Ranger of the North wrote:I enjoyed your poems, @morioh! c: Are they true, or did you create a character(s)? o,o c:
Only "smell" contained original characters. The others were true and "Sound" and "See" were based on past relationships c:
@Teya &
KawaiiPanda thanks! it's the first time I've done any creative writing in a while c':
Okay, there have been a lot of questions since I was last here so I'm answering all of them to the best of my ability
What do you do with the story if you don't get the character?I cry and roleplay. Otherwise, I don't really write the story at all. And then I get stressed. ANd then I listen to music and the stress goes away.
How long can you ordinarily write for without having to stop for a break?I'm not proud of the answer to this one, but I can only write for about 30 minutes before I need to stop and inspire myself again. If I go past 30 minutes I'll get distracted with other things and I'll never be able to return to the task at hand.
How late have you stayed up to write?Roughly 4am trying to wrap up a chapter for nanowrimo. It wasn't a good choice but I pulled off a really good chapter so it was worth it.
Whats the longest you've stayed up in general?Not sleeping for 3 days?? There were hallucinations. It was very no fun.
How did you discover your love for writing?I listened to a lot of Taylor Swift when I was a kid. Up until I was twelve and discovered minecraft fanfiction, I wanted to be a lyricist like her. Things have changed a lot since then.
Have you ever written about a character created on CS? (if so, were you trying out for them or did you create them here yourself?):Definitely. 80% of my characters were created on CS via roleplaying. Of course, they were all created for the purpose of roleplaying but I eventually moved them all into one timeline which I am currently writing about.
What is the longest time you've been absent from writing?:About a year and a half because there was this time in my life where someone who was very important to me just left the country without a word. He was my inspiration. My motivation to write and even live. When he left, he took my inspiration with him and I didn't get it back for a year and a half. When I did get it back, the first thing I did was write and compose an album of sixteen songs about him. I still haven't gotten all of my feelings out of my system but it's definitely much better now.
What tips do you have for outlines? Like do's and don'ts?:Bullet points. Keep separate documents for different categories for your outline. Don't use paragraphs unless it's absolutely necessary.
Have you ever had to put off posting writing / starting the real story because you didn't have one of the characters for the story yet?:It's happening right now with a novel I'm writing. I'm giving one of the side characters a love interest and that love interest is not in the least developed. However, they're very relevant to the plot so the story is currently being put off until I can decide what the character's personality is like.
Is it okay to write your story out of order?Absolutely. I do it all the time, but if you're going to be writing something out of order, there's going to be a lot of editing to fill out any plot holes.
Do you have problems with giving characters names?haha, no, I actually have more problems giving characters personalities and faces. I have way too many name ideas in my head and not enough of literally anything else. I created an entire species with seventy-two characters just to satisfy my need to make characters named after flowers.
Have you ever made characters by using personality type systems (MBTI, Enneagram, etc)? How did it work out for you?I tend to create my characters, giving them names and faces before roleplaying with them to develop them. Only then do I assign personality types but I only use the D&D morality chart.
What tone have you been using lately in your writing?For some reason, I've really strayed away from my angst. I've been doing a ton of satirical writing, even for characters that are usually gloomy and depressing.
When you start writing a new thing, as a first draft, do you focus on your grammar straight away? Or do you write it out, then go back and edit the grammar?I try not to focus on grammar, but I eventually do, seeing as I'm usually way too lazy to edit after i write the initial draft. It's a bad habit of mine.
Have you started any of your stories because of a scene that popped into your head, a character that popped into your head, or because something happened to you and you thought it would be fun to write down as a bigger adventure?I had six characters developed for roleplaying. Xia, Amelia, Mallius, Vaxas, Bellaluna, and Wisteria. Initially, that was it, but as I roleplayed I developed more and more characters, all revolving around the same world and timeline. I eventually got inspiration and plotted out a book series which I'm calling "Lost Children". I finished writing Children of the Slain (the fourth in the series since i'm jumping around a lot) for the most part and I'm currently writing Children of the Sun which is the third part.
Do you read any online or hard copy comics? Have you ever written a comic and posted it online?I've never posted or written a comic since I can't really do much with visual art, but I loved reading online comics when I was younger. I read "Always Raining Here" which was an LGBT comic, and now I've gotten into reading Marvel comics which I usually borrow from my brother.
For ~Teya~ wrote:Do you have any coding advice that you use to make your story look more "pretty" / "nice to look at" kinda thing?:
Small text is nice. Usually between sizes 82 and 90 works best. It makes things look sophisticated. Indentations using the color=transparent code gives the structure a nice touch and it's always good to colour code your dialogue. Some people have a difficult time telling who's saying what sometimes and the colour coding definitely helps.
When in a writing competition, how do you stay optimistic about your competitors which seem much better than you?:
I think about them as people I can learn from. Obviously, in every competition, there will be people better than you. The best way to remain optimistic is to think about future opportunities in other competitions and to write what you believe is best— Not what will get you in a higher place. I find that the further you strive to be the best, the harder it is to become inspired.
When you have to make a story a certain word count, (my limit is 14k words) how do you balance trying to stretch the story out but it's NOT boring filler and is actually interesting and adds to the story?:
I had this problem with Nanowrimo. I jotted down all of the important plot points and then added subplots under them. I didn't write all these points in order and I ended up writing past the word limit, actually, with certain chapters with 7k words and others with hardly 1.5k. The most important part, in my opinion, is to get down all of your potential ideas on paper first. Then expand. Better to have too much than not enough— cutting the clutter isn't too difficult of a task
Any other advice to help me not get murdered in this competition?:
Believe in yourself. Take breaks when necessary. Don't be on your computer or slaving over a sheet of paper all day. Your will to write will dwindle down into nothing if you don't clear your mind once in a while. Take care of yourself.
have you ever been inspired to write a story by a song? inversely, are there any songs that remind you of your current or most recent project?haha..ha. that's a funny question to me because I cannot write anything without music by my side. Music was my first love. Without meaningful lyrics and a captivating tune, I cannot write a single thing that I grow to be proud of. My current project is a novel called Children of the Sun. It follows the story of a family of 11 and the youngest is the main character, however, every one of the nine siblings has a character arc. This family is special to me because they were developed through roleplay and they were the first non-white family I've created since I used to resent the fact that I was Asian. I actually hated being my race so much that I refused to represent them in my writing. Oppression does things to you. Anyway, my writing for Children of the Sun really took off when I found faceclaims for my characters. It was the faceclaims of the second and fourth eldest sons who really inspired me because uhh... park jimin and min yoongi are made of magic holy crap. Yes... faceclaims got me into k-pop. TO THE POINT. First Love which is sung (rapped) by the fourth son's faceclaim is my inspiration for his death scene.
what do you enjoy in a writing style most? how would you describe your own writing style?Flow. Alliteration. Comparing literal objects with metaphorical things. I incorporate all three of these into my writing and those are the three things that stand out about my style. Flow usually comes with my slam poetry (which is inappropriate for CS, mind you) but I also like to slip run-on sentences into my angsty writing. I like the idea of the narrator becoming breathless trying to describe a situation. It's very intense.
Do you have any habits in your writing that you picked up from other authors after reading their works?I actually picked up on dialogue-based writing and third person from authors of several fanfictions I've read. I used to write in first person a whole ton and roleplaying/reading has definitely helped me with changing that.
Watch out for carrots! c:
