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Good Morning, Fellow Artists!  I am still learning, your patience and understanding is so appreciated! Also, thank you to the person (their handle escapes me at the moment... so many things are starting to  ) who spent so much time creating those helpful Writing 101 videos!  I hope everyone has a great weekend and is safe! So, if you don't mind: Please drop me a line here and tell me something interesting/bizarre about yourself! Please and thank you! |
I love the pencils on your portfolio photo! Excellent!  Welcome to WdC! This is a great community of writers. I hope you'll find all of the support and friendship you're looking for here. And of course the amazing resources. What's here can be pretty overwhelming when you first start off, so take your time and click around, check things out. You're doing great! Cheers! |
| Newbie here! For an introduction, check out my Bio area :) This morning, I'm working on a short story and I feel like my "hook" is pretty good, one paragraph down and all that... I tend to open strong but then the candle flickers, how do you avoid or even detect the flicker in your writing? |
| Another possibility is that you might need more planning. There are 3-ish types of writers--planners who plan the whole story out, sometimes in great detail, pantsers who just write by the seat of their pants, never knowing what will happen next, and planters who plan some, but not to a tremendous amount of detail so they still feel free to allow the story to unfold as their imagination allows through the writing process. Perhaps you are trying to be a pantser when you are really a planner or plantser? Maybe try planning the story out more so you know where it will go. Even writing things down, like an outline, can help if you though you had an idea in your head, but you're still struggling. Writing things down as a guide can be very helpful. I was very anti-planning several years ago, but then an activity forced me to do some planning and I found that it really helped my process. Do I enjoy it? No. But do I like the end result better? Annoyingly, yes, which gives me no excuse not to do it except pure laziness...which is a terrible excuse, not that it stops me from using it.  Good luck! And don't sweat it. We all have strong and weak points and strong and weak genres. Not to mention, you're bound to grow being here, so maybe this is the beginning of that process. Congratulations on that!  Welcome to WdC, BTW! |
If you lose track of your "flicker," try asking your characters what they want, what they need. When I feel myself getting stuck, I try to let go of my plans (sorry Schnujo's Scared of NaNoWriMo   ) and let the protagonist/main character/MC take over. Maybe grab a piece of paper or create a new file and write a conversation with the MC, or play with some dialogue, or brainstorm about what's holding you back. Usually when I get stuck, or my words become sluggish or forced, it's because I'm trying too hard and I need to relax and remember that I'm writing because it's fun! Good luck, and Welcome to WdC! |
| The "What if..." exercise may help as well. You just start asking/writing (not to be kept in the story, but as an exercise) "What if X happened (or didn't)?" If you are writing a retelling of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, you might come up with things like... What if Goldilocks was her name, but her hair was bright red? What if Goldilocks was a guy? What if Goldilocks met the 3 Little Pigs instead of the 3 bears? What if Goldilocks gets hurt and decides to sue the bears? What if the bears decide to countersue? What if the bears eat Goldilocks? At the beginning of the story? At the end? What if the bears lock their door? Does she still get in? If so, how? These questions can spawn new ideas. The idea of her meeting the 3 Little Pigs might spawn the idea of the bears' house being made of gingerbread (like the witch's house in Hansel & Gretel). Or you might decide to switch it all up and make her a guy who can't get locked in, but isn't a good person and decides to get the Big Bad Wolf and do a home invasion instead. One idea can lead to another and spark some real creativity.  |
My bad for continually editing. I didn't know it was visible to everyone. Perhaps I should RTFM?  |
| Don't worry about it - it takes a while to get used to the site. I spent my first few weeks continually going back to the 101 link on the top right. |
| Hi, welcome to writing.com! I think we ALL continually edit, so nope, don't even think twice about it. You are doing splendidly and I'm glad your here. Keep posting🐦 |
I'm not really sure what you're referencing, but if it makes you feel any better, since you're a newbie, not many people will see what you're doing yet, anyway.  Here, on the Newsfeed, only people who have either clicked your plus sign Schnujo's Scared of NaNoWriMo   (which is probably almost or actually no one yet) or people who are on the Community Newsfeed like me and the other 2 who commented (which is probably half the people that get on the Community Newsfeed because out of over a million members, I swear only like 5-6 do it lol), only those people will see Newsfeed edits. If you are referring to editing a story or poem in your portfolio (my guess), worry even less. You SHOULD edit...or so I'm told. I hate editing, personally, which explains the quality of my writing.  Anyway, yes, please, edit away! Not to mention, there are probably hundreds of thousands, if not millions of items on WdC, so the odds of someone reading yours multiple times isn't that high, IMO. And when a person reviews your stuff, they tend to expect you to edit it to improve it after their comments. (Sorry to everyone who has ever reviewed me. I never promised to revisit that story/poem again.  ) Editing is good and it helps you grow and become a better writer. (Don't be like me and not edit. lol) If you have a specific concern, feel free to let us know so we can address it more directly. But in general, editing is good. Don't feel bad for doing it. And some might say I should feel bad for not. Regarding that Community Newsfeed I think everyone should hang out on, click Newsfeed on the left and it will take you to your Personal Newsfeed where you will only see official WdC stuff and things from people whose plus sign you've clicked at least once (though twice until you see the megaphone is better because that makes you a fan of that person and a few of us reward our fans but once or twice, in both cases, you'll see their notes on your Newsfeed, it's just whether they are notified that you're following them or not ). Along the top of your Personal Newsfeed, you'll see "View the Community Newsfeed." Click that and you'll see what everyone is posting (within your rating limit). Scroll, Like, comment, and start making friends. There's a lot more going on than in just your little corner of WdC, so go exploring. Welcome to WdC! And don't forget to edit. |
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Oh, and you probably don't want to know something bizarre about me - there's bizarre and then there's BIZARRE!
Something interesting about me is that I've visited over 60 countries and lived in 6. And I'm hopefully moving to the Falkland islands soon.
Be sure to check out the Community Newsfeed to find more people and interesting things. When you click Newsfeed, it will take you to your Personal Newsfeed. Here you will only see official WdC stuff and notes from people whose plus sign you have clicked once to set them as a favorite of yours or twice (the preference) to become a fan. But after clicking Newsfeed, look along the top of it and you will see "View the Community Newsfeed." Click that and you'll see so many more things from so many more people! Scroll, Like, comment, and start making friends!
When you find a person you want to keep up with, double click their plus to become a fan. If you single click, it's the same but the megaphone means they are notified and some of us, like me, reward our fans. A single click is private so we can't reward you.
No pressure to double click if you don't want to, but if you are interested, this is what I'm talking about.
Grave Robbin'
Schnujo's Scared of NaNoWriMo
Again, welcome!!