check in day 17

[lilly_c]

How is the writing going today? What about yesterday?

Poll #24493

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 9

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Today I

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wrote
7 (77.8%)

edited
2 (22.2%)

posted
0 (0.0%)

sent to beta
1 (11.1%)

researched
1 (11.1%)

planned
0 (0.0%)

had a cheeky break
1 (11.1%)

dealt with life
2 (22.2%)

Discussion: Do you have anything with a deadline? Do you prefer to work at your own pace?

Comments

[lilly_c]

The only deadline I have is for unconventionalcourtship and I'm still working on the fic for it, with what I have so far I should only need another 400 to 600 words to finish on time.

Although I prefer to work at my own pace most of the time, sometimes a deadline is useful even if it is a self imposed one.

[linaewen]

I work better with a deadline, but I don't have any for any of my projects anymore since a writing community that issued monthly challenges closed up shop. Even though they haven't really worked well in the past, I should try a self-imposed deadline in the hopes of getting something going here!

[frogfarm]

Deadlines in the past have only worked with short pieces. Once I realized I was posting a chapter a day recently, I tried to stick to that schedule and that was a fun motivator; even if I didn't always succeed, I think it helped me set a faster pace. The older I get, the more I prefer that my own pace be more productive. Only so many minutes in a life.

[feckyeslife]

Finally writing today after a huge mental roadblock! I think I'll need some editing tomorrow for it, but overall I am happy with the result. It's character study-ish and that's just a great way to throw some ideas at fic without necessarily having to have too much happen around it all.

[22degreehalo]

Have an interesting balancing act in my new fic.

In canon, my favourite character has gone through a LOT of stuff that would easily be described as traumatic. However, unlike other characters, he rarely gets any kind of serious narrative focus so none of it ever really gets focused on or taken all that seriously. So, I really want to write a fic that delves into the emotional consequences of what happened - gives him (and me!) the hurt AND comfort I've been wanted for so long.

But. Those traumatic events weren't caused by a 'villain' per se. This fandom has an ensemble cast, and the majority of bad things that happen are caused by one of the characters, all of whom are meant to be likeable and have a lot of fans. In my favourite character's case, the majority of his bad experiences happened at the hand of one particular character who is part of his same unit. In other words, they're highly associated, and fans of my fave are almost always fans of him as well. (Though, if you give the right secret handshake to a more intense fan most would admit that, uh, he hasn't exactly treated our fave very well.) In fact, my fave loves him to death, to an extent even canon acknowledges is unhealthy.

I don't want to character bash. I don't want to upset or insult fans of that other character. I honestly want to keep the fic as close to canon tone as I can...but canon gives that other character a lot of apologia and positive framing that, deep down, I really don't think he's earned.

How do I write something sensitive and nuanced, something that lets my fave just maaaaybe think critically about this character for once since the time he was harshly punished by him for doing that... but without coming across like the point of my fic is just 'this character sucks and is terrible and nobody should like him'?

I'd been mulling over this for a long time, since I had an idea in my head for how the scene could go, but I could never really pull it together how ths subject gets brought up or how to resolve it. Sadly this is kind of a 'honestly this character really just needs long-term therapy' situation without any full conclusion until years down the line, if ever. But that would pull the fic VERY far from canon and I don't really want to do that. The other week I finally got an idea for the scene and wrote it up and even made a draft page on AO3 but... no, I think this is one I need to think through more. The first scene brought up my fave's conflict and difficulty even thinking about this. Then I came up with a second scene where he does manage to open up a bit, and is comforted - it's a bit self-indulgent, but I do really want to write something like that. But in comforting him, the narrative does have to criticise the other character for hurting him.

I'm realising now that I think it might need a third scene, where my fave can talk to that character and admit to being burned out - not addressing the wide range of feelings and experiences he's just starting to work through, but... admitting that he's having trouble and asking something from him. This way I can at least gesture to eventual improvement, and I can give that character a chance to show that while he did treat my fave very badly back then, he has actually changed a lot and genuinely cares about him now. (Even if he often still doesn't do all the right things, but. Who does?)

Hah. It's definitely a strange needle to thread. I suspect I'm going to be very picky about it even after I write my draft...

[doranwen]

Currently working on a fic for Fandom Giftbox (~800 words added today!), and I do exchanges all the time, besides some of my own fics, so I can say that when it's an exchange, I tend to be way more motivated to *get it done*. The longest thing I've written wasn't for an exchange (but I wrote it in three very intense weeks with an alpha reader I chatted with all the time about it), but the second longest thing was, and I know as it came to the last week of writing time I really pushed to get it done. Had it been for myself only, it would've taken a lot longer. Also, my WIPs collection is full of fics that I started and abandoned - and because there's no deadline to finishing them, there's a good chance that most will never be completed. So I'm sort of torn about deadlines, lol. I do like them for keeping me writing short stuff (1-3k pieces) for exchanges, so I don't get out of practice writing altogether.

[kirin85]

I have a deadline for my current WIP but I do allow myself a certain amount of flexibility. I aim to post a new chapter on the last Sunday of each month but I allow myself a couple of days' leeway if I need them.

I find deadlines helpful for long fics but I prefer to be a bit more relaxed when it comes to one shots and shorter fics. I have a folder of unfinished pieces that I go back to when I need a break or a change of pace. I post the ones that actually get finished when I feel satisfied with them.