Day 1

Day 1

Welcome! Welcome!

This is the first day of the storybible project so let me give you a short explanation how I think this could go.

For 14 days I’ll make a post on this blog with a little homework. These will be short assignments, I don’t think you’ll need to spend more than 10 minutes on it. It’s up to you how you’ll use these assignments and how public you want to make them. Use the tag #WIPstorybible and mention this blog if you want more people to read them. 

I don’t plan to reblog all your posts but I’ll try to read them all. If I reply to one it will be with my main @barbex​, just so you know. 

I want you to think about a new or an underdeveloped WIP as you write down your notes. In the end, you’ll have the beginnings of a storybible that you can expand and refer to as you work on your story. 

Sounds good? Then let’s get started. 

Today’s assignment is about worldbuilding. 

Weather. 

What kind of weather is normal in your world? Does your world have seasons?

Make up a weather event in the past that people in your world still talk about. 

@the-wip-project Day 39

What kind of traits make a character interesting?

I've read a bunch of answers to this question, and like @sayonaramidnight, multi-layered, complex, conflicted characters are the most appealing to me. Especially if this complexity is non-apparent from the start. It automatically pulls me to the edge of my seat, expectant of the moment when they'll jump that plot-cliff. I'll be ready jump with them!

One collateral answer could be this, I live for the moments when this character is making THE DECISION™. The one that's going to flick the first domino of the series and trigger the course of actions they didn't know they needed. It might come with some collateral damage, some violent life-changing upheavals, heart-breaks, the end of important relationships even.

Such decisions require a determination that doesn't come easily for some types of characters. It can take a few chapters to bud and grow; it also can the spur of a instant. In any case, it's a beautiful thing to witness, as a reader and as a writer (*sniffles* proud) But the courage that comes thereafter to face the consequences is what makes a character a hero to me!

@the-wip-project Day 57

How do you always nail your questions with how my moods and thoughts behave? It's honestly incredible.

I've been having a hard time writing recently, sitting down to try, only to stare at a blinking cursor on my screen. The bitter irony is that I know what I want to write - the scenes are all set in my mind, the dialogues, the atmosphere and all. But the motivation (I could go as far as talking about the belief) in what I write is running into smoke. I second-guess every single idea, tone, setting, intention, deeming the whole thing as pointless. And although it defies rationality (and is just a symptom of a tired state of mind at the moment, I'm aware) it's clear the enthusiasm has flagged. It doesn't happen often fortunately, but when it does, it's pretty nasty.

I'm sorry I've not answered your posts either, even though I read all of them and thought them through in my own time. Everything's so super interesting, even though I sometimes ended up feeling a bit overwhelmed with the amount of information and directions to try out. Life gets in the way indeed. Besides, I know I'm a hardcore pantser and very rarely use tangible tools, and I think I'm starting to understand why, why it fits my writing personality (if there's such a thing): and in a couple of words, I feel free.

I'm not saying planning out and plotting are restrictive processes. I do some planning of course: my plots are all set up and I have regular writing sessions - see post here) but I've realized while reading the previous questions that the creative details of my writing do not really obey a sort of organisation, of structure, of meta-thinking etc. If/when they do, it's because they've decided it by themselves haha.

I thoroughly enjoy the moment when I put my life and job on pause (two things already centered around hard planification) and turn onto myself to dig out the remnants of my last daydreaming session, to recapture the ideas that had popped up in the middle of a meeting, the dialogue bit I heard in the school corridors. These instances escape every kind of control (I can lose them anytime) and I love that idea of freedom! It's like catching glimpses of wild animals in their natural habitat; if they want to reveal themselves to me so that I can take a picture of them, they will. If not, I leave them alone to their free will, and come back later.

I don't think it'll push me as far as dropping the wips off. I love my stories too much and my dear writing friend @stankris is here. Moreover, even though losing the motivation and the sense of writing while they usually provide serotonin, is sad, I know it is part of the process. Maybe accepting it can make it easier, rather than pressuring myself even more. I suppose that, as long as I feel entitled to my stories (which is the case), I'll be fine.

But these were my 20 minutes writing something, so thank you 🙏 Take care <3

#100daysofwriting, day fifty-seven, 2021-07-27

Hello writers!

I was listening to Rachael Herron’s podcast yesterday, the one where I stole yesterday’s question from, and in episode 245, in the intro, she talked about how enthusiasm for our writing always flags after a time. Life gets in the way, distractions come up, and writing falls by the wayside. She talked about how we always have to re-prioritize our writing because if we don’t, it will drop off.

It sounds weird that we lose our enthusiasm, doesn’t it? This is something we want to do, this is our special thing, shouldn’t we always be excited to write? Shouldn’t we easily find the time every day to write? That’s not how it works. As Rachael said in that intro, nobody ever just finds the time to write. It doesn’t happen. You have to prioritize your writing again and again. You have to make that choice.

So today, we’re prioritizing our writing. Take 20 minutes and write. No matter what, no matter how, you take those 20 minutes and write.

Today’s homework:

Block 20 minutes to write and then tell us what you wrote about.

The daily questions are just an offer to give you an idea what to write about, you don’t have to use them. You can talk about whatever you want and show off whatever you like. You can reblog from this post but I think it’s better if you make your own post. Tag with #100daysofwriting, mention this blog, keep mature themes under a cut. Please let me know if you don’t want to be mentioned anymore. I like and reply to your posts as barbex.

Mentions under the cut.

Afficher davantage

what she says: I’m a plantser :)

what she means: I like to know the bare bones and the major plot points before I start writing, but figure out the details as I go along

what she really means: I can’t write unless I know what’s going to happen, but I can’t figure out what’s going to happen unless I write but I can’t write unless 

@the-wip-project Day 42

What’s an an old idea that you’ve discarded?

The honest truth is that there are actually 5 wips in my greenhouse.

Two of them have made their way out of it straight to the main house, in full daylight, to be pampered, watered, nurtured into growth. One of these is already the size of a monstera, the other is giving me nice and healthy stems :)

There are three left. One is a single stem, green and proud but barely an inch tall. I started writing it, erased, rewrote, erased, rewrote. But the whole plot is planned out in my mind; the moodboard has been ready for ages (one of the first thing I did when the idea budded) and I know I'm attached to it. I just can't write it, for some obscure reason, but I can't discard it either. There's another that hasn't made it to my computer yet, but has remained there, in its earthy, seemingly barren pot. I water it once in a while, the roots look healthy still. I don't know what to do with this one.

Finally, there's this dry heap of dust, with a withered, blackened stem jutting akimbo in the middle. I haven't tended that one in years and I'm ashamed to say, I'm letting it die. I initially wanted to adapt an old classic play, "Les Fâcheux" ("The Bores" in English, I think) So classic and old that hardly anybody knows it in my country, despite having been written by Molière. I came across it while tidying up my bedroom at my mom's and read it. The language is dated, but the idea is funny. Set in a modern setting, I used to think it could be a fun read. It narrates the day of the protagonist, determined to propose the love of his life despite her tutor's objection. He's on his way to fulfill his goal at all costs, but is constantly hindered by a series of drags, bothering him with various topics.

Even now as I write it, I seriously doubt the actual fun in that plot, just as I doubt my skill in making it funny :\

@the-wip-project Day 50 & 51

What fic/story made you? And do you use tools for plotting and what are they?

I hope I understand the question well, in the sense of what story made me jump the cliff into writing fics at all. Over the years, I regularly see posts encouraging people to give their creativity a chance whenever their mind provides them with an original twist to an existing show/cast/story and not to be afraid of letting go and jump in the fanfic bandwagon; the mere emergence of this original idea gives it - and gives them - full legitimacy.

These claims are so true that three years past since I wrote my first fic, I could still cry. I never thought I'd be able to write that first baby if I had not followed these friendly reminders. Yet, I went through all the stages of denial before getting down to it.

The idea had come from a classic opera, Verdi's La Traviata, I had just attended during a trip to Paris. Not my idea, but a gift my dad had given me, in the hope I'd find it pleasant enough to allow an interest in opera ("You love plays, you love music, I'm sure you'll love opera" was his full argument. Who was I to refuse him the wish to bond with me over such a dear topic to him (✿◡‿◡), especially through a present :D) The story is classical, so was the staging but who cares, I loved it and thought it was still very current. Chuck the period costumes, update the soundtracks, but keep the magical place (Paris <3), the romance, the plot twists, and the morals.

My first impulse had been to message one of my fave fic authors to tempt them into writing it. I was aware it could get rejected of course, but I sent the message anyway, too excited at the idea that it might also be interesting enough to be given a shot. So excited that I started daydreaming about it non-stop (bless my partner for bearing with my frequent zoning-out >>>> that's my answer to the second question by the way (. ❛ ᴗ ❛.) Pantsers, unite!). I had mapped all the places across the French capital for this scene and that scene, using the cafés, restaurants, walks I had experienced myself over our stay. Then came some dialogues, which characters would do or say what and how. So much so that as I boarded the train to head back home, I started regretting messaging that author....

... who was not replying anyway! I waited for a whole week. No news. Fine. I'm gonna do it myself then. I wrote the first chapter in a day. The next day, I swam my way through the "post work" tabs on ao3. ╰(*°▽°*)╯