WIP challenge check-in: day 2!

[littlebutfierce]

It's day 2! I hope you're all gaining some momentum for the month!

Poll #6847 May WIP challenge check-in: day 2!

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 18

View Respondents

What did you do today, fic-wise?

View Answers

Write
11 (61.1%)

Edit
4 (22.2%)

Send fic to beta
0 (0.0%)

Research
3 (16.7%)

Procrastinate
4 (22.2%)

Something else I will describe in comments
6 (33.3%)

How are you feeling about your fic compared to yesterday?

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Better!
6 (33.3%)

Worse
1 (5.6%)

About the same
11 (61.1%)

3 words or less about how your fic is going today, please!

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And a discussion topic brought to you by the fanfic flamingo:



[Background — a six piece pie style colour split in three shades of pink. Foreground — the long neck and face of a pink flamingo.

Top text: WHY FINISH A WIP

Bottom text: WHEN YOU CAN START FIVE NEW ONES]

How do you keep yourself focused on the fic you've committed to work on for the month? Is it easy for you to set a goal & work on one fic until you're done? Or does every other WIP & plot bunny look more appealing the instant you promise yourself you're going to work on something else?

Comments

[littlebutfierce]

Too much other stuff going on in my life to spend much time on fic today, unfortunately. I'm hoping I've managed to get organized enough for the week to buy myself a little time after work for the rest of the week. We'll see!

I did a tiny bit of rereading & tweaking of this fic that came out of nowhere a while ago--I'm still in the ZOMG THIS IS BRILLIANT phase, which is a sure sign that I need to sit on it & get some perspective. ;)

I have trouble staying on track if I choose a particular WIP to finish. I managed last month because one of them was a fic for charity & it's for my primary fandom right now. But otherwise I get easily distracted. I tend to set goals like "finish 2 fics, hopefully fic x & fic y" but really it's better if I just focus on finishing something. Because yeah, every WIP seems shiny but the one I promised faithfully to myself that I would finish.

[glitteryv]

Sort of a late reply to your comment. Sorry, the day just got away from me. /o\

It sucked that you didn't get to work on your goal fic yesterday. Sometimes there simply is not enough time. I hope that you get some more writing time after getting organized. *crosses fingers*

I wonder if that OH, SHINY! vibe we get from all those WIPs in our computers/notebooks/minds is kinda the downside of writing fic? If only we could got to sleep thinking about WIPs and find them finished the next morning. Hee!

*cheers you on*

[raletha]

I have trouble staying on track if I choose a particular WIP to finish.

Belatedly, THIS. Last month, I started out on the one I wanted to finish, but ended up working on almost every other fic in my WIP folder (plus rewrites of older stuff) by the end of the month. I think for May I am adopting your strategy of 'finish something, hopefully one of x or y'.

[schneefink]

My first check-in here, yay!

So much to do, no time to write fic. But at least I made some plotting progress for the next few scenes which are annoyingly difficult to write and also figured out an important relationship in my head. I'm confident that I can continue writing as soon as I have the time. (I should get back to studying instead of procrastinating here, actually...) I'll miss the first deadline :(

I like ideas and have lots of them, but my plotting and planning process is very long. Once I actually start writing I feel committed to getting it done, and I'm very disappointed in myself if I don't.

[littlebutfierce]

Yay for checking in! Boo for not enough time for fic. :( Plotting progress is good though! I'm glad you feel like you can move forward once you have the time.

[jessalae]

Tomorrow is my worst day of finals -- I have two presentations and two papers due. So, no time for fic today. Soon, though!

[littlebutfierce]

Ugh, good luck!! Hope you get through all right.

[anehan]

Omg, that flamingo describes me so well. I have incredible difficulty finishing anything, because I always get new shiny ideas. I'm hoping doing MaNoWriMo this month will help me focus on one fic alone.

[littlebutfierce]

I identify w/way too many of the fanfic flamingoes!!

Good luck w/the focusing--MaNoWriMo sounds like it should be a helpful motivator (I hope!).

[curuchamion]

I've written 5590 words on my not!NaNo in the past two days. This is Good!

The sections from Day 1 and Day 2 appear to be in completely different genres. This is Bad!

I am confused. But what the hey... I have a wordcount goal and a deadline. Quality is secondary! *flails* ;-)

(Besides, I like my characters. If I wind up writing them in lots of different genres and situations, that just means they're well-rounded, right? ....Right? *g*)

[littlebutfierce]

The wordcount is awesome!! Go you! The genre thing can be fixed in editing--but you have words down on the page, which is yay. That's my take, anyway. ;)

[lacerta]

Fanfic flamingo knows me so well. All I've done today is play around with two other WIPs and eye a third one lustfully. Then again, after my writing sprints over the weekend, a short break from the bigbang is okay.

[littlebutfierce]

Yeah, I think you definitely deserve a break from the big bang! Besides, working on something else for a bit probably gives your brain a chance to mull over editing-related stuff for the big bang behind the scenes...

[jagnikjen]

How do you keep yourself focused on the fic you've committed to work on for the month?

Well, I've not committed to a specific fic at this point though I do have several that I have every desire to finish. Perhaps sometime during a future month's challenge. My challenge this month is to write four fics for a comm I joined.

Is it easy for you to set a goal & work on one fic until you're done?

Mostly yes. Last year, I wrote an epic fic and posted it chapter by chapter, usually every one to two weeks. I told myself I would never, ever leave a story hanging online--that's unfair to everyone, and so the thought of leaving that story dangling unfinished forever, plus all the story followers I had, kept me going until the end. I'll admit the end was tough. Not because I had other stories clamoring to be told, but because I was so tired of working on the one. I did have other stories I wanted to write, but again only because I was so sick and tired of the epic. I knew that if I let myself get sucked into something new at that point, even a one-shot, I'd have an even harder time finishing it. But finish it I finally did, thirty-nine chapters later and a year and half after I posted the first chapter. I was really proud of the accomplishment, though I never want to do it again. At least not with something that long. (Most of the chapters were 1800+ words.)

Or does every other WIP & plot bunny look more appealing the instant you promise yourself you're going to work on something else?

No, not really. I like to have complete fics and I like to tell a good story. Plots don't come that easily to me, so I don't usually have too many sitting on the back burner. And if I get an idea, I've learned to write it down and save it for later.

[mystiri_1]

I'm kind of amazed and awed by people who write epics and post on a schedule, because that is an enormous commitment and probably very stressful, especially as RL and inspiration don't necessarily cooperate.

[in_lighter_ink]

Oh, fanfic flamingo, you have just summed up my whole last week.

How do you keep yourself focused on the fic you've committed to work on for the month?

Well, I'm going to have to think seriously about it sometime this week -- the library books I've checked out for research purposes are due on Sunday! Which is my answer: being accountable to people other than myself really, really helps. For example: I'm in the middle of two WIPs that I'm writing anonymously for a meme, and have been posting as I go*. Knowing that I will feel awful and guilt-ridden if I abandon them... well. I've been writing.

*I'm actually pretty proud of one of them and am thinking about being brave and cleaning it up and post it for real. This is an exciting thing!)

Is it easy for you to set a goal & work on one fic until you're done?

Nope. I find it easier to be working on a few things at once -- being able to think about something else tends to help me when I'm blocked.

[littlebutfierce]

Oh! The library books thing might end up being a good nudge, then! (Unless you renew them or just scan in or copy relevant pages for perusal later...)

I can definitely see doing WIPs in an anon meme being a good motivator to keep going, especially because if you vanish & never finish the story, obviously no one will know who to beg for more! & yay for wanting to tidy it up & claiming it w/your name--that's v. exciting indeed!

I find it easier to be working on a few things at once -- being able to think about something else tends to help me when I'm blocked.

Me too!

[laceblade]

Achieved daily goal of 750 words.

Feeling a little demoralized - I'm not excited about any scene, so I keep jumping to the climactic ones and it's like they have no punch at all. I am new to habitual fic-writing, so I'm still figuring out my writing habits.

Overall, the first draft seems a very depression exercise!

As for flamingo convo:
I actually have a really hard time coming up with fic ideas, so I don't worry much about getting distracted.
Sometimes I wonder if, instead of ding one epic fanfic, I could do a bunch of smaller ones in the same AU that I'm working on, but I know it works better as one whole.
Not that it makes writing it any easier!

[jagnikjen]

750 words is a fantastic achievement! Celebrate that. And you can fix what's not working later, you can't fix what's not there. :)

[glitteryv]

Added a few (~400) to my goal fic and fleshed out a little more of the outline (so that I have an idea of where I need to go in case I get stuck somewhere.) OTOH, I got rather distracted by a random ficlet and worked on that when I could have been writing my goal fic. :-/

Re the questions:

For the most part, I will write something every day on the fic I've signed up for finishing. Usually I sit down for a hour or two and go typey-typey until I feel I've added enough words.

Now, I tend to have a lot of bunnehs hopping around in my head. At any one point, I will work on a couple (rarely more than three) fics at the same time. I'll add words to one, switch to another and then get back to the first one. That way I don't lose interest in writing OR its opposite (get soooo focused on a story that I keep editing it foreverrr.)

I'm not the most prolific writer (unlike some people who can post a new fic almost nearly every day), but this system works for me.

[littlebutfierce]

OTOH, I got rather distracted by a random ficlet and worked on that when I could have been writing my goal fic. :-/

Aw, but there's distraction & then there's the fact that maybe your brain needed a short rest from your main fic, which focusing on the ficlet gave you! Like you said, working on multiple fics keeps your interest up (& keeps you from editing forever--I know that peril!!).

I'm not hugely prolific either.

[soc_puppet]

Something else: Re-read what I've written so far to see if I could jump-start my writing any. The answer? Not at the moment. I wasn't expecting to, though, as I still haven't had much time. Tomorrow I expect to be kicking ass in a fic-writing way.


Re: WIPS: I'm hoping the commitment/community itself is what will keep me going on the chaptered fic. On both of the WIPs I signed up for, actually. Working in tandem with other people has always helped me in the past. 'Course, the meme fill currently is the "new" WIP/plunny, while the chaptered fic has been The Other Fic for something like six years now.

I dunno, I guess. "You gotta do what you gotta do" works pretty well for me at my job (especially when I have to clean up after baby chickens and ducklings rather than cuddling them/squealing over how cute they are), and I guess I'm hoping that attaching more responsibility to fic writing will work in roughly the same way.

[littlebutfierce]

Something else: Re-read what I've written so far to see if I could jump-start my writing any. The answer? Not at the moment.

Ahahaha, I have had those moments. I will reread this bit of writing & will be SO EXCITED about it I will sit down & work on it for an hour straight. ... no.

That's fantastic that you're expecting ass-kickingness today though! \o/

I guess I'm hoping that attaching more responsibility to fic writing will work in roughly the same way.

Yeah, that makes sense. I think for me I try not to cross the line between "just DO IT ALREADY" & "I am making myself do this & it is no longer fun"--I probably worry about the latter way more than I should. But whether I burn myself out or procrastinate too much, either way there's no fic, so I might as well try the latter approach!

[snowynight]

900 words done on a bang. Now off to the next...

Well, when I am distracted by the bunnies, I'll work on several fics and kill them by writing ficlets about them, then return to my fic.

[jagnikjen]

900 words! Way to go. Keep up the good work. :)

[xpaperplanex]

First time posting. I admit, I was grateful for you saying that it was okay to post on these without signing up for the monthly challenge. Signing up for things frightens me :D

Today I didn't write anything, but I posted the (technically) last chapter of my fic. And got a bunch of great comments assuring me that I ended it the right way! (Smut or no smut, that will always be the fanfic question.)

Oh fanfic flamingo, you ask such hard questions. I don't get oodles of plot bunnies like some people do, just occasional ones that turn into something viable, so that helps. I accidentally started a huge epic when I first started writing fic, which went well for the first six months or so, then I suffered a big breakdown and struggled through a bunch of chapters. Now I can't write it at all, so I've got my fingers crossed and keep hoping that the inspiration will hit me again. Aside from that one, I've found that not posting until it's finished (for multi-chapter fics) is the best way for me to keep working on something. I find reviews often throw me off balance or make me over think what I had planned. And at least if I get stuck on something that hasn't been posted, I can put it aside and work on something else without getting nagged for updates.

[mystiri_1]

I just saw this. Must go read.

I have tried this for one of my longer fics, but it's still sitting unfinished. :(

[dragovianknight]

Heh, quite honestly, as soon as I officially set the goal for this month I tried to jump fandoms. Thank gods for 750words.com, where I can scribble down fragments to my heart's content without feeling like I should focus on new!fic and make it the official current project. (And 400 of todays 750 words were actually on my May fic, so I'm kind of proud of myself.)

[littlebutfierce]

I LOVE LOVE LOVE 750 Words--I wouldn't be here & writing fic w/o it, so yes! I love writing little snippets in there too. I don't export my writing until the end of the month, which mostly means I don't look at it again until then (unless it's stuff for the current WIP). & then when I do export it, I am amazed every time by how much of the snippeting is actually... all right. Something I might be able to polish & do something w/.

Yay for doing the snippeting & getting 400 words done for your goal fic!

[bay_alexison]

Urgh, really had a long day today pretty much but I was able to write at least 300 more words and edit one part that needs fixing for one of my help_japan fics. Tomorrow I have work, but I should be able to get a bit more writing down.

That flamingo is so true for me now, haha. I like working on a couple fics at once so that if I feel I need to take a break on one fic project I can jump into another one. Also that way at least I'm still writing. I make sure to not have too many fic projects going at the same time or else I won't be able to get any stories finished.

[littlebutfierce]

Go you for getting 300 more words in despite your long day! (& the editing, too -- sometimes I feel like when I've had a long day, I can just about manage to eke out new first-draft fic words, but editing is beyond my brain.)

Also that way at least I'm still writing.

Yeah, that's how I think about it too!

[mystiri_1]

Aiming for the 20k again after the epic fail that was last month (I think I at least made 10k?), and doing well - 3,358 words so far! (It looks good on my new word meter *grin*)

I leave the documents open, where I can see them on the taskbar, staring at me, trying to guilt me into finishing - uh, sometimes it works? I won't work on just one fic though. I've found that it's easier if I write something I'm not so invested in when I can't get a larger work to move on, hence lots of comment fic lately.

I'm not sure whether to be pleased or appalled - on the weekend, I got a reminder that my ff_exchange fic was due next saturday. And I hadn't even decided what I was writing. So I looked at the requests, and picked option three. Yesterday I sat down in front of a computer, no plot in mind, and started writing. In an hour, I had 1500 words, which was already half again the required number. (Still no plot in mind, and no, it's g-rated, if anything.) I wrote more today and it's nearly finished, so that's one deadline I will make.

[jagnikjen]

Great job on the word count so far. Keep it up!

As for last month, 10K is better than no K, so always celebrate the words. :)

[charamei]

Edited, edited, edited.

At last count this morning I've only got six pages (and that one rewrite that's been irking me) left to go. Tonight? Maybe? Please?

How do you keep yourself focused on the fic you've committed to work on for the month?

Bloody-mindedness helps :p I hate not finishing things, so I pretty much force myself to stick to one longfic at a time. Shortfics don't take me too long, so they're allowable.

Is it easy for you to set a goal & work on one fic until you're done? Or does every other WIP & plot bunny look more appealing the instant you promise yourself you're going to work on something else?

Oh everything looks more appealing :p Currently there are two origfic novels, a new DW longfic (or two...) and a BBC Sherlock/Randall and Hopkirk (deceased) crossover competing for my attention. NONE OF THEM GET PRESENTS. The Novel (that is, the one I'm going to be working on first) gets occasional daytrips when it does something awesome, but that is IT until FS is done.

[littlebutfierce]

You are so close!! It's been exciting seeing your reports about the editing you're getting done. Maybe tonight will be the night indeed! Good luck!!!

& heeeee, you do have a lot of projects! But that must help keep your interest in writing, period, because if you do get fed up w/something, you can hopefully switch that energy to something else?

[chibifukurou]

As always I'm a bit late replying.

The story is going relatively well, except my main character keeps wanting to curse. Which probably wouldn't be such a problem if I wasn't the type of person who used 'crap' as pretty much their strongest curse word.

I have some problems with WIP in that if I'm not feeling the characters or the story I will just stop writing, pack the story away, and start over again, but I'm not sure if that counts as 'starting five new ones'

[curuchamion]

'my main character keeps wanting to curse. Which probably wouldn't be such a problem if I wasn't the type of person who used 'crap' as pretty much their strongest curse word.'

Agh, me too. I don't even say "c**p", and one of my MCs just dropped two f-bombs in the same conversation! O_O

(I guess this is what I get for trying to make a blue-collar Vietnam veteran talk about asexuality... he's being very, uh, technical. o_O)

[eien_herrison]

So far: 435 words (edit: 571 so far this month). Not much in the grand scheme of things, but it has allowed me to finish off a chapter (and get past a scene I was struggling with -- I knew how I wanted to end the chapter, I just didn't know how to get there). I'm going to be attempting to write some more of my other signup fic (which may involve research of the re-watching some episodes of the show variety), and if I have time see if I can plot out some of a third fic.

Anyway, questions:

How do you keep yourself focused on the fic you've committed to work on for the month?

It really depends -- most of my fic-writing is focused on whatever story I'm in the mood for/which one my muse pokes me about. I can and have been able to concentrate on one fic for a whole month (NaNo '09 win) but that was due to a lot of prep, planning and outlining.

Is it easy for you to set a goal & work on one fic until you're done?

Not overly. I tend to find that if I have no other active fics (like I did for NaNo '09) I can easily concentrate on one story, but when I have more than one on the go I can easily flick between them.

Or does every other WIP & plot bunny look more appealing the instant you promise yourself you're going to work on something else?

Yes -_- To be honest, aside from forcing myself to sit down and write, I actually don't have motivation to write. I know I need to (and thankfully I'm not in the mood where I feel that everything I write is terrible), but my mind is already wandering to less fannish pursuits.

[littlebutfierce]

But that's 571 words you didn't have before! & finishing a chapter, especially one w/a scene that was giving you trouble, is awesome!

To be honest, aside from forcing myself to sit down and write, I actually don't have motivation to write.

I think forcing yourself to write--I mean, the act of doing that--is showing that you have motivation, though. I mean, I take your point, but you wouldn't be able to make yourself write if you didn't, at base, want to write. So yay for getting over the procrastination hurdles, at least some of the time, that many of us struggle with!