stephrawlingwrites

[stephrawlingwrites]

when lizzo said “self love is survival” and when hannah gadsby said “do you understand what self-deprecation means when it comes from somebody who already exists in the margins? it’s not humility. it’s humiliation” and when mitski said “i used to rebel by destroying myself, but realized that’s awfully convenient to the world. for some of us our best revolt is self preservation”

[stephrawlingwrites]

employees are expected to wear

appropriate

attire

[stephrawlingwrites]

please tell me this is like an oracle deck in the works or something.

Egyptian gods by Yliade

[stephrawlingwrites]

Open Letter To Those Who Won’t Be Doing NaNoWriMo

It’s okay.

I know social media will be overflowing with people doing nano and talking about their progress the next month or so.

Please don’t feel like less of a writer because you go at your own pace. NaNo doesn’t fit into the schedules of a lot of people, and for many, it just isn’t possible with work, school, and so many other things.

Being competitive with yourself is good, but writing, especially for fun, should never be a chore. Don’t put too much stress on yourself.

Happy writing—at your own pace.

[stephrawlingwrites]

So, anyone looking for an unbelievably unsuccessful, but incredibly supportive NaNoWriMo buddy? 🙈😅

#nanowrimo #writeblr #buddy

[stephrawlingwrites]

[stephrawlingwrites]

This is just wrong. Everyone is welcome to trick or treat at my house.

[stephrawlingwrites]

Stop stealing my dang book

HEY, UH

The people who are putting my tiny self published book (Here, the World Entire, aka the book I poured my whole dang soul into!) up on piracy sites / requesting a pdf of my book on piracy sites:

CAN YOU LITERALLY THE FUCK NOT

I’m very glad that people want to read my book! It brings me joy that I very truly cannot even begin to explain! It’s basically my dream come true! But please don’t steal my work!

I don’t have the backing of a big publishing house. I self published, so there’s no advance for me. The only money I make off that book is through sales, and although it’s not a lot at all per sale, it’s the only source of income that book produces. I very strongly believe that writers deserve to get paid for their work. That includes me.

If you want to read my book but really can’t justify using the funds you have to do so (because hey, we’re all in different financial situations, I get it), I know it’s in a couple of library systems so it’s worth trying that. I’m reluctant to send out free ebooks now because the last time I did that someone put it on a pirating site, but you’re welcome to ask and I may decide to do so on a case by case basis.

Please, please don’t pirate books. Authors really don’t generally make a lot as it is. We’re not all JK Rowling. Minimising our already low revenue stream, especially self published authors, is shitty. It actually upsets me to think that someone who follows this blog might be one of the people pirating or asking for pirated copies. If it is you and you see this, I’m asking you to stop. I will be telling you next time.

[stephrawlingwrites]

Reblog if you’d be down to be writer buddies

[stephrawlingwrites]

Literally none of my story ideas come with a plot, ever. WITHOUT FAIL, it’s always just an Aesthetic, like two and a half characters, some very, very vivid settings, and a weird concept. Never plot. Not even an inkling of a plot. My brain tosses me this cool stuff and is like welp i’ll be back in 4-5 business months 

[stephrawlingwrites]

Looking for new writeblrs to follow!

I desperately need to restock my queue, but there’s a severe lack of diversity in writing-related posts on my dash. It’s the same memes, over and over again.

So I’m going on another writeblr follow spree! 

Please reblog if any of the following apply to you! (If only one thing applies to you that’s okay, please reblog!)

A currently active writeblr

Likes to support fellow writers in the community by sending asks, reblogging WIP posts, and commenting

Participating in Nanowrimo

Writes urban fantasy, magical realism, mysteries, romance, or contemporary fiction

Has a diverse cast of characters

Looking for new writeblr friends

Feel free to tell me a bit about yourself if you feel so inclined.

Please consider checking me out as well, I’m always looking for new mutuals to befriend!

All follows will be coming from my main @undinisms. If you follow back, please go follow my writeblr @pens-swords-stuff instead!

[stephrawlingwrites]

NaNoWriMo Prep: How to Write 2000 Words a Day

Two thousand is a big number. Sitting down to write 2000 words can be extremely intimidating, so the first thing you should do is make that number friendlier.

Write 500 words in 4 writing sessions.  

Chop up that big, intimidating number. Start with a goal of 500 words. In one session, with no breaks, write them all. Take a break, then write the next 500. Repeat until you reach at least 2000. 

If you write 650 words in one session, don’t aim for 350 in the next. Let those extra words add up. A few hundred extra words each day will get you to 50k quicker than you could imagine.

I recommend timing your sessions, aiming for 20 minutes each time. The deadline will help you get the words out, With 10 minute breaks between each session, you can reach your 2000 word goal in two hours. Which brings me to the next point: 

Write fast. 

Don’t stop and think about your words. Don’t go back and improve a previous sentence. Save all of your edits for later. Focus on writing as quickly as possible, throwing everything you have at that blank page. This will actually help boost your creativity. Make your brain work so fast, be so focused, that it doesn’t have any space to doubt itself and you’ll be amazed at what you can come up with. 

But don’t worry if you can’t write 500 words in 20 minutes on day one. Writing quickly is a skill and it will take a few days of training. 

Let the words suck.

This is absolutely key if you want a high word count. When you’re writing an entire chapter in a day, you shouldn’t expect the words to be beautiful. You’re not aiming at lyrical prose. You’re mining raw material that you can work into art later.

Letting the words suck can include:

Writing [something happens here] in place of a scene.

Letting yourself use cliches as shorthand.

Dialog that is really exposition.

Long descriptions of things that don’t matter.

Letting your characters ramble until you discover what it is they actually need to say.

As long as there are 2000 words and they relate to your story, they’re exactly what you need. And if you hate having bad words on a page, once you have your 2000 for a day, you can go back and fix all of it. Take all the time you need. Just reach that word count first. 

Tip: if you do edit at the end of each day, make that a separate document from your official NaNo doc. This way, you can trim scenes, descriptions, and dialog without worrying about its effect on your word count. (If you make a scene/description/sentence longer, feel free to include that in your NaNo doc.) 

Don’t know what to write next?

So you’ve written 1200 words, completed a scene, and you have no idea where the story is going next. Here are some things you can do to get those 800 words in anyway:

Go to writeordie.com and FORCE the words out.

If that doesn’t work, reread the scene you’ve just written and see if you’re missing some obvious foreshadowing, some clue as to where the story’s headed. (You can also add a few lines to bulk up your wc.)

If that fails, take a walk and let the fresh air usher a solution to you.

If that fails, skip the next section. Write another scene. Go where the story is waiting for you. Come back to the other scene at a later time.

Helpful tip:

Instead of breaking your writing session into four parts, break it into five. Use your first writing session to sketch out an entire chapter, like an outline, but with bits and pieces of dialog and description. Figure out where you’re headed and a couple of key stops along the way. Knowing what you’re writing towards will make doing the actual, fleshed-out writing much easier and quicker.

You can also do an outline for the next day’s writing after you’ve gotten your 2000 words for the day in. Future you will be extremely pleased.

[stephrawlingwrites]

NaNoWriMo Prep:

What are three questions/bits of info you use when putting together a character profile?

Here are mine: -  What is this character’s most prized possession? Is it sentimental or or material in value? What would this character do if it were lost or stolen? -  What is one thing this character would like to change about themself? What would this character have to do to make that change? -  What is one thing this character would never do, under any circumstances? What would they do if they had no choice?

#nanowrimo #character development #writeblr #nanowrimo prep #nanowrimo tips #nanowrimo support #writing tips

[stephrawlingwrites]

Underrated & Under-reviewed LGBT+ Book Recommendations

To read for Pride all year long.

I see a lot of LGBT+ book rec pots going around because of pride but they rarely feature any of the obscure books that actually need to be found and read and supported to help new LGBT+ manuscripts break into the literary world.

So, without further ado, here is a list with books which have (approximately) less than 5k ratings or less than 1k reviews on goodreads. (Books with fewer than 1k ratings are bolded!)

Disclaimer: I haven’t read all these books personally, but they have been read by people whose opinions I trust. I tried to get as much content information as I could, but I might have missed some things so please let me know if I should adjust any of the content info!

Fantasy/Sci-fi

Thornfruit by Felicia Davin

Women loving women

Unique world building

In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan.

Bisexual disaster protagonist

Great social analysis

Comedy

Our Bloody Pearl by D.N. Bryn.

Ace romance with a nonbinary pov character

More fluff than angst

TW for mild gore

Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner.

Men loving men

Mature content

The Fever King by Victoria Lee.

Dark YA

TW for heavy traumatic themes

More Than Enough by Elizabeth Wambheim

Fluff

Ace men loving men

Women loving women

Beauty and the beast retelling

Daughter of Mystery by Heather Rose Jones;

Woman loving women

Adult content

Bodyguard romance trope

Contemporary 

Poppy Jenkins by Clare Ashton.

Lesbian coffee shop rom-com

Mature content

Once Ghosted, Twice Shy by Alyssa Cole.

Black women loving women

Novella

Mature content

I Hate Everyone But You by Gaby Dunn.

Comedy

Women loving women

Told through not traditional narration

TERF character (called out by the narrative)

Leave Myself Behind by Bart Yates; 

Men loving men

Drama

TW for traumatic themes 

Running with Lions by Julian Winters

Men loving men

Sports

Let’s Talk About Love by Claire Kann 

Black, biromantic asexual protagonist

Bonus Recommendations

Dragonsong a wlw fantasy short story by Audrey Rose B

Knit One, Girl Two a fluffy wlw contemporary short story by Shira Glassman

The Songbird’s Refrain a wlw fantasy by Jillian Maria, coming FALL 2019.

Please reblog with your own favorite underrated, under-reviewed LGBT+ books!

[stephrawlingwrites]

For the most part people who satirize Christianity in their books are right about the fact that Christianity needs to be made fun of, but wrong about what specifically is wrong with it

[stephrawlingwrites]

“To fight sexual harassment, we must start with better wages”

Claudia Chi Ku is a single mother of four who works as a server, food-runner, and bartender at a popular Mexican grill in Los Angeles. Like many in the restaurant industry, Chi Ku faces sexual harassment daily, while averaging just $10 in tips per shift.

She tolerates more than she might otherwise because she needs the money.

“You have to respond in a nice way so they don’t feel bad,” she says, “In the end, I depend on their tips – I depend on them being there.”

There are more than 11 million restaurant workers in the United States, and many of them have stories similar to Chi Ku’s, said Saru Jayaraman, director of the Food Labor Research Center at University of California at Berkeley and co-director or the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROC-United).

The food service industry is notoriously hard on its workers, in part because the federal minimum wage is just $2.13 for people who earn tips, Jayaraman said.

Those rock-bottom earnings all but guarantee a climate in which food servers put up with customer harassment just to eke out a living, she said.

Read the full story on Slate

[stephrawlingwrites]

you know, it kind of feels to me like a lot of the recent AO3 disk horse fails to take into account what AO3 is

not just on the “radically anti-censorship in direct response to previous moral purity crusades and overly litigious IP holders” front, although that’s definitely something we need to not lose sight of

but, uh, AO3 isn’t a social media site? It’s an archive. It’s community resource in that it’s a well-organized place to host our content but it’s not meant to function as the primary location Where Community Happens. there can be a bit of a learning curve to using the site to find what you want, but it really gives you much tighter control on what you see than tumblr or twitter does. by design. it’s highly efficient archival software rather than a social network that’s trying very hard to predict what, statistically, is likely to keep you engaged. they don’t have any reason to artificially inflate the amount of time you spend on things you aren’t looking for, because they’re not selling your time and attention to advertisers.

as was the case when social media was less omnipresent and fandom was less centralized, it’s still our job as fans to curate the fanworks that we consume and that we promote to each other. if it’s what you need to do to stay safe, it’s perfectly acceptable to never search the archive itself and just click through to things you see linked on blogs or servers that you trust. You’ve just got to spend time actively cultivating communities of people that share your interests, rather than waiting for an algorithm to deliver something that will get An Emotional Response out of you without caring what that emotion is as long as it gets you to click on something and look at a page with an advertisement on it.