WIP challenge: day 15 check-in!

[littlebutfierce]

It's almost the weekend, hooray!

Poll #8090 Day 15 check-in!

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 8

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What kind of fic day are you having today?

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What ficcish things are you planning to do this weekend?

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Write
5 (62.5%)

Edit
6 (75.0%)

Post
2 (25.0%)

Send to beta
2 (25.0%)

Research
2 (25.0%)

Nothing
0 (0.0%)

Something else I will describe in comments
1 (12.5%)

For discussion: Some people swear by daily writing challenges (such as this one, or 750 Words), saying it helps keep their brains in writing mode & shakes out ideas. Other people find it unproductively pressureful. What do you think? If you don't do such a habit, are there other things you do to keep your creative brain limbered up?

Comments

[littlebutfierce]

I wrote some words today, which I feel good about because I've had trouble writing lately (fatigue, general busyness/stress, etc.). I don't think they're worth keeping, but the idea might be reworked into something less cloying & more realistic.

I find 750 Words invaluable; I mentioned in this comm's infancy that it was partly responsible for me writing fic at all. I'm currently up to a streak of 510+ days! I don't always write fic for my daily wordcount there, but I often do. I track the amount of words I write using this spreadsheet (also linked on the comm's resource post) & I'm up to over 115k words of fic for the year. Which, given that I'm not a longfic writer, is pretty astounding. Most of the words are crap, but I'm a big believer in writing out the crap to get to the good stuff. \o/

[elistaire]

Wow! 510 day streak is awesome!

[littlebutfierce]

Hee, thank you!!

[lacygrey]

I finished the first version of a short story...very shortly to go for betaing - once Ive slept on it, because I'm sure parts are a bit crazy and I don't want to let it out on its own straight away. So 1.6K, which is pleasing, though it was hardly 'off the top of my head', the idea is aleast a year old.


I did try 750w but Im not using it at the moment as it was becoming my anti-RL work moan zone. It does save paper though and is wonderfully private. I do like warm ups though. Sometimes doing exercises from writing books or just synopses of what I plan to write can be helpful. Doing a writing course with set deadlines for homework or for classes where you prepare things to share is something else that has worked for me, though at a cost. It would be nice to reproduce that pressure in an online comm.

[littlebutfierce]

Hahahaha, I definitely use 750 Words to complain about stuff (usually but not always work) on days when I don't have the concentration to write fic. Still, I feel like developing the habit of writing something every day (whether fic or just brain-dumping) has been really useful for me.

Set deadlines etc. & having something like that for a comm -- I wish inkitout hadn't died. ;____; I keep meaning to post & ask if anyone wants to step up & mod it (hopefully several someones) next year, but... I keep forgetting & worry that I'll get sucked into doing that comm too, ahahaha.

YAY for finishing the first draft of a story!! 1.6k, hooray!

[ficwriter1966]

Wrote and posted a 2,000 word fic this morning, so the week continues to go well. I'm hoping the weekend will be productive!

No, I don't aim for daily writing challenges - writing is the one thing I really do for pleasure, for fun, and I don't like setting up a lot of rules and restrictions for it. I'd much rather go with the flow!

If I'm having a log jam - sometimes I'll read, or watch a couple of episodes, or maybe a movie, to see if something wiggles loose. But my history has been, I'll write like a mad thing for a period of time (sometimes a few months, sometimes as much as several years), and then for another period of time write nothing at all. It's all ebb and flow, and these days I'm trying to just let that happen. I find that the finished product is a *lot* better if I just let it happen on its own.

[littlebutfierce]

Wow!! Go you for writing & posting that fic! (I am doubly impressed because I don't ever have the courage to post things right after I read them, so I admire your confidence. :)

[jagnikjen]

This weekend is writers group weekend, so I will be attending a board meeting, a general meeting, and then meeting with my critique partners for some discussion on craft.

I *just* finished reading an absolutely brilliant Draco/Hermione fic and am in the depths of despair because I know I will probably never reach that level of beautiful story-ness. *very dramatic sigh*

I know I need to accept my writing skills for what they are. I know I could improve if I put my mind to it, but I think there's a block. I really wish it was more of an escape -- that the words would pour out into my fic instead of being locked up inside of me. (I'm not really as depressed about it as I sound. :) I know this is my shortcoming and I'm just not prepared to really do the hard work yet to overcome.

Daily writing challenges...I guess I don't need an external prod to write. If I want to write, I get up early and write or I write after dinner is over. Or I don't. See, I spent most of 2010 with this pressure (not sure where it came from, partly me, partly certain writing acquaintances) to write, write, write. I finally had to throw that monkey off my back. It was a great thing for me. I love to write (except when I don't (see above :)) and will do so when and if the mood strikes. But the pressure of *having* to do it took the joy away. So I got rid of the pressure. I'm so glad I did.

[littlebutfierce]

Awwww, that can be so thrilling & discouraging at the same time, to read an amazing fic like that.

I hear you on feeling like you could improve but not necessarily having the energy or brainspace or desire to put a ton of work in right away.

I'm glad you got your joy back for writing!

[katzenjamming]

Added quite a few new words, and a few hundred more through editing bits and pieces here and there. It's still early in the evening so I'm hoping I can get more down before bed.

Whether it's good fic prose or not, I'm a person with a lot to say, but I'm too lazy to get it down. Pressure totally helps me get stuff done! Combine that with the fact that I like collecting things (like the 750 Words achievement badges) and the fact I think the spacebird is so damn cute and I find myself super-compelled to keep up my streak. More often than not find whatever I do get down for the day at least workable for later.

[littlebutfierce]

Woohoo! Sounds like you had a great writing day. Congrats!

I like the badges for 750 Words too, heh. They need more. *_* Every time I finish a monthly challenge & get some of those Cups of Patronage to spend I always vote for MOAR BADGES.

I think to some degree pressure helps me -- certainly in terms of not breaking my streak on the site, etc. -- & I note that while I've finished the 2 fics I wrote for challenges early, my second help_japan fic, w/no deadline (& for which the recipient explicitly said "take your time"), has been malingering for months. :/ (& also my poetry_fiction piece -- one thing I've learned, I think, is that long amnesty periods are not my friend!)

[bay_alexison]

Able to get close to 750 words of my Big Bang written. I wrote a random scene this time as I got inspired by someone's fanart that is somewhat related to my story and I want to have the scene written out before I lose that spark. XD Need to get a few other writing stuff done in the next few days, so hopefully I'll get started on editing the third chapter and writing the fourth chapter of my Big Bang soon.

I didn't make myself have a daily writing challenge as real life tend to be unpredictable for me and my mood to write tend to change a lot. I decided to just let myself write when I can and let things flow.

[littlebutfierce]

Oooh, that must be fun, to write fic off someone's art. Hope you managed to get the sense of it down before, as you say, you lost the spark.

[rebecca2525]

I didn't have much free time yesterday, and what little time I had got eaten up by early Yuletide excitement, so no progress on my fic.

For me, writing fic is not so much about the writing, but more about wanting to see a certain fic or premise which no-one else is going to write, damnit. So if I don't have concrete ideas for fic, I don't write, and that's totally fine. When I do have concrete ideas for fic--well, then I have conrete ideas and these general challenges don't seem very useful. Plus, I get my best ideas when my brain is idle but my body occupied with physical exercise, like cycling. So no, I've never done those challenges.

[rebecca2525]

What I did do, however, was setting a minimal wordcount for the first draft o my current WIP. It was ridiculously low, and that really helped me to actually sit down each day to write a bit. Even a few new words a day really helped me with keeping up the general flow of productiveness, and made space for thinking ahead and getting new ideas. (If that makes sense. It's really hard to describe that.)

[littlebutfierce]

The low daily wordcount thing makes a lot of sense! I'm glad it was helpful -- & what you said about it making space for getting new ideas & keeping things going makes sense too. To me it sounds like the general idea of stuff like 750 Words, just tailored to suit you better, which is important!!

I've gotten some good ideas for fic while on a machine at the gym -- once I can afford a gym membership again I hope I keep getting them. (Or I could conquer my fear & start cycling more...)

[lilly_c]

Yesterday I made some more notes from the DVD for my smallfandombang fic, and scribbled a half-idea for a one shot which might not get written but it's on paper and out of my head for now. Today I've mostly edited 1 of my fics for this round of prompt_in_a_box which is almost ready to be posted :) I commented on the ISO post for a beta over at smallfandomcafe if I can't get someone there I can always ask on twitter if all else fails.

Not keen on daily writing challenges but I have the kind of life that rarely allows me to do them anyway. I tend to just go along with the flow when it comes to writing, I'm not always good within pressured environments.
To keep my brain ticking over I'll either do some drawing or a colour in a few pages from a colouring book but they depend on my mood and how much/little time I have.

[littlebutfierce]

I love getting ideas out & onto a list somewhere -- it does feel like a relief to have the idea captured so your brain can let it go! Good luck w/finishing the edits on your prompt_in_a_box fic & getting a beta.

The drawing/coloring book thing sounds like a really good idea, especially b/c it's letting your brain be creative in a different way, which might kinda shake things loose for a fic idea.