#tris responds

omg i’m a whole mess when it comes to organizing wips 😭😭 it really depends on the mood i have for each story! in general though, i have so many documents that it makes me go ??? what are you doing

a few tips about organizing your wip

it’s all up to you! just because this is the way i do it (and it seems like you do something similar) doesn’t mean it’s the only way to do it.

one thing you might want to do is keep track of your thought process--this includes that gdoc you’re talking about. honestly, it might seem like a mess at first, but it’ll create a good atmosphere where you don’t feel like you have to write something perfect that fits right into the story

at some point, you’ll want to actually put everything in order, so you’d want to have a separate document for that

if you prefer a more structured type of style, you could probably follow a lot of the more popular outlining strategies to fill in the blanks for your wip.

if you prefer a more freeform style, literally just put things anywhere you want to--though you should be sure to remember where you put things!

in general, my wip documents usually follow the list below

important documents, absolutely necessary

the random snippet document. i use this one for the things that come out of nowhere, particularly the scenes i want to work towards (that i absolutely have to write at this moment) and the scenes that inspired me to begin with.

a vague outlining document. honestly i use these for part names and keeping track of characters. for the stories that have more going on than just the main plot, i note down the subplots as well.

the vague outlining document will also have my research on it! i link things and take notes there occasionally, but sometimes this document can go untouched for a long time.

the actual story document where things are hopefully in order. i also have about 200 different versions of this when i inevitably get stuck and try a different way of doing things

documents that are not necessary but i have for no reason

a prompt document. self explanatory, and usually i have a masterlist. i might put the actual snippets i write there in the random snippets document

quote document for edits. maybe they’ll make it in. maybe they won’t

hmm here are some tips that i’ve found work for me:

don’t compare how much you write to somebody else. what one person counts as acceptable progress is different than what’s acceptable progress for you. everyone writes at different paces. everyone’s at a different stage of their writing process. what matters is what works for you.

if you’re blocked, take a step away from your wip. i tend to rotate wips so i always have something to write. for me, if i stop writing for a while, then i stagnate and can’t start up again for another few months.

find a friend to encourage you. the only reason why i finished the drowned girl so quickly was @tsainami‘s drafting challenge (plus a few other friends yelling at me to finish the story), and the only reason why i finished sswip was because @sourrcandy and i were egging each other on in the dms (also another reason why i think collab wips are a rly great thing for my writing process).

find what motivates you! i like to read other books, either from a similar genre or from authors who inspire me. sometimes i write with an art stream open so i can kind of work at the same time. i’m always listening to music so having a good playlist doesn’t always work for me....but it might work for you!

just write. sit down every day (or every other day, or whatever works for you) and write. maybe set a wordcount goal, or a time goal. writing’s just like every other skill--if you just keep working at it, you’ll get better.

i want to preface it by saying a few things. first: i am asian american, second/third generation, depending on who you ask. second: i am not gatekeeping asian wips. as i said in the conclusion, all i am asking is that you respect the culture, stay away from stereotypes, and don’t use it simply because it would have “interesting/pretty” vibes.

i have a lot of opinions about this, so let’s break it all down.

poc representation is important

fine line of fetishization

the big loud sentence i keep repeating about this issue is that YOU CANNOT PICK AND CHOOSE WHAT YOU LIKE FROM A CULTURE THAT IS NOT YOURS

an explanation about the big loud sentence i keep repeating

conclusion

more under the cut. warning: very long post. (another sidenote: this is all just applicable to writeblr wips, but i might have gotten carried away)

tagging @mitskism!

hi there! i hope i’m answering this in a timely fashion because i have not opened tumblr in a hot minute (also i think the askbox looks different now and i spent 5 min staring at it wondering why)

honestly the best advice i can give is to just write. i work so much better when i already have something down to improve upon, so my draft ones are always the worst thing ever. i try my best not to go back to what i wrote previously until that draft is finished. for my newest wip, i already have 6k words down and i’m starting chapter three soon. i’m trying to hit 1k a day, if possible given that finals are coming up. if i get stuck, i usually just power through it by writing the worst sequence of words ever to summarize what’s supposed to be happening in that scene. it does give me a lot of problems when i’m actually going back to revise--but i’ve found that what i’ve written is a lot better than i originally thought it was.

if you’re struggling with motivation, get a critique partner or someone who can act as a sounding board! i’ve shared my early drafts with only a couple of people (thinking about cutting it down to just one person) who i can cry to about certain characters or plotlines. talking with people helps me stay hyped about a project.

omg i just changed the title of island of the sun to no hallowed suns (but i’ll keep referring to it as iots because lol i’ve already made edits). 

titles are always pretty difficult to do so what i typically have are placeholder titles until something rly hits me. but for iots, i looked at quotes from the two stories that inspired it (peter pan and the little mermaid) and found one from hans christian andersen’s that rly stuck out to me. i used it as a basis for my own title.

for my other titles, i try to think about thematic meanings. does someone actually drown in the drowned girl? who knows? is that the important part? nope. thematically, drowning could mean many things--the atmosphere of the small town, the mysteries, or anything that could have someone figuratively drowning. 

sometimes, you could go with a title that has an important object in it (see warcross by marie lu, which is a video game but also the novel’s title). you could also consider an important event (return of the king by j. r. r. tolkien), literally what the story is about (how to train your dragon (2010)), etc. i think it all boils down to the type of feeling you want to evoke when someone sees your title. if it’s going to be some mystery, you probably don’t want to call it how to train your dragon. but maybe you want to opt for naming it after a mysterious group in your wip.