❛ the lazy writers ❜ V2

[SugarKats]

Oo that's still very impressive, good work!!

[Winchester's Wolf]

Man it has been a while since I have stepped foot in this thread- I'm covered in dust /j

to say that 2020 has been the year that I have halted any personal writing- so it has been a couple of good years since I have written anything {other than replys to roleplays, and a few descriptions/ideas for dnd characters}. There were a few times that I have written in a journal during work, but that was just a tibit of character info if anything.

Although I did at some point {according to google docs it was Nov. 10th of this year} where I did sit down and wrote a few lines of dialogue, granted with a few extra- I say it's a pretty good start c: I have 230 words according to the word count x3

[leachface]

soo… after 6 years hiatus of writing my book due to some major unforeseen writers block happening, I’ve finally gotten some writing done. It feels so good to finally have my creativity back and actually be making some progress. I’d forgotten how fun writing is.

[Shanguin]

soo… after 6 years hiatus of writing my book due to some major unforeseen writers block happening, I’ve finally gotten some writing done. It feels so good to finally have my creativity back and actually be making some progress. I’d forgotten how fun writing is.

that's honestly wonderful to hear. congrats, friend <3
I forget sometimes too, that writing is so much fun. The complete freedom you have as an author, ah. It's, well, freeing!

[JadeJester22]

I have no idea how to actually put down plot for some of my big stories. Like how to make stuff happen without saying "They went to a white building. They bought sodas on the way there" or something bland like that.
And how does character development or themes or motifs or.. anything work when the cast keeps going on wacky adventures? This isn't a one and done or a trilogy. It's an ever expanding world of "oh hey cool a new adventure or fun thing to do"

[Takara]

I have no idea how to actually put down plot for some of my big stories. Like how to make stuff happen without saying "They went to a white building. They bought sodas on the way there" or something bland like that.
And how does character development or themes or motifs or.. anything work when the cast keeps going on wacky adventures? This isn't a one and done or a trilogy. It's an ever expanding world of "oh hey cool a new adventure or fun thing to do"

That's a tough one. I usually don't have a plot so much as "I know that these characters start here and need to end up there". Here and there referring to both physical location and character arch in this case.

Honestly, when I actually get around to plotting, I like to break it down into smaller scenes and and jot down some overarching things that must happen, with a few details that I'd like to incorporate sprinkled in, almost prompt style.

For example, if I know that I want my characters to go to a store and buy sodas, my notes might look something like this:

"'do you like pepsi?'
enters chip aisle- johnnie wouldn't know a royal farms if it smacked her in the face
kelly is having A Moment
why is johnnie looking a bag of pretzels like it killed her father
"are you—" human? don't say that

they talk around their feelings
FIRE ALARM?

must end resolution to the lost brother bit
"he's not missing kels, he isn't gone"

That was not very coherent. But that isn't important at this stage, it only needs to make sense to future you, no one else.



As for themes and motifs, they tend to develop somewhat naturally when you write characters a lot and get a good feel for them, at least in my experience. But if you want to purposefully start with a set theme or motif you want to come back to, I'd start with writing it down so you can reference it later. write everything down. it's certainly advice i could've used...

At the end of the day, these are just suggestions. The best way to learn these things is to practice. Even if your writing isn't where you want it to be yet, everyone has to start somewhere. As much as I've always had stories in me, I never improved at writing them until I, well, started writing them.

I hope that helps, but feel free to let me know if I was unclear here (there has been a lot of rambling) c:

[Lumpkinz11 Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ]

Hi! I am having a hard time with my sonnets...do these make any sense? I have lost all motivation to write more, but maybe I could edit these? Let me know!

Sonnet [1]

As Time Moves On

Also, how does everyone deal with writer's block and coming up with interesting prompts?

[daybreak.]

Any lazy writers still out there? I am challenging myself to write a little something every day this year. Sometimes it's just a poem or a jounral entry, but I want to start writing more short stories and the like... but I'm having a hard time coming up with ideas c': it ends up being much easier to default to something that happened during the day or that's been on my mind. 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?

[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?