Welcome to 2021!
This year is off to a horrendous start after the events of Jan 6th.
Making a Difference
The Writing Community is huge on Twitter and I’ve been using my platform to retweet BIPOC writers where I can.
I copped an astonishing smack in the face when I checked my twitter profile in Dec 2020. I restarted my profile alongside website updates (Oct 2020), and have been building a following since. One day in December, I noticed that only 1-3% of the 4.5k individuals (between my followers and those I’m following) were BIPOC.
That’s Twitter algorithms for you…
If you want to play your part and help improve the exposure other BIPOC writers get within your own white following, check out the following points.
These Hashtags are in frequent use:
#BlackAuthors #BlackWriters
#BIPOCWriter #BIPOCAuthor
#DiverseWriter #DiverseAuthor
#BlackMenWrite #BlackWomenWrite
#AfricanAmericanFiction #BIPOCFiction
Here are some profiles to follow:
The BIPOC Bookshelf
Black Writers Collective
Fiyah Literary Magazine
Hurston/Wright Foundation for Black Writers
Amistad Books
Black Girls Create
Open Country Mag
20.35 Africa
And Retweet Retweet Retweet BIPOC Authors and Writers where you can.
While there’s so much more I’ve missed across the huge platform, I’ve only been actively at this for a month now.
If you’re keen for something to read, check out this! I’m reading Escaping Exodus by Nicky Drayden and the world building is something else.
Share your own hashtags, profiles and tips in the comments section below to help support the BIPOC community.
Current Project Update
Developed most of my third alien culture and – after a quick brainstorming session with my better half – I’ve found it easier to get the details on paper.
Reason: this culture is flawed and damaged and full of conflict and agony and desperate hopes for survival.
The first culture was none of those things.
Yet.
Beyond that, I’ve paused world-building (having developed everything I NEED) and am…
writing the first draft!
hand-writing it
Putting pen to paper has always felt natural for me, so, naturally, I should be “shovelling that first draft sand into the story sandbox” via the same means.
I’ve been world-building with pen and paper. Pages and pages of handwritten notes. So when time came to approach the first draft, I felt a knot in my gut where my enthusiasm should be.
I didn’t want to go digital. Hand-writing had become such a part of my daily routine. My self care. The idea of putting words on a screen didn’t feel right.
At least, not yet.
Ideas flow so much easily through ink, for me. And I know there are others who feel the same.
So why hadn’t I ever considered this before?
Alas, no regrets! This is a journey.
We are all learning each time we put words down.
Never stop learning.
Craft Tips
Fictional Languages
Consider this: when creating a fictional language, how do you want your characters to sound? Aggressive? Passive? Thoughtful? Eager?
Letters like T and P create a harsh, hard sound, while M and S add softer tones, slowing down the dialogue.
Throw in some other sounds like hums, clicks or growls and you’ll be on your way to crafting the feel you’re looking for, adding hidden depth and complexity to your cultures.
Check out Holly’s Writing Classes for both her Create a Language and Create a Culture Clinics to advance your skills even further.
Endings
Endings.
The End.
They all lived happily ever after.
They come along with a bang, or sneak up and hit you in the heart.
When written well, all the story pieces tie off neatly, with a huge helping of reader satisfaction.
So they should be easy right? While writing, we should just know how it will end.
Every time.
Wrong.
There’s no right way to create your endings.
Some of us start with the end. Others discover it halfway through (at that dreaded mid-point). And yet others may finish their first draft with the words, The End, without a resolution to all the different paths a story can take.
A revelation from the wonderful writing community hosted by Podcaster Sarah Rhea Werner:
You can end it later.
We can end it in our rewrites, revisions, second, third, fourth, tenth drafts.
We can add foreshadowing, themes, concepts later.
You can end it later.
Just get that first draft DONE.
Flash Fiction
2021 Goal: I’ll be posting a brand new Flash Fiction piece every week this year.
Go experience the very first pieces for 2021 on my Flash Fiction page.
Check out the Carrot Ranch for the weekly challenges I’ll be participating in.
Only 99 words required!
Free to enter, open to all.
Write on!
Best wishes to all writers this year in kicking your own goals and moving forward with intent, determination and joy.
You deserve success!
Remember to: explore, create, repeat.
Then thrive.
© 2021 Rebecca Glaessner
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