/ended (example: autistic character who used to be constantly overstimulated but no longer is)

Optional features:

-abled person says “the only disability in life is a bad attitude” and gets told where to stuff it

-creatively weaponized mobility aids/assistive devices

-character who abled people think isn’t worth helping because of their disability, but actually has at least one skill essential to the survival of the group

-every time an abled person says something ignorant, all present disabled people look into the camera like they’re on the office 

Art Block

I got an art block and I thought to do something about it. We’re friends now! \o/

Guide: Naming a Town or City

There are many things to keep in mind when naming the town or city in your novel:

1) Genre/Theme/Tone

It’s very important to consider the genre and theme of your story when choosing a town name. Take these names for example, each of which indicates the genre or theme of the story: King’s Landing (sounds fantastical) Cloud City (sounds futuristic) Silent Hill (sounds scary) Sweet Valley (sounds happy and upbeat) Bikini Bottom (sounds funny) Radiator Springs (sounds car-related) Halloween Town (sounds Halloween-related) Storybrooke (sounds fairytale-related) 2) Time/Place It’s also important to consider the time and place where your story takes place. For example, you wouldn’t use “Vista Gulch” as a name for a town in Victorian England. You probably wouldn’t use it for a town in modern day North Carolina, either. Vista is a Spanish word and would normally be found in places where Spanish names are common, like Spain, Central and South America, the southwest United States (including southern California), Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and Florida. 3) Size/Settlement Type An isolated town of 300 people probably won’t be Valley City, but a sprawling metropolis of 30 million could be called Windyville, because it could have started out as a small town and grew into a large city. 4) Geography Words like gulch, butte,and bayou tend to be regional terms. You probably wouldn’t find Berle’s Bayou in Idaho, or Windy Butte in Rhode Island. Words like mount, cape, and valley are dependent upon terrain. Most of the time, you won’t have a town named “mount” something unless there are hills or mountains nearby. You wouldn’t use “cape” unless the town was on a cape, which requires a large body of water. 5) History Is there a historical person or event that your town might be named after? The Simpsons’ hometown of Springfield is ironically named after its founder, Jebediah Springfield. Chattanooga, Tennessee is named after the Cherokee town that was there first. Nargothrond, in The Lord of the Rings, is an Elvish town with an Elvish name. 6) Combination of Words

person name + geographical term = Smithfield, Smith Creek

group name + geographical term = Pioneer Valley, Settlers’ Ridge

descriptive word + geographical term = Mystic Falls, Smoky Hill

person name + settlement type = Smithton, Claraville

landmark + settlement type = Bridgton, Beaconville

Word Lists: Types of Settlements

Geographical Features

Place Words

Common Suffixes

Other Descriptors

Try a combination of two words from any of these lists. :)

Increase your writing speed

I got an ask ages ago by @theemmanation, asking if I have any advice for under-writers. As a former under-writer, I do.

It used to take me two or three hours of steady writing to get to a thousand words. Needless to say, my novel was progressing slowwwly. I had accepted the fact that I would never write 1,000 words per hour, I just wasn’t that kind of a writer. Or so I thought.

These are the things I did to increase my wordcount and my writing speed:

1. I stopped writing by hand

I love, love the idea of a stack of notebooks for my first draft, to show how much work I put into it. For my first NaNoWriMo, I decided to temporatily switch to typing and BOY, did that work. Without changing anything else, my writing speed doubled.

Because I couldn’t let go of the idea of the stack of notebooks for my first draft, I printed them. If you want to see how that turned out, here is my finished first draft, a stack of 14 notebooks. I considered creating a font of my own hand-writing for the print, but in the end I didn’t. (If you want to, google how. It’s free.)

2. I participated in NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo is a yearly event in which writers try to write 50,000 words in 30 days, or an average of 1,666 words per day. I had never had such an ambitious goal, and surfing along the momentum of other writers made me push myself beyond what I thought was possible. It genuinely changed me as a writer. Because I was pushing myself to write these 1,666 words per day, I wrote faster and for longer per writing session. And against all (my) expectations, I won! I wrote more in that month than I had written in the previous 2 years.

Even if you start NaNoWriMo and don’t succeed, you may find that you can do more than you think.

3. I do word sprints

Meet up with someone (online or live), set a relatively short time, and get out as much words as you can on your wip. If the competetive factor doesn’t work for you or if you’ve got no-one to partner up with, do the Pomodoro technique: set your timer for 25 minutes, write your ass off, and take a 5 minute break. Repeat if needed.

In word sprints, I often reach a speed of 1,200 words per hour. And good words, too, not just word vomit.

4. A good plan is half the work

The idea is to get your problem-solving done before you write, so that you don’t lose any writing time and still get the same (or, I would argue, a higher) quality of writing. So I usually know what I’m gonna write before I start. Not in great detail, but I have a one- to three-sentence description of my scene before I start it, and before writing the real stuff, I make sure I already have the scene in my head, using the method of “How I never have to face an empty page when I write”. If it doesn’t suit you, then don’t, but this is what does the trick for me. Also, see my post on how to outline your novel, but I’m sure most of you have seen it.

5. I carve out my writing time

Write when you’re the most creative, the most mentally active. Don’t go against your own energy pattern. Most people write when the moment is convenient, like in the evenings after dinner when the kids are in bed or when homework is done. But if you’re like me, dinner makes you drowsy and you don’t have a lot of mental stamina left. Afternoons are my jam. Base your writing time on your bioclock and then make writing a priority.

When I say make writing a priority, I don’t mean that afternoon writers need to work less to be able to write more. I mean: prioritize writing during lunchtime over talking to your colleagues. If you’re an evening writer, prioritize writing over watching that new series your partner is bingeing. If you’re a morning writer, prioritize writing over waking up slowly while watching the news.

***

I hope this was helpful. Don’t hesitate to ask me any questions, and happy writing!

Follow me for more writing advice, or check out my other writing tips here. New topics to write advice about are also always welcome.

Tag list below the cut. If you like to be added to or removed from the list, let me know.

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Ten questions to ask a friend who just read your novel

Here are ten questions to ask that will not put your friend in a tough spot, but will still give you some useful input on your novel:

1. At what point did you feel like “Ah, now the story has really begun!”  2. What were the points where you found yourself skimming?  3. Which setting in the book was clearest to you as you were reading it? Which do you remember the best?  4. Which character would you most like to meet and get to know?  5. What was the most suspenseful moment in the book?  6. If you had to pick one character to get rid of, who would you axe?  7. Was there a situation in the novel that reminded you of something in your own life?  8. Where did you stop reading, the first time you cracked open the manuscript? (Can show you where your first dull part is, and help you fix your pacing.)  9. What was the last book you read, before this? And what did you think of it? (This can put their comments in context in surprising ways, when you find out what their general interests are. It might surprise you.)  10. Finish this sentence: “I kept reading because…”

Your friend is probably still going to tell you, “It was good!” However, if you can ask any specific questions, and read between the lines, you can still get some helpful information out of even the most well-meaning reader.

Source: Examiner

The Ultimate Survival Guide