Picking a project

[mistressofmuses]

I actually managed a pretty good amount of productivity yesterday, surprising no one more than myself.

I did the cleaning task I'd assigned myself, and I poked several fic ideas with a sharp stick.

Of the ones I was considering yesterday, I narrowed it down to four current possibilities:
- Island Territory, the continuation of the Destiny Trio OT3 Vampire AU. Vampire and pair of monster hunters continue to dance around each other, while a more genuine danger lurks.
- A Show of Good Faith, the continuation of the Destiny Trio OT3 arranged marriage-ish/high-stakes fantasy!The Bachelorette thing. I still feel like this is the most... meh of the ideas. It's not the kind of thing I usually write, but for SOME DAMN REASON it's the one my brain keeps drifting back to.
- Untitled Mermaid AU #2, which is an AU of my already existing mermaid AU "Scales" where things initially go much worse, and then there's a rescue mission.
- Silent Hill fic from way back in 2009 and revamped in 2015. Putting a set of OCs through Silent Hill - a documentarian, an urban explorer, and a history student walk into a bar head into Silent Hill for a project, and things go predictably poorly. Basically an excuse for me to use background lore bits as set pieces because I like that kind of thing.

All of these have PLENTY of self-indulgence to them, which, let's be real, is the main reason I write fic. I would most like to work on either Island Territory or the Silent Hill thing. But A Show of Good Faith is the one my brain keeps spitting ideas out for.
The bright side is that I'm NOT worried about turning away from that one to go back to All Strange Wonders, so it really does best fulfill the desire for a low-pressure alternative project. The downside is that I have enough ideas for things I DO care about more, and really genuinely want to write and share, so it seems a shame to spend time and energy on something that isn't a high emotional priority.
Though at the same time, I know my "nobody wants me to write that, including me" snark is just self-deprecation. I liked it well enough to write a chapter of it. It's just not usually my thing.

Comments

[olivermoss]

It's so much easier to start new fics than finish old ones! How many fics I should be working on right now is a problem in getting anything done.

[mistressofmuses]

The painful truth! I have a list of like, 200-some fic ideas. Most I've made peace with never actually writing, but... it's often so tempting to just launch into something shiny and new!

[olivermoss]

I try to tell myself that artists do a lot of sketches and no one expects all those practice pieces or things that refine style should become a polished drawing, and writing out story ideas is a lot like that. I'd believe myself more if I had more actual stories done!

[mistressofmuses]

That IS a super valid point - any practice writing is good practice, even if it isn't polished and completed and perfect.
I know a lot of artists are willing and able to share sketches, either as their own thing or as something in-progress. But it feels like there's more of an expectation as a writer that things are only shared once they're complete/expect to be completed.
Maybe that's all in my head, but it *feels* that way, haha. It feels hard as a writer to share your "sketches", but they ARE valuable.

[olivermoss]

I feel like sharing my writing 'sketches' creates expectations, so I don't anymore. It's too bad, if I did the reactions and feedback would be useful.

[mistressofmuses]

Exactly. :/ Sometimes I'd love feedback on something in-progress before it's ready to be shared "publicly", but it definitely feels like it creates expectation or an obligation to complete things on some timeline.