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Last Year Fic Meme
Jan. 1st, 2025 03:17 pmOnly four fics written this year again, but also again, I can't resist a meme! :)
( 2024 was a slow year for writing )
( 2024 was a slow year for writing )
40 Writing Questions - Question 9
Apr. 14th, 2024 07:28 pmBack at it.
9. Thoughts on cliffhangers.
I like to use them, if I already have the next chapter/scene/section planned out and started. They're a good way to build tension, but if you don't follow up quickly, a reader might simply give up (I know I have, on a couple of them), so it's definitely a risk worth calculating beforehand.
* * *
Full list of questions here.
9. Thoughts on cliffhangers.
I like to use them, if I already have the next chapter/scene/section planned out and started. They're a good way to build tension, but if you don't follow up quickly, a reader might simply give up (I know I have, on a couple of them), so it's definitely a risk worth calculating beforehand.
* * *
Full list of questions here.
40 Writing Questions - Questions 7 & 8
Apr. 1st, 2024 01:19 am7. Your favorite ao3 tag.
I don't have one. I read fics based on fandom, characters, and summary.
8. How slow is a slow burn?
For me, probably not as slow as other people would like. I do enjoy the gradual development of a relationship, but if that development keeps getting hung up on ridiculous inconveniences or miscommunications, or if the relationship stagnates, I lose interest quickly. So, I would classify 50k as a slow burn if the relationship progresses steadily throughout the story. Up to 100k is okay for me as a reader, though I doubt I would ever be able to write that much; anything longer that drags the relationship along is far too slow for me. What can I say? I'm impatient. ;D
* * * *
Full list of questions here.
I don't have one. I read fics based on fandom, characters, and summary.
8. How slow is a slow burn?
For me, probably not as slow as other people would like. I do enjoy the gradual development of a relationship, but if that development keeps getting hung up on ridiculous inconveniences or miscommunications, or if the relationship stagnates, I lose interest quickly. So, I would classify 50k as a slow burn if the relationship progresses steadily throughout the story. Up to 100k is okay for me as a reader, though I doubt I would ever be able to write that much; anything longer that drags the relationship along is far too slow for me. What can I say? I'm impatient. ;D
* * * *
Full list of questions here.
40 Writing Questions - Questions 5 and 6
Mar. 4th, 2024 12:59 pmOkay, let's get back to it!
5. What’s a tag you never want to use for your works even when it applies?
If the tag applies, I'll use it; I consider it a common courtesy. If, however, I can't decide how to tag something (e.g. events in my Blue Castle Cissy fic or all of my Selphie/Doomtrain WTF), I will at least use the "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings" tag on AO3. In other words, proceed with caution; your comfort is on you, and your preferences, Reader.
6. What’s your ratio for rating your works?
I'll admit, I have no idea what this question is asking? Ratio? Of what to what? Kudos to comments? Porn to plot? Or are they asking for rationale? Yeah, let's go with rationale.
Nice little fics with no cursing or canoodling or carnage get rated G. Mild cursing and violence (minor mention of blood, no gore), thematic elements such as death or grief or persecution, and mild romance (some kissing and cuddling, up to implied sex) receive a T rating. M rating is for coarse language, strong violence featuring a lot of blood and/or gore, on-screen sex that doesn't reference specific body parts, and general freakiness that I feel might be better relegated to a higher rating. While my only E-rated fics so far are rated such for explicit sexual content, including specific reference to body parts, sex acts, and/or positions, if I did write a particularly gory or truly unhinged fic, I would use this rating for that as well.
* * *
Full list of questions here.
5. What’s a tag you never want to use for your works even when it applies?
If the tag applies, I'll use it; I consider it a common courtesy. If, however, I can't decide how to tag something (e.g. events in my Blue Castle Cissy fic or all of my Selphie/Doomtrain WTF), I will at least use the "Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings" tag on AO3. In other words, proceed with caution; your comfort is on you, and your preferences, Reader.
6. What’s your ratio for rating your works?
I'll admit, I have no idea what this question is asking? Ratio? Of what to what? Kudos to comments? Porn to plot? Or are they asking for rationale? Yeah, let's go with rationale.
Nice little fics with no cursing or canoodling or carnage get rated G. Mild cursing and violence (minor mention of blood, no gore), thematic elements such as death or grief or persecution, and mild romance (some kissing and cuddling, up to implied sex) receive a T rating. M rating is for coarse language, strong violence featuring a lot of blood and/or gore, on-screen sex that doesn't reference specific body parts, and general freakiness that I feel might be better relegated to a higher rating. While my only E-rated fics so far are rated such for explicit sexual content, including specific reference to body parts, sex acts, and/or positions, if I did write a particularly gory or truly unhinged fic, I would use this rating for that as well.
* * *
Full list of questions here.
40 Writing Questions - Question 4
Feb. 17th, 2024 04:38 pmAll right, let's get back to this!
4. Do you have any OCs? Do you have a story for them?
My only recurring OCs are Argider and Retta (and her family) from "Curious as a Cat" and my stalled-out "Esthar Chronicles" series. These characters are native Estharians in the FF8 world, and are shaped by the violent history and former isolation of their country. They are both warm and outgoing and incredibly curious, eager to meet people who grew up outside of Esthar and learn their stories. They both work in a public library in an older part of Esthar City that also houses archives and a laboratory for the study and development of Blue Magic skills.
Argider was born under Adel's reign, so he didn't know any other kind of life in Esthar. He excelled in his studies and was conscripted into the Estharian army when he came of age, where he discovered that he was a blue mage. After concluding his service, he continued to study the intricacies of Blue Magic, and still works closely with the Estharian government and the army to test for new skills and develop methods by which to teach them to other blue mages.
Retta, on the other hand, was a young schoolgirl when Adel took power, and so remembers not only the freedoms she had before, but also the terror wreaked upon any Estharians who refused to conform to Adel's wishes. Of particular distaste to Adel were the artists and other creatives of Esthar, and she worked hard to erase their history and silence their dissent. Passionate about history and mythology, and not terribly adept at mathematics and the hard sciences, Retta struggled to find her place in this new Esthar. She eventually became a professor at a local university, and, later on, was hand-picked by Argider to help him run the library. She was responsible for starting up the archives kept there by donating items her family had successfully hidden from Adel and the soldiers, and convincing others to do same.
Retta is married with two young sons, and often takes a maternal interest in younger characters, including Argider, Quistis, and Selphie.
* * *
As for original fiction, I have written quite a few characters, but most of them are not recurring. (Except for my idea of Evalena Haven, the gunslinger, whose name I'm going to have to change because I took it for my own burlesque stage name. XD)
A few that stand out to me:
- Captain Ravosa of Drown My Soul in Sensory Pleasure, a cocky, headstrong pirate who believes she is immune to the charms of the sirens that have taken so many others. When her crew mutinies and abandons her on a deserted island, she will find she is not nearly as impervious as she believed.
- Esma Abaroa Prifti of Home is Where You Hold Me, a self-sufficient widow who maintains her family's lighthouse and rescues a sailor (also named Argider; no relation to the one above, I just like the name) from a shipwreck and nurses him back to health. As the two of them grow closer, she deals with her past and must decide whether to remain there alone or move into the future with someone new.
- Aurelia Morales (still in the idea stage) - the eponymous "Epistolary Killer" of this drabble, able to bend ink to her will, and as such, suffocate people with words. She is part of the one-day-I'll-write-it Evelena Haven "universe", where her skills will make her both antagonist and ally at varying points of the story. Damn, I should get around to actually writing that, huh?
* * *
Full list of questions here.
4. Do you have any OCs? Do you have a story for them?
My only recurring OCs are Argider and Retta (and her family) from "Curious as a Cat" and my stalled-out "Esthar Chronicles" series. These characters are native Estharians in the FF8 world, and are shaped by the violent history and former isolation of their country. They are both warm and outgoing and incredibly curious, eager to meet people who grew up outside of Esthar and learn their stories. They both work in a public library in an older part of Esthar City that also houses archives and a laboratory for the study and development of Blue Magic skills.
Argider was born under Adel's reign, so he didn't know any other kind of life in Esthar. He excelled in his studies and was conscripted into the Estharian army when he came of age, where he discovered that he was a blue mage. After concluding his service, he continued to study the intricacies of Blue Magic, and still works closely with the Estharian government and the army to test for new skills and develop methods by which to teach them to other blue mages.
Retta, on the other hand, was a young schoolgirl when Adel took power, and so remembers not only the freedoms she had before, but also the terror wreaked upon any Estharians who refused to conform to Adel's wishes. Of particular distaste to Adel were the artists and other creatives of Esthar, and she worked hard to erase their history and silence their dissent. Passionate about history and mythology, and not terribly adept at mathematics and the hard sciences, Retta struggled to find her place in this new Esthar. She eventually became a professor at a local university, and, later on, was hand-picked by Argider to help him run the library. She was responsible for starting up the archives kept there by donating items her family had successfully hidden from Adel and the soldiers, and convincing others to do same.
Retta is married with two young sons, and often takes a maternal interest in younger characters, including Argider, Quistis, and Selphie.
* * *
As for original fiction, I have written quite a few characters, but most of them are not recurring. (Except for my idea of Evalena Haven, the gunslinger, whose name I'm going to have to change because I took it for my own burlesque stage name. XD)
A few that stand out to me:
- Captain Ravosa of Drown My Soul in Sensory Pleasure, a cocky, headstrong pirate who believes she is immune to the charms of the sirens that have taken so many others. When her crew mutinies and abandons her on a deserted island, she will find she is not nearly as impervious as she believed.
- Esma Abaroa Prifti of Home is Where You Hold Me, a self-sufficient widow who maintains her family's lighthouse and rescues a sailor (also named Argider; no relation to the one above, I just like the name) from a shipwreck and nurses him back to health. As the two of them grow closer, she deals with her past and must decide whether to remain there alone or move into the future with someone new.
- Aurelia Morales (still in the idea stage) - the eponymous "Epistolary Killer" of this drabble, able to bend ink to her will, and as such, suffocate people with words. She is part of the one-day-I'll-write-it Evelena Haven "universe", where her skills will make her both antagonist and ally at varying points of the story. Damn, I should get around to actually writing that, huh?
* * *
Full list of questions here.
40 Writing Questions - Questions 2 and 3
Jan. 28th, 2024 07:39 pmWhoops, I fell off the posting wagon! Let's get back on with a two-for today, shall we?
2. Anything that you’d like to write but feel like you’re unable to?
Not really. I like to think that, if I want to write something badly enough, I'll find a way to do it. It's just a matter of gathering the guts and confidence to give it a go, which, unfortunately, is nowhere near as easy as it sounds!
3. How would you describe your writing style?
Hmm, I'm not sure. Conversational? Accessible? I try to keep my language clean and simple, for the most part, so that when I do get elaborate, it really shines. And when it comes to fanfic, I try my best to match my style to that of the canon material, particularly if the canon material is heavily text-based and/or stylized.
2. Anything that you’d like to write but feel like you’re unable to?
Not really. I like to think that, if I want to write something badly enough, I'll find a way to do it. It's just a matter of gathering the guts and confidence to give it a go, which, unfortunately, is nowhere near as easy as it sounds!
3. How would you describe your writing style?
Hmm, I'm not sure. Conversational? Accessible? I try to keep my language clean and simple, for the most part, so that when I do get elaborate, it really shines. And when it comes to fanfic, I try my best to match my style to that of the canon material, particularly if the canon material is heavily text-based and/or stylized.
40 Writing Questions - Question 1
Jan. 22nd, 2024 09:41 amIn an effort to post here more often, I'll be taking an ask meme from Tumblr and answering one question at a time. I saw this meme here on my Network page a while ago, but can't remember from whom, and the original Tumblr post is gone, but the list lives on in reblogs! So, without further waffling, let's go!
1. Which of your fics would you keep the basic plot of but rewrite completely?
"Curious as a Cat," for sure. I love the story of Quistis finally breaking free from Garden and starting her own life, but I do think my writing has improved since then. Furthermore, I wrote this when the FF8 fandom on Tumblr was still going strong, and I infused this fic with the kind of silliness that was prevalent then (tbh, I miss that). If I were to rewrite this now, I would possibly tighten up the friendship portions between Quistis, Rinoa, Selphie, and Xu – basically, cut a lot of the irrelevant banter – and I would make Argider something more than a one-dimensional dreamboat (I really like the character, but I wrote him pretty thinly).
Full list of questions here.
1. Which of your fics would you keep the basic plot of but rewrite completely?
"Curious as a Cat," for sure. I love the story of Quistis finally breaking free from Garden and starting her own life, but I do think my writing has improved since then. Furthermore, I wrote this when the FF8 fandom on Tumblr was still going strong, and I infused this fic with the kind of silliness that was prevalent then (tbh, I miss that). If I were to rewrite this now, I would possibly tighten up the friendship portions between Quistis, Rinoa, Selphie, and Xu – basically, cut a lot of the irrelevant banter – and I would make Argider something more than a one-dimensional dreamboat (I really like the character, but I wrote him pretty thinly).
Full list of questions here.
Last Year fic meme
Jan. 1st, 2024 01:21 pmI only wrote four stories in 2023, but I can't resist a meme, so let's take a look at them, anyway, shall we?
( 2023 Fic Meme )
( 2023 Fic Meme )
2023 Writing Log - Entry 6
Aug. 25th, 2023 05:03 pm❀ I just finished the final edits on my ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
rarepairexchange assignment. I really do try to use reveal delays to my advantage when I can. My main assignment came in at just over 7k words, over three chapters, while my (incredibly messed-up) pinch-hit fic ended up being about 4.8k.
❀ I am seriously considering orphaning that pinch-hit fic once creators are revealed. It's definitely not in keeping with most of my work. But it was fun to write, in a twisted sort of way. >:)
❀ I apparently did not learn my lesson from myhighadrenalineexchange experience, because I went ahead and signed up for another one of the Big 3, the Five Figure Fanwork Exchange (fffx). I'd ask for thoughts and prayers, but I obviously don't deserve them because...
❀ ...I'm getting ready to sign up for the third of the Big 3,ficinabox. 🙃 This one is interesting, because it allows writers to spread their 10k word requirement over up to 10 different works. But sometimes, more choices aren't better; I can just see myself agonizing over how many works to create rather than buckling down and hammering out 10k words. We shall see.
Well, at least I'll be busy.
Total words added since last entry: 11,874
2023 YTD total: 42,429
rarepairexchange assignment. I really do try to use reveal delays to my advantage when I can. My main assignment came in at just over 7k words, over three chapters, while my (incredibly messed-up) pinch-hit fic ended up being about 4.8k. ❀ I am seriously considering orphaning that pinch-hit fic once creators are revealed. It's definitely not in keeping with most of my work. But it was fun to write, in a twisted sort of way. >:)
❀ I apparently did not learn my lesson from my
highadrenalineexchange experience, because I went ahead and signed up for another one of the Big 3, the Five Figure Fanwork Exchange (fffx). I'd ask for thoughts and prayers, but I obviously don't deserve them because...❀ ...I'm getting ready to sign up for the third of the Big 3,
ficinabox. 🙃 This one is interesting, because it allows writers to spread their 10k word requirement over up to 10 different works. But sometimes, more choices aren't better; I can just see myself agonizing over how many works to create rather than buckling down and hammering out 10k words. We shall see.Well, at least I'll be busy.
Total words added since last entry: 11,874
2023 YTD total: 42,429
I finally, finally got my Neocities site in something resembling working order! 🎉 While I still have some more stories to add, mainly multi-chapter fanfics, the site has content and is navigable.
Dee Moyza's Story Archive
In the spirit of being a personal archive, I have included, and will continue to add, some stories that I've removed from larger, multi-fandom spaces such as AO3. (Meaning, the bulk of my FF8 fic!)
I'm really happy with how it turned out, and I hope you like it, too! Please let me know if you run into any issues on the site, and I'll be happy to take a look into them. Thanks! 😊
Dee Moyza's Story Archive
In the spirit of being a personal archive, I have included, and will continue to add, some stories that I've removed from larger, multi-fandom spaces such as AO3. (Meaning, the bulk of my FF8 fic!)
I'm really happy with how it turned out, and I hope you like it, too! Please let me know if you run into any issues on the site, and I'll be happy to take a look into them. Thanks! 😊
2023 Writing Log - Entry 5
May. 27th, 2023 10:52 pm❀ I added a little bit more to my exchange fic, to flesh it out and to enable me to share two versions of it. It's a sweet little story, I think, and I didn't want people to be deterred from giving it a chance simply because one single (gratuitous) scene became explicit.
❀ Still, judging from my AO3 stats, the NSFW version is the one people are clicking on! XD
❀ I signed up forrarepairexchange, but I'm considering withdrawing before the sign-up deadline. As of now, I think I might be matchable on all of one of my requests/offers. I just can't seem to keep up with fandom at large, these days. I like what I like, and it's just not what's popular anymore. Fine by me.
❀...because I still have Tumblr prompts from last year to fill! No, I haven't forgotten! It's just taken my brain forever to come back online.
So, whatever I decide to focus on for now, it will definitely keep me busy!
Total words added since last entry: 2,372
2023 YTD total: 30,555
❀ Still, judging from my AO3 stats, the NSFW version is the one people are clicking on! XD
❀ I signed up for
rarepairexchange, but I'm considering withdrawing before the sign-up deadline. As of now, I think I might be matchable on all of one of my requests/offers. I just can't seem to keep up with fandom at large, these days. I like what I like, and it's just not what's popular anymore. Fine by me.❀...because I still have Tumblr prompts from last year to fill! No, I haven't forgotten! It's just taken my brain forever to come back online.
So, whatever I decide to focus on for now, it will definitely keep me busy!
Total words added since last entry: 2,372
2023 YTD total: 30,555
2023 Writing Log - Entry 4
May. 19th, 2023 04:19 pmPros of exchange reveal delays: Yay, more time to edit this little mess into something legible!
Cons of exchange reveal delays: A rambling, 2k word sex scene.
❀ I mentioned needing to edit and expand my Heart Attack fic, and... well, I sure did. Added four chapters and almost 14k words to my original submission, most of which are pretty dang good, if I do say so myself. The last chapter feels a little looser than the rest, and I'm not in love with it, but I think it wraps up the story well. The only alternative would be to expand on that chapter, and I've neither the time nor the brain cells left for that.
I hope my recipient likes it, and I'm looking forward to seeing what I received!
❀ I'm seriously reconsidering Fandom 5k. I think this story might have just burned me out. Check-in ends on Sunday, so I'll have made a decision before then.
❀ I reread my old Auron/Lulu story recently and that makes me want to jump back in to planning an FFX-2 Lulu fic where she doesn't marry Wakka and have his kid, but instead travels with the girls and maaaybe gets the same choice little Bahamut Fayth offered Yuna at the end, winkwinknudgenudge.
But sure, Dee, just keep piling on to an already overcrowded plate!
Total words added since last entry: 13,994
2023 YTD total: 28,183
Cons of exchange reveal delays: A rambling, 2k word sex scene.
❀ I mentioned needing to edit and expand my Heart Attack fic, and... well, I sure did. Added four chapters and almost 14k words to my original submission, most of which are pretty dang good, if I do say so myself. The last chapter feels a little looser than the rest, and I'm not in love with it, but I think it wraps up the story well. The only alternative would be to expand on that chapter, and I've neither the time nor the brain cells left for that.
I hope my recipient likes it, and I'm looking forward to seeing what I received!
❀ I'm seriously reconsidering Fandom 5k. I think this story might have just burned me out. Check-in ends on Sunday, so I'll have made a decision before then.
❀ I reread my old Auron/Lulu story recently and that makes me want to jump back in to planning an FFX-2 Lulu fic where she doesn't marry Wakka and have his kid, but instead travels with the girls and maaaybe gets the same choice little Bahamut Fayth offered Yuna at the end, winkwinknudgenudge.
But sure, Dee, just keep piling on to an already overcrowded plate!
Total words added since last entry: 13,994
2023 YTD total: 28,183
2022 Retrospective Stuff
Dec. 22nd, 2022 08:44 pm2022 was definitely a far less productive year than usual for me, but let's see what did happen, creative- and journal-wise.
( Some AO3 stats )
( First Line Meme for Fics )
( First Lines Meme for DW )
A rough year, but not all bad. Here's hoping things continue to get better, for all of us, in the year to come! 🥂
( Some AO3 stats )
( First Line Meme for Fics )
( First Lines Meme for DW )
A rough year, but not all bad. Here's hoping things continue to get better, for all of us, in the year to come! 🥂
Words? From my brain?
Sep. 21st, 2022 09:48 pmIt's less likely than you think.
But I did! I got some words down on creative projects and I'm happy about that! The bulk of them came from writing to a prompt on Tumblr about a hypothetical fic (the prompt explains it better). It featured Rinoa, Edea, and Angelo going on a road trip and Edea adopting a scraggly little dog of her own that she names (somewhat) after Irvine. It's as silly as it sounds, but damn, if it didn't generate a few plot bunnies of its own!
The other story is totally out of my usual oeuvre, going to some pretty dark places, but the beginning of it just kind of poured out early Tuesday morning. Basically, Rinoa, tired of being treated like a kid even by her friends, runs away from Balamb Garden on her 21st birthday to celebrate like an "adult." Instead, she runs into Seifer, and he takes her to a new club in Timber, where things really spiral out of control, fast. Rinoa loses control of her powers, there's a bit of dubcon, and a body count by the end. I don't know, in recent years I've become fascinated with the potential of darkness inside Rinoa, and by her relationships with others she doesn't get much screen time with in canon. I don't know if I'll finish it, but it might make a nice dark bit for Halloween.
Anyway, I suspect I may have written as many words about the words I wrote as I did in their actual respective projects! So, on to the stats:
Total words written this week: 2,713
Total words written this year: 24,943
But I did! I got some words down on creative projects and I'm happy about that! The bulk of them came from writing to a prompt on Tumblr about a hypothetical fic (the prompt explains it better). It featured Rinoa, Edea, and Angelo going on a road trip and Edea adopting a scraggly little dog of her own that she names (somewhat) after Irvine. It's as silly as it sounds, but damn, if it didn't generate a few plot bunnies of its own!
The other story is totally out of my usual oeuvre, going to some pretty dark places, but the beginning of it just kind of poured out early Tuesday morning. Basically, Rinoa, tired of being treated like a kid even by her friends, runs away from Balamb Garden on her 21st birthday to celebrate like an "adult." Instead, she runs into Seifer, and he takes her to a new club in Timber, where things really spiral out of control, fast. Rinoa loses control of her powers, there's a bit of dubcon, and a body count by the end. I don't know, in recent years I've become fascinated with the potential of darkness inside Rinoa, and by her relationships with others she doesn't get much screen time with in canon. I don't know if I'll finish it, but it might make a nice dark bit for Halloween.
Anyway, I suspect I may have written as many words about the words I wrote as I did in their actual respective projects! So, on to the stats:
Total words written this week: 2,713
Total words written this year: 24,943
Writing Update
Jul. 30th, 2022 05:30 pmWell, I made it through some very rough days, and I even came out the other side with some writing to share.
In response to a a fun little prompt that wasn't supposed to be taken too seriously or result in a whole fic, I ended up with 2k+ words of Barney Snaith angst in "All the Light and Shadow of It." It was actually quite a cathartic fic to write; I admit, I cried while writing it. Also, the background music I was looping at the time, while aesthetically perfect, probably contributed to the melancholy. Whatever the reason, I'm really pleased with the result.
I also picked up a pinch hit for Seasons of Drabbles. I had a lot of fun with it, and I hope I captured the character's voice accurately. I can hardly wait for reveals! :)
Statistics
Total words written this week: 2,681
Total words written this year: 22,230
In response to a a fun little prompt that wasn't supposed to be taken too seriously or result in a whole fic, I ended up with 2k+ words of Barney Snaith angst in "All the Light and Shadow of It." It was actually quite a cathartic fic to write; I admit, I cried while writing it. Also, the background music I was looping at the time, while aesthetically perfect, probably contributed to the melancholy. Whatever the reason, I'm really pleased with the result.
I also picked up a pinch hit for Seasons of Drabbles. I had a lot of fun with it, and I hope I captured the character's voice accurately. I can hardly wait for reveals! :)
Statistics
Total words written this week: 2,681
Total words written this year: 22,230
First, the good news: the latest dose of my antidepressant finally kicked in, and I think we got it right this time! \o/ Hopefully, I can stay on this one as long as I did the initial dose.
So, you may be thinking, this must be wonderfully conducive to writing! I am sorry, dear reader, to report that it is, in fact, not. I have ideas, plenty of them, too many of them, but actually putting them into coherent sentences is not easy. Complicating matters is that I seem to have lost all sense of the characters I'm writing about. I know who they are, how they act, etc., but it's been very difficult to capture that in my stories. Which is sad, because I like these characters.
Looking over at AO3, I noticed that my last three stories have followed a trend of being, if not outright downers, then more...subdued than usual, especially considering the characters involved. I had intended my most recent to feel a bit more jubilant, a bit more exciting, but it kinda fell flat. It doesn't help that one of the scenes starts very similarly to a scene in the previous fic (dammit, Red, when will you learn to keep your man's preferred drinks on hand? ;) ). It's just, there should have been more spark, but reading over it, I don't see how I could have written it differently. It's like the magic isn't there right now.
And this is concerning, because I still have outstanding Tumblr prompts, and I wanted to write my "into a bar" fic, and I really, really wanted to get at least one Yahtzee fill. But right now, my writing confidence is low, and I don't know if I trust myself to work with any of these, at the moment.
Blarg.
So, you may be thinking, this must be wonderfully conducive to writing! I am sorry, dear reader, to report that it is, in fact, not. I have ideas, plenty of them, too many of them, but actually putting them into coherent sentences is not easy. Complicating matters is that I seem to have lost all sense of the characters I'm writing about. I know who they are, how they act, etc., but it's been very difficult to capture that in my stories. Which is sad, because I like these characters.
Looking over at AO3, I noticed that my last three stories have followed a trend of being, if not outright downers, then more...subdued than usual, especially considering the characters involved. I had intended my most recent to feel a bit more jubilant, a bit more exciting, but it kinda fell flat. It doesn't help that one of the scenes starts very similarly to a scene in the previous fic (dammit, Red, when will you learn to keep your man's preferred drinks on hand? ;) ). It's just, there should have been more spark, but reading over it, I don't see how I could have written it differently. It's like the magic isn't there right now.
And this is concerning, because I still have outstanding Tumblr prompts, and I wanted to write my "into a bar" fic, and I really, really wanted to get at least one Yahtzee fill. But right now, my writing confidence is low, and I don't know if I trust myself to work with any of these, at the moment.
Blarg.
Writing Update
Jun. 1st, 2022 11:22 amIt shouldn't have been that hard. A fluffy story featuring one of my OTPs should flow, but this one was like pulling teeth. But I finished it! And I love how it came out. So, totally worth it.
But really, my writing process has slowed to a crawl. I don't know if it's a matter of confidence, or focus, or a strange combination of other factors, but I want my old brain back. :( Ah well, maybe having finished something will jump-start it again. I hope?
Next up, the prompt requests from Tumblr, then try to get my Yahtzee fics done, and maybe a treat or two for Femslash Kink.
I will consider any single one of these done in the next month a major accomplishment.
Total words written this week: 2,990
Total words written this year: 19,549
But really, my writing process has slowed to a crawl. I don't know if it's a matter of confidence, or focus, or a strange combination of other factors, but I want my old brain back. :( Ah well, maybe having finished something will jump-start it again. I hope?
Next up, the prompt requests from Tumblr, then try to get my Yahtzee fics done, and maybe a treat or two for Femslash Kink.
I will consider any single one of these done in the next month a major accomplishment.
Total words written this week: 2,990
Total words written this year: 19,549
First Lines Meme
May. 3rd, 2022 03:15 amI've been seeing the First Lines Meme making the rounds on my Network page again, and because I am basically an ego with legs who never misses a chance to blather about her writing, I figured, why not? ;)
And if anyone feels like swiping this meme, go right ahead! That's what memes are all about, Charlie Brown. :D
Rules:
- List the first lines of your last 20 stories. (If you have less than 20, just list them all.)
- See if there are any patterns.
- Choose your favorite opening line.
Here we go!
( 20 First Lines )
And there they are! Hmm, I don't really see any patterns in these, other than that most of them start with a thought or action from one of the main characters. I guess I like to dive right into the story.
As for which one I like best...that's tough. I really like the ones from "Morning," "Keep Reading," "Snowbird," and "Famous Red Overcoat," and I can't decide among them. So, we'll call it a four-way tie for my favorite. :D And once again, if anyone else feels like doing this, go right ahead and swipe this meme, that's what it's here for!
And if anyone feels like swiping this meme, go right ahead! That's what memes are all about, Charlie Brown. :D
Rules:
- List the first lines of your last 20 stories. (If you have less than 20, just list them all.)
- See if there are any patterns.
- Choose your favorite opening line.
Here we go!
( 20 First Lines )
And there they are! Hmm, I don't really see any patterns in these, other than that most of them start with a thought or action from one of the main characters. I guess I like to dive right into the story.
As for which one I like best...that's tough. I really like the ones from "Morning," "Keep Reading," "Snowbird," and "Famous Red Overcoat," and I can't decide among them. So, we'll call it a four-way tie for my favorite. :D And once again, if anyone else feels like doing this, go right ahead and swipe this meme, that's what it's here for!
