Ever had silly or fun writing goals?

[CeasarBoobage]

Have you ever given yourself a weird goal? I don't mean like "I'll finish my Novel Of Amazement at the end of this year", I mean stuff like "the final page length must be a prime number" type of thing. Or maybe that you'll write your entire next story on your phone, have characters whose names all start with the same letter, etc.

Share your weirdness, Litsters!

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I'll go first:


When I was almost done with the final draft of my current {non-Lit} story, I saw something that caught my eye. In the footer bar of the editor, it showed 22,111 words. It made me laugh, so with the wrap-up of the story almost done, I met my goal of 22,222 words. For every edit I went through, I kept that same goal, and it's made me laugh (mentally) several times that I've kept that word count.

The hard part is when I saw during edits that I needed to add a sentence or phrase, which meant I had to cut out something of about the same word count, then make the transition work. It made me realize how useless some of the parts were, and maybe it made me 0.01% of a better writer because of that ability to find trash where I thought I'd written gold. Maybe. It could still be trash....

 

[SimonDoom]

I've thought about doing something like this, like embedding patterns or words in the prose that, if noticed, will convey something, or writing prose sentences in Iambic pentameter, but to be honest I struggle so mightily just to finish the darn stories that I abandon all silly goals as too time-consuming.

 

[TeflonGuy]

I often have silly writing goals. Almost always funny.

Sometimes I want to keep it short and sweet, but it keeps rolling until it hits a climax and I bring back down quickly or leave it open for another chapter or interacting story.Sometimes I go for volume and decide it should be short.

Never quite satisfied w/what I do.

Sometimes I leave it alone if it seems good the 1st try.

I like for my characters to have some humor with an occasional asshole tossed in for good measure.

My biggest problem of late is too much focus on subplots and details. I'm learning my characters can't be everything I want nor should my favorites evolve as I think they should.

 

[Sir_Maveric]

My biggest problem of late is too much focus on subplots and details. I'm learning my characters can't be everything I want nor should my favorites evolve as I think they should.

I just deleted 18 pages to make sure my MC is who I want him to be. I'm not sure I follow your logic. Yes they come alive for us, but we write. They do as they are told. If you're having issues with your characters, might I suggest taking a break and writing a one-off while you get them back in line?

 

[oggbashan]

Silly writing goals?

Yes. I have several posted stories that started off as a challenge to myself.

Write a story as one sentence:

https://www.literotica.com/s/breathless-stargazing

Make Chairman Mao's Little Red Book sexy:

https://www.literotica.com/s/getting-nude-with-chairman-mao

Write something really dark:

https://www.literotica.com/s/donna-1

Start the Authors' Hangout Worst Chain Story Ever with a dreadful chapter:

https://www.literotica.com/s/the-worst-chain-story-ever-ch-01

And several stories that make some readers think WTF!

Edited for PS:

And last but not least - Make NaNoWriMo a more difficult challenge to myself.

I wrote the 12 Chapters of Flawed Red Silk during NaNoWriMo 2003 but my challenge was to write the total number of words, edit and post them on Literotica before the end of that month. (Allowing for posting delays so last chapter submitted a week earlier than the end of NaNoWriMo if possible.)

All of Flawed Red Silk was posted before the end of NaNoWriMo. It remains exactly as I posted it with a few minor typos left as they were.

 

[jomar]

Over the years there have been some fun challenges in the AH...100 word stories based on themes (art, sports, etc), stories that had to use 5 objects, first sentence/paragraph grabbers, one sentence story that got way out of hand, other zany stuff.

 

[jomar]

I just deleted 18 pages to make sure my MC is who I want him to be. I'm not sure I follow your logic. Yes they come alive for us, but we write. They do as they are told. If you're having issues with your characters, might I suggest taking a break and writing a one-off while you get them back in line?

LOL, not always. My very first story here took a completely unexpected turn, out of the blue, from left field, and I was quite shocked. The crowd that likes that stuff liked it so I rinsed and repeated a bunch more times as an experiment.

 

[TeflonGuy]

I just deleted 18 pages to make sure my MC is who I want him to be. I'm not sure I follow your logic. Yes they come alive for us, but we write. They do as they are told. If you're having issues with your characters, might I suggest taking a break and writing a one-off while you get them back in line?

Heh. I don't have a real logical pattern to adhere to. I'm weird that way.

So many changes in my life right now, its a struggle to keep up. Writing has become my retreat and escape from everything else.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[TeflonGuy]

Silly writing goals?

Yes. I have several posted stories that started off as a challenge to myself.

Write a story as one sentence:

https://www.literotica.com/s/breathless-stargazing

Make Chairman Mao's Little Red Book sexy:

https://www.literotica.com/s/getting-nude-with-chairman-mao

Write something really dark:

https://www.literotica.com/s/donna-1

Start the Authors' Hangout Worst Chain Story Ever with a dreadful chapter:

https://www.literotica.com/s/the-worst-chain-story-ever-ch-01

And several stories that make some readers think WTF!

Edited for PS:

And last but not least - Make NaNoWriMo a more difficult challenge to myself.

I wrote the 12 Chapters of Flawed Red Silk during NaNoWriMo 2003 but my challenge was to write the total number of words, edit and post them on Literotica before the end of that month. (Allowing for posting delays so last chapter submitted a week earlier than the end of NaNoWriMo if possible.)

All of Flawed Red Silk was posted before the end of NaNoWriMo. It remains exactly as I posted it with a few minor typos left as they were.

Thanks ogg.

You're a treasure trove of info.

 

[CeasarBoobage]

I just deleted 18 pages to make sure my MC is who I want him to be. I'm not sure I follow your logic. Yes they come alive for us, but we write. They do as they are told. If you're having issues with your characters, might I suggest taking a break and writing a one-off while you get them back in line?

Everyone has different styles and tastes, so I couldn't tell you how to do what you do. For me, many times I build a character and plot, and those dang (imaginary?) people tell me what they're doing, and I just let it run. Depending on my mood while writing, about 20% of the time my story has gone a different direction than the way I'd first imagined it would go. Either way, it's still fun to write it.

 

[RejectReality]

I have this background goal of having a title starting with every letter of the alphabet, in every pen name, on every site I post. Still haven't achieved it once, though I'm close in a couple of places and probably won't be long before I at least have a title for every letter. I'm short Y and Z at the moment, I believe.

Long, long ago, I had a reader anonymously send me feedback on Blackhawk Hall after the first couple of chapters posted, suggesting a challenge word to insert into the next chapter. The word sparked a creative scene that fit within the planned story, so I went for it. Got another via signed feedback after that chapter posted. Every chapter thereafter has a challenge word in it, such as Osage or Alabaster.

Coming up with stories for the bucket of wordplay titles I have stockpiled. Yes, there's a particular emphasis on the missing letters.

Wanting to hit every category everywhere I post eventually. Oddly enough, I'm closest on the site with the most categories, because really short/flash stories do well there. I won't compromise my placement decisions just to fill a category or missing letter on a site.

 

[Hypoxia]

I've just now set myself a challenge that may get me writing again. Under a stealthy alt who doesn't forum, a loosely-connected cycle of standalone one-page LW atrocities with cliffhanger endings and incongruous restarts. Trolls provoked and ignored. Fun fun fun for sleepless nights.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

I've never succeeded, but would love to emulate Dylan Thomas' Vision and Prayer, where, by using a varying number of words in each successive line and by subtling varying interletter spacing, each verse was either waisted or diamond shape. Excellent poetry with an additional dimension.

https://allpoetry.com/Vision-And-Prayer

 

[CeasarBoobage]

I've just now set myself a challenge that may get me writing again. Under a stealthy alt who doesn't forum, a loosely-connected cycle of standalone one-page LW atrocities with cliffhanger endings and incongruous restarts. Trolls provoked and ignored. Fun fun fun for sleepless nights.

Yes, that would be amazing. One story per 'request' in the Story Ideas thread, no matter how random. F the trolls, and enjoy the 2.1 score and death threats to entertain you, that should be a fun trip.

 

[Bebop3]

I wrote a story where every character spoke in a naturalistic dialogue except for the female MC, who spoke as if she was in a tela-novela.

I was experimenting with narrative voices and dialogue and just had fun with it.

The story wasn't good, but I enjoyed myself.

 

[SolarRay]

I've thought about doing something like this, like embedding patterns or words in the prose that, if noticed, will convey something, or writing prose sentences in Iambic pentameter, but to be honest I struggle so mightily just to finish the darn stories that I abandon all silly goals as too time-consuming.

This sort of thing I've done. Although, I can't recall now if I've done it with stories on this site specifically. I once wrote a novel where there was a pattern encoded at the start of each chapter which, when assembled, conveyed a message about the entire work's central theme. I've done variations on that from time to time, with messages constructed using the first letter of each sentence, etc.

I almost never tell anyone about them.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I've just now set myself a challenge that may get me writing again. Under a stealthy alt who doesn't forum, a loosely-connected cycle of standalone one-page LW atrocities with cliffhanger endings and incongruous restarts. Trolls provoked and ignored. Fun fun fun for sleepless nights.

I'm planning a story specifically for the Loving Wives category but I'm not going out of my way to provoke them - I think. I hope to just do it the way I think it should go and see what happens. I'm not going to use an alt identity.

 

[oggbashan]

My first Nude Day entry this year might be in the LW category. That will ensure it can't be a winner.

 

[Hypoxia]

I'm planning a story specifically for the Loving Wives category but I'm not going out of my way to provoke them - I think. I hope to just do it the way I think it should go and see what happens. I'm not going to use an alt identity.

Be prepared for punishment. And I'm not thinking of directly provoking specific audiences. I'd only let it flow and not fret over consequences, blowbacks, sideswipes, Molotovs, etc. Their problem, not mine.

But any author posting to LW is a troll, provoking frenzied responses from deplorables. Fun.

 

[_Lynn_]

Over the years there have been some fun challenges in the AH...100 word stories based on themes (art, sports, etc), stories that had to use 5 objects, first sentence/paragraph grabbers, one sentence story that got way out of hand, other zany stuff.

Some are still around in here.

 

[someoneyouknow]

Yes. I had a goal, a silly goal, to write my book within a year.