Tag: writing

Perihal Rasa Malas

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Belakangan ini, saya lagi nggak mood nulis.

Kalau ditanya kenapa, alasannya banyak: kerjaan yang menggunung, baju kotor yang menunggu dicuci, bahan makanan yang menanti dimasak. Kalau saya diberi waktu untuk menjelaskan kenapa saya nggak mood nulis, saya rasa saya bisa menghabiskan setengah jam sendiri untuk mencoba menjelaskannya.

Tapi, terlepas dari jawaban yang keluar dari mulut saya, alasan yang sebenarnya ternyata jauh lebih sederhana dari yang orang-orang pikirkan: saya malas.

Photo by Thom Milkovic on Unsplash

Malas apa? Ya malas menulis. Malas memikirkan premis cerita baru. Malas menjalani proses riset yang bukan main panjangnya. Malas merunutkan ide dan adegan cerita. Malas menghabiskan cuti untuk menulis draf satu naskah. Malas melakukan swasunting. Malas mengirimkan naskah ke penerbit. Malas menunggu catatan revisi dari editor. Malas menentukan judul, menulis blurb buku, dan malas berdiskusi panjang untuk menentukan konsep desain sampul buku.

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Acknowledgements (Polaris Musim Dingin)

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I somehow made it like a trend not to include the acknowledgements page in my recent books. There is a valid reasoning for that, however, in case anyone thinks that I simply don’t have anyone to thank for. On the contrary, I would much rather post the acknowledgements on my blog instead, out of time (and space) constraints.

In any case, I’d like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to the following individuals for their gallant contributions toward the completion of Polaris Music Dingin.

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Writing Prompt Challenge Giveaway!

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If you’ve been following me on Instagram, then you’d know that I’ve had this “writing prompt challenge” thing going on for awhile. To put it simply, I post a question sticker on my Instagram Stories every Saturday, and my followers can submit one writing prompt each to me.

During the following day, I would sort through all the submissions and try to write something for them. The results will vary greatly depending on what I feel like writing. Sometimes this could mean a short story, other times a prose, or poem, or anything else in-between.

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Photo by Nick Morrison on Unsplash

The best part from starting this initiative, for me, is that I get to build this small (but awesome!) community. I’ve seen the same people submitting their prompts from time to time, also people who were initially too shy to submit their prompts, but eventually took a leap of faith.

It brings joy to me seeing how my followers could find something in this program, especially considering how I first started the initiative because I was bored and wanted to brush up my writing skills.

So after giving it some thought, I’ve finally made a decision: I want to give back to this awesome community, no matter how small my token of appreciation might be.

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A Butterfly Needs to be Loved

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Based on a writing prompt submitted by @eunicesoe.vics

A scientist conducted an experiment with two caterpillars.

They are of the same species, and roughly the same size and age.

Photo by Philippe Leone on Unsplash

He fed one of the caterpillars with only the best quality leaves. He made sure to control the lighting and moisture level of the ecosystem to promote growth. And before long, the caterpillar transformed itself into its chrysalis form, bidding its time while undergoing metamorphosis.

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Working on a New Project + My Writing Setup (Late 2018)

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I’ve posted a teaser on my Instagram a few days ago, but I am currently working on a new project. And not just any project; I have been working on the premise of this story for quite some time now. So when I finally started working on the project, it feels super amazing.

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Photo by John Jennings on Unsplash

I owe this excitement, mostly, to the fact that I’m writing in an unusual genre: mystery.

I’ve mentioned this before, but I used to be very experimental with my writings. I’ve written everything from fantasy to romance, and even obscure genres like bildungsroman. Exploring new genres used to feel so fun, and I was addicted to experiencing it.

I don’t know what happened exactly, but I’m ashamed to say that I haven’t been as adventurous as of late. My writings from the past 5 years had always had a similar vein to them: angsty, dramatic, remorseful stories with a bleak atmosphere on them. This isn’t a bad thing, of course, just less exciting. Continue reading →

Want Me to Write Something for You? Submit Your Writing Prompts!

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If you’re following me on Instagram, then you would know exactly what I’m talking about.

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Photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash

In case you didn’t know, I recently have been making an effort to accept writing prompt submissions from my followers on Instagram every weekend. The original intention was for me to get some writing practice on a weekly basis (just to keep the rusts at bay), but the event ended up being so fun, I couldn’t help but hold it regularly.

I am very sure that some of you hardcore followers already know the rules for this writing prompt submission, but I’m going to write more information about this below: Continue reading →

NaNoWriMo 2018 Prep: Setting Up a Writer’s Notebook – Part 4

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NaNoWrimo 2018 is just around the corner, guys. How is your writer’s notebook coming along? If you haven’t started filling in the information for your story’s settings, then I hope this blog post is what you’re looking for. (But even if you’re not doing NaNo, I hope these articles will prove to be useful to anyone who’s planning to work on a novel project.)

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Previously, we have covered how I set up my project statistics, plotting, and character sheets in my writer’s notebook. I’ll leave the relevant links down below, in case you’ve missed some of them:

Read more: NaNoWriMo 2018 Prep: Setting Up a Writer’s Notebook – Part 1 (Project Statistics)

Read more: NaNoWriMo 2018 Prep: Setting Up a Writer’s Notebook – Part 2 (Plotting)

Read more: NaNoWriMo 2018 Prep: Setting Up a Writer’s Notebook – Part 3 (Character Sheets)

When you work on your plotting, you are defining “what happens with your story” and “how does it happen”. Similarly, when you work on your character sheets, you are defining the “who is involved” and “why are they involved”. Settings, on the other hand, is simply defining “where does the story take place” and “when is this happening”.

A good story doesn’t only need to have a solid plot and characters, but it also needs enough information about the when and where the story takes place. Imagine watching a stage play; settings are the backdrops behind the characters; the ambiance and lightings. They never take center stage, but they are important nonetheless.

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Photo by Tom Kulczycki on Unsplash

Personally, my golden rule with having a “good enough” settings information for my novel project is to have just enough information so I can imagine being in the story with no problem.

It sounds rather vague, I know. But I will elaborate this in more details below. Continue reading →

NaNoWriMo 2018 Prep: Setting Up a Writer’s Notebook – Part 3

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It’s the third week of Preptober, and NaNoWriMo 2018 is just around the corner, everyone! Now that we have our project statistics and plot established, we’re going to move on to perhaps the most exciting bits to write in your writer’s notebook: characters!

Read more: NaNoWriMo 2018 Prep: Setting Up a Writer’s Notebook – Part 1 (Project Statistics)

Read more: NaNoWriMo 2018 Prep: Setting Up a Writer’s Notebook – Part 2 (Plotting)

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It is no secret that what I love the most about writing a book is the characters. After all, they’re the ones keeping me awake at night, pleading to me so I could stay up for a couple more hours and write the continuation of their stories. Most of the time, this means pulling an all-nighter just to get the story written.

And although it means me catching a cold, familiarizing myself with my characters allow me to write my stories faster.

Disclaimer: As my previous post, unfortunately, I wouldn’t be able to disclose the characters of my upcoming project, since:

  1. They are still very confidential—I haven’t written the manuscript yet!
  2. They are mostly incomplete, as I tend to add more information as I draft my manuscript.

With that said, here is how I record information about my characters inside my writer’s notebook. Continue reading →