zeta-is-writing

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some puzzling writing hot takes i’ve encountered:

genre fiction is fascist. the only ideologically pure fiction is slice-of-life with no plot.

any book with more than one sex scene is erotica

romance novels encourage women to have unrealistic fantasies, like “having enjoyable sex” and “being apologized to”

describing a female character’s body for any reason, even during a sex scene where her love interest’s body is described too, means you’re a gross male writer who doesn’t understand women

if the protagonist is an anti-hero or morally gray, each chapter should have a disclaimer detailing all of said protagonist’s moral failings

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Watch out for Wattpad

(Source here) They’re making a deal where your stores will be up for grabs to other companies. This is super sketchy since technically if they just take bits and pieces they most certainly wouldn’t need to tell you about it.

Please consider moving your stories to Ao3 which is a non-profit specifically put together to protect authors from crap like this and has a legal team that will fight for you when needed.

Ao3 even does easy imports, directions here.

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So they're going to mine our work?

ViacomCBS plans to work with the publisher’s entertainment arm to mine stories from Wattpad and its sister site Webtoon, whose parent company Naver snapped up Wattpad for more than $600 million dollars earlier this year. Wattpad Webtoon Studios will work with ViacomCBS to develop originals for its various networks and properties, including Paramount Plus, the companies announced today.

The originals are expected to appeal specifically to Gen Z and millennial audiences and will be sourced from a range of genres.

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Pick one of your playlists, Spotify or whatever.

Put it on random

Listen to 30 songs, write down their names

Congrats, you now have the (working) names of all your chapters

Write about what happens

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More favourite tropes:

“Unfortunately, [thing that would ordinarily be described in much stronger terms than ‘unfortunate’].”  

“Fortunately, [thing that is in no way fortunate].”  

“Unfortunately, [thing that would ordinarily be fortunate in nearly any circumstance except the circumstance at hand].“  

“Fortunately, [very minor benefit that absolutely does not offset the considerable drawbacks of whatever just happened].“  

“Unfortunately, [the exact, word-for-word thing that somebody just expressed that they hope won’t happen].“  

“Fortunately, [complete non sequitur].”

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if you ever ask yourself ''haven't i put my characters through enough hardship'' the answer is no. keep on going

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i think its up to us, as a society, to take those OC question prompts that you always see and fill them out ourselves like in the halcyon livejournal days rather than demurely waiting for our followers to send us a handful of numbers

like dont be coy, we all want to fill out the full thing. be the change you want to see in the world.

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this is your reminder to SAVE your work 

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Writing an action scene-

In your head:

Trying to describe it like:

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we can do it it

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Find out more about the writing life, getting published, and building a successful career.

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how to trick writers into giving you more fanfic to read

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NaNoWriMo 2021 - Day 19

Words written: 1.979

Progress: 51.475 / 50.000

Note: Forgot to post this yesterday, but I reached my NaNo goal! There are still a few more chapters to go, before I'm done with my first draft, so I'm going to try and finish them this month or at the very least during early December.

Probably no more daily updates for now, only when I write something cool I feel is worth sharing. :3

Excerpt:

“Arlene?”, Joy whispered. Utopia gazed back at her, then slowly raised her arms and pulled the hood back from her head. Joy’s eyes widened.

Her red hair had still been cut right beneath the height of her neck, though everything else about her had changed; the curious glimmer in her eyes was gone, now her gaze was dark and expressionless. Were it not for the color of her hair, eyes and her aura, Joy had not recognized the face, scarred beyond recognition by several cuts, every trace of her youthful beauty gone.

Joy still remembered her laughter. Her dimples were now only vague memories of a time long gone. The face she now looked into, was one of great pain. Now every blade that had cut Utopia’s face, seemed to have been thrusted into Joy’s chest and stomach.

Joy swallowed.

“It’s you, isn’t it, Arlene?”

“Arenia”, Utopia said and closed her eyes. “Or, I suppose, Joy, is who I should call you.”

“You’re alive”, Joy said. “All this time, it was you behind that mask.”

Utopia caressed her scarred cheek.

“What dwells beneath the mask, matters no more. I am no longer of our family, and neither are you. I am now, who I want to be. I am Utopia. And you are Joy.”

“If you knew all this time I was here, why didn’t you come to me?”, Joy demanded. Her voice grew more intense. “I’ve been worried sick. I thought I had lost you. I made you a grave on that hill, though I found no body. Why?”

“Because I saw no point in going back, Joy.”

“I am not Joy to you. I am Arenia. I am your -.”

“Joy”, Utopia corrected her. “And I am Utopia. Do not confuse me for that girl you made a grave for.”

Joy bit her lip and clenched her teeth.

“Why are you so cold?”, Joy asked and opened her arms. “I just want to see my sister.”

Utopia grew silent and pulled the hood back over her head.

“Utopia has no sister”, she finally said.

Joy lowered her arms.

“A Utopia is a symbol of peace and hope”, Utopia continued. “Therefore, no one may see my face. For no one shall know my scars, or I would lose my name."

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love seeing my comments from when i was editing. it did not, in fact, sentence