Hello - Writing for fun?

[CuriousAndFurious]

I was looking for an online community not necessarily to share work but to stay motivated enough to write consistently for fun.
I am hoping by being here and browsing leisurely that I might be inspired enough to develop characters and stories and gain satisfaction from worldbuilding I guess?
I would be really open to some advice on making this happen, should I set aside one day a week, after work and write whatever comes to mind? I struggle to form habits (Unless they're bad ones ha)

Anyway, hello

C&F

 

[MoSSurII]

Hello and welcome, C&F! I like your name

Feel free to go through (And even interact with) any of the threads for inspiration and ideas, you can also reach out to us in the chat and, if anyone's online, we'll respond.

As for forming habits, I suffer from the same problems, so I feel you haha. I'd say start small: Write one sentence a day. It may seem too little, but by lowering the bar for 'succeeding', you can still feel rewarded without having to put too much effort, and what's more? You might just end going over one sentence, maybe 5 sentences, or 10, you may even end up writing a whole paragraph! All you have to do is making sure the writing is being done.

Anyways, that's all I had to say. Hope you enjoy your time here!

 

[Diana Silver]

Make writing a bad habit. I daydream up my stories during work hours.

Welcome!

 

[Super Fantasy]

Welcome

 

[pmmg]

Howdy C&F, Welcome here.

Why so curious and furious?

 

[skip.knox]

We're curious why you're furious.

Developing a habit, good or bad, takes time. Give yourself a month and a time period per day. Much depends on how your days go. While i was working, I could designate lunch time. With kids at home, a set time at home had to be somewhat flexible, but once they were old enough, I could usually say "late evening" and stick to that. It doesn't have to be a large chunk of time--you aren't aiming for productivity yet, nor deadlines, but only to form the habit.

The few times I've tried to make or break a habit, I experienced the odd (curious?) sensation of guilt after a while. Once I had done or refrained for long enough, when I relapsed (as I always did), I felt I had let myself down. Guilt. So it was easier to return to the planned activity. Now, writing every day has become more than habit, it's simply part of my life.

Once that is established, then you can turn your attention to what sort of writing, from disconnected fragments to full-on writing sprints. There's lots of room in there. Also room for despair and doubt!

 

[Prince of Spires]

Two other pieces of advice to consider:
- Track your progress. For many people it's motivating to see numbers go up. Writing a book takes time, and while you're writing it, there seems little difference between word 15.000 and word 60.000. There's still a long way to go to the end and it doesn't seem to be getting any closer. If you track your progress you can actually see the difference.
- Try writing for short sprints instead of long hours. Everyone can find 15 or 20 minutes of wasted time in a day where you can write. Maybe watch 1 episode less of whatever your watching on Netflix (15 minutes is not even a full episode...), get up earlier, sacrifice half your lunch break, sit down after you get home from work or after dinner of whatever. 15 minutes are easy to find. A stretch of 2 hours on the other hand requires a lot of planning. Especially if you want to have it at roughly the same moment every week. I doubt there are many times when I have 2 hours with nothing to do and no one to bother me. And if you only do it once per week, then if you skip a week, it's suddenly 2 weeks where you haven't written.

All those small periods add up, fast. 15 minutes a day is about 2 hours a week. If you write 500 words an hour (which is a decent speed), then that's 50k words per year, or a shortish novel. Or alternatively, it's 2 hours you've spent worldbuilding or working on characters or whatever.

You can alway increase the time if you feel like it or you've gotten into the habit.

And like Skip, I've been writing so much that a day without writing leaves me feeling guilty or like my day isn't complete. It's not a strong feeling, and I can easily ignore it, but it's there.

 

[JBCrowson]

Hi and welcome. is your moniker a reference to the fast and the furious movies?
Look forward to hearing about your world and your stories.

 

[Fidel]

I was looking for an online community not necessarily to share work but to stay motivated enough to write consistently for fun.
I am hoping by being here and browsing leisurely that I might be inspired enough to develop characters and stories and gain satisfaction from worldbuilding I guess?
I would be really open to some advice on making this happen, should I set aside one day a week, after work and write whatever comes to mind? I struggle to form habits (Unless they're bad ones ha)

Anyway, hello

C&F

Welcome, Setting aside time to write, even just one day a week, is a great start. Try small, manageable goals, like 15-30 minutes of free writing or brainstorming. For worldbuilding, jot down random ideas as they come; it doesn’t have to be perfect. And hey, browsing forums like this can spark inspiration! Just keep it fun and low-pressure. You’ve got this.

 

[dollyt8]

I was looking for an online community not necessarily to share work but to stay motivated enough to write consistently for fun.
I am hoping by being here and browsing leisurely that I might be inspired enough to develop characters and stories and gain satisfaction from worldbuilding I guess?
I would be really open to some advice on making this happen, should I set aside one day a week, after work and write whatever comes to mind? I struggle to form habits (Unless they're bad ones ha)

Anyway, hello

C&F

Hi there and welcome! As far as advice on making it happen, I have a couple suggestions. I use productivity apps like 4theWords.com, which basically lets you play through a basic RPG by writing. There's also Koala Quill, which allows you to make some money by writing consistently every day (it's not much at all, but it might keep you going).

I've found Koala Quill has been the best to keep me going so far. I open it every day and focus on getting my words in, plus you can do sprints with other writers and share your work there. But I've only just started with it and I haven't gotten a payout. I can't recommend putting your payment info into the site to pay for a subscription until I have, because although I've seen good stuff about it online, it's still very new and I'm not quite certain about its reliability yet.

I've also seen people suggest just writing a sentence per day. Consistency is what I struggle with the most, but outside of Koala Quill, it really does help to have other folks who are interested in similar things that you can connect with. Mythic Scribes, Reddit, and Scribophile are my go-to sites for this atm.