Creative Writing February!

New month, new creative writing challenge?

Why the heck not ! I have quite literally no where to go. No day-job, no grocery shopping, no nothin’.

Here’s my challenge for February: write one full hour everyday and have fun while doing so.

Now, how to do that without being completely burned out ? Let’s see !

Roaming the Many Roads of Creative Writing Land

I really, really don’t want this challenge to become a NaNoWriMo kinda of thing. The challenge is to write consistently, not to produce as many words as one writer can muster in a short period of time.

(I understand it can help to stay motivated, but the torture and stress and competitive side of it all, oh so not for me!)

It’s a no stress just fun challenge.

On the other end, I do want this creative writing challenge to be productive and help me move forward with my 2021 writing project goals.

Which road should I choose then?

February Work in Progress

I picked three very different writing projects to work with in February.

The YA paranormal second draft – only 40 000 words to go, hooray!
The rom-com Xmas novel first draft – very existed by this one, houlàlà, writing for adults.
A fantasy short story

I purposely picked three very different genre, and two different reader target, which might sounds like a bad idea since the most common writing tips both from agents and author marketing is: pick a genre, know your readers and focus on that!

I’ve been writing for a young audience since I first starting writing (I was 9 years old, and it was a fantasy story about a farm boy falling for a princess who’s then made prisoner or something like that, hee hee).

I read a variety of genre, but I would always go back to the stories I loved as a kid and a teenager.

A lot of those stories where stories for adults, but let’s not digress and get into a whole discussion on target readers, age and the publishers hegemony, or we’ll never get to write our novels.

Dear fellow writers, thanks for reading ! May all the good words be with you !

A Rom-Com Novel Writing Project: January

Outlining a Rom-Com Christmas After the Holidays

How are you doing, fellow writers?

I ask because around here, like pretty much everywhere in North America, we’re living in what seems to be both a nerve-racking and heart-breaking reality.

Curfew. Non-essential stores closed. Kids wearing masks.

Weather wise, it felt like spring for two weeks. Then, winter woke up.

Just as well. Tea is better when it’s cold outside.

In the midst of it all, writing has been the most needed and perfect of comfort. Almost as comforting as wrapping myself in a fuzzy blanket with a good novel, a comfy armchair and a warm cup of tea – of course!

Thinking of it, you know what? In the realm of Ultimate Comfort, writing and reading novels are equals. There!

Now, speaking of writing, how strangely fun it is to outlined a Christmas RomCom in the middle of January? Very!

Continuer la lecture

Sunday Ramblings: Writing Fairytales

57 times.

I re-write the intro of my first short story 57 times.

Only to end up with a fairytale.

Does it count?

Once Upon a Time… Not Happening

Writing short stories is a real challenge for me.

My brain is wired on novels. Character development, plot twist, world-building all happen in due time in a novel and I work hard to nail those crucial elements of a good story.

For the first short story I challenge myself to write, I worked waaayyy harder than I taught. And it was bad. Flat. Mundane.

Bad.

Only one solution : back to the basics. Tell what you know.

It might sound like the weirdest thing to say when one writes fantasy, but when you think about it, not so weird after all.

We write about characters after all and our own writer’s imagination is shaped in various ways by the characters we meet in real-life. Our family, friends, neighbors, community.

I went back to the basics, and took the time to read short stories, fairytales and folktales. Out of the comfort zone is a great place to hang out sometimes.

Writing Goal: Step Away from My Writing Comfort Zone

That challenge is for me only. It’s to help me shake things up and write something out of my comfort zone.

Writing a fairytale ? Good enough for this month Ray Bradbury challenge!

Especially since I got back to the basics, and wrote about my immediate surroundings. I ended up with an unconventional fairytale. A classic fairytale with a twist, something fun to read for adults, and fun to hear for kids (or so I humbly hope).

The rocky start of that writing project really took me by surprise.

Where was my imagination? Why was I so hesitant? Writing a mere 250 words over and over, 57 times !? What’s up, mama writer?

I struggle all week-end, questioned everything a whole lot until.

Am I worthy to call myself a writer ? Only if I keep writing will I find the answer I guess.

Thank you so so much, dear fellow writers, for reading my Sunday ramblings. May all the good words be with you!