March WIP challenge: day 1 check-in!

[littlebutfierce]

Yay, it's time for another WIP challenge! New month, new possibilities, new fic! How's it started off for you so far?

Poll #9721

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 19

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How are you feeling about your fic as we roll into a new month?

View Answers

Full of optimism!
6 (33.3%)

Cautiously hopeful
7 (38.9%)

Somewhere in the middle
4 (22.2%)

Nervous
1 (5.6%)

Full of dread
0 (0.0%)

& what have you done today?

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Wrote
10 (58.8%)

Edited
4 (23.5%)

Sent to beta
0 (0.0%)

Researched
4 (23.5%)

Posted
2 (11.8%)

Took a break
2 (11.8%)

Five words or less about your goal fic(s)?

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Tell us about the fic(s) you'll be working on this month. What excites you about them? What's going to be tough? What made you pick the fic(s) that you did?

Comments

[insignia]

This month, my goal is to draft a total of 10,000 words for my three favourite WIPs. The titles are subject to change, but here's a run-through:

1. The Lohengrin Revolver (Princess Tutu, Western AU) - My pet project. I love the idea to itty-bitty pieces, and hope I can do it justice. Besides changing the setting from a German ballet class to the Old West, I've done some mix-n-match with characters' roles and relationships, while still trying to keep the basic personalities intact. I'm also packing it full of references to canon events and dialogue, even though things happen in a different way. It's challenging, but exciting!
Today's progress: Looked over the character profiles, and made a minor breakthrough regarding an OC's feelings.

2. Pieces (Yu-Gi-Oh!, AU) - An AU that's hard to define, since it's basically the same setting as in canon... except things are different. Yeah. Hopefully I can think of a good summary when I've sorted out the plot a bit more :D It looks like it'll be kind of huge, but I'm not sure yet whether it's one long story or a series.
Today's progress: Brainstorming about history, anti-villain motives and the functions of a magical item.

3. One of a Hundred (Yu-Gi-Oh!, pre-manga) - The life and times of the Thief King and a lot of dead people. Set before the Memory World arc in the manga. Originally meant as just a character profile, but it became a story in my head the moment I wrote down the first sentence. I have high hopes for this, but it's emotionally complicated.
Today's progress: Plotting.

[sylvaine]

Woo! Good luck with your writing goals! I for one am definitely looking forward to your Yu-Gi-Oh fic. :D

[insignia]

Thanks! :D

[enemytosleep]

For "Pieces," would Alternate Reality (AR) be a more accurate description? I tend to treat AU's as stories where the characters are depicted in a completely different universe (crossover, original setting, etc.) and AR's as canon setting stories in which one or more events in canon have changed (and all chain reaction following those altered events).

Hope you can find the motivation to keep working. :D

[insignia]

No, it would not be more accurate. I'll refrain from ranting about the AU/AR distinction, because it's not your fault that you stepped on a pet peeve in the middle of the night ._.

Thanks for the encouragement, though! ^_^

[enemytosleep]

For my benefit, feel free to come back and give your thoughts on the subject. :D I promise I'm not looking to debate or anything. If I'm misusing the terms I would like to know.

[insignia]

No, I think your definition is the most common one (although in my experience nobody can agree on where to draw the line). Even after sleeping on it, I can't describe my feelings on the subject without sounding like a pretentious windbag :D Let's just say I prefer AU as a blanket term, but can accept AR as a subtype. So it can be more specific when it applies, but never more accurate.

In the case of "Pieces", I don't think it applies anyway. If it were as simple as "like the anime, except X happened instead of Y", I wouldn't have a problem summing it up :D I'd say it's a new universe built ouf of pieces (haha) of the original one. So it's superficially similar, but doesn't quite work in the same way.

[enemytosleep]

Fair enough, and I definitely agree that there are no concrete definitions for a lot of these labels. :)

I'd say it's a new universe built ouf of pieces (haha) of the original one. So it's superficially similar, but doesn't quite work in the same way.

That sounds like a fairly decent summary to me!

[littlebutfierce]

Good luck! Sounds like a good goal, & you've got some exciting-sounding stuff to work on. "Emotionally complicated" = hard, but potentially awesome, so yay, go for it! :D

[insignia]

Thank you! :)