Creative Writing, Poetry, Arts & Crafts, and Other Creations Thread
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What was so objectionable about NaNoWriMo's take on it was that they had deals with AI companies to provide some of the "winners' goodies". There were never any tangible prizes for winning NaNo, but there were some very generous discounts on writing software (ie. Scrivener) and how-to books and organizers. Winners had a choice of which of these we wanted to take advantage of (any or all), or if we didn't want any, we still had the free downloadable banners and avatars, and sometimes a discount on merchandise. I bought quite a few t-shirts and posters over the years, until the shipping charges started to amount to more than the cost of the stuff itself.
All hell broke loose when people realized that the winners' goodies included a vanity press company that was basically a scam outfit that intended to suck writers into paying $$$ to get their books "published". Then the feud among some of the board (some very ugly things went public after someone revealed the contents of an old private email conversation) and parts of the forums turned into a free-for-all with various staff members lobbing accusations and counter-accusations in a very unprofessional manner. Someone mused that the board had been seriously considering making the forums available only "during California business hours" because they thought it was unreasonable to ask the volunteer moderators to do moderating outside their work hours.
Um... what? Since they were volunteers, that would suggest they had jobs that were not associated with NaNoWriMo, right? So they were supposed to moderate the NaNo forums while working for whatever company actually did pay them and that was supposed to be okay with their employers?
I got screamed at for pointing out that the world is round, with 24 time zones, and by putting the NaNo forums on "California business hours" they might as well hang a "GTFO" sign to every member for whom "California business hours" coincided with their middle of the night or other hours when they wouldn't be able to access them. Not to mention the forums would be down on weekends, exactly at the time when a lot of the people did their writing and forum activities, because they were working during the week.
They also didn't take it well when I pointed out that it actually is possible to run a large forum with an international membership from many different time zones, some on opposite sides of the world, and have most time zones covered by volunteer moderators both during the week and on weekends - I belonged to two of them and had been on staff for one of them. The way they reacted, you'd think I'd said something outrageously silly.
The final thing that really got people angry, though, was when they added AI companies to the list of sponsors providing the "winners' goodies" and made a statement endorsing and actually encouraging the use of AI in the stories. It was somewhat for the benefit of people who needed a little extra boost (ie. in times of writer's block, which is something most Wrimos went through at some point), but it was mostly for the benefit of the disabled writers whose brains and bodies don't work the same as those of non-disabled writers (not kidding; that's an accurate paraphrase of how they put it).
Well, as someone with multiple disabilities who struggled some years for various reasons but still got my words in, this made me absolutely livid. I have hypothyroidism, which has a whole host of issues, including depression and brain fog. Add fibromyalgia and arthritis to this, and it means that my sense of touch doesn't work correctly and there are times when it's painfully hard to pick up a pen and write my name, let alone 50,000 words in 30 days. There was one year when typing wasn't working for me. I wrote that whole thing longhand. It took about 8 hours/day instead of the usual 2 to 2.5 hours (to get a minimum of 1667 words/day) and it hurt like hell, but I did it.
My total word count over these past 17 years is well into 7 figures (I don't remember when it passed a million, but it was some time ago). Not one of those words was done by AI, and I earned every damn one of them.
And along comes Kilby Blades, the director in charge of the organization, and blathers on about AI in the tone of 'oh, you poor disabled dears, you're just not as good as the rest of us, so go ahead and use AI to write your stories - oh, and by a lucky coincidence, our latest sponsor has just the program for you, at a nice discount!'.
I am one of the many people who told her off. What a miserable, spiteful piece of work she is. That was just over a year ago.
So, what with all this, why am I upset that there's no more NaNo? It's not the corporate crap I'm going to miss. It's the camaraderie with the other writers, encouraging each other, helping each other, swapping story ideas, giving feedback when asked, giving pep talks to people who felt embarrassed that their stories were fanfiction (there's nothing at all to be embarrassed about; it's how a lot of the pros started), and being able to ask a question about almost any historical detail and either get the answer or a list of suggestions on research leads. How valuable were chickens in 11th-century England? More than I'd thought. That was an interesting conversation that sprang from a question I asked.
I have found a couple of other writing groups, but of course none of them have this sheer scope. I'm going to miss that.
I have bipolar disorder. It's tough for me at times to create.
I prefer writing short stories (I can't commit to a novel). I've got one going at ScribbleHub.
I have bipolar disorder. It's tough for me at times to create.
I prefer writing short stories (I can't commit to a novel). I've got one going at ScribbleHub.
I've checked it out. From the Terms, it looks like everything has to be original. Is fanfic not allowed?
Scribblehub is for original stuff.
I use ArchiveOfOurOwn.Org for fanfic.
I've written fanfics for so long, I'm out of practice when doing original stuff.
Okay, thanks. It doesn't look like it would be a good fit for me, then. I've got some long-term projects (been working on one for over 6 years now, and new ideas keep coming up).
The last thing I wrote that was original was last year. As a writing exercise we were told to write a haiku about something on our computer desk. So I wrote a haiku about rice pudding.
The last thing I wrote that was original was last year. As a writing exercise we were told to write a haiku about something on our computer desk. So I wrote a haiku about rice pudding.
They were into that, as well?
Okay, the stuff I heard about was the grooming of underage kids on the site. That meant that the kids I was mentoring on another forum... yikes. Thank goodness they never got to the point of registering there. If I'd known, I never would have recommended NaNo to them.
I witnessed some of the fights among the staff on the forum when they were screaming about how wrong it was to fight in public, yet they were fighting in public about fighting in public. Apparently it was about one staff referring to another as "a diversity hire" in an email that took place over a year previously but somebody let it slip (not clear on whether by accident or on purpose).
Oh, and the proselytizing. Apparently that was going on as well, on a site where I noticed more than the usual number of people in any online group were openly identifying as pagan. Whoops, can't have that, right? Everyone must believe in the same holy book, whether they actually follow it or not (I'm a Canadian who isn't even slightly going to hide my atheist status, especially when some jerk on FB calls me a traitor for not singing O Canada due to its religious bias, and assumes that makes me Maple MAGA if I'm not his approved brand of Canadian Christian).
Let's see, what else? Oh, right. There was awhile when my newsletters were coming to me in either German or Finnish. I speak about 3 words of German and 0 words of Finnish. When I opened a ticket to get someone to look into what was going on, they accused me of setting my account to those languages myself.
Then I found out about the vanity press outfit being among the sponsors for the winners' goodies... I wasn't buying stuff by that point because even if the shipping charges weren't through the roof for Canadians, it seemed that every time I wanted something, they were out of it, yet kept advertising it in the shop.
And requests for donations. Sometimes more than once a week. I finally wrote and said, what with all the problems with the organization plus the sloppy way the forum is organized and the fact that the visually impaired participants had been complaining about the dashboard being in pastel colors with little contrast for YEARS (iow, very hard to read or make out some of the images and icons when everything is in shades of the same color), they want us to DONATE MORE MONEY?
Nope. I had myself removed from the shop mailing list (they got snarky about that; apparently we were supposed to donate $$ to an organization that didn't seem all that concerned with fixing the problems).
Anyway. The organization/politics wasn't fun. The writing and interaction with the regular participants definitely was fun.
And even though this time there won't be any "Congratulations, Winner!" popping up on my screen later this month (I usually finish a few days early), out of habit I'm counting my words, and am happy to be nicely above par and should make my goal.
I've even got some spare energy to work on another project or two. One of them just came to mind yesterday. I belong to a FB group for the Alfred Hitchcock and The Three Investigators mystery series. That's a series of novels originally published from the late 1960s through... I don't remember when the last original one came out, and am too lazy to look. But the original author's daughter pulled a stunt similar to Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson with nuDune and rebooted the series.
She and a co-writer wrote 26 books, and THEN put the first three up on Amazon and another American bookstore. So far the reviews are mixed, leaning toward negative. I've only read excerpts and am appalled. These books are a mess and need about 3 more edits to tighten up the plot, delete a small forest's worth of extraneous crap, un-race-swap the main characters, and decide what decade they live in.
But someone had a good idea yesterday. There's a villain from a couple of the original novels who's a French art thief, very charismatic, and while he didn't get away with all of his nefarious plans, he did get away.
So someone said that the new authors should have brought him back. He's a villain we liked.
And then... my non-Nano project is a very long one (will take years to finish, probably) that's a crossover between BBC Merlin and Highlander/Highlander: The Raven.
The idea that occurred to me was this: "Hugenay is a French art thief. Amanda is (in the Raven spinoff) a French jewel thief (she was actually born in England in the 9th century, but whatever). They should meet and have some sort of adventure/feud going. They're both experts in their respective fields, and would have a mutual respect even if annoyed that the other was getting in the way of acquiring whatever it was they wanted to steal. This would be fun to write, even if no other Highlander characters were in it."
The other crazy idea that occurred to me lately is a crossover between Keeping Up Appearances and Clue, and I'm trying to figure out the weapons and rooms. The number of suspects is no problem. Every character on the show, including the guest characters, would have a reason to kill Hyacinth Bucket if sufficiently annoyed.
They were into that, as well?
Okay, the stuff I heard about was the grooming of underage kids on the site. That meant that the kids I was mentoring on another forum... yikes. Thank goodness they never got to the point of registering there. If I'd known, I never would have recommended NaNo to them.
I witnessed some of the fights among the staff on the forum when they were screaming about how wrong it was to fight in public, yet they were fighting in public about fighting in public. Apparently it was about one staff referring to another as "a diversity hire" in an email that took place over a year previously but somebody let it slip (not clear on whether by accident or on purpose).
Oh, and the proselytizing. Apparently that was going on as well, on a site where I noticed more than the usual number of people in any online group were openly identifying as pagan. Whoops, can't have that, right? Everyone must believe in the same holy book, whether they actually follow it or not (I'm a Canadian who isn't even slightly going to hide my atheist status, especially when some jerk on FB calls me a traitor for not singing O Canada due to its religious bias, and assumes that makes me Maple MAGA if I'm not his approved brand of Canadian Christian).
Let's see, what else? Oh, right. There was awhile when my newsletters were coming to me in either German or Finnish. I speak about 3 words of German and 0 words of Finnish. When I opened a ticket to get someone to look into what was going on, they accused me of setting my account to those languages myself.
Then I found out about the vanity press outfit being among the sponsors for the winners' goodies... I wasn't buying stuff by that point because even if the shipping charges weren't through the roof for Canadians, it seemed that every time I wanted something, they were out of it, yet kept advertising it in the shop.
And requests for donations. Sometimes more than once a week. I finally wrote and said, what with all the problems with the organization plus the sloppy way the forum is organized and the fact that the visually impaired participants had been complaining about the dashboard being in pastel colors with little contrast for YEARS (iow, very hard to read or make out some of the images and icons when everything is in shades of the same color), they want us to DONATE MORE MONEY?
Nope. I had myself removed from the shop mailing list (they got snarky about that; apparently we were supposed to donate $$ to an organization that didn't seem all that concerned with fixing the problems).
Anyway. The organization/politics wasn't fun. The writing and interaction with the regular participants definitely was fun.
And even though this time there won't be any "Congratulations, Winner!" popping up on my screen later this month (I usually finish a few days early), out of habit I'm counting my words, and am happy to be nicely above par and should make my goal.
I've even got some spare energy to work on another project or two. One of them just came to mind yesterday. I belong to a FB group for the Alfred Hitchcock and The Three Investigators mystery series. That's a series of novels originally published from the late 1960s through... I don't remember when the last original one came out, and am too lazy to look. But the original author's daughter pulled a stunt similar to Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson with nuDune and rebooted the series.
She and a co-writer wrote 26 books, and THEN put the first three up on Amazon and another American bookstore. So far the reviews are mixed, leaning toward negative. I've only read excerpts and am appalled. These books are a mess and need about 3 more edits to tighten up the plot, delete a small forest's worth of extraneous crap, un-race-swap the main characters, and decide what decade they live in.
But someone had a good idea yesterday. There's a villain from a couple of the original novels who's a French art thief, very charismatic, and while he didn't get away with all of his nefarious plans, he did get away.
So someone said that the new authors should have brought him back. He's a villain we liked.
And then... my non-Nano project is a very long one (will take years to finish, probably) that's a crossover between BBC Merlin and Highlander/Highlander: The Raven.
The idea that occurred to me was this: "Hugenay is a French art thief. Amanda is (in the Raven spinoff) a French jewel thief (she was actually born in England in the 9th century, but whatever). They should meet and have some sort of adventure/feud going. They're both experts in their respective fields, and would have a mutual respect even if annoyed that the other was getting in the way of acquiring whatever it was they wanted to steal. This would be fun to write, even if no other Highlander characters were in it."
The other crazy idea that occurred to me lately is a crossover between Keeping Up Appearances and Clue, and I'm trying to figure out the weapons and rooms. The number of suspects is no problem. Every character on the show, including the guest characters, would have a reason to kill Hyacinth Bucket if sufficiently annoyed.
Richard, in the dining room, with the Telephone.
He just couldn’t take it anymore.
"The Bouquet residence, the lady of the house speak-"
THUD!
"Hello, whoever you are, this is the Bucket residence. The lady of the house has just been called away. Please try again later. Goodbye."
Click.
Richard regarded Hyacinth, now slumped on the floor in the hallway. He'd ask Emmet to help him move the body. But first, he 'd take a few minutes to enjoy blessed peace and quiet.
THUD!
"Hello, whoever you are, this is the Bucket residence. The lady of the house has just been called away. Please try again later. Goodbye."
Click.
Richard regarded Hyacinth, now slumped on the floor in the hallway. He'd ask Emmet to help him move the body. But first, he 'd take a few minutes to enjoy blessed peace and quiet.
I wrote a lot more after this. It got a bit silly after awhile. I'm not sure how to finish it, because no matter which way I spin it, it's not going to make any sense.
But it was cathartic, both for me and for Richard!
I can see Onslow helping. And saying ‘oh that’s nice that is’.
"What're friends for, Dickie?"
