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Writer's Block

Started by Xathan, December 22, 2011, 12:26:40 PM

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Xathan

First of all, thanks for the advice everyone. :)

Secondly, Nomadic: I'm totally down with both of those ideas (though I'm not as big a fan of the one setting a month idea, just because it could take forever for any particular person's setting to crop up, and not everyone's going to have ideas for a particular setting, but may if they have more options), though I'd like to make a minor suggestion: since not everyone is necessarily inclined to write fiction, what if it was fiction OR design a location/culture/whatever (specified what they'd be alright with by the setting creator), just to give a bit more flexibility?
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Lmns Crn

I think that one of the attractive things about a daily writing prompt that is not necessarily in common with Lexicon, Thousand Isles, a setting story exchange, etc. is that a daily writing prompt is low-pressure because we don't have to care about whether the results are any good or not.

The entire point is "write something every day", and you don't have to care whether or not the results are any good, or make sense, or are okay with someone who created a different setting you're writing in. It's a daily exercise, not something meant to be kept or revisited or used. You just write a little every day, and there are as few things as possible that might make you think twice about posting it.

(Basically, I think there's a lot to be said for doing a daily "icebreaker" writing prompt alongside a slower, more serious group writing project like a setting story swap or another round of Lexicon. Seems like they'd both accomplish different, valuable functions.)
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Nomadic

Quote from: Black Market Xathan
though I'm not as big a fan of the one setting a month idea, just because it could take forever for any particular person's setting to crop up, and not everyone's going to have ideas for a particular setting, but may if they have more options

I wasn't thinking one setting a month, I was just thinking one setting at a time. It could be something like a weekly writing prompt...

Write one of the following:
- A short story that takes place in the setting
- About a person, creature, or item you might expect to find in the setting
- A historical event that might have taken place in the setting

And a new setting is picked randomly each week. The setting creator is free to ignore or use anything written on their setting and the writer gets some incentive to write about something within a wide range of possible ideas. The main constraint is that it is for a particular setting.

Kindling

I have no idea if I'd be able to keep up with this (the real world is somewhat unavoidable at times) but I like all of these ideas. A daily/weekly/wheneverly writing prompt can only be a good thing, and I like the idea of writing little pieces for different settings.
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