writing

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"There's no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you"

-Maya Angelou

Welcome to c/writing!

This is a space for all kinds of discussion referring to writing. This could include the structure and style found in different types of writing, authors worth talking about, different genres, trends, etc.

This is also a space for users who wish to share their own writing for feedback. This could look like independently posting excerpts of poems/prose/plays or it could be replying to one of the writing prompt threads. Brainstorming and worldbuilding ideas are welcome too!

Ideally, this will be a community where we work together to become better writers and appreciators of writing in all its forms.

All that said, please note that Code of Conduct still applies here. Please apply content warnings where applicable and spoiler material that might be inappropriate.

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From the article:

  1. There are a lot of stories already out there, but there can never be too many of YOUR stories out there.

  2. Being unique isn’t about telling a story that has never been told, it is about telling a story from a perspective people can both relate to and learn from.

  3. No one writes like you write. You may have a style inspired by other writers and stories you love, but there is only one you, and only one voice through which the stories you write are told.

  4. If you are thinking about giving up because of something someone else did or said (or didn’t say or didn’t do), take some time to consider your choice. No one technically has the right to tell you which dream you can and cannot follow, and anyone who tries is just not nice.

  5. One bad day is not enough of a reason to give up. Not two bad days or two bad weeks or two bad years, either. Life is rough, and it’s tough to handle. But that does not mean you have to stop writing — or that, if you do, your hiatus has to last forever.

  6. Just because multiple people aren’t constantly praising you for your work does not mean you aren’t doing good work. Much of the work you will do as a writer will go unnoticed by the masses. This is the way of things. Keep doing good work.


(More of the article in the link up-top.)

My thoughts:

Tbh, I might give my writing a backseat.

I'm doing too many things as it is and I want to do less and just focus on what I want to do (and not what I feel I have to do).

Plus, what I excel at so far will pay dividends down the road; I don't know if I'm ready to write a novel or not.

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A well-done article. I never knew about this writer. More research should be done on him.

I should also check out his work sometime.

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Yes, it's the Mormon dude. I know, I know.

But I was recommended this by a communist friend in PSL who said I needed it and highly recommended it and said that, according to contacts he knew, he's... err, had misgivings about the faith (not sure if I should say it here).

I'm going to start these now and see if I find them useful. Wish me luck. Just need the advice, is all.

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It’s a lazy boring sunday afternoon

Nothing on television but reruns of old cartoons

Refresh my inbox across sites again and again

Mindlessly checking for notifications

I’m so, so, extremely bored

Finding tidbits of information for my useless trivia hoard

Why can’t anything in life excite me anymore

I might be materially well off but spiritually I’m poor

I could get off youtube and do something productive

I could learn a new skill online or actually be constructive

But I’m not doing those things, I’m a procrastination master

I just scroll through my feed, ever searching faster

I’m so, so, extremely bored

Finding tidbits of information for my useless trivia hoard

Why can’t anything in life excite me anymore

I might be materially well off but spiritually I’m poor

Is there anything interesting? It stimulates my brain

Then the dopamine is gone and I’m back to numbed down pain

An article five paragraphs and then I’m moving on

Maybe in the next refresh I’ll find a decent song

I’m so, so, extremely bored

Finding tidbits of information for my useless trivia hoard

Why can’t anything in life excite me anymore

I might be materially well off but spiritually I’m poor

I look through my email again but it’s just ads and spam

I consume the messages online like a docile lamb

The posts on my favorite forums haven’t updated at all

The same old comments keep me temporarily enthralled

I’m so, so, extremely bored…

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"You say that this is a trial of the whole of humanity. That, depending on my testimony, you will either allow us to live, should you find my appeal to the goodness of humanity convincing, or exterminate us."

"I will not participate in such a farce.

"This is a show trial. You have already made up your minds. One does not make preparations to eradicate an entire species only to abandon those preparations at the last moment because a member of that species says a few heartfelt words. Not when you've already seen fit to appoint yourself that species' judge, jury, and executioner. No, you have brought me here to absolve yourselves of the crime you intend to commit. To shift the burden of guilt for your genocide onto your intended victims. Anything I could say, you would invent a reason that it was not good enough and proceed with your plans, assured of your own righteousness."

"Make no mistake. Should humanity by some miracle prevail against your vast superiority in numbers and technology, I will have neither compassion nor mercy for those who took part in your monstrous actions. I will personally see to it that every one of them is executed, from your leader to the lowest petty officer. But I will not seek vengeance against those of your species who did not participate in your actions. I will not push for reprisals against your civilians, your children, or your political opponents who work tirelessly to oppose your plans of extermination."

"And if we don't live to bury your genocidal regime? Someone else will. The real lesson you should have taken from human history is that you types never last long."

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I don't even mean in a "Ayy I'm walking here" kind of way. Today I was getting my airbags replaced for a couple hours so I was just walking around (Nowhere to go to because it was one of those near-the-highway places with nothing but department stores and car dealerships, but that's a different discussion.) Literally, it seemed like the entire layout of the area was saying "Fuck you, drive around" Like, there was barely even any sidewalks, which you'd think would be the bare minimum but nope.

The one place worth going to was this supremely out of place fountain, but to get there I had to do several different crossings of a very busy street, with nothing to help but those damn buttons you're supposed to push to, I think, make a red light (they didn't work, whoopity-do) and one crossing didn't even have that. Eventually I decided "Screw it", since there was no "official" crossing, so I just crossed the rest of the way from one of those tiny concrete islands. I didn't get run over, of course, but now I think about how comparatively easy it was for me, being able to walk on my feet; I can't even imagine how much worse it is in, say, a wheelchair. I guess America hates anyone not driving.

Suffice to say that the whole time I was thinking of this painting