Crash and Fancy’s Despicable Hearts (and Writers) Club™

[fancy]

I've been slaggin' but today I was able to write out a thousand words! And I feel this relief off my shoulders, like, I didn't even realise my lack of writing had been bothering me as much as it had!

THANK YOU for everything that you do Crash and for keeping the club alive with your enthusiasm and energy. You're a star!

 

[CrashOuch]

FANCY THAT'S INCREDIBLE! You put me to shame! Would you mind telling us what sort of a thing it was that you wrote? Story stuff or something else?

I started rewriting a story but I didn't get that far and I don't think it counts cos I'm mainly just, like, literally rewriting it almost the same and just changing teeny bits here and there. And then I did some of that character meme but I also didn't get that far. I'm gonna try to at least do 500 words of something before bedtime tomorrow though haha.

I'm so pleased that writing made you feel good! Let's hope it can do the same for us all!

 

[CrashOuch]

Hello, Despicable Hearts! Shockingly, it's somehow been a whole nother week!

Who's done some writing?​

I have not. Well, I have done some writing, but not enough. I will try super much harder to have something to show for next week, though!

Here is a quote/kind of sort of piece of advice from a writer:

One of the things I think I’m proudest of in this decade is learning how different a manuscript can be while still being the same novel.
I’m ever so much faster at going through permutations now without worrying about whether or not I’ve broken the inherent concept. ~ Maggie Stiefvater

In this quote she's talking about editing books in order for them to be 'fit' for publishing. I'm not sure how encouraging this is, exactly? But I read it this week and I have been thinking about it a lot, so now you all can, too! I'm rewriting a story because I thought its second half was too weak and also because the actual plot isn't important, in this case, because the plot is not the story I set out to tell in it, you feel me? Which I kind of feel is what Maggie's talking about above, to do some degree, at least. However, I have another story that is too tightly wrapped up all in its plot and that is my baby and the mere thought of making dramatic changes to it is like a physical pain. I always dreamed one day way in the future I'd be able to get it published, but now I don't think I can do that, and I've been thinking about that a lot this week. I don't wanna be a downer though! In some ways, this is a pretty freeing realisation! No worrying about making it conform to any particular thing! No worrying about various editors judging it and disapproving of it! It can take any shape it wants!

I also think that her quote above can be encouraging because, again, you don't have to get your words down right the first time, or even the second time, you just have to keep going until it takes the right shape and tells the story as well as possible!

Keep writing!​

 

[Roger]

Actually did my 500 words for the week this morning!

 

[CrashOuch]

Congrats congrats! I'm so proud! How was it? Did they come easy?

 

[Roger]

Fairly easy! I had a good idea of character and setting, and last night I hit upon what I want the plot and motivation that drives my character to be and my reluctance to put words on paper went away for a bit.

 

[CrashOuch]

Ahhhh! That's really, really awesome man I'm so pleased for you!!! I hope that reluctance stays away for a bit! Good job! <3

 

[Channy]

I'VE COME TO JOIN THE CLUB AND WILL WRITE MOAR WHEN I HAVE TIME YAAAAY

 

[CrashOuch]

Yaaay! Good to have you Channy! Happy writing <3

 

[CrashOuch]

HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR! I am SO sorry that I've been slacking! I promise I'm working on it and I'll have something to share with this lil club soon! <3

In the meantime, did anyone manage to do any writing while (if) they had down time over the holiday period??? Would anyone like to share any details about the project they're working on? What genre is it? How big is your cast? Do you have a favourite character? What kinds of scenes are you enjoying thinking about/planning/writing the most so far? Let us know! <3

Happy writing!

 

[fancy]

Crash, I never responded to your first inquiry because I was being all SHY ABOUT MY WORK, but it was just like... character development stuff and testing to see how one character would react to a scenario.

I want to report that I got in my 500 words last week!!! Even when I was away, I was thinking about this club and writing so yay!

 

[CrashOuch]

CONGRATS CONGRATS FANCY!

I feel you for being shy it's okay <3 we all shy

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

While I was in the Masai Mara (work), I didn't have access to wifi so I spent a lot of my down time writing. I thought I'd miss the internet, but instead I did more interesting things. I wish I was still there.

 

[CrashOuch]

That's so awesome, Lic! It's a shame the internet is such a distraction, isn't it! I wonder how powerful we could all become with enforced breaks from it or something.

Anyway! Did you start writing something new or were you continuing an ongoing project? How did it feel to be getting words out? Good, I hope! <3

 

[CrashOuch]

Hello, Despicable Hearts!

Who's done some writing?​

I didn't want the year to get off to too bad of a start so I sat down tonight and made myself do some writing and managed just a smidge over 500 words. PHEW! I'm determined to finish rewriting a short story I wrote last year but I have roundabout another 10k or so words to go until it will be in any sort of state fit enough to be shared with you guys.

BUT I thought maybe we could play a game. How abouts we all post the first sentence of something we've written? Doesn't have to be something current you're working on or anything, just anything you feel like sharing, even if it's a single line you wrote ten years ago and never touched again. I'm really shy about sharing these sorts of things but I am hereby declaring a rule that if anyone posts anything here, we can all only say a nice thing about it unless the person who posted it specifically asks for help improving their work. Does that seem fair? I feel like it's fair.

Here's one of my first sentences:

Standing silently in the kitchen doorway, Arif could only make out a silhouette of the figure by the sink, their outline a faint silvery blue, the edges picked out by the moon through the window. Without making a sound, he flipped on the light.

Which is from this particular short story that is maybe probably the thing I am most proud of ever writing.

Have any of you managed to write your 500 words? Do any of you have a first sentence you'd feel comfortable sharing?

 

[Claymore]

That's a really brilliant opening Crash. Sets a tension and mood for the scene, immediately making you want to read on.

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

That's a great opening sentence. It gives me a vivid mental image and also a slight sense of menace, which is what makes me want to find out what happens next. Of course we don't know whether Arif is the menacing one, or the figure by the sink, or whether in fact there's no menace at all, and the flick of the switch will shed light on it all.

 

[CrashOuch]

I just now realised that's TWO sentences not one, please excuse me, I was very tired when I posted that hahaha.

OH WOW Claymore and Lic thank you so much! Your kind words mean so much to me and I really really appreciate them! You guys made my day! <3 <3 <3

Did anyone else want to talk about how their writing is going??

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

My writing has ground to a halt now that the infinite distractions of the Internet are available to me again.

Who here likes to write in the present tense? Can I ask you why you like it?

I should nail my colours to the mast straight away and say I will never buy a novel written in the present tense, because it's so irritating to me and feels so pretentious. I probably won't read a present-tense fanfic unless it's by a writer I already know and like. And yet present-tense writing seems to be the defining characteristic of 21st century fiction. So for those who do like it, what is the appeal? I promise I won't come back and lecture you on why you're wrong!!

 

[Cthulhu]

What is the appeal? Let's have Charles Dance explain it.

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

Amusing, but still not selling it to me.

 

[CrashOuch]

I personally am fairly sure I've never read anything written in present tense so I feel like I can't really say. Maybe fanfics though? I just feel like writing like that must be full of the thoughts of the narrating character (like I know that's how it's done in 50 shades) and doesn't that just take away the immediacy of every choice and action the character makes? If you've read about them thinking about it for five pages before it happens? I guess if it was maybe present tense but not first person it could potentially have even more immediacy and action? Honestly I reckon like everything it comes down to how well a thing is written. We all know 50 shades is written poorly, not because of the tense it's written in but because of basically every other narrative choice that was made about that series (am I being too harsh?), so who knows.

Also Lic, I feel you! I am always distracted, always in that Oh, I'll just do this one thing just quickly before I start writing mindset and it's so hard to get anything done at all. If I'm really misbehaving, sometimes I find something I want to do, like a YouTube video I want to watch or whatever, and I tell myself I can watch it in exactly 30 minutes and I set a timer on my phone and for that whole 30 minutes I write as much and as quickly as I can and often when my timer goes off I want to keep writing for a bit longer and then when I finally hit a wall I get a nice reward of watching that video. No idea if that would work for anyone else though!

 

[Clement Rage]

Still creeping towards 70k. I've never heard of anything being written in present tense except one of the Star Wars novels. Usually jarring to me.

 

[CrashOuch]

Good luck Clement! I agree it must be jarring. Hope your writing keeps going well! <3

 

[fancy]

Who here likes to write in the present tense? Can I ask you why you like it?

I should nail my colours to the mast straight away and say I will never buy a novel written in the present tense, because it's so irritating to me and feels so pretentious. I probably won't read a present-tense fanfic unless it's by a writer I already know and like. And yet present-tense writing seems to be the defining characteristic of 21st century fiction. So for those who do like it, what is the appeal? I promise I won't come back and lecture you on why you're wrong!!

OMG!! I had so much to say about this when I first read it and I reckon I’ve forgotten most of it now... oh well, hopefully it’ll all come back as a type along!

YES!!! I remember the very first instance where I read a book in present-tense: it was the first Hunger Games novel. I remember seriously wondering if it was a mistake made in editing ?? cuz I simply had not read any books written in that tense till then. It grated on my nerves pretty badly at first so it took me a while to finish the book... but I eventually got used to it! From my observations, it seemed very prevalent in the wave of YA novels that were being spun out around 2010...

Now, this is coming from someone who is not bothered either way by the use of past or present tense, but I reckon the purpose is to give the story an “edge” or some level of intimacy where the reader can insert themselves into the story (haha, a bit contrary to what you were saying, Crash)? ESPECIALLY if the story is written in first person, present tense. Dunno, I associate that “voice” with teenagers and, again, YA novels. I assume I’m reading about a young person whenever I read something presented in first person, present tense.

I prefer to write in third person, past tense when writing fiction... or at least I try. I say try because I’ve noticed that I have a pretty bad habit of mixing my tenses up when writing . If I’m recalling a story that has happened to me personally, however, I’ve noticed that I tend to fall in present tense (thinking about it, I reckon I picked up this habit from listening to some comedians tell their funny stories and do their bits).

Yay! I think talking about this sort of thing is fascinating!!