Struggling Writers’ Daily Den: rant, share, complain, ask, daily progress thing (Part 2)

The Chatters
2572

oh no i definitely like the more straightforward style of writing. but like, that style of writing is like “this is Mark, Mark puts cheese on his sandwich because he likes it.” and academic writing is like “Mark is a caucasian man, Mark likes cheese. We know Mark like cheese because he puts it on his sandwiches. We know he puts it on his sandwichs because we see him putting cheese on his sandwiches every day and we have a quote from his best friend who has a doctorate in cheese “Mark likes cheese!” (Mark’s friend, 20xx). PLEASE BELIEVE THAT MARK LIKES CHEESE AND GIVE ME MY GRADE.”

r.i.p. i switch ‘we’ and ‘you’ a lot

maybe you should practice with some essays :rofl:

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2573

eh, I shouldn’t be doing this but I keep jumping around.

So last night, I was going over one of the chapters, trying to iron out the conversation where the LI puts MC in the friend zone and an entirely new reason emerged for her to do that that I think makes a world of sense and is a lot easier to explain. Still the same result but a much simpler execution. It’s another one of those “why haven’t I thought of this before?” situations.

My stories are always more complex that I ever intend them to be so if I see a way to do simple, I immediately want to go for it. So I rewrote her little speech of “it’s not you, it’s me” to be about her motivations and all of this makes so much sense. But this means that I would have to go back from the beginning and ensure that all scenes with her match this motivation and I’m tempted to do it now but I’m supposed to be working on the climax, not going back and rewriting things…

Sigh. Why am I like this?

I’ll attempt to be good and work on the climax today but the temptation is strong.

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2574

I was snooping on this one book on Amazon that happens to have such a badly written blurb that I’m 99.9% sure it’s (badly) self-published.
And I saw the ranks and if a book can be 1612 in “Paranormal Ghost Romance” then how many of those books are there? (I’m guessing that this niche means a romance with a ghost)
Screen Shot 2023-01-28 at 3.54.22 PM

Typing it into search gives me 30,000 results.

Wow. It’s a popular niche I guess.

I’m not writing this type of story. I was just curious.
Hmmm. Rabbit hole much?

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2575

Lol, it’s so Grisham…

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2576

Gasp! OMG I love that! That definitely has me leaning towards Tapas for sure. :smiley:

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2577

Exactly. It seemed kind of messed up actually. Here were these two characters who were really into each other, had kissed already, and then suddenly for no reason at all, they realize they’re better as friends. The brother was one of those “he’s kind of a jerk but funny in a way” kind of guys from the beginning and you didn’t really know whether to take him seriously, and then somehow in the end, he gets the girl. He grew on me, but yeah, I felt kind of bad for the original love interest who had a traumatic childhood and was raised as the next King so he wasn’t used to people’s kindness and having this woman get close to him, break down barriers etc. and then magically they’re not feeling each other anymore bc his brother is… funny/a tease? What?

Anyway, I went off on a rant haha you’re right. The idea was fine. The execution sucked.

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2578

I’m not writing till later Sunday.

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2579

Already been in expository writing, only helped marginally. And depending on your audience and beta readers, you might have to explain more and more.

Then again, I write a lot of very surreal fantasy so of course people will beg for explanations.

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2580

Option one is definitely a cleaner version. But having said that, I never do it.
Does anyone? I can’t think of seeing #1 anywhere on a book title.

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2581

I am thinking of giving another shot to writing series, particularly if the ONC lands itself to doing the final book of the Tangorello Crime Family story. In terms of The Brew, I have this vague idea… it’s all part of my strategy to focus on romantic suspense.

I was sick yesterday, so all I was able to do is finish a review. I hope to catch up on other reading today and tomorrow start taking a look at the outlines again.

Also signed up for a couple of seminars I am eligible for through the already defunct Stars program. I want to use both seminars to prep my 2 books for Watty.

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2582

Last night I spent some time on my blog. I finished up an article, published it, and did a couple of fixes to the website. And I had to renew my hosting and SSL.

techy stuff

I’m tempted to switch hosting to AWS but I’m uncertain how predictable the cost will be. They say static sites should be $1-3 a month but I don’t know how much to trust them. What I’m paying now adds up to $3.57/month so AWS could be cheaper and it is more reliable too. More hassle to maintain though. Their dashboard is a doozy.

Finally I decided to hold off and renew with my current host for this year. I didn’t want to go through the hassle of transferring hosting now.

But once I have something to publish, I’ll have to make some decisions because my current host isn’t perfect (a bit slow and I keep getting notifications that my site was done for x minutes) and I’d like to have a presentable site to advertise on.

My plan for my blog is to use the traffic over there as my personal audience to advertise to. I don’t have Google ads or anything intrusive there so it’s an easy reading experience for visitors (in contrast with the rest of the web) and my book ads would be the only ads.

I’m getting a better handle on what type of content attracts clicks and where to look for ideas that make attractive content.

And so I was doing all of that yesterday instead of writing. :joy: Today it’s time to put my fiction writer hat back on and make some progress.

Having said that, I really should dismantle the Christmas tree or it will stand here until Easter. Sigh. Weekends aren’t long enough.

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2583

Christmas tree packed up and everything is clean. It’s sad in the house again. I need to get some colorful decorations for the rest of the year.

I’ve had enough of adulting for today and I’m exhausted. Didn’t get much sleep last night due to work calling me every half hour since 3 to 6. I hate being on call.

But it’s not late yet and I’m not sleepy either. So I’ll try to work on this book some more. I need to get as much done as I can before ONC starts. Just a few days left.

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2584

Day 3 on Tapas and discovery response is abysmal. Fingers crossed, chances are higher as the days go on.

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2585

Good morning.

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2586

Good morning!

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2587
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2588

Humans are so boring and easy to write.

I know I want to create beings that look incredibly human, but their biology is super different, they can wield magical powers, and have extended lifespans that can reach in or near the millions or even higher depending on the race/species.

Cool beans!

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2589

I have this character, Harrison, that I decided to bring back in the end (not that he died, he just was supposed to remain human and not from Wodeland, the land of talking animals). And then I made it so that he finally gets that prom dance he wanted with MC Viv.

The thing is, I don’t want them to look like they’ll be a couple at some point. Viv has her sights on the prince who has a super public obvious crush on her that he gets teased for. She’s dated many guys and knows what she likes or doesn’t like. She’s not really interested in romance at this point especially after a humiliating breakup not too long ago.

So, throughout the story, she’s been kind of brushing off the guys that are interested in her (there are two, a prince and a warrior) and focusing more on her story and her relationship with her possibly evil mother.

She’s had other priorities.

I have two options here for her and Harrison.

First Option:

To show her and Harrison semi-developing a friendship prior to the fantasy events. She’s the popular girl and he’s like her doting…fan? He does things for her in exchange for party invitations and protection from bullies. Viv recently had a boyfriend breakup AND a best friend breakup. Harrison stuck by her. Maybe he was there when it happened? Maybe he knew how to calm her down?

Maybe Viv, despite having her “girlfriends”, sees Harrison more and more and she might not admit it, but she considers him a friend at some point? They even do fun things together and she almost breaks character. Maybe Harrison explains he wants to take her to prom as a friend or something… idk.

There’s this whole Harrison asking her to prom scene in the beginning and because she’s the popular girl, and it is in the middle of the school hallway, she rejects him, but secretly wishes she didn’t have to.

What if Harrison is the only one that glimpses her as her true self and dares her to show that in front of everyone else. He’ll make it happen by asking her to prom on the last day of school and she promises he can ask her then.

But then her mother finds out this will happen and makes Viv promise not to stop her popular girl act (it’s a whole thing with her and her mom to hide Viv’s identity). So, on the day Harrison will ask her, she turns him down and keeps up the act, but is really sorry for him and angry at herself for being the person she hated the most.

Is this a lot? I wonder.

Second Option:

Don’t complicate things Enna. Don’t bring Harrison into Wodeland.

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2590

I have a bit of a question that needs an answer:

Question: Would it make more sense to have Elred (my MC in The Breakers) stay male or should he be a female because he was one in the distant past?

If you have anything else to add, please do. I am a bit conflicted on what to do…unfortunately.

2591

In modern terms, it won’t matter one bit because there’s a fluidity to what’s acceptable for people to be.

The issue would be how to handle a literal view of the old-school trans identity: “woman trapped in a man’s body”. I mean this stuff is all over the place, now, but you have the classic set-up for an existential crisis that’s 20+ years too late for whatever is going on right now.

Or at least that’s a risk. It doesn’t have to be that way.

For me? I play the Fable series. A woman who plays a straight male character because the relationships with men sounds like you’re hurting them in the middle of the act (it’s how you have kids in the game, and it’s fade-to-black scenes with some of the most horrific cringe lines in the gaming industry).

Anyway, my reasoning, when I thought about it, is I have no problem being what my skin is. If things truly aren’t gender-based, then “Hook or no hook, I’m Maui”. That level of security allows a former female and current male to go on with their life without 1 bit of care as to conversations about gender, sex, preference.

Basically, there doesn’t have to be a conflict to being 2 extremes in 1 person, if they can accept it and keep moving on.

The problem comes in with when you as a writer can’t handle that or when your character isn’t strong enough to deal with that. If either case is an issue, then both need to be the same, just for your sanity.

And then, of course, anyone who decides to take offense with the way you handle the conflict will also be an issue. Back to the example: I know who I am, but writing a character with my attitude about my own self? Yeah, that’s a risk of being told I’m insensitive.

Now I doubt that cleared up a single thing. Lmao

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