The Summer Outside Your Comfort Zone

StellaThomas · 2018-05-01T08:27:27Z

The Summer* Outside Your Comfort Zone Hello! For a few months this has been cooking inside my skull but I haven't actually made anything out of it. Here at YWS, we have a lot of fantastic writers. Some of you that I've known for longer I can recognise your style, your recurring themes in your work. Some of you I don't know so well, but I'm sure that those themes are there. For instance, I love writing soft fantasy worlds. My main character is usually a young woman (although sometimes a young man). I use fairytale imagery a lot. And often, my story involves a missing heir to the throne. I'm currently quite literally out of my comfort zone, sweating out of every pore in Vietnam, so what better time to bring this up? This summer I want you - all of you, all of us, to try writing outside of your comfort zone. It can be an artform change. Maybe you're a poet who never writes fiction. It can be a protagonist type change. Maybe you always write antiheroes and it's time to write a white knight. Maybe you always write speculative fiction and it's time to give contemporary a try. The important thing is not to cop out . For instance I'm primarily a fiction writer but to change to poetry wouldn't be an enormous challenge to me. Write something that actually frightens you to write. You might discover something about yourself on the way. I don't want this to detract from anyone's actual writing time so therefore I want to give the entire summer - from today the 1st May to 30th August. Four months. And in that time, write four pieces of work that you mightn't normally write. I will read all of them and attempt to review them too, and I hope that if you choose to participate then you'll also read, and review when you can! For the sake of it, if you complete the challenge, I will award you 2000 points from my own coffers because why not? Mainly, I just want you to have fun. I just want you to be creative. Try something new. In the thread below, please define what, to you, is your comfort zone, and make a master post for your pieces, as coded below. But please feel free to comment in the thread whenever you post, or whenever you struggle to post, to comment and discuss with each other! Literally anyone and everyone is welcome to participate, whether you joined 14 seconds or 14 years ago. I really look forward to seeing what you come up with! - Stella x [B]My Comfort Zone:[/b] [B]Things that make me anxious to write:[/b] [B]Attempts:[/b] [B]1.[/b] [B]2.[/b] [B]3.[/b] [B]4.[/b] * - please insert winter here if you live in the Southern Hemisphere

SpiritedWolfe

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Thu May 24, 2018 11:59 pm

SpiritedWolfe says... · Thu May 24, 2018 11:59 pm

So I kind of accidentally wrote my piece for a school assignment, but it was quite a challenge revising it and making it something I was actually fairly happy with!

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TriSARAHtops

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Fri May 25, 2018 8:19 am

TriSARAHtops says... · Fri May 25, 2018 8:19 am

WINTER WINTER WINTER WINTER

Yay hemispheres.

It's taken me a while to respond (even though I love the idea!) because of uni but I have six weeks semester break over winter so why not?

My Comfort Zone:
-Contemporary YA, usually with a lil romance thrown in
-teenage female protagonists
-beginnings of novels
-character-driven stories

Things that make me ~~anxious~~ I don't feel like this is quite the right word for me, maybe weirded out/out of my depth is more accurate in my case? to write:
-anything that involves worldbuilding
-male narrators
-actually finishing projects lol
-short stories (like, I used to write them a bit but now I'm really intimidated by them?)
-characters younger than say mid-teens or older than maybe thirtyish?
-basically any genre other than realistic or maybe urban fantasy
-action scenes (kinda ties into the fact I gravitate towards character- rather than plot-driven stories)

Poetry kind of exists in a zone between the two, it's not exactly in my comfort zone, but it lacks the intimidation factor that other things have.

Attempts:
1.
2.
3.
4.

if we wait until we're ready

we'll be waiting

for the rest of our lives

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StellaThomas

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Fri May 25, 2018 8:30 am

StellaThomas says... · Fri May 25, 2018 8:30 am

TriSARAHtops wrote:WINTER WINTER WINTER WINTER

Yay hemispheres.

I am on your continent and I regret everything!

Also sorry everyone I have let my reading of your submissions get a bit on top of me this week, I should be able to get round to giving everyone a read and review in the coming weeks! If you make a new post in the thread here I'll be sure not to miss it!

Meanwhile I'm having difficulty deciding what to write for my own second story...

"Stella. You were in my dream the other night. And everyone called you Princess." -Lauren2010

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Elinor

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Sat May 26, 2018 6:54 pm

Elinor says... · Sat May 26, 2018 6:54 pm

I'm having trouble deciding what to write too. Hm. I think my plan is to make the four attempts and then go back and revise.

Maybe a war story is next.

All our dreams can come true — if we have the courage to pursue them.
-- Walt Disney

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Cadi

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Thu Jul 26, 2018 8:32 pm

Cadi says... · Thu Jul 26, 2018 8:32 pm

Two down, two to go! How is everyone else getting on?

"The fact is, I don't know where my ideas come from. Nor does any writer. The only real answer is to drink way too much coffee and buy yourself a desk that doesn't collapse when you beat your head against it." --Douglas Adams

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BluesClues

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Thu Jul 26, 2018 11:22 pm

BluesClues says... · Thu Jul 26, 2018 11:22 pm

Obviously I haven't gotten far yet, but I've been taking notes on revision and now I'm reading through my first draft and taking notes. So getting somewhere with, let's face it, my only project bc it's such a big one and revision is the number one thing that freaks me out as a writer.

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TheBlueCat

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Sun Jul 29, 2018 10:00 pm

TheBlueCat says... · Sun Jul 29, 2018 10:00 pm

Uh so I kinda forgot about this and then today I get the inspiration to write all three things left! Weird, but I'm happy. Now I just have to remember to publish them after review day... But I feel kinda bad to publish so many things right after... well, they're written! c:

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BluesClues

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Wed Aug 22, 2018 12:52 am

BluesClues says... · Wed Aug 22, 2018 12:52 am

So I actually totally forgot this was a thing, but I've been working on the Dread Pirate Revisions anyway. So I'm reposting this to update, because this thread has been quiet for a while, I think.

Spoiler

My Comfort Zone: Fiction, particularly novels, particularly fantasy. First drafts. Dialogue.

Things that make me anxious to write:

REVISION REVISION REVISION. Seriously. I can get through a first draft with "it's only a first draft, it doesn't have to be good," but then I get to revision and now??? things have to be??? good??? OH NO. I feel okay during the initial read-through, while taking notes, but once it comes to actually rewriting/revising things...nope. Nopedy nope nope nope. I get revision jitters. I start feeling like I'm making the story worse instead of better, and eventually I have to set it aside.

The Chosen Grandma should about be ready for revisions some time this summer, so I'll have to make some headway on that.

Gosh-darned description.

Flash fiction. Short fiction in general, but flash fiction in particular.

Also, poetry didn't used to make me feel anxious, but it does now. And I only got one of my four poems done during NaPoWriMo, so this is my chance to redeem myself.

Attempts:

1. LMS Round III Elimination Round

It has been pointed out to me that the LMS Round III Elimination Round is p far out of, well, everyone's comfort zone. So I'm counting it. But I'll count it all as one thing. The word count goes up weekly. First from 1000 to 1500, then 3000, then 5000, and now it's 8000 words. Next week is 12,000 and then 20,000.

And by then we'll (probably)(hopefully) be done.

Considering I've spent the last year writing only 1500 words/week for this story...wow, yeah, this is kind of a big deal.

2. Revision Notes and Second Draft

Starting major, total-overhaul-type rewrites on September 1st. ~8750 words per week, which, depending on the total word count for this draft (aiming between 100k and 120k) could be complete as early as November 24th or as late as December 8th.

I'm working on revision notes right now and hope to have them done by August 26th so I can focus on school next week and take a brief break from thinking about this before I start rewrites.

3. Revision Notes and Third Draft

Working on post-second revision notes over Christmas break. May start as early as December 2nd or as late as December 16th, depending on when Draft 2 is completed. Either way, it gives me a week between completing Draft 2 and starting on revision notes.

Then there'll be a minimum of a weeklong break between revision notes and starting Draft 3, which will be more piecemeal revisions - still subject to plenty of rewrites, I'm sure, but more section by section as needed rather than a rewrite of the entire novel.

If revision notes are started on December 16th, Draft 3 will start on January 6th. If revision notes are started a week or more earlier, Draft 3 will start on January 1st because it'll actually give me something to look forward to on New Year's Day instead of feeling like a disappointingly ordinary day after all the holiday excitement.

Draft 3 will be completed by February 23rd.

4. Final Draft

Starting on Draft 4 on March 10th. In the two weeks between this and completing Draft 3, I can take a break or, if necessary, do further planning ~~but I'm really hoping that won't be necessary~~ This draft will be smaller piecemeal revisions and line edits.

Hopefully mostly line edits.

Draft 4 will be completed by April 27th.

Currently, I'm finishing up revision notes. I've mapped out a whole revision plan in my school planner, which is??? really weird, because a) what is revision and b) what is planning and c) since when do I plan out my revisions who am I

So that's already further out of my revision discomfort zone than I've ever actually gone. We'll see how things go when I actually start rewrites on September 1st.

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mellifera

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Thu Aug 30, 2018 3:29 am

mellifera says... · Thu Aug 30, 2018 3:29 am

I finished my four ~~at the last minute per my procrastination standards~~!

This was a very fun and challenging way of exploring other styles of writing. Thank you @StellaThomas for putting this up!

I believe in a universe that doesn't care and people that do.

You and I, we are matter, and it matters.

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