WIP challenge: day 10 check-in & weekly chat/beta-seeking/snippeting post!

[littlebutfierce]

We're heading into the weekend! Does that mean lots of fic-time for you, or none at all?

Poll #7244 Day 10 check-in!

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 11

View Respondents

Your fic:

View Answers

Is awesome!
4 (40.0%)

Is going to be bured in a drawer & hidden forever. Or burned.
0 (0.0%)

Might get to a good place if I keep working on it
4 (40.0%)

Is disappointing me right now.
2 (20.0%)

This weekend, what ficcish things are you planning to do?

View Answers

Write
7 (63.6%)

Edit
5 (45.5%)

Send to beta
2 (18.2%)

Post
1 (9.1%)

Procrastinate
3 (27.3%)

Something else I will describe in comments
0 (0.0%)

Nothing: too much other stuff going on
0 (0.0%)

Three words or less about your fic:

View Answers

It's also time for another general fic chat post: Are you looking for a beta? Want to post a snippet of your WIP? Have other fic-related things you want to chat about? Go for it!

I'd especially be interested in hearing people talk about what they need for their fic right now, in order to make progress. Some of that might be covered above -- beta-seeking, for example -- but anything else? Is there something the comm might be able to help you with, whether directly or by cheerleading or offering suggestions?

Comments

[littlebutfierce]

I haven't written anything today! Typical for a Friday night; I'm usually so tired from the week that the words just don't come. I've written a fair bit this week, though, so that's all right.

I... don't know what I need to make progress on any of my WIPs. Maybe more accountability: someone to kick my ass a little about getting rough drafts done & then actually going through & doing some editing & restructuring. I feel kind of grumpy that my favorite WIP at the moment is going on & on (for me, I mean: that means it's 4.5k right now & I estimate it will need at least that much again, if not more, to wrap up). I'm a little scared that I can't really write & structure fic longer than a few thousand words v. well! So... maybe cheerleading or commiseration (anyone else a shortfic writer whose stories are gradually getting longer?) or something.

Company during the writing session would be awesome, too.

[glitteryv]

Yeah, usually by Friday afternoon, I'm pretty much comatose. So, I totally hear you on being tired enough to wonder if I won't end up writing total gooblygook.

Maybe getting a First Reader will give you that oomph? It's worked for me several times. I get some much needed positive feedback (in case you don't know, unlike a Beta, the First Reader is there to cheer you along rather than offer concrit) while the First Reader gets "a first look" at a brand-new fic.

[littlebutfierce]

I like the idea of a first reader--though b/c my fandoms are small & I know few people in them, I think I would worry about burning people out as much as I do w/betas? Sometimes my partner (ahahaha he knows most of my fandoms cuz we watch them together) reads things at first, which helps, but yeah... it'd be nice sometimes to have a separate cheerleader. Hm... must ponder!

[in_lighter_ink]

I am a fellow shortfic writer whose stories are gradually getting longer! (It's starting to freak me out a little.) I can cheerlead and commiserate!

(And I'll also be around at the writing session.)

[littlebutfierce]

Yay!! I am so glad someone else is going through this process!!! I feel kind of suspicious, like maybe my stories are getting wordier not b/c I'm starting to do more complex/bigger storylines, but... maybe I've just started stuffing them w/excess verbiage & somehow failed to trim it down, or even think that I should trim it down? ^^;;; & also waaaah I don't know anything about structuring a longer story (I barely even read longer fic, ha) & blah blah blah WAAAAH.

[in_lighter_ink]

YES. Exactly! I've been spending a lot of time re-reading sentences and paragraphs and asking myself if they're all really necessary, and then not trusting myself when the answer is yes. It's disconcerting!

And yes, I have the same structuring problems! The things that work really well for a single moment just don't work for things like chapters, so I end up completely suspicious of my writing.

(But, at the same time, it's kind of a fun learning process!)

[littlebutfierce]

Ugh, yes about not trusting oneself! Writing ficlets or shortfic is so different from longfic. & on the one hand, I feel like I have already grown so much as a writer that I kind of wish I didn't have to go through some MORE growth, ahahaha. But on the other, like you say, it's kind of fun! Also, if things didn't challenge me, I might get bored & not write anything...

[lacygrey]

Trying to send you good vibes for fic completion!

I have the same thing: Im working up from writing self-contained shortfic to writing longer chaptered fic. I think the breakpoint is where a single scene won't stand alone because there has to be too much backstory for me to squeeze in (= info dump).

A good number of my shortfic come from the same universe anyway, but their styles are different (I'm a beginner - I'm bound to change). I tend to think that they get more attention as shortfic than they would if they were chapters. I'm also very slow: people would be haning on forever for an update.

I worked out today that I was having trouble as my present Hikago story has several consecutive threads. I wondered about separating them into different short stories but they do all lead to a common outcome and thus belong together. I'm now trying to sort out the order of events with colored post-its. It was this that had been daunting me and slowing things up, i.e., the organisational mess was in my head when its better off on paper.

For a weekend day its been surprisingly productive. I archived a few fic too (AO3 and FF), which tends to be laborious, what with the formatting and all.

[littlebutfierce]

Thank you!! & I'm so glad you understand the worry of starting to write longer fic too, heh.

I'm a beginner - I'm bound to change

Me too! & yeah, a couple fandoms ago I had several short fics in the same headcanon universe, & they weren't chapters in one fic -- they were all separate fics -- partly b/c I think I wrote them all at different times & it never occurred to me, but also... b/c they just didn't join up right, I think.

It's interesting that you think your fics get more attention separately than as chapters! I feel like everyone loves plotty longfic & that gets a lot of accolades, heh. Though I appreciate the view looks v. different depending on which fandom one is in, etc. (My fandoms aren't nearly as big as Hikago, waaaah)

The post-it way of structuring sounds like a good idea. Especially b/c sometimes looking at things too long on the screen means I can't really see it all anymore, particularly overarching things like story structure -- I tend to do a lot of editing in hard copy for that reason. The post-its might help! *considers*

Yay for posting old fic up! I agree, that does take time -- but hopefully feels good as you remember how much you've accomplished.