Writer's Workshop

Just like the captions says, do you enjoy reading your own work?

I just started my second round of editing and there are parts of my book that aren’t the most intense or profound but things flow and I find myself enjoying more and critiquing less.

Is that how you know your on to something or is there just a a sense of pride? Like a mother who watches there kid completely suck at something but they think they are the best kid out there?

There is so little that makes me want to read a book less than comps. It just sounds like you're reheating someone else's leftovers, I hate doing them because it makes ME sound like I'm ripping someone else off, even if the comps really were inspiration for the story. They aren't necessarily bad, but they give no context for anything. "Game of Thrones meets World War Z" Okay what parts of them? Does everything in the same genre as something popular have to be compared to that thing?

Just tell me what the story is about. Don't sell me a chicken sandwich by comparing it to a hamburger because they both have buns, you know?

So I just barely finished my first screenplay (Yay)! I'm currently in the process of gathering feedback from my personal friends and acquaintances (local theater directors, my high school drama teacher, my pickiest friend studying writing, my little sister, etc).

After gathering their feedback, I was thinking about submitting the script to the BL websites and festivals to get more "industry" feedback (and also for poops and giggles). I'm testing the waters for studying writing in college, and this seems like a good place to start.

The problem, and my question to you today, is that I wrote the script using the only formatting I'm natively familiar with, which is that of one-act plays. How essential is proper formatting and centered text? I downloaded a font extension and stuff, but it would just take a looooot of editing, and the remastered script would probably be around 160 pages based on what I've seen (it's not necessarily long, just a comedy with lots of back-and-forth).

I'd hate to start submitting it and only get notes on proper formatting and editing, so I'm totally willing to go through and change it! I just want to know the most important rules for screenwriting + formatting. How important is listing specific camera angles? What's the space indentation for the lines of dialogue? (It looks like three-ish clicks of the tab key). Why are certain words randomly all-caps as if the sitting president of the U.S. wrote them? etc.

I see this come up a lot, and I get why. Naming things can be difficult - especially if you’re like me and tend to stress about finding the perfect name for everything. I’ve come up with a process that takes forever but guarantees results. If you’re able to pull a name out of thin air and move on, you probably won’t find this method helpful, but you might get a laugh out of the long and agonizing process anyway lmao

To clarify, I use this process for characters, places, book titles, and pretty much any proper noun, but I’ll just be using characters for this example.

Step 0: Pick a placeholder name. Ideally you want something ridiculous enough that you’re not attached to it but not so ridiculous that you can’t really use it. A normal earth name in a non-earth setting, or even Potato. But Travngolamenthia Blanchiestia the Third is probably less usable (unless you’re really going to commit to typing that every time). The goal is to just have a name you can write with for now. I don’t recommend names that are common words or pieces of common words, like Hat (part of that) or Ace (part of place) since you’ll be doing a find + replace later.

Important: Write your draft with your placeholder name. Don’t let your search for the perfect name interfere with your writing. The whole point of a placeholder name is to be able to write the draft and let the naming process happen when it happens. I separate my drafting time from my worldbuilding time entirely. WRITE THAT DRAFT

Step 1: Figure out what kind of name you want. I consider the following criteria:

• Earth name or made up? (Mary vs. Garniuth)
• Long or short? (Generally just how many syllables) 
• What kind of sounds? (Hard sounds like K or G? Tender sounds like TH or L? Sneaky ones like S or X?)
• Pronounceability? (Do I want to prioritize the name, whether it’s complex or not? Am I okay with sparking another Jasnah/Yasnah debate? Etc.)
• Language Rules? (Many languages don't include certain sounds. I've found using similar restrictions makes my names sound more cohesive. For example, one of my made up societies has no plosives, AKA P, B, M)
• Evocative of anything? (Such as including the syllable “mal” for a villain, or a name that reminds someone of flowers)

Step 2: Make a document or a spreadsheet and go to a baby naming website. Scroll through names starting with your sounds of choice. Any potentials go into the spreadsheet. I use two columns: Names from said website, and names inspired from the website but that I made up. That way I can consider any real names and their meanings if I end up going with one of them. 

Step 3: Over the next few days/weeks/however long you want, add any name ideas to the spreadsheet. Don’t re-read it at all, only add. (Adding duplicates is okay, even preferred) 

Step 4: After some time has elapsed, go back to your spreadsheet and read through all the names. Your writer’s gut will kick in and some names will immediately give you an ick. I usually bold my favorites/top contenders. Duplicates definitely get bolded, since that means my brain landed on the same idea multiple times.

Sometimes I’m able to land on the perfect name here, but usually I’m more indecisive than that lol so I will repeat steps 3 and 4 a few times, doing rounds of elimination until I have just a few to pick from. Since I have a placeholder name, there is zero urgency to make any final decisions whatsoever, so I can take all the time I need and not let it hinder my writing. 

Step 5: Once you land on a name, a quick find + replace in your document makes your new name good to go. No momentum lost, no stress. 

This mostly works for important characters or things. For side or one-off characters, I have a random letter generated (usually in the form of asking whoever is with me to pick a letter) and just toss a vowel or two followed by a couple consonants until I have a name, whether that turns into a real name or a made up one (Depending on the genre I’m writing in). Even I’m not dedicated enough to go through this whole process for the random street vendor getting yelled at by his wife in chapter 3. 

What about you? What are your favorite methods for naming things? Did I miss anything?

I'm not even saying this as a bad thing, like sometimes I really want to sit down with a book and it's nothing but the author explaining the deep intricacies of their world before we even get to read about the MC.

I'm weird, I usually put on a retrospective or deep lore video when I work. This year it was Monster Hunter and Final Fantasy. Last year I think it was Parasite Eve and Resident Evil. It's a niche thing but there is a genre for everything in the writing world, and I think for people like me who want to know the inner cavity of the story they're reading this could be interesting if nothing else.

So yoo!!

I was wondering... how did you all come up with your novel or story ideas?

I'll tell you how I got mine.

I was at the lowest point in my life. Everything had fallen apart. I had nothing left. I was basically a broken TV.

...Just kidding. 😂 I'm doing fine.

The actual reason? An anime meme.

Yep. My entire novel exists because of a stupid anime meme. Lol.

Now it's your turn.

What's the dumbest, most ridiculous idea, scene, or inspiration that somehow turned into your novel or story?

Let's make this a little Writer Challenge:

What's the stupidest idea you've ever turned into a story?

(⁠•⁠▽⁠•⁠;⁠) Go ahead. I genuinely want to hear them.

There''s an old saying that "the people who made the most money during the California Gold Rush weren't the miners. It was the people who sold whiskey and shovels to the miners. The same is true in the world of self-publishing. There are a lot more bogus editors, hack graphic artists and rip-off book preparation and publishing services than there are independent authors making a good living from self-publishing. When you see people on here giving you stock advice and telling you that self-publishing is easy you just need to pay for an editor, buy your amazon ads and build your network, there's a 99% chance they're involved in those industries that prey on the aspirations of others and they are actively misrepresenting themselves on here.

Also remember that garbage sells. Harold Innis, who was a key theorist in the realm of communication theory and the inspiration for the work of Marshall McLuhan only sold a few thousand copies of his academic works in his lifetime. Max Brand was a millionaire in the 1930s.

One the most common forms of advice I see from editors is that every chapter and paragraphs should be doing something that advances the plot.

If it’s not doing that then it doesn’t belong. With regard to flashbacks. These by nature don’t advance the plot. Is the case that flashback can reveal elements of the plot you wouldn’t otherwise see? Or am I fundamentally missing something here?

Idk, for some reason I'm struggling to remember good examples of this. They must exist, right? When you're writing in third person, it's easier to assume that descriptions of characters' looks are objective and just giving us a prompt to imagine them... But when you apply that same logic to first person, it doesn't quite hold because you sort of assume the narrator character's subjectivity as a reader. How would you go about ensuring that your narrator character isn't necessarily judging people's looks (which becomes an even bigger problem where race is involved), but instead simply giving us a glimpse into what they noticed in the scene? I say that because sometimes, ensuring representation is important; But I'm running into this pickle now that I chose first person. Help lol

The idea intrigues me. Making the first couple chapters free, and the rest behind a monthly pay wall. Figure each chapter released per week.

Im working on this new novel idea of mine set in a cinema and I have a killer who must learn to kill people without spilling blood after he's come to an understanding with the cinema owner because cleaning blood from cinema seats is a no go.

So far I've locked down :

-Strangulation by hanging.

-Poison.

-Neck snapping.

-Drowning

Are there any other methods? Perhaps a bow and arrow but that will no doubt leave a little bit of blood

I won't give names, but I was contacted by a famous screenwriter and producer and we talked and moved the conversation on whatsapp.

It went well, until he/she started presenting me a crypto investment site and assured me I will win a lot of money.

He/she kept insisting I should join and won't stop praising it and presented me evidence(screenshots) of his/her huge earnings from that site. I just blocked that screenwriter. Was it a scam?

How does it work? I’d love to hear from someone’s experience. Thanks in advance!

I’m finally getting ready to upload my book and I’m trying to figure out the difference between Amazon, Ingram, and apparently I have an account from a long time ago on something called Draft2Digital.

Someone else is telling me that I need to make sure that my book is available on bookshop.org.

I am most interested in people being able to easily buy the paperback, and ideally have it stocked in some stores and retail locations.

I’m also wondering about the procedure for making it available in both the UK and Australia? Would I need different ISBN numbers? Obviously the price would either be in pounds or Australian dollars, does Amazon handle that automatically or is there a different service I use for those countries?

Thanks in advance, this sub is great for helping me figure things out!

I normally like to land around 5k words but occasionally will get to 7 or 8k words if the narrative fits.

The current draft of the last chapter of my book is getting a bit longer than I expected though. Which brings me to the question:

How long is too long for a chapter? Even if the narrative is strong and driving

Hi all,

entering a 1 page horror contest and wanted to share what I have and get feedback on all aspects.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/19_on_m8MKkUEr-IZZw0gBIVcu8Q95IIY/view?usp=drive_link

Thanks.

I was raised to story telling in my family. A favorite game with my mother was the "Three Thing Story": the listener gives the storyteller a list of three different things, and they make something up on the fly. Even if I'm the one coming up with everything, I build stories as a collaborative effort with receptive "listeners". I present a concept, they ask questions, and I come up with explanations. I often will do hours of research to form my initial concept, but I still have to tell someone about it to "finalize" it in my mind.

I started writing longform prose fiction in my early 20s, after doing the occasional short story in my teens, and that's been about 10 years ago now. When my brain agrees to let me work my method can produce really good results for a first draft, and I've finished drafts for several books. My specialty is Earth based alt-history fantasy, and the three main books I finished were set in medieval Korea, and two in New York City; the 1933 one was heavily alternative world, while the 1998 piece was realistic urban fantasy.

So I wonder if there's anyone else who does it this way! It'd be cool to get some tips on ways to use this method.