Please come and talk to me. Just for some general writing chat and support...

[BiglyBadgers]

I am about a third of the way through editing my stupidly long book (this'll teach me for writing epic fantasy) and need some chat!

I really loved the chat and support on the nano thread, but now novel writing month is long gone and I am alone! There must be other people out there bumbling along needing a friend to chat to...surely....I can provide coffee, cake and excellent free WiFi

Lol thanks. Breathing I we speak...
Garret sounds perfect. Now you just need a good case of consumption for true writerlyness

A writer's garrett sounds heavenly. Lucky you. Unfortunately I live in a ground floor maisonette. Maybe I could have a summerhouse or one of those shepherd huts like David Cameron got.

I want a library and a sewing room as well.

We have a study but it's currently full of boxes...so either write at kitchen table or sitting on floor beside son's bed after he's fallen asleep and I'm on the laptop

I think Philip Pullman writes in a garden shed. I'm a bit giddy at the thought of being able to leave my laptop plugged in (it's ancient and can't run on battery and takes 15 mins to wake up) and being able to leave piles of paper around. Piles! Of paper! That won't get strewn around the house in 5 minutes! Just have to hope I don't die of heat exhaustion.

I do all my writing in my tablet. At home it's generally on the sofa or in bed. Our place is tiny! We have no spare rooms.

Phew! Finally got through that troublesome chapter. Hurrah! Though it ended up going in a completely different direction then I had thought it would and now I have absolutely no idea what is going on. Still, I'm sure it'll work itself out sooner or later.

Good work bigly.. Sometimes when I get really stuck it's because my intended plot isn't quite working so I often end up heading in a new direction too.

How do you find typing on a tablet? Do you use a keyboard with it?

I've used my tablet so much for typing I now find using a keyboard infuriating and really noisy (all that tapping and clunking!). I don't use a keyboard with it, just the screen. I love it. It's so convenient for writing as it makes it really comfortable for doing stuff on the sofa or in bed. It does take a bit of practice, but I can now touch type on mine pretty fast. I now do everything on it. Even my uni essays I only use the laptop to finish off, format and add the Bibliography mainly because I can't find a decent bibliography tool with an Android app.

Am I the only one that rushes through, putting down everything that comes to mind, then does some serious re-editing? My chapters are short and frequent so I can do a chapter within a night quite a lot. Starting to rethink my format though...

Takes me about a week to write a chapter to have it posting ready. I have an outline already about what is supposed to happen and often dialogue, some content written. Current one is 12 pages already, but needs to be actually written. Then I edit, re edit and post. Chapters are anything from 1,500 to 5000 words long depending on the scenes.
Currently re editing posted work, I need to be more descriptive.
Also have to have something to talk about at my next creative writing club so might either ask for plot directions, or read something.
Hope they like star wars, and will have to avoid the NSFW sections that have started appearing in my chapters blush.
short chapters are fine!

My chapters tend to be between 10 and 20 pages, I'm on about 40 at the moment . No end in sight either... it's just a massive ramble at the moment! It will need a lot of smartening up and chopping down before I do anything with it too!

I pants the first draft really quickly and then rewrite a lot. My first draft of my part 1 is so, so different to my final one it's crazy. My chapters can be pretty variable. I usually aim for around 3k words, but have anything from 1500 to around 5k. I just go with what the chapter needs. My short ones tend to be quite intense, so serious fight scenes or something that you sort of need a break afterwards.

I don't think I could work chapter by chapter just due to the way I rewrite whole storylines after the initial drafting. Setting a chapter in stone seems like far too much of a commitment.

I'm finding that. It's not a way I'll write my original work but it forces me to plan way ahead...but also try hard not to write myself into a corner. That doesn't always work!

You must have to be very disciplined Honey. I'm sure it's amazing training for planning and continuity.

It's amazing training for going slowly mad...all I seem to think about is writing.
Got some amazing comments from readers about writing strong female characters and how what I have written resonated at a personal level. That's very humbling.

That is a great thing to get positive feedback on Honey. How lovely.

I just wrote my first ever sex scene! It is very short and very tame, but honestly the closest I have ever come to any sort of saucy shenanigans before. Gosh. I think I need a little lie down.

That's awesome honeyboo. I hope it helps assuage your earlier doubts :)

Hah bigly there's always a first time, lol. I tend to write them, cringe, then edit it mostly out with a 'fade to black'...

"If you feel the need to write, you absolutely should write."

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/may/12/elena-ferrante-on-writing-and-the-urge-to-write?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Ah, the hard business of writing smut.

It's one of the hardest things i find writing, especially with feelings. Smut where it is all just getting it on is easier, and lots of examples to read online... but with feelings? Harder.

So to speak. And I need to finish one such scene right now...

It has made me realise what a skill writing good erotica is. It's such a balance to get it right.

I find it difficult to remember that it is just describing an action scene. I tend find it hard to decide whether it needs to just be indicative, or full on detailed, but that is about writing for a particular audience.

So I had the unusual joy of reading out a piece of my evil space ginger work at my writing club. Not actually a bit he was in mind, just a short scene with another character. After some confused looks I got useful feedback and told it was well written...

I'm glad reading it our went well. I think it's always good to confuse people a bit.

I'm chugging along quite nicely now, not knowing what's going on or where it's all going. Love pantsing the first draft so much! It's always so exciting.

it was very useful and the tutor told me off for being very embarrassed about it being fanfiction. She said, probably rightly, that apart from some characters and the setting it is an original work. The plot is entirely my own.

I agree with her. Nobody claims the guy who wrote that Sherlock Holmes book isn't a proper writer. Happens all the time without being called fanfic. It's just using a different set of conventions.