Island of the Lone Sane Thought

stolen from elle_blessing

1. How often do you write and how do you feel about your output?

When I have the time and Ducks In A Row, the writing comes out fairly consistently at about 1000 to 2000 words a day. When I am drinking fire I can write 1000 words per hour, but those times are few and far between. I am mostly okay with my output but I wish I had more time to spare for it and that my ducks lined up more often. Still, I don't like to make writing goals; that sort of thing always backfires with me. I get ahead of myself rather spectacularly every single time (counting my poor chickens before they're hatched is a failing of mine) and then I get disappointed. Especially because I so rarely do what is wanted of me. Even when I'm the one who wants myself to do it.

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catsintheattic has been writing an intriguing series of entries on writing, and it's really made me think harder about my own writing process. One of the things that I've been really mulling over is what I call "plot and chores."

First of all, the terminology is my own rather poor word choice, and I'm certain that it's called something more accurate somewhere else, and it's probably explained better, too, but what I'm trying to do here is explain my own version of plotting in my own words. And keep in mind that this will not be a huge epiphany for anyone who regularly writes--it's more of an attempt to figure out how I write.

When I'm writing a long fic, I generally follow a pattern. I think about the fic quite a bit, daydream about it for days, sometimes months, and then I sit down and start writing down every plot point I can remember. I keep that up for a couple days, and then I type all of the plot points/scenes into a Word document and rearrange them until I have them in chronological order. I add a starting location and a date (and time, if necessary) to each section. I also add a few details that I don't want to forget, sometimes even a bit of dialogue. This is the plot. The outline looks like this:

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I am now completely sick, most likely a sinus infection. I think I'll actually go to my doctor today. Usually I wait until I'm well past the point of miserable. I'm only at miserable as of yet. But I have a show on Sunday and I need to be ready. I mean, the getting ready part is mostly non-stressful, but the show? I want to be recovered before that. And if I just sit at home and blergh, it'll be a week to ten days, as usual. Plus, this infection is nasal-oriented, unlike the last three, which were throat-oriented with little or no nasal affliction, so I'm super-miserable. I do so enjoy being able to breathe, y'know?

In other news, the 'Nam flashback Riptide story turned out to be a good story, I think. I'm pleased with it, though I still like the TCfC story best of the Riptide stories.

I have this old strange ledger book from when I was a kid that I've been jotting down eBay notes in. Anyway, I was paging through and found a Riptide story I started when we first moved in (December) and I didn't have my computer moved in yet. It was just a bit of a ficlet, written longhand, but it didn't have an ending yet. I've transcribed it into Semagic and I've been tinkering with it a little, but it isn't showing that flash just yet. After I transcribed it I went through the next couple pages, and was surprised to find a little paragraph describing a totally different scenario, one I don't even remember writing down. It's a good h/c scenario, though. So the inspiration just keeps moving ahead.

There's a writer, I think it's Diana Gabaldon, who wrote some sort of writer FAQ equivalent once, where she sighs about people coming up to her and telling her that they have a great idea for a story and that she should write it. And then she points out that she has plenty of ideas already and doesn't need theirs. Heh. Well, maybe she says it in a nicer way. I have to say, I could not possibly run out of inspiration for fanfic stories, seriously. It's just a matter of writing them down. Same with original fic/nonfic. I have so many crowding my head that it's a wonder I have any other thoughts in there at all.

ETA: Doctor's verdict: Sinusitis, round #58.

I just wrote 3400 words in the past four hours and finished the story and wow. (8400 words total, so far, which will change in the revising, but whew.)

*blinks*

Clearly, writing it in my head over and over again paid off. Okay, fine, I'm not totally finished, I still need to polish it, but wow.

Now I just need to polish it, force poor Husband to read it again for the fifteenth time, and bam. Done.

Y'know, in the HP fandom, I'd time posting it so it wouldn't get posted on the weekend (nobody online), but it occurs to me that it might not matter in the Riptide fandom...I mean, there's so little fic that it's not like people get overwhelmed and skip stuff or accidentally miss stuff. I mean, it's just one comm. *ponders posting early*

Seriously. This new Riptide story has completely managed to resist all attempts at writing. It has only three scenes, and I've written these scenes in my head over and over again, and each incarnation has its good points and bad.

I cannot decide between first person and third.

I cannot decide between past tense and present.

I am beginning to wish I had never thought of this. I just tortured poor Husband for a half hour about it. Instead of making progress, I am even more deadlocked than before. Husband pointed out so many very logical things--how much narrative distance do I want? And then advised me first person, present tense, which so many good/great fanfic writers/readers abhor and won't read.

I am so torn. I have been leaning mightily toward third person/present tense, but this is a very disassociated style, which I'm not certain is what I'm looking for, but then again I don't think the past tense will do, and...and...I'm sick of thinking about this and I want the story written NOW. Y'know, I'm ready to just start writing the Jake Tyler fic instead because I know that it will be in third person/past tense like usual and I won't have to agonize over anything except for details about walkie-talkies.

Y'know what it is? This 'Nam fic, though it will be short, could be something special. It could be something unusual and interesting, and I want to give it the perfect tense/POV combo so that it will shine.

*vacillates*

I'm a featured author at Sycophant Hex's Ashwinder archive for the month of October!

*blinks*

I never, ever, in a million billion trillion years would have expected this. It's especially surprising that the fic is the freaky, crack!dream-inspired the Pond.

I'm totally astonished and humbled and wow! I'm completely bowled over. Thank you so much, SH!!

Yeah, probably useless at this point, but still.

Last week I was listening to snapecast episode 16 (which was released last spring, before DH hit, yeah, I'm still catching up in a weird way--I missed a few episodes because they were mislabeled in my mp3 player). The snarky chapters portion really made me pause and rewind.

( So. Thoughts about DH, now that time has dulled the senses. And uncanny predictions made before the book's release, and predictions that were dashed upon the authorial rocks. heh. Also, about fandom and how it seems to have changed, at least to me. If you're sick to death of DH blather, please avoid this. )

So I'm working on the dark!Snupin challenge, and I'm dissatisfied, of course, as I always am to some degree. I had hoped to write something in the style of A Free Man/A Line in the Dirt, something lyrical and rich, but instead I find myself falling back on the the Last Sanguimagus style instead, which is much more to-the-point.

What I don't like about this is that the enjoyment rests squarely on the plot, instead of the actual writing. In tLS there really isn't any special wording or fantastic imagery; it's all character-driven, plot-driven, get-to-the-plot-point-next-scene-etc. stuff. It's bare bones, in a way. I don't have any pretensions about the writing in tLS; it isn't lovely, by any means. But it isn't how I normally write, either. I was trying to emulate JKR's writing style, in a way.

So I thought this dark!Snupin challenge would be a great way to work in the more poetic/lyrical style that I adore and that is closer to my own style. I wanted it to be enjoyable in terms of plot AND words both. But I seem to have failed so far. 1500 words into it, and it really is bare bones, and every attempt to dress it up seems to fall flat on its face with a reread. My friend, who reads nearly everything I write, simply says, "This is on course."

I want him to say, "Wow!"

But this apparently isn't going to be one of those Wow stories. I've tweaked the plot more into Wow because of this, but still, I'm mourning the story that could have been.

I have just finished editing the last entry on lastbloodwitch, the new home for the Last Sanguimagus, my SS/OFC work-in-progress. A great big thank you to all who read, all who review, and all who offered advice about structuring the archive.

I have also finished uploading the revised, updated version of tLS to every archive it is currently hosted at (save one, but only two people seem to be reading it there, so it's a bit lower on my list of priorities).

The Last Sanguimagus Chapter Index - Chapter One

( Why? What was changed? )

As usual, time restraints sharpen my swords, and the ginormous bloated thing I wasn't certain about writing for Snupin has revealed itself to have a simple, tripartate structure at its core that is making me jump for joy. Huzzah!

The daydreaming stage (the longest part of me writing anything) is at its end.

My ratio seems to be 4 parts daydreaming, 1 part writing, for just about anything.

What about you guys? What's your daydream-to-writing ratio?