I didn't understand how it was possible to be doing so much work, and I'm glad you're finally taking a break ❤️
To be fair, I am lucky that I type very fast! I've had an awful lot of practice writing and so I'm faster at it than someone who is starting out or even someone who is 5 years into a writing career.
That being said, I have no idea how I was doing so much work as well. Prior to 2023 it was normal for me to only be working on 2-3 stories at a time (with around 5-8 chapters a week max, and my main story updated only once every 2 weeks). Not the amount I'm doing now. Things exploded with Underline the Black and my lack of impulse control (as well as the appeal of offering side stories) meant I started up two more stories alongside it. Then calm Palmarosa and Constellations and suddenly I had a lot on my plate that I felt like I had to be regularly committed to.
I was pretty burnt out prior to getting Toby (our puppy), so on that side of things, I was a little too ambitious in thinking I'd be able to juggle everything.
I have known that like, once certain side stories finish, my schedule quietens down and I think what I've been hoping for is like 'just hold out until this finishes, and then this finishes, and then this finishes. Just hold out.' But my stories take some time to complete, and 'just holding out' means sometimes waiting 1-2 years.
So yeah instead of doing that I'm going to try something sooner. I was doing the week break from Underline the Black in 2024 but it just hasn't been enough.
So like, I am very lucky I type fast! When I'm comfortable, I'll always be prolific to the point that at least some people will be like 'I don't know how you do that' - a lot of that is just experience. My typing speed is around 120-140 words per minute and I can comfortably finish a 3,000 word chapter in about 2 hours (with room to think / imagine what is coming next etc. and pausing to reread sections for clarity). Sometimes faster. Sometimes slower if the chapter is challenging. On very good days, I can write 2 chapters in a day. The last time I had a day like that was March 11th.
Editing takes me a lot longer though, and weirdly so do things like the Birthday Spotlights. I think I really underestimated how much time each one would take to do in terms of the graphics + hyperlinks + finding quotes etc.
I'm still going to be writing here and there over the next two months. But even just an update/posting hiatus and a slow down will help an indescribably amount. The reality is I haven't actually done very much at all this April and I still feel very overwhelmed (even more so because I knew I was running down my buffer of chapters for May/June), so taking the next step, and hope that's enough!
The good news is I've taken hiatuses before and I've always come back afterwards raring to go, and I'm hoping that's the case now too. :)
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I'm so shocked how you managed to make Frederic a much more compelling character in your darkness exists fic! Like his actions in your fic are mostly the same as his actions in the show, but we know where he's coming from and he isn't unreasonable. And he actually tries to make up for his faults.
oh shit, a wild tts post in the midst of all my gay blockman angst! first off i appreciate y’all taking the time to send these in, lots of ppl have a sort of taboo against commenting on old/hiatused fics for some reason so it’s wonderful to know there are still readers out there enjoying it, especially since i had to lock my A03 to users only due to the AI bot problem (for the unaware, all big writing AIs like chatGPT scrape from sites like A03 to fuel their ‘writing.’ it’s like the art theft that art AIs do, which is why i’m against the use of AI in any kind of creative capacity. yes, even character AIs.) at a certain point i think i’ll just have to give up and accept there’s no true way to defend against having my writing stolen by AI, just suck it up and start using A03 again, but i’m not quite there yet. that wound’s still fresh.
BUT I DIGRESS. frederic’s characterization was one of the biggest problems i had w season 1 of tts. like, to a certain extent his motivation was understandable, though still unreasonable, but the biggest thing that annoyed me was how the show tried to paint him in a sympathetic light, and how his own family constantly put up with and excused his horrible behavior bc ‘he was doing it out of love.’ when gothel showed her true colors, rapunzel stood up to her- the woman who raised her for her entire life- without hesitation, no WAY she would sit idly by and let her father treat her that way. and his wife!! the queen!!! a total doormat. very disappointing and a direct result of the showrunner’s own inflated ego and self-admitted self-insertion of the character.
the way i handled frederic in my fic was basically my opportunity to show how i think rapunzel- the real rapunzel, from the movie i love- would have reacted. she’s willing to hear out the concerns of those she loves, but is also willing to put her foot down against injustice, especially in my fic where she has such a protective role as varian’s big sister. that shit just won’t fly. so i’m glad that decision was as gratifying for u to read as it was for me to write 🙏 i’m trying to do right by the king we saw in the movie, who captured so many hearts without saying a single word.
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I think I've decided my VetVimes comic is called There Are No Words :)
So I'll start tagging stuff with that.
Also it's worth mentioning that basically all canon setting VetVimes I do is implicitly poly with VimesSybil too because Sam Vimes Loves His Wife and I can't imagine a universe where that isn't the case and this comic is no exception
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