fontainebleau22

[fontainebleau22]

Reach For The Stars Week 2 roundup

I've been failing with the daily updates, not because I haven't been writing (I have, diligently), but because I'm in such an odd place with this story I don't really know what to say about it.

I've been writing and/or editing on it for an hour each night, with the company and support of the wonderful @hanajimasama, yet at the end of the week, when I've typed up my edits and made all the additions, the story is somehow shorter than when I started. I've been changing it, and I think improving it, but I can't seem to add to the word count.

I'm also beginning to wonder why I'm writing it - it's a good story, but it's already taken me five months of writing to hit 10k, which is roughly halfway; it was supposed to be for the Big Bang, but I missed the deadline by a mile. And I've been losing my passion for the fandom recently too, because there's simply so little activity these days. Yet here I am, doggedly writing my 250 words a day in the hope that I may finish it in another six month's time.

I just don't know. 'No fic left behind' is my motto: I have more editing to do, to bring together all the scattered sections which I've written, and I need to draft out the middle-to-end section in full: I just wish I was enjoying it more.

@the-wip-project

[fontainebleau22]

omg ok put in the tags a food that makes u feel like life is worth living when you eat it. like u eat it and it's soo good and everything's fine actually

[fontainebleau22]

Reach for the Stars Day 5

I missed day 4 of posting here, though not of writing: yesterday I rewrote another scene of dialogue, and then today I edited through three pages, taking me up to page 10 and the point where I need to start writing new words. So good progress in practical terms.

But this story is so frustrating, because editing for some reason isn't making it longer. It's crawled over 10k, but today it started at 10157 or so, and after a solid hour of improvements it finished at 10208. It's better, but it's not longer, and as it's at least theoretically being written for a Big Bang and has to hit 20k, it's maddening that I don't seem to be able to add word count.

@the-wip-project

[fontainebleau22]

Reach For The Stars Day 4

I am back to normal today and back on track with writing: I edited through another two pages and am actually quite pleased with the state of the first half of the story.

@the-wip-project

[fontainebleau22]

Reach For the Stars Day 3

[I mixed up my days, it was Day 2 yesterday, not Day 1]

Today was not the greatest of days, as I was laid out by a migraine and didn't manage to get up until after 1, and then I had to get myself together for a class at 3, and after that do email catch-up. So I was pretty tired when writing time rolled round.

But I did manage to redraft the conversation where I got stuck yesterday, so while it's not enough to get me to target for the day, it is something: I can carry on editing tomorrow.

@the-wip-project, I would be really grateful for a star today!

[fontainebleau22]

Reach For The Stars Writing Challenge: Day 1

I had my regular writing hour with the lovely @hanajimasama tonight, and was in editing mode, to bring the first half of Why Can't I Be You into a presentable form. And I worked through three and half pages, putting me on track for the day's target.

I ran out of steam at a sticky conversational patch that I've already written three times, but it's going to need another go-round, so that's my task for tomorrow.

@the-wip-project

[fontainebleau22]

OK, here we go! I am currently mired in the difficult part of a time-travel story: it was originally being written for a Big Bang challenge, but I hadn't written enough of it by the first deadline, so I had to drop out. I'm realIy slow these days because so much of my creative energy is being taken up by work, but I still think it's a good story and I want to write it, so I will keep at it with this challenge.

A simple word goal per day isn't always right for my style of writing, so I'll say either 250 words written daily, or two pages edited. If I can keep that up on a regular schedule I should be able to get through the complicated middle section of the story and into the easier waters of the ending.

@the-wip-project

Reach for the stars!

Hello writerly friends!

Today is the day! We're starting to reach for the stars!

From today, May 4th all the way to Sunday June 29, we'll be hitting our daily writing goals. A nice goal, low enough to easily meet it. And for your accountability posts, you'll be getting a star.

Here's how it works.

First, you'll be making a post about your daily goal (or weekly). Mention this blog so I can see it. That will get you a flower.

Then, in the coming days, I want you to make posts about your daily (or weekly) wordcounts. Mention @the-wip-project in each post so that I see it, and I will give you a star for your fabulous wordcounts, no matter how high or how low.

Every word counts, every little win counts! Get your stars, you deserve it.

Happy writing!

[fontainebleau22]

Hey writerly friends, wanna do a WIP project in May?

Something like daily words and when you post about it, you'll get a star? What do you think?

Anybody interested?

[fontainebleau22]

Gift for @avi17, four months late.

The Magnificent Seven / Lord of the Rings AU

Chisolm the Wizard gathers six other denizens of Middle-earth on a quest to slay a tyrant Necromancer:

Robicheaux, a man who once fought for the Enemy

William, an orphan adopted by elves

Vasquez, a farmer turned fugitive for killing a Gondorian knight

Red Harvest, a wandering elf

Faraday, a rogue for hire

Horne, a dwarf living alone in the cave that once housed his family

And bonus:

Emma, the farmer who escaped Baug's shadow and asked for Chisolm's help

Baug, the tyrant Necromancer

[fontainebleau22]

They

Have

My

Whole

Heart

[fontainebleau22]

Ok I made a fun one for the fun side of tumblr! You’re propositioned by this person at the bar for a beautiful night of love making

[fontainebleau22]

The final roundup

What I'm writing: another time-travel story for a Big Bang

Status at the end of the project: 5k in typed-up draft form, and another 3k or so of untyped draft.

Well, we're at the end of the challenge, so where am I with the story? I find it hard to say. I've written the first two sections and am editing them into shape, and I've drafted some of the rest of the story, including the end so I know where I'm going. But I'm still not really confident in my ability to write it, which is unusual for me.

Partly it's external circumstances: my job has really ramped up over the last 18 months, and it's taking a lot of my writing energy - I'm not producing text anywhere near as fast as I used to. But it's also partly the story itself: the central premise is strong, but it seems that every time I turn round there's more detail to be worked out before I can write any given scene.

And there's the pressure of the Big Bang - I need to have a draft that's 20k long by the end of April, and that's weighing on me because the words just aren't spilling out like they used to.

What did I discover about the story? I found that there was a big issue about a particular character's fate that I'd been shying away from, and building that back into the story has made it much stronger. I've also found that I'm struggling to keep a consistent tone - initially there was a lot more humour in the story, but it kept seeming inappropriate to the weight of what was happening, and I've had to keep ironing it out.

It's also, paradoxically, made me feel less connected with the fandom it's for; I feel that my engagement with the fandom is waning because there's so little input these days, and that makes the story harder to write too.

So, did I enjoy the challenge? Yes, I really did - I wasn't always consistent with posting, but I liked having the framework and support. So huge thanks to @the-wip-project for hosting it!

Will I finish the story? Yes, my motto is No Fic Left Behind, but whether I will get it done for the Big Bang is a different question. I will keep at it for the moment, though, and hope the fandom blossoms again too.

@the-wip-project

[fontainebleau22]

Friends! Lovers! Writers of fanfiction and foe fiction alike! Are you drowning in WIPs? Do you find yourself procrastinating instead of writing? Do you abandon all of your current projects every time you think of a shiny new idea? Fear not! I’m here to make your problems even WORSE by bringing you a

The following picker wheels will randomly assign you a genre, a premise, a trope, and a subject (an item, concept or character that has to come up in your fic in some way).

The challenge is to write a fic less than 1000 words long based on the prompts the wheels pick for you.

For extra credit, make it exactly 250, 500, 750 or 1000 words long.

Please reblog with the prompts you were given, and if you’re up to the challenge, link to your work in the comments!

[fontainebleau22]

Week 5. Forging ahead

What I'm writing: a story for a Big Bang challenge.

What it's about: it's a time-travel story (another one).

Progress so far: I've had difficulty keeping up with the progress posts because work has been so busy, but I've actually been doing well with the story. Once I had the content of the first two sections sorted out I hit a groove with the writing and was getting 500 words a night, and I'm now typing up a solid draft of the beginning of the story. It's going to take some editing, as it's tonally a bit hit and miss, but I'm pleased with it.

When I hit the third section, though, the story falls off a cliff. I know what's going to happen in an overarching sense, but there are currently some uncomfortable gaps where my characters stand around awkwardly without anything to do. I think, though, that I just need to keep writing, and let it gradually take shape.

I also need to focus more on the overall point of the story - there's a lot that happens, and then it gets resolved, but it's not clear to me right now what the experience is supposed to have achieved for the characters. And, writing this now, I see that that may be because I know what the younger time-swapped character wants, and what he learns, but I haven't given the same attention to the older version of him, asking what he wants. So that's my focus for the coming week-and-a-bit.

@the-wip-project

[fontainebleau22]

my chem albums as tarot cards [insp]

[fontainebleau22]

what is THE worst thing you've ever drank. all liquids acceptable. please tell me what it was, bonus points for why

[fontainebleau22]

Week 3. Words on the page

What I'm writing: a story for a Big Bang challenge.

What it's about: it's a time-travel story (another one).

Progress so far: The beginning of this week was tough - I had some evenings when I couldn't write a word on the story, I had a wobble when I thought I should change the main character, and I even though briefly of dropping the whole thing. But! I focused in on the start of my second chapter, thinking in really close detail about what my time-swapped character was facing, and the words finally started to flow: for the last two days I've written 500 words each night. The chapter has unfolded like it's supposed to, and I also discovered a theme which startled me.

I'd been havering about exactly when to set the present-day element of the story, whether to have it right now or a few years ago, partly because canon is easier to do when you're writing about what's already happened as opposed to what's happening right now. And one of the elements of present-day which I was shying away from was the death of one particular character. But when my main character was catapulted back in time, of course he met that person along with everyone else, and I realised, it was hugely emotionally charged: my main character knows he's back in his own past, and is trying not to change anything so it doesn't impact his (and everyone else's) future, but knowing that he could try to prevent this character's death? I think it has to be in there, and will make the story much stronger.

So I'm glad I stuck with it, and I hope the writing gets better from this point.

Also, I just found out that there's a Discord and have joined it with the aim of getting some support as I go along.

@the-wip-project