The Creative Process & Writing Sh*t

the creative process & writing sh*t

Hello friends!

This week, as I get back into the swing of working on my original story and the challenge I’ve set for myself with tackling the seemingly insurmountable task of worldbuilding, I’ve been thinking a lot about how I’m going to approach crafting my fantasy world. I’ve been kicking around the interwebs for a bit for some guidance (how-to videos and blogs, inspirational content, etc.) and I’ve not had much luck. I’ve been looking into a few courses (mainly https://rmarcher.com/resource-library/the-worldbuilding-toolbox/) and resources (mainly https://milanote.com/guide/worldbuilding & https://inkarnate.com/) but I’m not sure about any of them. 

(^ me this week)

I’ve said before that I am not Tolkien (though I wish). I have never built a world with the extent of detail and specificity and concreteness to which I need to build the one in which my story takes place. I have no idea what I’m doing. 

I think, however, that's part of the creative process, though it pains me to say. I like when outcomes are known and things are in order (though life rarely ever truly is). I’m gonna admit something to y’all….  I am a total perfectionist. I like things the way that I like things, and I don't like not being able to make things the way I want them to be. 

But part of writing, as I am slowly coming to learn and accept, is creating complete sh*t. And if you create enough sh*t then every so often you’ll stumble across something that's gold. All you need to do is have the courage to dive in and the willingness to get messy.

Therefore, what I really need to do to start building this world for my story, is to just dive in and mess around. That scares the crap out of me because I know some of the stuff (maybe even most of the stuff) that I’m going to make will be terrible. But with all the terrible stuff, there is going to be some stuff that is awesome. And, I don’t know about you, but for me a lot of terrible stuff and a little bit of awesome stuff is better than no stuff at all. 

As I’ve been cutting down on procrastination, I’ve been trying to make intentional space to be creative. So, as I continue to make time to do my other creative hobbies like crocheting and graphic design, I am going to make time to write as well. I’m going to throw myself head first into this whole worldbuilding thing and just try stuff out. I may use worldbuilding resources or aids, but for the most part I’m just going to write. I want to  make the commitment to do this thing, but also give myself space to let my creativity grow. 

So, I will keep you all updated as I go along. Hopefully I'll have enough good stuff to share (because I don’t want to bog down my feed with crap), but we shall see. That’s all from me today, I guess.

And remember, dot your j’s and cross your t’s (even when your writing sh*t ᕱ__<)!

~Clementine J. Quincey 🪷

new character + happy halloween!!

Hello friends!

This week’s post will be relatively short, probably my shortest yet. I have been very scattered with my creative writing this week as midterms have just passed and final project season is beginning. (Plus Halloween is in 2 days!! ᕱ__ᕱ) I have been working like crazy on several different creative projects for several different classes and I have gotten a lot done, it has just been mostly detail work and much of it is not something I can comprehensively show. So, for today I will simply summarize most of what I have worked on for my original story and give you the deets on a new character that I mentioned in the plot description from a few weeks ago!

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In short summary: I ironed out some naming conventions, did some more world building, came up with a bunch of new words for places, and named some characters. I’m still working on basic character descriptions for them, but fear not! You should be seeing some within the next few weeks. (Hopefully I can get some more character drawings done as well! ᕱ__ᕱ) However, I said I would give you one today, so here is a sneak peek to what you can be looking forward to! 

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Aurora of Sylvanthia [meaning]

Age 17

Human

Queen of Sylvanthia

Crowned Queen at age 16

Her mother passed from illness when she was 12  and her father soon followed

Their Council of Advisors took over as regent until she was came of age 

A corrupt faction attempted to coup her before she was even crown but she discovered their plot and reverse couped them taking her rightful place as queen 

Well loved by the people of her kingdom

Incredibly kind if strong willed and stubborn

Often underestimated for her young age and slight stature

Ruthless to those who cross her

Engaged to Kazuki of Okunseiko (Prince Pretty Boy)

Arranged marriage that they basically strong armed their parents into as children

A puppy love romance turned into reality

Her closest advisors and friends include Romulus (Golden Retriever Boy) and Sascha (Hot Spy Lady)

Her current daily routine involves fixing all the of the sh*t that the corrupt faction messed up in her kingdom, preparing her kingdom for war, and worrying about her man

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And that’s about it from me today. I wish you all a scary Spooky Season full of some tricks but mostly treats! ᕱ__ᕱ 

And just remember, dot your  your j’s and cross your t’s!

~Clementine J. Quincey 🎃🪷

vanquishing finals week + writing prompt

Hello friends!

I hath survived the dreaded beast known as finals week!

I once again, I didn’t do a whole lot of writing this week (other than a 10 page final paper for my US in the 1960s history class), but I did end up asking my friend to give me a writing prompt to try and cleanse my palate with something creative after all that hard work. ᕱ__ᕱ So, that is what I will be sharing with you all today! 

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Write me a story about a journey - a journey that has no purpose but it comes to have a purpose you must determine. What starts the quest? Is it solo? Where are we at?

The light looks very pretty shining though the leaves and branches of the trees onto the forest floor. If I were more poetic I would compare the patterns to those of lace or something of the like. I’m not poetic, so very pretty will have to do.

It’s around 8 in the morning. I don’t care enough to cast a tempus charm but I left home around 7:30 and it’s been a bit, so 8-ish. 

I had the last of the rhubarb cake Colin made for me last week for breakfast. It was delicious. He made it in exchange for me fixing up the binding on his grimoire, which honestly wasn’t that hard. Making the cake was probably harder. I wasn’t going to say anything though. His cake is fit for the gods. 

I also had tea, which I brought with me, which has probably gone cold by now. No matter. A warming charm will fix it right up. Yes, that is quite nice. Hibiscus tea is one of my favorites. It’s tart and it doesn't taste like I’m inhaling a flower like lavender tea does. I hope it lasts me until I get to town though, because I hate the stale, sticky taste that tea leaves in my mouth when I’ve gone too long after drinking it without drinking anything else.

I suppose I could visit Rosalie when I’m in town, and thank her and Penelope for fixing up that hole in my roof. I’ve always been terrible at repairing charms. It’s why I live in the woods where there are no nosey neighbors gawking at my house or my mismatched furniture and kitchenware.

It’s settled then. I’ll visit Rosalie and Penny. Oof! If I can make it town without tripping over a root to my death.

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I had a lot of fun with this writing prompt! I loved the idea of a character setting out to do… something? Not knowing where they are going to end up or what they will be doing, but just seeing where life will take them. Sometimes the best trips are those that we don’t plan! ᕱ__ᕱ And of course, I had to add a fantasy element to the story, otherwise it just wouldn’t be me!

Next week I hope to give you all something a little more substantial when it comes to the original story I am working on but for this week I hope this will suffice!

Always remember, dot your j’s and cross your t’s!

 ~Clementine J. Quincey 🪷

a (not so) short interlude: fanfiction

Hello friends!

This week I have taken a break from working on my original story and instead wrote a piece of fanfiction. At first glance this may not seem like something unusual. In my bio I state I am a professional nerd afterall, and though I don’t believe I have ever discussed it on here, I do consume quite a bit of fanfiction along with original novels. However, the truth is that I had never actually written fanfiction. Well, before this week that is. 

In my one writing class (the same writing class I am doing this blog for in fact) we have been assigned to create a Remix, which is basically what it sounds like: taking other people’s content and cut/copy and pasting it to create something different/new. Remixes are the basis of fan-culture: fanfiction, fanart, video edits– all of these constitute as Remixes. And so, of course, my first, and strongest idea, for the assignment was to write a fanfiction. I wasn’t sure if that was allowed within the constraints of the assignment, so this week I basically asked my professor if I could write and submit a fanfiction for a class assignment. 

The things you do at university ladies and gentlefolk. 

I didn’t ask in so many words of course, and my professor was super chill about it and seems really excited for what I would come up with so that's cool. She’s going to be reading this post at some point actually so… 

Hello, Professor M! Thanks for being so awesome! ᕱ__ᕱ 

Anyway, all this to say, I was inspired to write my first fanfiction this week. It is not a part of the project I will be turning in for class, however it does introduce and develop some original characters, relationships, and conflicts that I may include in my class fanfic.

Oh! And before I let you get into it, I suppose I should let y’all know that it’s a Harry Potter fanfiction. That being said, I hope you enjoy!!

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“Muggle sports are so interesting,” Em said, swinging the pale pink baseball bat she carried up onto her shoulder with a flourish. “Don’t you think, Marcus?” She rolled her head back over her shoulder with a taunting smile to stare down Marcus Flint, who paused from where he was sauntering down the hallway with the Slytherin quidditch team, scoffing at Emma’s question.

“You think I know what the fuck your talking about, blondie? Muggle sports? As if lower myself to even touch anything associated with muggles.” His massive nose wrinkled as if he had taken a whiff of something particularly nasty, sneering down at the smaller girl. The whole hallway has frozen by this point.

“What even is that thing?” Adrian Pucey called out, “Looks like a fucked Beater’s batt,” he said, unintentionally echoing my question from earlier. “Are you sure they even use that for sport? Looks thin enough it could snap in half with one blow.” Laughter tittered through the gathered Slytherins and even some pure blood students from other houses.

“And would they even hit anything with it?” Malfoy cut in, snidely. “They’re not as developed as wizards, with their inferior reflexes. Clumsy oafs.” He sniffed with derision and the Slytherin’s laughter grew, through the rest of the students had piped down. Emma’s smile had dropped.

Flint’s sneer turned into a cruel grin “I’d think you would know that quite well, what with the spectacle your relatives made last year.” 

He was, of course, referring to when Emma had gotten caught up in the Chamber of secrets mess and had been petrified. Her muggle aunt had some to visit all the way from America and was in hysterics, though, rightfully so. Ems had to wait until near the end of the term for the mandrake draught to age to be cured as the Hogwarts Board had not seen it fit to allot a budget to import some from overseas. 

As Pucey, Malfoy and the rest of the Slytherin team snickered, Flint continued on, striking his final blow, “Poor little mudblood.” 

He leaned back, apparently satisfied with himself as Ems spun on her heel to face him fully, steel in her eyes and stone faced, the pink bat still on her shoulder. 

The thing about Emma that many people still don’t get, even though we are well into our Fourth Year at Hogwarts, is that though she may be a Hufflepuff, she is never one to back down from a challenge. Especially if she initiated it. Especially if it deals insults to her family and friends.

A sickeningly sweet smile rose to her face. “Oh, I’m so sorry, Marcus,” she simpered, false concern evident in her voice, “I forget sometimes that some people are so uneducated on this side of the pond.” Flint's face dropped and his relaxed pose faltered. “I’ll make sure to speak slowly for you, don’t worry.” That gained Ems a few snickers of her own from the other students in the crowded hall, but the Slytherins all tensed and a few people left to go grab a Professor.

Emma took a step forward as if nothing was wrong, smile still in place, but fire in her eyes. “This is called a baseball bat. It’s used in a sport called baseball. It’s very popular in America, even among the wizarding community. I unfortunately don’t think I have the skills to explain the whole game to you in a way that you would understand, but a baseball bat functions similarly to a beater bat. However, the ball that one must hit is much smaller than a bludger.” Emma paused here to take another step forward, her smile growing into something sharper. “What that means, Marcus, is that a baseball bat is much, much better for hitting,” she glanced down his body, making sure he saw the direction of her gaze when she looked back into his eyes a few seconds later, “smaller targets.”

Marcus inhaled sharply and the Slytherin team stood frozen as several students in the hall burst into laughter. Emma stepped back, her smile turning into a much more genuine smirk. “And for the record Marcus, I’m very grateful my aunt came all the way from America to visit me when I was attacked by the Heir of Slytherin. I’m very lucky to have such wonderful family. I’m sure your father would have done the same for you.” Flint flinched back slightly, hurt flashing across his face, though it was quickly covered by a scowl. Now that was a bit of a low blow, though arguably it was deserved. It was the worst kept secret in Slytherin that Marcus and his father did not get along, to put it lightly. 

Just then, a Ravenclaw prefect rounded the corner with Professors McGonagall and Snape in tow. Students very quickly began to disperse, including the rest of the Slytherin team, as Professor Snape raised an eyebrow at the scene. “Just what is going on here?” 

“Nothing, professors,” Emma bounced on her heels as she turned towards Snape and McGonagall, beaming at them. I could have sworn I heard Professor Snape mutter “too bright” under his breath, but I could be mistaken. “I was just telling Marcus about the American muggle sport called baseball,” she gestured to the bat on her shoulder.

Then, she turned to look at Flint again. “I’m so sorry to cut this riveting conversation short but I really do have to go and check on some of my plants. I’m sure Professor Burbage would be happy to continue to explain baseball to you if you ask politely. Though, that may be a challenge for you,” she nodded gravely to herself, “You should work on that. I hear that adequate etiquette skills are needed in pure blood circles, but I’m sure I wouldn’t know anything about that, being muggleborn myself.” 

She smirked at Flint, daring him to say anything and reveal the fact that he had called her a slur. Flint looked down and glared at the floor. Ems shifted her gaze back to the bewildered professors. “I was actually raised in the wizarding world, professors. It’s actually quite interesting! The American magical government is a little less strict about no-maj, sorry, muggle separation and my muggle aunt did marry a wizard.” 

“When my parents passed away and my aunt and uncle took me in, they revealed the world of magic to me. My aunt still works in the muggle world, but my uncle works for MACUSA.” Ems grinned. “That’s how it was so easy for me to get approval to study abroad here at Hogwarts. It’s where my uncle went. Anyway, I really do have to go. See you in transfiguration tomorrow Professor MacGonagal, bye!” With that Emma skipped away.

Snape shook his head slightly and turned back to Flint. “Do you have anything to add to Miss Williams’ account, Mr Flint.”

Flint’s mouth pinched and his shoulders hunched but he just shook his head and said, “No, Professor.”

MacGonagal huffed a short breath. “Right, then. Everything seems to be in order.” She  shooed Flint off. “Away with you Mr Flint, there’s no need to dawdle in the corridors. And thank you Mr Turner for grabbing us to deescalate the situation,” she said turning to the prefect, “2 points to Ravenclaw.”

Flint shuffled off, as MacGonagal left with the Ravenclaw prefect, Turner, who was asking her about something or other transfiguration related. Only Snape remained in the hall, and when both parties turned opposite corners, he spoke again. “Miss Woodward.”

I remained hidden. 

He sighed. “Miss Woodward I would like an account of these events from your own perspective this evening. Please arrive at my office after dinner, no later than 7.” With that he turned and stalked off.

I stepped out from the tapestry I was hiding behind and made a mental note to send Ems a note thanking her. I myself then turned and made my way to the courtyard despite the winter chill, resolved to avoid the dungeons and my head of house until after dinner.

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I’m quite proud of what I have written here and for my first fanfiction ever I don’t think I’ve done too shabby of a job. But, with that, since this post is a little longer than normal, I shall let you go.

Remember: dot your  your j’s and cross your t’s! ᕱ__ᕱ 

~Clementine J. Quincey 🪷

NANOWRIMO: the conclusion + learning from failure

Hello friends!

Long time, no see! ᕱ__ᕱ These past two weeks I have been giving myself a little break from this blog. I have been swamped with final projects in all of my classes and have been trying to balance getting all of them done with middling success. I’m not thriving, but I am surviving. 

However, to make up for my absence, I will be giving y’all some extra content within the next two weeks. In those posts I won’t be boring you with my rambles as I usually do and instead will simply be giving you some content that I have created for my novel! In this post, though, I will be updating you on my novel’s progress and giving you my thoughts on NANOWRIMO.

For those of you who have been here for a bit, you will know that I attempted to participate in National Novel Writing Month for the first time this November. (As always, here is a link with more info about NANOWRIMO for your perusal.) My personal goal as a full time student with a part time job, was to write a 25,000 word manuscript instead of the full 50,000 words. November has ended and I am happy to report that I failed. I failed to reach even my cut down goal. However, I am surprisingly really happy with my progress this month. I learned a lot about myself as a writer and about my process and while I didn’t manage to write even a 10,000 word manuscript, I feel much more prepared to tackle writing this novel.

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So, here are the things that I learned:

Character design and building is VERY important to me

This, I already knew. One of the main things that bother me about book to movie translations or “hot takes” about books on social media or even some fanfictions is that characters, their personalities and development and relationships, are often either misunderstood or sacrificed for the plot or the sake of another character's development. It’s so annoying. I personally belief that every character in a work of fiction should be able to stand on their own, especially if they are a main or secondary character. Characters should be their own individuals with their own motivations and backstories and for goodness sake they should be consistent! (Crappy character development is a thing that bothers me about published novels too. The wasted potential of Severus Snape, Albus Dumbledore, and Draco Malfoy, among countless other characters, in the Harry Potter novels bugs me so, so much!!)

 So, one of the things that happened everytime I sat down to write this NANOWRIMO was that I would find myself getting “stuck” on this character’s backstory or that character’s personality. I have 13 characters that exist for this story in my head. 2 are the main main characters. The 11 others are also going to have their own plot lines and spin offs. Before NANOWRIMO, I knew that this would make my novel complex. After NANOWRIMO, I realized that I was going to have to organize and map and structure and detail my characters (along with several other things) to the metaphorical gods before I even try to manuscript anything or else I am going to be stuck forever and I will never get this book out of my head.

Worldbuilding is also VERY important to me

This was a bit of a surprise. I am definitely no Tolkien and before I started this blog, and my creative writing journey, at the beginning of this fall, these original characters simply just floated around in my head in a vague fantasy realm with no discernible structure or detail. I expected to be able to just continue with this vague fantasy world and as I started writing let the structure fall into place. Yeah… that’s not what happened. 

As I began to outline character backstories and a basic plot to start writing, I would find myself drawing up short when I needed to insert a detail about the world in which my story is taking place. This month made me realize that I need to also worldbuild to the metaphorical gods before I try to manuscript anything, and in some cases before I try to go deeper into outlining my character’s backstories and such as well. I’m such a detail oriented person that I have no idea why this didn’t occur to me before, especially because I am including a magic system in my book. I hate fantasy books (that are meant to be serious and not just cozy reads) in which the magic systems rely on the “because it’s magic” excuse and the author doesn’t make any attempt at giving at least some sort of structure or rules. So yeah. I really need to worldbuild, which I am going to hate because it is going to take FOREVER (detail oriented person).

I work better on lists and schedules

This I did know, but I didn’t realize it applied to my writing. A lot of the reason why I failed to write anything of substance for the plot of my book is that I thought I could just throw myself in and make it up as I go. Incorrect. As November passed, and I kept getting stuck on details, I realized that I would need to incorporate my penchant for planning and list making if I was ever going to complete a task this large.

Also, side note, but I keep referring to this story that I’m writing as a novel. It will most certainly not be a novel. It will be a whole dang book series. (13 characters!! Who will each get their own POV at some point!! “A novel” my a**.) 

I can throw myself head first into school essays and short writing assignments no problem, but with a story this big, all coming straight from the mess I call my brain, I need to do a lot of planning beforehand. That, above all, is what this failed NANOWRIMO taught me. 

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So! Now that I have torn my failure to shreds and dissected all the little pieces and given yall a short (yes that was short for me - I’m starting to think you guys don’t know me at all ᕱ__ᕱ) summary of who, what, when, where, and why my failure occurred, what’s next. Well, I plan. I outline to the metaphorical gods (as I seem to be fond of saying in this post), and next year, when November rolls around, hopefully I have done enough planning and outlining and detail work that writing a 50000 word manuscript should be a breeze!

That’s all for now folks! If any of y’all are curious as to some of what I did manage to get done on my novel/series over NANOWRIMO then stay tuned for the first of your special content posts which should be up within a few minutes of me posting this. Also, if any of y’all have suggestions about how to store/order worldbuilding content in an easily searchable way that would be fantastic!! Please do let me know. Thanks for bearing with me! ᕱ__ᕱ

And remember, dot your j’s and cross your t’s!

~Clementine J. Quincey 🪷

organizing thoughts + setting microgoals (ya know productive people things)

Hello friends!

Happy 2024!!

It seems like my winter break has just flown by and tomorrow my university’s spring semester starts. I haven’t had as much time to work on my story as I would have liked, but I do feel rested after this break, which is always a good thing! ᕱ__ᕱ Despite not a lot of visible progress in my original story, there have been a few things I have been thinking about and attempting to iron out in my brain which I can update you on this week.

World-Building

Before I get anywhere else and make real progress in the plot of my story, I have come to the conclusion that I need to spend some time on worldbuilding. I knew the funky little magic world and my funky little fantasy story is taking place in needed some serious work before I started writing anything, but it’s come to my attention that it needs that work now, before I continue to develop anything else. Which… sucks.

Not that I am not going to enjoy creating my own fictional world but it's going to take A LOT of work before I see real progress and I am going to have to complete that work in very small increments because I have other Important Things™ I need to be doing. Like school. Ugh!

I am very notoriously bad with time management (which is something I’m working on in therapy actually - shout out once again to my therapist who is literally a God-send), so I think my goal for next week will be to create an outline/schedule/list for what I need to get done in the realm of world-building so that I can organize my thoughts a little better and have something tangible to work on. I’ll share it here next week if I have managed to make progress on it. One of the big things I know will absolutely be making it on that list first thing, however, is developing my magic system.

Magic System

As I have mentioned briefly in a previous post, janky magic systems with little-no rules are a huge pet peeve of mine when it comes to fantasy fiction (unless it makes sense within the story, which is rare). So, I know that crafting my own magic system will take me some time because I want it to make sense, be clear, and have outline rules and limitations. 

Another thing that's important to me is that any magic system I create/include in my story, is in accordance with my own personal religious beliefs. NOW HEAR ME OUT IN THE ENTIRETY BEFORE Y’ALL GO JUDGING ME, OKAY?! I am a Christian, so nothing aligning with demons, Satan, or the occult will be happening in my story (on the side of “Good” that is). It may seem like a small or silly thing to some but it’s 100% a priority to me. However, I want to write a fantasy novel that is accessible to ALL, not just my fellow Christians, and one that doesn’t feel preachy or anything of that nature. I’m not trying to push my beliefs onto my readers. I just don’t want to compromise them in my writing. 

This is an interesting article on writing magic systems into Christian fantasy that I have been looking over the past few days if any of y'all are interested in what my magic system may look like. 

Stereotypes

I also don’t want to accidentally write any story of -isms or -phobias into my novel and I know a surprising amount of magical beings and tropes fall into the “developed from a racial stereotype” category (just look up J.K. Rowling, goblins, and Jewish stereotypes if you don’t believe me). So, I wanted to create my own magical beings without the baggage. If, in the following posts, y’all see anything that could be rude or prejudice developing as I continue to grow my story please just let me know. It’s never my intention to cause harm. As I said, I want my story to be accessible for ALL. ᕱ__ᕱ 

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That’s pretty much it! That’s what I’ve been turning over in my head and working on in the past few weeks while in the midst of family and friends and the chaos of the holiday season. I hope to get something more substantial to give to y’all next week, but for now I’ll let you go. For my fellow students returning to school, good luck in this new semester! ᕱ__ᕱ 

And always remember, dot your j’s and cross your t’s!

 ~Clementine J. Quincey 🪷

PS. I also finally taught myself how to crochet something and spent 3 days working on a flower garland for the canopy above my bed. It is quite cute and I feel very accomplished!!