Writing goals

[notabitail]

It's so unnecessarily complicated to use (meaning @notabitail would probably love it), but it's a lifetime license and I can export my stuff onto Kindle.

There's a fair chance I will and a fair chance I won't. My usual way of writing just about anything is to write it up in a word processor. Simple and infuriating enough for everyday use.

 

[Isabella7Storm5]

Are we going to get any context for this masterpiece or is it supposed to remain in an esoteric state

Uuuuuhhhmmmm

I really only did it for the grade?
So it’s not tied to anything specific.
You could make the stretch that this Bob is the same Bob from Mythics.

She gave it a 100

 

[NC_Quail]

It's always so insane to me how characters will just do their own thing if you let them! Clearly, your guy got a big bump in interest level.

It's so unnecessarily complicated to use (meaning @notabitail would probably love it), but it's a lifetime license and I can export my stuff onto Kindle.

How detailed do you make your outlines? It's something I want to get better at, but I feel like that means I'll need to have my entire story sorted out. This does seem to be the conventional advice though.

I also did a sci-fi for nanowrimo last year! And congrats on the 15K, that's a huge milestone!

Thanks! It’s not 50,000 words, but I’m still proud of myself

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

nah, you created this, you'll be alright.

she might calm down if you write

Meanwhile, I have checked on her doc at least twice today... That one fella still just took off from the tower... and that misplaced quotation mark is still there.

I just wrote an annotated bibliography paper and an argumentative research paper outline. I’m stretched thin rn

How detailed do you make your outlines? It's something I want to get better at, but I feel like that means I'll need to have my entire story sorted out. This does seem to be the conventional advice though.

Not very. For a whole book, I might write where it starts, where it ends, then some in between notes of important stuff that happens in the book. For my last piece, I wrote down (like I was talking to myself) what I intended to do in the chapter I was working on. Because most of my stories are originally played out in my head long before they met my laptop, I also included a quick write-up of what the original story was. Then somewhere in the tab, I included some notes such as what I wanted to change, where I was going to go if I didn't stick with the original story, and other stuff like that.

I'm not professional by any means, and honestly, I'm clueless on what an outline's format should be. My outlines look more like random paragraphs written down, but they help keep my story on track so I don't get stuck on some line that'll go nowhere.

You don't necessarily need your story all sorted out, either. I have written a few stories that I just had some ideas of pit stops the characters where going to make and not every detail sorted out. And even still, on stories that I have already played through in my mind, I still might not know what's going to happen on the paper (especially with dialogue). Having an outline simply keeps the story on track and hopefully keeps it in a 70k word book instead of a 800k word book that publishers will raise an eyebrow at (and probably reject).

 

[thecatumbrella]

Meanwhile, I have checked on her doc at least twice today... That one fella still just took off from the tower... and that misplaced quotation mark is still there.



Not very. For a whole book, I might write where it starts, where it ends, then some in between notes of important stuff that happens in the book. For my last piece, I wrote down (like I was talking to myself) what I intended to do in the chapter I was working on. Because most of my stories are originally played out in my head long before they met my laptop, I also included a quick write-up of what the original story was. Then somewhere in the tab, I included some notes such as what I wanted to change, where I was going to go if I didn't stick with the original story, and other stuff like that.

I'm not professional by any means, and honestly, I'm clueless on what an outline's format should be. My outlines look more like random paragraphs written down, but they help keep my story on track so I don't get stuck on some line that'll go nowhere.

You don't necessarily need your story all sorted out, either. I have written a few stories that I just had some ideas of pit stops the characters where going to make and not every detail sorted out. And even still, on stories that I have already played through in my mind, I still might not know what's going to happen on the paper (especially with dialogue). Having an outline simply keeps the story on track and hopefully keeps it in a 70k word book instead of a 800k word book that publishers will raise an eyebrow at (and probably reject).

Appreciate the detailed response! I always like to hear how other people do things and what works for them. I've used the "Save the Cat" structure a couple of times, and I'm so-so on it. You need to know all the major milestones and then kind of steer the car towards them. Probably works great for people that know how their story plays out!

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

Appreciate the detailed response! I always like to hear how other people do things and what works for them. I've used the "Save the Cat" structure a couple of times, and I'm so-so on it. You need to know all the major milestones and then kind of steer the car towards them. Probably works great for people that know how their story plays out!

You're welcome!

Kinda off subject, but are you talking about the book, "Save the Cat?" I've seen it highly recommended but haven't bought it yet. (In one of the November writing challenges, the author was one of the ones helping host or something.)

And yes, definitely. I've even heard it recommended to write your ending first, then write the beginning and the rest of the book.

 

[thecatumbrella]

You're welcome!

Kinda off subject, but are you talking about the book, "Save the Cat?" I've seen it highly recommended but haven't bought it yet. (In one of the November writing challenges, the author was one of the ones helping host or something.)

And yes, definitely. I've even heard it recommended to write your ending first, then write the beginning and the rest of the book.

Yes, it's a book based off a screenplay methodology (I think?), but the author published her novel cheat sheet here. It's been helpful when I have a story in my head but don't quite know how to structure it.

I'm SUPER intrigued on the idea of writing my ending first. Like I've said, I tend to write myself into corners about 2/3rds through. I'll give it a shot on my newest project and see what happens!