700 to 7k: Day 4

[xfirefly9x]

Day 4 is here already! That happened fast.

♦ How are you feeling about the challenge and/or your goals so far?

♦ What’s your approach to world building or writing settings?

♦ Share some descriptions of the world your project is set in (whether direct from your story or just describing it to share here)

Comments

[guildrone]

I’m starting to think that it was perhaps poor judgment on my part to commit to a writing sprint on a week where I have less free and quiet(ish) time a day than I’m used to—that is, before I start eating into a good night’s sleep and time to finish uni assignments that I only just now stopped stressing over besides. (At the least, I managed another 50+ 40—and tentatively finished drafting a chapter through such…)

On another note, I personally play pretty fast and loose with my settings—in the sense that I don’t like to compartmentalize the conceit in the first place/consider “worldbuilding” as its own thing separate from “plot” or “characters”. It’s all just narrative, in my eyes, and that manifests in a practical sense as myself never wanting to commit to a creative choice I feel would be more trouble than what it’s worth: If there’s a ‘boring part’ I have to get through in my prose, then as far as I see it, I’m probably doing something wrong.

[xfirefly9x]

It's definitely important to prioritise self care (and sleep)! If you can't work on the challenge every day, that's okay too. ♥

If there’s a ‘boring part’ I have to get through in my prose, then as far as I see it, I’m probably doing something wrong.

What do you think makes a section of writing boring?

[guildrone]

What do you think makes a section of writing boring?

The most honest answer I can give is “if it’s boring”…which is indeed a circular answer, but there are so many ways a stretch of prose can engage me—as a piece of narrative, a brain-teaser in its own right, and/or when put in a broader context besides—that I can’t really think of anything that would be ‘boring’ no matter what.

That being said, I just can’t sympathize with the sentiment of “slogging through all the other stuff to get to the scene you actually want to write”—if I’m legitimately uninterested in writing something, I figure my target audience wouldn’t get much mileage out of it either; to that end, I want every sentence of my work to have something to offer past being ‘proper setup’ (for whatever that’s even worth).

[xfirefly9x]

That's fair. I agree that it's much, much better if it isn't a slog. If it's a slog to write, then reading it is not necessarily going to be any better.

[spaciireth]

I totally missed day 3! 😭Still on track, though! I worked a 9-hour day today but I'm about to start on today's sprint.

I am abysmal at world building, mostly because I am too impatient to get into the writing. I am getting better at outlining beforehand but I'll always be a pantser at hear.

Here's a bit describing the VR world that a lot of Wonderland takes place in: For context, it's old files on a hard drive from when they first started building this VR platform.

. There was no cross-fade transition between scenes like a finished game would have now. Instead, the shot changed abruptly, and Clara blinked in the brighter light. Everything was silent. There was no ambient noise or an underlying soundtrack to accompany them through the world. Instead, she could hear the real-world sounds of Max's clothes as he shifted position on the couch and the kitchen tap dripping behind them.

[spaciireth]

Update: wrote about 100 words before realising that due to changes I've made to the start of the story, I might no longer need the scene I've been working on all week. 😅 Good thing my writing retreat starts tomorrow, sounds like I'm going to be doing some plot brainstorming.

[xfirefly9x]

Nicely done with the 100 words! Even if they don't quite fit now...

I hope the writing retreat has been helping. How's the plot brainstorming going?

[xfirefly9x]

All good! I've missed all days in terms of actually responding to my own posts so far. Though I have been doing bits of fiction writing in the background...

9-hour days are tough! Hope you got a decent break during that and after.

"Pantser at heart" - way too relatable. This is me as well. I would love to spend some time reading some more craft books for things like worldbuilding and story structure, though, and see if I can boost my skills. Maybe I'll see if there's enough interest to do that as a book club thing, a chapter or two a week til it's done? There are so many awesome books out there...

Love the snippet you provided. It feels so...real world with elements of VR hooking in but not quite there yet. The "dripping" kitchen tap in the background is such a great element in there, used really well for the contrast.