mistressofmuses (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
mistressofmuses) wrote2021-06-19 07:09 pm
mistressofmuses) wrote2021-06-19 07:09 pm
Entry tags:
Writing progress/to-do list...
I've gotta get my shit together on writing, ha.
While I've always had multiple *ideas* (or "plot bunnies". Do people still say "plot bunnies"? I don't think they do.) for fics at once, I've never really attempted to have more than one I was actively/semi-actively working on at once.
I'll poke at multiple fics on and off, and of the 220+ ideas I've written down in a word doc over the last decade or so, there are between 15-20 that have gotten at least the start of an outline or a few paragraphs written. I'll bop around between them when a flurry of inspiration hits, and sometimes I go back and finish them or sometimes I don't. And I do have a couple "incomplete" series on AO3, where I plan to go back and write something else in the same AU, but the parts all stand alone, so I wouldn't call them truly "ongoing".
But when it comes to something I Definitely Have Plans To Write, I pretty much only ever write one thing at once. And *especially* would only publicly commit to one at a time, lol. And I *especially especially* like to avoid posting something before the entire thing has at least been written in rough draft, so that I can go back and fix continuity errors, or add/change details if I want to, or seed subplots, etc.
Now having *three* fics in progress is stressing me out a little bit, ha. Or at least I don't exactly know what to do about it.
Step Right Up
The mermay AU of an AU/WhatIf_AU "Triple Threat" fill
Chapter 1 was posted at the end of May
I estimate there are two chapters left, which have at least been vaguely outlined. The total fic should be around 10k, I think?
I also never actually shared it to the community I wrote it for. I'm telling myself it's because I decided I don't want to post it until it's complete, but it may just be because I'm shy, lmao
Connections of the Heart
My entry for Unconventional Courtship, which I'm scheduled to post on June 29
I have gotten the okay that incomplete works are allowed, as long as they are GOING to be completed.
Chapter 1 has one scene left before it's complete, and then I plan to just try to get it cleaned up so that it's post-able.
I estimate it'll be four chapters total, and I have a scene outline. I'm planning on the completed fic to be around 20k.
All Strange Wonders
The Howl's Moving Castle AU. This is the one that I spent March/April/May rewriting the second draft of. And I finished the second draft!
The whole thing is around 75k, I think, and at this point represents most of the last year's writing effort.
This one is theoretically ready for posting.
So the most obvious thing, since it's already DONE, is that I could start getting All Strange Wonders posted. But I spent so long with "complete the second draft" as my goal for the fic that once I did that, I felt like I was done with the fic, ha. And I guess I am, technically, but I *did* write it with the intent to share it.
Originally I'd planned to post it starting at the beginning of June, but that... didn't happen. Now I've got kind of low-key anxiety about posting it because I spent so long on it, while ALSO feeling like I shouldn't post it when I've got other stuff that I've committed to. Doing a final edit pass on each chapter and time spent posting would take up writing time, and I've been struggling with having enough of that as it is.
There's also a part of me that's still holding out posting it as some sort of "reward" for myself, except that was supposed to be the reward for finishing it! It's done! So what the hell, brain?
I also don't want it to sit for so long that I get dissatisfied with it and decide to rewrite the whole thing again, lol.
So if I've still got that on hold, the most important thing for me to finish is the first chapter (or more!) of Connections of the Heart. That has an actual external deadline, which tends to be my best motivator to finish something.
After that, I have to decide whether I want to switch back and forth between Connections of the Heart and Step Right Up, or try to finish one and then return to the other. I feel bad having posted part of Step Right Up, with good intentions of continuing it fairly immediately, and then leaving it on hold until I complete a different fic. But at the same time, completing one and moving on to the other one is far more within my comfort zone, and if I can get a wee bit of momentum on CotH, then I'd like to carry it through.
I also feel like I have a hard time properly appreciating wordcounts. 10 and 20k totals sound short to me, maybe because I'm used to a general attitude (whether real or perceived) in fandom that anything short of 100k is Not That Long. (For the record, I rationally know that's nonsense; 50k may be a shortish novel, but it IS a novel, and even novellas are pretty damn long both to write and read.) So I feel like it should be easy to get a combined 30k written... and then realize that I'm only getting a couple thousand words written per week lately, which would mean at least 15 WEEKS of writing, which is WAY longer than I want it to take. If I can get back to getting 1000 words per day, it's a month of writing, which is better. But that means I have to find motivation and time and consistency. :(
This is rambly and more just for me to get my own thoughts out, but that's where we're at.
While I've always had multiple *ideas* (or "plot bunnies". Do people still say "plot bunnies"? I don't think they do.) for fics at once, I've never really attempted to have more than one I was actively/semi-actively working on at once.
I'll poke at multiple fics on and off, and of the 220+ ideas I've written down in a word doc over the last decade or so, there are between 15-20 that have gotten at least the start of an outline or a few paragraphs written. I'll bop around between them when a flurry of inspiration hits, and sometimes I go back and finish them or sometimes I don't. And I do have a couple "incomplete" series on AO3, where I plan to go back and write something else in the same AU, but the parts all stand alone, so I wouldn't call them truly "ongoing".
But when it comes to something I Definitely Have Plans To Write, I pretty much only ever write one thing at once. And *especially* would only publicly commit to one at a time, lol. And I *especially especially* like to avoid posting something before the entire thing has at least been written in rough draft, so that I can go back and fix continuity errors, or add/change details if I want to, or seed subplots, etc.
Now having *three* fics in progress is stressing me out a little bit, ha. Or at least I don't exactly know what to do about it.
Step Right Up
The mermay AU of an AU/WhatIf_AU "Triple Threat" fill
Chapter 1 was posted at the end of May
I estimate there are two chapters left, which have at least been vaguely outlined. The total fic should be around 10k, I think?
I also never actually shared it to the community I wrote it for. I'm telling myself it's because I decided I don't want to post it until it's complete, but it may just be because I'm shy, lmao
Connections of the Heart
My entry for Unconventional Courtship, which I'm scheduled to post on June 29
I have gotten the okay that incomplete works are allowed, as long as they are GOING to be completed.
Chapter 1 has one scene left before it's complete, and then I plan to just try to get it cleaned up so that it's post-able.
I estimate it'll be four chapters total, and I have a scene outline. I'm planning on the completed fic to be around 20k.
All Strange Wonders
The Howl's Moving Castle AU. This is the one that I spent March/April/May rewriting the second draft of. And I finished the second draft!
The whole thing is around 75k, I think, and at this point represents most of the last year's writing effort.
This one is theoretically ready for posting.
So the most obvious thing, since it's already DONE, is that I could start getting All Strange Wonders posted. But I spent so long with "complete the second draft" as my goal for the fic that once I did that, I felt like I was done with the fic, ha. And I guess I am, technically, but I *did* write it with the intent to share it.
Originally I'd planned to post it starting at the beginning of June, but that... didn't happen. Now I've got kind of low-key anxiety about posting it because I spent so long on it, while ALSO feeling like I shouldn't post it when I've got other stuff that I've committed to. Doing a final edit pass on each chapter and time spent posting would take up writing time, and I've been struggling with having enough of that as it is.
There's also a part of me that's still holding out posting it as some sort of "reward" for myself, except that was supposed to be the reward for finishing it! It's done! So what the hell, brain?
I also don't want it to sit for so long that I get dissatisfied with it and decide to rewrite the whole thing again, lol.
So if I've still got that on hold, the most important thing for me to finish is the first chapter (or more!) of Connections of the Heart. That has an actual external deadline, which tends to be my best motivator to finish something.
After that, I have to decide whether I want to switch back and forth between Connections of the Heart and Step Right Up, or try to finish one and then return to the other. I feel bad having posted part of Step Right Up, with good intentions of continuing it fairly immediately, and then leaving it on hold until I complete a different fic. But at the same time, completing one and moving on to the other one is far more within my comfort zone, and if I can get a wee bit of momentum on CotH, then I'd like to carry it through.
I also feel like I have a hard time properly appreciating wordcounts. 10 and 20k totals sound short to me, maybe because I'm used to a general attitude (whether real or perceived) in fandom that anything short of 100k is Not That Long. (For the record, I rationally know that's nonsense; 50k may be a shortish novel, but it IS a novel, and even novellas are pretty damn long both to write and read.) So I feel like it should be easy to get a combined 30k written... and then realize that I'm only getting a couple thousand words written per week lately, which would mean at least 15 WEEKS of writing, which is WAY longer than I want it to take. If I can get back to getting 1000 words per day, it's a month of writing, which is better. But that means I have to find motivation and time and consistency. :(
This is rambly and more just for me to get my own thoughts out, but that's where we're at.
no subject
What is Connections Of The Heart going to be, or is a secret for now?
no subject
I genuinely appreciate the validation that it'd be okay to post even while having to work on other stuff. I feel like I do have an awful lot of fake rules in my head, haha.
It's another Riku/Sora/Kairi fic, based on a romance novel summary. The romance novel was called "Wife for a Week" I think, though I'd have to double check. Trope-wise, the fic will be fake dating/engagement between one pair despite a different pair being actually engaged, mutual three-way pining, friends-to-lovers, with some vague hints of political intrigue (though not a lot of that.)
no subject
Pining and friends-to-lovers sounds fun.
no subject
Ooh, a Howl's Moving Castle AU! Is it for the book or the movie? I'd love to see it when it's ready. :D
On one hand, it's easier to manage revisions or fix-ups for a multi-chapter fic that hasn't been posted yet; on the other hand, knowing that there are people waiting for the next installment is motivating, at least for me. I don't want to make people wait too long for updates, but I kinda need to know that there *is* someone waiting -- even if it's just one person -- so I'll get that extra push I need sometimes.
no subject
I had seen the "post before bed" advice, and that seems like sound advice. (Because I WILL be the impatient kitten jabbing at the fic, lmao. OR I get so anxious I refuse to look at the stats at all because I'm afraid of what they'll be, lol.)
I like to read both pining and friends-to-lovers, but I've never really written them. I mean, I've had some fic that probably falls into the f-t-l category, but they've been pretty short, so it's not a big arc. Hopefully I can fit enough pining into the fake-dating; this isn't going to be a "100k of pining before they brush fingers" fic, lmao.
no subject
But to be honest, I love the term plotbunny, lol. It's so much more evocative than just "idea", and I think it conveys what they are a lot more accurately. A "story idea" or "fic idea" sounds a lot more serious than "plotbunny", which I feel like a lot of people understand isn't necessarily a commitment to the fic... it could just be a snippet of dialogue, an AU role, a single scene, and that inspiration could potentially flee at any moment. There's also the obvious "reproducing like bunnies," because one idea leads to another and another...
All Strange Wonders is another Kingdom Hearts SoRiKai AU, but set *basically* along the plotline of the Howl's Moving Castle book. Ultimately it deviates a bit, and there may be a few things more like the movie worked in, but the book is one of my favorites!
That is true! Someone waiting on more of a fic definitely does provide an extra boost of motivation for me. When I'm just writing for me (and know I'm not going to share it until it's done), it's easier to just let it sit for weeks or months. Though if I ever lose motivation entirely on a work, if there are people waiting for more, I feel way guiltier! Definitely pros and cons to both.