Writer's Block Daily

Yeah, i guess...the thing is...i don't really know what it's like, being poor, so i don't think i'll be able to properly write it...then again, its not like its some powerful social commentary or some shit. Its just quirky hobos doing shonen fights and taking part in weird shit

Edited by Kinni454 on Sep 9th 2023 at 6:59:37 AM

Realistic impoverished homelessness is dangerous and stressful as hell- selling anything remotely valuable so you can eat, trying to keep out of sight so people don't call the cops on you, people treating you like less than dirt, getting robbed and assaulted, finding safe places to sleep at night, being exposed to the elements, lack of hygiene because you don't have access to a shower, being exposed to and perhaps even having to participate in criminal activities for money, dealing with ugly health problems due to all of the the above and a lack of access to healthcare, and all sorts of not-fun things. But we're not here to talk about that stuff.

For a lighthearted, comedic work, you'll want to lean into the fun aspects of being a vagabond- you're not tied down! You don't have to pay rent, you probably don't have to pay taxes, there's odd day labor jobs everywhere where you can get paid under the table for a day's work and bounce, every night is a campout, and if you go far enough away from cities, you can sleep under the stars. You can travel wherever you want if you just get some money together for a Greyhound ticket, and you'll probably meet some pretty interesting people on your travels. If you don't mind some dumpster diving and you get lucky, you can get your hands on some pretty cool things- you wouldn't believe the stuff people throw out! Plus, you could give someone in your motley crew a Team Pet- a lot of homeless people have a dog or cat to help combat the loneliness, and spending all day and night with their pets gives them a relationship and (albeit an often short and brutal) life that housed pets couldn't even begin to imagine. Imagine all of the silly odd jobs they've done for a quick buck, the people they've met, the places they've seen, the stuff they've found in all the weird little forgotten corners of the country. Be on the lookout for fun stuff, and you might never run out of chapter ideas.

I guess i could start by organising the set-up, i guess. It would start with showing hobo bob's routine of walking around the area, fishing for change in fountains and trying to find still fresh food in trash along with walking around and looking down on people who has meaning, then getting splashed by passing cars and getting thrown stuff into his face unwittingly.

Then, we see him fishing for seafood in a lobster tank at the grocerie store, a fish tank at a chinese restaurant and an aquarium before getting kicked out of them all before we see him set up a camp near the water under the bridge, fishing for whatever fish he could catch. Then, he checks one pf the stuff that was thrown at him, which would be something he would throw away.

As he laid on the ground, waiting for death to come, johnny the laddie would sneak into the camp and get the item, which he would treat as some sort of archaeological find, but Hobo Bob thinks he's one of those thiefs robbing him and attacks him, but johnny reveals himself to be a trash archaeologist and a fellow homeless person, and that he thinks that Hobo Bob is a fellow archaeologist and asks for his help retrieving an old baseball glove.

Hobo Bob reluctantly agrees and off they go to the first of many weird adventures for Hobo Bob, i guess. Somewhere down the line, he'll meet Sophie and Rick the Dick, then there would be the Kibo-cho arc and other stuff.

I dunno, its just some random stuff that comes out of my mind when i'm bored.

I mean, Random Events Plot is a thing after all.

All right, the Battle of Midway in my webnovel is finally done and one of the hardest obstacles in my story have passed.

Now I just have three more massive naval battles (Guadalcanal, the Philippines, and Leyte) to cover. Oh, and of course there are also major land battles like Stalingrad, Kursk, D-Day, Ardennes, etc.

...Yay.

Edited by dRoy on Sep 10th 2023 at 10:08:58 PM

Just popping in to say I've got a good idea for a story...but at the end of the day I'm left with the question, "Will this even matter?"

If I submit it to a zine, it might not be accepted, and even if it is, what if nobody reads it? Some of you tropers are authors, do you have any ideas for getting your work noticed?

If it isn't accepted, let me note two further options:

First, more zines! There are quite a lot out there, so—unless your story fits a very specific niche—you may yet find others to whom to submit.

(I'd suggest prioritising those that allow simultaneous submissions, as that allows you to get through a lot of potential rejections more quickly. It can take a lot longer one-by-one, I fear.)

And second, self-publishing! There are sites (including Amazon) on which you can potentially publish your work yourself (presuming that it doesn't violate laws, of course).

As to getting your work actually noticed by the audience... that I can't help with, I'm afraid! It's something that I'm uncertain about myself, even as I've been working towards the second suggestion above...

How do you find zines to submit things to?

I used to use Ralan—but they shut down recently, alas.

These days I'd probably suggest that you try The Submission Grinder.

There you can used the search functionality to specify what sort of publication you're looking for, and thus get a listing.

Edited by ArsThaumaturgis on Sep 17th 2023 at 9:44:14 PM

I'm probably going to start over my fantasy and retool it more into a series of interconnected short, self-contained stories that build on each other. The "every chapter a new character" gimmick I'm doing now is allowing me to create fun characters and stuff, but I can't explore their stories in any real depth. This way I can still keep the different characters and the like, but give each of them more focus at a time and let them have their own smaller conflicts and stories, eventually crossing into each other.

Edited by WarJay77 on Sep 21st 2023 at 1:59:31 PM

Interesting! That sounds like it could make for a rather engaging read! ^_^

(It's also kinda similar to a story of my own: while it doesn't present multiple protagonists, it is structured as a series of connected-but-individual short-stories.)

I have a month to prep for this year's NaNoWriMo. I have to do a fuck ton of research for it, damn.

This is why I don't see myself doing Inktober or any other October-specfic challenges.

My idea for Nano is more of a basic concept than anything, I don't even know what the conflict would be.

Not sure if I'm gonna be taking part in Nano, but I do have a Novel...ish idea for a Dungeon core story where the dungeons are also adventurers raiding other dungeons for resources to improve themselves. As such I want to ask for help in researching the Dungeon Core subgenre before November just in case.

I wonder how common The Mentor-Protagonist relationships where it's an older woman tutoring/guiding the younger female MC are in fiction. The only example I can name atm is from The Owl House with Eda being Luz's mentor IIRC (I still haven't watched the show, so apologies if I'm wrong on that).

I'm having this thought since I decided to make the mentor of the (female) MC in a potiental NaNoWriMo novel, a woman who's a few years older than her.

I think I may finally have a more solid concept for my NANO story.

My basic idea was an ordinary middle class girl who discovers that her family is much more massive than she thought... as well as magical. She then goes on a quest to meet these different branches and learn what she can.

But I needed an actual conflict and plot, and now I'm thinking of her already having magic of her own without realizing it in the form of dreaming about her extended family embroiled in serious conflict. Then she discovers that it's all real and she goes on her quest to learn more and save them and stuff.

It's not perfect, but it's enough to make a NANO story I think

I'd go the family feud angle. With a rival family of equal power and influence meaning the protag's family. Or maybe ape FE Fates' basic conflict and have the protag be a scion of two conflicting families.

Speaking of NANO. I want to ask what is the average wordcount per hour and if it factors in why NANO is considered a challenge to begin with?

Edited by MorningStar1337 on Oct 5th 2023 at 3:32:10 AM

I think average wordcount per hour depends a lot really.

Some of the factors of what makes NaNo challenging is that you have to write every day, which tends to get exhausting, and that schedules (such as school, work and holidays) gets in the way.

Yeah, average word count depends on things like personal typing speed, how distracted you are, how easily you can think of what to say next, etc.

I know that 50k words over 30 days averages out to 1667 words per day. When doing my daily 750 words, I've hit 40 WPM (I've gotten even faster, 70 WPM, doing typing tests where you just copy words), which in theory means that I should be able to knock out 1667 words in under an hour. Writing a novel is a lot more complex than just blathering about my day, though. I've never managed to pull off NaNo because November always fell right before finals or other major tests when I was in school, and then once I started working full-time, I haven't been able to consistently rely on having much brainpower after work. I'm also a perfectionist and get bored easily.

Edited by CrystalGlacia on Oct 5th 2023 at 9:55:49 AM

I see.

I am plantsing out a story in advance (figured that if I'm gonna get writers block, it might as well be during the outline phase and not the actual month), as I'm planning on doing Nano next month.

I'm not certain if I can make the goal, but at the very least it would make for some much needed prose practice.

That's the spirit. Just do what you can for the month. If you end up satisfied with your writing, that's really all that matters.

I'm planning out an alternate history novel, and one of the key elements I decided about early on is that it would involve a war between NATO and the Soviet Union in the late 1980s. My only hangup is the fact that I want the story to take place during the war, not after it.

The thing is, even at the time, the general consensus was that any war between the US and the Soviet Union would be over in a matter of days, and would be fought almost entirely with nuclear weapons. That doesn't really leave much room for a story to happen. So what should I do? Is there any realistic way to have a war between the US and the Soviet Union in the late 1980s that doesn't instantly result in one or both countries becoming a radioactive wasteland?

Take away the nukes?

Doesn't explain what kept them from going to war already, but maybe there was a less deadly deterrent.

Edited by kkhohoho on Oct 6th 2023 at 11:09:09 AM

Could do something like declaring that uranium is a lot rarer and harder to mine out so they have a few nukes but far away from apocalypse quantity. But also have them bluffing each other for a while that they have MAD to keep the war cold. Maybe also throw in some faster advancement in defense technology to make the few remaining nukes harder to land.

Edited by Adannor on Oct 6th 2023 at 8:32:38 PM