Fic Talk > General Discussion
The Writing Thread: Orlando Passaggio (aka The Writing Thread 3)
nicksgal:
I love how unrealisticall y NaNo believes in me reaching my goal. In the little stats center, it's like "if you only write 11,000 words today and tomorrow, you'll reach 60,000 words! You can do it!" You know, NaNo... I have never written 11,000 words in one day that I can recall. Not even in the earliest days of PBox. That would be like me sitting down and thinking I could write three to four chapters in a day. In a weekend? Maybe... depends on the four chapters. In a day? There's no way. In a day when I have nothing else to do? There's still no way. I would need you all to do like 7 hours worth of 15-minute word sprints with me. I don't think I've got that in me even on my best day, lol.
Today's NaNo Care package made me curious about everybody else's fantastic elements in their stories. Not me, obviously, because "It was magic" is a fairly simple explanation for 98% of the things I write. The other 2% is probably "It was a dream (and/or 'dream,' depending on the story... and if it was a 'dream,' well then it was probably magic, so... here we are at that 98% again)." Put those two things together in some form and you get... well PBox among other things, lol. Anyway, today's NaNo Care Package:
"As speculative fiction becomes more mainstream, fantastic elements are infiltrating every genre—even nonfiction and memoir. The trick is to find what feels (almost) possible to you. Whether it’s as subtle as the smoke alarm going off every time the MC fights with their husband or as wild as a slumber party ritual that conjures a pair of ancient beings, finding places to use even slightly fantastical elements can add depth and complexity, allowing you to express deeper themes and tell a more nuanced story."
Today's Writing Challenge:
Take Michelle's advice and write a scene where something fantastical or unexplained happens—whether it's as small as a surprising coincidence, or overtly magical.
Do you tend to write stories with magic in them? Or, back to the prompt, what's a small way you include the fantastic in your works if magic is not your "bread and butter"?
Well, on that note, I have an hour and a half to get cracking on this 11,000 words... wish me luck! ;)
RokofAges75:
--- Quote from: nicksgal on April 28, 2021, 09:45:34 PM ---It's my fault. I finished a scene and realized I didn't know quite what else I wanted to write for the rest of the chapter... I'm trying to give Nick a break from being the POV character by letting him out of a few chapters, but he's around and I think he has to at least participate in the plot for the chapter to continue for the other characters in the direction it needs to go, lol. The chapter that is going well feels like the finale at the end of the first act of a musical, lol. I say it's going well now. Two scenes of it are going well so far.
--- End quote ---
If Nick is demanding to be written, then keep writing him. He must not need a break LOL. He doesn't like to be out of the spotlight. I'm glad the other chapter is still going well so far. Finale at the end of the first act sounds exciting!
--- Quote from: nicksgal on April 28, 2021, 09:45:34 PM ---I'm glad you found a beginning! The start is what you need to get inspired! So now the hard part is all done; now you just have to get words to the page. I believe!
--- End quote ---
Hopefully! I did have a decent little writing session this morning while I was getting ready for work and wrote a couple solid paragraphs, so I'm hoping to be able to continue tonight.
--- Quote from: nicksgal on April 28, 2021, 09:45:34 PM ---LOL! We need a new six degrees of separation, the youths don't know who Kevin Bacon is anyway.
Kevin bought Nick a therapy whale! No, the line "You're my free willy" is in there somewhere! They're parodying the Michael Jackson song from the movie!
I've run out of ideas, but those are the funniest ones I can think of, lol.
Edited to add: I popped back in originally because google docs corrected my Brian to Brain again, so I backspaced to fix it... and it turned it right back to Brain. I do not use "brain" google docs. If I did, it would be harder to find Brian typos!
--- End quote ---
I love all those ideas! LOL And now that song is stuck in my head. "Hold me... like the river Jordan..." I love that song!
Damn you, Google Docs! That is so weird. I don't think it has ever autocorrected Brian into brain for me... unless it has and I have stories full of "Brains" I've never noticed?? LOL
RokofAges75:
--- Quote from: nicksgal on April 29, 2021, 05:13:38 PM ---I love how unrealisticall y NaNo believes in me reaching my goal. In the little stats center, it's like "if you only write 11,000 words today and tomorrow, you'll reach 60,000 words! You can do it!" You know, NaNo... I have never written 11,000 words in one day that I can recall. Not even in the earliest days of PBox. That would be like me sitting down and thinking I could write three to four chapters in a day. In a weekend? Maybe... depends on the four chapters. In a day? There's no way. In a day when I have nothing else to do? There's still no way. I would need you all to do like 7 hours worth of 15-minute word sprints with me. I don't think I've got that in me even on my best day, lol.
--- End quote ---
LOL Oh Nano... at some point, it's okay to lower your expectations and just say, "Well, at least you tried. Set a new goal and try again next month!" There's no way I could ever write 11,000 words in a day either. I think the most I've ever written in a day was like 7000-8000 words, but that would have been one of those times where I stayed up all night feverishly typing in a caffeine-fueled frenzy of inspiration. I don't think I could do that now, but back in the Broken/BMS era, maybe.
--- Quote from: nicksgal on April 29, 2021, 05:13:38 PM ---Today's NaNo Care package made me curious about everybody else's fantastic elements in their stories. Not me, obviously, because "It was magic" is a fairly simple explanation for 98% of the things I write. The other 2% is probably "It was a dream (and/or 'dream,' depending on the story... and if it was a 'dream,' well then it was probably magic, so... here we are at that 98% again)." Put those two things together in some form and you get... well PBox among other things, lol. Anyway, today's NaNo Care Package:
"As speculative fiction becomes more mainstream, fantastic elements are infiltrating every genre—even nonfiction and memoir. The trick is to find what feels (almost) possible to you. Whether it’s as subtle as the smoke alarm going off every time the MC fights with their husband or as wild as a slumber party ritual that conjures a pair of ancient beings, finding places to use even slightly fantastical elements can add depth and complexity, allowing you to express deeper themes and tell a more nuanced story."
Today's Writing Challenge:
Take Michelle's advice and write a scene where something fantastical or unexplained happens—whether it's as small as a surprising coincidence, or overtly magical.
Do you tend to write stories with magic in them? Or, back to the prompt, what's a small way you include the fantastic in your works if magic is not your "bread and butter"?
Well, on that note, I have an hour and a half to get cracking on this 11,000 words... wish me luck! ;)
--- End quote ---
This was an interesting prompt, something I've never really thought about before. I write mostly realistic fiction, so magic is not an element I use often. But now that I think about it, I have incorporated some of those small fantastical elements into otherwise realistic stories through dreams and/or hallucinations that have some kind of symbolic purpose. I've used both in MBK, and AHTIM had a whole subplot that played out in a series of near-death experience "dreams." Those work for me because, while fantastical, they can still be explained as figments of the sleeping/unconscious/drug-addled brain.
LOL Good luck with that!
RokofAges75:
So here's what I get for succumbing to the temptation to take a nap at 6 p.m. I woke up at 7:20 in a total panic, thinking it was 7:20 in the morning and I'd overslept. That is literally the latest I can leave my house and still make it to work on time. Thankfully, I only made it as far as the bathroom before I realized it was still evening and I'd only slept for an hour LOL.
Here's hoping my nap will help me get some writing done in the next hour or so.
nicksgal:
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on April 29, 2021, 08:54:12 PM ---If Nick is demanding to be written, then keep writing him. He must not need a break LOL. He doesn't like to be out of the spotlight. I'm glad the other chapter is still going well so far. Finale at the end of the first act sounds exciting!
--- End quote ---
I don't know that he's demanding to be written necessarily, but I guess he was just bored because he popped into the chapter and then took it a completely different direction from what I'd brought him in for even though he's still not the POV character. AJ and Howie got their directives back on track somewhat, but spotlight stealing squad Nick does it again, lol! And now I think this scene that I didn't know he wanted to happen has to be from his POV because he's probably the one that needs the lesson the most out of him, Howie, and AJ. Maybe I'm just lying to myself and Nick really did want to be the POV character again. ::) I'm sorry AJ and Howie, I really tried to give you some POV chapters where things were focused on you two!
That was actually my original intent in leaving Nick out for a bit: half giving him a break from his drama and half giving Howie, AJ, Brian, and Kevin some love and space to talk out what they have going on. But you're right, he has never let me forget that most of this magnum opus is his story, so I think he was just reminding me (and Brian -- this is really Brian's fault for telling Nick to go away from his stuff in the first place) that he's not going anywhere, but he's happy to give his friends some time in the spotlight if they need it and that he'll hang out in their narratives in the meantime.
Maybe it is a little exciting, but in a mundane way, not a "One Day More" kind of way even though that's what I've been humming to myself as I keep typing the phrase "starting tomorrow."
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on April 29, 2021, 08:54:12 PM ---Hopefully! I did have a decent little writing session this morning while I was getting ready for work and wrote a couple solid paragraphs, so I'm hoping to be able to continue tonight.
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Good for your morning session! I think you've got this! I wrote about 375 words this morning and 275 words this afternoon before my last Thursday night training (finally), and the chapter still seems ready to write so I'm hoping that I can continue my mojo and maybe finish it out, or at least get a good chunk out of it (I was just bored at the end of the training and saw that you had posted, lol).
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on April 29, 2021, 08:54:12 PM ---I love all those ideas! LOL And now that song is stuck in my head. "Hold me... like the river Jordan..." I love that song!
--- End quote ---
You know I'm always good for ridiculous jokes. ;) I love that song too. I want to listen to it, but it has nothing to do with what I'm writing, lol.
Only sort of on topic, but... I was once at a young professional's event at our museum where they do a science talk (with a panel or an expert) about a temporary/traveling exhibit. Then they open the museum up afterward and you can wander around with drinks and such, see the new exhibit and some old favorites. It was really fun! Anyway, at the end of the night there's a big dance party in the atrium and near the end of it, they played that song and seeing an entire room of Millennials (mostly) all doing the arms wide open while singing was one of the greatest things I've ever seen. I laughed so hard after realizing it wasn't just me and my friends doing it.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on April 29, 2021, 08:54:12 PM ---Damn you, Google Docs! That is so weird. I don't think it has ever autocorrected Brian into brain for me... unless it has and I have stories full of "Brains" I've never noticed?? LOL
--- End quote ---
I told you, I literally watch it do it and hate it every time. I always wonder if google reads back the sentence and goes "Oh, my bad, 'Brain' doesn't make sense, you must have actually meant 'Brian.' Carry on." Run a quick "find and replace" for "Brain" and see what pops up, maybe you do. :-*
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