What are we all writing right now?

[Heterosexual_Volcano]

Currently working on a personal project of mine, kind of a fantasy piece where there aren't any good (in sense that no one is totally morally correct) characters.

 

[RoperTrace]

This is how I write. A scene comes into my head and I write it down. It could be a paragraph, it could be 1,000 words. It might link up with something I've already thought of or it might just linger indefinitely in my Stubs file. If it fits into an existing story then I have to work out where it fits (I use spreadsheets) and how to navigate to it from the work that's already written. Sometimes I have an ending in mind but not often. Usually the ending emerges at some point and that's where I wrap things up.
This makes me out to be a very undisciplined writer but that's my creative process and I'm not inclined to tinker with it!

How does that workout, meaning you use spreadsheets for writing? I was a long time user of spreadsheets in my old profession, but hardly ever used them to write, other than a short description or label? I get the not wanting to tinker with your process, but I'm open to change, if it improves my writing process.

On second thought, they might improve my outlines which are still in the early stages.

 

[WhiteTailDarkTip]

Basically it's to construct a timeline. Typically I use a week per row - unless the action hots up and then I might use a day - or even an hour - for each row. Columns separate story strands. This is how I keep things that manifest as, for want of a better word, plotlets, connected to one another. I can ensure that characters don't know things they're not supposed to know, although sometimes this had led to delicious foreknowledge of some later thing. One of my observations of a lot of Lit postings are that they are very linear. So-and-so did this, so-and-so did that, then they went somewhere else. I've even resorted to looking at what the weather was doing on that day and that place!
I also get pictures of my characters. I'll type 'beautiful Russian blonde' into Google and see what the images throw up. This often influences my perception of their character and I don't always use the image I've asked for, sometimes another image will grab my attention and foment more creativity around the image. Places too. I understand that William Gibson had never visited Japan when he wrote Neuromancer. With the internet you don't have to. You can use all sorts of resources to inform your narrative. If someone lives in a townhouse in Bristol, I'll go to RightMove and trawl through what I'm looking for. They have pictures of the interiors and that gives me further inspiration.
Hope that helps.
PS I remember you commenting on my very first posting on Lit. You were very kind. Thank you

 

[TheLobster]

This is how I keep things that manifest as, for want of a better word, plotlets, connected to one another.

I believe the term is "threads," or at least that's what I was told in a literature class.

 

[WhiteTailDarkTip]

These are generally too small to be threads. Threads emerge as these scenarios are connected by narrative

 

[Rob_Royale]

Just finishing up a sexy "manor house" stroker.

 

[Kasumi_Lee]

Nearly halfway through a WMAF romance story for Amazon/Draft2Digital. A lot of my writing recently has been NC/R, and it's good to get back to consensual stuff for a change.

 

[MillieDynamite]

In the last few days, two weeks, my publisher put out three new stories from me: Vengeance Is Its Own Reward, Just a Friendly Transformation: #1 Femininity Awakens, Just a Friendly Transformation #2: Metamorphosis... There are three others that are nearly ready, and I've put out two or three others in the past 30 days or so. Still working on others as we exchange these messages. Well, when I stop fucking around, I will be working on them.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Reluctantly put a team sports tale to fallow; it just wasn’t gelling. Next year, I hope.

A short poem about an elderly couple on a topless beach. It stumbled out of a dark ally, crying for help.

A pretty solid Pandemonium tale is being polished. Ditto a Summer Lovin’ story

65% done my Hallowe’en tale - a May-November romance.

There’s a rather dystopian post-Singularity tale destined for the AI event. Maybe - each time I think it’s getting to the 65% level, it wakes me in the middle of the night and tells me I am far too optimistic.

Half-done or less?

A solid beginning on a swords-and-sourcery story with some potential.

The skeleton of a darned good Mind Control story.

Maybe 45% of a Mature romance involving a disfigured MMC and a too-pretty MFC who lacks confidence in herself.

 

[AndersonsBiographer]

Thinking of doing another one-off, but I don't know.

Honestly, those are almost harder for me to do than planning for a series.

 

[KeithD]

Just finished putting together habu's Grab Bag 32 anthology. Nineteen stories, 99,970 words. One more complete pass and then to the publisher. Then it's back to the twelfth Hardesty D.C. vice cop mystery, which is about half drafted.

 

[oneagainst]

Hotwife love story in LW for Saturday go-live.

Brace brace brace.

 

[StillStunned]

Depending on how soon I manage to finish my work, I might get round to final editing of Chapter 2 of The Dome. More fun with cat-women and boners! Now with added birds and councillors!

 

[onehitwanda]

25k words into another lesbian fantasy. I am nothing if not predictable.

 

[StillStunned]

25k words into another lesbian fantasy. I am nothing if not predictable.

Write what you know...

(If that were true, though, I must have had a very interesting past.)

 

[RoperTrace]

Basically it's to construct a timeline. Typically I use a week per row - unless the action hots up and then I might use a day - or even an hour - for each row. Columns separate story strands. This is how I keep things that manifest as, for want of a better word, plotlets, connected to one another. I can ensure that characters don't know things they're not supposed to know, although sometimes this had led to delicious foreknowledge of some later thing. One of my observations of a lot of Lit postings are that they are very linear. So-and-so did this, so-and-so did that, then they went somewhere else. I've even resorted to looking at what the weather was doing on that day and that place!
I also get pictures of my characters. I'll type 'beautiful Russian blonde' into Google and see what the images throw up. This often influences my perception of their character and I don't always use the image I've asked for, sometimes another image will grab my attention and foment more creativity around the image. Places too. I understand that William Gibson had never visited Japan when he wrote Neuromancer. With the internet you don't have to. You can use all sorts of resources to inform your narrative. If someone lives in a townhouse in Bristol, I'll go to RightMove and trawl through what I'm looking for. They have pictures of the interiors and that gives me further inspiration.
Hope that helps.
PS I remember you commenting on my very first posting on Lit. You were very kind. Thank you

I will now have to go refresh my memory, and I don't leave lots of comments. Mine are always positive, or none are made. I'm not into negative criticism, and my writing skills aren't that high that I can offer much to improve others.

I do like the way you're using spreadsheets, as that's something that appeals to my timeline/engineer's thinking. I'm guilty of life getting in the way, and occasionally leaving a half-written story for months at a time. A daily or weekly timeline of where I stopped would be helpful, when I get back to it.

 

[Voboy]

I will now have to go refresh my memory, and I don't leave lots of comments. Mine are always positive, or none are made. I'm not into negative criticism, and my writing skills aren't that high that I can offer much to improve others.

I do like the way you're using spreadsheets, as that's something that appeals to my timeline/engineer's thinking. I'm guilty of life getting in the way, and occasionally leaving a half-written story for months at a time. A daily or weekly timeline of where I stopped would be helpful, when I get back to it.

I've tried spreadsheets, for exactly this sort of thing. I thought they'd deconflict any kind of timeline issue and be foolproof.

NOOOOOPE!

It was probably more about me than the spreadsheet, but I could never get it to work as well as my mind thought it should. I just keep track of things narratively instead. I'm glad spreadsheets work for some.

 

[Zenwick]

I unexpectedly had another character form in my head and then witnessed them having a couple of conversations with another character. She feels quite odd but fun. So now I'm writing another short romance about a man and a woman who live together, are good friends and will slowly develop into something more. Not sure how long I'll sustain it but it's fun so far, so that's always a good sign.

 

[KeithD]

I'm whipping up a few WIWAW essay entries.

 

[Paddleboardpnw]

Wrote a few chapters to my part 3 of Shrunken series this morning. debating on finishing it off with chapter 3, undecided.

 

[Erozetta]

De-Britting a story I'm working on with someone. (And hurting for it, but it's a necessity due to the setting. British vernacular just doesn't work in modern day Salem, unfortunately.)

Anxious to continue the story. First one in a while I've been excited about.

 

[StillStunned]

Active projects (as opposed to "I'll finish these one day"):

- "Demon Hunters" (or maybe it will be called "The Demon Hunter's Apprentice"), set in the Black Forest during the Thirty Years' War.
- "The Demon Under My Bed", based on a snippet I wrote for one of the Writing Exercises: thanks to input from official Literorica story consultant @Devinter it's going to be dark, layered and hothothot!
- Chapter 3 of The Dome: Xero asks Ro-Gara to help him find Raurri, Dunia and Catha go down a rabbit hole or two.

 

[WhiteTailDarkTip]

Anxiously awaiting my de-Britted part of the story!
Apart from that I'm trying to figure out how to write Part 2 of Giles without it turning into a coda to All Of Us fit In Our Places.
After following the excellent webcomic Nevermore on Webtoons I'm writing a short featuring the two main characters.
Then there's a sprawling thing based on my younger self's experiences playing in a band.
Tidying up The Girl With Pink Hair series and renaming it Three For A Girl (thanks to @THBGato for that suggestion) with a view to publishing it on Smashwords or Draft2digital or whatever it is these days
Ho yus, it's all go!

 

[MrStill]

I've moved back into a certain Melbourne office tower for another run of Mailgirls Down Under.

 

[Rustyoznail]

Finished my WIW&W as an essay and a thread here. The thread has pictures!

Restarting a follow-up to a two year old story about a squash player, and her prize for winning the Victorian championship. It was going into the sport challenge, but I've tweaked it to be a summer story. Just need time...