And again, just in case:

Good or Evil

It’s a rough draft.

I only have one request: Please read the whole thing before commenting or editing.

And if you have time (or if you don’t have time for commenting or editing), post here and tell me how it makes you feel. Or how it makes you…[Read more]

And I finished the story!

Word count for the finished story as of yet is: 14,627.

I’m still going to work on adding scenes and editing this next week, though. And I’ll try and post what I’ve got Friday evening.

Thank you all for your support and…[Read more]

@daeus-lamb @cindy @kate @r-m-archer @literatureforthelight @m_corinnemusic @j-parkhurst @gabbyj @cassandraia @chalice @julianne @germaine-han @maddiejay @sesi @r-j-karas @rosemarylouise @msqueen8 @eden-anderson @raemarie @ethryndal @bama-rose

Make Your Own Inspiration

It’s in a playlist about composing music, but I think this video is applicable to any creative process.

So, how do you guys “get in the way of inspiration”?

@daeus-lamb @cindy  @kate  @r-m-archer  @literatureforthelight  @m_corinnemusic  @j-parkhurs…[Read more]

Total word count for the entire story is up to 11,589.

I think I’m going to buy myself something if I finish the story by the end of the month. What do you guys think, good…[Read more]

For those of you who write historical fiction, don’t worry! Yes, I’ll probably cover some aspects of…[Read more]

And the entire word count for Good or Evil rewrite is now up to 8,504 words. For those of you who were wondering. That’s almost three thousand words more than the original short story. I would guess I’m about half way through. We’ll see.

Thanks for all y’all’s su…[Read more]

I need some ideas. I have a city that needs a name.

So, the city is a kind of modern (think early 1900s) city, but with an ancient roman/middle eastern twist. That basically means they have an arena for ancient roman style games and an open marketplace squeezed between industrial brick.

Fire away!

Hit me.

I’m open to any…[Read more]

For something like six months now, we’ve studied character development every week. It’s been a good journey, but now I’m coming to the point where I don’t have a whole lot more to discuss. If anything else comes to mind, I’ll make a topic out of it, but if nothing comes to me, next week I think we could start on something…[Read more]

I wrote the most words on Tuesday with 877 words. Mostly because of the word war. I usually write a little more than 300 words in a day.

And just for good measure, the total word count for the month of October: 5,824 words.

Yeah, I didn’t write very much this past month. But…[Read more]

The word war. How’d we do?

We actually beat the record from past guild wars! I was amazed. We had 51,082 — a whole novel’s worth in a week.

So, the winner?

……

With 72,127 words, it goes to Parimi Alca. I’m super impressed with those guys, especially since I’ve heard they’re the…[Read more]

The word war. How’d we do?

We actually beat the record from past guild wars! I was amazed. We had 51,082 — a whole novel’s worth in a week.

So, the winner?

……

With 72,127 words, it goes to Parimi Alca. I’m super impressed with those guys, especially since I’ve heard they’re the…[Read more]

If you wrote this week, but haven’t turned in your word count yet, this is your last chance. @raemarie @cindy @kate @m_corinnemusic @j-parkhurst @gabbyj @julianne @germaine-han @maddiejay @sesi @r-j-karas @rosemarylouise @msqueen8 @samuel

How life is, that the most unheroic detail can somehow make the distances between us seem smaller, and the room less cold. I stand with Kate, and everyone follows suit. If talking has died down, maybe everyone’s spirits will be revived by a little bit of a stretch and walk.

The grating of many wooden chairs follows, and with a start…[Read more]

Let’s talk about relational development. Just like the meaning we bring to the world is often found in our relationships, usually the best character development is actually relational development between one character and another.

Today, it t…[Read more]

( @daeus-lamb this isn’t for the word war)

@chalice @kate @r-j-karas @m_corinnemusic @julianne @germaine-han @gabbyj @r-m-archer @literatureforthelight @sesi

Let me know if you want to be taken off the list here.

So, I’m working on rewriting and expanding a short story I wrote, and I need some accountability. I’m a little afraid I’ll get into it, decide it’s not really worth writing and give up on it.

I mean, I’ve already started, and decided it wasn’t edifying, so I stopped. Then realized that I needed to work on something so I’m working on…[Read more]

I forgot there was a word war this week! I’m going to need to set myself some automated reminders.

Anyway, we’re going to do the best we can. The guilds have decided to war starting today and ending Tuesday night.

This works like it always does. We write as much as we can and try to outdo everyone else!

Here’s what can count toward…[Read more]

Check it out here

I think it needs a bit more in the way of stronger verbs and unique prose. I think the core is strong enough, just…[Read more]

@msqueen8 I think there are plans to have a separate page with all past guild war submissions from all the guilds.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iL-_uaWuvSI883engtZVvP9MgXNB4oyulGv2IYgZdK8/edit?usp=sharing

@cindy @kate @r-m-archer @literatureforthelight @m_corinnemusic @j-parkhurst @gabbyj @cassandraia @chalice @noahlitle @julianne @germaine-han @maddiejay @sesi @r-j-karas…[Read more]

Josiah fixed it up all nice for us. This isn’t officially launched, but I thought I’d give you a sneak peek at it so you can share any suggestions for how to make it better.

New Wessex

The purpose of this page is be awesome, store important/fun information, and let curious…[Read more]

I thought with our discussion of handling tricky subjects in the article realm it might be neat to discuss writing criminal types.

Here are a few questions to get us started:

1. How do we write highly engaging criminals without endorsing their criminal activity?
2. Can one write a criminal character just for the purposes of the plot…

[Read more]

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1N2ncbna_hrlN9NX976LxrFGYCm_NV_3_yMoeqSmPOi0/edit?usp=sharing

I still have to go back and fix repetitive language and put some details to rights, but here’s my draft, about the same length as Kate’s. Please tear it apart… and edit away.

Also, I assume for the sake of time, people…[Read more]

I’m going to do a slightly more in-depth post about disposition for this week’s theme discussion topic. If you missed it, here’s my first post on disposition: https://storyembers.org/forums/topic/disposition/

This being a relatively new idea for me, I’m still learning about it and I did a lot of that learning over the past week. The…[Read more]

I can write something-that’s-not-so-good-but-it’s-still-something by tonight, then turn it out to all of you so we can jump into the editing process.

Or, if someone is reading this who wants…[Read more]

How many of you know The Andy Griffith Show? It’s an old one— black and white, and made back when comedy was actually a legitimate art instead of just a bunch of…[Read more]

If I counted right, our total was 20,961 — an awesome word count!

However, Rillumen nocked it out of the park with 39,179 words. :0

Collectively, all the guilds wrote about 200,000 words in one week! *faints*

While we didn’t win, keep in mind we really weren’t too far off. Some of us were…[Read more]

So right now I’m brainstorming/outlining for my WIP, and in short, I know where I’m going to end, I’ve figured out my beginning, but it’s a little hard for me to continue plot-brainstorming. Maybe it’s because it’s a lot of work, but I’m hesitating to try to create a plot line from the first plot point and getting it to end where I…[Read more]

Parents.

The obvious fact is that most parents in novels die or are already dead (at least it seems like it). The less obvious fact is that even when they’re around, they’re not very important as parents.

What may be even less obvious is that even when they do matter as…[Read more]

The word war is now over and we hope to announce the winner tomorrow. (If you haven’t given me your word count yet, please go post that in the related thread.)

Right on the coattails of that guild war we have another battle. War is life! *raises…[Read more]

I hope you don’t mind if I splatter my not-fully-formed thoughts all over this page.

For a while, my writing conscience has nagged me about this topic I call Disposition. To me, it encapsulates everything that makes a scene matter. Having just stepped out of rewriting a scene where I did not use this principle, it got me…[Read more]

The six guilds are competing in a massive word war. The guild that collectively writes the most words (for fiction projects) this week wins. That’s all there is to it — very straightforward. The war starts right now and ends Sunday night.

If you’ve been wanting to increase your weekly word count, now is the…[Read more]

A rather melodramatic observation, considering how happy I am to finally be here.

I stand silent before a half-cold hearth, my back to the long darkness of the hall, and watch the embers burn. Coals lie scattered like isolated cities between charred remains of smoking logs. The smoke drifts past…[Read more]

I theorize that you never really know a writer until you know what they write, so I thought it would be a nice icebreaker for us to share what we’re writing at the moment.

What’s the premise, what gets you excited about it, and what’s at the heart of the story?

@cindy @kate @elizabeth @r-m-archer @literatureforthelight @m_…[Read more]

Well, better late than never…

How old were you when you started writing?

13. I hated writing up to that point and swore I’d never do it.

Do you want to pursue a career in writing, or do you write just for fun?

Career. The goal is to reach as many people as I can, which means I have to be dedicated…[Read more]

@m_corinnemusic @germaine-han @literatureforthelight Thanks.

@literatureforthelight It did, but the process was enjoyable, and the effort was worth it.

@rosemarylouise I thought it was you. Thank you for your input.

Or maybe I should sing:

♪♫Everything is Awesome!!!♫♪

High fives, fist-bumps, and awkward hugs all around!

Thank you, @r-j-karas @literatureforthelight @cindy @sesi @Alana Ward (sorry, I don’t know what your tag is) @r-m-archer @ethryndal @m_corinnemusic @gabbyj and @anonymous for all your input on the fi…[Read more]

*Picks up fistfuls of confetti and throws it in the air* *Ponders how so much confetti got in this thread* *Throws more*

Here’s the link to the document in case anybody else doesn’t feel like digging for the final draft: Fish

Great work, Noah and everyone! I loved the added touches like the cat, and…[Read more]

Start a blog! I can recommend the experience. 😀

@m_corinnemusic I just realized that our faces are just similar enough that you look like the fashionable, sweet-tempered, photogenic little sister who has an Instagram and probably runs an inspirational…[Read more]

Okay guys, we ready?

I’m planning on working on it for the next hour. I would appreciate anyone who could join me. If only for moral support. 🙂

Last day, guys. I plan on doing some serious editing on it this morning. I would appreciate anyone who could be there with me, or at least keep an eye on it. I’ll be keeping an eye peeled here, but I’ll mostly be on the Google doc. Planning on being there sometime around 10:30 or so.

See you…[Read more]

The deadline is Monday. Lets submit it sometime Sunday, though.

Fish

It’s only a little different from the original.

Let me know what y’all think.

@daeus-lamb @r-m-archer @cindy @kate @r-j-karas @rosemarylouise @gabbyj @germaine-han @julianne @ethryndal @msqueen8 @m_corinnemusic @literatureforthelight @maddiejay @samuel @chalice @sesi