Me trying to figure out the distance between places and how long it’ll take a character to get there in a society that travels mostly on foot:
What I do is determine about how many miles the distance is, after that I look up two European cities that are about that far apart, and switch the Google maps thingy from car to walk.
Holy shit my dude! Why you gotta blow my mind like this!?
I am absurdly happy I haven’t made a habit of posting the exercises I’ve been writing for this C280k workshop. Today and the rest of week 5 are focusing on trauma. We can elect to skip these exercises, create a fictional trauma to write about, or dive in and write about our own.
While I’m not opposed to sharing what I’m writing – because this is the ultimate of anonymity – I’m not in the right mindset to handle anything that might come after. Multiple studies done (that Tim referenced) have proven that this practice worsens the effects of trauma immediately afterward, only to showcase improvement over time.
So in time, I will be okay to post them should I ever feel like it. Right now, though? I should probably complete the exercise and then disappear off social media entirely for the rest of the day. Social media exacerbates depressive thoughts, it’s not healthy for me to feed into that cycle when I’m already knowingly experiencing a low.
He just made me write a scene using only one syllable words! One syllable words!! Do you realize how hard that was??
Let me paint this for you: This week is about the elements of style. He’s pushing us to work outside whatever style we’ve naturally adapted and try out different ones by rewriting the same scene over and over again. I haven’t minded, it’s been a fun exercise. Until today. My scene is a memory I have from college and it happens after the semester is over. USING ONE. SYLLABLE. WORDS.
I’m honestly surprised I was able to get some of those sentences out. I have never considered my style elaborate or anything beyond quietly simple, but holy crap was that a simplicity I’ve never attempted in my life.
my writer-dudes, if planning a plot outline on your own is too daunting, find a plot worksheet! if one is too detailed, try another. here are some at different levels of detail:
I think that there’s some kind of mindset in a lot of creative communities (authors, artists, musicians) that your work needs to be groundbreaking and thought-provoking for it to matter. That in order for it to be considered worthy of its medium, it must have a greater purpose.
And if you ask me, its bullshit.
God, it puts so much stress on a creator to have to be important to someone else. I have seen so many people give up because their work isn’t making a statement, that it’s ‘fluff but no substance.’ As though there’s only room for so many people in a community of creators that only people with a point can get in.
If it made someone laugh, it’s important.
If it made someone smile, it’s important.
If someone looks back on it fondly, even for a moment, it’s important.
If you enjoyed making it, even if you never shared it, it’s important.
Sing songs about your cat, draw pictures of lizards eating popsicles, and write a series of novels about time-traveling alpaca.
The world is already full of super-important stuff. Write fluff.
Nikki Bradley 
