Yesss!! I love it, too!! 15 Million Merits" was a good one. I have sooo many faves, but I'd say my top are White Christmas, Black Museum, White Bear, San Junipero, and maybe also USS Callister. But yes, I thought the way you described your writing preferences and areas of focus sounded EXACTLY like that show. I'm glad you're aware of it And I'm really drawn to those themes, both in creating and in consuming, too. Wishing you the greatest success in writing all about it!! May you go very far
Those are great too! I love USS Callister especially; so dark but good. White Christmas has a similar vibe to me. Thank you very much for the encouragement, and I wish you the same in all of your writing as well! Are you working on any projects or stories at the moment?
that's super sick man. RD2 was so fun to play. I love the idea of writing a story based on your characters you create in games. (are you ready for GTA VI next year?)
Thank you for your well wishes also! And technically, yes. Mainly focused on short stories these days, participating in different writing contents and challenges online. Just trying to get back in a steady flow of writing and of being inspired by these different opportunities and writing ideas. I'd say overall, it's been helping! I've been writing more consistently and on a good variety of topics. I just have to continue to stick with it and also learn more and hone my craft. What about yourself?
That's awesome! As with many things in life, I've found that with writing, inertia is key. Once you stop it's really hard to get started back again, especially with my ADHD brain, lol. So keep it up, and have fun with it! For me, my project is a science fiction/dystopian novel called 'Assimilation'. The manuscript will hopefully be done and ready for queries in a few months, but we'll see what happens. If you ever want to read excerpts from it, or you want me to read an excerpt from something you've written, feel free to send me a DM! I'm always looking for new things to read and I love getting to share my work with people who get the genre. (Also, speaking of the genre, do you know where my profile picture is from? If you like Black Mirror, you might enjoy this too: it's from a show called Colony. If you like themes with advanced technology, aliens, intricate government power struggles, and the obligatory 'resistance' that always springs up, you'll love this show. It's honestly my favorite show of all time.)
Oh wow, niiiice about that show!! Yes! I do know, watched a while back, and really enjoyed it, too!! It was the one with Lori from Walking Dead (another one of my all-time sci-fi faves, although I'm still some seasons behind -- made it to, like #7, and haven't been able to get back!). But yes, if I remember correctly, wasn't Colony only one season? I just remember it being rather short and it not being clear whether it would be coming back for anymore. But I definitely did enjoy what I did see, and for sure, it's one of the top kinds of fiction I tend to be into. I hadn't even noticed that about your profile picture, but very cool I wouldn't be surprised if you've also checked out Love Death + Robots. Also pretty solid for that subgenre. Huge kudos to you for being that close with completing your manuscript. I know that's no easy task, so good for you -- sounds like you'll be in the home stretch soon enough. Just keep at it! And okay, I sure will keep that in mind about our trading, reading, and giving feedback on each other's works. I appreciate that! I'm TOTally with you on the ADHD. Just really realized last year that I'm pretty sure I have it -- so many of the signs add up, I just haven't yet been formally tested. But it's explained SO much in my life, and yes, to your point, trying and often failing to be consistent with my writing has often been too high on the list. You're sooo right about inertia. This is largely why I've given up on trying to write a full novel or book for now and have been embracing short stories -- just to actually complete more works while I'm inspired, in the mood, and riding the momentum. Oh, and while I actually still remember it's a thing I'm doing, lol.. Versus trying to keep all of that going for hundreds of pages of a story, over time. And so far, that different approach has been working out for me. I do plan to get back to attempting book-writing...one day. Baby steps! But it sounds like at least one of us will soon cross that finish line!! I'm rooting for you!
YES, finally, someone who actually knows what the show is! And yes it does have Lori in it haha, I love TWD although I also never finished it either. *Nods again to the ADHD* I got somewhere around the point where Negan comes on the scene and then just stopped watching it and never fully got back into it. So weird how that happens; for me, I'm constantly going from one 'phase' to another. For example in February for whatever reason I started binge watching Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares and then after a few weeks just suddenly lost interest and switched to something else. Colony ended up getting 3 seasons, but unfortunately the show was cancelled after that since they couldn't find a platform to host it. Honestly to me that's a crime against humanity. I SO wanted to see where the story was going. But oh well, life moves on. Meanwhile the hot garbage that is Boss Baby somehow has two spinoffs with several seasons each, lol. I actually haven't heard of Love Death + Robots but I'll go check it out today! Thanks for the recommendation! Thank you so much!! I don't think most non-writers can really comprehend just how gargantuan a task it is for a writer to actually construct an entire book. The amount of meticulous work that goes into each and every sentence is staggering. You're literally creating an entire world from your mere fingertips, and it's no laughing matter. Makes me think of God telling Noah to build an ark, or the movie Evan Almighty if you've ever seen that. It's like "Okay, let's see... uhhhh where do I even start with this?" But when you just jump into it with your story concept and take it one line at a time, eventually you start building something. Honestly the same goes for even short stories and novellas, so be proud of each and every piece of work you make, even if it's not a full-on novel! I have a few short stories I could send you too, and like I said before, I'm always happy to read yours if you want. It helps a lot when you realize what condition you have. Then you can finally quit beating yourself up and wondering "Ahhhh what's wrong with me why can't I do this simple task like everyone else can" and get down to actually honing your strengths and outmaneuvering things your brain can't do easily. I've always tended to be very critical with myself and most people around me have also been critical if they haven't really understood the condition and what comes along with it, so it's super important to know your worth and show a little grace for yourself. Thank you!!
I am a maiden in my 20s who writes dark fantasy that is aiming to turn my genre of writing into grimdark fantasy.
I'm a 21 year old female, straight. I write fantasy, horror , science fiction and psychological fiction. I work full time as a babysitter for a friend of a family friend who has a special needs toddler. (I was taught how to use how to take care of the child and give medication) Majority of what I work on is on Jotterpad so I can use both my phone and my computer.
Interesting. Never heard of Jotterpad. Always a new program to use everytime I turn around. And welcome to the forum!
Welcome to the forum Carly! Nice to 'meet' you. I've never heard of Jotterpad either. I own an Android, and unfortunately, writing apps for the Android are few and far between. So it seems worth checking out. Welcome again.
@thesilentassassin007 Hey! Sorry about my delay in responding. #youknowthestruggle Yes, I DEFinitely struggle with the same when it comes to completing TV shows -- even ones I love!! I'll watch most of a series that I've really been enjoying, binging even, but then -- and especially if it takes a while to come back on or even if I just take a break from it for a few days -- indefinitely abandon it for its final season or two. It baffles my friends. They're like "How do you get get far and not die to see how it ends?!?!?" I'm like *shoulder shrug* What can I say, I've moved on. Plan to get back there and finish it one day. (Although that "one day" never comes ) I have come to realize it at least partly has to do with our struggle with object permanence. And not just with TV shows -- with many things. Like, no matter how much I enjoy something, I may really enjoy it in that moment, while I'm experiencing it, but once I've stepped away from it for more than two seconds, it's like my connection with it nearly severs. Or at least very quickly weakens. And that's if I even remember it exists at all!! I think with so much else going on in life, the world, our day-to-day, taking care of ourselves, other interests and "shiny things", etc., it's easy for things right in front of us to quickly take a back seat, maybe even permanently. For me, it's helpful with some things (i.e., trying to stay off or limit my time on social media, taking a long break on eating a favorite but very unhealthy food, etc.), but horrible with others (writing, working out, and even my friendships!!). A blessing and a curse!! So yes, I say allllll of that to say, I definitely feel you. You're not alone!! Wow, three seasons for Colony?!? Hmmmmmmmm I don't know if I knew that. Now, I'm going to have to go look that back up because that doesn't sound familiar at all. The most I might remember it having was two seasons. If they had more than I watched, I'll need to go back to it and finish!! Of course, if my ADHD will let me, that is..lol.. And I totally agree on how crappy it is that certain great shows like that don't go as much the distance as certain others that are clearly inferior. Hell, even the fact that so many of these reality shows are still not only surviving but thriving for, like, 15, 20 seasons...is insane to me!! The injustice, lol Another great, HIGHLY underrated series that had only one or two seasons, was left uncomplete, and it's looking like it may never return is Mindhunter. Amazing show. Tragic that it's so far had such a short run, for the story it is. Like you said for Colony, we definitely would have loved to see where the rest of it would've gone!! Yes, yes, yes!!! about how massive of a task it is to write a full book. I'm completely with you there. And the "Noah's ark" analogy is a great one. There certainly is so much to think about and, as you said, you're essentially creating something so massive from complete scratch. Ground zero. It can feel quite overwhelming. And, not giving myself space, grace, and the necessary pacing for the magnitude of that kind of commitment, I spent years really beating myself up that I kept getting stuck very early in the book-writing process, if I would even get started at all! I just kept thinking "I mean, I'm a writer. I've always been a writer. And I write decently well. How can I not write and finish a book?!?" and questioning whether I really could be considered a "naturally gifted" writer, if I couldn't do that. We're definitely often our own enemy. But one thing that's really been helping me during this process of fairly regularly churning out short stories the past several weeks is to just write. Literally. That's it. And I'd heard that before over the years, but just like many things that sound too simple to actually work, I didn't really take it seriously. It didn't seem like it could be that easy -- if it were, after all, then I would be "just writing"!! But I've definitely come to much better understand what that means. So often, we overthink and critique and try to correct ourselves... with everything we do in life, as adults in general but even more so for those of us who have certain particular struggles like ADHD. And some of that can be helpful in some instances, but definitely not all. And writing the first or even second draft of a work is one of them. You pretty much have to just check your brain at the door and go. It's amazing what can come out when you just go. So long, writer's block!! But again, it's so simple that many of us underestimate it and go on struggling and putting off writing anything, let alone many things, for many years. That was definitely my story. But really working on changing it. Baby steps! YES. Alllllll of this. Soooo true. Especially the part of just even knowing there is a thing. Just knowing. Because if you don't know, what can you do about it? Nothing. Once you know, you can start doing. As you said, you can start learning ways, tools, skills, even tricks to better navigate life, the world, and your day with that knowledge in mind. It's so powerful. I definitely wish I would've known years earlier, but.. alas, better late than never. Trying to do what I can with the information now that I do. That's all we can do!! But you definitely have to at least know.
I am a 27-year-old man who, after working 5 years in social work, HR and sales, I realized I chose the wrong career paths and am now wanting to venture into writing. I discovered my love of reading and writing back in high school but never ventured into the field since I always heard "pick a profession to make money in." While working for the past 5 years, I saved up a bit of money to fall back on and I'm trying to work on my writing as much as I can. Unfortunately, the writing field has brought its own challenges to overcome so I'm hoping to find good advice while becoming a part of a writing community
