Francesca

Writer. Dancer. Ancient lit nerd.
I write about craft, getting words onto the page, and creative sanity.

[Francesca @thewriteanyway]

Spent fifteen years studying creative writing. Never finished a novel.

Turns out the problem wasn't discipline or talent, but the plotting itself.

Here's what finally unstuck me. ⬇️ https://t.co/T8OBZrE3PB

[Francesca @thewriteanyway]

@DaelynMorgana You did a great job. Writing again after more than a year is a win in itself, even if you just wrote 10 words. 300 words is an entire book page, or even more, if it’s a lot of dialogue or short paragraphs. Congratulations!

[Francesca @thewriteanyway]

@6ixxtar I never need to lie to my hygienist and she’s always complimenting me about how healthy and clean everything is. This is how being part of the 5% club feels like. The cost of admission is so low, you should try

[Francesca @thewriteanyway]

If you know how to read, they are accessible to you. Some classics have very understandable language, and it’s true that you lose something in translation, but it’s still worth it. You might not grasp the brilliance of some intertextual relationship with another work, or the reference to some philosophical current or particular history fact, but the beauty of the story will still be accessible to you and if you want access to the deeper levels too, you can read the prefaces (they tell you something about the author, their context and their main sources of inspiration) and usually at the end of the book there is a bibliography about the author you can reference if you want to understand the text more. I know it sounds difficult and not intuitive; some of us had teachers showing us this; you will need to have books as your teachers. This work will feel daunting for the first 3-5 classics you read, but you will be proud of yourself when you start grasping relations and stylistic features on your own, and it will all be fruit of your study

[Francesca @thewriteanyway]

@MarjeeShayar @Lovandfear Those are really great reads! He’s one of the deepest authors around

[Francesca @thewriteanyway]

@MarjeeShayar @Lovandfear This is so true. Books are such a good way to get to know yourself, and even what you didn’t want to admit about yourself. What have you been reading from Dostoevsky?

[Francesca @thewriteanyway]

@theramopt It’s so important to pause and savour things and actually listen to ourselves instead of filling the silence

[Francesca @thewriteanyway]

Hello! I also love literature and deep thoughts. I’m currently working on a novel set in an imaginary setting inspired to Northern Europe, where the main characters need to explore a dream world to undo generational trauma and save their lives. What have you been working on lately?

[Francesca @thewriteanyway]

I wouldn’t say there’s a limit, but definitely the beginning should contain more movement than information. Generally, information should come out at a pace the reader can actually remember it and not get confused. Maybe I would base the feedback on this confusion ‘pre than on the idea that the names are too many in themselves

[Francesca @thewriteanyway]

@StevenTBoers63 I find that a little bit of humor, even in the most serious genre, helps me keep going and makes the story more rounded. Real life is infused with absurdities and sometimes tragedies have small moments of humor. I try to weave this into my stories

[Francesca @thewriteanyway]

@itsankitakar This is a hard one, because sometimes it feels like shouting into the void
- keep going
- review my content every week and double down on what worked out
- experiment with new angles
- network with others (I’m weak on this point)

[Francesca @thewriteanyway]

@RUBL3D3V I can read or write to music provided it’s no lyrics/ in a language I can’t understand

[Francesca @thewriteanyway]

@bluewmist This is so deep and true. I sometimes feel like the thing I want to gain is “testing” if I really want it by seeing how good I am at enduring the opposite. The transformation on the other side of some discomfort is so worth it

[Francesca @thewriteanyway]

@AngieMBrady Sometimes it’s surprising how reading a bad book can feel encouraging 🙈🙈
But take this motivation to put extra work on your manuscript, if they managed to finish and publish a book you can too

[Francesca @thewriteanyway]

For me, audiobooks don’t count as reading

With this, I’m not saying that listening to them is not as “legitimate” as reading, or even that readers shouldn’t count audiobooks as books read, if they want to

But I’ve noticed a difference that’s too staggering to deny. With books, I can automate my reading speed. It’s something my brain does immediately, unconsciously. Stuff I understand and I’ve seen before, or easier parts? Skim. A passage I want to savour? Slow down. Something I don’t get 100% at the first pass? Re-read.

Now, you can regulate speed with audiobooks as well. But it’s always the same speed, and you need to adjust manually. You have to come back manually. 3x velocity is not the same as skimming. You substitute a quiet glance with an annoying word warp. This results in a flatness and an attrition that’s so frustrating for me, compared to the spontaneity and fluidity of the reading experience

I still listen to audiobooks a lot because they are the best when you are commuting or need to do stuff around the house, and you need your eyes and hands focused on other tasks. They allow me to draw knowledge from books I would never have the time to read, and I’m grateful for that, but it’s not as pleasant or deep as reading a book for me

What’s your experience?

[Francesca @thewriteanyway]

If you invite, you pay for everyone. If friends arrange it for you, they pay for you. In some other cities, everyone pays for their part and the birthday person offers cake, but friends are not expected to bring gifts, since they are already paying for the dinner. There can be many ways to do this but it should be clear from the beginning or a pleasant night turn into a fight for who's paying

[Francesca @thewriteanyway]

@chanelandcoke @polypocketknife I’m sorry for people trying and feeling self-conscious even in front of themselves

[Francesca @thewriteanyway]

If cheap airlines stopped making you pay for everything, even the choice of a seat that used to be included in the ticket in older times, everyone would be able to choose, the families would seat together and this would never happen. Might I add that if you want to sit in a certain spot you pay for it and don’t assume people would want to trade a window seat they chose and paid for a sardine seat just so that you can do as you wish? I completely understand families, I’ve accepted to switch seats in the past and it’s 100% ok to ask, but expecting it to happen is entitlement

[Francesca @thewriteanyway]

I care because I’ve been in such a situation and I know how awful it feels to be so exposed and to feel objectified when you wouldn’t really want to be. Some women might be wearing that because they want to, ok, nothing against that, but I assure that many aren’t given a real choice, and not all teams are so inclusive and understanding (and even if they were, the fact that shorts that barely qualify as pants are the mainstream option you need to opt out from speaks volumes). Physically speaking I have nothing to envy to this girl — even if I did, it’d be so far from the point. This conversation ends here for me because I don’t see space for constructive exchange

[Francesca @thewriteanyway]

There are athletes fighting for this, and there have been some results, but it’s slower and harder than you think. Most women don’t like it, even though they are aware they have beautiful bodies: being admired by someone you choose and being exposed to the world (or even a smaller audience) aren’t the same thing. If you want to look at a butt I won’t stop you, but don’t pretend that athletes should like it just because they agreed to wear such uniforms (of course they did, the alternative was forsaking their career and the sport they love; I would hardly call that a choice) or that the person cutting that frame wasn’t doing something humane