#i didn't think i'd make the 500 word goal
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Ember Warrior is now 53,000 words long!!
#we get double exclamation marks because i am exceptionally proud of my work today ehehe#i didn't think i'd make the 500 word goal#long story short; i had a double shift at work and i was away from home from 7AM to 5:30PM#but!! i did it#tomorrow might be less lucky#i have another double shift and also i have to vote#but we'll see!
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20 Qᴜᴇꜱᴛɪᴏɴꜱ ꜰᴏʀ ꜰɪᴄ ᴡʀɪᴛᴇʀꜱ
Thanks for tagging me!! @gracelesslady23 @annabtg @kay-elle-cee this was very sweet to get to do.
Ao3 Username: itsjamespotter
1. How many works do you have on A03?
31, wow! How wild, that feels like a lot.
2. What’s your total Ao3 word count?
162k!
3. What fandoms do you write for?
HP
4. What are your top five fics by kudos?
Show and Tell (3k, wolfstar smut)
Dead To Me (91k, wip lily evans angst)
Tall Dark and Glasses (3k, jily fluff)
"you have no idea how long i've been wanting to do that" (1k, prongsfoot smut)
Bring Your Kid to Work Day(s never end when your godfather is Sirius Black) (2k, good godfather sirius black fluff)
5. Do you respond to comments?
I try to, or at least have the goal to, but admittedly I'm very bad at it. (not to use it as an excuse but my adhd is fully to blame.) I plan to go back and catch up on all of them soon & have a dream of being much better about it, though. I do intentionally make sure I eventually respond to the ones for my WIPs, at least.
6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?
well, since dead to me hasn't ended yet (kidding kidding kidding kidding!!!)
lmao I really thought I was gonna have a hard time finding a fic with an unhappy ending but I evidently forgot who I am. I dunno how to choose between:
1. i don't even know where you end and i begin (500 words, canon prongsfoot....you get it)
2. Promises to Keep (1k words, dorlene with canon ending....you get it)
7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?
Okay listen, do I technically have a fic that mentions living happily ever after in the last line? Yes. Am I choosing that fic? No. I'm choosing Happy Holidays, You Filthy Potters, because 1. smut, 2. sassy young Harry, and best of all, 3. sassy good godfather sirius black 😉
8. Do you get hate on fics?
I've gotten a couple of comments about Lily in Dead To Me but I've decided it's not my problem if people don't have critical analysis skills 💀
9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?
I do! I write smut for a number of different ships and plan on doing others! Uhhh, what kind? the fact that I don't really know what that means probably means it's pretty vanilla 😆 there's a lot of going down on people 🤐
10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?
Haha, no, but if I did I'd probably do PJO/HP
11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?
Not to my knowledge. that would be so heartbreaking.
12. Have you ever had a fic translated?
No, but that's SO cool that people offer to do that for some fics!!!
13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?
I have!! @charmsandtealeaves and I co-wrote a fic for a jilychallenge last year, before we were even friends! It was my first time co-writing a fic, which was very cool and different, but also didn't feel that foreign to me -- I think because I've spent a lot more years doing para RP than I have writing fics. It was fun to kind of riff off another writer in a different way. I would definitely do it again!
14. What’s your all time favorite ship?
Okay, this is kind of tough because I only recently got into Prongsfoot, and they are the definition of soulmates... But because I ultimately see Sirius as more of an ace/aro character, Jily wins the place of favorite ship in my heart. <3
15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?
Well, I really only have two WIPs posted on AO3: Dead To Me and Just This Once, and I have all of DTM outlined and plan to finish it by fall. Just This Once might be a while, but I also have a plan for it and would like to finish it at some point... But I guess there's a chance I won't finish it -- I do have a lot of other multi-chaps I am going to be starting soon.
16. What are your writing strengths?
Hm. I like to think I'm good at getting into the minds of my characters, really thinking through their motivations and emotions and then expressing those to the reader. I also think I'm fairly good at dialogue. I really like writing banter so I hope others think I'm good at it, haha. And based on what I've been told, my smut isn't half bad 😆
17. What are your writing weaknesses?
Oh, definitely writing descriptions of any kind. I never remember to describe the scene and when I do, I think it feels clunky. I'm not great at writing in a more direct way, either; I struggle to express a character's emotions without getting a bit flowery with it. Just generally, I think my writing could be tighter, you know? I'm sure I'll realize other things I need to work on as I write more long fics, too.
18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?
Ah, haven't done it yet, so don't have any thoughts to share.
19. First fandom you wrote for?
HP -- Jily on the Neopets forums... never 4get <3
20. Favourite fic you’ve written?
If we're talking finished works, I'd have to say Tall Dark and Glasses, which I wrote for the masquerade event for Jilytober last year. To me, that fic has a certain je ne sais quois that is hard to replicate.
But unfinished? Dead To Me, hands down, and once it's finished it will be very hard to ever top it. It's imperfect and there are a lot of edits I'd make if I were to go back through and polish it up, but it's the first multi chap fic I've ever written, and beyond just feeling immensely proud of that, the story itself and how I'm writing it is one of the most heartfelt and meaningful things I'll ever write in my life.
these were such a pleasure to respond to, thanks again for the tags! <3 I'm tagging: @goldenbi @abihastastybeans & @nodirectionhome-ao3
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Surgery happened on Tuesday! So my thyroid is now gone, along with some suspicious looking lymph nodes. The surgeon, Dr Lawrence Shirley at Baptist Health, was wonderful and has genuine concern for my progress. He told me that what was removed will be examined/tested by a pathologist to see if there may be any other issues, but hopefully this will be all I need to start healing. Hopefully. I'm not saying anything for certain.
The surgery itself was pretty easy on me. The only other time I've had major surgery like this was almost 24 years ago, when my twin daughters were born. That was a much different experience, but I have strong memories of the hospital staff at University of Kentucky hospital, and most of those memories are not positive. I'll just leave it at that. Baptist has been great so far. Everyone I've interacted with has been kind and made me feel like I was being genuinely cared for. Especially the nurse I was assigned Wednesday morning, Cody. He and I had a few conversations about the economy and comic books and movies, and that really helped me stay positive even though I was in pain.
I am still in a lot of pain. Swallowing hurts, as well as turning my head, leaning, bending over, or sitting up in bed. I tried a couple of times this morning before just rolling myself over to the side so I had more leverage to stand. I also apparently talked way too much yesterday because by the end of the day, my voice was all hoarse and that was causing pain as well. So I think today is going to be a quieter day.
I'm also going to be able to take off the bandage on my incision today and see how that goes. I'm kind of dreading that, even though I am curious to see what it looks like. I'm not afraid of having a scar, I have several as it is. It's just I have this weird fear of the incision opening up on its own. That comes from when I was recovering from the C-section and a staple that was holding the incision closed popped. It didn't really cause any problems, but I had nightmares that my guts could just fall out at any moment. Logically I know that's not going to happen, but the gremlins that control my anxiety levels are having a blast making me paranoid.
At this point, I'm at just around a third of the way toward my goal. I've already had to use what I've raised so far to keep the bills paid and pay for part of the surgery. The hospital has put me on an installment plan that will have me paying about $300 a month for 18 months. That is so far outside my budget, so I'm going to be pushing this fundraiser more, and I'd really love it if those of you that have already donated to share this page and encourage your friends to do the same. The more eyes we get on this, the better.
Right now my bank account is looking sad and since I'm missing time from work, my next paycheck is going to be just a little over half of what I usually bring home. It's only the 19th now, but I'm already nervous about being able to make November's rent. And I know things are tight for everyone, so even the smallest donations can make a big difference to me. A $5 donation is just as good as a $500 donation, and I'm grateful for all of them.
I'm grateful for all of you, for all you've done for me, whether it's a donation or words of support or a phone call, all of it. I usually feel like I'm taking on the world all by my lonesome, but I do feel very much supported and cared for thanks to all of you.
Please enjoy my post-op selfie and the grippy socks I absolutely took home with me. I'm wearing them now and I love them. I'm going to be doing nothing but resting today, since I overdid a little yesterday. Later taters.
#surgery#thyroid cancer#fuck cancer#grippy socks#gofundme#fundraiser#help please#reblog the shit out of this
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hello may i have some dvd commentary for this delicious little scene here from Still the pine-woods scent the moon (it’s 300 or so words so i figured a screenshot was easier than copying your own words into here sorry)
honestly anything you’d like to share about this fic i will happily gobble up thank you very much 🤲 thank you, love you, bye!!!!!!
ahaha YES you absolutely can!!!!
(spoilers (ig?) for Still the pine woods scent the moon and E-rated talk ahead!)
1) so by the time i got to writing this scene (which is, what? 3k in out of 15k?), the fic had already been reworked twice-ish
firstly, it was originally a sirius/harry fic – i have 250 words of a bit slightly earlier the fic (the bit where harry admits he wanted to get fucked) that was the original idea the entire fic was built around, except it was harry admitting it to sirius and sirius was having conflicted horny godfather thoughts.
secondly, once i'd rewritten the whole beginning with remus, i wrote up to the "who's right? me or draco?" line without knowing where the fic was going. i say this every time i write a 15k fic, but i really did want this to be a quick PWP – for a while i was considering having remus snap right there and they go straight into mindless feral fucking, because i did not WANT to write another 10k. i never want to write a single word if i can help it. here's a boring screenshot of me talking it through in poor @bronwenackeley's DMs.
2) the last couple of paragraphs in this screenshot were placeholder text. they feel kind of clumsy to me? a bit tell-y? a bit cringe? eventually i decided i didn't have the skill to improve them and just deleted the square brackets and left them as-is lol.
3) i tried to include wolfy words to describe remus when he's losing control around harry. this is probably really obvious and doesn't need me pointing it out, but whenever he's struggling, there's usually a growl or a snarl or a mention of claws or teeth or something. i do think i overdid it with this a bit tbh but i enjoyed having that as a lil goal for myself.
4) finally, and this is not relevant to your screenshot at all but it's my other fav behind-the-scenes fact about this fic, but also in the trash heap doc for this one is 500 words of harry and charlie having sex – bc in one draft, remus DID sneak upstairs and listen at the door when he came home to them doing the do. i was a little sad at having to cut it bc there's a fair chunk of banter-y dialogue (ofc), but it's pretty much all covered by the exchange later in the fic where harry says it was hard to lose himself with charlie, so i just made remus go downstairs and get horny drunk on his own lmao.
i didn't want to make this answer any longer by including the bits i cut/changed, but i do have the harry/sirius and harry/charlie scenes if u wanna see them!! lmk!! ❤️
#sorry this is such a long and boring post 😭#i just really love this type of thing#often more interested in reading ppl writing about things they've written than i am reading the things themselves 🤭#can't say i'm contributing meaningfully to the behind-the-scenes commentary genre but really hoping ppl will do it more in general#ty mari for indulging meeee <3#my fic#tag game
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Devlog: General
Well, I've spent the last several hours smooshing my face against javascript and CSS in Twine trying to get it to do something that seems quite simple and yet it refuses to cooperate--so I'm taking a break to chatter here. The problem is: I know just enough code and syntax to break everything and not enough to fix it 😂
As the above implies, I've started some UI work for a new project! It's been two weeks since the game jam version of "Another Round" got published, and it's gotten some lovely reviews 🥰 and I still love it to bits. (You should play it, if you haven't. Or if you have. I've played it for fun a few times myself) I've been noodling around the edits I want to do--nothing major, some smoothing out, a bit of polish, another round (hah) of typo extermination. I'd like to have the final version done by the end of the year.
I am very new to Twine. I started poking it a year-ish ago but didn't get far beyond the basics of moving between passages. I've been taking it more seriously the last few months and (because I'm a Libra) spent most of my skill points in aesthetics. Designing a pretty UI has been more important than, oh, I don't know, actually making it a game. "Variables? Who needs variables when the vibes are good?"
Me. Turns out, it's me that needs variables.
Since the best way to learn is by playing, the only way to win is by learning and the only way to begin is by beginning, my next project is here to teach! Me..to teach me--I'm not making an educational game.
As part of the Alphabet Superset challenge, every week (ish) for the next six months I'll be posting an update to this game. Each "episode" will vary in length (b/n 500-5000 words) and focus on a theme from the spec fic section of tvtropes.org. Think 90s-era, monster-of-the-week style television with a surprising amount of heart and an unsurprising amount of camp.
You are an agent of [AGENCY NAME REDACTED]--a covert branch of the US Department of the Interior, tasked with the investigation and conservation of paranormal entities, objects and forces found within the United States. Folks, welcome to...
The scope of each "episode" will be small--only a few scenes, typically--which gives me something tangible to work on while I learn how to use Twine better. Six months is a daunting amount of time to commit to this, but my goal is to both grow my Twine skills and establish a supported routine around my creative process so, hey, the time is going to pass anyway. I may as well try, right?
Anyway, that's all for now. First episode will go up next Friday. But I figure it'll take a bit to build some steam. I've got to stop fixating on the damn UI...
okay, I'm gonna take a break and try to smooch a hot tiefling
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Writing in 2023
I join @gywo every year and don't usually meet my word count. I aim for a high goal so even if I fall ridiculously short, I've still written a lot. My goal for this year was 250,000 words and I wrote 179,000, 45k of which ended up as finished fic on AO3.
I went looking through my old Tumblr for this end of year writing meme because I do enjoy looking back.
1. Your favorite fic you’ve written
It's unfinished but Fever Dream High (Pran/Pat, explicit) is my favorite of the year. I had a lot of fun writing about Pran being horny for Pat and the increasingly kinky ways they express their love for each other.
2. Your least favorite fic you’ve written
Give to Me Your Leather (First/Khaotung, teen & up) because it was my first Kinktober fic and I was just not feeling anything I tried to write. There's 500 words of set up and then it just ends.
3. Your most popular fic
Your Lips on My Skin (Prapai/Sky, explicit) which is 2,100 words of Prapai rimming Sky. Pretty content that fandom liked this one.
4. The fic you wish more people would read
Crave You (Vee/Mark, explicit) which is also rimming porn. I think people just don't go searching for Love Mechanics fic (they don't write it either which makes me sad).
5. The fic you most enjoyed writing
From Friends to This (First/Khaotung, mature) I'd only been in BL fandom a couple of months when the GMMTV Outing happened and it was a couple of days of feverish content and wild shenanigans. I have fond memories of being glued to Instagram with a perpetual goofy grin on my face. Of course my introverted faves didn't seem to be as into it as Joylada or some of the others which just delighted me into writing about them sneaking off to make out. I wrote it quickly, grinning all the way through it.
6. Your funniest fic
I don't think any of my fic is all that funny, I write a lot of porn tbh.
7. Your hottest fic
Pretty One (King/Uea, explicit). I get a little worked up about the idea of Uea wearing a tail but writing King being worked up over Uea in a tail was a super hot experience.
8. Your saddest fic
I don't write a lot of sad things but Certain Dark Things (Boston/Nick, mature) is pretty bittersweet for me.
9. The fic you’d like to be remembered for
Alone With You (LiMing/Heart, teen & up) was the first non-porn thing I'd written in ages and it still makes me feel soft and squishy inside.
10. The thing(s) your fic contributed to fandom headcanon
I don't think this is applicable, however at least 26 people have read about Mix taking Fourth's virginity which, while strictly fantasy, is a delight.
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hi vinnie <3 since you’re like my resident writing oomf i gotta ask: do you have any tips on motivating & inspiring yourself to write and get through a writer’s block? seeing you post about your writing is so inspiring but i’ve been struggling for months now rip </3
hmmm tbh i dont rlly have a good answer for you other than teach yourself self-discipline. ive been writing for almost a decade (crazy to think abt lol) and in that time ive basically had to teach myself to commit to writing.
writing is just like any other artform, it's a skill that you build gradually by practicing consistently. the best way to do this is to come up with a goal in your mind and actually work towards this. i don't mean like, deciding you want to write a novel and just writing right away (though that does work for some people) but building steps to slowly achieve that goal.
let's say you want to write a novel. great! the first thing i would do is find time in my schedule to write. a lot of people assume that means sitting down for hours at a time and just typing away but finding time to do that in todays society isnt easy and personally, it's more effective for me to find gaps and short moments to just write for a bit. for me, the most writing gets done when im constrained for time. and you don't have to do it all at once! you can write a little bit at different points of the day too.
i also plan what im going to write before i write it. this doesn't mean i outline necessarily (i don't do that until the second draft) but before writing a scene, ill have a vague idea of what i want to happen in that scene. sometimes it changes as im writing but i never go into writing without a vague idea of what's going to happen.
i think setting a daily goal for yourself is really important. i know writing everyday seems kinda daunting, especially if you didnt do that before but like i said, writing is a skill you build gradually by practicing consistently and you have to be consistent. your daily goal can be a certain page count, word count, or chapter count. whatever works for you. i personally don't rlly like using quantifiable units as my daily goal bc that makes me like check the word count obsessively and prefer to use story markers as my goal instead. basically, i decide before writing i want to reach a certain point in the story by the end of the day. sometimes im in over my head and have to adjust, but it's more useful to think abt it that way for me.
also, if you're just starting out, i would make my daily goal relatively simple and easy to achieve. if word count is how you're counting it, then i'd set it to like 500 words. you might feel frustrated with how slow your progress is but it's more effective to slowly build a story than to write a huge chunk in a short amount of time and then never touch it again. and even if the progress is slow, at least progress is happening!
i know a lot of people have said this but you're also gonna have to allow yourself to write badly. i feel like this something that's difficult to implement into your mindset but it's essential to teach yourself this or else you'll never get anything done. shitty writing doesn't mean you're a shitty writer, it just means that your writing needs more work and the only way to achieve that is by working on it consistently.
i also personally think it's helpful to read the writing processes of other writers and try doing them yourself. lauren groff, for example, writes her entire second draft from memory which sounded absolutely insane to me but i tried it for one of my short stories. that method didn't really work for me but from her method helped me improve my own system. basically for scenes that were in the first draft but were going to be changed pretty drastically, i don't open my first draft at all and just write the scene. every writer's process is different and what works for one writer isn't always going to work for you, but it's still worth a shot to try it and one way or another, it'll help you understand yourself as a writer better.
to me, writing is self-discipline as much as it's art and building a system that works for you is going to take some time but it's necessary to achieve what you're hoping to achieve.
this ended up being longer than i expected but tldr: set a goal, do it everyday 👍
#and even tho i consider myself a disciplined person i do have my undisciplined moments#so not being able to write one day for whatever reason doesnt mean ur a fail writer#progress isnt linear and achieving it is a long and slow road and sometimes theres gonna be bumps you just have to accept that#i hope this was helpful for you lmao#asks
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Nanwum Schemin'
I finished my August writing challenge tonight, and I'm pleased to say that I managed to hit 20,000 words and that's actually enough to cover this year's Christmas special. I tried this last year, but I only wrote 15k in September, and Red Christmas ended up being 32k long, so I wound up writing more than half of it in December anyway. This time, I took that into account, which is why I used August instead. I figured if Blue Christmas ran long, I'd be able to use September to finish it off, but it looks like I managed to fit the entire plot in 20k, so that's satisfying. I need a little more to finish the ending, and there's some stuff I'll want to add and take out, but overall, I have a working first draft that I can have ready for AO3 without much trouble.
I still have to figure out what the hell Yellow Christmas will be about. I saved that one for last, since yellow is the Luffa color, but I think I've used up all the good fanfic AU tropes by now, so I'm gonna have to get creative. But that's a problem for 2024, and I'm here to talk about the fall of 2023.
Concerning the Apocrypha Liveblog, I plan on wrapping up some loose ends in September. Super Dragon Ball Heroes episode 50 came out last week, so I can write about how the Aeos arc (we won!). I also want to knock out the DBS movies, and I think the DBS Manga will probably be done with their Super Hero adaptation, so I'm penciling that in as well. Whatever's left over I can deal with in October or later.
November is NanoWriMo season, and this will be my 7th entry in the event. I don't count my ill-fated attempt in 2003, since I never logged it with the website, and I had no idea what I was doing and flamed out by the second or third day. But I've been doing these since 2017 and I've been racking up wins ever since. I'm feeling confident at the moment, so I'm going to try to set some goals for myself, which I'll put under the cut.
Looking back at my past runs, I've had some good years and some difficult ones where I didn't reach the 50k goal until Day 29 or 30. I always find it more satisfying to finish early if I can. My preference is to have things wrapped up by Day 20, so I can write more stuff in the overrun, or start editing and posting, or just slack off for the next ten days. It's always enjoyable, so I think I need to make this a priority.
For a number of years, my objective was to boost word count and reach certain milestones in the Luffa storyline, but I passed one million words last year, and this year I've nearly finished the Xenoverse 1 adaptation, so things are a little different. I think I can afford to think about how to improve productivity, rather than how to hit certain plot points. So we'll aim for that.
Currently, my earliest win date is Day 17, which I pulled off back in 2021. So I'm going to try to hit 50k on or before Day 16. Here's how.
This month, I learned I can get more done by breaking up my large word goals in to 500 word chunks. To finish by Day 16, I'll need to average about 3000 words a day, which is something I've always struggled to do consistently, but now, I think I can make that work. The idea is to devote six hours across a day, where I write 500 words in each of those hours. It really seemed to help me out this month, so it's time to see if that technique can push me further.
One other thing I want to try is to break my personal record for one-day writing totals. Currently, that stands at 7023 words. So I've chosen three days where I can attempt to do that. I'd like to do more than jut hit 7024, though. 9001 would be pretty sweet for the meme value, but it sounds really daunting.
The important thing here is that I give myself permission to fail. If I can't maintain 3k per day, that's fine, because even falling short of that goal still makes good progress. If I can't make it to 7k or beyond, that's fine too, because wherever I land, it's still a lot of progress. And if I'm not done by Day 16 it's fine, because I'll have two weeks left.
But I think I can do this. The rewards would be sweet. AEW Full Gear is on the 18th, and it'd be pretty great to just have a lazy Saturday where I watch that instead of writing. NJPW will probably run their World Tag League shows between November 15 and December 15, so I'd have the whole second half of November freed up. And mostly, I like the precedent it would set if I could consistently land 3k in six hours or less. I feel like that's something I need to prove to myself.
If this is going to work, I need to do some solid plotting in October so I'm ready. I do reasonably well with "they fight" as a prompt, but if I have a list of spots and story beats to work with, that would cut down on the indecision that usually holds me back.
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Things I've learned and realized writing the fics for Inky's one-week challenge:
I'm a very slow writer; I genuinely struggle writing at least 500 words in one sitting. On good days, I can do 200 words. Inspired, maybe more. Ficlets like ekphrasis and others take me an entire day to finish. It's probably because I start writing with only a vague idea of how to go about it, or I only know the mood but not the details. I'm self-aware enough to be cognizant of my strengths and weaknesses, and I tend to stick to what works for me.
I've always wanted to write lengthy fics! But I never was the kind of writer who could hit more than 10k-word one-shots. My style doesn't lend to that kind of length. When I saw Inky's challenge and read that the max word count per entry is 500 words, I thought to myself, Ooh, I think I can do that. Regardless of the prompts -- though they help too; dialogue and AUs lend to a broadness that appeal to my rigid brain. A 500-word fic means in most cases a one-scene fic. Which frees my mind of context necessary to establish a setting. I don't have to come up with an elaborate backstory and/or explanation why this detail is like this, that detail is like that -- AUs as a trope can fill in the missing pieces to make your fic coherent.
My first fic entry was something that I plan on writing in the future, so it's easy to write it, but it still took me longer (but still within the range of my speed). My second, third, and fourth, I tried something a bit different: I used StimuWrite, an app that helps you focus on writing -- it's also known as a writing tool useful for people with ADHD.
It has a simple UI, with a word count goal and emojis that appear whenever you type words. I chose these settings: darker background (it doesn't hurt the eyes) and typewriter sfx for that legit typing feel. I may put in a bgm from youtube or something, but sometimes I just want to listen only to the sounds of typewriter keys.
I tried StimuWrite before, but it didn't work for me. I gave it another chance this time, and oh lord it's very effective???!???!!!!! I finished 3 fics in under a day. So last Sunday I wrote give or take 2,000 words, which truly blew my mind. As an aside, I recommend you try StimuWrite; it might be effective for you too.
Because of that surprising writing streak, I continued using the app for the rest of the fics. And that writing streak persists! I feel relieved, I feel elated, I feel like I can do this. It's as if my brain loosened up enough to let me do what I want. I'll definitely use StimuWrite in my other fics too --
-- with some conditions, of course. All I know right now is that it works for me if I have a target word count in mind (under 600) and that it's only concentrated on a single scene. So I could focus on one scene whenever I open up the app. But that means that I have an outline of my fic, which isn't a problem for me because I like the mental exercise of outlining. I hope that this would help me come November, as I'll participate in Nanowrimo with my original story project.
Another point I've realized is that limiting yourself with a word count improves your editing skills. I do edit and revise my fics -- but they're mostly in the sort of 'i'll delete this passage because it no longer fits' and 'i'll rephrase this because it sounds awkward'. But in the cases of my sixth and seventh event fics, I had to pare them down because I exceeded the word count requirement. Initially I was reluctant to remove passages but I had to. So I did. I removed some bits and details of the story but rephrased others to still fit them in. I have to shorten some scenes -- and this is revelatory to me somewhat -- which is actually effective for fast-paced action scenes that needed fewer words but with the largest possible impact. Sometimes, shorter is better. It made me productive, for one.
Anyway, this got long wtf? I don't even know if I was coherent about it. There are still a lot of things I'd like to improve on -- such as relying less on my crutch words and metaphors. I haven't the opportunity to read a lot lately, so I need to try at least one page a day. The book I'm currently reading has been sitting on my desk for months. Back then, when I said I wouldn't make a list of read books per year to stop pressuring myself, I didn't mean not to read books at all lmao.
I don't know how to end this post so here's a gif of a puppy on a bowl:
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The book was Twin Crowns! It was okay, like Idid really enjoy the story and the worldbuilding, but there’s two pov characters which somehow made the ending feel really rushed despite it being 500 pages (I think it’s the chaos of having too much going on whike constantly switching back and forth between both characters). Also, it’s apparently part of a series, which I’m kinda meh about because I didn’t know when I bought it since the second book wasn’t out yet. And I’m not really sure if I want to stick with the series or not.
Yeah, there was a really long break between season 3 and season 4 because covid (I think). Tbf, animation also takes a long time. But the show didn’t get cancelled! In fact, it got confirmed for a total of 7 seasons, which it needs because it tends to tell a story over several seasons. Like 1-3 is one story and 4-7 is a different but still related story after a 2-year time skip. But yeah, I get not continuing. I almost quit after s4 because that one was a mess (they have a habit of making things canon in bonus material, which can cause for some amazing whiplash /neg when you haven’t read those), but I decided to still try season 5 to see if it was better (and it mostly was, the pacing is just still a bit all over the place). So I think I’ll stick with it for the last two seasons.
Oh and the original writing is going well! I gave myself a 200 words a day writing goal. It’s still relatively low so it’s easier to make myself write every day (mostly so I don’t drop it immediately when I don’t feel like writing, I just have to open the document and write 200 words, or 150 if it’s really not going). At the same time it allows me to make decent progress when I do feel like writing (mainly because I already have some scene written from when I was figuring out the story and characters so now I can use/rewrite those for this first draft). It’s a lot of fun and I feel like I’m actually writing something good for once. (continuously reminding myself that it���s just a first draft also helps to take the pressure off.)
Anyway, How’s your day going/gone, Bee?
-🌲
hmm yeah multiple pov characters can definitely make things feel rushed depending on how you use it. I try to avoid multiple povs whenever I can because it's just a lot to balance, but I think it can work. you just gotta be careful with it
if you're already feeling meh about the next book I'd say don't bother with it unless you hear some really amazing reviews about it. there's so many interesting things to read out there, if you've already given the story a shot and you're not into it, there's no harm in just reading the first one
oh that's cool that the show didn't get cancelled!! makes sense why I thought it did though if there was a really long pause. glad to hear they're still going strong!! though I gotta admit making stuff canon in the bonus material is. not a great way to go about it. guys cmon.
one thing I remember from that show though was that amaya could step on me and I'd thank her
that's a really good word count goal to have!! 200 words a day is really good progress but it takes so much pressure off for sure. also it's always important to remember that the first draft might end up not looking anything like the final draft so just do whatever you can to get the story down on paper. you can always edit later :)
my day's been alright! had to run some errands, go to appointments, figure out how to drag a gigantic tv box down to the dumpster in my buildings parking garage, cooked fish in an air fryer for the first time- just a lot of stuff lol
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...And now for a quick rant about the perils of wordcount! (Aren't you glad I have more space here than on Twitter or Mastodon? ;) )
Wordcount is such a lovely, easy metric for writers to track when we're trying to mark progress/finish a book in a reasonable amount of time. But it is a terrible, terrible manager if you let it control your actual writing...and I am way too prone to doing that.
A little while ago, I figured out that if I wanted to finish my current w-i-p (Claws and Contrivances, Book 2 in my Regency Dragons trilogy) as quickly as I'd hoped, I'd have to average 3,000 words a week until the first draft is finished. OK! I can usually manage a pretty steady 500 words a day, so that's not too bad at all...
...Until something comes up, like illness or a plot hurdle or a trip. In the last week, I hit both of those last two issues. First, my nice, steady writing pace slammed to a halt when I came to the point in the book where a big, underlying plot issue finally has to be brought to light, its back story satisfyingly explained...and I realized I still had no idea what the real backstory was. Oops. (The perils of being an exploratory writer in my first drafts!) Sometimes I can figure that kind of moment out on the fly; sometimes I have to really think hard for a while to work it out, and for some reason, this was one of those times when my thoughts got completely snarled up in each other, like a tangled ball of wool.
Second, I was due to head out on a weekend mini break with my older son, which was going to be amazing and also massively energy-intensive (especially with my M.E./CFS). I know there are writers like the late and wonderful Terry Pratchett who religiously hit their planned word counts every day of their lives and put off everything else until later...but (a) M.E./CFS forces me to limit my own activities severely, giving me far less leeway to do other important stuff later, and (b) personally, when I have to choose between my writing and my kids, my kids will always come first, especially while they're both so young.
...which doesn't mean that I don't worry. The truth was, even as I soaked in amazing new experiences and had wonderful parenting moments every day, I also felt low-level guilty All The Time because I wasn't making myself write while we were away. Therefore, I was totally screwing up my wordcount goal...
But guess what? Today I sat down to write for the first time since our trip away...and with my very first cup of coffee, I wrote out the words at the top of my notebook page, "So, what has been going on with Rose's uncle?"
...And the answer was right there! It was waiting for me in my subconscious, helpfully untangled by my back-brain while I was away soaking in new experiences and creative stimulation. I wrote out two swift pages of very thorough notes, and then I wrote 1185 words of the next scene (a nigh-on miraculous amount for me that flowed out as if they'd been only waiting for their chance).
If I'd hammered away at my manuscript, trying stubbornly to hit my planned wordcount without a break over the weekend, not only would I have missed out on a lot of amazing experiences with my kid (which have, btw, already started other new stories simmering in my mental background!), but I also truly don't believe I would have managed to figure out the whole backstory and get as far into the manuscript by today as I have now. Sometimes, our writing-brains just need breaks - time off to putter around unobserved, slowly unsnarling plot tangles. Sometimes, we just need to find a way to get new kinds of creative stimulation to get our stories flowing.
Word count tracking is a nice, satisfying metric, but it's a TERRIBLE and unhelpful line-manager - and I'm passing on this reminder to you in case I'm not the only one who ever forgets this!
Also: have a 21-second video of ocean waves from the beach in Penarth, Wales. I'm so glad I didn't miss them!
instagram
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✨ao3 wrapped 2022✨
Felt tagged by cinematicnomad, thx for that!
Works published: 77, and I'm just 4 fics shy of a total amount of 500 works on Ao3, taking prompts atm to crack that nice number before the end of the year!
Word count: 158,133 which means I surpassed my goal of 150k for the year! I knew I'd never make it to the record breaking 500 of last year, what with studying and working cutting into the fandom time, but I did set myself that goal to try and keep up with my writing at least a bit, and I made it past the goal just this week! & It's actually a bit more than the current number because a gift fic is still in my draft until the 31st.
Kudos: 2443
Hits: 26768
Bookmarks: 201
Subscriptions: 75 (& 138 user subscriptions which I think isn't this year's, but just the current amount? Also, Why does anyone subscribe on Ao3 instead of using bookmarks, it just cloggs the email adsfg)
most popular by kudos: Love me for me at 282
most hits: also love me for me 3195 (I think that's a Mirandy fic? Ao3 stats don't link to the actual work, just showing me the name and amount. I could go to my works & filter for it but I'm feeling lazy)(edit: had to anyway bc of another q later on and yes it's Mirandy! It's just the biggest fandom I'm in at the moment, other fics might just have gotten 30 kudos but then I know literally everyone in for example the Gunpowder Milkshake fandom read it xD so these stats really don't mean a lot without context)
longest: death can't part us, distance might 9k I know that one, TOG reverse bang! I didn't write very long stories this year, barely had the time to finish oneshots before forgetting about the plot, definitely didn't get around to writing any longfics!
shortest: jeesh now I did have to go to works & filter... There are a bunch of '0 words' visual works, but the shortest actual fics are a bunch of drabbles (exactly 100 words each), I wrote 17 of them this year
most comments: here to learn another Mirandy fic. Lovely how active that fandom is!
fics that made me cry: of my own fics?? Idk maybe this Milippa fic. By other people? Lots! Can't think of any atm though either, but if you filter my bookmarks for angst or h/c it's probably everything you find there
fics that made me smile: Goncharov :):):) just the fandom in general but Katfia and the fact that it's the main ship of the fandom & I wrote 15 ficlets already makes me smile a lot :)
gifts: I got a bunch of gift exchange gifts actually from 2021 exchanges, then some where I sent prompts for the fics, and one Mirandy fic where the idea for the fic was mine. I gave 13 gifts as well for various reasons
collaborations: two Andromaquynh reverse bang gift&art combos with @wrenaspun @unjapanologist , and a Mirandy collab discord writing challenge thingy with @guardianrock @stupidsexycopshows @scarlet-heels (does Alyssa have a tumblr?), it was fun!
events: reverse bang, gift exchanges, most recently the Berena winter songfic event by the amazing @batnbreakfast and @ktlsyrtis and the still ongoing Bering and Wells exchange by @purlturtle and Mirandy by @stupidsexycopshows <3
Tagging everyone I've already tagged above, @sterenheart @mako-and-tails-and-stuff @cookie-sheet-toboggan and any other writer mutuals who see this, only if you want to of course!
#ao3 wrapped#ao3 stats#reminds me i think i got an ask about the b&w exchange I ought to answer oupsie#x#tagging meme#ao3 link#lilo writes#lilo writes behind the scenes#my post#mine#dec'22#27.12.22
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So, like, I knew that Stephen King said to write 1,000 words per day for consistency so that your fictional world never runs away from you. And I used to think that level of discipline would never be something for me, especially as someone who has been in school or working or both for a long time.
I have done NaNo multiple times in the past but that always felt like a little too much, and I really do not do well on keeping up the same number of words. Some days I would get 4,000 and sometimes I'd get 600. I won three out my four attempts of NaNo, so I can't say that it doesn't work to having a completed manuscript, but I also have to say that I was successful sometimes because of the amount of planning and preparation I did before November.
But, I started working on the Silena fic™ since February 13th, but I didn't start actively writing 1,000 words per day until about 10 days later on February 23rd. I noticed how much progress I'm able to make writing just 1,000 words a day, even if it is just exactly 1,000 words and stepping away.
Some days I have the energy to write a lot. I wrote 4,755 words on March 9th. Some days I don't have the energy to write a lot, and then I just barely write 1,000 words and I shove my laptop away because I don't want to look at it again. But the most surprising thing I found was on the days that I had the energy to write more, but I wrote 1,000 words then stopped.
On those days, I felt like I wasn't working myself hard enough and that I wasn't doing everything that I could. To be fair, I wasn't. I was doing the bare minimum of what I could do. But, I found that when I had the energy to write an extra, say, 100 words, or 500 words but I didn't, I would think about what's going to happen next in my story and then I would get excited for the next day to write.
Something else I thought of is that during NaNo I usually am like chained to a table with my laptop until I'm finished with the day's word count, but I haven't felt this way at all with the measly goal of 1,000 a day. Like, most of the time if I have a free hour at work I'm able to get them all done, then I feel like I have a completely free afternoon from work. Or I spend an hour or two at the public library after my work day (I work a typical 8-4:30) and I crank out my words. (Not to mention that now I'm a local fixture of the public library which helps me feel more in tune with my community).
I have felt so much pride in my self-discipline in this past month writing at minimum 1,000 words per day. Some days I write more if I want, but some days I want and I hold off. But sometimes I take that writing energy and I use it other places, like when I wrote 1,400 for the Silena fic™, then wrote 4,025 words for About You (the jasico fic).
I think that even after I finish this fic, I'll keep up this 1,000 words a day. I don't know how, but I think that it'll be so beneficial to me. I hate that Stephen King was right.
#on writing#also after stephen king became one of my writing people i emulate it became so obvious#because half of the shit i want to write is random tangents with deep history to explain context#like we can't do this all the time my dude
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Now that you just broke my heart with story and carter.. how about you make it up to us all by telling us this:
Who/what/when/where/HOW did Steven Blade Drysdale realize he was going to be a menace to women everywhere😍 …and can I have dibs?
Listen! I can't spill all the beans BUT since everyone is interested in Blade and his future reader insert girl, let's visit their second meeting!
Oral Fixations
Summary: Blade finds his Lolita
Pairings: Blade Drysdale X New!Young!Reader
Rating: Fluff
Warnings: Blade. He's a menace, 18+ ONLY
Word Count: 500
Desperate Lives AU Masterlist
Blade Drysdale Masterlist
"I'll be with you in just a minute," Blade sees you behind the desk. Your hands quickly sketching something on your notepad. Watching you lift a strand of pearls to your mouth, he gives a little smirk. He cannot tear his eyes away from the pearls. The way your mouth barely pulses over it. Your finger wrapping around the strand, and he has to shake his head to tear his eyes away from you.
"I'm sorry," you look up at him dropping the pearls from your mouth, and take a deep gulp. Blade Drysdale is in your shop, when he gives you a crooked smile you look back down at your work. "What...what do you need Mr. Drysdale?"
Blade grimaces, "Ugh, I'd prefer you not call me that. Mr. Drysdale is my dad. And I only every hear it when my mom wants to jump...you know never mind," he huffs out a chuckle until he looks back at you, "Wait. How do you know me?"
Your eyes go wide, "Well, um, I um...your name is on the appointment book."
"No it's not," he stands to walk closer to you. "Do I know you?"
"I graduated with Lucy," he inhales deeply nodding his head.
"Well, I think this may be a bad idea. I'm sorry," he turns to walk away.
"I wasn't...I didn't join in on the gossip about Story. There's always many sides to a story right?" he looks at you over his shoulder. "We met at your house. Lucy's graduation party."
"You walked in my bedroom?" you nod your head with a smile. "Okay, so, I need a suit for my sister's wedding."
"Which one? Surely not Lucy."
"Definitely not. The man that ropes that girl down is going to be a brave one. No, the oldest sister, Aster. She's marrying a doctor this time," you raise your eyebrows at him with a smile, and lead him to the pedestal to get his measurements. "Oh, uh...is someone else going to do this?"
"It's just me here today Blade. You can reschedule tomorrow, but I'm afraid that it'll be me or my mother most the day. My older brother won't be in until next week," you give him the sweetest smile you can muster.
"Right. Can we go back on my former measurements?"
"Have you been working out?" Blade looks at you confused but nods. "Well, I'm assuming you've been working out a lot since your last measurements were taken," he looks at you confused, and you giggle, "The goal for working out is to get...thicker right? I'm a professional. I promise not to make you uncomfortable."
"Jefferson won't be back until next week?"
"Correct."
"Fine," he stands on the platform, watching you step closer. Those pearls going back into your mouth, "Nervous tick?" you pull out the strand and start to apologize. "It's cute. Nothing wrong with an oral fixation."
Masterlist
#desperate lives#desperate lives au#desperate affairs#desperate affairs au#DA AU#DA AU chat#blade drysdale#blade drysdale x reader#blade drysdale x younger!reader#desperate verse#chris evans#evansverse#evans verse#evanstan#evanstan verse#evanstanverse
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Response to an ask from Ophelia:
(this is the one after your birthday!!)
You're welcome for the birthday wishes! I hope you had a good day, or that it was better than other days. It's nice to know that my response made you happy, as that's generally the goal with birthdays!
Also, it actually wasn't selfish at all to talk about your birthday so much. You are allowed to do that! It's the one day of the year with that kind of significance to you, and you are allowed to celebrate it! You didn't talk about your birthday "so much," you talked about it a perfectly reasonable amount (and also a lot less than some other people would). Seriously you sent one message about it, that's not annoying and not selfish. You don't need to avoid sending messages like that (or messages of any kind), you're okay <33
Ahh you are so sweet I'm not sure how to properly articulate how much your words mean to me. Thank you so much, Ophelia. I really enjoy analyzing the characters, the world, the series in general, so it's incredibly gratifying to hear that others enjoy reading them as well. They're pretty long, so sometimes I wonder if I should set a word limit for myself (like 500-600 words) to make it more palatable to everyone else. But I also really like sharing as many of my thoughts as possible, and I so frequently exceed the limit. All that to say I'm thrilled you enjoy one of my main contributions to the fandom !!
Hearing that I'm an integral part of the fandom is surreal (/pos)!! I think a few others have said it in the past (someone once said that I was keeping the fandom going through the content drought, another that I was one of the main people posting, etc.) but it never ceases to blow my mind. And the fact that I can enter fandom spaces I've never been in before and see my name mentioned before I was there (like on the discords) by people I've never met.
It's nice to know I've had a positive impact on the fandom and that you enjoy having me around, as I like being here and interacting with everyone. You're all very sweet and supportive, and I really appreciate this <33 (don't worry you're making sense, and thank you for putting in the effort to be so kind)
As for my writing and art, thank you! When it comes to writing there's so many possibilities and I love taking advantage of them when trying to tell a story. That's kinda how the wings au spiraled into such a huge story, as I couldn't resist taking advantage of all the little things. There are several scenes and plot things I never had any intention of writing, but then I (or someone else!) noticed a bit of potential and I turned it into something bigger. One of my favorite things to do is use words to describe things in ways they aren't supposed to, breaking the rules essentially. Things like warm sounds and broken air, just trying to find new ways to convey stories and paint those vivid pictures.
For the art, also thank you!! I haven't done as much recently because I've been focusing on the wings au, but when I'm done with it I'd love to go back and redraw some of my older pieces and compare them. it's so much fun to create art for the series and share it, so I'm glad you enjoy them. I actually have two pieces in progress right now of a certain two characters who recently made the cover...
It's incredibly sweet of you to say I'm skilled, so thank you so much. I try to be good at the things I do!
I don't know how to convey how much this means to me, so thank you for it. I hope you also have a good day/night. Asks like this seriously make my day and I never expect them, so they're always a nice surprise. I wish I knew how to explain the depth of my gratitude, but it's like this...resounding echo in my head? That kind of emotion where it's really big and takes up a lot of space and goes on forever in a good way!! You're a wonderful person, Ophelia, and thank you for this <33
#some people did a quil appreciation hours a while back and this reminded me of that#seriously thank you so much#I've said it so many times but I don't know how else to convey it#<33#i hope you're doing well. that your birthday was nice. that you're okay#i really appreciate you <33#quil's queries#ophelia nonsie#quil's queridos#long post#colored text
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The Great Blank Spot @high-queen-margo
So much goes into creating fanfiction even before the first words hit the paper. And in-depth spotlight on our writers and the process behind their work.
Tell us about your current project.
I'm currently writing Timeline 25 for the 39 Graves Project! I've split the timeline into two parts: Julia and Margo. Julia's half explores her time at Brakebills leading up to her death and the Beast's first visit. In Margo's half, she picks up Julia's place by Quentin's side to find Fillory while Brakebills seems to fall apart around her.
The fics are finally posted fromThe Trials. Did you participate?
I signed up, but unfortunately I was in my last semester at college and I just didn't have time to put in the work, so I had to withdraw!
What is your current word count?
21,659
Do you try to write daily? Do you have a word count or other goals you try to hit for each writing session?
I try to write daily! Sometimes it doesn't work, but I do my best. My general goal is 500 words a day, but some days I struggle to hit it while other days I can manage up to 1,500.
What was the inspiration for this fic?
The entire fic is built off of the stipulations I was given for my timeline, so I'd say that's my main inspiration! Other than that, I just do what I think would be interesting.
How do you stay motivated between chapters/stories?
I watch the show. A lot. It also helps to talk to my friends about what I'm doing with it; they're very supportive!
Did this fic require any research? How much research do you typically do for your fics?
Only the show's lore and details, other than a little bit of looking into Columbia University--that level of research is about normal for my fics. I thought I had everything nailed down months ago, but I still notice a detail or make a connection I hadn't realized before and need to go back and tweak everything to fit. I realize it's not going to be perfect, but being as true to the show as possible is part of what makes this so challenging and so rewarding!
Do you typically write ahead or post as you go?
I don't normally do multi-chapter fics anymore, but when I did, I'd write ahead at first, get impatient, and then post the chapters faster than I could write more. And I never ended up finishing! I'm definitely more of a oneshot kind of girl.
How much planning and outlining did you do before you started putting words on paper?
Almost three full pages worth of a bullet outline, which is absolutely wild to me. I've never planned or outlined a fic before in my life. The amount of twisting and turning different plot events trying to get everything to click made it impossible to write without an outline, though, and I felt much better about tackling the fic once I did it.
Has it been pretty smooth sailing or rough waters? When things get rocky, how do you handle needing to rewrite sections or scrap scenes entirely?
It was rough for a long time, but I think I'm getting into the swing of things! I started out switching between points of view whenever it felt necessary, then I scrapped it entirely and chose three points of view to do separately, then dropped one. It's a lot of grappling with which events the readers need to see and which characters would conceivably be there for them. When I rewrite or scrap a section, I copy/paste it into a different document in case I want it back later. I still have several pages of Alice's point of view that I won't be able to use, but I'm keeping it around to help me when I end up writing the same events from Julia and Margo's points of view.
Teaser
Margo sighed and sat down next to Alice. “Okay,” she said, “Eliot and Todd are off getting help, and I don’t think that thing is coming back, so start from the beginning.”
Alice nodded. “My brother, Charlie, he…he died here at Brakebills, years ago, and I wanted to know why. And I thought, you know, when I saw Marina at alumni week…she’s supposed to be so good at everything. I mean, she’s one of Brakebills’ greatest Knowledge students. If anyone could help me find Charlie, it was her.”
“But she didn’t choose you,” Margo said. “She chose Julia, didn’t she?”
“I swear,” Alice said, “I swear she wasn’t supposed to get hurt. She offered to help, and she adapted this ritual for two people, and it looked right. It felt right, at first. But it wasn’t, and I think I knew that, and I just kept going. She stopped and tried to stop me but we were so close to finishing and I just…I just kept going. The wards went down. Just for a few moments.”
“And he got in,” Margo said.
The Great Blank Spot is an in-depth spotlight focusing on the writing process and previewing in-progress fics for our fandom. It is meant to be an organic, ever-evolving feature. Previously interviewed fic writers can reach out to us here, to have a specific work featured. If you’d like to have a work featured but haven’t done the author spotlight, reach out to us to get started. If you have suggestions for questions you’d like to see answered, shoot us an ask!
#the magicians#the magicians rec centre#the great blank spot#author spotlight#author spotlight: high-queen-margo
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