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Chatterbox: Inkwell
Writing Group!
Writing Group!
Basically, anyone can join, and just exchange writing for critiques and such. Inspire ideas for characters and world building, maybe. Poetry is also fine.
submitted by Moon Wolf , age lunaryears, A Celestial Sky
(December 3, 2023 - 3:54 pm)
(December 3, 2023 - 3:54 pm)
recently realized: an excessive amount of my writing is just attacking tropes i've recently seen in other writing. generally from writing i really like. and often, i even like the tropes i'm attacking. maybe just how my brain works? but i distinctly remember reading a lot of stuff with teenagers as the protagonists, and i thought, "huh, if i were in this story, the aliens attacking would actually really freak me out." and so now my protagonists generally are... freaked out by the horrible things that happen. i also remember thinking, back when i first started writing, "wow, being an adventurer would actually really suck for most people, and negatively affect their well-being," and now that has warped all of my writing.
in short, i am a very argumentative person, and that is why horrible things keep happening to the characters i create. :\
(December 15, 2023 - 9:51 pm)
The poor characters! But, in all honesty, that's an interesting approach. Would you care to share what your story is about, since it seems quite interesting.
(December 19, 2023 - 11:50 pm)
well, i write a lot of stuff. i... finish a lot less than i start. everything i write is set in the same universe, because i just HAVE to be different or i'll die. i cll it the spiderlegs mythos, and i cowrite with some friends occasionally. but he things i'm focused on right now is a story called And? which is entirely focused on deconstructing the tropes of "childhood heroes versus the forces of darkness" and "the chosen one" to some... honestly genuinely unpleasant places. it is not appropriate for the CB.
my other main story is on the cb actually. it's that terminal thing. which you might have read? it kind of has similar themes, but i'm more focused on seeing how i can deconstruct RPG tropes and also how many queer characters i can jam into a story before it just gets ludicrous. (THE ANSWER IS ALL OF THEM.)
(December 24, 2023 - 12:12 pm)
*mental lightbulb goes on suddenly* But... isn't having queer characters also slightly a trope?? I mean, not that it's bad to have queer characters, I just feel like it's really common?
(December 24, 2023 - 12:46 pm)
yeah, definitely. again, i have nothing against tropes. they're cool. and unavoidable in writing. i just deconstruct them instinctually, because i am weird.
and as for the whole queer character thing... i'm queer. so that's why. i want my characters to... be like me. and queer characters (or main characters, at least) aren't that common either. they're getting more common, which rocks.
i really only write things because i get these pictures and stories in my head, and they don't exist yet. so i need to take things into my own hands. does that make sense, or am i rambling?
(December 24, 2023 - 1:01 pm)
Oh yeah, that makes sense! I'm the same way about making my characters be like me, at least for my main ones; I get more interested in them that way :) I've been branching out a bit, though. Lately my protagonists seem to be more varied, idk why. Anyway, the reason I asked was just because I've seen a bunch of queer characters in books, especially YA; I agree that the majority of protagonists are still non-queer, but it seems like almost every book I pick up has at least one minor queer charrie. Then again, I mostly stick to rom-coms because they're less focused on Dire Despair; maybe it's different in other genres?
Iffy, you really cannot keep falling asleep this way. (she says "dgtzz."
(December 26, 2023 - 11:49 am)
i think it's good that so many characters are queer now. but that runs the risk of tokenizing them. I think queer characters shouldn't be just set pieces, y'know? the point of them shouldn't be that they're queer. they still ought to be good characters.
(December 26, 2023 - 8:35 pm)
Exactly! It legit feels like a lot of authors are just shoving in queer characters because they think "ooh, if I include a queer character people will want to read the book and I can sell more copies." The same thing seems to be happening with including characters of non-Anglo-Saxon cultures, which is even more annoying, because the authors invariably misrepresent those cultures. (I went into a whole discussion of that on the "Hispanic Heritage Month" thread I made back in November, so I won't go into it again here, but it really does irritate me :/)
(December 26, 2023 - 10:36 pm)
I agree. Queer representation is amazing, but it's annoying when it's the character's whole personality. It can be tricky though because if the reader doesn't hear many references about them, they can often assume the character is non-queer, as it's considered the 'default.'
(December 26, 2023 - 11:08 pm)
Trying to be more active on Inkwell in the midst of a sea of homework BECAUSE I CAN.
One of the things I still haven't mastered is writing beginnings. I understand that most fiction books jump into the plot of things as quickly as possible to keep the reader intrested, which is where 'favorite first sentences' come from. So how can I keep the pace of the story up to speed when I also need to introduce the entire setting the story is held in within the first few chapters (especially in the first chapter/prologue)? I'm currently trying to keep the explanations as natural as possible by threading them into the storyline and fragmenting them into bits to keep things small, but somehow I always manage to end up writing myself into a place where I need a lengthy explanation. To keep things simple, I don't really know when and how much to explain, or the best place to start explaning. The entire picture of my world just seems too big to tackle. Could anyone share some advice?
(December 27, 2023 - 7:04 am)
a few fragmented thoughts -
the main problem is probably "the entire picture of my world just seems too big to tackle". Do you have to explain the whole world? how much do readers have to know to enjoy the opening? more of it can come later.
because of this, it might help to choose smaller conflict that still relates to the major conflict. if there's a war, maybe the war is making it so a farm can't sell its produce or something. for an opening, i'd err on the side of less complex and more interesting. choosing a specific problem it effects would also allow for smaller bits of the major plot to be added in, while being more immediately interesting. basically start with as little information as possible and build upon it (while keeping readers entertained with some sort of plot); don't try to do too much with your opening.
and dont' forget about your characters while choosing the conflict! how can this conflict show off their personalities and the things that'll make readers like them? If they're in deep misfortune after a big mistake, how can this conflict bring that out and show how they didn't intend to make the mistake and are trying to right it to little avail? If they're witty and charismatic but secretly hurt, maybe a ball scene where they are trying to steal the show until someone brings up what hurts them. (the thing to note there is that if being openly hurt was a contrast with their usual personality, you might only want to show them feeling that way becuase that reaction will set a convention that they're going to react that way since it's the opening and readers don't know otherwise). Same with the world, if it's interesting. whatever the best part of your book is, bring it out.
similarly i wouldn't suggest a "show the world" opening unless your world is very, very interesting, and that alone is not a great thing to depend on since it's so subjective and will likely disappear when someone else does the same thing.
also Zealatom hi!!!!!
(December 27, 2023 - 10:52 am)
i really like what Blackfooted Bobcat said about the opening being less complex. there's a quote--I forget who said it or the exact wording, but you could probably look it up--that says that the bigger the issue you're talking about, the smaller you write. so, you don't write about war; you write about one kid's burnt shoes lying on the side of the road. i think the same thing applies for introducing your world. i don't think you necessarily need to introduce the entire setting in the first few chapters. just focus on one aspect that represents the world as a whole, and you can always add more details in later, if that makes sense.
also, i've found that you can make infodumps feel less infodump-y by adding emotion. just explaining one aspect of your world can feel bland, but explaining it through a character's eyes and seeing their perspective, memories, biases, etc can make it more interesting, as well as helping develop your characters. or conveying info through dialogue, if it feels natural.
hope this helped at least a little bit :] and it's so good to see you again, Zealatom :DD
(December 27, 2023 - 7:14 pm)
Hi! Cool problem.
Personally, I like to be vague, but introduce the story at where it is. For example, one of my books is the character writing the truth of their story, so I introduce it with them talking directly to the reader. You can try that method if you would like, but it doesn't work with all kinds of plots. Honestly, the best advice I can give is asking you some questions.
Who is telling the story?
Use that answer to see if you'll start with talking to the reader or not.
What is going on?
Try to incorporate the genre (dystopian, fantasy, romance, etc.) and give a clue to what's going on or what has already happened. If the main character, or the narrator telling the story, did something that changed everything, then alude to it. If the story happens because of an event, start it with that (think "a long time ago," and stuff like that) or some kind of prologue for the tale.
Lastly, make multiple of these 'hooks' and choose the best hook you have. If it still needs some work, that's fine. Stories aren't perfect at first.
(December 27, 2023 - 1:11 pm)
Well, I would say you should just write it however you want; the very best writers, like Joseph Conrad, William Shakespeare, George Eliot, etc., never followed rules. I've recently been reading Chance by Joseph Conrad, who iin my opinion was almost a genius, and good heavens his writing style was so difficult to untangle! The novel is just a mess of flashbacks, flashforwards, multiple narrators, and long explanations that you don't really want to read, and it gets a bit confusing. Yet somehow, Conrad managed to turn it into a very deep, revelatory, and even entertaining (yes, entertaining!) narrative. I think that all writers are different and have a particular style which they are best suited to, so if your impulse is to write a certain way, it's probably because your subconscious knows that that's the way in which you will be able to express yourself best. It might not be suited to someone else, but it's suited to you! And writing in that style will probably be more fulfilling and interesting for you. Never mind about the readers; after you've edited and polished whatever needs polishing, they can figure it out for themselves >:)
(January 1, 2024 - 11:39 am)
if i write a character, you can probably assume they're queer.
queer until proven otherwise
(December 27, 2023 - 8:36 am)