Haha, I just use the fancy word erotica. But yes I was writing so much my friends thought it was all I wrote. 🤣 Mine are usually historical though, but I did do one dystopian sci-fi one. I posted that one on Wattpad.

Explicit "romance." I love turning words into porn. Tho they're also usually in a sci-fi setting.

Oh, medieval fantasy! I also like writing historical settings. My current novel is set in the 1850s. So, kind of early Victorian era. It’s pretty fascinating to research!

Sci-fi, medieval fantasy, post apocalyptic, romance here and there. I should probably branch out a bit more honestly.

ig

Would have hit better without her mention, but OK ig

Writing down ideas that flash into your head is fine, but it can turn into a trap.

"hoo ahh, I got that idea down into my notes, so now I can go on with the rest of my life"

Without putting in the heads down work and time into your writing, or whatever art you're practicing, the ideas won't get fleshed out, and you kind of maintain this self-delusion that your jotted notes are writing, but there's no product that you should share with anyone.

By "you" and "your" in that last run on sentence, I mean "I" and "my"

As much as I hate the TERF bitch these days, JK Rowling was right to dedicate quiet time mostly early, early in the morning (according to some interviews I've heard) to her writing every day.

This is a video about the making of a music video, but the narrator's comments on the creative process are quite valid:

1. You can't know everything at the start of the process.
2. Spend the time to figure out what you like.
   2a) Spend the time to figure out what you don't like, even if it means spending a lot of time chasing down what turns out to be dead ends.
3. Something that you imagined is just a starting point to getting to something you love.

That's the whole point and where this is totally different from Reddit or Lemmy.

On those sites, when you post something personal, you're stepping into a social arena. You risk someone cracking a joke, leaving a mean comment, or just making noise. Plus there's the whole dopamine trap — upvotes, downvotes, karma, notifications pulling you back in.

My site is meant to be a sanctuary, not a forum:

No comments — people can read your "message in a bottle," but they can only react with a silent emoji (like a hug). No judgment.

No profiles — you can't click on someone's username to see their past posts. Every post stands alone, totally anonymous.

Optional self-destruct — you can have your post disappear from the server after 24 hours. It's about letting go, not building an archive.

Lemmy is great for debating ideas. This is for when your chest feels heavy and you just need to quiet your mind.

I agree, anonymously talking to others online is different from writing in a diary. But that's not so different than what we can do here with Lemmy (and before it got enshittified, Reddit) - where does your proposed solution differ from that?

Totally agree, a physical notebook is great, and writing by hand has its own magic that software can't copy. But there's a real difference between writing in a private diary and venting anonymously to the world. When you share something online:

The "letting go" feeling — like throwing a message in a bottle into the ocean. You're actually getting it out of your system and sending it away.

Knowing you're not alone — reading something from a stranger who felt the exact same way hits different. That shared experience is something a blank notebook just can't give you.

I'm not trying to replace paper diaries. I just want to make a digital option for when you feel alone and need to yell into a void where other people quietly listen.

Look, that's what a diary is for. In it's original form it's a paper notebook in which the person writes with a pencil. In modern times, people can also use a file or even a software on their computer. No, we don't need websites and webservices for everything, especially when it's intimate. "But what if I want to synchronize ..." I recommend the notebook, it fits in your pocket, it's also cheap and doesn't need electricity. You can use it for drawing, journaling, venting, drafting the next big novel ...

....now I'm not sure what you are trying to say

Not to mention the lack of feedback of just my story ideas is….depressing. Like I’m invisible.

I'm not sure to understand your question, but if you're wondering why people don't notice your 'story ideas', it's most likely because ideas are cheap.

Like mentioned already, most stories stem from an idea that is true. But the idea itself doesn't matter that much, it doesn't make any story worth reading.

We all get ideas. On a typical day, I will get at least 2 or 3 ideas I will want to write down just in case I could use them, and that is ignoring the many more I will ignore because they're obviously worthless. Of those 2 or 3 daily, most will never turn into anything... or only years later.

Ideas are cheap. Stories are not. Stories are a lot of work. Days, weeks, sometimes months, if not years worth of work… And I think that's the main reason why so many people who would like to write (or I should say who would love to publish) a story will never do it: it's just too much work to finish writing an actual story. They have an idea they like, they think they just have to write it down to get a cools story and then they quickly realize they were wrong.

If you don't believe me (good on you to not believe some random dude saying random shit), you can make a simple test by answering those questions all by yourself: what is the latest fiction (novel, short story) you enjoyed reading? Did you just read the blurb (which tells the story main idea in as few words as possible) and put the book back? Or did you enjoy reading the whole story even after reading said blurb? And what did you enjoy, then?

See? Ideas are not what make a good story ;)

My stories usually stem from an idea.

The fic I'm writing now (as in, it's a fanfic) stems from a popular fan theory for a game I play, but I took the theory and said "what if it were formatted like" a certain TV show. It would make more sense than how the game presents the story.

As far as depression around writing goes... there are way more people than ever writing now. Therefore, fewer people than ever, especially percentage-wise, are being paid well for it. Plus AI. Write for yourself. I'm writing a fanfic, so I know I'll never sell it.

I think so?

I write out short stories sometimes with maybe only a particular scene or event.

Sometimes its good to get it written down so it doesn't get swept away. There's also a chance it may turn into a bigger story, which has happened to me a few times now.

@NickEast_IndieWriter @DarrinBrunner To be fair, old people's bones tend to be more brittle, thus a fear of heights and a reduced willingness to take risks made for longer living before the advent of modern medecine and health & safety inspections of diving boards. Still, I want to play Tony Hawks' Pro Skater Gramps Edition where you can hear the knee joints creak.

@DarrinBrunner Whispers "It's called aging. And it's really annoying at times."

The only place I routinely encounter stairs recently is the hospital, when I go in for an appointment. A while back, coming down the stairs, I decided my feet were too big for the steps. I do have biggish feet, size 11 1/2 in Freedom Units, but I've never had any issues with stairs before this. Suddenly, looking down at my feet, I decided I needed to twist my feet sideways on the steps to get a good purchase and not fall over, face-first, down the steps. I do wear glasses, but nothing is new about that. I have no idea what happened that day, that made me fear going down the steps.

I have since navigated those same steps, both up and down, without problems. I do, however, avoid looking down at my feet.

@NickEast_IndieWriter @galacticwriters @writers @writingbooks @keepwriting @humor@fedigroups.social @humor@lemmy.world @aiop Don't function executively down the stairs while wearing your new varifocal glasses! I have no way of experiencing neurodivergent sensory input, but having to concentrate hard when encountering stairs, curbs and the corners of tables and counters instead of doing it on autopilot is unexpectedly draining.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Autistic_writers

In case you were wondering.

Why do not right here, where I and we cam see what it do it is?

Same way I think of playing guitar or drawing. What I come up with doesn't have to be unique enough or good enough, and I have udon noodles for fingers. "Perfection is the enemy of progress" or smtg.

Just write what feels fun to write about, and write often.

I'm stealing and paraphrasing this from "save the cat writes a novel," but: you can always go back to edit a written page, but not a blank one. Fun book, btw

I've found that the best things to ever happen to my creativity were playing roleplay games (like d&d) with friends and fanfiction, as silly and childish as it sounds. Creating OCs, as well. I focus on my OCs far before I focus on a story I want to write, and the most fun part of writing for me is writing characters.

Writefreely might be worth looking at https://writefreely.org/instances