❛ the lazy writers ❜ V2

[FauxFeather]

Omg!!

What do you guys do to convince yourself to write?? I just always end up feeling like it's a burden, besides the sudden lack of inspiration, or synonyms and descriptive words for 'say' or 'said'.

Anyone have any tips for coming up with short story ideas?
Also! Here's a little thing I wrote not long ago. If anyone has a chance to check it out, I have a point of curiosity quoted below in transparent color to avoid spoilers. Appreciate anyone who takes the time!

Tilly took a deep breath, expanding her throat into a green-tinted bubble and closing her nostrils. She raised a pearl-topped silver wand, steadily, in her left hand and swept her right foot out in a practiced motion. Her webbed toes traced an invisible circumference before her, her gold-trimmed magenta robe glinting in a ripple as it caught the edge of a beam of sunlight dappling through the trees.

Every creature within earshot held its breath in concert with Tilly; the clearing surrounding the lily pond stood still and silent, called to attention. Tilly’s left hand began to move softly, punctuated by a slow compression of her throat that produced a first long, croaking note. The pearl atop her wand caught a pocket of sunlight then, and her croak transmuted into a melody, joined by birdsong in a harmony, now as a gust moved the reeds into chorus, and punctuated by the glittering percussions of a cicada.

In the quickening motions of that silver wand, Tilly spun a magic charm—she wove a song.

So, what did you imagine Tilly like? I wanted to see if I could get a reader to picture a frog without writing the word “frog” ^^ Did it work?

OMGGG HECK YES IT WORKED. though at first I thought that Tilly was a strange magical creature because of 'expanding her throat into a green-tinted bubble' but then thought "duh. Amphibian" when I read she has webbed feet.. Low-key unrelated, but... Who else always thinks of spiderwebs when they read 'webbed feet?' Just me?

And my tip for short story ideas is opening your childhood diaries (if you kept any, lord knows I literally only wrote like 50 logs.) And then trying to relive it or reinterpret it if you can't remember, changing things (or not) to weave a story. It's more of a description practice, but TBF 50-75% of writing is description anyways. No diary? Check your old drawings until you can create a story. Sometimes I stare at the doodles on a page and try to come up with a comicbook type story for them. Or think of how they would interact with each other, who's the protagonist, antagonist, or are they all just existing and something otherworldly is watching them? (Aka you lol)

[_SmollJellyfish_]

I haven't written in, I don't know how many months, I always tell myself I want to start again but I never start again. Someone like me who can understand me in not having confidence in their writing?

I started using Notion, with various templates it's a very nice app! Anyone who uses Notion?

[TheSongOfTheStars]

I've never heard of notion, is it for the phone or computer or?

[_SmollJellyfish_]

I've never heard of notion, is it for the phone or computer or?

Both! But I prefer the computer version for convenience, I recommend you take a look! You can create lots of cute and organized things with it!

[daybreak.]

What do you guys do to convince yourself to write?? I just always end up feeling like it's a burden, besides the sudden lack of inspiration, or synonyms and descriptive words for 'say' or 'said'.

I don't know how other people do it, lol. I used to do a lot of reading and writing back in middle & high school, but it's been a while since then, and it's been a while since I had practiced writing beyond writing campaign or character notes for RP games and such...

I wanted to get back into it, so I challenged myself to start writing every day sometime last year. I started a little writing blog on tumblr and shared it with a handful of trusted friends who have been so very kind to follow along and give me feedback from time to time (it keeps me motivated!)

It's honestly been an exercise in resolve as much as writing, though. Some days I'm very tired and I can only get out a couple of incoherent sentences. Somedays I spend like an hour looking at my writing document before I can think of anything I actually want to write. But I mostly convince myself by knowing that it's practice, so I cut myself some slack on quality when I must, and hoping that if I build this habit I'll have something to show for it later on!

Honestly one of my favorite things to do when I have time has been to experiment with ways to write dialogue without using "said" so much. My favorite is color-coding dialogue, but another good "cheat" is to stick dialogue in the same paragraph where you describe something the speaker is doing. I think that tends to get the point across.

OMGGG HECK YES IT WORKED. though at first I thought that Tilly was a strange magical creature because of 'expanding her throat into a green-tinted bubble' but then thought "duh. Amphibian" when I read she has webbed feet.. Low-key unrelated, but... Who else always thinks of spiderwebs when they read 'webbed feet?' Just me?

*does a little dance* thank you so much for checking it out ^^ never think of spiders when i read webbed feet :O but maybe i will now, lol

And my tip for short story ideas is opening your childhood diaries (if you kept any, lord knows I literally only wrote like 50 logs.) And then trying to relive it or reinterpret it if you can't remember, changing things (or not) to weave a story. It's more of a description practice, but TBF 50-75% of writing is description anyways. No diary? Check your old drawings until you can create a story. Sometimes I stare at the doodles on a page and try to come up with a comicbook type story for them. Or think of how they would interact with each other, who's the protagonist, antagonist, or are they all just existing and something otherworldly is watching them? (Aka you lol)

Taking notes! These are all great tips—thank you so much!

~

I haven't written in, I don't know how many months, I always tell myself I want to start again but I never start again. Someone like me who can understand me in not having confidence in their writing?

I absolutely can! I started practicing again, though, because I realized it's much like drawing: it's a skill that gets better with practice c:

I'm actually toying with the idea of starting a prompt or challenge thread for writers here as it seems most of the ones that existed before have become inactive... and I would love to connect with other people on CS who are wanting to practice and hone their writing ^^

[TheSongOfTheStars]

I'll have to check out the notion thing it sounds cool!

Also I would adore a prompt/writing challenge. I did a BUNCH in ye olde days and they were just so much fun

[spiritbox]

I haven't written in, I don't know how many months, I always tell myself I want to start again but I never start again. Someone like me who can understand me in not having confidence in their writing?

I started using Notion, with various templates it's a very nice app! Anyone who uses Notion?

i haven't written in forever either but i love notion!! i use it for many things because, as a perfectionist, i work easier with a pretty and organized "space."

[_SmollJellyfish_]

It would be an excellent idea to create a thread with various prompts, I've seen some challenges and they are really very creative! I don't think I could participate because I can only write in my native language and not in English T^T

I'll have to check out the notion thing it sounds cool!

Also I would adore a prompt/writing challenge. I did a BUNCH in ye olde days and they were just so much fun

If you want, let me know what you think of the app!!

I haven't written in, I don't know how many months, I always tell myself I want to start again but I never start again. Someone like me who can understand me in not having confidence in their writing?

I started using Notion, with various templates it's a very nice app! Anyone who uses Notion?

i haven't written in forever either but i love notion!! i use it for many things because, as a perfectionist, i work easier with a pretty and organized "space."

I feel you,I love keeping organized spaces for everything!And I love decorating, so Notion for me is perfection
These days I'm trying to find a template for characters sheet!

[skrundle]

i finally worked up the nerve to create a thread for my writing! i'm gonna try to keep myself accountable and actually update it semi-frequently. here it is if you want to check it out c: heads up, the formatting looks a lot better if you aren't using mobile!

[daybreak.]

i finally worked up the nerve to create a thread for my writing! i'm gonna try to keep myself accountable and actually update it semi-frequently. here it is if you want to check it out c: heads up, the formatting looks a lot better if you aren't using mobile!

How exciting! I loved Malgehund and I am so looking forward to reading more of your stuff!