WIP check in - Monday 23rd January

[lullabymoon]

How goes things today?

Poll #9212 Monday check in

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 8

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Today I...

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wrote
5 (62.5%)

edited
3 (37.5%)

posted
1 (12.5%)

researched
1 (12.5%)

did something else
3 (37.5%)

Today's discussion topic:

How easy is it for you to get bogged down in researching the little details that aren't really important enough to justify the time spent? Can you avoid that trap or do you view it as a sign it's time to shake things up a little?

Comments

[linaewen]

I'll come back at the end of the day and do the poll -- it's still early here, and though I haven't used my morning to good effect as yet (for writing), there's still lots of time to actually accomplish something!

I get off on research tangents very easily, partly because I really enjoy research and partly because one thing leads to another and I end up researching lots of ideas at once. Even if it takes me away from writing, I don't consider it a loss or a trap; even the little details, if properly researched, lend themselves to the whole story in a way that makes it that much more believable. Even when I don't actually use a detail I've researched in a specific way in the story, I still know more about that detail than when I started, and I believe that knowledge helps me write a more believable story in the long run. So, yay for research! \o/

[juliet316]

I wrote a brief, cracky comment fic. Not much, but a huge step in trying to get unblocked and back to regular fic - writing.

Your asking this question to a girl who once spent several hours pouring over google images to see what color Matt Smith's eyes were for a fic (I still maintain their blue). It's very easy for me to get caught up in researching tiny details. *g*

[littlebutfierce]

I wrote 800 words for a potential comment fic fill (except I think the prompt was mine, sigh) this morning. I'd been hoping to get some editing done this evening, but various issues have conspired to make this not likely at all. I think I'm going to have to write off this evening.

I can definitely get distracted by research, though I think I mostly strike a decent balance between doing enough & getting stuck in & never coming back out again!

[jagnikjen]

Haven't had a chance to write yet. I may not get to today.

Discussion topic...actually, I'm pretty good about only looking up what I need to know at the time and then getting back to the writing. But that also depends on how well the story's going. If it's going well, then I'm all about the writing. If writing is like pulling teeth, then of course the research is going to be much more fun/attractive.

[crowdog66]

Today I wrote ~1300 new words and interwove them with ~1200 words of material I wrote over the past few months. (I knew that the story of Tervek was going to get told, I just wasn't sure how to fit it into the narrative. And then along comes a spot in the narrative where I'm not sure what to put in... and bam! the seemingly useless side story becomes essential! *is pleased with how things work out*)

I'm actually pretty disciplined when it comes to research; four years of undergrad work will do that to you, I think. I was taught how to set parameters for an information search and home in on the necessary data without getting overly distracted. For the most part that training holds good (although TV Tropes... well, NOBODY can resist TV Tropes!). :)