Writers' Workshop General Chat Thread

[Instrutilus]

Hey, background lore is great. I mean, I have one event called Impact that no one's quite sure of what the hell happened during the Sinumonas Second War.

 

[Kharixi]

I don't currently use an outline, but next time I get the chance, I gotta start using one.

 

[Time Breaker]

Making it up as you go along is, in my opinion, the very worst way to write.

Spoiler

 

[Misfit Angel]

I think you might have to just bite the bullet and accept that staying disciplined on the main story is the best you can realistically do

Eh, it's looking like that. Though I still want to do my horror spinoff, since at least with that I could easily convert it into non-pokemon and use it as some sort of 'resume builder'. The only real connection it has to the pokemon world is that one of the characters used to be a trainer but gave it up to focus on other things.

 

[Instrutilus]

Well, go ahead and divorce it from the Pokémon setting. Just change it to, I'unno, an athlete to explain their inclination toward physical activity (as a trainer would spend a lot of time walking) or a veterinarian (close relationship to the creatures), whatever works best for them with their backstory really.

 

[Lugion]

My style's a bit more moderate than Beth's... all the strict outlining ends up boring me and I end up not finishing the story.

That said, I really do need to work on my work ethic a bit. I've finally (more or less) finished a short story intended for publication, and it's taken two years of on-again-off-again work to do it.

 

[GastlyGibus]

In a way, I kind of have an outline. Generally, when I get into writing a story I like, I plan the whole thing out in small bullet-points. I'll usually write them down, but most of the time, I have it in memory and I don't really need to. Even then, the points are more or less what needs to be accomplished in each specific chapter. So let's say I'm writing chapter three, I'll say to myself "okay, here's the things that need to happen in this chapter" and then I just... do it. Like, a lot of the bits and pieces are made up as I'm writing it, but I have an objective to accomplish in each chapter, and after I've reached all the points that need to be covered in a chapter, I read it over a few times, and after that I'll let it sit for a day or so. After that, I re-read it again, edit it accordingly to help it flow, and then read it one last time before it's finally finished.

So, in a sense, I make it up as I go, while still following a general outline. As long as I have the points I need to reach in my head or written down, I can work towards those points as I write. So a little of both, I suppose.

 

[0bs1d1an_kn1ght]

I only had a vagueish outline for my story the first time around- I'm gonna try and flesh things out a little better the second time around.

 

[Jaye]

I usually have a huge master document where I outline the story, the characters, how I want the characters develop, what relationships the characters will have, the key themes I want to touch upon and the approximate number of chapters I want the story to have. After that, each chapter is broken down into footnotes briefly outlining what I want to happen in a scene.

What I tend to find though is that my plans change a lot. Sometimes by writing out the chapter I find that scenes might not work as I wanted them to, or that a better idea simply comes out of it. So it's important not to be too wedded to your plans and allow for change to happen.

Pacing, consistency in story and characters, etc. are things I check while editing.

Generally I feel planning isn't a matter of strict vs loose or detailed vs non-detailed, but more of a process we do to gain clarity in our ideas and the direction we want to go in.

 

[Instrutilus]

Has anyone here ever repeated a word so often it begins looking weird to them? It happens often to me, I'll just repeat a word and start thinking "...man, that looks weird. English is weird..."

Speaking of weird English, "It's Super Effective" is a weird one as well. Like, "It's very effective" would have been more acceptable, but because it's in Pokémon we all just kinda accepted it as a perfectly cromulent phrase.

 

[Misfit Angel]

Has anyone here ever repeated a word so often it begins looking weird to them? It happens often to me, I'll just repeat a word and start thinking "...man, that looks weird. English is weird..."

I must admit, I've been using the word 'tremendous' an ungodly amount of times ever since Trump came into the national spotlight. There's something about his abuse of that word that's tickled me and I don't know what it is.

Also, enjoy and study. I can't get rid of those words. I've even gone as far as removing them from my spellchecker dictionary in order to encourage myself to pick something different for a change, but it still slips through.

 

[Beth Pavell]

Err, let's see ... I have to stop myself from using gold and golden imagery all the time - golden evenings, noons of gold, gilded clouds, gold flowers ...

 

[Instrutilus]

Words I've learned today: Thorp, a village or hamlet.

 

[Beth Pavell]

The Book of English Place Names has it as an "outlying farmstead or secondary settlement" from the Old Danish. And incidentally I would highly recommend that book to anyone interested in the etymological insanity of English places; it's my Bible when it comes to naming original settlements in The Long Walk

 

[Flaze]

I repeat as and though a lot, like constantly.

 

[Instrutilus]

It's as though you... wait, damn it!

 

[GastlyGibus]

I'm trying to kick the habit of using the word "before" all the time. There's not a whole lot of words you can use in its place, unfortunately.

 

[Instrutilus]

I'm trying to kick the habit of using the word "before" all the time. There's not a whole lot of words you can use in its place, unfortunately

There's still a couple. Yey thesauruses.

 

[Kharixi]

I repeat as and though a lot, like constantly.

Aye. I'm with you, dude.

 

[GastlyGibus]

There's still a couple. Yey thesauruses.

Not in the context of how I use it.

"He went to the chest, placing the treasure inside before slamming it shut" or "She thought for a moment before finally reaching a suitable answer." I'd sound horribly pretentious if I used "afore" or "heretofore" in those examples. XD