Check In Day 5

[goldentunes]

Hello!

If you’re seeing this at the beginning of your day, what’s your writing plan? 

• I plan on doing research
• I plan on drafting 
• I plan on writing something new
• I plan on working on an existing piece
• I plan on sending off some writing to my beta
• I plan on posting today 
• I plan on taking a break
• I need to sort out some Life Stuff
• I’m going spelunking 🔦📸
• None of the above, I plan to do something else (please do share 😊) 

If you’re seeing this at the end of your day, how did the writing go? Did you do any of the above? If you didn’t, what did you do instead?

Optional discussion: “A good writer writes from experience.” What do you think of this statement? To what extent would you agree/disagree?

Comments

[omens]

I plan on writing! I plan on spinning the spinny wheel of wips and writing on whatever comes up. Not feeling my main projects today, but I want to keep the daily habit going, so that I'm ready when the feeling's back.

IMO, I agree, but sometimes I wish my experience was a lot more than "has felt the full range of human emotion," you know? Sometimes I wish I could download the law/crimefighting/science expansion pack without research :P but I do get a lot of inspiration from the people in my life.

[goldentunes]

Hey that’s a cool method! I have a folder called “ideas” that is just… languishing. And the longer I leave these ideas the more likely it is that they’ll never see the light of day. I might give this a go after my deadlines and see if I can work on any of them!

😂 I definitely wish I could get all the DLCs too so my writing can feel rich.

[omens]

ooh good luck if you try! I don't force it too much, just drop a sentence and move on if it's not going anywhere. But I at least try, because you never know. Also a big fan of the ideas folder :D

[goldentunes]

I like your advice of just dropping a sentence! So often (aka all the time) when I sit down to write I feel like I Must Write 1-2k.

The ideas folder is a dangerous one haha. Things get lost oh so very easily in there… but let me know how it goes if you try it!

[omens]

oh no, I definitely have an ideas folder ;_; :D but I use Scrivener, so they're all just sitting there in the left pane, staring at me!

Those 1-2k days, though!!! That is super, super rare for me.

[goldentunes]

Scrivener! I looked it up once when I was considering getting it, but it looks soooo confusing. /cries. I don't know how you do it. Right now I have a massive G doc full of annotations which is a mess and is therefore not ideal, but I have yet to find a better alternative. Sigh. One day!!!

Those don't come too often for me too. But I usually manage 1k+ on "better" days which is helpful because I have so many deadlines I have to meet. I have started to forget what it means to "write for thyself" and I fear I will have to spend a long time figuring out what this means again for me once all my deadlines are met!

[quamquam20]

I plan on writing. I'm working on a fic for a pairing-specific themed collection, and the theme is actually one I'm typically not at all interested in. But then I had an idea, and you know how it goes. So that's fun.

Like most writing maxims, I think "writing what you know" or "writing from experience" is often used in unhelpful ways. Believable details are great for immersion, but believable doesn't always mean realistic. Realism or immersion might not even be the goal or fit the style. And if we only stick to things we have personally experienced, we're severely limiting ourselves and our art.

At the same time, I think something kind of magical happens when people write about things they are very familiar with. Probably a confidence thing, both from the writing end and the reader's.

[vriddy]

Believable details are great for immersion, but believable doesn't always mean realistic.

Hear, hear!

[blackiceboba]

I think something kind of magical happens when people write about things they are very familiar with.

Honestly, this. I always interpreted "write what you know" as "use your knowledge to inform the story" as opposed to use your IRL experiences. Like. . .sometimes a person's own IRL experiences might come out (gods know I've vented my own traumas onto characters in the past) but I always love how you can TELL when a person is just KNOWLEDGEABLE about a specific topic.

[goldentunes]

Hurrah to trying something new! Who knows, maybe after this it will be something you might want to write regular? Wouldn’t that be cool.

Agreed. I think there is a fine balance between writing things you know and have experience in to help your writing versus letting your imagination run wild, and ideally you should have a bit (or maybe a lot!) of both.

[vriddy]

I've been brainstorming various ideas. Hoping it leads somewhere eventually!!

[quamquam20]

So fun! Sometimes I think that's my favorite part of writing.

[goldentunes]

Whoohoo!! Hope those ideas will be spun into beautiful stories whenever you’re ready for it!

[frogfarm]

I am writing. Started the draft of a short I've been wanting to do for a while. It ties perfectly into the canon and I hope we get a scene like this in canon before it's over.

[frogfarm]

Also, I don't necessarily write from my own experience. But it seems to work just fine.

[goldentunes]

Oooh I love this sort of thing! Wouldn’t it be fun if your scene, or something similar, did appear in canon later?

Completely agree. It’s just like the old adage you learn from your mistakes - these mistakes don’t actually ALL have to be yours.

[blackiceboba]

I started working on something I got inspiration for on a whim. I have no idea where it's going outside of the ONE SCENE that was the inspiration and now I have to fill out the beginning and end bits. >__<

[goldentunes]

(😯 Is that Mikorin?? I love it!!!)

That’s all you need! And hell yeah to inspiration!!! Also, I had inspiration last year for a single scene which I was super excited about, wrote that scene first and proceeded to build around it, and it’s now turned into a 100k monster 🤣

You got this!!

[blackiceboba]

(IT IS! I LOVE GSNK so much and he's my favorite.)

I'm trying to keep this one UNDER 10K cause my last fic that was supposed to only be 2k topped out at like 32K and I'm pretty sure the one I've got coming up for an event is gonna be LONG on purpose. But this fic is also a lot of rambling introspection so we shall see.

[goldentunes]

(IT IS THE BEST THING EVER I HAVE EVERY SINGLE VOLUME AND HAVE WATCHED IT 747374 TIMES)

😂 That’s how it always starts, but it sounds like you got this! Hell yeah!!

[goldentunes]

Okay. Time for my own check in.

So things are not going well. I had little pockets of time today but my brain just wouldn’t work with me. I think I might be tired because this week has just been horrible, but I think it might also be burnout. The night isn’t over but at this point I wonder if I should just check out and maybe watch a relaxing movie instead. I don’t want to rush this fic, but I also really really really want to get it out. Hm.

I think experience is important as it tends to lend to better, richer, more believable writing. But there is an extent to this, and it very much depends on the type of story and content. For example, I don’t think people need to have experienced hatching dragon eggs and dragon riding and witches brewing magical potions for vampires to write an amazing story!

In my opinion, a good writer writes from the heart. It is apparent when a writer writes about a topic close to them and when a writer writes about a topic they love. This is the kind of writer I strive to be.

[omens]

ooof, hope today is looking better for you. Sometimes we really do just need a break!

[goldentunes]

Thank you!! Yeah agreed. Breaks are important, managing expectations are important, I think taking a step back too can also help sometimes! 💙

[vriddy]

Sorry to hear your week's been horrible :( I hope the weekend treats you more kindly!

[goldentunes]

<3