Tag: Writing Community

I’m participating in the PaWriCo March Madness Challenge

I’m not ashamed to admit it. I miss Nanowrimo.

Well, no. I don’t really miss the organization. I sure don’t miss their offensive dismissals of the harm AI can do to writers. I miss the writing community and all the warm fuzzies I got. I miss meeting new people, writing as part of a collective, and all the bonding. And I sure miss the productivity boost all of the excitement around challenges like this always gives me.

Of course, I’m not alone. Writing is a lonely occupation. It involves a lot of sitting in quiet rooms writing things that someday someone will (hopefully) sit in a quiet room and read. We need to get together with our people and feel like we’re doing something as a team. And since writers are generally creative and self-motivated, it was just a matter of time until one of us stepped up and made a new challenge for all of us.

In this case, it was two of us. Specifically, two authors named Rain Sullivan and Jen Woodrum. They came together and created the Pathfinder Writer’s Collective. And I am here for it!

Their first challenge started last year in November. Because of course. But it was different than Nanowrimo. It was more of a choose your own adventure writing challenge. And it was also three months long, from November first to January 31st. And I learned about this on January 29th, on a Write As Rain Instagram post.

Sad trombone music.

Reading the comments it became that, somehow, I wasn’t the only person who was just finding out about this challenge. But, the creators also gave us some hope. A hint that something was coming in March.

Enter the Pathfinders Writing Collective March Madness Challenge.

The goal of this challenge is simple. Write as much as you can in March. But you’re not just trying to hit an arbitrary number. Instead, participants will be split into two teams, Team Green and Team Orange. And every hour you write goes towards your team’s score. There are fun writing sprints and other exciting community events that will take place on the Pathfinders Writing Collective Discord. Fun, right?

Now, I’m writing this on Tuesday. You’ll be seeing it on Friday. The teams are going to be announced on Wednesday. So I can’t yet tell you which team I’m on. I can tell you that it’s probably too late to join.

Sorry about that. But I’ll have some good news for you regarding that at the end of this post.

You might wonder what I plan to work on during this joyful month of overwriting. Well, as always, it’s complicated. See, I’m going to finish the rough draft of Aurora about halfway through the month. I hope. So, when that’s done, I’ll be working on the third draft of a novel I’ve been keeping under wraps for several years now.

Hopefully, I’ll be able to tell you about it soon. Getting the third draft done will certainly help with that.

Alright, but since it’s probably too late for you to participate in March Madness, what can you look forward to from the Pathfinders Writing Collective? Well, they are of course doing their PaWriCo event in November through January. But, they’re also planning a boot camp event in June and July. I don’t know a lot about what that will entail just yet. But so long as March Madness goes well and no one else ends up hospitalized, I’ll be able to let you know. In the meantime, I’m excited to participate in a new writing challenge.

Wish me luck.

If you’re participating in the PaWRiCo March Madness, let me know in the comments. And if there’s another writing challenge that deserves some attention, let us know about that too.

Did you know I wrote a Novel Planner? You can get it now on my Ko-fi shop.

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I will never write anything as good as this!

Recently I read a fantastic book called Mister Magic. You can read my full review on Haunted MTL here.

This book sent me into a tailspin for a couple of reasons. The first one was that it dealt heavily with the Mormon church and religious trauma. But the second reason is the one I want to talk about today.

I will never, as long as I live, write anything as good as this book.

I will never write anything as good as The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires. I will never write anything as good as The Stand. I will never write anything as good as American Gods. These are all works of art, and I am just not a good enough writer to come up with anything so breathtakingly creative and wonderful as these books.

Writers are readers first. People who want to write stories usually want to do this because we love stories. And we love good stories. So I doubt I’m the only writer to look at a great piece of writing and think that my paltry contributions are nothing in comparison.

But, of course, if I let myself be bogged down by this, I’d never write a single word again. And I think some people would miss my work. I know I would miss it.

So what do we do when we feel like this? Well, here are some of the things I’ve been reminding myself of. Hopefully, they’ll help you too.

Art is subjective

It’s important to remember that everyone’s tastes are different. The same book can keep one reader up at night while being a sleeping pill to someone else. And every single book I mentioned as being works of art has one-star reviews right now on Amazon. And as amazing as it is to realize, you might write something that someone else likes better than you do. You should always be your work’s biggest champion, but someone else will probably be your work’s biggest fan. The flip side of this is that the work that you love, might not be for everybody. Maybe some people love it. Maybe some people hate it. But no book is really perfect, and we should probably all take our favorites down of the pedestals we’ve so lovingly placed them on.

You can always get better

It’s probably not fair of me to say that I will never write anything as good as those books. Because, frankly, I might. I’m always trying to get better. I want to write better, more creative, and gripping stories. I honestly feel even now that I’m just coming into my stride as a writer, yes even after writing and publishing eight books.

Writing requires talent, but it also requires learning and practice. We practice every time we sit down and tap on the keyboard just the same as a musician practices at a piano. We are learning, we are growing. And we can, if we want to, write something as amazing as our favorite books.

Not everything has to be a work of art

Works of art are amazing. A fantastic book can be moving, and life-changing. It can save us when we’re in our darkest hour. It can inspire us to change the world, or just be better people.

But we don’t always consume content that is amazing or life-changing. My life was not even a little changed by Rick and Morty, or any book by Philippa Gregory. But I love those a lot. I’ll go nuts over a Philippa Gregory book because it’s fun to read. The same can be said for most of the books I read or shows I watch.

You can write something just because you think it’s fun. You don’t always have to set out to write the next Great American Novel. You can just write something good. That’s okay, encouraged even.

Besides, I’m willing to bet that the people who write those great books didn’t set out to write something that was going to be world-changing. They had a good idea, and they wrote it to the best of their ability at the time. Sometimes that means we end up with trash. Sometimes that means we end up with art. Sometimes that just means we end up with something that passed the time and helped us enjoy our lunch break a little more.

All of those things are okay.

Your work is your own

I was raised with a mindset that I’m still trying to unlearn. It sounds good at first.

You are already doing better than a lot of people. You right now, wherever you are, are doing better than a lot of other people. Your book is better than other published books. If your book isn’t published yet, at least you wrote a book. That puts you ahead of people who are still working on theirs. If you’re still working on yours, at least you’ve started. That puts you ahead of the people who are just wishing they could write a book but haven’t yet bothered to put pen to paper. And all the way down to the poor scrub who doesn’t want to create any art at all and just wants to watch Real Housewives after work in peace.

There are two problems with that. One, we do not gain our worth from creating things. We are inherently worthy of love, acceptance, joy, and peace without ever making one single thing. But two, if this theory works one way, it works the other way. If you haven’t started your book yet, people who have are better. If you have started your book, people who have published theirs are better. If you’ve published your book, someone’s book was more popular. And there is always going to be someone more popular. Someone else will get a bigger advance, sell more copies, get a movie or TV adaption faster or with a bigger budget.

So instead of comparing your art and your journey against anyone else, compare yourself to where you were yesterday. Compare this project with your last project, and see how much you’ve grown. So I don’t need my current book to be better than Mister Magic. I just need it to be better than Nova.

I hope that you write something today. And even if it’s not as good as you want it to be, I hope you like it. I hope it’s good. Because just by existing, it’s already good enough.

Paper Beats World is a labor of love. If you love what we do here, you can support us by liking and sharing this post. You can also support us financially on Ko-fi.

Nova is available now for preorder! You can order it now on Amazon, and read it in full now on May 17th.

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Is my writing getting any better?

Writing is an art. For me, and I imagine for you if you’re reading this, writing is a passion. Writing is also how I pay (some of) the bills. And, like any passion/art/obsession, we want to be good at it. Hell, I want to be the best writer. I want to be a better writer now than I was a year ago, and an even better writer a year from now. But that leads me to a miserable question.

How do I tell if my writing is getting any better? For that matter, how do I tell if my writing is any good at all? 

Writing is subjective.

Writing is not like speaking a second language, baking bread or running. You cannot measure improvement in how many full sentences you can speak, the texture or flavor of the end product, or how far you can sprint before you run out of breath. Writing, like any art, is subjective. You can learn everything about the MICE quotient. You can understand the structure of the hero’s journey. You can read Save The Cat seventeen times over, and who’s to say you’re a better writer? And a fan base isn’t a good measurement. Some amazing writers are putting work out to an audience of zero, while some truly awful drek is hitting Amazon best seller lists. 

So if you’re doing all the things, how can you tell if you’re getting better? Well, again keep in mind that everything is subjective. But here are some ways you can spot improvement in your writing. 

How do you feel when you’re writing?

If you’ve been writing a while, you start to get a feel for when it’s good. When the words are coming alive on the page, instead of laying flat and dead. This is something that cannot be taught any other way but practice. In the words of Stephen King, you’ve got to read a lot and write a lot. 

Oh darn. 

Freewriting will help with this. You start to get familiar with the shape of your words outside of the structure of a story. It allows you to notice your word usage without judgement. Your sentence structure, naming habits, all the things that make up your style. Freewriting is how you figure out if that’s working.

How does your writing feel when you come back to it?

Anytime you write something, it’s best to let it sit for a time before editing or publishing.

Nothing should go out without some editing!

But the distance from the piece allows you to read it as though you didn’t write it. And this is a great time to consider how you’re doing. 

Over time, you learn where your weak points are. I’m bad at writing fight scenes, and physical descriptions. I also have this bad habit of writing dialog in one specific way that’s fine if I don’t overdo it. But I then, of course, overdo it. 

Over time, I find that I’m doing these things less and less. Instead I find new fun things to do that irritate me, but that’s part of growth! 

Reading your own writing as though it’s someone else’s will give you a better understanding of how you’re doing as a writer. 

What kind of feedback are you getting from your beta readers?

I want you to read that question very, very carefully. I did not ask you to consider the feedback of people on the internet. I did not ask you to consider the feedback of your favorite auntie. I want you to think about what your fellow working writers are telling you. 

And even then, keep in mind that art is subjective. 

All that being said, consider the feedback you’re getting. Are you getting the same comments every time? Or, are you getting new comments? 

This is how you know you’re growing as a writer. Not because your fellow writers say your work is perfect. But because you learn from the feedback and fix that part of your writing. 

Now, all of that being said, I do have one word of caution for you. Don’t worry too much about whether your writing is getting better. 

I’m not saying you shouldn’t try to get better. But don’t stress over it. If you’re reading and writing, you’re going to get better. In this way, writing is like learning a language, baking bread or running. If you commit to doing it, and you practice, you can’t help but get better. 

If you’d like to support Paper Beats World, you can do so on Ko-fi

AA season two is coming on August 15th. If you love aliens stuck on Earth, found families, and monsters that go bump in coffee shops, you can catch up on season one now on Haunted MTL.

 

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The best fictional writers on tv

Writers like to write about writing. I do, as I’ve been posting about it here since 2014. So of course we do get fictional characters that are writers. Even though watching someone write isn’t exactly thrilling. I get why more stories are about athletes, politicians, space captains and ghost hunters. Watching them do their job is a lot more fun than watching me do my job.

And yet, some shining and relatable examples of writers on tv do exist. So today, I want to talk about my top ten favorite fictional writers. 

Diane Nguyen, BoJack Horseman

Diane is, like most of the characters on this show, a hot mess. But she’s a hot mess of a writer in Hollywoo, so she is clearly failing upward. Through the course of the show, she’s a biographer, a movie consultant and a magazine columnist. I would love those jobs!

More importantly, she struggles with actual writing problems. Remaining honest and relevant, and working in a field that claims to value creativity while forcing it to bow to focus groups.

Rick Castle, Castle

This isn’t the most realistic interpretation of a writer I’ve ever seen. But there were some really fun writerly moments in the first few seasons of Castle. Especially in the first few episodes, Castle plays a weekly game of cards with some real-life writers we might recognize, including James Patterson, Dennis Lehane, Michael Connelly and Stephen J. Cannell.

I also love that the series starts with a murder based on one of Castle’s books. I think a lot of horror and mystery writers worry that our work might inspire real-world pain. 

Another thing I loved was that the book Castle is working on isn’t done in an episode. That writing process is an entire season long. And the book isn’t released until partway through the next season! That is some realistic writing time.

Nathan Fillion as Rick Castle

Liz Lemon, 30 Rock

The insane workaholic main character of 30 Rock is loosely based on Tina Fey’s time working at SNL. And yes, writing for a weekly live show would be insane. Liz struggles to balance the wishes of corporate, the actors and her fellow writers, more often than not dropping all the balls she’s trying to keep in the air.

I love any time the characters are in the writing room, working together on scripts. I love the depiction of characters editing until the wee hours of the morning because that feels so relatable to me. And I love that Liz both loves and hates her entire creative team. 

Hannah, Reboot

Reboot was a recent show that only got one season on Hulu. From what I understand, the creators are looking for a new home for season two. I hope they find one.

Hannah is the main character. She wants to reboot a sitcom, making it more modern and relatable. Her father created the original show and has a certain amount of creative control. They battle constantly over hiring writers, managing actors, and crafting storylines. It’s old-school comedy writing blended with modern television sensibilities, finding the best and worst of each other. 

Of course, Hannah is also writing through her very real anger about her dad abandoning her as a child. We all write our demons. Even if we say we don’t, we all end up writing about what hurts us the most. Even if we have to turn it into a punchline. 

The cast of Newsroom

Newsroom was what I wish every news channel in real life could be. I wanted to narrow down just one writer on the show, but honestly, they’re all great. From their professionalism, dignity in reporting, and respect for the work, they are heroes. I honestly wish all news was reported by people like this. 

These writers were willing to go to any length to tell the truth. To tell the news. My favorite example of this is in the episode Amen. People’s lives are really on the line in this one, and everyone is aware. It’s a great example of what kind of danger journalists can find themselves in. 

Bart and Lisa Simpson, The Simpsons

Bart and Lisa have been writers in several episodes of The Simpsons. In an early episode, they start writing for Itchy and Scratchy but have to put Abe (Grandpa) Simpson’s name on their scripts because they’re too young. 

Lisa has also written essays that won awards. She’s a dedicated journal keeper. She is, I think, what we all aspire to be as writers, but can never quite reach. 

CW Longbottom and Ian Grimm, Mythic Quest

Video game writing is an ever-growing field. And much like tv writing, video game writing is a group effort. Being in a group of creatives is a hard thing when everyone thinks they’re smarter than everyone else in the room.

Ian and CW work together to create playable storylines. And CW is a little too proud of his Nebula award. He’s generally a little too proud of his writing, which comes up in a flashback episode that brought me to tears. 

Tina Belcher, Bob’s Burgers

Tina Belcher writes some cringy stuff, man. Uncomfortable sex scenes, wish fulfillment with her crush, weird scenarios involving zombies. And I am in awe of her for it. 

Tina is a writer who writes for the joy of it. She fills up notebooks frequently with her friend-Rodica series and is having the time of her life doing so. This is what every young writer should be doing. Writing what you want to write just for the fun of it.

Jessica Fletcher, Murder She Wrote

Who didn’t grow up admiring Jessica Fletcher and her prolific typewriter? She was funny, smart, and a bit of a workaholic. And she managed to take every bit of her life and use it in her cozy mystery series. It is truly a joy to hear her typewriter click. 

Angela Landsbury as Jessica Fletcher

Rob Petrie, The Dick Van Dyke Show

Rob was maybe the first tv character I ever saw who was a writer. And as a young person who was just starting to understand that someday she’d have to grow up and make money, he had a real influence on me. 

You could grow up and write stories. Well, I guess someone has to write them. Even better, there was a girl in the writing room, and she was just part of the team. 

So now I want to hear what you think. Who is your favorite fictional writer on tv? Let us know in the comments. 

Paper Beats World is free to read, but it’s not free to make. If you can, please consider supporting us on Ko-fi.

 

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