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impishtubist(LJ readers, this has been crossposted from Dreamwidth. Find me there!) :-)
So the optimist in me was like, "Sure, I can post a couple of times a week! No problem!"
Now the realist in me is like, "Wtf, it's been almost 20 days and I have to make ANOTHER post? Jesus."
I really have nothing to report from a writing standpoint.
Editing. Editing is happening. Sort of. I'm focusing on little, tiny things now, and less on the plot itself. There was a great post I saw on Tumblr a while back (wish I'd bookmarked it) that challenged you to go through your story and remove as many instances of "said Character A" as you could. Not in the sense that you would replace "said" with a more interesting synonym (that is bad advice, don't do that, it gets distracting after a while), but either eliminate "said Character A" altogether or make the character do something or show their emotion instead. So like:
"I have to go," Bill said.
or
"I have to go." Bill took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose wearily.
Kinda like that. I'm paraphrasing from the actual post, but hopefully you get the idea. It seemed like good advice and now that I'm implementing it in my story, it's really pulling scenes together. So that's cool. I like how I'm always learning things about writing that I didn't know I knew. You don't always think about these things when you're just reading a book for fun.
I did have someone on Tumblr a couple of weeks ago tell me that I shouldn't bother trying to publish my own original work, which was the kick in the pants I needed to finally start really digging into Manuscript Wish List, looking for agents who match what I've written. I've also been polishing and customizing my query letter to fit each agent. I need to start submitting things, which I'll probably do sooner rather than later now. Thanks, anonymous person, since I know you're reading this as well! *waves*
Anyway, on to more serious stuff.
Things are hard right now. Even when I have free time, it's hard to devote headspace to writing. There's the obvious political stuff, which is terrifying on so many levels that I don't even know where to begin, so we'll leave it at that. If you follow me on any other social media platform, you know what I'm talking about. Then there's my own brain, and a resurgence of my depression. I can't create when I'm in this deep, but I can sort of edit, so that's something, I guess. Sometimes that editing is staring at the same page for three hours before changing a couple of words, but I'll take it. I really miss writing, though. I miss dreaming up new worlds and expansive plots and rich characters. I miss not being able to write fast enough to keep up with all the ideas that were bubbling up in my brain. I even miss writing fanfic, which is usually what I did when I got into a funk like this because it was "easier" - the characters and world already existed, so a lot of the legwork was done and you could just run with your ideas. So. That sucks. These things are cyclical, I know, and I can mark my life either by what fandom I was into at the time or where I was in my depressive cycles. I basically didn't create anything at all between 18 and 20, for instance, because it got so bad (first NaNo I ever failed was in there, woo). It's bleak to think that this cycle might last years, but knowing my brain, it's not unlikely.
I'm glad this happened after I had a novel basically finished, though. I'm glad the story is done and won't be languishing on my hard drive for years. Only trouble is, it's supposed to be the first book in a trilogy and now I can't make the rest of the trilogy come. Oh, well. It works as a stand-alone novel, too.
Anyway. That's really all I have to report. Time to go poke again at this story about androids and the humans who love them. :)
So the optimist in me was like, "Sure, I can post a couple of times a week! No problem!"
Now the realist in me is like, "Wtf, it's been almost 20 days and I have to make ANOTHER post? Jesus."
I really have nothing to report from a writing standpoint.
Editing. Editing is happening. Sort of. I'm focusing on little, tiny things now, and less on the plot itself. There was a great post I saw on Tumblr a while back (wish I'd bookmarked it) that challenged you to go through your story and remove as many instances of "said Character A" as you could. Not in the sense that you would replace "said" with a more interesting synonym (that is bad advice, don't do that, it gets distracting after a while), but either eliminate "said Character A" altogether or make the character do something or show their emotion instead. So like:
"I have to go," Bill said.
or
"I have to go." Bill took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose wearily.
Kinda like that. I'm paraphrasing from the actual post, but hopefully you get the idea. It seemed like good advice and now that I'm implementing it in my story, it's really pulling scenes together. So that's cool. I like how I'm always learning things about writing that I didn't know I knew. You don't always think about these things when you're just reading a book for fun.
I did have someone on Tumblr a couple of weeks ago tell me that I shouldn't bother trying to publish my own original work, which was the kick in the pants I needed to finally start really digging into Manuscript Wish List, looking for agents who match what I've written. I've also been polishing and customizing my query letter to fit each agent. I need to start submitting things, which I'll probably do sooner rather than later now. Thanks, anonymous person, since I know you're reading this as well! *waves*
Anyway, on to more serious stuff.
Things are hard right now. Even when I have free time, it's hard to devote headspace to writing. There's the obvious political stuff, which is terrifying on so many levels that I don't even know where to begin, so we'll leave it at that. If you follow me on any other social media platform, you know what I'm talking about. Then there's my own brain, and a resurgence of my depression. I can't create when I'm in this deep, but I can sort of edit, so that's something, I guess. Sometimes that editing is staring at the same page for three hours before changing a couple of words, but I'll take it. I really miss writing, though. I miss dreaming up new worlds and expansive plots and rich characters. I miss not being able to write fast enough to keep up with all the ideas that were bubbling up in my brain. I even miss writing fanfic, which is usually what I did when I got into a funk like this because it was "easier" - the characters and world already existed, so a lot of the legwork was done and you could just run with your ideas. So. That sucks. These things are cyclical, I know, and I can mark my life either by what fandom I was into at the time or where I was in my depressive cycles. I basically didn't create anything at all between 18 and 20, for instance, because it got so bad (first NaNo I ever failed was in there, woo). It's bleak to think that this cycle might last years, but knowing my brain, it's not unlikely.
I'm glad this happened after I had a novel basically finished, though. I'm glad the story is done and won't be languishing on my hard drive for years. Only trouble is, it's supposed to be the first book in a trilogy and now I can't make the rest of the trilogy come. Oh, well. It works as a stand-alone novel, too.
Anyway. That's really all I have to report. Time to go poke again at this story about androids and the humans who love them. :)
no subject
Date: 2017-02-02 11:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-02-05 02:04 am (UTC)