#WRITING IS HAAAAAAAAAARD

[youngpettyqueen]

smacking my WIP note with a broom hoping more words fall out of it

[duskspring]

Someone tell me to just write already

[nowoyas]

WRITING IMAGE DESCRIPTIONS FOR IMAGES THAT DON'T ACTUALLY EXIST IS HAAAAAAAAAARD CAN'T I JUST MAKE 1000 DOLLARS SO I CAN COMMISSION SOMEONE TO DRAW THE PIC I'M THINKING OF AND I CAN JUST PUT THAT INSTEAD

[musicfeedsmysoul12]

Trying to find a good MCU reaction fic is haaaaaaaaaard cause like either it’s Team Cap, the reactions in it kind of suck cause they’re barely there and usually just a line or two, claim to be ‘neutral’ while shitting on Tony and making him to be the bad guy, OR the chapters are to short.

Like the shortness is the worst cause there’s a delicate balance between to long and to short. In my personal opinion with something like marvel movies you need to go three-four chapters for each movie. But just doing maybe a scene or two for each chapter is way to short dude. It is way to choppy.

Similar with BnHA or others: episode each chapter. Don’t split them up it just doesn’t work well.

But also yeah the reactions: a delicate balance between to many reactions and not enough. I’m currently struggling this next chapter cause I’m trying to find that balance. It’s an emotional chapter two with some whiplash so it’s hard. Plus I’m setting some stuff up for future plots. (And ranted to @anastasian-dreamer about one I literally came up with driving home from a night shift this morning.)

You need enough reactions it works but not to much to overwhelm it if you’re doing what I am and basically writing an entire separate fic to react to. A line or two is fine once in a while but it gets kind of dull and not exciting. I might as well watch the movies myself.

… I have no idea how this went from me complaining about the lack of good MCU reaction fics to this but yay?

[offsidekineticist]

Me: I'm going to have to hammer out the details of the folktale the next part of my fic hinges on.

2am brain: Ugh, but that's haaaaaaaaaard. We should write a Shakespearean sonnet instead.

2am me: [sincerely, while googling a refresher on sonnet structure] oh yeah that's gonna be so much easier than writing it out in prose, good thinking!

[oliverpdaniel]

Advent of Code 2022: Days 11-14

This is going out on December 20. Why, then, does this post only contain my notes for days up to the 14th, you ask? Well, because AoC haaaaaaaaaard. As of writing, I still haven't progressed past Part 1 of Day 15. But, I'm officially done with both school and work for the semester, so I'm gonna have a little bit of time and energy to tackle these, alongside the myriad other tasks I punted off until this time of year.

Please enjoy my writings while I suffer. I'm going to get all 50 stars this year, hard problems be damned!!!

Day 11

Every year, I expect there to be a Math Knowledge problem, and at least one "heat death of the universe" runtime problem. I didn't expect both of them to arrive on the same day, and so soon! In any case, I don't feel to bad about Part 2 being a two-seater here, nor about getting some insights from my much-mathier roommate. The most irritating part of the day was when I, not feeling up to optimizing my solution, just tried to chug my naive, OOP-based solution along while I took a shower. Well, I came back and it was finally done... except I'd forgotten to switch my input from the test data. Anyhow, the larger input would have taken even longer -- and may not have even terminated before running out of memory on my laptop. Whatever. Onward!

Day 12

Yup. This is why you don't talk a big game about your computer-sciencey brain when you *checks notes* dropped out of computer science during the plague. Although my fingers can practically write out DFS without my conscious intervention at this point, the test input was very cleverly formulated to make that take an unreasonable amount of time, so I was forced to open a Wikipedia tab with my tail between my legs. At this pont, I really ought to commit one of the UCS algorithms -- Dijkstra, A* -- to memory, even if exclusively for AoC problems.

Opening the subreddit revealed some interesting optimizations I could have done, like searching for the nearest a tile from the endpoint in Part 2, but... meh. Brute-forcing A* takes like two seconds on my machine, and I like pretty shiny stars more than that kind of yak-shaving. Speaking of, today better damn be a productive day for me if I want to keep on schedule to enjoy my winter vacation. What incentives lie in store for me over the winter? Why, the chance to work unimpeded on my portfolio site and side project, of course! What else would I be doing?

P.S. I will have to check with one of the more CS-y of my peers as to why my algorithm didn't work when the edge 'weight' between two nodes was 0 rather than 1 (as opposed to inf i.e., if the two nodes differed inadmissibly in altitude). And people on the subreddit are smack-talking using A* on this problem, so maybe I'm the dummy here.

Day 13

Today hit the trifecta of competitive-programming hackery: eval, match-case structures, and the walrus operator! Until I realized it wasn't actually necessary, I had a for-else loop in my comparison function for good measure, too. This morning's puzzles were much more manageable than the last few, and I'm pretty happy with the solution I came up with. Of course, years of Javascript dev have thoroughly rotted my brain: as soon as I saw that part 2 required sorting, and I had already written an (a, b) comparator, I thought I was done! Of course, these days Python doesn't use comparators, but rather a key. Luckily, a quick Google search (well, DuckDuckGo, because I'm like that) revealed that functools has a happy little cmp_to_key converter that made my life easy. No parsing and no custom logic: can every day be like this??

I'm quite curious as to what these nifty new match-case structures can do. I found it somewhat strange that the syntax for checking the type of values was an empty constructor in the case statement -- e.g., match a: / case int(): rather than the match type(a): / case 'int': I intuitively wrote. I'll have to see what the underlying logic is there. In either case, I've yet to really discover a use case where they're truly more useful than if structures (other than saving my precious fingies a handful of keystrokes), but I'm sure I will.

Day 14

An accidental midnight solve, which certainly would have gone more smoothly had I, y'know, not done that. A few things I'm proud of:

Recognizing pretty quickly that the inputs (i.e., walls) can be defined left-right or down-up, as well as vice versa. I made a simple smart_range helper that would prevent range from breaking if its start argument was greater than its stop.

My input-parsing is pretty baller, not gonna lie. Writing this writeup a few days removed from having written it, I'm slightly struggling to understand what it does! Itertools for the win.

Using a for-loop to represent falling, at the end of which was the "floor" of the sandpit.

I was a little bit scared of this one when I first saw it involved particle physics, but it turned out to be okay.

[thiswaycomessomethingwicked]

sooooo my query letter is being edited annnnd i am nervous. 

[meduseld]

-

[superpixie42]

20 Questions: Writing Edition!

Copied from @neutronstarchild 's open tag 💙

1. how many works do you have on AO3?

31 and 1 draft

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

132,796

3. How many fandoms have you written for, and what are they?

Published? Just Inuyasha. BUT I am working on my first ever HP (Dramione) piece for Sins Week in September

4. What are your Top Five Fics by Kudos?

Puppy Kisses

Key to My Heart

An Education

Everything

Trust Fall

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to! If people take the time to comment I want to take the time to read them and reply, even if it's just a thank you and a heart.

6. What fic have you written with the angstiest ending?

Technically it isn't published yet, but How It All Started is sticking to canon "everyone dies" ending which...sucks... but even that one the reason I haven't published it yet is because I refuse to leave it at that and walk away AND I FINALLY FIGURED OUT HOW TO MAKE IT A HAPPY-ISH ENDING. Suck it, canon.

7. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

I think maybe Night Watch? Inuyasha finding safety and community makes my soul happy.

8. Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I don't write true crossovers, but I do write a fair amount of AU's inspired by other IPs like my plot-of-the-Aristocat's fic Everyone Wants To Be An Inuyoukai.

9. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Thankfully no. I am a tiny nobody writing small one-and-done pieces so I don't attract the crazies.

10. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Why yes, yes I do. And mostly comedic smut, apparently XD

Sex is weird and I think keeping it weird and silly and honest both makes it magical and helps it feel grounded. I also really enjoying writing married/long term relationship smut because there's just something lovely about having a partner who you know and who knows you and you have enough experience together under the sheets to just make it work, ya know?

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, but if anyone wants to please please please feel free to DM me about it.

13. Have you ever co written a fic before?

Yes! I've done a few collaborations with artists which I LOVE doing, but @kirrtash and I did my first ever true co-writing/co-plotting project together with Princess of Pies and it was SO MUCH FUN.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

At this point it feels sacrilegious to say anything other than InuKag. They’ve been my OTP for so many years and have brought me a lot of good times over the years.

15. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Ajisai. At this point, I’m more and more happy with it just as a one shot

I do really feel attached to the concept I had for Pt2, I’m just not sure it’s what I want to focus on and I’m not sure it jives with the published first half anymore and so IF I do go back to that plot, it may be as a separate stand alone fic.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I like to think I’m funny and produce organic sounding dialogue.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Lord have mercy transitional scenes are the worst. Getting from point A to point B takes forever and keeping the momentum going is haaaaaaaaaard.

18. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I apologize in my tags for my horrible culture mashing in my fics. I don’t think I even use the right words for clothes sometimes and I am so sorry. If other people can do it and do it well, more power to them.

19. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Inuyasha

20. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

Ahhhhh, fuck. I write things for myself first and foremost so I like all of my fics but for different reasons. Either because I like the trope or because it’s jam-packed with my own head canons or because it makes me laugh or fixes a canon issue I have… not to mention ones I’m proud of from a technical/writing standpoint…

I’m gonna say Mistakes Made At Midnight. I am really proud of that fic but it doesn’t hit a lot of the big categories so it gets overlooked a lot but I really like it. An InuParent’s fix-it where I really pushed myself out of my writing comfort zone and challenged myself and I am very pleased with the result.

Tags: Anyone who wants to play!

[seadeepy]

2021 Fic Year In Review

Tagged by: @schitthappens 😘

Total number of completed works this year: 23, but most of those were part of my D/P drabble series!

Total word count: 34,895 according to Ao3 :0

Fandoms I’ve written in this year: Schitt's Creek, BBC Merlin, Captain America/MCU, and Kevin Can Fuck Himself

Did you write more/less fic than you thought you would this year, or about what you expected? The fest/event fic I wrote ended up much longer than planned in every case, which was a nice surprise -- after I finished writing furiously toward the deadline as they stretched longer and longer -- but overall I'd say I wish I could have written/published more. My writing came and went this year, and I've been very busy and exhausted in these last few months.

What’s your favorite story you wrote this year? Either "We're Here To Stay" or "you got me breathing sunshine." The former was all my feelings about protective!Arthur crammed into one story and I spent a lot of time choosing scenes and working on it. It was the first multi-chapter thing I've ever posted. The latter was really fun to write, as a fusion of two of my favorite things -- D/P and Dungeons & Dragons -- and I just don't think anyone else could have written what I came up with! It felt creative and unique, I guess.

Did you take any writing risks this year? Yeah, I started posting a story before I was done writing/editing it, which I've never done before! Plus committed to writing some longer stories, which I'd say I succeeded at! :)

Most popular story you wrote this year? Definitely my most recent one, "Echoes in the Dead of Dawn." It blew up more than most stuff I write -- probably a combination of length and all the best tags. This fandom loves a canon-divergent magic reveal, and so do I, obviously.

Most fun fic to write? Oops, kinda answered this already earlier -- still "you got me breathing sunshine." Special thanks to the Discord people that brought the prompt to my attention as soon as it posted, knowing it would be perfect for me <3

Biggest disappointment? That I haven't posted any non-drabble fic that wasn't for an event in the last, uh, six months? I have a whole bunch of WIPs that have been sitting around, but writing has been haaaaaaaaaard

Biggest surprise? How long my various event fics got! I found much more story in all of 'em than I was expecting. The whole list of events I wrote for is here :)

Do you have any fanfic/podfic goals for the new year? Yeah, finishing some of those WIPs that haunt me, including my D/P drabble project and the sequel to "We're Here To Stay."

Tagging: @blackandwhiteandrose (or is it @this-is-bwr?) @queerofthedagger @aeonthedimensionalgirl @streetlampsunset @tcs-main

[bestworstcase]

4, 7, 10

4. Do you outline before you start writing? If so, how far do you stray from that outline?

yes i have to or i will lose the plot. i stick pretty close to my outlines because by the time i get to the writing stage i have all the kinks ironed out and there’s rarely if ever a reason to diverge significantly—the one thing that changes really is i often add or subtract or rearrange individual scenes to better suit the flow of the overall story once it’s broken up into chapters, since my outlines and rough drafts don’t have chapter breaks.

7. Which part of writing do you struggle with most?

character interiority. i have this tendency to revert to this... distant observational omniscient narrator pov and i have the hardest time getting into the heads of pov characters and... expressing their feelings and thoughts in a way that feels... natural and human. it’s very difficult and i always feel like, that man i suck at this frustration but the effort pays off i think because people keep highlighting this exact thing in comments as something that they enjoyed particularly.

also dialogue. writing dialogue is sooooooo haaaaaaaaaard. 

10. Do you enjoy writing dialogue, exposition, or plot the most?

i love writing descriptive passages. scenic design, characters discovering a new place or observing their surroundings, the texture and mood of a setting and how that colors the rest of the scene. definitely my favorite part of writing in broad terms; that said there’s always certain individual scenes that i just. have an absolute blast writing and those are often key emotional turning points in the narrative and i think the fun of writing those tops the fun of writing description In General

[koeiasequoia]

Guuuuuh why is writing so haaaaaaaaaard

[darkcolinodonorgasm]

C O L I N (I regret nothing)

Ye evil being!!!!!!!!! I love how you think!! xD

C - Crushing on?

No one. Maybe some tourist I see around Venice, but we’re just ships passing by, and not even remotely close lol

O - One wish?

I really wish to be able to write this Role Reversal fic because everything is somehow against me, myself included.

L - Longest friendship?

With my high school friend lol

I - Icecream flavour?

It haaaaaaaaaard!! BUT I’d never say no to what we call “bacio” (aka kiss) and it’s chocolate ice cream with hazelnuts inside. So effing good.

N - Number of siblings?

One. Fortunately. 

[awesomeasusual]

Being at Starbucks does help me get my work done but also the food here sucks and I don’t drink coffee sooooooooo. 

[conscience-killer]

5, 10, 19, 22, 25, 27, 32, 38, 41, 48 go nuts

I SHALL THANKS (and also not make anything resembling sense cos blerrrrgh sick)

5. How much writing do you get done on an average day?

Really depends on the Mode™. On a good day when I’m really feeling it, I can probably manage about 1k. (It’ll probably be rough as all shit at that point but yeah.) On a bad day I can spend about 4 hours attempting a single paragraph. See: our attempt at writing FIO 5 on holiday lmao.    

10. Do you set yourself deadlines?

Not as such but my shitty work pattern and the fact that I have one of those awful jobs where I actually have to work when I’m at work (I fucking know right?) dictates that I only get a couple of full days and maybe a couple of mornings here and there to write. Plus I can’t write for shit at nighttime so there’s that, too. So generally I’ll go into something and be like: “Right I gotta smash at least half of this today otherwise it’ll be another week before I can work on it again.” Kinda sucks lol.

19. How do you keep yourself motivated?

I don’t think it’s so much motivation, but more that my aspie brain simply doesn’t allow things to go unfinished. I have literally one (1) abandoned project but a lot of what I had for that (which wasn’t a great deal) resurfaced in Evol anyways.

22. Who is/are your favourite pairing(s) to write?

At this point, Cricket/Dennis without a doubt. Don’t get me wrong I loved writing each and every Cricks fic BUT I just adored how utterly horrific I could be with that pairing. I guess hate sex is my jam.

25. Favourite part of writing

I’ve always had a huge throbbing boner for setting a scene, and since writing Cricks I’ve developed one for creating backstory, too. Gotta love side characters. :D

27. Favourite line/scene

I change a lot but right now it’s this paragraph from The Bartender and the Thief:

Dennis’ expression is unreadable, but then, it often is. Perhaps presenting his dick in all its strawberry blond glory to the Gang’s resident sociopath isn’t his wisest manoeuvre, but the tantalising prospect of finally getting one over on the vainglorious cunt is just too delectable to pass up. Besides which, he’d been horny as all holy fuck ever since Mick the Dick (a misnomer; the guy is hung like a button mushroom) left him hanging after that apeshit rottweiler chased them out of the junkyard this afternoon. He’d been planning to rub one out for closure but then had happened upon the bottle of possibly-scotch-possibly-piss, and decided to just get good and wasted instead. The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inability to prioritise.

The weird thing is I wasn’t massively attached to that fic to start with, because I wrote it in such a rush and I didn’t have enough time to like, bond with it and shit. But it totally grew on me in the end, plus people seem to dig it which always helps lol.

32. Most difficult character to write

Still Dee. My brain just doesn’t compute on a feminine level so it’s hard to slip into.

38. Weirdest story idea you’ve ever had

All His Suits Are Torn. (You. Are. Welcome.) Also Space Lenny AKA Birb 5, and also Frank & Speedy Jim (the true otp) from FIO 5. (What is it with fifth chapters being craycray?)

41. Any advice for new/beginning/young writers?

This is hard with my mushy virus-infested brain right now but: Unpack things. Give characters motivation to act, rather than just acting. Don’t just tell us how they feel, tell us why they feel. Also, read! Read fic, read books. Read whatever appeals to you and ask yourself why it does. Learn the basics, but don’t be put off if you fuck it up to start. You’ll learn, and you’ll improve, as long as you’re willing.

But most importantly: Don’t. Abuse. Italics. It’s not big, it’s not clever, it’s just ridiculously jarring and people are quite fucking capable of figuring out enunciation by themselves. I have issues.

48. What’s the most self-insert character/scene you’ve ever written?

This is fuckin haaaaaaaaaard! When I was still writing for g*tham I projected a few of my aspie traits onto Ed, but I wouldn’t really call it an insert as such - just an easier understanding of the character. Same with writing Sunny and dipping into the drug-fuelled shenanigans of my misspent youth. Have I ever self-inserted? I have no fucking clue!

[caiuscassiuss]

why is writing so haaaaaaaaaard