WIP challenge: March 7 check-in

[insignia]

So, what kind of progress have we made today?

• Writing
• Editing
• Planning
• Research
• Posting
• Taking a break
• Something else

Discussion: Do you ever come up with a minor scene or line of dialogue, and construct a plot where it'll fit? Or do you prefer to start with the big picture and derive all the details from there?

Comments

[graychalk]

I did a lot of mulling over my fics today but very little writing. I wrote a few lines for a fanart but didn't get far enough to call the snippet finished yet. I just opened my Scrivener to continue with a bit of editing though, so hopefully that means I'll get a bit more done before I call it a night. :)

As for today's discussion - a very big yes. :P I do it all the time. I think I must be the queen of one lines and flashes of scenes that has no beginning or end. Sometimes I manage to construct a plot where it might fit, but more often than not, it remains as that one "OH SO BEAUTIFUL SCENE" that goes nowhere. *grumbles* It's probably why my drafts folder is stuffed with them. One day! One day, they'll make their grand appearance!

Um. I wonder why this has never occurred to me. I actually don't start with the big picture much at all. I thought I did, but now that I'm thinking about it, yeah... it's usually the little scenes, lines, or one tiny idea that hits me as opposed to a big overall plot. @_@ Quite an insightful discussion topic for me today, it seems.

[enemytosleep]

Good luck working tonight! I'm always so satisfied when I can check something off the list and call it done.

[enemytosleep]

Yuujinchou Exchange (due Mar 17): First draft complete. Still waiting for the second batch of notes. I am so patient. @_@ Current word count: 9,306

Yuujinchou Exchange Bonus Treat #2 (due Mar 24): 277 new words. At least I wrote something? I need to write before trying to make something of it. I keep getting too hung up on finding the right structure for this. T_T Current word count: 394

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

I finished the edits on my buddy's fic and got a small bit written on mine. Hopefully I can get more written tonight.

I'f I'm planning I usually come up with a big picture first, but sometimes I'll get struck by a bit of dialogue or a small scene that i will then develop into something else.

[musyc]

I've done a couple hundred words on six different fics today, so while not much progress on any in particular, I'm feeling good about my total progress.

It feels like I always start with the small scenes and then work them out into a big picture. If I don't have a vivid image for something, I can't go anywhere with it.

[enemytosleep]

Words are words, adding a few every day will get you there in time!

[littlebutfierce]

Close to maybe completing another drabble-y/snippet-y treat for the Book of Friends exchange? IDK. I did some work on one, anyway, & feel okay about it, so we'll see how it goes.

I do sometimes get inspired by one-word/one-phrase prompts, & that can work really well for me. I think probably more I do the "character X meets character Y & they do Z & it will be AWESOME" sort of thing though.

[enemytosleep]

\o/ Yay more treats. I am getting stupidly excited as the day draws nearer. BTW, is everyone set on stories? I can pm you the name of the person for treat #2 if there are people needing pinch hits. I'm sure I'll hit 1K or more on it, so if I happen to be filling a void and pinch hitters can be assigned elsewhere, well, you know. Obviously if things are square, no worries. I was just thinking today about pinch hits (I don't think I can get a fourth fic done, though).

Also, this is my first exchange where I'm not buddies with anyone on the list (I have always ended up getting paired with an flister, which is fine! but this is a new kind of excitement). Wheee, can't wait for reveals!

[littlebutfierce]

Thanks for thinking about this! I don't know about pinch hits -- the thing is one never knows until the deadline for assignments has passed. All I know is that nobody's defaulted so far. I'll be sending any pinch hits out on the pinch hit list, but aside from that I am just crossing my fingers, heh!

[enemytosleep]

*knows far too much about seeing how many defaults there are at the deadline*

Hopefully everyone can get something. If my gifter defaults, don't worry about it. I'm so excited to see all the fills, I don't want to hold up the group waiting for a pinch hit. ^^; So I guess just keep that in mind once the deadline comes?

[littlebutfierce]

OMG WHAT. No, the collection isn't going live until everyone has a gift!!!!!!1 No way!!

[enemytosleep]

Wah, I don't want to wait if it's just me, though! XD The exchange is my gift! <-- bday the 25th, must have lots of new Natsume stories and art to roll in. ^^;

[dhae_knight_1]

Well. A little writing, back in the Jack doesn't like Beth-universe. I'm so fickle with my WIP's at the moment.

I think... mostly I start out with a single idea; an outcome, or a scene or a picture, and then I go back to plot how to get there. Or where to go from there.

Interestingly enough, I mostly start original stories out with a world - then again I'm a world-builder, so I suppose that makes sense. :-D

[enemytosleep]

Ah, I hope you can find the mojo and get some words down soon!

[roane]

Oh god. You're my hero. I HATE world-building. I suck at it. How do you go about it?

[dhae_knight_1]

I don't actually know if I can explain it, it just... All seems logically interconnected. I start with my story idea and go; uhuh, so how would the world have to look for this to happen? And if the world looks like this, then this had to have happened in the past. And that happening in the past would influence this in the present. And so on and so forth. It sort of spins itself, I think.

Then again, I like alterntive history, and pondering; so, if the Vikings had established successful colonies in North America, how would the world look today? By playing around with historic events, I believe you become more aware of the lines connecting them, and once you begin realizing that everything is causally dependent on something else, building histories for your fake worlds becomes ever more fun. :-)

[insignia]

I decided to casually try to pick some tropes to claim for 10tropes, and while pondering what I might come up with for some of them, I found myself plotting an entirely new multi-chapter Yu-Gi-Oh AU full of more tropes than you can shake a scalpel stick at. So... my WIP challenge got a bit derailed. I'll try to get back on track soon.

[enemytosleep]

We need to lock you in a bubble!

[insignia]

I knooow ;_; But I'll get back to the challenge fics tomorrow, and let this one stew for a while! And I'm not allowed to look at any more prompt communities this month, because I think every time that I'll toss something together without pressure, and then it explodes into a giant project that I can't finish. I do not need any more giant projects.

[dhae_knight_1]

Urgh. I shouldn't have followed that link. Two hours later... XD

[crowdog66]

Today I wrote and posted a ~1200 word short story, "Strange Bedfellows" (O'Brien/Bashir/Garak, R) -- it's a relationship triad that I find fascinating but so seldom take the time to explore.

Re: the discussion question, this is actually a prime example of a fic that came from a single minor scene, or rather a single image -- O'Brien standing in his bedroom, watching Bashir and Garak curled up together asleep in his bed. A lot of my stories start that way, with a line or a visual flash that grows upward and outward like a seed. I personally believe that a really effective story is largely composed of memorable or striking details. :)

[sperrywink]

We have made writing progress today!! Very exciting because my extended deadline is today, so I have to write more and finish in the next couple of hours. But I am feeling better about finishing, sooo.. all is good!

[terabient]

Mostly worked on my second bingo fic. Still need to finish editing the first, but I was just...all edited out from the last two days, I guess. I hope to have it finished by the end of the week.

Also did some research on bathing during the Middle Ages to satisfy a little plot bunny I may or may not run with.

[bay_alexison]

Yesterday and today been slowly working on my help_mindanao. For today I did around 400 words, but I still got time so I might wrap up a scene later tonight.

Kinda worried if Beta A will be able to get more edits done on my FMA Big Bang fic as I tried contacting her and she hasn't responded yet. There's still some time until my assigned posting date, so hopefully everything will be fine in the end. LOL speaking of Big Bang out of impulse I signed up for god_tier, which is a Big Bang community for Homestuck. At the moment they're doing Reverse Big Bang, which first the artists do a fanwork and then the writers will do a story base on that art. I should be able to get to doing that after I post my FMA Big Bang story.

I usually tend to think up a few ideas that later on relate to one another, so I roll with that. My short stories I tend to write quickly if I thought of a line of dialogue or a minor scene I can't wait to write.

[snowynight]

I 'm still slowly working on the reverse bigbang. But I find that what I'm currently working on doesn't quite fit the artist's explicit intention. It makes me worry. I'll still finish what I'm writing and think of the solution later. At worst I'll start another fic that fits more. It'll put me behind schedule though.

[riceishere]

I've decided to let the Wrinkle In Time fanfic stew for awhile -- tried adding a couple of a hundred words there that I always end up setting aside or deleting. Maybe I just need to leave it to percolate for a bit.

But I made great progress in my WIP of Doom, and by WIP of Doom I meant the original fic I've been rewriting for the last two years, with new scenes and such that I could finish later on so the day's not completely lost in the writing front.

ALL of my writing are borne from a single line or a small scene. It's the excitement of putting that one line on paper that pushes me to create even the most ludicrous of plots just to make it happen.

[roane]

Well, I wound up poking a bit at the next story in the Defence Mechanisms series, but since I'd been up since 4:30 am, I went to bed at 9. So, not much done. I did get a playlist together for the story though. Apparently the sexually frustrated/confused Sherlock in my head listens to a lot of 90s grunge/angst. IDEK.

I usually come up with a scenario first (what if Donna Noble decided to consult Sherlock about her strange memory issues?) and scenes and lines will come from that. If an image or scene comes to my head alone, it usually brings at least something of a plot with it. Usually. :)