We help the helpless (fanfic writer)

\o/ Words in the midst of comic-painting scramble!

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Yuujinchou Exchange (due Mar 17): First draft complete. I got the first batch of notes back, the other will hopefully come soon. For the moment I'm letting it sit as I'd like to edit it only once with both sets of notes side-by-side. Current word count: 9,306

Yuujinchou Exchange Bonus Treat #2 (due Mar 24): 117 new words. This is already becoming more complicated and long. T_T It's the nature of these specific prompts, I suppose. I'll just go with it (3 separate ideas already for this one). If it's late, it's late. Current word count: 117

Help_Japan (due 18 years ago - 750 word min): No new words. I promise to give this love after the Yuujinchou exchange stops eating my brain. O.o Current word count: 3,666

As for shipping or not, it very much depends on the story I'm looking to write. I do a lot of exchanges and prompt fests, so for those the (non)ship is typically important as it's meant to satisfy a prompt. On the rare occasion I'm simply writing something on my own, whether or not I include a romantic pairing again depends on what I'm looking to write about.

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insignia

New words! \o/ I hope you can get it done in time :D

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Me too, man. ;_;

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roane

"Displacement": Draft complete! 8,000 words. I'm just waiting for some feedback. I am TERRIBLE about getting my stuff betaed, because I don't really have a regular beta (*sadface*) and because when I finish something I am usually SO GEEKED about it that the instant gratification of tossing it out online is sometimes too much to resist. I'm trying to resist more, because I know my stuff probably doesn't wind up as good as it could be without another pair or two of eyes.

Before Sherlock, I would have said haughtily, "I do not ship." Yeah well. That's over. :) Shipping isn't essential to me to enjoy reading or writing something. My big Wholock stuff is decidedly gen, even though I've got Donna Noble and John Watson flirting at each other. That's not shipping so much as "Yup, that's what both of these characters would do." Since my Sherlock stuff is my first exercise in slash, it's shippy by definition. I have a hard time with rare pairs and characters that spend almost no time together in canon. In those cases, the writer would have to work pretty hard to make me see the relationship. With John and Sherlock though, pfft. May as well be canon. :)

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samecgh

About the same as me, on the beta front. That and I've had little problems with misspellings that should have been a sign to get someone else to read it over.

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Wait... John and Sherlock *are* canon - aren't they? ;-)

I know what you mean about not betaing. I just don't have the patience to wait. I want to hear people adore it right now! XD

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Wrote ~1100 words on what might be yet another treat for the Book of Friends exchange. What I've been doing is noodling out these little snippets, & then I sit on them for a week or two to get some distance, & then I try to edit. I'm getting there with at least one tiny little ficlet of a treat, & am hopeful about the others! Also, I think I have a title for my main assignment at last. :D

I write both ship fic (*cough* sometimes pairings, but also OT3s!) & gen fic. Also, there's that gray area in fic where the plot is totally gen but maybe there's a relationship there in the background, as part of the universe of the fic, even if it doesn't really get much screen time.

I think whether I write ship fic or not depends in part on what I feel like is missing from canon; I like writing both ship & gen, really!

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Sounds like you've got a fair amount of treats in the works!

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Well, we'll see how many of them come to fruition!

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I know what you mean. This second treat, as much as I love the prompt, is not coming easily. I wrote some more today, but then had to delete nearly all of it because it was beyond salvable. @_@

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Oh no! ;_; But at least you know what doesn't work now... ?

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It wants to be a chapter fic. I've only ever written one chapter fic. T_T I'm trying to instead write the meaty part of it that best fits the prompt, but I can't seem to get there without a lot of set up. My next idea is to make a beefy outline for the set up, write the beefy part, and then see how much I can cut from the outline/throw a reference to without actually writing the entire thing. So that'll be me tomorrow, I guess. Usually I'm all about tiny drabbles and snippets, but this exchange is making me want to write way more than I can handle. Weird!

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Oh dear, good luck! Finding the frame for the story & figuring out what you can get away w/not writing can be tricky, but you'll know it when you've found it, I think! I feel pretty lucky that most of my ideas for treats are pretty short... so far. ^^;;

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lilly_c

Got another 488 words on my casestory fic yesterday so that's something and brings me to 788 for the week so I'm a bit short of my 1500-2000 words a week target but this week has been hectic especially with house hunting (my current lease ends in June).

With ships it ultimately depends on the fandom for me because there are some pairings where shipping is the only option. Of course there are times when I want to write something as ship but end up keeping it gen. Depends on the fandom and characters I'm working with.

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insignia

It's progress, even if it's less than you hoped :) Good luck with the house! (Moving is such a hassle ._.)

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samecgh

Unintentionally taking a break. For some reason, I can't find a plausible way for a download to happen.

I only write couples if it's part of the prompt. Most of the time, I'm gen with canon mentions (like Peter and El, Devon and Ellie). The last time I wrote romance that was part of the plot and not prompted was during my CSI:NY days (Mac/Stella).

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samecgh

ETA: I usually only write couples if it's part of a prompt. I have broken that before.

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Anything you need an extra pair of eyes on? I'm really good at finding weird explanations... ;-)

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samecgh

Character N is supposed to download something, I, but S is the one in front of the computer. And she would also know about I and prevent the download.

Ooo.. I wonder if that would work. May come back, not sure.

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Started yet *another* story tonight. Rewatched 100, and just had a picture of Reid showing Hotch some sympathy in that office, and then a line popped into my head about the two of them once having been lovers, and then I thought; but not while Hotch was married, and then, for some reason, my brain skipped to a teenaged Reid, working as a hooker, and I thought, 'but how does he do that and not get recognized?' and now Reid is really, really good at controlling his image and how people perceive him. And Hotch is in Vegas on a case. And Reid's going to seduce him with his sleight of hand and pretty. And then... I have only a vaguely sketchy idea about what will happen.

Seriously. That's how 90% of my fic starts, right there. A totally random string of thoughts and connections and weird justifications to glue it all together.

I'd say that everything I write, I write on the basis of ship. It's not always it advances beyond pre-slash, or even that far, though, but I always write for the ship. :-)

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insignia

You're certainly full of ideas X-D Good luck with the new fic!

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linaewen

I'm writing!!

I finally broke through the block that was preventing me from beginning. I've only got 500 words so far, but it's going well. For some reason the first sentences are difficult for me, but once I get those down, I can usually go with the flow.

I don't usually write pairings, mostly because the stories I'm working on don't include it. However, I can think of two stories (currently stalled) that have the beginnings of romance in them, so it will be interesting to see where they go.

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