Experience Tumblr Like Never Before
I recently picked up Chris Baty's book, No Plot? No Problem! and have decided to make March the month in which I try to write a 50k novel! Anyone here interested in joining?
I have a few irl friends who are participating (some with modified challenges) but I wanted to offer it up on here as well. If you're interested, interact with this post in any way or send me an ask/DM! More info below the cut :)
(and a very important vote for those who'd like to participate)
So the whole premise of the challenge is that, in giving yourself a one-month deadline to crank out a full, 50k novel, your attention ends up being placed on quantity over quality, which helps drown out the internal critic that makes you hesitate when you write (or edit something twelve million times before moving on, or never start writing in the first place)
I highly recommend renting the book from your local library for more details on the thought process behind the challenge and other helpful tips (and if you have a library card but transportation difficulty, a friend of mine recently showed me the Libby app, which could be of help!)
I'm aiming for the full 50 thousand words, but my artist friend is adapting the challenge to dedicate a certain amount of hours towards making a comic, and my mom lowered the wc for herself because she's always wanted to write a short story (and doesn't have a ton of interest in writing a novel lol). So if 50k sounds too overwhelming for you or novels aren't exactly your thing, but something else is, feel free to go with whatever floats your boat!
I'm not sure how many people this will reach/ how many would want to play along, but community is a great way to keep each other motivated while also holding each other accountable, so what do you think would be the best method for coordinating that?
Option 1- through tumblr! i could organize writing sprints, word count/progress sharing posts, and some motivational things all under the same tag for easy find-ability (all with a tag-list so everyone is notified when these posts come out and so everyone on the list can interact with each other) Option 2- through discord! theoretically, i can figure out how to make one of these so that there can be a lot more freedom of chatting/sharing etc and writing sprints can be organized on there as well, with extra, optional channels for people to talk about the specifics of their projects or anything else you might want (but absolutely no pressure on the details-sharing front if that'll bring your inner critic back to life) Option 3- tumblr communities! i am not 100% sure how this function works, but if it's smth you guys are into or think would be good, i can absolutely make one Option 4- nuance/something else! if you have a suggestion for a better way to do this, i am all ears
poll duration is only a week, so if there's a lot of interest i will re-cast the poll again in the beginning of february
(and if you like one of the options but have suggestions for things you'd like to see or ways to best organize it, just lmk!)
insane to think there was a time in my life where my characters didn’t reside in my head 24/7
kind of alarming how all the thriller/horror story ideas i’ve gotten have come from dreams/nightmares i’ve had😁 it pays to have a twisted, fucked up mind.
i’ve never written a thriller/horror story so i’m very excited to further explore the genre one day. i totally haven’t already written a few test pieces/scenes.
god, if you all could take a peek into my writing ideas folder😭 pure chaos. idk how to simply focus on one thing at a time. i’m like an overzealous dog with the writing zoomies.
not to be deep, but i can’t help but feel like i’ve somehow found my way back home when it comes to writing. i loved it when i was a kid, and i’ve fallen in love with it all over again as a young adult.
there are *so* many things that have happened in my life that make me look back and wonder if those things were meant to lead me right back here. to writing.
like for example, when i was a freshman in high school, this guy told me i looked like my name would be: Sabrina. he would literally call me by that name even though it wasn’t my name😭
fast forward years later to me naming my book characters, specifically my main character who is somewhat based on me, so i’m essentially naming myself in a weird way.
i was thinking and thinking and thinking, and then i remembered that guy from high school who’d call me Sabrina. and voila, i had her name. and it fits her so well too!
idk maybe i’m crazy haha but it really is things like that that make me wonder if maybe i am where i’m meant to be after all, no matter how much i feel otherwise sometimes.
shoutout to brandon from high school for my mc name!!!
*knocks on wood* is it weird that i’ve never seriously suffered from writer’s block….
i just feel like i’m constantly seeing other writers talk about how much of a struggle it is for them to even write a sentence, and i’ve just… never had that problem? like i have TOO much to write about to never not know what to write, if that makes sense.
i blame all the premature life experiences i’ve had. maybe that’s what it is since i tend to draw inspiration from personal experiences. all my trauma is finally coming in handy for something omg😭
this is why writing is literally the most *perfect* thing for me. you’re telling me i get to have fun creating characters, romance, and storylines, *and* i get to pour my own personal experiences into my characters and stories in the most therapeutic way???? sign me up for life please!!!!
i’ve been rotting in bed with a fever for four days now which means it’s been four days since i’ve felt the cold, smooth touch of my keyboard and mouse💔
on one end, i’ve been meaning to let what i last wrote marinate for a bit, but on the other miserable end, i miss entering the makeshift portal i’ve created into my characters’ world (‘:
i have had plenty of time to conjure up a million potential storyline ideas that might not ever even come to fruition anyway, so there’s that!
me 🤝 my notes app
thinking about the time when i re-read the first draft of the first piece of work i’d ever written for my characters (there are eight total main characters) and i completely forgot to include one of them in the first half of the story.
and just like that, his archetype was discovered.
he’s the person who’s often overlooked, leading him to feel a bit lonely and unimportant at times. the “forgotten friend” if you will.
and it’s so true because i really did forget he existed when i first created my characters omg😭 i swear i love him it was just an accident
anyone else have to remind themselves from time to time that they’re in charge of their characters and the plot line? meaning you can quite literally make them do *whatever* you want?
idk why i tend to forget that sometimes. i’ll often find myself pondering certain ideas i get and think to myself “hm, no. i couldn’t possibly do that.”
when i quite literally can???
like i just had the craziest storyline idea for three of my characters and thought to myself “no, i can’t do that. that’s too big of a game changer.”
the thing is, i could do it. and i probably will😭 god this is too much fun. i feel like a mad scientist who’s been given too much power
just stared at my computer screen for 30 mins trying to think of a name for the fictional coffee shop in my characters’ universe