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drown

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  1. drown

    Cinematic

    By drown,


    writing
    I could’ve titled this entry “Doubt” again like the previous one. As the stakes of my story get higher, and the threads I’m weaving are only just beginning to come together, I have doubts again. More than ever before. Is it getting ridiculous? Is it still believable? Even a fantasy story has to be believable. I love these characters so much, and they’ve grown in me for such a long time, that it would end me if anyone hated them.
    I sound ridiculous.
    So to give my characters and story depth, I try to draw the reader in. I check my writing against this list I made:
    Vivid Descriptions: Are my scenes detailed and vivid enough? Can someone visualize what I imagined the scene to be? Are there enough sounds, smells, textures? Dynamic Characters: Do my characters fall flat in any given scene? I was acutely aware of this in chapters 4–7. So much dialog, so much having to establish these people as individuals and not just an amalgamation of voices in my head. Can you hear their conflicts, emotions, distant personalities? You’re all seeing this through one guy’s view after all. Strong Emotional Resonance: What the title says. Is it resonating? Ahhhhhh. Visual Storytelling: Is there enough show rather than tell? I have so much dialog. Is it too much? Is it balanced? Pacing and Structure: I mean, I already had comments for too many cliffhangers at the end of chapters. Haha. So there is a kind of structure. Is that structure working? How is the pacing? Do you get bored reading it? Use of Dialogs and Internal Monologs: Are the dialogs believable or are they “cringe”? Is my protagonist talking to himself in his head too little or too much? Is the wolf voice working? Dramatic Tension and Conflict: Does the plot come across? Am I just stringing people along? Carrot on a stick too much or just right? Imaginative and Dynamic Scenes: Is there enough action? Cinematic storytelling should come through here. I might be tainted by having watched too many shows and too many movies. But I don’t think it’s a bad thing for this to happen on page. Is it working? I’m very methodical. But sucking up all the information out there like a sponge still doesn’t mean you’ll be able to bring it all together.
    Maybe this list helps someone else, too. Now I’ll go back to panicking about the rising stakes in my story. Ridiculous.
  2. drown

    Doubt

    By drown,


    writing
    Writing about not writing is, in fact, writing. So now I have a blog!
    Having the perfect writing setup for over a decade isn't actually enough to produce good writing. Duh. Of course, it isn't. I pride myself on being a good judge of quality, and nothing I had written passed the test. Judging it by my standards was enough for me to decide, "Nope."
    But:
    To get better at writing, you need outside feedback. Even mediocre writing will be improved with furious editing. I heavily underestimated how fun it is to know that people read my work. I even more heavily underestimated how fun it is to get feedback on it. I appreciate it so much. A few calm days over the holidays with my family, and I finally decided now is the time. I took a writing project of mine, kept the title, kept the outline, and got to work. The polished work is nothing like what it was just a week ago, and with a heavy rewrite of Chapter Three, I now set the bar higher for myself. That's ok. I'm still on a high, knowing that this community here welcomed me with open arms. And I would rather not submit shit.
    I debated for a long time if I should finish the whole project once and for all, and then start posting. But then I remembered #1 above, to get better at writing, you need outside feedback. I hope to retain a good pace with releasing new chapters. And as I casually skim through the chapters I have prepared, I am trying to convince myself that I won't have to rewrite most of that. I probably will. It really requires some work.  
    What gives you inspiration to write?
    What is your writing setup? Are you interested in mine?
    What do you do when you hit a wall and don't know how to continue?
    What do you do when your dialogs are shit one day, and you start slapping yourself (happened today)?
    Please don't hesitate to comment, I would so love that  And if you want to read that story—the first story I've ever posted anywhere—you should totally do so!
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