- Joined
- Feb 22, 2024
You just stop being a bitch, down some some inspiration juice to burn out the laziness (vodka Red Bull for me personally) and you kick some ass.
Stop crying about it.
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The Writing Thread
- Thread starter darkhorse816
- Start date
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Stop crying about it.
- Joined
- May 19, 2024
Understood
Working on it
Heres for today so far, will try to finish two per day
Got complaints canvas is too small so i doubled it
I hope it looks somewhat readable even as a sketch
- Joined
- Apr 22, 2015
- Joined
- May 19, 2024
These are first 9 pages which is best i can draw for now
No idea if this will keep the viewer or turn them off once i add the text
Thats all from me for now when i draw 10 new pages ill be back
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2023
My current manuscript just hit the 40K-word threshold! (The minimum word count for a piece of fiction to be considered a novel.)
Unfortunately, I don't really see this one topping out at much more than 55K. I'm a bit frustrated because the manuscript prior to this one fell short of the 40K mark; even though it's only two pieces out of my entire bibliography, there's a part of me that's going "What, I can't write long stories anymore?"
I should be able to have this one finished by the end of April, and then I'll be on to something new. What's holding me back right now is that I haven't had enough spare time to do any serious research or plotting work--I can write anywhere and at any time once I've already gotten started, but I need about three charts of background development before I can start anything, which takes me a good two days with no distractions (if I work efficiently) to make. My schedule should free up after a few weeks. This next manuscript will probably breach 100K words, but I'd rather have a huge novel than another novella at this point.
- Joined
- Aug 17, 2022
I'd say my main issue with my current writing project is a cross between time, and plot difficulties. Moreso the former; I want to sit down and write the entire thing out, but I've had to devote my time to other issues, like job searching and getting some other projects done with the limited time I got. Plot-wise, I got things mostly figured out, actually; only real issue right now is figuring out how/where to start the plot.
Aside from that, it's more or less all planned out; one I can really get everything organized, I think I'll be able to kick it off. No idea when that'll be, though.
Aside from that, it's more or less all planned out; one I can really get everything organized, I think I'll be able to kick it off. No idea when that'll be, though.
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2022
Wrote some more yesterday. I'm having fun with this rewrite project. Expanding on a minor character, making him more central to the plot, adding new chapters, and generally streamlining things with the old ones.
- Joined
- May 21, 2019
I wrote one book out of my current 6 (soon to be 7 in about a couple of weeks or so) this way and while it makes hitting higher word counts in a shorter period of time easier, it ultimately feels like a complete waste of time in that the idea of genre-specific word counts as industry standards just comes off as hollow editorial wankery given the state of contemporary publishers and readers.
Ultraman Orb Dark
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2025
- Joined
- Aug 17, 2022
So, I've been tossing some ideas around for a werewolf story for a while now; meant to be more of a one-shot, something to get the creative juices flowing and give myself ideas. Problem is, I've had some minor difficulties on figuring out where to set the plot; not that I don't have any ideas, but I just can't really pick.
Biggest issue is the matter of cliches; typically speaking, the majority of werewolf stories tend to take place in fairly rural areas, usually at night, with some unlucky person(s) getting stalked by the monsters one by one. I've got some ideas for that; plotline set up in a remote town, that sort of thing. Issue is, I've also been thinking about potentially trying to shake things up; the transference of lycanthropy in particular, as while the classic "wolf bite" is a thing, I was curious on other options. Also, maybe setting the plot during the day; yes, the dark is great for a tense atmosphere, but the daytime can be just as scary as long as it's handled well. Anyone got suggestions?
Biggest issue is the matter of cliches; typically speaking, the majority of werewolf stories tend to take place in fairly rural areas, usually at night, with some unlucky person(s) getting stalked by the monsters one by one. I've got some ideas for that; plotline set up in a remote town, that sort of thing. Issue is, I've also been thinking about potentially trying to shake things up; the transference of lycanthropy in particular, as while the classic "wolf bite" is a thing, I was curious on other options. Also, maybe setting the plot during the day; yes, the dark is great for a tense atmosphere, but the daytime can be just as scary as long as it's handled well. Anyone got suggestions?
- Joined
- Apr 22, 2015
You might want to look at The Cursed AKA Eight for Silver for inspiration/plagiarism:
It's like The Thing meets a Werewolf movie. I liked it.
- Joined
- Aug 17, 2022
Cursed silver artifacts; I like it, try to see if I can run it.
Anyone got anymore ideas? Open to suggestions.
- Joined
- Feb 22, 2024
An idea I’ve always liked, that wasn’t executed well in it’s source. Was the “monster form” being less so a mindless beast or Jekyllian type deal, but is instead the protagonist’s Id running amok.
All those things you don’t do in normal society, untethered in the presence of absolute power. Meaning that darkness? That’s not the curse or mutation, that’s the worst part of the protagonist cut loose.
The idea is from Ultimate Hulk, who was (hilariously) horny, angry and hungry. Which for comedy that’s gold but it’s a good idea and could be great in good hands.
Food for thought.
Aucallog Smicount
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Feb 19, 2025
What do you guys consider to be the distinction between purple prose and genuinely vivid writing? I've had an obsessive fear of writing purple prose for a while but now I worry my writing's too dry. All the advice online is from unpublished writers who've only read Colleen Hoover and Harry Potter.
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2022
NaNoWriMo is dead.
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2023
What was this, even? A writing competition? Or was the point just to encourage people to write, build up a community, track progress, etc.? I've seen it mentioned before but I never quite understood ...
By the time prose becomes purple it's no longer vivid--there's just too much on the page for a reader to get a clear image in their mind very quickly. Reread your own writing, and try to forget what you already know about it. If you find yourself confused as to what's going on, or like you have to read a sentence slowly/multiple times to understand what it's describing, then it's purple. Adjectives and adverbs are anathema to a lot of people now, but it's not as if you have to slash every word ending in -ly from your text. If that's the most efficient way to describe something, then do it. But if there's a more efficient way, do that instead. Efficiency is what matters.
I think "Thank You, Esther Forbes" takes a good look at this:
Hyphens can help, e.g. "white-clad" instead of "dressed all in white". If you choose to use metaphor/simile in order to imply a combination of details about a person or object, then you don't have to explain every aspect of it fully--let the reader think for themselves. You can also simply use verbs or nouns that are more descriptive; a "dress", for instance, can be a pinafore, or it can be a gown. Instead of using "said" in a dialogue tag you can say "shouted", "retorted", and so on (but make sure not to do this too much or it'll come across as trying too hard).
On the other hand, if you feel like your writing is too dry, then make sure you're not "skipping over" too many things (viz. not describing them all). For me, the easiest thing to skip over is the setting--I just always forget about it, but the consequence is that a lot of conversations end up taking place in nondescript imaginary rooms. What bothers me the most in other people's writing, though, is when they don't describe characters. You don't have to describe everything, especially not in shorter works or for minor characters, but it's good to give the reader a brief sketch at least.
It would be helpful if you had an example, but I understand if you're not comfortable sharing.
- Joined
- Apr 10, 2021
Yeah I kinda figured when those pedos were outed and then that woke AI post. Once again, too many women and trannies ruin what should be just a simple and fun thing.
Summarising the video too - Nanowrimo had been operating in the red since 2018, with a brief break in 2020-21 thanks to COVID loans. Nanowrimo tried to deal with this by boosting their merch and sponsorship income in 2023, as donations had dramatically fallen.
By October 2023, they were nearly out of money and focused on trying to organise events to deal with that. The board received the child endangerment accusations in November 2023, after the initial response in May, and launched an immediate investigation. This complaint involved spaces outside of the official forums.
They received more concerns about the Young Writers' Programme, both current and prior ones which had been dismissed. The lack of background checks for staff/volunteers, the lack of state-mandated child safety training, and lack of legal info on volunteers led to the drastic changes that have been discussed a lot here. Kilby points specifically to the lack of info they were able to supply about the moderator involved in the original complaint as a massive issue, as well as their existence as a youth-facing organisation, all meant that child safety was their top priority.
December 2023, they implemented background checks, then ended all-ages spaces and created new safety features for young writers, along with requiring educator verification.
The inconsistency of volunteer moderators in their decisions led to the forums being shut down, and how Nanowrimo had previously encouraged the existence of spaces outside the official forums (Discord, Facebook, etc.) had caused them to receive complaints about behaviour that took place outside of forums. They realised that Nanowrimo was dealing with this very badly, hence the actions the Board took.
She includes a snarky comment about how people considered themselves experts for how long they had been involved with Nanowrimo (she titles them the "you're ruining Nanowrimo camp"), but also says others appreciated the changes and a third group were horrified by the revelations and wanted the changes too. Personal opinion - this section is somewhat unprofessional in how she discusses the first group.
Kilby also says she realised that participation had been declining since 2018, which was a lot worse than the board had realised, and 2023 fundraising was $245k lower than expected. They lost nearly $200k in sponsorship income between March 2023 and March 2024 (roughly $125k by then), and merch income were a fraction of its prior levels.
Nanowrimo has to shut down, given its dire financial straits, although they're trying to keep the sites online for as long as they can - but they can't commit to moderation, tech support, etc. Kilby points out that she's been unpaid since May 2023, as have many others in recent months. They were initially in talks with merging with another writing organisation, but that fell through when they realised that Nanowrimo had six figure debt (they were largely unable to repay the COVID debt).
She also says that people were put off by the responses of people on sites such as on Reddit. Kilby tries to defend herself over the AI sponsorship issue by saying that "we turned most of them down", as they had more companies approach them after the initial scandal broke out, and that the community could've saved Nanowrimo if they funded it.
Nanowrimo being grassroots also doesn't work because they already had a very low staff to volunteer ratio (12 staff to 800+ volunteers), and running the site costs money. She blames the fact that too many members "let themselves believe that the service we provided was free" on Nanowrimo's downfall and that the vast majority of the community didn't donate. Kilby says that she isn't blaming the community, but many arts organisations are struggling, especially due to a lack of donations. She also says that "more should've been done to earn or earn back the loyalty of this community and tangibly improve our programme offering", given the six year downward trend of participation. She then thanks the MLs, mods, and other volunteers, amongst all others who worked with the organisation and community, who participated in Nanowrimo and helped the organisation be what it is.
I recommend watching the full video because I've definitely missed bits. I don't agree with everything she said, but I can absolutely see how they needed to do massive changes around child safety, as poorly received and explained as those changes were. I'd love to hear from former mods about their thoughts on this too.
Not wholly sure how to feel about it, frankly, especially since it's not posted on the official Nanowrimo channel but Nanowrimo Kilby, but I'm not entirely surprised that it's been struggling as far back as 2018.
Edit: I posted this in another comment, but here are the pre-2018 financial info that I can find online for Nano, for comparison.
2017 - income $1.307 million ($543k donations, $322k sponsorships, $138k net merch, $168k foundations and grants, $65k events, $68k other income) and expenses were $1.197 million ($810k programmes, $298k fundraising, $89k management). 306k Nanowrimo participants and 65k camp participants, with 34k and 13k projects completed respectively.
2016 - not available on wikiwrimo.
2015 - linked but not accessible.
2014 - income $1.091 million ($482k contributions, $290k merch, $203k sponsorships, $88k foundations and grants, $25k other income) and $1.012 million expenses ($617k programme, $200k overhead, $193k fundraising). 243k Nanowrimo participants, 55k camp participants, and 40k and 9k projects completed respectively.
2013 - income $1.041 million ($481k contributions, $273k net merch, $159k corporate sponsorships, $90k foundations and grants, $35k other income) and expenses were $1.037 million ($722k programme, $159k overhead, $155k fundraising). 144k total writers but there's no number for completed projects or a Nano/camp breakdown.
2012 - income $1.009 million ($479k contributions, $273k net merch, $136k corporate sponsorships, $101k foundations and grants, $18k other income) and expenses $963k ($706k programme, $119k overhead, $138k fundraising). This also includes total assets and liabilities, which are $444k, with a change in net assets of $45k. 341k Nanowrimo participants and 28k camp participants, with no completion numbers.
By October 2023, they were nearly out of money and focused on trying to organise events to deal with that. The board received the child endangerment accusations in November 2023, after the initial response in May, and launched an immediate investigation. This complaint involved spaces outside of the official forums.
They received more concerns about the Young Writers' Programme, both current and prior ones which had been dismissed. The lack of background checks for staff/volunteers, the lack of state-mandated child safety training, and lack of legal info on volunteers led to the drastic changes that have been discussed a lot here. Kilby points specifically to the lack of info they were able to supply about the moderator involved in the original complaint as a massive issue, as well as their existence as a youth-facing organisation, all meant that child safety was their top priority.
December 2023, they implemented background checks, then ended all-ages spaces and created new safety features for young writers, along with requiring educator verification.
The inconsistency of volunteer moderators in their decisions led to the forums being shut down, and how Nanowrimo had previously encouraged the existence of spaces outside the official forums (Discord, Facebook, etc.) had caused them to receive complaints about behaviour that took place outside of forums. They realised that Nanowrimo was dealing with this very badly, hence the actions the Board took.
She includes a snarky comment about how people considered themselves experts for how long they had been involved with Nanowrimo (she titles them the "you're ruining Nanowrimo camp"), but also says others appreciated the changes and a third group were horrified by the revelations and wanted the changes too. Personal opinion - this section is somewhat unprofessional in how she discusses the first group.
Kilby also says she realised that participation had been declining since 2018, which was a lot worse than the board had realised, and 2023 fundraising was $245k lower than expected. They lost nearly $200k in sponsorship income between March 2023 and March 2024 (roughly $125k by then), and merch income were a fraction of its prior levels.
Nanowrimo has to shut down, given its dire financial straits, although they're trying to keep the sites online for as long as they can - but they can't commit to moderation, tech support, etc. Kilby points out that she's been unpaid since May 2023, as have many others in recent months. They were initially in talks with merging with another writing organisation, but that fell through when they realised that Nanowrimo had six figure debt (they were largely unable to repay the COVID debt).
She also says that people were put off by the responses of people on sites such as on Reddit. Kilby tries to defend herself over the AI sponsorship issue by saying that "we turned most of them down", as they had more companies approach them after the initial scandal broke out, and that the community could've saved Nanowrimo if they funded it.
Nanowrimo being grassroots also doesn't work because they already had a very low staff to volunteer ratio (12 staff to 800+ volunteers), and running the site costs money. She blames the fact that too many members "let themselves believe that the service we provided was free" on Nanowrimo's downfall and that the vast majority of the community didn't donate. Kilby says that she isn't blaming the community, but many arts organisations are struggling, especially due to a lack of donations. She also says that "more should've been done to earn or earn back the loyalty of this community and tangibly improve our programme offering", given the six year downward trend of participation. She then thanks the MLs, mods, and other volunteers, amongst all others who worked with the organisation and community, who participated in Nanowrimo and helped the organisation be what it is.
I recommend watching the full video because I've definitely missed bits. I don't agree with everything she said, but I can absolutely see how they needed to do massive changes around child safety, as poorly received and explained as those changes were. I'd love to hear from former mods about their thoughts on this too.
Not wholly sure how to feel about it, frankly, especially since it's not posted on the official Nanowrimo channel but Nanowrimo Kilby, but I'm not entirely surprised that it's been struggling as far back as 2018.
Edit: I posted this in another comment, but here are the pre-2018 financial info that I can find online for Nano, for comparison.
2017 - income $1.307 million ($543k donations, $322k sponsorships, $138k net merch, $168k foundations and grants, $65k events, $68k other income) and expenses were $1.197 million ($810k programmes, $298k fundraising, $89k management). 306k Nanowrimo participants and 65k camp participants, with 34k and 13k projects completed respectively.
2016 - not available on wikiwrimo.
2015 - linked but not accessible.
2014 - income $1.091 million ($482k contributions, $290k merch, $203k sponsorships, $88k foundations and grants, $25k other income) and $1.012 million expenses ($617k programme, $200k overhead, $193k fundraising). 243k Nanowrimo participants, 55k camp participants, and 40k and 9k projects completed respectively.
2013 - income $1.041 million ($481k contributions, $273k net merch, $159k corporate sponsorships, $90k foundations and grants, $35k other income) and expenses were $1.037 million ($722k programme, $159k overhead, $155k fundraising). 144k total writers but there's no number for completed projects or a Nano/camp breakdown.
2012 - income $1.009 million ($479k contributions, $273k net merch, $136k corporate sponsorships, $101k foundations and grants, $18k other income) and expenses $963k ($706k programme, $119k overhead, $138k fundraising). This also includes total assets and liabilities, which are $444k, with a change in net assets of $45k. 341k Nanowrimo participants and 28k camp participants, with no completion numbers.
They continue to prove incapable of accountability, to not blame everyone else and to not personally enrich themselves at the cost of the organisation.
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OXRAZOR
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Oct 13, 2024
- Joined
- Jun 3, 2024
I wanted to take up the challenge at some point.
God damn it. At least I could do an unofficial one myself.
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2022
I wanted to take up the challenge at some point.
Just start your own NaNoWriMo, with blackjack and hookers.