WIP challenge: March 4 check-in

[insignia]

Time for my first-ever week of making the check-in posts! I hope I don't screw up (I nearly got the date wrong today) :D

So, how are you doing? Did you...

• write
• edit
• plan
• research
• post
• take a break
• or something else?

Discussion: The importance of shipping (or lack thereof). Do you spin your tales around specific couples, or does the plot decide who gets together or not? If you don't write pairings at all, do you deliberately avoid them or just tend to come up with stories where romance wouldn't fit?

Comments

[crowdog66]

A batch of text came to me last night in bed and wouldn't leave me alone today until I wrote it out. So here it is, ~600 words from the Garak/Bashir 1920's AU.

I write shipping stories pretty much exclusively, at least when it comes to fanfic. In my original work, romance tends to play a secondary role to the main drive of the plot.

[enemytosleep]

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.

[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. :)

[littlebutfierce]

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!

[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.

[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).

[dhae_knight_1]

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. :-)

[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.

[insignia]

The Lohengrin Revolver - Some character notes, and brainstorming about a potential plot point.

Pieces - It struck me that a plot arc I've had trouble resolving may work better if interrupted by murder. It was already going to happen eventually; this idea would just place the kill earlier. It'd cause other problems, but more exciting ones than what I had before. :D

One of a Hundred - Tried to solve a characterisation issue. Didn't quite work it out, but I have a decent overview of the problem now.

I'm not a very shippy person in general, and tend to be more inspired by friendship and family relations (I like some couples, though). When I do write romance, it's usually as a subplot to something else. There are pairings in both "The Lohengrin Revolver" and "Pieces", but they're not the focus. :)

[bay_alexison]

While I wait for my betas to look over my Big Bang, had been preparing how I'll post the fic (mostly getting the links and tags ready). Also had been writing my help_mindanao, which is close to 400 words so far. That is going slowly but I have some ideas over some scenes so hopefully those will work out fine.

I had only done shipping fic for a few pairings, so sometimes I do thought up plots over how they get together/their relationship is developing. Most of the time though my stories tend to be not on the romantic side.

[terabient]

It took longer than I expected, but I managed to finish the first draft of my bingo fic today. Tomorrow I hope to get in some serious editing time.

I also wrote more today than I have in a long time - six pages - although since it's on paper, I don't have an actual word count. Actually, the whole fic is turning out to be a lot longer than I anticipated. :o

As for shipping, hmm. I like to write about the relationships between people, though it's not always shippy, and uh also creepy things. Sometimes, the two intersect. A lot the fics I write for pairings end up being rather dark and not particularly romantic.

[riceishere]

I... ended up ignoring my WIPs and starting a new one (I blame it on overdosing on Marvel fanfic. I needed to get out a short porny one just to get it out of my system).

For fanfic, I always end up writing it for the shippiness -- maybe because when I do consume fanfic I rarely get to read good Gen. In my originals though I have trouble with the romance, so no pairings there (unless I get to tack one on at the end :P)

[snowynight]

I write 1k on my reverse bang. The plot's thickening.

Shipping or not? It really depends on my plot idea. Sometimes I write porn because it's necessary for the plot. Sometimes my characters just becomes better friends.