#working on some NaNoWriMo Secret Project

[theearlgreymage]

Despite having written close to 25k words this month, I have been SLACKING on making any type of "Six Sentence Sunday" or "WIP Wednesday" Posts. Partially because my NaNoWriMo Project is a secret gift. Partially because I have been cursed by an eldritch deity and never know peace.

Anyway. To each and every one of you who continues to tag me - you're gems. Sweethearts. Sparkles of Light on my bad days. I love and appreciate each of you, even if I do it silently from my little corner of the world.

Setting the emotions aside now.

Here are as many sentences as I feel like sharing from my project. Because I've been quiet lately and ya'll deserve more than just six measly sentences for not abandoning me. (And if you're from the CO Fandom, know that I'm coming back to all my SnowBaz WIPs as soon as I finish this beast)

An Excerpt from Chapter XI

As I finish Erwin’s request, I level my gaze back on him. Finding his eyes with my own, there’s a look, an intensity, in them that leaves my mouth dry. There’s a question flying in the blue of his irises, a curiosity that I want to sate.  What does he want from me?  Swallowing, I lean forwards in my seat. Propping my elbows on the table, even though Erwin told me that proper nobles keep their elbows off the tops of tables and desks. “How much of this is true?”  Erwin’s eyes flash at my question, and he leans in himself. Bringing our heads close enough together that I can smell the tea and cream from breakfast on his breath. “What do you think?”   “I think I’m not being told everything,” anything, “and that’s on purpose.”  Apparently, that was the right thing to say as Erwin grins at me. And again, I’m struck with how much he reminds me of that boy who’s name I can’t recall. Brilliant white teeth and pink lips that soften his angular face. The sight stirs something reminiscent in my gut. I’m half tempted to ask Erwin if he feels it too, if I remind him of someone from his own childhood. But before I can gather the courage to potentially make a fool of myself if I’m wrong, Erwin is asking more questions of me.  “And why would they do that? Why not tell you, tell everyone the truth?”  “The same reason anyone avoids the truth, because they have something to hide.” It’s an easy answer. One of the first lessons that Kenny taught me. Everyone has something to hide, and if you can find that truth in an individual you can best them every time.  “Exactly,” Erwin agrees with me as he pushes the books we’ve been studying away from us. “So what could the royals and nobles be hiding from us?”  At that, I’m stumped and shrug my shoulders. Erwin deflates with me, almost like he was expecting me to actually have the answer to that question.  He does think I’m a noble, maybe the idiot thinks I have some secrets.   It wouldn’t shock me to discover that he wants to use me for something. He’s clearly working against the nobility in some regard, and I’m sure having a noble on his side could be beneficial. But if he thinks I’m going to be some grand advantage, he’s surely mistaken. I’m nothing more than a good fighter and decent thief.  “I think we’ve covered enough for today,” Erwin redirects the conversation suddenly. Moving to restack the books and parchment we’ve been using all afternoon.

Consider the Tags below as both a Hello, but also How are you all doing?

@aristocratic-otter @aroace-genderfluid-sheep @artsyunderstudy @bazzybelle @bookish-bogwitch @buffy @captain-aralias @confused-bi-queer @cutestkilla @ebbpettier @erzbethluna @facewithoutheart @fatalfangirl @foolofabookwyrm-activated @gekkoinapeartree @hushed-chorus @ic3-que3n @ivelovedhimthroughworse @ileadacharmedlife @ionlydrinkhotwater @j-nipper-95 @johnwgrey @krisrix @larkral @martsonmars @letraspal @moodandmist @mostlymaudlin @onepintobean @palimpsessed @prettylightsbigcity @raenestee @shrekgogurt @skeedelvee @stardustasincocaine @stitchyqueer @tea-brigade @theimpossibledemon @thewholelemon @wellbelesbian @whogaveyoupermission @you-remind-me-of-the-babe

[mercurial-thrills]

I've been taking writing seriously for eight years. Here are eight lessons I've learned.

*Buckle up, this is going to be a long one*

As I squinted at my phone in the darkness, I stared at my Calendar. Blocks of red and pink were blocked into my schedule: do schoolwork, take a quick break, attend an online co-op class, sign up for a school workshop, finally read the first chapter of that thick textbook I bought.

Then, I looked above it all, the day of significance in magenta.

"Anniversary of Secrets." September 9th. The day I chose to take writing seriously. Between unfinished stories on loose-leaf paper, and untitled documents of characters on my desktop, writing had only been a spur-of-the-moment activity.

But then, September 9th came along. From visions of girls riding dragons and comments of classmates writing their own stories, I realized I could be like them. I could take writing as seriously as they did, spending more time on my stories than fixated on my favourite series.

In fact, writing became a fixation of my own. Over these eight years, I have watched countless videos, read a few books, and wrote hopefully around a couple hundred thousand words. As well, I have amassed a fair amount of writing advice. Here are eight of the lessons I learned over the years.

Lesson #1: Outline First, Write Later.

Ideas popped into my head like a game of whack-a-mole. They popped in and out whenever they pleased. I dreamed of cat-eared superheroes, of zodiac themed dystopias, of strange, American-style Isekais before I knew what that word meant.

My attempts to outline the story were inflated by my urge to write it. By the time I started writing my first official project, I decided to write the outline and FINISH the outline before jumping into the story.

Lesson #2: Embrace Diversity

If you've been on the Internet in literature or writing related circles, it's hard to avoid the topic of diversity, and for a good reason. Diverse situations and characters create new perspectives for readers and writers alike.

I learned to embrace diversity through a video made by Jenna Moreci:

After watching this, I thought more about my character's racial and ethnic backgrounds. Along with that, my characters became much more queer, and far more neurodivergent than I could've fathomed back in the day. Their backstories and family situations are more diverse as well: some of them were in foster care. Others came from big families.

The most important thing is to not do this offensively, and honour every culture you come across that's different than yours. Thankfully, there are plenty of resources online, such as Writing With Color(https://www.tumblr.com/writingwithcolor).

Lesson #3: Take Inspiration From Your Favourite Things.

My first story, Secrets, took direct inspiration from the books Harry Potter, Bone, Percy Jackson, Masterminds, and Eragon, respectively. But my second big project became a result of my Voltron obsession (which, assuming you're reading this on Tumblr, I'm sure you're familiar with).

The story formed as a space opera with alien planets I invented myself, and a human species who evolved to conditions on Kepler-22b. I'm not going to deny that I drew inspiration from the "Leakira and the Defenders Of Tomorrow" AU. Though this project is now its own being, I cannot deny where its origins came from.

Lesson #4: Do NaNoWriMo. Seriously.

First of all, I'd suggest staying away from the actual site. There have been numerous controversies, including demonstrating support of AI for creative works, and predatory behaviour on its forums. That doesn't mean we cannot still participate in writing a novel within a month.

Doing an unaffiliated one-month writing challenge will likely not help you get better at writing. Quality over quantity, after all. However, it will help to create a writing habit, and force you to think of unorthodox situations where you could write words… like, on the bus, in a bathroom stall, or in a waiting room.

Lesson #5: This is not going to be a career. Not for a while.

I was a 17-year-old, frothing at the mouth, obsessed with what my hands could produce at the click of keys. I wanted this to be my career. Badly.

However, college loomed around the corner, and I could not fathom spending so much money to learn creative writing in university, when it would have so little pay-off later down the line. Plus, I knew the field was a competitive one, and boy, I was not ready to compete.

If you want writing to become a career one day, go for it. Work hard on your writing. Focus on it like a bird focuses on looking for its worm. Keep in mind, however, whether the pay-off will be worth it for you.

For example, if you are willing to compete and set yourself apart, it would be beneficial to study English, Creative Writing, or Journalism at a university. You could become a copyeditor, a journalist, or a teacher, with some extra learning. However, what if becoming an author feels unstable? You could consider a career in a transferrable field such as office administration, library technician, marketing, psychology, or accounting.

Lesson #6: Fanfiction is good.

When I got into the game Terraria, I spent many hours traversing the right side of my world and building cube-shaped houses, and far too many hours before I thought I was powerful enough to fight the Eye Of Cthulhu. That aside, I started writing fanfiction inspired by the franchise.

Surely, there’s not much canon material regarding the NPCs whose names change when they get killed. So, I made my own. I elaborated on characters that had pre-existing relationships and made up my own where there weren’t any. It was a brilliant practice in writing when none of my other ideas seemed appealing.

I have since finished said fanfiction, but I still write about certain fandoms from time to time. It helps to have an outlet for creative ideas that would not fit your other stories.

Lesson #7: Don’t Fear The Critiquer

Reading my works aloud startled me to the bone. Thankfully, my friend clarified that this writing club gave good critique on his own worldbuilding. So, I showed up, and oh, am I ever so thankful I showed up, because it has, quite literally, changed the way I see writing.

Reading out my writing to others has made me better at sharing, and at accepting critique. I received a lot of praise, and I also realized a lot of mistakes. Most of all, I learned not to fear what people thought of what I wrote: chances are they’d like at least part of it.

Lesson #8: Every little bit counts.

After many years of taking it slow, life started to get busy again. Life became more cluttered, and I fought to balance my classes with any extracurriculars I may have had, with therapy appointments and going to the doctor’s to sort out health shenanigans, with the full time summer job I had, and with nurturing my relationships.

If you had a hard time reading that sentence, that’s what my life has been like for the past year or so. Busy, cluttered, hard to organize, but still manageable in small chunks. This is what writing while busy should look like. Little bits and pieces of writing, whether it be in a chapter or short stories.

The Big Conclusion

Plot twist: These eight lessons I learned were relevant to each of my eight years spent learning the craft. I spent them embracing the craft, learning to make good settings, and understanding how to create interesting plots. At the same time, I have yet to self-publish any fiction other than a short story.

Still, I’m happy with the progress I’ve made in these past 8 years. It’s been a long journey, but with every year, I learn so much more.

If you’re looking for where to start, this is where you should: whether it’s writing down that random idea that’s been sitting in your head, or scribbling down a drabble about the rain outside, just take one first step.

[suzukiblu]

Day twenty-four of fic NaNoWriMo, obligatory sugar daddy Tim/sugar baby Kon.

“I’d say maybe a picnic in the park or something but that seems incredibly dangerous unless I can pre-verify that Ivy’s in Arkham,” Tim muses, smacking a few more goons upside the skull. The others are already scattering to bolt, and there’s not much point in chasing them down; they broke up the deal and sent the suppliers running, and that was the main concern. Now they can track down their source and go from there. “And even then it’s kinda fifty-fifty.” 

“Yeah, you never know what she’s left out there,” Dick agrees. “Plus sometimes the things she’s left out there cross-pollinate, and then no one knows what’s out there, including her.” 

“Don’t remind me,” Tim says with a grimace, having unpleasant flashbacks to the skunkweed thorns and pitcher plant trees. Ivy’s creative enough without any accidental cross-pollination happening. 

“So what does planning a date have to do with that YJ-related op?” Dick inquires casually as the last of the grunts either hit the ground or flee. Tim does not freeze, because he's not fucking new here. 

“Nothing,” he lies. “I’m cycling through the projects I have scheduled to work on this week. Next there’s a stakeout uptown and some reoptimization of my utility belt organization.” 

“Planning dates is in the same category as ops and stakeouts and equipment maintenance, huh?” Dick asks with a laugh, holstering his sticks and then reaching over to ruffle his hair. “Never change, baby bird.” 

Tim is absolutely going to, but again, hopefully not before thirty and ideally while bringing Dick along for the ride. Dick would be a terrible supervillain and also probably pout if Tim put Superman in a kryptonite death trap to sit and think about what he’s done, but Tim loves him and wants him to be happy and also wants to make this awful fucking world a better place, and you don’t do that by just ditching all your friends and co-workers; you plan ahead and work with them, flaws and all. 

Anyway, Barbara would be good at being a supervillain, and she’d be a lot likelier to come along for the ride if Dick did. So that’s also another reason to recruit him. 

They’d both probably like to kill the Joker, anyway. Maybe they could make the rusty crowbar and shrapnel bomb plan a group activity? That’d be nice. 

Look, Batman doesn’t kill, obviously, but Tim isn’t Batman, Dick and Babs are also not Batman, and none of them ever intend to be. So “Batman doesn’t kill” is, in fact, only Bruce’s problem. 

“So I know you’re going to laugh at me for this, but you know the circus is in town next week, right?” Dick says, sparing him a smirk. Tim considers tripping him with his bo staff. “You know, for this totally theoretical and generic one-size-fits-all date that you definitely don’t have anyone in mind for.” 

“While I appreciate the suggestion, the person I don’t have anything in mind for has terrible self-esteem and I promised her someplace ‘nice’ for this totally theoretical and generic one-size-fits-all date,” Tim says, because he is definitely still in the closet here and he is not giving a Bat the clue of saying “they” to obfuscate Kon’s gender. Might as well light the Bat signal with a pride flag filter over it, for fuck’s sake. “She might take fifteen-dollar tickets and sawdust floors the wrong way.” 

“That just means she lacks taste, baby bird,” Dick hums easily, putting his hands on his hips and tapping a foot in consideration. “Hm. Well, Zatanna also happens to be in town next week.” 

Tim considers what it’d do to his self-esteem to watch Kon spend an hour-long show drooling over a gorgeous older woman in fishnets, spanks, and a sexy tuxedo jacket and decides not to go there. Also, there’s the issue of Zatanna potentially recognizing him, and also potentially recognizing Kon, who he doesn’t think she’s ever met but is both terrible at secret identities and a teen heartthrob superhero whose face is all over the place and also looks exactly like Superman’s on top of that. And Zatanna has definitely met Superman.

So yeah, that seems unlikely to end well either way. 

“Maybe,” he says, finally retracting his staff and putting it away. “I don’t know if she likes going to any kind of shows, honestly. Like–I just don’t know her that well yet. Theoretically, obviously.” 

“Obviously,” Dick agrees with a laugh, pulling out his grappling gun and wagging it at him. “Race you back to the Cave? Winner gets tips on how to charm a totally normal civilian who definitely doesn’t fight crime in a cheerleader skirt.” 

Tim has no idea how he feels about the fact Dick is so certain Cissie is the one he’s trying to plan a date for. Then again, Cissie is the one who yelled at half the Justice League. So maybe he sort of understands the assumption. 

Kon looks better in a crop top, though, Tim privately promises himself to never actually say out loud. Like, he definitely does look better, in Tim’s opinion, but a) Cissie would shoot him for said opinion and b) Kon would be unbearably smug about said opinion. And unfortunately, Tim finds Kon’s preening smugness increasingly charming, so he really can’t be doing that to himself. 

He was so damn proud of himself about the fucking crop top, the bastard. Tim should burn it. Or buy him twenty more. One or the other. 

The shorts he’s just not going to think about right now. Like. Ever again. 

He’s pretty sure they’d work better with a thong than boxer briefs, though. Or just going commando outright, maybe. Tactile telekinesis probably makes chafing less of a concern, Tim figures. 

Not that he’s thought about that. At all. In any way. Ever. 

Definitely not. 

Dick fires his grapple and takes off. Tim pretends to be extremely heterosexual about Cissie and not even slightly gay about Kon, though he has very little idea how to actually do that, and rushes after him. There’s basically no way he’s actually going to beat Dick unless criminal activity interferes or Dick just lets him beat him, of course, because Dick’s been flying all his life and flying in specifically Gotham since he was literally prepubescent, and Tim has just been sneaking around random rooftops and alleyways and only actually known how to do a basic somersault for a couple of years, much less any real acrobatics or aerial work. So like, there’s definitely a skill gap there. 

Might as well chuck a flying fish at a hummingbird and see who comes out ahead, really. 

Technically, though, Dick mostly works out of Bludhaven these days, so technically . . . 

Look, Tim just so happens to know about certain construction-related shortcuts that may or may not be currently relevant thanks to some surprise rogue attacks last week, and even if he weren’t pretending to be heterosexual about Cissie he’d be trying to beat Dick back to get first dibs on Alfred’s jaffa cakes, so . . . 

The jaffa cakes are delicious, though the dating advice is unfortunately irrelevant. 

Tim appreciates the thought, at least.

[eternalglitch]

How do you find the motivation to work on long multi chapter writing like LFLS, especially when you need to take breaks (from either writing or posting or both)? I’m guessing this is easier when you don’t do the pantsing method like I do but idk maybe im just weak 😅😭

There's definitely a few different attributes to allow an artist to keep at one project for a long time. All of which, luckily, are pretty much possible to work and improve on, although some people will find it harder to get started on this than others.

First up, the pantsing technique was also my preferred first approach to things, but it just isn't feasible for longer works. Your ability to write good themes and good foreshadowing gets almost entirely removed, not to mention coming back from breaks. I've taken several 6-10 month writing breaks over the span of this fic, and I would probably not want to pick it back up if I didn't have a "here is exactly where you were trying to go" road map on hand when I'm recharged and ready to return. After that much time, it's pretty normal to forget all of the plans you had initially had for something, so you have to put in extra work to catch back up to wherever you had left off. Coming back from break when you feel rusty is already hard enough; no need to further complicate things.

After that, you really need practice at dedicating yourself to a longer project. I've written two novels that will probably never be used for anything or shown to a larger audience, but they were training grounds on what a larger project felt like to write and complete. Honestly if I didn't have a large exam in December, I would write a third this November during NaNoWriMo, as I need to revisit the feeling of being forced to write even if I don't feel up to it. It's similar to keeping muscles up at the gym; its maintenance to work on that lets you go further and faster with creating long works. I like training for this by setting challenges or goals for myself, as I have a naturally stubborn personality that hates losing or failing to complete a goal. Learn how your brain works and trick it into doing what you want it to do.

The final thing is to trick your brain into getting well and truly obsessed with your work. You want the energy of being the biggest fan that cannot wait for that next installment. And sometimes you'll have to drag yourself to actually make that work happen, but you want it done bad enough that it doesn't matter. It helps to choose bigger projects you fill with your favorite things from the start.

Oh, and keep your plans secret. Telling people your plans tricks your brain into feeling satisfied that it already did the work.

[vandijkwrites]

Of Art & Augury: An Interactive Fiction WIP

Genre: Historical Fantasy Format: Text-based interactive fiction Tags: Text-based, historical fiction, romance, fantasy/magic, art and artists, late 19th century Paris Current Status: Drafting (NaNoWriMo 2023 Project)

Synopsis

As a writer for one of the top Parisian society gazettes, you've advised many readers about the up-and-coming artists of the Paris Salon. The best painters there know how to weave subtle enchantments into the likeness of their subject to make the image come to life but, recently, something had been going wrong with the magic. It's up to you to head to the academy and figure out to truth for yourself.

Setting

Set in Paris at the end of the 19th century, you will explore the city and the art exhibitions of the academy. This version of Paris has an undercurrent of magical power which artists use to create enchanted artwork for society.

ROs

Odette [F]

Occupation: Commercial Lithographer Artistic Inspiration: Alphonse Mucha Odette is an Austrian artist who moved to Paris to start her career as an artist. She has little formal training and started her career by taking any artistic work she could get her hands on. Now she does mostly lithography for product advertisements and theater posters.

Sainte [M]

Occupation: Journalist Artistic Inspiration: Édouard Manet Sainte was born in Paris and studied under a successful portrait artist from a young age, but left his studies to pursue journalism for reasons he doesn't like to talk about. Now, he works as an art critic for a Parisian newspaper, covering the Salon and other exhibitions.

Armand [M]

Occupation: Portrait Artist Artistic Inspiration: John Singer Sargent Armand has been passionate about art for most of his life and moved to Paris from New Orleans to start his studies when he was still young. He has been studying portraiture ever since and has already painted portraits for some very influential young socialites.

Helene [F]

Occupation: Socialite Artistic Inspiration: Berthe Morisot Helene is a Parisian socialite who fell in love with painting during her private art education growing up. Although her family encouraged her to keep painting, they refused to let her receive any education in enchantment, a requirement for being taken seriously in artistic society. Ever since, she has been trying to teach herself magic in secret.

[annlillyjose]

Rock Salt – WIP Intro

hello again! on today’s news, your girl has a new wip aka something to fixate on and mould her life around for the next couple of months (or years). and because i cannot keep any exciting news to myself, here’s a wip intro.

but before we head into that, here’s a little backstory to how it happened. i finished writing dairy whiskey, i worried about my brain being incapable of forming new book ideas, two to three days after i get this new book idea that i’m totally hooked on, struggles to find a name, names it, decides to go forward with it, so again, here it is – rock salt!

here are the specifics:

disclaimer: this is an original work of fiction. plagiarism of any kind will not be tolerated. don’t be a pathetic loser.

genre: literary fiction

pov: first person retrospective

structure: probably going to be just full-length chapters

projected word count: 50k

concept: identical twins rain and norah move out of their family home for college where they purse two different degrees, live with different people in separate homes, and fall in troubles of their own. these begin to affect each other and they grow apart, being forced to navigate the the most confusing part of their lives – their shared existence as twins.

aesthetics/vibes: indigo skies, the beach, moths, seawater, salty breeze, chopping off one’s hair because existential crisis and queerness, lesbian relationships, house parties, fire, gloomy days where you feel like it’s going to rain but it doesn’t, cheap housing, bad grades, rotten food in the fridge, the moon, hanging plants, weed and local flowers

CHARACTERS

if you’ve heard these names before, no you haven’t, but again, they’re from twinepathy – the short story i wrote nearly three years back and scrapped afterwards. i tried to create new characters for this book but they feel like the perfect fit, so here they are.

norah

18

lesbian, she/they

her real name is eleanor

the protagonist and the narrator

studies political science

shoulder-length black hair, dark brown eyes, 5'3, skinny, wheat-coloured skin

always wears basic t-shirts or sweatshirts with a pair of mom jeans

distant, secretive, in constant disapproval of everything

strives on academic validation (and is being too hard on herself to bring in good grades)

rain

also 18

aroace, she/her

her real name is lorraine

studies painting and the applied arts

long black hair, dark brown eyes, 5'3, skinny, wheat-coloured skin

is a goofball, sunshine and rainbows, has a lot of friends, is extremely talented in her art, golden retriever energy with some drama to be unleashed

cannot keep her mouth shut so ends up in trouble with norah

don’t want to introduce them officially, because they’re not key characters, but here’s a little info on their older sisters –

harper

23

is called harp

is a high school geography teacher

engaged to her college boyfriend

oldest child in an asian household (i guess that’s saying enough)

violet

21

is called viv

the neglected middle child

in her last year of a nursing degree

wanted to study music but was too scared to bring it up to her parents and ended up being stuck at a hospital

plans to go abroad and marry a rich guy

well, that’s all i’ve got for you today. i haven’t started writing this book yet and i think i won’t until i finish editing dairy whiskey in august. i think i’ll start in september and then hopefully do nanowrimo for it in november. i’m super excited to work on it because it’s so different from dairy whiskey in a lot of aspects. but i’m discovery writing (as always) and we’ll just have to see where it goes. but until i come back with an update for this book, you take care, stay hydrated, water your plants, and eat a second dessert tonight.

– ann

general taglist (ask to be added or removed)

@shaonsim @heartfullkings @vnsmiles @dallonwrites @wannabeauthorclive @sienna-writes @violetpeso @flip-phones @silassghost @ambidextrousarcher @zoe-louvre @writing-with-l @magic-is-something-we-create @femmeniism @frozenstillicide @wizardfromthesea @rose-bookblood @coffeeandcalligraphy @rodentwrites @saltwaterbells @snehithiye @at-thezenith

[fierce-little-miana]

Right on time (thank you NaNoWriMo) here is the new chapter of The Twins!

In which Chizuru is not a boy, part two or secrets don't stay secrets forever especially when the masterminds behind them are both twelve.

Now the secret about Chizuru being a girl is completely out of the bag. Maybe some adults don't feel too clever about this...

Tagging: @queengurako, @nospringonions, @shell-senji, @nalufever, @impracticaldemon, @lescahiersdesable, @flowerynameslover, @rennarenofao3, @bubblesthemonsterartist, @manicvegananimevoyager, @all-prophecies-are-false, (if anyone wants to be added or removed from this list don’t hesitate to tell me).

And don’t hesitate to leave a comment, you would make me very happy.

[etoiline]

Happy December, everybody!

For those of you following along at home, this November was my 20th NaNoWriMo, and because I've been utterly obsessed with the Jedi Survivor video game, I decided to do something a little different and write not only something original (it's Not A Star War, I swear) but also some Spyscrapper fanfic. I ended up writing over 60,000 words combined, 23k of which I threw up on AO3 and ran away.

(So I got to not only win NaNoWriMo, but I also completed my super secret second goal for the month, which was to start and FINISH the fanfic)

So here, have my very first post on AO3 and my first fanfic since the Roswell fix-it I wrote in 2002. It's pretty different from what I usually write, so it was a little uncomfortable to do! But stretching your creativity is good, right?

What if Cal and Bode switch bodies just before the events of Nova Garon? Presenting what if I had your heart, what if you wore my scars.

Massive thanks to the Spyscrapper Discord for sprinting along with me (this wouldn't have become a thing without y'all), and super duper mega thanks to @voidcat-senket for cheerleading. Absolutely no points to @freaoscanlin for being there since the beginning of my NaNo journey and leaving me hanging this time for perfectly acceptable reasons. Now I have an AO3 post. Happy?

[radiowrites]

2023 Writer Year-In-Review

Hi, I’m RaisedonRadio & FortressofmyPast on AO3 and FF.net. This is an on-going tradition since 2015. Check out my past year-end posts: 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015.

Tagging a few, but if you come across this, consider it an open tag! You’re welcome to tag me back, I’d love to read it!

@writercorianarose @shesailsships @talesofsorrowandofruin @azdesertwillow @goneahead @littlemissfandomworld @dreams-of-kalopsia @halleyuhm

Big change for me compared to last year—in addition to NaNoWriMo, I actually posted fanfics! I tried to add some new questions to this year’s edition, I hope they might even move out of my tiny circle.

Total Word Counts: 51,920 for 2023 NaNoWriMo 15,570 on 2022 NaNoWriMo project 19,193 for July 2023 Camp NaNoWriMo (mostly fanfics) 28,310 in published fanfics (this number is overlapping with camp nano, I wasn’t paying attention, so I’m not going to add everything together)

Total Number Of Completed Works: 10 Total Number of WIPS worked on this year: 10 or so How Many WIPs do you still have: 23

Looking back, did you write more than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d expected? I wrote way more than expected! I seriously didn’t think I would do NaNoWriMo again. And I published ten fics! That’s ten more than last year!

Did you take any writing risks this year? The NaNoWriMo project was definitely a risk for me. I basically had an idea and no outline. It was quite a challenge to my perfectionism issues—I had to basically never reread anything and just keep going, fully aware that I can better foreshadow the ideas that came up halfway through in the next rewrite.

Biggest Surprise: I wrote for NaNoWriMo again, which I was pretty sure wouldn't happen lol, and hit the word count, all through discovery writing, and having very little idea where I was going with it.

Biggest Disappointment: I dropped that above mentioned project the moment November ended! I can tell it has potential, hidden in there. I will definitely return to it.

Do you have any writing goals for the new year? I’d love to at least finish the first draft of the 2023 NaNoWriMo project, bringing it to a tentative end so I can actually reread it and go from there. And keep writing fanfic, and maybe even work on the 2022 nanowrimo project…

Fanfiction Questions Below! (if you don’t write fanfiction feel free to skip or rework the questions for your original works.)

Fandoms I’ve written in this year: I wrote fics for 7 different fandoms! For the following kdramas: Island, Tale of the Nine Tailed, Memorist, Royal Secret Agent, W: Two Worlds, May I Help You?, and a little Korean Web drama called Handmade Love.

Your most popular story of the year? That would be Besides You with 327 hits and 47 kudos. However Superhero got the most comment interaction with 4!

The story that was easiest/or most fun to write: I Think He Knows was fun to write! I do just love brooding with a heart of gold formerly immortal male leads.

Hardest story to write: Rescue Me, Superhero, Restore, and Prayers & Promises were four works that I had left for dead, and came back and found them to be basically finished and just needed proofreading. (So just in case anyone wondered how I turned out three of those in like two days: they were actually done and I was hellbent on getting them out of my WIPs list)

Your sweetest story: That would definitely be Superhero. I altered my normal narrative style to better fit the child’s character, and I was really pleased with how it turned out.

Your saddest scene: I feel like I hit a lot of angst this year, but nothing really sad?

The sexiest moment you’ve written this year? *coughs* I wrote five pieces of smut. (Half of my fanfics were smut this year?!) Umm, I’m torn between Beside You and Don’t Blame Me? But also Never Be the Same and Take On Me???

Your favorite tag: (whether you use it the most or just something witty/perfect for the story) My brother announced to me that he reads all my tags (he was trying to embarrass me about one of my smut pieces) so I did a shout out to him in the next fic. He saw it within the day, I was actually impressed.

Most unintentionally telling story: (have you accidentally or purposefully exposed a detail about yourself?) Religious guilt seems to be a reoccurring tag this year. In all seriousness, not quite sure why, but yet it kinda makes sense? (its complicated lmao) And for some reason not one, but two fics ended with marriage proposals?! (I’m so single.)

Are any of your fics named after/heavily inspired by music? I’m RaisedonRadio and it would be concerning if—checks list—less than 8 of the 10 fics weren’t named after songs, haha! (I’m actually just really bad at naming fics…)

Good To You and Besides You are both songs by the band Marianas Trench, and are heavily inspired by the songs. Rescue Me is by OneRepublic, one of those more vibes than lyrics inspired. I Think He Knows by Taylor Swift was definitely on repeat for that fic, as well as Don't Blame Me. (Poems), Prayers, and Promises was more a steal the name of the song by John Denver, for some reason I think Cold by Corbyn was on repeat when writing that one. Take On Me was named more for the similarities between the MV and the series! Never Be The Same was for the vibes of the song by Camila Cabello but not really the lyrics.

What’s your own favorite story of the year? Maybe it’s cheating but I’m not sure if I can really choose? I know it’s not a common writer sentiment but I really do like them all for different reasons.

Like I churned out Good To You and Besides You within ten days of each other in July, after not writing any fanfic basically for a year and a half.

And then I pulled Rescue Me out of the dead drafts pile and made myself work on more description.

I Think He Knows was my first foray into a brand new fandom.

Don’t Blame Me is one of my rare canon divergence fics.

Restore was another dead draft that I found to be mostly complete, and decide to release into the world even if I knew there was so much more I could have done with it.

Prayers and Promises was not only another new fandom, but for some reason, I decided to write for a side character. It’s still sitting on just 1 hit and that makes it all the better that I really wrote it for myself.

Superhero was out of my comfort zone of writing for a kid’s perspective and I was so happy with how it turned out.

Take On Me was a draft sitting at less than 1k words and I challenged myself to finish it before the new year, and got it done in two days.

And then, to finish it all off with the intense desire to have ten fics under the belt for 2023, I wrote Never Be The Same in less than two days for the last drama I had watched, and the speed that the last two fics were actually finished was a huge change for me.

Fanfiction risks you took this year? I wrote fanfic for not one, but two fandoms that I had to create the first tags for on AO3! Also, as I started to slip into just writing for kdramas this year, I’ve basically become my own proofreader and editor at this point. Any mistakes are my own, lol.

My favorite part of fandom this year: That would be getting two kudos and a comment on I Think He Knows, one of the fics that is the first in its fandom tag. To actually connect with more fans of such a tiny project was so cool!

Thanks for reading and here’s to next year!

[kelefox]

NaNoWriMo Project Intro: A Phantom of the Opera retelling

fantasy • romance • gender swapped • LGBTQIA+ • secret history • maybe dark • probable whimsy • all the angst

This will be fun! I've wanted to do a Phantom retelling for a while because, well, Phantom – music and theatre and tragic love stories. I thought at first it would be a Christine/Erik ship, but now that I've done some prep... well, we'll see.

POV

third person • past tense • multiple POV

Goal

Write 50k for NaNoWriMo 2023! Will that be the whole novel? Nooooo

Summary

In a theatre in Adavast, a makeup artist is found dead by their own hand in the orchestra pit.

Suicide isn't so rare. In Adavast, it's not even uncommon. But the artist didn't die by any of the usual means. They painted themselves to death, pouring so much of their soul into the mask they made that there was nothing left. The mask is beautiful to behold, says the flautist who found the body, such that they can barely stand to look upon it. But when the theatre managers go to view the scene, the mask is gone.

All eyes turn to the flautist, but Viviane, the stage manager, and Corentin, rising star of the company, have suspicions of something far more sinister.

Characters

Corentin (Christine)

Young countertenor and the newest jewel in the Adavast Opera company. Caught in an affair he knows has no happy ending

Arielle (Raoul)

Slightly odd Society darling who has never forgotten the boy she nearly kissed backstage at sixteen and how beautifully he sang

Viviane (the Persian deserves more POV)

Brilliant stage manager with a grim history. Never leaves the theatre. Worries for Corentin

Estelle (Erik/Phantom)

Secret past. Secret present. Does not believe she has a future but could save the world with a song

World

Adavast is a star system in a civilisation where humans have become physically indestructible and live for hundreds of years. Around other stars, people are peaceful and prosperous, but in Adavast, they struggle. Temporal variance, the scholars call it, but no one can explain the phenomenon. Magic thrives in one city but never develops in the next. Electrical technology lights up a building while across the street, gas lamps are the only things to work. Society is plagued with despair. No one knows why.

Links

Playlist

Join me at NaNo!

Follow me on Ream for updates (free to follow, subscribe for more)

[rriavian]

Do you know what kind of story/genre you been wanting to write but hasn't been yet, for any reasons? :0

So many! Long fics, historical aus, Sci fi…there’s a lot that I haven’t tried yet. I’ve not been back into writing for very long, and I’ve mostly been keeping to shorter works (or ones set in a series) because I find it hard to trust myself to maintain momentum. Especially given how my 2023 NaNoWriMo project is over 50k but still incomplete.

That said I actually already have a couple of secret WIPs of longer fics, so if all goes well then hopefully I’ll suddenly drop them fully finished one day.

I have a lot of fun experimenting, but I do want to go outside of my comfort zone a bit more and try concepts/tropes/fandoms I’m not as confident approaching. Some of that is nervousness as much as a gap in skill. It’s quite intimidating sharing your writing at the best of times! I plan to start trying some more challenging prompt games as a fun little creative exercise. When I’m better at doing them consistently of course!

[brendadaaedestler]

📣 Secret NaNoWriMo Project Update!!

I think some of you know by now that @nerdywriter36 and I are working on a fic together for NaNoWriMo, and we wanted to do a little day 10 progress update!

Presently, we are at a total word count of 23,366 out of 50,000! That puts us at about nine days ahead of schedule.

While we're holding off on announcing exactly what this fic is about and which Phantom adaptation it will follow, we do have a small excerpt to whet your appetites!

Christine smoothed the fabric of her yellow blouse briefly before she unlatched the door and swung it opening, smiling at seeing the same masked redhead from a few days ago. “Hello there,” she said softly.

The man met her eyes and froze for a moment, his mouth moving as he tried to form something to say. Knowing what he dealt with, Christine waited patiently to let him work through whatever it was that he had going on, a pleasant smile on her face all the while. 

Sure enough, her kind patience was rewarded when a moment later, he finally seemed to work up the courage to speak, offering a simple reply: “H-hello.”

And that's all you get for now! I'm sure we will be posting another excerpt sometime soon, so stay tuned!

@nerdywriter36 and I are having a blast working on this fic together, and we hope that you all will enjoy it as much as we do!

[dunne-ias]

As of some point at the end of September, I have completed my main 2023 writing goal of 202 300 words.

And three whole months early!

Some monthly stats:

Yeah I know the name of the months aren't in English, but you're a big girl, you can figure it out.

I have a full-time job and work out regularly and I have four other hobbies. If I can get this much written in nine months, imagine how much you, a less busy, or more busy, or just as busy person can do in a year if you sat down to write regularly?

btw, if someone wants my awesome tracking spreadsheet I am very open to adapting it to English and for other people to use and then uploading it somewhere.

What now?

Well, I'm in the middle of editing a project that needs to be edited before the end of the week.

After that: A secret santa gift exchange and a fantasy trilogy need to outlined for Nanowrimo, and then Nanowrimo happens, and after that I need to edit my long Sterek fanfic, but I don't think I will be done with that before new years. However, I think I'll add another 75K words to this, so maybe next year I will challenge myself to write 300K words in a year.

Or something like that. We'll see. As you can see from the stats, I am perfectly capable of getting a lot of words done in one month, but not consistently so.

Why set a goal like this?

To make me write every day. Turns out, that's practically impossible, but if I try to write every day, I will fail some days, but succeed most days. Evidently. 200 000 words is about three novels worth of words.

[zarvasace]

PROGRESS POST

(10/4/23)

This is partly for accountability and partly just to get all this out of my head! This last month or two have felt so hectic, getting used to a new work and sleep schedule and all. I'm still not quite there.

If you're curious about what I've been working on and what my plans are in terms of writing and art for the rest of the year, read on. :)

I will say, though, that if you want more of a specific AU or story, the way to get it is by asking questions and leaving comments! Asks and comments remind me about things I'm doing and get me excited about them again! I have these plans, but I also am very good at chasing inspiration to unknown (and sometimes unimportant) corners!

By Fandom

Linked Universe Projects

I've been feeling less motivated to work on LU stuff, but I still plan on at least finishing what I have open, so you can look forward to some of that!

Writing

Disability AU—one small mobility trio fic in the works. A few vague ideas for doing backstory fics.

Council (1931 vampire AU)—this is still the "backburner to backburner" fic, but I do have some fun ideas. I just have been distracted with other things! I think this AU is a lot of fun and I'd love to do more with it. We'll have to see.

The Marvelous Misadventures of Wind and His Merry Band of Maybe-Human Misfits—chapter 7 (out of 9 or so) is in progress. I have it all outlined out, and it's fun to work on, but I have (again) been distracted! This is, I hope, going to be my main December project. It'd be nice to finish before it turns 2 years old next summer. Oops.

I have several other WIPs that aren't very exciting and probably won't see daylight, but they're there if I feel like them

Art

Coloring book—I'm part of the coloring book project! :) I have already finished 1/2 drawings, and they went so well, I'm considering doing more.

Shatterproof manga page—still on my radar! I'm doing the end scene from dazzling diamond danger, and my ambition keeps outgrowing my time.

Four Swords Projects

Writing

Fairytale AU—man I've started this Vidow BatB fic literally five times. I have an almost-complete draft sitting at like... 20k?? iirc, but I kind of hate a lot of it. I also like a lot of it. It's a bit difficult for me to work on rewriting something in that situation. Anyway. Another December thing probably.

Fright Fight—I have ideas for every week, but am currently unsure if I want to draw or write for them. Most of my October will be focused on filling these prompts!

Vampire Lords AU—I have strange as severe is this my fate open right now, with a fair amount of material... it just needs to be edited a bit. I do want to keep working on that, I've just... well. Distraction. A common theme. XD I might be feeling another little bite fic coming on, too.

Art

Fright Fight—see above

Fright Fight part 2—I have a few side things to do for this, like making graphics that I haven't quite finished yet. They shouldn't take long, I just gotta do em!

Non-Fandom

Stickers—I am in the process of drawing some stickers! Yay! These are for my work, but also just for me. I want some Halloween stickers. This is a backburner project.

Nanowrimo project—I need to spend some time figuring out a few things to really get going on my princess-verse. I'm going to be doing Nanolympics this year, so hopefully some of their preptober stuff will help!

Hearts Linked Together—my super-cool Linkverse. XD I love my dumb timeline, and all the characters, they're just filler drawings that I haven't had time to continue.

Secret Zelda project—I really really need to do this! I can't say much right now, but it involves a fair amount of work, both writing and art. I think I haven't gotten very far on it yet because I'm intimidated. Stop that.

Zine edits—I worked really really hard on an art piece for a LoZ zine coming up! This week is critique, and I anticipate a few edits later.

By Month

Facebook posts—a lady I know wants to commission pretty quote images to post on her Facebook. I need to reply to her text. And do them.

September

I primarily worked on the fic Blood-Sucker's Guide to High School. I also worked on and submitted one fic and one piece of art to two different zines, which I hope you'll see soon.

October

If you care, you may have noticed I'm not doing Whumptober this year! Part of this is because I'm a bit burned out from the above, and part of it is that the prompts just didn't seem very inspiring to me this year. Maybe that's just my mindset. I haven't been in a very whumpy mood.

I'm planning on filling weekly prompts for @fsfrightfight this month and maybe chipping away at some other fics, in addition to one more zine contribution. I'm also going to be planning for November and doing some scattered art work here and there.

November

NaNoWriMo! I considered skipping this... but I'm feeling really inspired and motivated to do it, especially with October as a break. I'm going to write some original work, and that will be the focus of my November. I'll likely get some other art done, too.

December

I hope to dedicate this month to finishing things up from this year! That means working on "backburner" projects.

[365runesoftheamalgamations]

The Not Yet Grown Works [ 01 ]

hello and how are you?

Welcome to the Masterlist for NaNoWriMo! This will be the main post to wander around and over before and during and after November hits! With the month coming for our lives soon enough, we hope to have all of our prep come into light!

We will be going the Rebel Route this NaNoWriMo, once again! So that means multiple projects, more goals than just the traditional 50k Words, and probably other stuff that we'll blame being a Rebel on to get away with!

NaNoWriMo Site | Event Tag | Secret Third Thing

The Goals

Traditional NaNoWriMo | 50,000 Words In the true spirit of November, we will be aiming to hit our beloved number of writing at least 50k Words within the confines of the month, but that is just one of many goals!

Hit The Mark | 5,000 Words a Day Stepping it up a little this year, we want to aim to hit at least 5k a day, and since we are pulling out multiple projects for this, it will be averaging around 1k Words for every project, every day.

All Month Long | 150,000 Words When everything is said and done, we ultimately want to hit 150k Words for the entire month! So hitting our 5k Daily mark and then going at it for the full 30 days! This will be the biggest goal for us, and it is a good strive for ultimate bragging.

Drowning The Drafts | 30,000 a Project Since we are going to be drafting out a lot of our projects - most of them being first drafts and a few of them being the start of a second - we want to add 30k words to each Project, give or take! That would be if we manage to split things super evenly, but this one is just nice to think about and not a hard definition of success for us!

The Works

A Magician And A Curse Intro Post | Writing Tag First Drafts | 50k Word Aspirations | Brainrot First Drafts ○ Original Work, Standalone Novel ○ Fantasy, Horror ○ Dual Perspectives, Third Person Present Tense ○ Mature Content: Murder, Body Mutilation, Violence

Bentley's Resolve Intro Post | Writing Tag Second Drafts | 30k Word Goal | Easy Sequel ○ Original Work, Standalone Novel ○ Science Fiction, Steampunk, Horror Elements ○ Dual Perspectives, Third Person Present Tense ○ Mature Content: Death, Blood, Violence, Demons, Monsters

Constellations By Orion Intro Post | Writing Tag Second Drafts | 30k Word Goal | Broken Scene Draft ○ Original Work, Standalone Novel ○ High Fantasy, Action and Adventure ○ Third Person Present Tense ○ No Mature Content

Grayland's Shadow Intro Post | Writing Tag Second Drafts | 40k Word Aspirations | Veteran Beginning ○ Original Work, Standalone Novel ○ Low Fantasy, Horror ○ First, Second, Third Person Present Tense ○ Mature Content: Death, Violence, Blood, Implied Gore

To Fall Without Angel Wings Intro Post | Writing Tag First Drafts | 50k Word Aspirations | Personal Gains ○ Original Work, Standalone Novel ○ Low Fantasy, Realistic Fiction, Mature Elements ○ Third Person Present Tense ○ Mature Content: Suicide [ multiple aspects ]

The Extras

The Great Motivation Experiment | Post Here! We will be reinstating our claim on this wonderful Writing Experiment that was started and spread by the wonderful @did-i-do-this-write! You can find the participant list in the link and hey, if you wanna join in, then you can! We think this is a good back burner motivation for November, especially with just getting us through some words if we ever end up lacking or feeling lazy.

Old Concepts / Posts | Poll Here! We have / had a poll going that would be extra background content while we do our NaNoWriMo updates and writings! These are more concept words and posts that are coming from our Main Blog. They have been mostly abandoned over there, so we are hoping to bring and expand them over here!

NaNoWriMo Updates | Poll Here! We definitely will be aiming to get updates going! Probably will not be a daily occurrence like last year - unless the poll decides our fate - but we do wanna let you all come along on this journey! Depending on everything, we will try to not just disappear off the face of the planet completely!

All in all, we hope this NaNoWriMo is just as magical and filled with words as everything else and all the other months. We also just want to say that our goals and works and set up is made to be for us and not at all should be a template. We have been doing a lot of writing these last years and hey, we tend to put a lot of effort into NaNo, bc we love to!

Happy Preptober and NaNoWriMo Everyone! ଘ(੭ˊ꒳ˋ)੭✧

[tioelvaquero]

project drakeswood; an intro

"The beauty of the dragon was something that haunted Colette." introducing pr. drakeswood: what was formerly my childhood escape->nanowrimo project->current wip novel. ya medieval fantasy, draft 1.1, ~80k words. identity, change, growth.

In the thousand years that elves have lived on Pasithee, no human has entered elven cities and managed to tell the tale. André Portalis is determined to be the first.

Kyhrra and Alacor Dire have vastly different reasons to vouch for him, Corydalis Yanu wants him to themself, and Sebastien Prue wants nothing and everything to do with him. André has his own struggles to face, though, including navigating an intricate web of politics and legend. The present is difficult enough, but historians have to look at every angle.

features:

elves elves elves, magic, dances and festivals, language learning, nerds and himbos, a singular dragon (1), a non-binary deuteragonist, an amputee protagonist, and some horses and birds (for good measure). no primary romantic relationships.

primary cast: these folks narrate, commit most of the atrocities, and are the protagonists.

kyhrra dire - she/her. elf of the arvidor clan. secret softie. "Kyhrra Dire lived as an ultimately selfless woman, with little regard for her own reputation or safety, who through a singular fall and winter learns to break the cycle and let loose."

andré portalis - he/him. human from the distant empire of fraunca. polyglot and history nerd. "André Portalis landed on Pasithee without a place in the world except for a single order, but Arvidor teaches him an entirely different way of life and gives him the space for it."

alacor dire - he/him. elf of the arvidor clan, youngest member of the arvidorian council. wannabe womanizer. "Alacor Dire’s responsibilities built and continually pressured him, but external conflict ultimately pushes him to make changes for the Arvidor Clan—but especially, change for himself."

secondary cast: these folks may narrate in a sequel, and are the deuteragonists.

corydalis yanu - they/them. elf of the arvidor clan. scientist enraptured with humans. "Corydalis Yanu was on the outskirts of social circles in Arvidor, but the arrival of Portalis and the tightening of deadlines allowed them to realize that there may be a bigger life for them than expected."

sebastien prue - he/him. half-human elf of the arvidor clan. quiet outcast type. "Sebastien Prue was comfortable in his own company, but the Arvidor clan changes around him, and he realizes it is a chance to make a change for people like him—now and future—even if it takes some work."

this project comes out of a lot of things, but mostly out of my love for languages. using this blog to keep all of my rambling in one place!

in-depth character intros -> soon spotify -> soon 1st page -> soon