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Post by Kristykimmy on Jul 7, 2013 11:02:58 GMT -5
Guuuuuuuuys, what is wrong with me? Why does inspiration and ability to focus only start around 10 p.m. and then by midnight I'm so sleepy that I'm falling asleep on my keyboard, and my mind is so tired that the fact that I remember to wear clothes that day seemed like a big accomplishment?
(I'm not joking, as I was trying to fall asleep last night, figuring out what shirt I wore that day suddenly seemed important, but I couldn't remember, and then this thought popped into my head 'I know I wore clothes today!' and I was very proud of myself for that, and then had a WTH moment where I was like, 'Of course, I wore clothes. Why wouldn't I be wearing clothes?' I eventually remembered what I had been wearing, and I still don't know why that was important.)
But, back to my rant. It is almost afternoon, I've been sitting here for like an hour and a half, I've written about a hundred words. But my ADD is kicking in, and I'm all like, 'Ooh, has that spot always been on the wall? I should clean something. 'Dancing through liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiife!' I actually lost focus on this like six times already, mostly to stare at the wall and think about pointless things.
*headdesks multiple times*
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Post by Chao on Jul 8, 2013 7:26:06 GMT -5
I'm also wondering why in the world I'm doing this now instead of after I finish college. Sure I'm not in classes right now, but if I keep this up, things could get crazy in a couple of months. The reason to do it now? Because life will always be hectic. When it's not college, it's work, your own household, family, dogs, etc. It's a bit like with writing itself. So many people say they want to write but don't find the time. You just have to make time for it. Likewise you just have to make time to pursue publishing. Kristykimmy, welcome to my life! Somehow I'm the most productive on workdays from 10pm to midnight, only that I have to get up at 6:30am next morning and I need my seven hours of sleep. And Sundays are propably the worst writing days of the whole week. There is ironing and general household tasks to be done for the week, weekly communications to be attended to, the road trip... needless to say that after the fantastic 4k+ Saturday I wrote exactly 0 words yesterday. (It also did not help that when I got to my secondary abode and restarted my laptop there the keyboard had ceased functioning, which would require me to reboot the laptop, which honestly I was too tired by then to do.) Luckily with this project at least I have not yet reached the point where I find cleaning so much more fascinating than writing. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2013 11:15:59 GMT -5
The reason to do it now? Because life will always be hectic. When it's not college, it's work, your own household, family, dogs, etc. It's a bit like with writing itself. So many people say they want to write but don't find the time. You just have to make time for it. Likewise you just have to make time to pursue publishing. Hah, true. Well, I'm going to try for the Writers of the Future contest with one of the short stories I've written--now I just need to figure out which one has the best chance of the judges liking it. A friend of mine said I could come over and peruse her mom's anthologies of past contest winners so I'll know what the judges are looking for, so that's my assignment for today. I think I need to give myself a break from actual writing until I want to do it again. Whether this becomes a career or no, I need to write because I want to, not because I feel pressured to be prolific or quickly follow up on a success. Which probably means it won't become a career, but whatever. I'm not going to take something soul-satisfying for myself and destroy it with my need for unreasonable overachievement. Guuuuuuuuys, what is wrong with me? Why does inspiration and ability to focus only start around 10 p.m. and then by midnight I'm so sleepy that I'm falling asleep on my keyboard, and my mind is so tired that the fact that I remember to wear clothes that day seemed like a big accomplishment? Because everyone has different times that they're most productive writing-wise--and it sometimes (or possibly even often) doesn't coincide with the times that they're most productive in other areas. I've known of writers who get up at like 4 or 5 in the morning and write until they have to go to their day jobs. I wake up pretty early in the mornings and spend most of the morning and afternoon on art stuff (when I'm not in school, anyway), but I do most of my best writing late at night when I should be in bed but my mind won't turn off. It's then that I've written what I consider my best stuff, in sudden late-night bursts of inspiration that often result in a project finished or an entire short story written. Sleep is still important, though. |
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Post by Sheik on Jul 10, 2013 3:15:57 GMT -5
10 days ago: I'm going to write at least 25,000 words this month! You can do it, self! Insert battle-cry here!!
Now: Ukdlsjflskj 2,000 words is enough. I'm going to play some video games now.
Oh man, guys, this is really sad. xD I can't tell if I ran out of motivation, or things to write. *hangs head in shame*
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Post by Kristykimmy on Jul 10, 2013 13:09:16 GMT -5
Last night I hit 20k, which puts me back at my word count from my previous draft, only this time it isn't just bits and pieces. I'm actually not really much further into the beginning of story than I was last draft (Which was most of the beginning, with gaps where I was like 'Eeeeh, I'll figure out what they were doing at this time later. Let's move on.' and a significant portion of the ending, with little bits in between sprinkled through.) and I cut a lot stupid out of the scenes I had, and removed several scenes. There are only two major changes, one only being a few hundred words and seems unimportant, but lays foundation for later, something I failed to do in the previous draft. I've also delivered important backstory and stuff much more naturally this time around.
I know 20k in ten days is good, but I'm horribly ashamed of myself since for last NaNo I was at 45k by the tenth. But, really, I have a feeling that Kill Mission really was something a bit special in terms on inspiration, and I shouldn't count on that ever happening again.
*pokes Katie mercilessly* No giving up! Come on, surely you must have more you could write.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 10, 2013 13:25:18 GMT -5
Welp, I did some actual writing yesterday! Got about 270 words into another NT short story which should be pretty fun to write. I'm also very proud of the horribly awful pun that is the title.
Brightvale, I pick on you because I like you.
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Post by Kristykimmy on Jul 10, 2013 14:43:15 GMT -5
Welp, I did some actual writing yesterday! Got about 270 words into another NT short story which should be pretty fun to write. I'm also very proud of the horribly awful pun that is the title. Brightvale, I pick on you because I like you. That's funny. I pick on Brightvale too, but for the opposite reason. XD But, that raises a fun question. What is your favorite title that you've come up with. For anything, NT, other fanfiction, novels. Currently, my favorite is still 'Hannah, Brynn, and Nabile and the We Hate Hanso Club'. I probably like simply because it was taken from a bit of Hannah's dialogue in the series, and I love writing Hannah because she's just so egotistical and fun. I also love bashing Hanso. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 10, 2013 15:08:55 GMT -5
That's funny. I pick on Brightvale too, but for the opposite reason. XD But, that raises a fun question. What is your favorite title that you've come up with. For anything, NT, other fanfiction, novels. Currently, my favorite is still 'Hannah, Brynn, and Nabile and the We Hate Hanso Club'. I probably like simply because it was taken from a bit of Hannah's dialogue in the series, and I love writing Hannah because she's just so egotistical and fun. I also love bashing Hanso. Haha, that title sounds splendid. xD And favorite title, huh? That's a good question... I have to admit, the aforementioned title of my new NT short story is definitely pretty high on the list--it makes me chuckle every time I look at it and will hopefully make literary-minded folks groan. And throw things at me. But I'm keeping it a surprise.  Let's see, what else... Fanfiction-wise, "What Doesn't Kill You" is still one of my favorite titles for the irony factor, because it's about a character who for all intents and purposes is a zombie, and the episode in his life detailed in the fic is about an incident that indeed didn't kill him. As far as original fiction goes, The Voyage of the Kaus Media is definitely one of my favorites just because I like the sense of grand adventure it invokes. Now I just need to finish writing the thing. And my favorite tentative title is Time's Errant which was one of the titles I suggested for the multi-book novel project my friend and I are working on. I would still really like for it to be at least the title of one of the books, because I just love how perfectly it sums up the state of existence of the heroine. |
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Post by Ashten on Jul 10, 2013 16:28:00 GMT -5
Dear Sarah,
Congratulations! Your entry (No Pain, No Gain) has been selected to appear in a future issue of the Neopian Times. A shiny trophy has been added to your user lookup. Thank you for contributing to the Neopian Times!
Yours Sincerely,
The Neopets Team
HAHAHAHAHA WHAT
Are you serious
Like seriously serious
Ermahgerd
This is how tacky/ghetto/whatever I can be. I thought my first NT story was tacky 'cause I wrote it on my phone, yeah? WELL GUESS WHAT. I WROTE THIS ONE WHILE I WAS SICK AND OUT OF TOUCH WITH REALITY. IN ONE DAY. ALSO WITH MY PHONE. BAM.
...Please nobody make fun of me if it really is super really bad 'cause I literally did write it in one day while feeling all woozy. If anyone actually reads it.
Well, two down, eight to go. The NT is seriously, seriously easier than I thought.
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Post by Kristykimmy on Jul 10, 2013 19:19:39 GMT -5
Dear Sarah, Congratulations! Your entry (No Pain, No Gain) has been selected to appear in a future issue of the Neopian Times. A shiny trophy has been added to your user lookup. Thank you for contributing to the Neopian Times! Yours Sincerely, The Neopets Team HAHAHAHAHA WHAT Are you serious Like seriously serious Ermahgerd This is how tacky/ghetto/whatever I can be. I thought my first NT story was tacky 'cause I wrote it on my phone, yeah? WELL GUESS WHAT. I WROTE THIS ONE WHILE I WAS SICK AND OUT OF TOUCH WITH REALITY. IN ONE DAY. ALSO WITH MY PHONE. BAM. ...Please nobody make fun of me if it really is super really bad 'cause I literally did write it in one day while feeling all woozy. If anyone actually reads it. Well, two down, eight to go. The NT is seriously, seriously easier than I thought. Considering the things I produce after eating candy, I have no right to judge anyone. Sugar does really weird things to me. I lose impulse control, everything said to me causes me to cackle like Joker, I tend to lose some motor control (meaning I tend to drop things a lot, which sets me off worse) and I cannot focus on any one thing for two seconds, except for pouring derpy things into a word document. My family is honestly scared of me after I've eaten about a handful of jellybeans, so yeah. And, congrats! |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 10, 2013 19:34:25 GMT -5
I'm at ~18,600 words so far with "Grain by Grain"! For those I haven't blabbered to yet, this is kind of the most ambitious thing I've written to date, if only because it has a proper theme and plot as opposed to short-form, slice-of-life stuff. It's part fantasy, part coming-of-age, and part tearing apart the themes we all know and love. Sort of. Anyway, the breakdown:
Part 1: A Burst in the Sky (3,870 wds--kind of a prologue but not)
Part 2: Point of Departure (5,633 wds--this is where PLOT kicks in)
Part 3: Strides (5,582 wds)
Part 4: Interlude: The Fallen City (2,393 wds--still a work in progress, but not supposed to be as long as other parts)
Part 5: A Child's Ballads (1,150 wds, but I'm only about 20% or even 15% of the way done--will probably end up as the longest part so far because of even more PLOT kicking in)
Anyway, the point here is that I'm not sure if I'm making these parts too long. I ran a few NT series' parts through a word processor and found that many of them ranged from 1,500 to 3,000 words. The maximum word count per part is insanely huge, of course, and I'm nowhere near that number--but I'm still concerned. I can't afford to split it into more parts and I can't afford to cut anything out, since everything I've written so far is integral to the plot. Judging by the pacing so far, I should end up with a NaNoWriMo-length story. Good for practice and learning to put out more, but I'unno how Droplet (and the readers) would feel about it.
Thoughts?
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Post by Kristykimmy on Jul 10, 2013 19:56:28 GMT -5
@natthewriter I just got a 23k long series held over, with one part running to almost 6k. I know that Oliver's story that is running currently is well over that, with some pretty long parts. I don't think that so long as the story is interesting and all Neo-appropriate, you will have any trouble with getting it accepted.
I know people worry about length, but really, I think that is one of the least problematic things (except being too short.) to consider when submitting.
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Post by Ashten on Jul 17, 2013 23:34:57 GMT -5
So um. I actually wanna try NaNoWriMo. 'Cause I've been making a story kinda and I honestly think it's a pretty good idea and others in a certain community group would be interested in it.
But my ADHD is so bad that I literally cannot do it in one month.
However, if I try really hard and truly do dedicate myself, I might be able to do it in like five months still going now. Is that allowed? Like would I not win whatever you even win for NaNoWriMo 'cause I have no idea how this even works.
I'm on chapter 3 and I'm at a count of 2281 words. HOW DO YOU PEOPLE DO IT? I JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND. TEACH ME YOUR WAYS, OH GREAT NTWF.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2013 0:16:02 GMT -5
So um. I actually wanna try NaNoWriMo. 'Cause I've been making a story kinda and I honestly think it's a pretty good idea and others in a certain community group would be interested in it. But my ADHD is so bad that I literally cannot do it in one month. However, if I try really hard and truly do dedicate myself, I might be able to do it in like five months still going now. Is that allowed? Like would I not win whatever you even win for NaNoWriMo 'cause I have no idea how this even works. I'm on chapter 3 and I'm at a count of 2281 words. HOW DO YOU PEOPLE DO IT? I JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND. TEACH ME YOUR WAYS, OH GREAT NTWF. I think you should try setting deadlines for yourself; it could help you focus better if you had a goal in sight and a quota to meet. Even if you can't do NaNoWriMo, find a time period that works for you (like five months) and tell yourself you're going to write so many words in that time. It helps a lot to have daily word counts to work toward, so you're not rushing to finish something at the last minute and have a good stopping point you can tell yourself to get to every day. But yes, the NaNoWriMo challenge is for 50k words in one month, so if you can't do that, you can't technically participate. Don't let that stop you from doing your own challenges that fit your work style better, though. I'm actually writing right now! I have half of a novel that I started writing in 2008 and seriously need to finish, so right now I'm going over what I have written so far (about 23k words) and fixing the major POV problems most of the text has. I stopped writing at the beginning of a fight scene, which are not my favorite things to write, so here's hoping I can get over that hurdle and finish this thing up. Also I got my first agent rejection email yesterday, haha. I feel like that's an author's rite of passage. |
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Post by Chao on Jul 18, 2013 2:18:54 GMT -5
So um. I actually wanna try NaNoWriMo. 'Cause I've been making a story kinda and I honestly think it's a pretty good idea and others in a certain community group would be interested in it. But my ADHD is so bad that I literally cannot do it in one month. However, if I try really hard and truly do dedicate myself, I might be able to do it in like five months still going now. Is that allowed? Like would I not win whatever you even win for NaNoWriMo 'cause I have no idea how this even works. I'm on chapter 3 and I'm at a count of 2281 words. HOW DO YOU PEOPLE DO IT? I JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND. TEACH ME YOUR WAYS, OH GREAT NTWF. Contradicting @surfersquid, you can participate in NaNo even if you don't manage the 50k in one month. You don't have to be able to win to participate. You'd just not win, that's all. And every year there are thousands of NaNo-participants who sign up but don't reach the goal because real life interferes or whatnot. But even in this case they won something. They wrote more words than they'd have without NaNo. But since you are not yet 18 (if indeed you put the correct birthday in your profile here) you could also still sign up with NaNoWriMo's Young Writers Program. There, much like with CampNaNo you set your own wordcount goal. There are recommendations for each age group, but these are mere recommendations and any teacher who has done NaNo with his or her class will tell you that in every class you have people who will at age 15 manage 50k easily and others for whom at age 17 (for various reasons, ADHD being among them) it's already a huge goal to write 500 words per day (which is 15k in one month). So basically, consider NaNo just as an encouragement to write more. It comes with a nifty wordcount progress chart, which tells you where you are in comparison to your wordcount goal. Though I strongly recommend that you not put too much weight into the 'words to write per day to finish in time'. This number can easily be discouraging when you are behind and is also a bit misleading since a single good writing Saturday for example can put you back on track. As for continuing a project... the hardcore WriMo will tell you that it's not allowed, but usually people look at the guidelines a little bit more relaxed. So if you are allowed to write a second book of a series, which would be a continuation of the first book, why not write a second volume of the first book? What many people basically do is, if they are working on a continued project, to have a separate document for the stuff they write during NaNo, so as not to end up with a wrong word-count. But I agree with @surfersquid regarding setting deadlines. When I started writing regularly over ten years ago, I had a monthly deadline to produce one shortstory of no more than 2000 words. And while I would write the occassional story outside the monthly frame, it was the regularity which kept me writing and which helped me build up writing stamina. From the shortstory it evolved to writing stories of different lengths for an advent calendar, quarterly oneshots of no more than 10k and eventually full-blown NaNos. Deadlines and regularity really help me with writing. By now I usually get surprised how much I manage by simply writing 100 words here, 300 words there and at the end of the day during a CampNaNo-season I marvel at the fact that though it seemed unreachable when I first opened the document that day I had managed to write a full day's quota and more. |
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