Write-On Weekly Fiction Works in Progress diary: Prisons of the Imagination

Title image of "Prisons of the Imagination," Piranisi's famous series of etchings (second edition, 1761). "While the Vedutisti (or "view makers"), such as Canaletto and Bellotto, more often revelled in the beauty of the sunlit place, in Piranesi this vision takes on what from a modern perspective could be called a Kafkaesque distortion, seemingly erecting fantastic labyrinthine structures, epic in volume." (Wikipedia)

Welcome to the Weekly Fiction WIP Thread!  

This is a weekly community diary for writers here on Daily Kos to showcase microfiction, ongoing serialized stories, and pieces of larger works in progress.  All DK fiction writers are welcome to post chapters and excerpts as comments in the Fiction Works-in-Progress diaries.

The above is the header button

At the top of those comments, use the header format button to accentuate the title of the work in progress from which your material comes, so readers can find it from week to week.

If you would like feedback,  be sure to say so in bold (the format button next to H).  Readers, please ensure your feedback is constructive (this does not mean it has to be only positive, but it should always be actionable and sincere advice; e.g. compare “this protagonist is terrible” vs “I didn’t feel a connection to your protagonist”) and limit it to writers who request it.  Writers, please ensure you are comfortable receiving feedback and commentary before requesting it in your post. Together we can keep this a positive place to share our work, our progress, and indulge in our hobby.

This series is a co-op: writers take turns as diarists

[1] Ahead of your date and time, copy from the previous week all the paragraphs you see in the boilerplate blockquote like the one you’re reading right now, and paste them into a blockquote in your draft.

[2] Put tags on your draft, following the list below here.

[3] When your date and time comes, go into your drafts folder, find your FWIP draft, and hit publish.

[4] Now it’s no longer a draft but a full-fledged diary, with a Daily Kos URL in your browser’s address bar! Copy that URL in full — it will start with https://www.dailykos.com/stories... — and come on over to tonight’s WriteOn to paste that URL into a comment where you ask us to reblog your FWIP diary to the R&BL and FreeWriters groups.

[5] Finally, go back to the diary, and put your own WIP excerpt or chapter into a comment there,

If you can, add a schedule comment copied from the previous week, and say in that comment, “Please sign up!”

A WORD OF WARNING

Many publishers and agents won’t accept a manuscript that’s been publicly available online in part or in whole, because of risk of getting sued for copyright infringement by someone ripping off your work there and claiming it as his own. So, if you hope to sell it professionally, you probably don’t want to post it in DK. If you plan on self-publishing, that risk is only to you. If you don’t plan to publish it anywhere else, then it’s probably no concern at all.

Click on any of the Readers & Book Lovers tags at the foot of each published diary in this series to reach our shared host-group and find today’s WriteOn series post.

Writers participating regularly are encouraged to share in posting these diaries.

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