Daily Writing Check-in

[cherrystark]

Mine is actually a novel but here ya go - https://tapas.io/series/The-Museum - If you have any more thoughts, I've love to hear them

[domisotto]

It’s more of a daily outcome and to chat about process, but whatever works. You sort of already have a partnership, while a lot of writers tend to be solitary creatures misunderstood or just not having interest of their family. So it helps to chit-chat about what’s up an have some word count accountability.

[scribesunlimited]

Oh okay. Daily output. Hmmm. About 1,000 words maybe. Does editing count? If so she just finished about 40 pages so... 40 x 250 word per page average - um... 10,000? So my output is 1/10 of hers.
Well, that's just sad.

[diamondactor]

I am going to do NaNo this year. I plan on turning my comic into a Novel. If you want a writing buddy for it let me know.

Edit: I'm new to the platform so let me know how to add you if you want to buddy up for writing.

[domisotto]

4.2K words

Ah, I am going to check in for today, because I have a lot of reading to fit in this evening, so 1.1K it is for today, finishing at 5.3K. My next chapter look a bit fluffy so I am wondering if I want it or not before writing.

[domisotto]

Dual mood today:

The Bad: another bout of the imposter mood. "You already know how to proofread. You need to learn to EDIT. Editing means putting in what the agents want to see. You must take the book you believe in, and edit it till it gets an acceptance."

The Good: I found the way to integrate a really cool clue in the fluffy chapter I am writing today. And just realized it will fit in the dialogue and the themes of the last two chapters as well, which is a big win.

The Bad: but nobody will read it anyway, until you learn to edit...

[cherrystark]

I feel these moods! Editing, to an extent, isn't bad for me. I've rewritten and revised my stuff a bunch. I like where my characters and series is at now, but I've been reading some of the earlier chapters again and I'm like I don't know if it's hot garbage or just me being overly critical of my precious baby pilot story.

*I love it when the random scene you write fits in so perfectly with what you've set up before.

[WolfUnderTheMoon89]

I wrote a bonus chapter and Im super happy and excited

[domisotto]

I feel like my learning to edit progresses in stages.

I did master careful proofreading. Then I read a lot of books on style, learning to eliminate weak words, filters, work with sentence construction...

I did a lot of growth on building a scene from background to dialogue.

But what I need to learn now is the next level, more like developmental editing, by bringing in the last layer that will push me from ‘good ideas, not many errors’ to the level of any, yes, this what professional writing looks like, I am buying’.

One of the problems I have is that the modern style demands the ‘show’ in a very specific way, with new and invisible ways to create and convey the character moods. I am tired to death of the old ways, when everyone uses the same sentences, like ‘he run his hand through his hair/over his face’ to show distress etc. But just pumping sensory information is not enough, the emotional feed needs to be something else... and I need to find it, something I like, something powerful.

[CodeMonkeyArts]

Okay this is a great idea. I need to do this! Even if it's small count...like one. Or Zero.

Anywho bookmarking this!

[WillowTree]

Have you heard of the emotion thesaurus? It gives plenty of examples to show different emotions.

The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide To Character Expression (2nd Edition) ~...

[domisotto]

Yeah, that’s exactly what I dislike, those normalized set-pieces people use. But I guess, if I want to attract an agent, I will have to.

[WillowTree]

I don't understand? What's wrong with normal ways that people experience emotional reactions?

[domisotto]

I guess, I prefer the mood created by the backdrop and dialogue, with more of a crafty narrator’s voice delivery. I grew up with books that had omniscient narrative, so I love clever telling when it comes to emotions. But I put the book on order to work on the required showing techniques and edit with an eye out for the opportunities for recasting the text that way. Run his hand over his face, lol, here I come!

[IntoTheTempest]

I have that, and I can attest it's very helpful. It's more of a guide than a bible.

[WillowTree]

YIt's used to enhance the narrator's delivery. Having a narrator say 'he was sad' is not near as powerful as hearing someone's voice crack.

Maybe I'm still not understanding what you mean though. Do you have an example of a good omniscient narrator's telling in an effective way?

[WillowTree]

Yes, it's been so helpful to me when crafting my characters. Most resources are more guides than bibles and once you're comfortable with the information within it becomes easier to edit it as you need. I always talk about how I use 'Romancing the Beat' by Gwen Hayes for my romance arcs. Originally I stuck to her formula to a T then once I was comfortable with romance expectations, I was able to edit her formula to one that fits my writing style a little better but still allows me to meet genre expectations

[domisotto]

See, I prefer something like ‘sadness came and went, leaving him with the stupid words. He picked one, at random. “See ya.”’ Instead of his voice cracked... I know it’s telling, but it’s more interesting for me to read or write, but I will fix it.

[WillowTree]

I mean you don't have to 'fix it.' Everyone has their own style of writing and if that's how you like to write then you should write it how you want

[cherrystark]

One of the problems I have is that the modern style demands the ‘show’ in a very specific way, with new and invisible ways to create and convey the character moods. I am tired to death of the old ways, when everyone uses the same sentences, like ‘he run his hand through his hair/over his face’ to show distress etc. But just pumping sensory information is not enough, the emotional feed needs to be something else... and I need to find it, something I like, something powerful.

For sure. With actions like "running hand through his hair" or over his face, I can see where they can be overdone but I think in a lot of cases the actions just aren't used correctly. For example, if the tension is high enough in a scene, it makes sense for a character to run their hand through their hair. It's a self-soothing technique. However, if you have two characters arguing and two seconds later one drags their hand through their hair and complies - yes, very overdone.

The other thing for me with show v tell is what you've established with your characters. Behavior is really telling way to understand people. If a character says they're super anxious and if I don't see the repetitive behaviors that a lot of anxious people find soothing, I'm probably not going to believe it.