Young Writers Society

Keith is just a regular guy living a regular life—give or take a few details. On his off days, he spends his time fulfilling his passion: photography of abandoned buildings. One weekend, he gets permission to photograph an abandoned factory. As he’s exploring the place, though, he accidentally finds a huge secret in the basement: test tubes, lab notes, and big chambers full of green goo.

Soon, Keith finds himself in a much bigger predicament that he could have ever imagined. He’s undergoing a horribly adorable mutation; he’s got a shape-shifting sidekick tagging along; and, most of all, he’s created a rift in the space-time continuum. This causes all sorts of weirdos from all kinds of dimensions to make their way to Earth—including a powerful cyborg who conquers worlds and wipes them of all originality.

Keith does not immediately embrace the superhero role that he’s forced into. But once he realizes that the entire multiverse is in jeopardy, he has no choice but to try and save it.



Yeah, this is the mutant clown story. I’m already getting empty nest syndrome for Spooky Squad (the novel I’m finishing up) but then again, it feels nice to finally move on to something else. Also, I thought I was a genius with the title.

I feel as if I must add this: like most of my stories, this one is gonna be a little bit wacky, perhaps even a bit nonsensical. This is because I create characters before creating the world they live in, and I’d rather change the rules of the world than change the characters.

Bulletpoints that describe the story:

—Funny, kind of snarky story
—Semi-episodic—of course there’s gonna be an overall plot + villain but there’s also gonna be one-off villains + plotlines
—hero who doesn’t want to be a hero
—hero that likes decora / kidcore fashion (its not too apparent from the picture, probably should’ve drawn him with more hair clips)
—quirky sidekick with questionable morals
—tragic villain

Goals:

—Write at least once a week
—I hope to publish the chapters as literary works… which means I have to rack up enough points to do so
—i wanna finish the first 10 chapters, at least

he’s created a rift in the space-time continuum.

oops. hate when this happens

Also, I thought I was a genius with the title.

it really is an A+ title!

This sounds super intriguing!! The premise and world seem cool and I love the vibes you're going for

Wait!!! Mutant... Clown?

Umm, not sure if this counts since I did it before july but I’ll document it anyways

I’ve planned out a whole bunch of stuff, as well as making a fake website to make it feel more immersive

This looks super interesting! The "quirky sidekick with questionable morals" especially. And I love that you created a fake website for this!!

July 2nd

I wrote the prologue

Word count: 548

I’m gonna admit, it takes me hours to write 500 words, which is why word count goals just don’t work for me. But maybe its just because I was writing this in a writer feed pad and I got distracted by talking to other people, who knows?

July 3

I worked on the first chapter.

Word count: 309
Total word count: 857

Side note, does anyone have any tips for how to write more? Specifically if I get distracted very easily. Sometimes I’ll stop everything I’m writing to research one sentence, and I’ll get distracted and start searching off-topic things for 5 hours, which makes it very hard to write a lot at a time

Side note, does anyone have any tips for how to write more?

Usually I use a simple word crawl that won't get too distracting, or I set a timer and write for that number of minutes. In the past for NaNo I've also used something called 'The Most Dangerous Writing App' so I don't overthink individual lines, but that may or may not be your cup of tea! Best of luck with Camp NaNo!

Side note, does anyone have any tips for how to write more? Specifically if I get distracted very easily. Sometimes I’ll stop everything I’m writing to research one sentence, and I’ll get distracted and start searching off-topic things for 5 hours, which makes it very hard to write a lot at a time

I'd recommend short sprints. Set a timer for whatever time feels right - 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 7 minutes, 25 minutes. Whatever! You can't do anything but write for that amount of time. If you need to put your phone in another room or turn off your wifi temporarily, do that. As you're writing during that sprint, if you find something you need to research later or you're struggling with a sentence [put it in brackets]. My first drafts are LITTERED with [Name], [something here], [spider fact] (lol that was a specific one for my last ms). But you get the idea! When you finish your sprint, take a break (set a timer for this if you need to), to stretch your legs, get a snack, etc. before you're ready to go again.

If you like accountability while you sprint, I follow a few accounts on youtube that do live write-ins where they do live writing sprints with short breaks between. If you can catch one live, I think they're fun to write with! But I think the replays are also worth going back and writing with. For me, hearing someone else's keyboard clicking away motivates me to write too The two that I use are Abbie Emmons and The Revised Writer

I also love doing word crawls to trick my brain into writing more. Some have little stories to go with them, others don't, but the idea is there are short writing challenges and before you know it you've hit your goal for the day! I also wrote a yws themed word crawl that you could try! But I think regardless, to resist the urge to stop and research, you still might have to put your phone in another room or turn off your wifi while you're writing. Then when you reach a stopping point with words you can go back and research what you need!

Hey, thanks for the advice guys!

I think I might try this word crawl. I’m gonna aim for 630 words today!

July 4th

Word count: 2042
Total word count: 2899

Hey guys, thanks for the advice! I did the 5 card word crawl as well as an Undertale Word Crawl and I finished the first chapter!

I think I’ve found that I word best with timers. Like, before using timers, I assumed that I’d collapse under the pressure of a time limit, but surprisingly it had the opposite effect!

I think I’ve found that I word best with timers. Like, before using timers, I assumed that I’d collapse under the pressure of a time limit, but surprisingly it had the opposite effect!

whoo!!! glad you found a strategy that works for you <3

July 5th

Word count: 985
Total words: 3339

Ok lemme explain those numbers. So today I redid the prologue since I had a new idea of how it would play out, so I subtracted the original prologue wordcount from the total, and then added the new prologue wordcount. Uhh i feel like I’m making this sound unnecessarily complicated when its really not, lol.

Here’s my favorite line from it:

After a lovely Monday afternoon brunch with good friends, he was driving back to his apartment; he was one of those weird people who wasn’t completely drained after hours of social interaction.

July 6th

Okay, there’s no determined word count for today, since I was (finally) wrapping up a different project.
However, I did spruce up the prologue + 1st chapter, and now the total is 3416 words.