The Mer-Writers Thread

[Adalira]

I love writing and am working on a book (although i have not worked on it in over a year). That moment when you close yourself of from the world and step into another is simply amazing to me and i can't wait to have more time to start writing again.
I printed out several chapters and had family and a friend and his wife (who is a published writer) read it and they all loved it and keep asking me to write more, but there is the part of not enough time to work on it more and the part of pressure since they liked the first part so much.....what if the next totally sucks or does not live up to the expecatations they have?
But it is so fun to write, such a different way to express creativity where you get to create a complete different world and make it your own :-)
This thread makes me all tingly inside with inspiration to start writing again soon. Thank you!

[deepblue]

I love writing and am working on a book (although i have not worked on it in over a year). That moment when you close yourself of from the world and step into another is simply amazing to me and i can't wait to have more time to start writing again.

I agree, I miss the world I created and the characters in it when I'm not immersed in the act of writing it. Going back into the manuscript is liking going home.

I printed out several chapters and had family and a friend and his wife (who is a published writer) read it and they all loved it and keep asking me to write more, but there is the part of not enough time to work on it more and the part of pressure since they liked the first part so much.....what if the next totally sucks or does not live up to the expecatations they have?
But it is so fun to write, such a different way to express creativity where you get to create a complete different world and make it your own :-)
This thread makes me all tingly inside with inspiration to start writing again soon. Thank you!

I keep reminding myself that the best writers I've known started off thinking they were awful.

And the people I know who really, really tout themselves as great authors tend to... well, let's say they tend to not be very good story tellers. Eventually, they might be. Sure, some are, some just know and they really are, but it's often not the case.

On another note:

I keep seeing someone (not here) talking about her ebooks, how 'before she was published' blah blah, and such... and they're really short stories, most people would say they're only books in the most technical sense, and she self-published. She was not published, again, except in the most technical sense.

I think writing in this era of ebooks and self-publishing needs a dose of honesty.

There is nothing wrong with self-publishing, so if you go that route, and aren't honest about it, you make it look like you think there was something wrong with it.

There is nothing wrong with writing in any length or style, if it's what you are moved to do, but saying, "I have two published ebooks!" when they're actually so short that people have said they felt it was a waste of $.99, that they seemed like maybe they should have been a prologue or introduction, you're misleading people. Perhaps, that author could have said, "I published two short stories, they're in ebook format." Or maybe I'm the one being too technical. hah.

Also, those people should have checked the page count before buying.

Anyway, my break's over. I'm using the pointers given to me by the surprisingly good ProWritingAid to finish editing.

Current writing music: Naiades by Monica Richards

[deepblue]

Having seen a number of mers mention Wattpadd, and I having no knowledge of it, I looked into it. Found this article, and I think it's informative enough to pass on.

https://www.standoutbooks.com/6-thin...about-wattpad/

[Adalira]

Thank you Deepblue!

These days it is so easy to self publish a book that it seems everyone is doing it these days.
I know a woman who self published her book and it showed. Even though her story line was a nice one, there were a lot of spelling misstakes in the book as well as sentences not writing in the correct order which really distracted me from the story.
My friend who is a published writer, lets me pre-read the work he is working on. I get the book in A4 size and take a pencil and highlight spelling misstakes, wrong sentence build up or any other misstakes in his books (for instance, it can happen that he accidentally names character A all of a sudden Character B so it makes no sense, just a simple and easy fixable misstake but can throw off readers a lot).
I feel that with own published books, these details that may not seem important to them ,are in fact very important and are skipped over sometimes.
I have noticed it with own published work often.

My dad got his book published in Septembre and even though it was not a self published book, but actually published by a book publisher, it still has spelling misstakes. I know he had it proof read by my brother and our writer friend but i wish they would have given me time to proof read it as well for spelling misstakes.

Thanks for sharing that link! Looks very interesting! I write in Dutch though so i don't think it would be something for me. If i wrote in English i would most likely get on there :-)

[Prince Calypso]

I a quick question.
Which do you think is better
a story where a teen character becomes a mermaid and goes on from there
or
a story where the teenage character starts out as a mermaid?

same story, different character development

[Adalira]

Both storylines will work well depending on how you write it.
In my opinion it is all about how you write the story, even the most boring storyline can turn into an amazing story when written well.
In both storylines you mentioned there are endless possibilities on how the character developes in the story or how she becomes/became who she is.
I would suggest starting with the storyline that appeals most to you, since you are the one writing the story and simply sit down and start writing it.
What i do is i put on some new age music and go work on the story, many times i find that once i start writing, the story writes itself and while writing i come up with more and more and am completely consumed by that world i created.
Let me reverse your question here, which storyline appeals most to you to work on?

[Prince Calypso]

truthfully I like the idea of either one but I guess if I had to choose it would be the story line where the character becomes a mermaid (think 13th year but darker)

[Mermaid Julianne]

truthfully I like the idea of either one but I guess if I had to choose it would be the story line where the character becomes a mermaid (think 13th year but darker)

I'm on board. Sounds interesting 😈

[Adalira]

That´s also the storyline where many ideas popped into my head with.
The possibilities are truly endless on how she becomes a mermaid, why, how and where.
This is so exciting!

[Prince Calypso]

my only issue is that i'm pulling from so many different ideas and concepts that i'm putting myself in a bit of a whirlwind
I have the basic idea of how I want the story to go planned out, I've got the love interest picked out and most of the other charter put together
I just can't seem to get any of it typed out the way I want because different ideas keep popping in and out my head.
I have typed and retyped the first few pages over and over

[Adalira]

What i would do (and this is only my opinion here so if it sounds unworkable to you, please don't listen to it) is start writing on the story you like the most from all the stories you have in your head.
For example, take a Sunday or any other day and just sit down and keep on writing. Don't read the first chapters back yet. Just try and get as much of the story on paper/laptop/pc/typewriter (which ever you use) as possible.
Later you can work on reading the chapters back and editing them.
I have found myself readibg back chapters way too much, editing them and then having to read everything through to make sure those changes were made everywhere in the book (when it's a name or something else significant to the story)
Try to commit to a storyline that you are happy with.
You always have the option of writing multiple stories at once if you prefer and eventually you will most likely start committing to one of them the most.
So sit down and write and make sure you write for a while, commit to a storyline and write as much about it as you can and as far into the story as you can.
The detailwork you can do later. Try to commit to one for now.
If then you still want to work on other stories as well....simply start writing a new one.
I hope this was helpfull.

[Mermaid Wesley]

My New Years resolution is to write more! I want to make progress on my novels and I'm so slow rn


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Prince Calypso]

What i would do (and this is only my opinion here so if it sounds unworkable to you, please don't listen to it) is start writing on the story you like the most from all the stories you have in your head.
For example, take a Sunday or any other day and just sit down and keep on writing. Don't read the first chapters back yet. Just try and get as much of the story on paper/laptop/pc/typewriter (which ever you use) as possible.
Later you can work on reading the chapters back and editing them.
I have found myself readibg back chapters way too much, editing them and then having to read everything through to make sure those changes were made everywhere in the book (when it's a name or something else significant to the story)
Try to commit to a storyline that you are happy with.
You always have the option of writing multiple stories at once if you prefer and eventually you will most likely start committing to one of them the most.
So sit down and write and make sure you write for a while, commit to a storyline and write as much about it as you can and as far into the story as you can.
The detailwork you can do later. Try to commit to one for now.
If then you still want to work on other stories as well....simply start writing a new one.
I hope this was helpfull.

That's actually really sound advice. I'll try that out

[Adalira]

@ Mermaid Wesley : Good luck woth writing. I made that one of my goals for the new year :-)

@ Prince Calypso: Good luck and i hope it helps and works :-)

[MermaidSasha]

My New Years resolution is to write more! I want to make progress on my novels and I'm so slow rn


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I made that one of my goals for the new year. I hope to be at least halfway through my novel by the start of next year.

[Adalira]

That sounds great. Good luck with your goal! If you want you can add your goals in the New Years Resolutions thread that i created. It is in the Everything Else section. At around April i will be posting in there to see how everyone is doing with their goals as a remider :-)

[Mermaid Momo]

Okay so I haven't posted here in a very long time, I've finally gotten my hands on The Twice Lost and it's really making me want more mermaid novels/series that aren't all mushy and glitter and for pre-teens and it really got me thinking about writing my own novel again. But the thing is, I'm an okay writer, I just have a problem with keeping the story going for a long time and getting out a nice solid plot. Then I also struggle with wanting to write a novel and wanting to do something with my art like making a graphic novel.

Does anyone have any tips for how to get better at writing long term and creating solid plots and characters? (I also have a huge problem with switching between points of view, I always start of with 3rd person then switch gradually to 1st person and i'm not sure if that will throw readers off. )

Here's a sample of my writing btw, I have a lot to learn

I hate summer. I hate the bugs, I hate the sun, I hate the juicy watermelon everyone laps up like thirsty puppies, I hate the carnivals that seem to pepper every single parking lot of every small and large market in town, I hate the firecrackers that fill the sky in their colorful blooms.
I.
hate.
summer.
Most of all though, I hate my grandma’s old broke down car that trudges down roads sputtering out curses,because that signals the beginning of a long, dreadful, boring, summer. The ride to my grandma’s house isn’t by any means pleasant. The dinosaur crawls past rotting trailer homes, their windows overflowing with trash, rusting cars in ditches, old farm machinery decomposing into red bones on the sides of roads and dirty kids who are too curious for their own good.To some this would be beautiful, a taste of what the southern country really is. To me, this is pure hell. Every summer since i was younger I’ve made the same pilgrimage to my grandma’s small house in the middle of the Mississippian countryside. My grandma is pleasant enough, a small hunched over old woman full of christian morals and old witchcraft she tries to pass off as the word of God. A woman whose hair is a ruffling uncharacterized swirl of curls and knots, sprouting out of her scalp like untamed rose bushes. A woman whose every other word is some kind of prayer or hymn or nursery rhyme.A very pleasant woman. She doesn’t talk much on the hour long trip from the bus stop to her house. The radio is blaring in the small car and she’s singing along in a slightly off tune version of her own making. Every now and then in a fit of sudden spirituality she thrusts both her hands into the air letting the car swerve uncontrolled through the streets then brings them both slamming down on the wheel exclaiming “Praise God! Amen!” and shaking her head excitedly. I lay my head on the door of the car and stare out at the emptiness we pass .
After an hour of listening to my grandma shout “Praise God!Amen!”, and watching the sun roll lazily across my skin, we arrive at our final destination. A small ,ugly, pastel green house surrounded by tall thick trees on all sides and a deep ditch dangerously close to the road and the makeshift driveway.She coaxed the car slowly past the ditch, which my side of the car leaned ominously towards the bottom of , threatening to send us into it at any moment. She parked the car on the side of the house, and shouted “praise God!”one last time before sauntering off up the cracking concrete steps and into the house. I stood for a moment next to the car, staring at the way the sunlight somehow found ways to get in through the thick canopy of trees overhead to touch the grass around the house. Then quickly went inside. The house was exactly like it always has been, horribly decorated with mix matching floral sofas, persian rugs, and angel statues that littered every nook and cranny. I roam the hallways the same way I do every summer. Running my hands over the familiar cracks and tears in the old,worn wallpaper. The house is a cozy two bedroom with a small kitchen and a smaller family room adjourned to a meager excuse for a bathroom.

[Mermaid Momo]

Is anyone here a member of camp nanowrimo? How does it work? Does it restart every single month?

[MermaidSasha]

Have you ever done NaNoWriMo? Its pretty much the same thing only you set your wordcount goal yourself instead of the required 50k in Novemeber

I did camp nanowrimo last year. They have it two times during the some month. I believe the next one is July? I've only done NaNoWriMo itseld once too and sadly didn't reach the word count goal. Camp NaNo differs because you get to pick your own word count(lowest you can go is 10k words). You make sure to check in with your word count like on NaNoWriMo. They have small prizes for if you meet your goal within the month. When I did Camp last year I got a percent off the Scrivener writing program. So instead of paying $40 I only spent $20. Scrivener is DEFINITELY worth it!

You can be put in "cabins" which the people will have your same interests or age or something. Its definitely fun and I'd recommend trying it at least once

Hope I helped.

[Prince Calypso]

quick question.
how plausible would it be to have mermaids in a place like morro bay? or any beach city along the California cost?
are there any mermaids from Morro Bay who could tell me about the beach life there. I went a few years ago but didn't really get a chance to take it all in. I remember there being lots of seals though
would morro bay be a place where a small group of mermaids could live without detection if they were careful?