WIP check-in! Day 2!

[littlebutfierce]

I'm really loving all the discussion in yesterday's check in post. Yay for us!

dbskyler suggested some periodic polls might be in order to measure progress. Good idea. Here's one--but please also do comment & let us know how things are going as well!

Poll #6474 WIP check-in day #2 poll!

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 10

View Respondents

How are you doing on your chosen fic(s) for the month so far?

View Answers

On track for my goals
4 (44.4%)

Ahead of schedule
1 (11.1%)

Behind schedule
1 (11.1%)

Too early to tell!
3 (33.3%)

And what did you do today, fic-wise?

View Answers

Write
8 (80.0%)

Research
1 (10.0%)

Edit
1 (10.0%)

Procrastinate
2 (20.0%)

Send to beta
1 (10.0%)

Post the finished fic
1 (10.0%)

Something else I will clarify in comments
3 (30.0%)

Ticky box!
5 (50.0%)

If you wrote any words today, how many did you write?

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1-249
1 (14.3%)

250-499
2 (28.6%)

500-749
0 (0.0%)

750-999
2 (28.6%)

1000 or more
2 (28.6%)

In three words or less, how are you feeling about the fic(s) right now?

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(& to the other people who've kindly signed up to do check-ins: no worries if you don't want to do polls, or aren't a paid member & so can't. But if you do want to do a poll once in a while, feel free to give it a whirl.)

Comments

[littlebutfierce]

I got info on the 2nd fic I'm writing for Japan disaster relief--in both cases I have really broad prompts, which is both good & scary at the same time. I did manage to write a really rough snippet for the 2nd fic (which is a Natsume Yuujinchou one, as I expected), & it's basically like an extended brainstorm: by the time I got to the end of it, I'd started to figure out what I wanted to say w/the fic. Much better than where I was when I started writing!

[charamei]

Yes, knowing what you're writing is definitely important :p I hope whatever you've got works out!

[littlebutfierce]

Ahahaha, me too!

[linaewen]

I spent a few hours amusing myself thoroughly by reading old fic I discovered in a folder on my computer. It was a nice reminder that I really can manage a nice tale when I set myself down to it; once upon a time I was very prolific with words, and so I think I can be that way again. I picked out a couple of stories that are worthy of posting after a bit of reworking, so it wasn't a totally wasted day.

I wonder if that all counts as procrastinating, though? ;-) Nothing written, but I'm still optimistic for the month. My brain is in fic mode and that is bound to bring something interesting to the page eventually!

[charamei]

I don't think reminding yourself that you're a good writer is ever a wasted effort. Procrastination maybe, but important procrastination ;)

[littlebutfierce]

Oh, I love rediscovering stuff I've written & liking it. That's lovely that you were able to spend some time doing that yesterday!! I agree w/charamei that it doesn't sound like wasted effort.

[raletha]

This is a good thing to do! I do this sometimes too, when my confidence in my own prose is flagging. It's nice to remember that I've spun some sentences I am proud of. Of course, there's always the danger of stumbling upon some old stuff that makes me cringe, but that's helpful too, because I can see how I've improved since.

I picked out a couple of stories that are worthy of posting after a bit of reworking, so it wasn't a totally wasted day.

And this is the best thing! I love finding old drafts of things I had mostly forgotten and finding they can be finished up or reworked. Sometimes its even easier to finish or edit them after they've sat half forgotten for a while. In fact, the story I'm working on for this month sprang from an abandoned draft.

I think you were doing more than procrastinating. You were regrouping and charging the batteries. :) Best of luck!

[charamei]

I spliced in the second half of the chapter! I'm two joining sections and some careful spliced-section editing away from being able to print this chapter out and redline it.

I was expecting finishing this chapter to take at least a week more, but it turns out it all makes sense after all!

*bounces*

[littlebutfierce]

Yay!! Look at you forging ahead!

Editing is the part that drives me up the wall the most--I like the first edits, where I have so much excess verbiage that trimming it is a breeze. But splicing in scenes (& getting rid of the inevitable duplication if I write two adjoining scenes, or two drafts of the same scene, at different times) & making the harder, smaller edits can be a real challenge for me.

Good luck getting to the end point w/the chapter!! \o/

[charamei]

Splicing is horrible. It's so bitty, and it means that you basically end up writing endless tiny transition scenes rather than anything solid or interesting.

Though, I tried the splice this morning and it's become clear that the scene needs a rewrite from the top. So guess what I'll be doing next!

[littlebutfierce]

Aw, drat!! That has to be frustrating about needing to rewrite the scene... though yeah, again: you probably wouldn't know if you hadn't already written most of it in separate bits. So it still counts as progress!

[mystiri_1]

I have two auction fics to get done and an assignment for ff_exchange just landed in my inbox this morning. Which is why I got sidetracked by no_true_pair, instead.

[littlebutfierce]

*snicker* I point you to the fanfic flamingo pic you posted downthread. Ahahaha.

... at least you're still writing, though! Even if you're not working on what you set out to work on, your creative brain is still churning away! That can only be good... right?

[mystiri_1]

I know. And in my defence, I did *start* the first auction fic. But I am also seriously considering signing up for hardmode, providing I can settle on just ONE of the AUs floating around in my head to write. At least with that one signups are open until the first draft is due, so I won't embarrass myself.

[terajk]

Yesterday I read some more of the art book for one of the fandoms I'm writing in. It...tends to leave me with more questions than answers (understatement), but I read some!

Remix fic is going slowly. (How will I make it to 1000 words?!) Perhaps I should read more remixes to have a clearer idea of what they're like.

I also...signed up for two more challenges, one of which is another remix. (Gulp). But that one goes till the end of the year.

[mystiri_1]

http://fuckyeahfanficflamingo.tumblr.com/post/3943666289

Fanfic flamingo approves, so don't worry ;D

Remixes can vary. I got two for a challenge I signed up for, and one is very much a retelling from the other characters point of view. The other picked an OC who was only talked about by the MC and wrote her view of the events mentioned in the fic - it was pretty damned awesome. I think there is a lot more flexibility than you think; the original story is only a starting point. One of the things the mod pointed out to me in my remix challenge was that you can take it in an entirely different direction if you want to - say, if one character does something different, how does it change things? I think it helps to think of the original story as a prompt rather than a blueprint.

[terajk]

Ahahaha, fanfic flamingo! :D

I think it helps to think of the original story as a prompt rather than a blueprint.

Thank you! That IS helpful! The original fic (which is pretty short) spends maybe a sentence referring to something, and I was like: "What if most of the story was about THAT? I know one of the rules is that we can't change the basic plotline, but maybe we can make it less important to the story? I do have quite a while yet, and I'm almost halfway to the minimum word count. (1000 words is still EPIC for me, so, win!)

[littlebutfierce]

I think it helps to think of the original story as a prompt rather than a blueprint.

This is a useful way to think of it, indeed! I'm not remixing anything right now, in part b/c I don't understand the concept v. well, but that helps!

[littlebutfierce]

Sometimes I like the more-questions-than-answers thing, esp. if it opens up ideas for fic, but yeah, if you're reading it for research, I can see why that might be frustrating. :/

If you want to post something generally to discuss remixes (& get commiseration from other remixers), please feel free! I know almost nothing about them but I am sure it would be a really useful discussion to read (maybe someday I will remix something!).

& oh, challenges are so shiny!! I had to stop myself from grabbing a queer_fest prompt yesterday, b/c I really need to focus on the two auction fics I'm writing. Buuuuuut shiny prompts are shiny!

[lola_mento]

Story #1 is taking shape. I don't know how many of the 600~ words I have right now will survive revisions, but I'm having more fun than frustration right now.

[littlebutfierce]

I'm having more fun than frustration right now

Yay! Long may that state continue!!

(& ZOMG Dennou Coil icon!)

[snowynight]

Another 1K to the bang story. My remix is finished and betaed. Now I only need to wait for my auction fic prompt.

[littlebutfierce]

You're in good shape! I hope your auction fic prompt comes in soon, so you can start working on that!!

[raletha]

(I am late because my internets were not working well yesterday!)

I am optimistic because I spent some time brainstorming (while trying to have a nap), which resulted in a new scene for a chunk of my story. In my beat list, I had a goal but few specific ideas of what I wanted to happen between my two characters at that point in the story. So I ended up writing few hundred lines of decent dialogue that chucks a little extra conflict into the plot at a point where it needed it. Yay!

I am slightly intimidated by my story because it is the first time I am consciously planning the structure and plot: neither thing comes easily to me. To date I've been more a seat of my pants writer, but have come to realise that is why I always stall on longer stories. I am trying to fix it, and recently read a book* that helped me see the problem points in my pantsing method and how to fix them without smothering my inspiration. If I can get this story done, I will really feel I've conquered my major writing demon.

---
*The book is Story Engineering by Larry Brooks. It's very repetitive in sections, and he spends an excessive amount of time trying to convince the reader to keep reading, but if you can put up with those flaws, there's some awfully good advice on putting together a story without missing anything essential. His way of developing plot is very helpful to me: it feels more organic and less like cranking the plot device. Best of all, it doesn't require exhaustive outlining (which I don't like doing).