Serein Choo's Blog, page 8

Quote of the Day

“The only difference between a write and a crazy person is that a writer gets paid for it.”

David Gerrold (American science fiction screenwriter and novelist)

Don’t all writers is a bit whacky or else they wouldn’t be able to write something out of the world.

#MondayMotivation

Disclaimer: Quote doesn’t belong to me.

ONC 2024 : 8.1

Three-Point Outline

With only 12 weeks to complete a work of 20-40k, including developmental line edits, is amazing, and I would gladly kiss you if you were able to complete all of it in such a short time. I am definitely not one of these unicorn writers. That’s why I rely on my outline during ONC, and I recommend trying to plan (at least, I am a very true panster when it comes to writing) the three major story elements: plot, characters, and setting.

For outlining the plot, I’m somewhere in the middle of the outlines/adventure divide, so I like to assign story beats to my chapters and then write a short summary. If you are not a big planner (like me), at least try to have a roadmap for your story’s plot, whether it be a bullet-point list or a sentence for what you plan to write in each chapter.

Eg. What I usually do, I write a short summary of the story with a beginning, plot and an end. Using our previous example of the fly away girl. Write a short summary:

The doctor announced of her sickness, one that caused her to float away, it was a disaster. She went to see the psychiatrist (with meds too) because she was the only one who could help her. They have these mini conversations and it introduces us to, her, Mary’s problems in life. And the therapist encourages her and she did what she was told and she felt weights coming back into her life – work, life and relationships. In the end, she finally able to touch the ground again.

Introduction – Introduce her problem, the opening of the story

Plot – How she needs to get weights back into her life : work, life and relationships

Ending – To be able to touch the ground again

It’s a simple summary, but it gives me an idea of where the story needs to go in the first sentence and describes what the chapters should accomplish in terms of the story/character development. Word counts are also critical for ONC milestones, so try to identify where you want them to fall in relation to your novella.

We can do it too for chapters. Breakdown the summary into further details. Example:

Chapter 1 – Doctor Office (One day, Mary woke up and found herself floating on the ceiling, she called 911 and Mary was rushed to the hospital and after a series of tests, was diagnosed with the Dumbo illness, with reference to the Flying Elephant. (Elaborate on the tests)

Chapter 2 – The Talk (After getting diagnose, she gets treatment. She was schedule a talk with an eccentric psychiatrist, the room was colorful. Too cheerful to her liking. They talked about her childhood)

Chapter 3 – Home (Now she identifies one of the weights she needs, and have to confront it – meaning she has to talk to her mother and then her father (at the graveyard since he’s dead with her mother, they put some flowers on his grave).

With this, I get a general idea of what to write – introduction (setting and character involved), plot (what she did), and end (what she achieve).

We will continue with character and setting in the next post.

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If you’re interested in checking out my story, here’s the link to my story on Wattpad : Oxy-Gen

ONC 2024 : 7

Evaluate and then revise your process from last year. Since I participated last year, I know what my problem is—scrambling to complete my work on time. I can reach milestones, but I didn’t finish my work; I was scrambling the whole time or got caught up in character and/or plot struggles. I couldn’t find the time to fix them to my liking, which I consider flaws in my process, and I go back and forth as well.

There’s always something to be learn from past experience. Ask yourself these questions, get your motivation right. Here are some ways to get you started:

What factors did you enjoy while writing? How can you increase them?What is the hardest thing about ONC for you? Why do you struggle?What are some goals from last year? How can you modify them and challenge yourself to push harder this year?What goals did you fail at last year? Why did you feel that you did not achieve them? Do you plan to reattempt? Why or why not?What do you want to focus on this year? Why did you join ONC in the first place?

My answers:

I enjoyed the fact that I could write simpler stories instead of full-blown novels, which I tend to do. It allowed me to get my creative juices flowing while thinking of creative ways to approach prompts.Meeting timelines is better compared to NanoWrimo, but as a mood writer, it’s hard to stick to a schedule.My writing goals for last year (2022) included completing my story by the end of April, and yes, I achieved that but it was long overdue from the deadline. Writing goals will be the same in 2023 (and hopefully this time to be on time). And I’m hoping to get shortlisted, so I am challenging myself to write in a new genre.I struggle with deadlines and writing timelines. It’s challenging for me to write daily, and I often find myself pulling all-nighters to finish chapters. I also have a tendency to keep going back and forth, editing the story when I shouldn’t. My focus should be on finishing everything first and then going back to edit.Completing another novella is a goal for this year (same as last year).

What are some of your writing struggles? Please feel free to share your answers

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If you’re interested in checking out my story, here’s the link to my story on Wattpad : Oxy-Gen

ONC 2024 : 6

Since this is an open novella contest, we should write a novella. Not sure, whether your idea fits a novel/novella?

First off, definitions. A novella refers to 17k-40k words, for ONC it would mean min. 20k while a novels usually refers to a work with around/over 50k words. Novellas resemble a one season drama (typically 20 episodes) while a novel refers to lengthy full blown drama of around 50 episodes.

I tend to overwrite rather than underwrite, so my answer to this question is usually novel but joining ONC means that I have to keep the word count to a minimum (I also don’t want to stress myself out as I am working on my other projects).

TO navigate, you should know:

How many characters do you have?Do the characters need a lot of scenes for development?Does the journey takes a lot of time?Is there a lot of point of views?Does the idea revolve around one key element?How many side characters intended?How many sub-plots will be written?How many chapters would be required to achieve your idealized ending?

If you are saying yes to many of the above questions, you are writing a novel instead of a novella. So, try to reduce them, keep it to a minimum for ONC participation (which I am trying my best to do as well).

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If you’re interested in checking out my story, here’s the link to my story on Wattpad : Oxy-Gen

ONC 2024 : 5

How to stand out among others? Utilize those prompts: don’t write it normally; write it creatively, add in some originality. Make it unique, take a risk, use an uncommon prompt, and package it in your unique storytelling style. But it’s easier said than done.

Some advice though is,

Don’t – write a story opposite of what others have written.

Do – instead write a story that only you can tell.

Use your mind from the start, not comparing your idea to everyone else and forming a consensus of what’s popular. Yeah, it will discourage you(referring to the rankings on Wattpad), but ranking at this point doesn’t matter. You want to focus on your story, not rankings. Don’t write for the sake of getting a high rank – i.e., writing a popular genre like romance.

Choose a prompt that is more open, with more ways of interpretation. Take for example prompt No. 4 – ‘ When life gives you balloons, you fly up into the sky.’

Don’t take prompts literally; add twists to them (in a metaphorical sense). For example, you could write about a character who yearns to escape the world they are living in. This character achieves his/her greatest wish but then lands in a strange land—a parallel world or fantasy land that still resembles the world they lived in previously, showing how their problems don’t disappear just because they went to a different place.

Alternatively, you could also explore the idea of a dream from their youth where they wanted to fly and float in space which might stems from a dream long ago (from the prompt). Or the character could develop an illness that makes them literally fly up to the sky, requiring weights to prevent them from floating away. The weights symbolize the things that the character needs to anchor themselves again.

Or, make the setting in a fantasy land where everyone lives in the sky with wings and the main character was the only one who couldn’t fly which was the reason that he was looking for ways to make himself fly – and finally finds one at the end of the story. A twist to the plot maybe at the ending, ‘When life doesn’t give you balloons, you stay on the ground. Sipping tea and enjoying what’s in front of the eyes.’

Understand and give the backstory, motives, character, arc, and ultimately the plot, allowing the full incorporation of the prompt in a way nobody else has.

Infuse originality by genre-switching your prompt. Try taking a romance prompt and make it into an action-adventure story or vice versa. It would certainly stand out more! Bending a prompt makes it a little more interesting and enhances your style to write something nobody else can.

As mentioned in the previous example, the teen fiction prompt with a dash of a strange land (fantasy) then adds some action-adventure into the mix. Think of Alice in Wonderland mixed with UP; that might make the whole story more interesting as well.

So, choose your prompts wisely. All the best.

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If you’re interested in checking out my story, here’s the link to my story on Wattpad : Oxy-Gen

Quote of the Day

“All art is a kind of confession.”

James Baldwin

I feel that this is very true. We are showing a art of ourselves through art.

#MondayMotivation

Disclaimer: Quote doesn’t belong to me.

ONC 2024 : 4

I’m going to tell you honestly, deadlines are a BIG motivator for a lot of people, and thankfully, ONC has them, which I am really grateful for because I am one of those people, Haha. I advise you to take advantage of them as best as you can, timing them with your writing timeline. Not only will it keep you on track, but it will also ensure that you don’t forget to submit or miss any of the submission deadlines.

Here are the ONC deadlines:

2000-word milestone: 29 February (11:59 PM, Eastern Standard Time)8000-word milestone: 31 March (11:59 PM, Eastern Standard Time)20000-word milestone: 30 April (11:59 PM, Eastern Standard Time)

The contest writing timeline runs for 89 days. If you were to write a minimum of 20k words, then you would need 225 words/day (20k/89 days). Suddenly, it will seem less daunting as well. For 40k, you will need twice that amount, which is 450 words/day.

So, if you miss one or two days, you will also know how much you need to catch up to get back on track. Include in your writing timeline:

DeadlinesWhen you are at work/school (or events e.g., birthdays/weddings/parties) (unable to write)When you want to post chapters (maybe setting up a specific day e.g., Every Friday)When you want to finish a certain plot/chapterGoals for the weekRest, revision, and catch-up dates

Remember those dates, do a little planning. Write them down a calendar, especially those important dates.

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If you’re interested in checking out my story, here’s the link to my story on Wattpad : Oxy-Gen

ONC 2024 : 3

Start forming your writing habit, but remember that we are all humans, not robots. We can’t be writing twenty-four seven like a robot. If there are days when you don’t feel motivated or creative, it’s okay not to write. This is 100% okay. Everyone needs to listen to their mind or their body and rest.

However, if we are going to ace this test, I recommend forming a writing habit to combat or limit days like that. Use a simple trigger. Personally, for me, it’s using the extra prompts to spark inspiration for the chapter and subconsciously trigger that mood to write.

Of course, you don’t have to follow my way exactly. Triggers can be different for everyone — a specific time, a music playlist, a warm drink, or some scented candles (although I cannot with candles; they give me the sneezies, haha).

Start conditioning yourself now. Mine is through writing at night, where it’s quiet with my music, and typing on the sofa with my iPad (attached keyboard). I noticed that I write better at night. And yeah, it wouldn’t work every time. I can tell from experience that at one point, you will get bored. So, you can change things up slightly to keep the momentum rolling.

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If you’re interested in checking out my story, here’s the link to my story on Wattpad : Oxy-Gen

ONC 2024 : 2

The prompts are available on 1st of Feb 2024, and the deadline for the first 2k words are due in 29th Feb (the last day to submit). With the timing of this post, the deadline would have been long overdue but if you are just writing for the sake of writing/practice then I don’t see any issues of using the deadline as your goals so make everything easier.

So write down the first 2k words but before starting your game, as usual, prep yourself for success:

Get your writing space ready. Make sure it’s comfortable and has everything you need — good lighting, funky/lofi music, papers, pens, or your trusty laptop.Snacks and drinks are essential to take care of your mind and body. You need sufficient water and calories to keep your brain working.Finding an ONC buddy to write with is a godsend. This person is so important as you could help motivate each other and hold writing sessions.Establish a writing timeline.Create an outline. Even if you are a pantser, get that outline done (as simple as it is). It will help you with the big picture of your story.Identify your prompt. You can select one main prompt and a few supportive prompts to get the most out of it. Prompts here.

Even if it’s 2k, we don’t want to write the wrong things and have to restart it over and over again.

If interested to check out my story, here’s the link to my story on Wattpad : Oxy-Gen

ONC 2024 : 1

There’s an ongoing Wattpad event called the Open Novella Contest, or ‘ONC,’ where everyone strives to write a novella in 12 weeks. If you have gone through NaNoWriMo, I don’t think this will pose a problem for you, as NaNoWriMo has a much tighter deadline compared to ONC.

So, I think ONC is more suitable for people who have just started to write, as it provides more leeway. This is my second year participating, and I didn’t make it to the second round in the first year.

And yes, there are shortlists, and it’s like a competition. If you want a little bit more thrill, ONC is quite fun — with rankings, contests/rounds, and creative prompts to spark creativity.

Even though I didn’t make it into the 2nd round, I continue to write since I usually like to finish my stories; I don’t leave them hanging. Makes good writing practice as well.

So I am sharing some tips that I learned and will be applying to my writing this few weeks, in order to complete my story, Oxy-Gen, a dystopian world where the sun disappeared and to survive, humans become modified plant people, called Oxy.

And even though you are not joining ONC, I think the tips and thoughts that I am blogging would benefit any writer who is wanting to write their own story. Anyway, let’s get into it!

Link to my story on Wattpad : Oxy-Gen