inklings-sprint

[inklings-sprint]

I didn't do nearly as much as I had hoped to with Camp Tolkien, but at least it reminded me how much I enjoy my Shipwreck Story.

So because of that, you now get me musing about the story and the fact that I like what I have so far and how I’m still uncertain about the end direction that I want to go in. (Because I do have a couple of directions that I think could be really fun.)

Even though I keep calling this story The Shipwreck Story/My Shipwreck Story, that’s really not the crux of the story. The shipwreck itself is more of the inciting incident than anything. Without the shipwreck there is no story, at least not the way that I intend to tell it. Without the Shipwreck it sends Gwendolyn's life on a very different trajectory. Or should I say that it keeps her life on track.

The whole reason why Gwendolyn, her father, and her fiancé Terrence (Rence) are on the ship is that they’re going to visit Terrence's family who live on another island, in a different country. Gwen doesn’t like traveling by boat because she gets terribly sea sick but it’s the only option for them. If the three of them either didn’t end up on the ship that wrecked, then Gwen and Rence would get married and follow all the expeditions set upon them. Nothing too exciting and there'd be no story to tell. They live a life fulfilling their expectations to the best of their abilities.

But the shipwreck starts off a whole new chain of events.

I cannot state how much I don't want to focus on the immediate after effects of the shipwreck though. The shipwreck and time on the island surviving is the furthest thing from what I actually want to focus on. It's not that kind of concept. It's the what happens once rescued which intrigues me with the potential.

Now don't get me wrong, I have written a bit of the ship floundering, and how Gwen and Samuel meet once washed up the island, and will probably end up writing a bit more about their time on the island. But it's very much not the focus and have considered that the only time life on the island gets mentioned is in flashbacks. Though I don't know if that's what will end up happening or not. As I still haven't decided what the format this story will be.

The main focus though, I really do intend to be the life after rescue. Particularly once Samuel and Gwen get back to land.

The one thing that I know for certain is that Gwen and Samuel will be separated by Vera, Gwen's mother. Who will have Marcus, Gwen's brother help with that to a certain degree. Whether he agrees with his mother is a completely different story. (The answer is no, but he's being selfish and using his sister as a way to have less to do with their mother and actually has a family he is keeping secret from his mother. Because he doesn't want them to have anything to do with his mother.) Vera has always been extremely controlling and concerned with the perception of her family. Only made worse by the loss of her husband and return of her daughter.

So to find out that her daughter considers herself married to and is pregnant with a sailor's baby, well that certainly won't do. Though being a sailor is a respected trade, being that it's a rather important one for the island nation. They are a high class family of means, and Gwendolyn should be married to someone of equal status, like Terrence. Only Terrence has moved on with his life and is about to marry another.

Vera very much keeps Samuel and Gwen apart. She doesn't let Gwen go anywhere by herself, doesn't let her mail any letters to Samuel and has on occasion burned the letters to Samuel in front of Gwen. Vera keeps Samuel away by either pretending that Gwen doesn't want to see him and that they no longer live where they very much still live. Samuel keeps getting turned away and is never allowed to get close to Gwen once Vera has her.

Vera keeps up appearances by trying (and failing) to have suitors over for Gwen. Gwen wants nothing to do with any of them because while she doesn't have the paperwork to show it, she does consider herself married to Samuel. Vera only stops forcing suitors on Gwen once she starts showing too much to hide it. Much to Gwen's relief.

Once the surprise of Gwen's twins arrive, and that Vera sees that one of the twins is a boy, who she knows that Gwen would want to take on his father's last name, she pretends the boy dies and sends him off to live with his father. Telling both parents that the opposite twin died and that they have the living twin. Telling Samuel the reason that he gets his son, is because Gwen couldn't stand to look at him and the reminder that he is. Furthering the strife that Samuel thinks there is for being turned down by Gwen now that they're back on land. So unaware of how much Gwen longs for him and misses him. How much Gwen is grieving the loss of her son and only knowing half of what Vera's done to keep her separated from Samuel.

It's from here onward where I'm uncertain about which direction that I fully want to go.

Because I could potentially have Gwen and her daughter making an escape when her daughter is about five. It having taken a lot of planning and even planned misdirection for the mother daughter duo to make it to Samuel. There being a cold response to Gwen showing up, but also a huge surprise with both parents learning that both twins are actually still alive. While I like this version, it's not necessarily the one that I'm most drawn to. Though I have also considered a couple different options with this idea.

One being that Gwen and her daughter don't get far/get caught before making it to Samuel. Which would then make Vera's lockdown on Gwen more extreme again. If not forcing marriage on Gwen.

The other being that she does make it to Samuel, but after Samuel and Gwen reconcile, they're forced apart again when Gwen's found. Samuel possibly threatened with jail should he try to get near Gwen again. Vera not aware that Gwen has already managed to get pregnant again, though Gwen's likely not aware of it in that moment either. Again being forced into a marriage that Vera thinks is appropriate, that Gwen doesn't agree with. (Least likely option honestly, but I have considered it.)

Then the other option which has always been more of what I was thinking that I would do. Is that once Gwen's daughter was about 16, having watched her mom become more and more depressed and ill over the years from Vera's insane control, she steals the letters that her mom has written her dad and never tried sending, knowing that they'd never make it to Samuel, and uses her going to boarding school as cover to actually go and find her dad. Getting quite the surprise to find her dead twin brother alive and well. This is still the most likely route that I will go.

[inklings-sprint]

[inklings-sprint]

3 Exercises To Improve Your Writing/Manuscript

1) Sentence Patterning 🎨

Print off a random page of your work and use different coloured highlighters on each sentence depending on how long they are. You might notice you’ve been stuck in a rhythm without realising it. A rainbow is what you want to see!

2) Stickynoting! 📝

Write out each scene (or topic change) on a stickynote thats colour indicates how plotheavy it is. A few fluffy, relaxed scenes are fine, but you don’t want half the book to be pointless. Likewise, you also don't want every scene to be insanely over the top.

3) Pindropping 📌

Draw a line, mark out the major events of your story, then drop in every revelation, character introduction, first mention, shift and development. See how dense certain areas might be vs others. Do you throw everything at the reader in the first chapter? Or do you hold back too much and leave your audience clueless.

Here are some examples I did for my book!

Click “My Writing Tips” in the tags for more!

Click here to check out my book! @statusquoofficial

[inklings-sprint]

Camp Tolkien: Final Day

Welcome back to Camp Tolkien!

Our two-week summer camp is a chance for you to work on the project of your choice in the company of other writers. No matter which stage of the process you’re in–brainstorming, outlining, drafting, revising–Camp Tolkien’s activities are here to help you make progress. Bring along your projects, and have fun!

At Camp Tolkien, Saturday is Free Day! Today, we bring back all the activities from the past week, and you can join in whichever one you wish. This is your opportunity to try an activity that you didn’t have a chance to try earlier in the week, try an activity from a day you missed, or to repeat a favorite activity. Try one or try them all–it’s your free day, so do what you like.

The activities will be listed under the cut. They will be listed in the same order they were provided during the week.

An optional additional activity for this last day of Camp is

Farewells: Tell us how your Camp experience went. Which activities did you most enjoy? How much progress did you make? What is your favorite thing that you created during this camp experience?

When you’re finished, reblog or reply to this post, telling us how it went, and/or sharing what you wrote for the day.

Have fun, go forth, and create!

Monday

Letter Writing: Share a letter written by a character from your project. If you want to make it a postcard, include a picture that relates to some element of your story.

Singalong: Listen to some music and use a lyric to inspire some element of your project.

Swimming: Set a timer for ten minutes and write. Come up for air, take at least a five minute break, then write another ten minutes.

Sandcastles: Describe a building in the setting of your project.

Tuesday

Shadow Puppets: Describe at least three characters in your project, using only 1-2 sentences for each.

Foraging: Find a piece of paper that is not writing paper–it could be a napkin, an envelope, a piece of newsprint, etc.–and use it to hand-write something related to your project.

Cookout: Write a short scene and make sure to describe it using all five senses.

Canoeing: Write for five minutes. Open a new document and try to write the same scene from memory. Compare the two versions and keep your favorite.

Wednesday

Truth or Dare: Talk about a secret from a character’s past OR tell us about something they’re terrified to do.

Knot-tying: Write down two things that happen in your story, then make a list of at least five intermediate steps that happen between those scenes.

Tree Climbing: Complete three ten-minute writing sprints, aiming for a higher wordcount each time.

Stargazing: Work on your project in the dark, using only candlelight or flashlight (or screen light) for illumination.

Thursday

Dodgeball: Write down five terrible ideas of things that you would never want to happen in your story. Then take one of those terrible ideas and figure out how the story could change to make that terrible idea make sense.

Charades: Describe your project via emojis or memes.

Water Balloon Toss: Write for ten minutes. Write for eight minutes and try to reach as close to the same word count as possible. Repeat this exercise three more times, decreasing the time by two minutes each time.

Tie-dying: Work on your project using at least three different font or pen colors. (Black and blue are not allowed).

Friday

Talent Show: Show us at least three characters from your project, and tell what their most impressive talent or trait is.

Field Trip: Work on your project in a location outside your place of residence--cafe, library, park, etc.

Marching Band: Listen to a favorite song. Start writing when the song starts and see how many words you can write before the song ends.

Tug-of-War: Write or summarize an important scene of your project from one character's point-of-view, then write or summarize the same scene from a different character's point-of-view.

[inklings-sprint]

The biggest compliment ever is when someone sees your creative work and says that they’re now inspired to go out and create something, too

[inklings-sprint]

[inklings-sprint]

worldbuilding is what writers do when they want to justify a petty aesthetic choice

[inklings-sprint]

[inklings-sprint]

Camp Tolkien: Day 11

Welcome to another day at Camp Tolkien!

Our two-week summer camp is a chance for you to work on the project of your choice in the company of other writers. No matter which stage of the process you’re in–brainstorming, outlining, drafting, revising–Camp Tolkien’s activities are here to help you make progress. Bring along your projects, and have fun!

Today’s four activities are listed below. Choose whichever one you wish–choose more than one if you want to.

Talent Show: Show us at least three characters from your project, and tell what their most impressive talent or trait is.

Field Trip: Work on your project in a location outside your place of residence--cafe, library, park, etc.

Marching Band: Listen to a favorite song. Start writing when the song starts and see how many words you can write before the song ends.

Tug-of-War: Write or summarize an important scene of your project from one character's point-of-view, then write or summarize the same scene from a different character's point-of-view.

When you’re finished, reblog or reply to this post, telling us how it went, and/or sharing what you wrote for the day.

So glad to have you all at camp! Have fun, go forth, and create!

[inklings-sprint]

Camp Tolkien: Day 10

Welcome to another day at Camp Tolkien!

Our two-week summer camp is a chance for you to work on the project of your choice in the company of other writers. No matter which stage of the process you’re in–brainstorming, outlining, drafting, revising–Camp Tolkien’s activities are here to help you make progress. Bring along your projects, and have fun!

Today’s four activities are listed below. Choose whichever one you wish–choose more than one if you want to.

Dodgeball: Write down five terrible ideas of things that you would never want to happen in your story. Then take one of those terrible ideas and figure out how the story could change to make that terrible idea make sense.

Charades: Describe your project via emojis or memes.

Water Balloon Toss: Write for ten minutes. Write for eight minutes and try to reach as close to the same word count as possible. Repeat this exercise three more times, decreasing the time by two minutes each time.

Tie-dying: Work on your project using at least three different font or pen colors. (Black and blue are not allowed).

When you’re finished, reblog or reply to this post, telling us how it went, and/or sharing what you wrote for the day.

So glad to have you all at camp! Have fun, go forth, and create!

[inklings-sprint]

y'all have GOT to stop being embarrassed about liking your own work (writing, art, etc.).

I mean, if you don't like your own work right now, that's fine, it's OK to sit with that, and it's really brave to keep making things anyway and to be honest about when you need a break, and I'm proud of you. <3

But if you like your own work - this is good! This is extremely normal! Why would you have made it if it's not the sort of thing you like?? Get excited about your own work! Go back to it and draw inspiration from it! Talk about your process! Make memes about your own characters!

You're allowed to enjoy being an artist after finishing the art as well as before!

[inklings-sprint]

Camp Tolkien: Day 9

Welcome to another day at Camp Tolkien!

Our two-week summer camp is a chance for you to work on the project of your choice in the company of other writers. No matter which stage of the process you’re in–brainstorming, outlining, drafting, revising–Camp Tolkien’s activities are here to help you make progress. Bring along your projects, and have fun!

Today’s four activities are listed below. Choose whichever one you wish–choose more than one if you want to.

Truth or Dare: Talk about a secret from a character's past OR tell us about something they're terrified to do.

Knot-tying: Write down two things that happen in your story, then make a list of at least five intermediate steps that happen between those scenes.

Tree Climbing: Complete three ten-minute writing sprints, aiming for a higher wordcount each time.

Stargazing: Work on your project in the dark, using only candlelight or flashlight (or screen light) for illumination.

When you’re finished, reblog or reply to this post, telling us how it went, and/or sharing what you wrote for the day.

So glad to have you all at camp! Have fun, go forth, and create!

[inklings-sprint]

Camp Tolkien: Day 8

Welcome to another day at Camp Tolkien!

Our two-week summer camp is a chance for you to work on the project of your choice in the company of other writers. No matter which stage of the process you’re in–brainstorming, outlining, drafting, revising–Camp Tolkien’s activities are here to help you make progress. Bring along your projects, and have fun!

Today’s four activities are listed below. Choose whichever one you wish–choose more than one if you want to.

Shadow Puppets: Describe at least three characters in your project, using only 1-2 sentences for each.

Foraging: Find a piece of paper that is not writing paper--it could be a napkin, an envelope, a piece of newsprint, etc.--and use it to hand-write something related to your project.

Cookout: Write a short scene and make sure to describe it using all five senses.

Canoeing: Write for five minutes. Open a new document and try to write the same scene from memory. Compare the two versions and keep your favorite.

When you’re finished, reblog or reply to this post, telling us how it went, and/or sharing what you wrote for the day.

So glad to have you all at camp! Have fun, go forth, and create!

[inklings-sprint]

Really crazy how "writing" is not a universal skill and "fiction writing" vs "technical writing" vs "writing peer reviews for work" are somehow all different muscles

[inklings-sprint]

Reblog if you’re grateful for your commenters <3

[inklings-sprint]

Camp Tolkien: Day 7

Welcome to another day at Camp Tolkien!

Our two-week summer camp is a chance for you to work on the project of your choice in the company of other writers. No matter which stage of the process you’re in–brainstorming, outlining, drafting, revising–Camp Tolkien’s activities are here to help you make progress. Bring along your projects, and have fun!

Today’s four activities are listed below. Choose whichever one you wish–choose more than one if you want to.

Letter Writing: Share a letter written by a character from your project. If you want to make it a postcard, include a picture that relates to some element of your story.

Singalong: Listen to some music and use a lyric to inspire some element of your project.

Swimming: Set a timer for ten minutes and write. Come up for air and write another ten minutes.

Sandcastles: Describe a building in the setting of your project.

When you’re finished, reblog or reply to this post, telling us how it went, and/or sharing what you wrote for the day.

So glad to have you all at camp! Have fun, go forth, and create!

[inklings-sprint]

hey uh new type of ao3 spam comment just dropped. (I know it's spam because the fic they left this comment on . doesn't have chapters. lmfao). Report this kinda comment as spam and don't take it personally it is literally recycled bullshit