Current Events > I'm writing a new scifi story. Help me stay motivated.

(+) Yeah! (+)

So it's been a few years since I last wrote anything. I want to exercise my writing muscle, so I'm starting a midlength story about time travel. I'll post here the chapters as they get done.

My objective is pumping out one chapter per 1-2 months, using my Christmas holidays to advance as much as possible. When I work I am too tired on weekends to do anything.

I've just started a Google Doc with the outline of the plot and characters. I'll start the writing of chapter 1 next week.
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For writing reference, this is the last major thing I wrote... 5 years ago. It's an incomplete open-ended CYOA, but I liked the plot so I may continue it in the future. It can be considered a prologue of sorts, since some of the concepts in my current story come from that one. But the rules of the universe won't necessarily be coherent between both, so I won't be constrained by it.

https://goo.gl/A5chn7
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Tag
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Do you want ruthless critique and people pointing out typos and bad grammar?

Bet CE's great at that.
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_Schwarzlicht_ posted...

Do you want ruthless critique and people pointing out typos and bad grammar?

Bet CE's great at that.

English isn't my first language, so there's nothing I can do about that.
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will there be sex scenes?
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weekoldhotdog posted...

will there be sex scenes?

Probably not. I'm not good at romancey writing, much less sexy. But if Brandon Sanderson doesn't need them to make their books interesting, neither. do I.
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sorry, sex sells. rewrite your draft to include more topless aliens or i'm losing motivation to keep you motivated.
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weekoldhotdog posted...

sorry, sex sells. rewrite your draft to include more topless aliens or i'm losing motivation to keep you motivated.

*shrug* Then my story isn't for you, I guess.
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I'm writing it a bad review, day one now. You sir, have gone too far!
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First chapter outline is done. I still need to see further in the plot to be able to drop some endgame hints at the beginning. Usually what I do is that I drop random hints and then later adapt the plot around them. Which mostly makes it a mess.
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BUMP

O'm now thinking about how much I want to develop the world story at the beginning, while avoiding infodumps.

My idea is to have everything happen in a fictional world, in which the protagonists go back in time to avoid changes in momentous points of history. But to have it make an impact, the history in question. must be at least shown or implied.

I'm thinking about going the Chrono Trigger way and show different interlinked time periods, but that wouldn't work so well for a first chapter where I want to directly introduce the theme of the series.

Hmmmm...
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BUMP

I've decided to write a rough first draft of the first chapter, and then refine the concepts within. Just planning ahead doesn't seem to be working for me.

I'm not used to writing anymore...
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Just added a cryptic pretentious paragraph at the beginning of the chapter, based on an inworld book.

>______________>

...Don't judge me.
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tag for future reading
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ArchangelBaruch posted...

Just added a cryptic pretentious paragraph at the beginning of the chapter, based on an inworld book.

>______________>

...Don't judge me.

Ew. Not sure if I dig that, but I'd have to see the end result to judge for sure.

Anyway, best of luck. I too write, so if you have any questions, feel free to shoot 'em my way.

I'm currently 23,000 words into my second book (but first novel. My published book is a collection of short stories).
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Try to hit a word count each day. Consistency is key. I do 2,000 but less is fine. Just think of your story like a puzzle. You're putting it together piece by piece. Just stay focused on your main idea/theme and let the plot and characters and events and all that fall into place.
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Eat More Beef posted...

I'm currently 23,000 words into my second book (but first novel. My published book is a collection of short stories).

I have so much trouble reasoning in terms of word count, it doesn't speak to me at all.

I just checked and that half story I posted in the first page is 12k words. I can only tell that plotwise I was around 25% done.
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_Goggalor_ posted...

Try to hit a word count each day. Consistency is key. I do 2,000 but less is fine. Just think of your story like a puzzle. You're putting it together piece by piece. Just stay focused on your main idea/theme and let the plot and characters and events and all that fall into place.

If I do this until the end I'm going for long distance. It may take a couple years, since I predict that when I get back to work I'll slow down to a snail's crawl.
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ArchangelBaruch posted...

Eat More Beef posted...

I'm currently 23,000 words into my second book (but first novel. My published book is a collection of short stories).

I have so much trouble reasoning in terms of word count, it doesn't speak to me at all.

I just checked and that half story I posted in the first page is 12k words. I can only tell that plotwise I was around 25% done.

Take your word count

Divide it by both 250 and 300. Those are your likely page counts if you were to publish your story in the form of a book. Go grab a book on your shelf and compare your story and you'll have a decent idea of how long it is.
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tag

good luck

will read later
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kirbymuncher posted...

tag

good luck

will read later

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ArchangelBaruch posted...

weekoldhotdog posted...

will there be sex scenes?

Probably not. I'm not good at romancey writing, much less sexy. But if Brandon Sanderson doesn't need them to make their books interesting, neither. do I.

imo you should write an INCEPTI0NxCorrik romance scene.
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300 words for a small intro. I'm really bad at the description stuff, I prefer inner monologuing. But I need to give some context for the action.
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I think I'm going to change the style, from 3rd person past to 1st person present. I feel more comfortable writing like that.
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ArchangelBaruch posted...

I think I'm going to change the style, from 3rd person past to 1st person present. I feel more comfortable writing like that.

As do I, but it's really tricky because then when you want background info, it feels shoehorned in most of the time. Also, writing in 1st person generally falls victim to the opposite of show, don't tell.
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Good luck. I'm writing something too.
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BUMP

No progress writing today, but I sorted some of the plot where my characters were involuntarily on a suicide mission from page 1.
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