#wip cleanout

[persimmonthusiast]

WIP Cleanout part III: ATS baby gym - animated

the Leka Circus baby gym from ATS, now with animated toys! that's it, just a very small mesh edit with a half-assed preview featuring Brian Broke. For the animations to function properly, you either need the original DangleMaster Deluxe (edited version available here) or the animation fix by @honeywell-mts

DOWNLOAD (SFS)

I wanted to do the bouncing chair from the same set as well but it kept crashing my game, so for now I gave up on this one…

Credits: original mesh by Sandy at ATS

[exewing]

doooodle

[scarecrowbutch]

oh mr pharmacist

[questinwitchface]

I need to clean out my WIP folder again. If prior experience is anything to go by, this will take the better part of a day. A responsible adult would wait until they had several uninterrupted hours to complete the task. I'm going to start at 11:30 at night and not go to bed until it's done. :)

[fanauthorworkshop]

Applications now open!

The Fall 2024 Fanauthor Workshop is a 7-week writing course led by Betts (@bettsfic). The workshop lends a supportive space to writers who identify as fans to receive constructive feedback on fanfiction, original fiction, or creative nonfiction.

Art by @emimayooo 💖

Where & When

We meet weekly over Zoom. You can apply for one of two sessions:

Group A: Wednesdays from Oct. 9 - Nov. 20, 12-2pm EST

Group B: Mondays from Oct. 7 - Nov. 18, 6-8pm EST

What

FAW is a feedback-oriented workshop with the occasional generative session. This means that each week we read 2 pieces submitted by participants, offer written feedback, and discuss them over Zoom. You'll be able to sign up for the week you would like to workshop your own piece, which can be anything under 6k words.

There may be weeks where, in lieu of workshopping, I present external readings and writing exercises. These sessions will be dependent on the number of participants. For example, if we have 10 participants and 6 workshop weeks, that means one week will be devoted to a reading discussion and generative activity.

I developed a workshop model that focuses mostly on affirmations and positivity, as well as descriptive over prescriptive feedback, which is to say, describing one's experience of reading rather than prescribing solutions to perceived problems. We also present improvement-oriented feedback, but avoid negativity, judgment, and pedantry. Week 1 is spent going over the model and how to give feedback.

About FAW

The first FAW was held in 2017 as an independent study in my MFA. I restarted it in 2022 and since then have led 9 sessions with a total of over 50 participants, about half of whom have participated in the workshop more than once.

Participation in the workshop includes entrance into the FAW community, an active Discord server where we host:

Ongoing accountability meetings, where we chat over Zoom about our projects and set goals for ourselves every other week

A monthly longform writing workshop, where writers can workshop any story between 6k and 100k words

A short story club, where we read and chat about original short form works

Events and activities like movie nights and co-op gaming

Scheduled write-ins and impromptu writing sprints

We also chat about writing and craft, offer resources, and share many, many pet photos.

In addition, participants of the workshop receive:

A one-hour consultation with me to go over your workshop feedback, come up with a plan for revision and/or publication, or anything else you’d like to discuss regarding your writing

Open enrollment in future workshops

Priority sign-ups for WTFS (Write the Fucking Story), WIP Cleanout, and other one-off generative sessions

Eligibility

Anyone over the age of 18 who considers themselves a participant of fandom and who is familiar with fanfiction may apply. A stable internet connection is also required.

Cost

The cost of the workshop is "pay what you can" with the recommended amount of $300. To be as inclusive as possible, I don't want money to be a deterrent for anyone interested in participating.

Payment (or notification of nonpayment) will be requested prior to the start of workshop via PayPal, Venmo, or Wise. You can also pay in installments.

Application requirements

To apply, you will need:

An informal cover letter discussing your fan history and goals as a (fan)writer (more specific instructions on submittable)

A short sample of your writing, either original work or fanfiction. This may be previously published/posted

You can apply via submittable. Applications close September 15.

FAQ under the cut

FAQ

Are there any content restrictions to what I can workshop?

The only restriction is word count (max 6k), with the following caveats:

If you workshop a piece in a form other than prose (for example, a script), your peers may not be able to offer constructive feedback on that aspect of the work. Participants are asked only to have a familiarity with prose.

Content warnings are required for each piece (if applicable), and participants who are uncomfortable reading certain subject matter may abstain from your workshop.

What is the time commitment of the workshop?

As a participant of the workshop, you'll be asked to:

Workshop any piece of your own prose up to 6k words, which will need to be uploaded to the group folder one week before your workshop.

Read 2 pieces per week, write out your individual crit, and attend the workshop itself.

What is the timeline of the workshop?

In week 1, we go over the syllabus and do a writing exercise. Weeks 2 through 7 will be a workshop, a discussion of an external reading, or a writing activity. Prior to the start of workshop, you'll be able to sign up for the week you would like to workshop your piece.

Structure of the sessions:

Question of the day

First workshop

Short break

Second workshop

We'll go over my workshop model and the syllabus in week 1.

Do I have to participate in the Zoom meetings (camera and mic on)?

Attending the workshop itself is required, and everyone is asked to offer at least one note of positive feedback on each piece, so mics are necessary. Cameras are preferred but not required.

You can't asynchronously participate, i.e. read the pieces and offer written feedback without attending the sessions.

Can workshop participants submit to OFIC Magazine?

Yes! Part of the reason I run the workshop is to inspire and promote the original work of fanwriters. You can follow us on tumblr @oficmag.

Who is running the workshop?

@bettsfic! In short, I lived a dreary cubicle life as a banker until I found fanfiction at 24. I loved it so much that I quit my job to get an MFA in creative writing. I loved the MFA so much that I became a writing teacher. I have some publications, awards, an agent, and 2 million words of fic on ao3. I don't have a book out yet but I'm getting there.

Currently I'm a writing coach and freelance editor. I also have a lowkey writing-related newsletter. And I've been answering writing advice asks on my blog for 10 years.

If you want an idea of the kind of writing activities I create, last summer I worked with @books on a workshop series which includes craft essays and some fun prompts.

If you're interested in my original work, my short story "Not If, When" is a good representation of my writing. For something darker, check out "Shut Up and Kill Me."

What is the workshop like?

Check out G's experience of attending the workshop. And here's some feedback from previous participants.

One final note: I'm working on updating the copy about the workshop on my website and move it over to OFIC's website. This post and Submittable has the most updated information on the workshop. If you have questions about discrepancies (or anything at all), you can shoot me an ask, DM me, or add me on Discord (I'm bettsfic there too). Or you can email me at ekweeks@gmail.com.

[bettsfic]

This may be a strange question, but as someone who has never gotten the hang of using notebooks in my day to day life (unless it's once in a while to outline something specific like a project for work), what are the kinds of things you write down in them?

for journaling, that's complicated. youtube always recommends me these "journaling will improve your life!" videos and i think they're very funny because i've kept a journal for 20 years and it has made me a worse and more miserable person. so i will not be writing any "how to journal" posts any time soon.

my commonplace notebook, however, is where i keep everything. every morning i write down the date, the hours i slept, and my weight. occasionally i track my mood and mental state, because when i meet with my psychiatrist i like to have cold hard data to give her. then beneath that, i write out my to do list for the day.

it's kind of a reverse bullet journal in that you fill it up with all the random ephemera of your life and then label the important bits with a highlighter and index it later.

more specifically i keep:

the books/movies/shows/etc that are recommended to me.

notes i take at the doctor's office, or when i do my taxes, or get my oil changed. i'm a compulsive note-taker. in fact i started a commonplace notebook because it calms me to have something to write on and with even in situations where that's weird. i'd rather look weird than be anxious.

ideas for fanfic, original work, newsletters, craft thoughts, workshop models, etc.

brainstorming/planning/prewriting stories.

tracking my WIP cleanout and annual goals.

doodling!

i think sometimes we get caught up in building spaces for things to keep them organized, like that's the whole point of bujo. you create a page layout to do a specific function and then you fill it out. but that doesn't account for the stuff you haven't made a page for, stuff that would be blight in a bujo. we also think that a whole page needs to be devoted to a specific thing, or a notebook needs to be devoted to its subject. but you an also just...not do that.

it's a lot of work to setting up a bujo. work i would love to have the energy and aesthetic inclinations to do. but i don't. so i do the next best thing which is fill up every page in the most chaotic way possible.

poorly scanned example pages under the cut:

these are notes i took during my rewatch of Mockingjay in preparation of writing Wind of the New World.

notes about leveling my Genshin team, and notes about a story i was working on. and a to do list.

working through a plot knot in Skinless.

Stardew Valley farm planning. and a grocery list i think.

i don't recommend this method for everyone. i think if i were to have read this post 2 years ago my thought would be, "what the fuck is wrong with you." but it works for me and makes me happy, and as long as all the important information is safely indexed and retrievable, it doesn't matter how messy the pages get.

[ahedderick]

Weekends are so FULL. I was ready to go to bed shortly after 7 this evening. In addition to the activities of the day, I had a couple of intense episodes of vertigo today. One of them knocked me right off my feet and onto the grass near the gourd vines, I had to hold onto the ground until the farm stopped spinning around me.

The upcoming week will likely bring a big storage-room cleanout, an large-scale applesauce project, completion of the winter quilt, completion of an old wip painting I found, a pawpaw giveaway, and the usual assortment of farm events. Erm. Bring it on! I say, gesturing feebly.

[bisquequick]

last line challenge

Thanks for the tag, @tealmisthams! I am doing some WIP cleanout so it's been a weirdly productive week.

This one is DONE but this is the last line I edited. I cannot emphasize enough how misleading this line is.

She only uttered a single word, her voice dripping with urgent, pathetic need.

Tagging with no pressure: @lamaenthel, @hannah-schooler, @acatinwinterfell, @theblueeyedfirebender, and anyone else who wants to participate!

[thechaoscryptid]

The Great WIP Cleanout of 2024

(and a general life update because hello, I am indeed still alive)

SO 👏🏻 I've been busy doing pretty much everything BUT writing for the bulk of the year, but especially these past few months I've been absent. There's been a lot of zine work (ended up as a surprise shipping and finance mod on four projects in various stages of completion), a lot of knitting (hats are my favorite things, actually), and I got really into M*A*S*H over the summer (Hawkeye...beloved.....).

Despite the large amount of not-writing, I have been working on SOME things. I published my first erotica story in @/duckprintspress anthology Many Hands, I have a narrative poem in an upcoming poetry zine from Memento Viviere Press, and have been picking steadily at some other short stories for publication and press patreon rewards.

I also have a really, really big creative journey I'm about to embark on, and that means getting serious about what I'm actually going to finish and NOT finish fanwork-wise (as well as doing some major housecleaning in my docs folders so I can go into this with a clear head).

I've got a whole shitload of work in my documents that, realistically, I am not going to finish. I'm either uninterested in the work, the fandom, or some other aspect of the ~process~ and those obstacles are making finishing the WIP more hassle than it's worth. That said, I want to share what I have, because some of it slaps (even though it's old)!

Sooooo over the next week or so, you can expect to see me putting quite a bit of unfinished and abandoned work on AO3 in the interest of utilizing its ARCHIVE function. I'll also be posting a summary to finish Wake the White Wolf - the fic was SO close to my heart for a long time, and I'm really grateful for every single person who's ever been invested, but the style and knowledge gap between when I stopped updating and now is just. Impossible to bridge (and not something I have the time and energy to do these days).

I'm gonna try and be here a little more too, because I miss interacting with y'all. I think the time away has done me a solid and left me a bit more centered, more able to get in touch with myself and really hammer out my next steps in both writing and life in general.

(and you can DEFINITELY count on me still doing fanwork, even though I've been moving toward more original stuff ❤️❤️)

[the-resurrection-3d]

I posted this on Twitter but some of y'all might find it funny.

I have a TOH choose-your-own-adventure AU I started shortly after the finale aired, and for various malarkey reasons that don't matter I never finished. I'd tried @bettsfic's WIP cleanout method on it, but could never figure out how to get it done (tagging Betts because I think this is the kind of thing she'd find fun).

Recently, I started reading about the metafiction of Robert Coover and TL;DR remembered that I'm a hack and making sense is for suckers. So I put my four main scenes (which are supposed to be along two divergent paths that merge before diverging again) into piles, gave them a number, and rolled a die. I started with my "landing page," rolled the die, and then took a passage from that pile that felt vaguely connected enough. And I just took scissors and cut them out and taped them together into one long story worm.

I finished this today; it ended up being 8 feet long.

Ended up cutting 1.3k words this way, but of course I gotta actually revise it now and add an ending.

[persimmonthusiast]

WIP Cleanout part II : Mango "Orane" table mesh fix + glass recolors This one was a bit of a struggle. I think this coffee table was screaming for a glass tabletop so I made glass recolors in 7 different shades. I simply wanted to share my recolors but then noticed the mesh itself was buggy and ended up fixing it + adding slots. - Sims won't walk through the table but around it - No more jump bugs when a Sim tries to place an object on the table - 2 extra functional slots for all coffee table stuff - Price is now §300 cause I don't like cheaty §1 furniture - Same GUID as the original, pre-existing recolors still work. DOWNLOAD (SFS)

yeti colors swatch (pebble, petal, pool, seaglass, shortcake, snow and soot)

credits: original mesh by Mango-Sims, @shastakiss for the yeti palette

[ravyn-pain]

Oc cleanout on my toyhouse!

Trying to get some money to buy a dreamie i have on hold for me

Either comment here or dm me!

Mainly looking for money (paypal)

https://toyhou.se/Ravyn_Pain/characters/folder:all/tags:1/extagged:Nfs,NFS,FOREVER%20HOMED,Wip,Hold/taga:1

[porcupine-girl]

Chapters: 8/9 Rating: Explicit Relationships: Eric Bittle/Jack Zimmermann Summary:

A collection of alternate ways Jack and Bitty could have gotten together if Bad Bob had never given his son that important push at graduation.

---

I posted that chapter! This is Story 4, Part III, and it comes 5.5 years after Part II was posted so, uh. You might want to reread as a refresher LOL As I suggested back then, this one does raise the rating of the fic to an E, but it’s the only chapter with smut.

I have the final chapter/story finished, too, I just need to edit it!

[bettsfic]

Hey, not really a question! I just want you to know that Organic Chemistry is still my favorite fic of all time. And an update in this trying times would be really the greatest thing ever. Thank you with ❤️

thank you, anon! i do fully intend to come back to ochem and at least make some progress during this year's WIP Cleanout (still not scheduled, but i hope to do it after i send the second draft of my current novel to my agent and new readers). so maybe this spring or summer? no promises, but that's the plan.

[necrophatic]

Cleaning out my WIPS and finished a quick portrait of one of my Clone Boy OCs "Noble"

[carnation-damnation]

sketch/wip cleanout, just stuff I never posted