Welcome to the 16th (5+5+5+1) writing club update. Looking at the intro to the 16th chapter of Procedural Generation in Game Design: Generative Art Toys by Kate Compton, we find the somewhat quaint observation:
Everyone loves being creative. And everyone likes discovering that they're more creative than they thought they were. For many years, people have enjoyed crafts like pottery wheels, Spirographs, Mad Libs, spin art, paper marbling, and tie-dye. These artistic toys helped everyday people make interesting artworks (even if those people lacked creative talent or inspiration) by producing surprising and emergent results from simple choices.
Now that we have digital systems, we can make art toys with even more surprising and emergent behaviour. [...]
This book (edited by Tanya Short, and Tarn Adams) was first published in 2017, long before the term "generative art" would take on a very different insinuation. I've certainly got some strong opinions on the subject of both interpretations, but this is a writing club update not my personal soapbox.
Having now fulfilled my self-imposed rule of introducing a quote related to the number of WC updates since we started, I now turn to an observation about my local climate/weather, before introducing our writers, and finally extending a friendly invitation to any lurkers in our midsts. :)
Up here in the Northern hemisphere, at the heel of October, it's starting to get chilly. The ideal weather for reading and writing probably varies as much as the individual writer, but for me this feels like book weather.
Speaking of individuals, here is the call for our regular writers to share their updates!
I think I'll move this list to the main Writing Club sticky post next update, since the @s don't seem trigger notifications consistently across applications. Let me know what you think, if you have an opinion on this.
As is forever the case, passers-by are very welcome to come on in and lurk, comment, or post their own updates.
I believe in you! 🙌 🙌 🙌
Pardon the unsolicited advice, but here's a little trick for editing that's worked for me (for tiny projects anyway): rather than editing the original document, open it in one window, then open a blank page in another window, then rewrite the original on to the blank document.
Most of it will be the same ofc, but since writing fresh prose is sometimes easier it feels less finicky, and rather than editing parts of this big huge document, you're kind of changing things as you're copying them over. This won't work for moving around big sections, but it can help with line edits and rewording specific passages. Plus I'm sure you'll notice some more edits that you should do in a future pass.
What is it about the editing process that is most daunting for you?
You should answer as well, grrgyle!
I'll answer for myself: I find the most daunting when I am making major plot changes, for example moving an entire chapter around or introducing a new bigger element early on that will affect most of the chapters after it. Often I miss some consequence that change will have later on, and I'm usually anxious that once I realize the less obvious effects it will have that I'll manage to fix all the new plot holes that it will cause.
Eek! I've been called out ahah. For me it's definitely dialogue. I never write enough. I find it very hard difficult, and many of my micro stories have 0 dialogue. So I end up with this lengthy descriptions that I know I should be illustrated by having characters talking about what they're looking at.
It can work for microfiction, but for anything longer (that isn't super experimental), you need to have characters talking to each other.
I can see major plot changes being daunting too, but since I don't really write larger stories I don't usually run into that problem hehe.
I edit without issues many of my more recent stories, it's no big deal in general. It's just that I'm grown past fantasy and the thought of having to edit that thing simply demotivates me. I want to write solarpunk and scifi now, fantasy is behind me. I have no interest for it.
Anyway, if the crowdfunding goes well, I'll be followed by an editor, and I know myself well enough to say that with a clear goal and a set deadline I'll breeze through it when push comes to shove. :D
I like your clarity of vision. I know what you mean about being like emotionally "done" with a project, but still having work to do to consider it actually "finished." Good luck with your crowdfunding! I've never undertaken such a thing. It sounds hard!