#and then another 50k to finish out the plot

[olderthannetfic]

I was wondering about writing styles. My fics tend to be not that long, usually 5k to 35k. When I read longer works, however, I have an impression that if I were to write the same plot I would somehow end up writing shorter story. (Never did this though.) I don't mean that the longer works are somehow overinflated, although there are some that I believe are, just that the way I write tends to be more succinct. Is this actually a thing? The long works I read don't have flowery language or long descriptions, so I have trouble actually putting my finger on what makes them, well, longer.

On another note, I have started reading Scum Villain because of your posts and my god. It's completely ridiculous. I adore it

--

Isn't it fun?

And yes, both certain types of plots and a given writer tend to default to certain word counts.

My natural word count (assuming I can force myself to finish something) is right around 50k. I can revise to add a little more scene description or take a little out, but it's not going to be radically longer or shorter. Above 60 is just not happening unless it's two plots grafted together.

Pulp novels are short. Mystery novels of the 1940s are short. This "A novel is 100k" thing is a product of the finances of printing paper copies in recent decades. If you compare your average mystery novel plot now to a Golden Age one, they do play out somewhat differently, and that difference is about 40k of material.

[theoneandonlysemla]

WIP Wednesday (It's Thursday because I had to think about what to post)

Tagged by: @skyrim-forever @elavoria & @thequeenofthewinter

Tagging: @did3lphis @dirty-bosmer @ladytanithia @tiredela @vanilleeistee

@firefly-factory and anyone else I have forgotten to tag or who just wants to do this! (I have to make a list of people to tag, I guess.)

Sooo... I've finished chapter 18 of DwD on Sunday and have already shared a part of that chapter as a WIP. With paintings, I have not done much more than you've already seen, as I've been so damn tired all week. Just doing the good (/s) ol' eat, sleep, work, repeat. (I hate that.🙃)

And so I had to think about what to post! And there is something that counts as a WIP I guess. @skyrim-forever already knows about the things that I'm cooking up! 👀

Anyway, first of all I plan to do another short smut of Ancano and Faralda, this time the concept is to torture Ancano as much as possible. ❤️ (Love the working title "Drunk Bitch Ancano" for it, lol.) Like degrade him as he deserves (and turns out, the man likes it!) I have a lot of notes on that by now; many, many ideas to be mean to that man. It will be a pleasure for Faralda! The second thing I've been planning out for so long now. I want to write a Mannimarco-fic! Planning on around ten chapters with a total lenght around 50k words. Working titel is also hilarious right now: "Mannimarco does necromancer shit". The plot has been plotted, it is gruesome, it is terrible and it might need a "probably necrophilia"-tag. It will be nasty and what I'm planning right now more and more evolves into full blown horror. Well, what else to do with the King of Worms? 😁 It will be set after Manni's exile and him settling down on mainland Tamriel. I' not sure yet, but I may diverge from the lore a little, just to make this fit the plot in my head. Anyway, prepare for necromancy. Currently I'm fleshing out the OC I'll be torturing using for the story. Her name is Ria (short for Riana), a Bosmer from Cyrodiil. She wanted to become a mage and is a rather good alchemist, but her education was disrupted by [fill with traumatic past event]. The relationship between her and Manni will be so fun to write! Because if you know me, I love to write a manipulative ass (looking at you, Ancano!) And I'll delve into full on cult leader behaviour here, at least that's the plan.

So, uhm, these are my WIPs for the week, I guess? I hope to come around to write these two soon and of course then share my WIPs with you! :)

[syrupfog]

20 questions for fic writers

lmfao @newttxt tagged me at JUST THE RIGHT MOMENT for me to actually do this THANKS QUIP (i never actually remember to do tag memes im so sorry this will never happen again)

1) how many works do you have on ao3?

193, but only 9 One Piece fics (and 52 of those 193 are on anon)

2) what's your total ao3 word count?

1,289,789 :)

3) what are your top five fics by kudos?

1. Lamprophony I'm just gonna do the one piece fics here, because otherwise Lamprophony would be number one and all the rest would be from the [redacted] fandom 2. Quell 3. Filaments 4. Quatervois 5. Dolor

4) what fandoms do you write for?

ONE PIECE. AS FAR AS ANYONE KNOWS JUST ONE PIECE <- lying through my teeth it's so easy to find my other fandom but SHHHH

5) do you respond to comments? why or why not?

I tryyyyy but I'm very bad at it. Usually once every two years or so I go through and respond to everyone which I'm sure is very confusing for everyone involved

6) what's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I canNOT handle an angsty ending oh my GOD. Maybe Quell but even that I mean. Sanji just gets his shit wrecked so I don't think it counts.

7) what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Supplicant :) (dkjfhdskjfsdkjfsdjk god i dunno NO FICS HAVE SAD ENDINGS SO IT COULD BE ANY OF THEM)

8) do you get hate on fics?

LMFAO I've been publishing fics for over a decade of course I get hate on fics.

9) do you write smut?

YES but this is the first fandom where I've been brave enough to post it off anon. Smut is scary :( what if people find out I wrote the word penis

10) do you write crossovers?

I love writing AUs but I don't think I could write a full crossover. Different media universes are just. Too different.

11) have you ever had a fic stolen?

NOPE.

12) have you ever had a fic translated?

Yeah! Just once I think. I've had a ton podficced tho.

13) have you ever cowritten a fic before?

I did a round robin fic once where we had a rough idea of a plot and then like ten? writers all just passed it off to each other in a circle. I think I wrote a total of 3 sentences of it. Decent fic tho.

14) what's your all time favorite ship?

GOD not to be fucking basic as hell but. Lulawlu.

15) what's the wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Okay first of all I don't care to put that sort of energy out into the universe no thank you. I DO have a MONSTER of a kilpen fic that I think will end up being like 50k (hey thats a monster for ME) but like. The outline itself is 10k at this point. So. It's been going a while.

16) what are your writing strengths?

Atmosphere I think? Actually, everybody always says banter. I can bust out a crack fic with 10/10 banter in like two hours flat. So unfortunately I do think it is banter.

17) what are your writing weaknesses?

I want to write the exact same storyline 500 times, and my embarassment about that keeps me from actually doing it. Please know in my heart I have thought up two different fics this WEEK in which the straw hats don't trust Law and he's an angsty mess about it.

18) thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

There's this one method of doing it where someone uses like html or what have you so tthat when you click the other language dialog, it translates into english so the reader can understand. And that's cool as HELL. I'm not really one for writing dialog in another language because I dont KNOW any other languages well enough to trust myself with it. My college degree is in Japanese and yet GOD I definitely dont trust myself to put it in a fic. I could maybe do Norwegian at this point after two years of studying it but like. For why.

19) first fandom you wrote for?

I've only written for two fandoms and uh. Shh. I can't do it I shant say

20) favourite fic you've ever written?

In this fandom? Maybe Ballast. I've reread it the most, for sure. Or, if we're including tumblr fic and not just ao3 (in which case we need to up the number of fics I've written from 9 to about 60) then the Race to the Beach.

TAGGING. Oh god do I know peoples URLS. @ghost-maya, @sualne, @cooknumber3, @blasphemlm

[lord-aldhelm]

𝓦𝓘𝓟 𝓦𝓮𝓭𝓷𝓮𝓼𝓭𝓪𝔂

Another week, another tag game! Please share your last sentence; or, if you don’t have one, share a plot bunny or idea! (OR sketch for your artwork!)

I have not been tagged so I get to start!

I have SO MANY THINGS ongoing right now. First, here is a bit from Chapter 14 of Darkest Before the Dawn:

The air was tense, thick with fear and anticipation. She could see Aldhelm readying his men for the battle, locking their shields together in the wall while the spearmen waited just behind the front line. The banner of Mercia flew high above his troops, a white dragon on a field of dark green. Beside it flew Aldhelm’s own banner: a white wolf courant with gold eyes and a gold border, on a field of dark forest green. It was a bold choice for him to fly his own banner at the battle, and sent a clear signal that he was the one in charge. It was considered treasonous for an ealdorman to fly his own flag instead of the flag of Mercia in the presence of the King, and he was doing so at great risk, although he knew Aethelred would not be made aware of it and even if he was, he would do nothing about it.

Other Stuff:

I have my first One-shot finished and ready to publish in a few days once it is edited and the moodboard is finished. I will not share anything about it here so you get to read it in a few days when I post it!

I have *at least* two more oneshots to finish (they are chapters of Springtime that never made it into the final cut) as well as my original story for Springtime before I cannibalized it and changed it to be the version that I posted. There is still enough left of the original story to perhaps publish a short fic (maybe 10K-ish) so I will work on that too.

Once Darkest Before the Dawn is complete (it is at 50k words, 14 chapters and I still have a lot left!!) I want to go back and edit Springtime in Saltwic. I love the story to bits but I have learned a lot in writing over the years and want to add some more descriptive stuff that was really missing from the original story, and also some better transitions between the chapters so it is not so jarring. I will not be deleting or changing anything, just adding to it and maybe fixing some words here and there for more eloquent ones.

I just made two gifsets for my James blog last night, which are sitting in the queue to post. I have one more short film and two feature length films of his to watch and gif, and then all of his old stuff will be done (unless I can find the two indie films of his that are MIA). Once Marie Antoinette is released in mid-March I will add that to my watch/gif list as well.

I am working on giffing Aldhelm's scenes from 4.07 as well, and those will be added to my queue. I am scheduled out into May at this point. I also need to fill up my queue with more BTS photos; I have hundreds and hundreds!

I also have a bunch of BTS videos and interviews and stuff with Aldhelm/James that I am planning on giffing.

Last but certainly not least is I am finally working on the King Aldhelm painting once more! I am working on his hands rn, which is giving me absolute fits! But I hope to be done with that part and move onto the rest of it by the end of the week. And maybe next week I have some nice WIP of that to post as well.

@gemini-mama @thelettersfromnoone @thenameswinter99

@bagheerita @solinarimoon @errruvande @paula-in-dreamland @aneurins-barnard

@waterfallsilverberrywrites @holy3cake @whitedarkmoonflower @bilbotargaryen @lady-wyrd

@grinningkatz @ladyinred2248 @hikaruchen @st-eve-barnes @alexagirlie

[hypnotisedfireflies]

I need to know about Tess’s mom. TESS US ABOUT HER MOM. My parasocial relationship with Joel’s character makes me burn with rage that Tess won’t let him near her mom but fucking Mike the moron/rabbit has that satisfaction of being strong enough to manage it. ‼️⁉️

Oh anon, I will be answering this in fic ... Spoilers under cut for Parallel Lines.

So the idea was that Tess's mother would be appearing in the latter half of Parallel Lines and I have been building toward that. However ... I wrote about 7k of this plot eventuating and it just didn't work. It did not work with everything else that occurs in the last act of the story. Even if I spent another 50k on it, there was just not the space in PL to tell it and still give the main event its due. When I've finished posting all of PL I may release what I wrote here (a stripped-down version, as some elements of it I have been able to incorporate into the story) because there are some parts in there I really liked.

That said, it is addressed in the story, just a little differently than how I set out ... so that's coming up soon.

I should clarify though, Tess doesn't see Joel as not strong enough to handle her mother per se ... she doesn't want him contaminated. Mike can let it go. Joel would not be able to.

Thank you for the ask, anon - I hope you like where the story goes, even if it doesn't deep-dive into this part of Tess's life.

[icemankazansky]

@film-in-my-soul tagged me in this really cool fic meme:

Everyone deserves to toot their own horn and be proud of their work! So, this tag game is fairly simple.

Promote 5 works that you're really proud of and share a little about why you're so proud of it! Then tag as many people as you like. You can reblog this post and add on to it (why not create a giant reclist to throw around?) or steal this header (and border if you like) and make your own post!

The Storm Series

Top Gun, Iceman/Maverick, E

Eight years after Maverick and Iceman meet at TOPGUN, Maverick is running the program and Iceman is badly injured in combat, which finds him sent back to Miramar to teach until he's fit to fly again. Things move pretty fast after that.

I'm proud of many things about Storm. It was my first major work for Top Gun, and I'm really happy with the characterization. The way the characters and their relationship evolve through the series—I'm proud of that, and I'm proud that I was able to pick up the series after eight years and write two more installments that belong in the universe with the first two. Despite all the ways I had changed as a person and a writer in the time between, I was able to slip back into it like an old coat, and that is something you strive for as an author.

Dreams of Impact

Top Gun, Iceman/Maverick, M

Maverick's trip in Darkstar takes him further than he ever imagined possible.

When I was a baby writer, I wrote a lot of really long stories. For several years, I worked with another writer on a collaboration that surpassed 200k words, and we never finished it. That was by far my longest work, but many of my stories pre-2010 are 10k, 20k, 50k.

Now it's rare that I write something that long. Part of that is that I learned how to say a lot without that many words. Pithy was a word I heard constantly in grad school, and I needed to learn how to do that. I have, and I'm a much better writer for it. I'm proud of that.

There are a lot of other reasons that I don't write long, multi-chapter epics anymore, everything from writing professionally to my health, and to be honest, sometimes I miss it. Dreams of Impact offered me a wonderful opportunity to get back to that kind of writing. I enjoyed writing the story very much, and I'm proud of how it turned out. The longer, more-plot heavy story muscles had not been flexed in a while, but I guess I still got it.

the weight of my heart is measured in carats

MCU, Tony/Pepper, G

What's so impressive about a diamond except the mining?

Remember what I said about pith? This one is like a good sword: perfectly weighted, perfectly balanced.

you are the moon that breaks the night for which i have to howl

Willow, Sorsha/Madmartigan, M

Magic leaves a trace, and part of the curse stayed in her blood, and Sorsha never forgot what it was like to be the wolf. Even after her mother transformed her back, the wolf lived still, tucked behind her breast.

I love magical realism, and I love making things into fairytales, and I love finding ways to fit discordant things together so they seem completely natural. I did all of those things very well in this story. It was also a gift for a dear friend who is also an excellent writer, and she absolutely lost her gotdam mind when she read it, and I am proud of that.

running through the underworld into your room

Top Gun, Iceman/Maverick, T

“Most of my grey hairs you gave me,” Ice said, unable to keep the fondness out of his voice even altered as it was. He paused. “You don’t know how much I wanted this. To grow old with you.”

This story is a standalone piece, but it was also—for me—an exercise (an exploration, maybe) in two very specific things. (It doesn't matter what. What does matter is: Not long after I had posted this, I talked to a couple people—dear friends but also writers I respect—about it once they'd read it, and they both told me how well I had done those two things, even though I hadn't mentioned them anywhere. I'm proud of that. It's extremely gratifying to know you can hit a target even if it's a target no one else can see.)

Tagging: @topgunreacts @escritoireazul @boasamishipper @maverickcalf @adiduck @hangsters @thelastplantagenet @andmakeithome

[relax-and-read-on]

2024, Hello!

What a year it has been, right?

I usually try to talk only about warhammer 40k on this blog. I don't like mention if my personal life, or politics, or even other fandom, really. That said, this year was... Far from easy for me. Health problem, job problem, finances, politiques, (shout out to all the queer french canadian who are also scared shitless!), moving in a new place, insane inflation....

I had given myself the huge objective to publish 200k words for 2023. At the end, this is the result:

108k words. You can also add about 50k of unpublished original work. Here is the list of fic that I have published/updated in 2023 (by view count), and some little thought/insight on them:

Agency - My big fem primarch au. You can really see me grow, if you read it from start to finish. It's been *years* since I started this fic, at this point, the ending that I have planned is like my white whale. One day.... One day, I will defeat it. Terribly hard to write but SO satisfying

Tales of different lives - if Agency is my dark nemesis, than my planet swap is coming home to a soft bed. It's so easy and FUN to write that au. I know not everyone like the lighter take toward the world this one take, and that's ok. Sometime... It's just nice, to have softer things, especially after such a year.

Phantom of the (warhammer?)-pera - I am begging you. On my knees. Read this one. It's my fav thing I have ever written. It's so much fun. It's totally INSANE and I loved every moment of it. I want to go back and fight the formatting again, to finish implanting all the notes. They are SO much fun. Also has AMAZING cover art by @skrankku !

Five times People tried and failed to Seduce Roboute Guilliman to Chaos... - Absolute surprised to me how people loved that fic. Ngl, I was actually sick/very depressed when I wrote it, but it warm heart that other enjoyed it.

This Once Nearly Was Mine - This one does not count, it's @kingwithpaintedfingers AMAZING Vulkan's POV to Castle of Glass, my Mortarion/Vulkan soulmate au. I am amazed and humbled to be able to work with such a great writer, and be able to call you a friend. I HIGHLY recommend all their work.

Trust - I had to actually check that one, and turns out, it was the update to my Talos/Septimus fic! Can you believe that I forget my own fic?! I am silly. Surprisingly delightful. I need to write more of this ship.

Birdcage - written for an exchange, specifically for @funboxsupreme , another criminally good writer. This fic, in my humble opinion, is some of my best writing. Extremely dark, I also SOMEHOW managed some really cool "special effect" in it, and I am PLEASED with myself.

In the Garden - a VERY quick and horny piece for Nan, a PROLIFIC writer whom I cannot help but be in awe of (also heeeelp I don't have your tumblr, poke me and I will tag you!)

Old Crows and Young Cardinals - This is an interesting one! This fic seem barely started, but it's mostly because the rest of it require MASSIVE planning and careful writing, as it deal with time travel and has a stupidly complex plot. I cannot wait to unveil more of it.

By proxy - hehehe, another really cool gift for a friend, this time for Lieara/Allyria! Even if this list is making me realise how many of yall tumblrs I don't know. I feel like an Old man trying to remember phone number lmao.

Day 2 - Bootworship and Sister of battle - a fun little fic part of the "40 kink for 40k" challenge that I NEED to continue, started by the wonderful @iapetusneume . Also.... Lesbian. Need more Lesbian.

The only way - A other fic that I had completely forgotten that I wrote. It's such a strange feeling, to reread your own words and go "I did this??" It's not bad, but it was written during one of those hard period of the year, and as such feel extra alien to me.

Day 1 - Geneseed, but sexy and Homeworld - another 40k for 40 kink fic, this one was a LOT of fun to write! Amd kinda specifically made for @bobthebobhere , another good friend in this fandom!

The miracle of science (and children) - a gift fic that was supose to be part of an exchange, but took too long! This one is for @shootertron-stuff , an artist that I highly respect and love! If you like it kinky, go tead their stuff, they are an inspiration.

In the Lion's Den. - Hahahahahaha lmao. So, fun fact: On reddit, there is a user who post horribly misogynist/homophobic Tau torture porn with his OC chapter. I got mad, and wrote a spit gay porn fic of his OCs. To his credit, he rolled with it and was amused at it. I still don't like him, and never will, but I have his blessing to keep it up, so!

The Bird, The Wolf and the Keeper - a little experiment, in poetry format fic. I liked it well enough, and will attempt some more in 2024 I think :)

(A secret fic exchange, yet to be revealed)

(another one!)

So.... 18 fics total. I think there should be pride in that. I like the variety of them, even if I want to push out more, do more unique and stranger fic, for 2024. It was a difficult year, but creating so much made it easier, made it more worth it. I am... Happy, with it all.

If you have questions about my fics, now is the time! Otherwise, I will see you soon, with more writing, and more joy in sharing.

I wish you all a wonderful year 2024, better than the last, safety, comfort, and peace. May we all had fun in this fandom!

[annlillyjose]

Green Room – WIP Intro

hiii cuties!

have you ever been overcome by an irresistible urge to write a memoir at the age of twenty, or are you normal? i'm definitely not, so here's a new project (again)

green room is an experimental memoir that delves into my teenage years as a writer. i started writing seriously at the age of thirteen and self-published my first book at fourteen, which is something that haunts me to date. but here's the thing – i feel like i've learned a lot in the last six to seven years and wanted to explore it with another writing project.

i don't really know what this book is going to be yet. i'm going to start drafting during nanowrimo as a side project and hopefully finish it by the end of the year, but i'm not in a rush. i want to enjoy the process of writing this so i might take my sweet time.

now because this is an intro post, let's get to some specifics.

disclaimer: this is my original work. plagiarism of any kind will not be tolerated.

genre: creative/literary non-fiction

pov: first person retrospective

structure: a combination of chapters, vignettes, and poetry maybe

projected word count: 50k

concept: literary memoir on a writer's journey through teenage as they navigate genre, form, tense, character, story, plot, theme, atmosphere, and setting.

aesthetics/vibes: abandoned art galleries, mountaintops, beaches at midnight, falling asleep on the terrace, coffee mugs, word documents, cute stationery that never gets used, rejection e-mails, daydreaming, moon phases, still rivers, birds flying in groups, rain, academic validation, morally gray people, the colour green

THE ORIGIN STORY

i had always wanted to write something in retrospect of my teenage and document my growth, but didn't want to be so didactic in doing so. the memoir seemed like a serious piece of writing so i didn't really know if i was qualified enough to start. but if i've learned anything about writing in the last few years, it is that you can write whatever you feel like writing. so here i am with a new wip.

a little bit about the title – i struggled with this the most. but the novel i wrote during my late teens (dairy whiskey) was an entirely green book and i found myself finding thousands of green things every single day. my life had turned a shade of green. i was very inspired by the books bluets by maggie nelson and the white book by kan hang. i decided to make the colour green an important aspect of the book.

i don't know how this is going to turn out or if i'm going to do updates for this one, but who knows, i just might. until then, i hope you enjoy my other writing and shitposting. until next time, goodbye.

– 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

[crescencestudio]

Devlog #31 | 05.29.23

Hi everyone!

I am once again bringing you a monthly update. As some of you may know, I recently announced I am participating in Otome Jam this year. With that said, this devlog will be a bit unique in that it will include updates for both "intertwine" (very general updates) and "Alaris" (our usual program of updates) \o/

Writing

Ah, the section that made me sad every time I looked at it for the past two months (kidding, I'm being dramatic). As you all may know, I'm creating a project for OtoJam, "intertwine."

“Would you choose me in every lifetime?”

With another creative project and my dissertation, I was nervous this month that Druk's route was going to make little progress in the writing department yet again.

BUT I AM VERY HAPPY TO SAY THAT DIDN'T HAPPEN OWO

Intertwine has very much given me the creative boost I needed to combat my burnout/rut, and I was able to make a lot of progress on both projects (and my dissertation!). Intertwine script is currently sitting at 15k words and is in the final developmental stage as we speak. I was able to write up a little under half of Druk's script and it currently sits at 20k words!

There are still a couple of scenes I need to go back and write in, but I'm confident they will be easy to write because they're more fun/juicy scenes. Additionally, the remaining half of Druk's route will be pretty action-packed, which is much easier for me to write than the more subtle plot beats. So I'm quite confident I'll be able to finish Druk's route by our next update, which also means Alaris will officially reach the halfway mark for the script!!! AAA. I also wrote 10k words for my dissertation, so I wrote like 50k words this month YAY I WAH

Art

Regarding the art front, most of my attention has been on intertwine this month due to time constraints. I've finished the base sprite, most of the GUI mockups, and some CGs!

We also got this beautiful logo from puchi for the game, and I'm excited to soon show you all more progress pictures ^^

Promo art feat. Vân and Game Logo

For Alaris, Vui continues to hit it out of the park with the backgrounds. I have previews of the Dawn and Dusk Court for you all, and they are beauty! I'm so excited to receive more Fae related BGs from him, though I may not be able to show as many to you all because spoilers from here on out <\3

Dawn Court

Dusk Court

Additional Notes

The remaining soundtracks for Alaris were completed this month by Peter as well! I still am in the process of reviewing them as they're moreso in the draft stages, but they're sounding beautiful so far.

Intertwine will also be featuring voice acting, and with auditions closing soon, we’ll be selecting a voice for Vân as well in the near future ^^

No market research this month, but I did read the Villains Are Destined to Die manhwa and that art and Callisto are so yummy

Anyways, I think that's enough from me, so that is all for this month's update! Stay safe, and see you all next month <3

[hexcurors]

Another headcanon of mine, which became such an obsession that I ended up writing nearly 50k words in less than a month, is that almost every holiday, the families gather at the millennial mansion where Charlie Weasley lives in a magical village in Italy. He ended up taking care of the house after the owner passed away (plus, they had a romance). This is one of the few family gatherings that Albus can’t manage to avoid.

During the last summer before he graduated from Hogwarts, Scorpius insisted that Draco join him on the trip because he and Albus wanted to spend more time together, and Draco had to go so Scorpius wouldn’t feel out of place. While there, a romance sparks between Draco and Albus. It begins when Albus unintentionally breaks through the mental barriers Draco had built to protect himself (up until then, only Scorpius had been able to get past them because Draco's sole focus was living for his son).

--

And there’s a ton of other stuff in the plot. My girlfriend and I spent a long time researching to create the background, and she even made the astrological charts for ALL of Albus’s cousins (with the information we had at hand) so I could develop them better in the story. It’s also pretty angsty because I love writing Albus as a complete mess—mentally screwed up and addicted. Sorry.

I really had so much fun writing it, and I do plan to finish it someday, but I’m not even halfway through yet

[libraford]

I have almost 50k worth of words for a fantasy novel I started brainstorming 4 years ago. I stopped because I got caught up so much in the world building that I started a second book of mythos and the different regions of the world I made with who lived in it. That book ended up having another 40k worth of words in it by the time I was done working on it. I'm never gonna finish the original novel but it's still a low stress project for when I feel bored 😅

I think like... my problem is that what I have in my head is a good house for a series of vignettes within the same world, but not a long plot.

Which I think could be doable and honestly its something I'd like to read, but it requires me to sit down and plan things out.

[fachefaucheux]

2025 goals! WriteFest wrap up!

So! An arbitrary turning of the calendar page means it's time for recaps and new goals, right?

Not necessarily, but the fact that we're still (just barely) within that liminal holiday space where many people are doing the mental equivalent of standing around on the platform with their hands in their pockets waiting for the next train full of responsibilities and obligations to hit the station is as good of an opportunity as ever to evaluate and regroup.

First things first -- what happened with that whole WriteFest thing? A mixed bag, really. I managed to write 100k in 44 days easy peasy. 250k, though, was a bridge too far, at least when coupled with my dissertation proverbially looming over my shoulder every time I sit down to write. I'm hoping that next year the awesome folks over at 4thewords might consider adding another goal somewhere in between 250k and 100k -- 150k, maybe? Or even 200k might work -- that would still "feel" like a stretch/ambitious target, but not be as insane as nearly 6k a day for a month and a half. I am blessed/cursed to be a quick writer; once I'm locked in on a scene or a chapter, I can draft at a truly horrifying rate. (Horrifying for Editor Memento off nursing her fifth bottle of the week off in the corner, that is.) I started doing 100k challenges a few years back whenever a word count based challenge came up, just because the usual 50-60k target is...basically my usual monthly output without putting in any coordinated effort. 

Looking back at my stats for 2024, the numbers bear that out. I had three months this year that I was in the 40k range (the months surrounding moving, which is a trial I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy), but the rest were all over 50k. In some cases, well over. I tapped out on the 31st having written 713k this year -- not too shabby, even if half those words rightly should be deleted in the editing process.

Rather than focusing on more short-term word count goals in 2025, I'm going to mainly be keeping my eyes on a year long goal of finally having a one million word year. Of course, I'll still happily snap up any monthly/weekly challenge that comes my way, because my brain functions slightly better with a timer running, but the yearly goal is going to be the big one. I'll check back in at the midpoint of the year to see if this is still feasible, since heaping failure on yourself isn't real great, but it seems fairly doable, provided I don't die in the climate wars in September or something, lol.

But I've also got some non-word count goals. Those being:

- Finish the first full draft of Canticle vol 1 (the siren song of the editing loop is screaming at me at the moment, but I will not give in!)

-Finish the remaining handful of short stories and final volume of the Niv/Yule story arc

-Give More Whiskey Than Blood a proper edit and attempt to hunt down some beta readers for it

-Start those edits on the first volume of Canticle, depending on if I find a good drafting vs. editing balance

-Begin research on/start drafting Canticle vol 2

-If I stall out on any of these projects, I am allowed to start drafting one (1) new character/pairing story, as a treat. (Thinking it will be the Country Thief vs. City Thief romance, since that one, like the Niv/Yule arc, is way more "romance-y" and easier to write than any of the stories I have kicking around that will involve a lot of non-romance plot shenanigans and research. But the djinn revolution story will one day come! Probably when I'm not working on another lore/plot heavy arc.)

-Also finally make my Patreon page look halfway decent, as I might be using it as a place to dump side-stories (not behind a paywall, just as a place where it won't clutter up another story index), but not sure yet.

In short, although this year will still involve a lot of drafting, it will also be the first time in a long while that I've set my mind on doing Serious Amounts of Editing. I hate editing with a fiery passion. It is painful. It is tedious. I hate the story more and more with every page I go over. Half of it is because I just don't like being forcibly exposed to the worst parts of my own writing, but the other half is forcing myself to Think Like A Reader and not succumb to all of my self-indulgent whims/preferences. And making compromises, judgement calls, sort of -- what elements of the story are likely not going to be most readers' cuppa, but are crucial to what I'm trying to do, and which ones are just me being stubborn about my collection of trifling annoyances that I avoid in writing out of sheer spite.

I'll give you an example. I have a petty, unreasonable, knee-jerk dislike of having information presented to me in fiction in a straightforward fashion. It makes me feel like I'm being talked down to. "Oh, you don't think I could have figured out Jumbo Maximus is the ruler of The Wasteful Wastes myself if I'd just kept going? Or that I didn't pick up on him having some ancient beef with Slim Minimus that makes him act like an ass all the time??? Fuck you, I'm not dumb! I'm quitting!" 

Yes. It is that petty and stupid. To give it a more positive slant, though, the more bewildering and strange a first chapter is, the more I'll want to read more. I draw the line at total, incomprehensible word salad, but it takes a lot for me to be put off rather than intrigued. The more questions a first chapter leaves open, the more excited I'll be to keep going. The end result of this knee-jerk dislike of mine is that I have a tendency to produce bewildering first chapters myself, convoluted chonkers that don't make sense for another 50 pages. This is not conducive to getting someone who doesn't run wholly on white monsters, nicotine, and spite to read a book. Thus, I must edit.

Which leaves the question of why I'm putting myself through the hell of editing...but I'll save my thoughts on why self-pub is a boon for people writing niche stories like mine for another day.

Anyway! Those are my goals. Do ya'll have any goals? Stay tuned later this week for another non-self-serving-promo-post in the vein of "Why I Love (and Write) Romance". Only this time...it's gonna be "In Defense of the Shadow Daddy".

[fictionaldeity]

hi G, happy Storyteller Saturday!! I haven't done these in a long while, so I'm gonna use this opportunity to catch up/learn about my fellow writeblrs' current projects >:)) so, tell me, what are you actively working on right now? how far along are you? what are you most looking forward to in the project?

Hi, Cee!

I… had no idea Storyteller Saturday was a thing. Shame on me 😅 Thanks for reaching out though!!

Let’s see. At any given time it’s fair to assume I have at least 6 WIPs simmering in my head. But the ones I’m working on most actively, could be narrowed down to 3, currently.

1. Keep It Between Us (#WIP: KIBU)

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Status: Revisions

It’s an enemies to friends to lovers romance. The current working pitch I have for it is:

After a one-night stand that ends in an explosive fight, Cliff and Samantha are forced to plan a fundraiser together. Samantha, to win back the love of her life and ex-boyfriend, who dumped her on the night of their anniversary, and Cliff to save from bankruptcy the art school he volunteers at.

I’m most looking forward to finishing these revisions already so I can get other eyes on this thingggggg!!!!😭😭

But in all seriousness, I really want to get to the actual nitty-gritty of the revisions (right now it’s more what I’m planning the revisions themselves). My hope is to cut down at least 50k words from the first draft (don’t ask me how long it is). And with my CP’s comments I do think I can manage it, so that’s exciting. This is the first draft I’ve written with an actual outline I managed to stick to, so I’m very proud of it even if it came out monstrously long

2. Ready or Not (#WIP: RoN)

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Status: Plotting/pre-drafting

Also enemies to friends to lovers because they couldn’t pry this trope away from my dead shriveled hands. It’s the sequel to KIBU, with a secondary character turned main character

It’s in such early stages that I don’t have a pitch. The best way I can describe it is:

Competing in a tournament for his favorite videogame, River discovers his idol on the gaming scene is none of other than Wolfgang, also known as the Ice Prince, also known as his jerk coworker and the most arrogant and inconsiderate man on the planet. But when they’re forced to share a room together on a trip only a few days later, all it takes is one weekend for them to begin seeing how badly they’ve been misunderstanding each other for years.

I’m most excited about… honestly everything! I haven’t started drafting, I only have the vaguest idea of the major plot points so far, so everything with this WIP hangs in that magical zone of everything is awesome. Buuuut, if I had to choose one thing only, I really, really, want to get to drafting a particular scene near the beginning, which is an inflection point on the plot. And if I’m honest I’m most excited about that scene because there’s a pun at the heart of it I really, really want to commit on paper 😂

3. No working title yet, I’ve just been calling it Glennwick’s Short Story

Genre: Fantasy/Adventure

Status: Plotting/pre-drafting

This one is even less further along than RoN. I’m thinking of it as a short story or novella if I can keep myself from overwriting (and I don’t have a lot of faith in myself tbh) or maybe even a graphic novel. Not sure yet. I'll know when I start drafting.

I won’t even bother trying to pitch this one. Basically, it started as a way to give a fitting backstory to a character from another WIP. My idea for this one is very straightforward, classic hero’s journey type of thing, focusing more on the aesthetic than anything else and with an unlikeable and very vain protagonist on their way to get a rude wake-up call that the world doesn’t revolver around them.

With this one, because I know who Glenn (the main character) will be much later in their life, I’m really looking forward to getting to know them when they were much younger and even brattier than at present lol. Glenn is one of my pettiest and most melodramatic characters and I love that for them.

And wow this came out too long, sorry🫣

Again, thanks so much for asking!!

[cake-writes]

stupid question queen but what inspires u to write? like is it other content or music or your own thoughts and imagination

Aw this is such a nice question 🥺🥺 (tw: SA mention)

Sometimes music will do it! Usually stuff with good bass lmao, primarily EDM or alternative. I tend to maladaptive daydream with music, not often, but then I write whatever the original idea was--but the writing usually goes in a totally different direction because I don't plan beforehand what happens. I usually have, like, plot point A and B in my head that I want to get to but everything that leads me there is totally unplanned.

Most of it is my own imagination though. My traumas actually 💀 I go on writing benders for 1-2 weeks at a time every couple months where all I do is write. Like straight up hyperfixated 8+ hours a day (that's on ADHD and it's actually super unhealthy, don't do this lmao) and I switch between multiple WIPs, very rarely do I finish one and post it unfortunately. I've got so many like 50k+ word WIPs that y'all are seriously missing out on 🥴 but they aren't cohesive enough to post.

The hyperfixation is usually triggered by something in my own life I'm trying to escape (may or may not be related to the writing I do), and then after my bender I sit back and look at my writing to try and figure out what the recurring theme is. So, for example, the last few have been primarily sex pollen, substances, or like ABO heats--all of which involve reader losing control in some way due to an external factor basically, but that's obviously me trying to process my SA where I was drunk and lost control. (I'm like 99% fine now dw it's just old stuff I'm clearing out of my head!)

Another example is like, I know one of my triggers is when I'm feeling unwell for a few days, sick or depresso or whatever. So then some of my writing might reflect the reader being taken care of in some capacity bc I didn't really get this as a kid. Lots of stuff like teacher/student or age gap dynamics--I have a sex pollen WIP that's of this exactly, reader gets hit with sex pollen and Kakashi, her mentor & 10 years older, has to help her through it. He's soooo sweet about it too and 🥺 I really want to finish this one bc it's so SOFT and the smut is 🤌

Side note if you're into astrology I've got Moon in the 3rd house which is literally my inner emotional world + processing things via writing and communication hahahah

I get inspiration from random everyday things though too, like I might be out on a walk and see a mom wearing a red coat and it'll trigger some idea for whatever reason??????? idk 😭😭 But I usually just get a basic plot idea like "reader is on a mission doing X" or "reader is a (job) and encounters X" and start there, then the rest of the plot develops as I'm writing! Zero planning whatsoever.

Thank you so so much for this lovely question!!! I really enjoyed answering it 🥺💖

[recurring-polynya]

Writing/Art Update 11.20.2024

My progress ended up being pretty okay for this past week, even thought it felt like I spent the whole time shitting around, although maybe that's because almost all the progress happened yesterday. Also, when I say "shitting around" some of it was definitely actual shitting around (by which I mean thinking about Renji's bankai), but some of it was deep cleaning my living room so I could have new couches delivered and then the new couches not being delivered, but that is neither here nor there.

Anyway! Writing! I wrote all of Chapter 7/50, which was kinda boring and a drag to write, but it's important for the plot, and came out to just under 1600 words. I'm a little salty that I couldn't have done something better for 🎉Chapter 50🎉 (I've never written a 50-chapter fanfic before!!), but I don't really want to squeeze in an extra, extraneous chapter just to make the numbers line up nice, and I also don't want to delete any of the chapters I've already written, I need those. A bigger problem is that I ended it with one of the characters proclaiming they would come up with a plan and now I have to come up with the plan, and I am not at all confident in my ability to come up with the plan. This happens sometimes in writing, where you semi-commit yourself to the plot going in a certain way, and you know that if it doesn't work, there's going to be a lot to undo. But I gotta commit some kinda way, or the story just isn't going to go anywhere. So maybe this will be it??? If I can come up with the plan, it will work great, I think. It does not need to be a good plan, and it is perhaps better if it's not, but that's what we're doing now, I guess. I want to throw up.

Chapter 8/51 is a much better chapter!! I'd already started it ages ago and I couldn't really finish it because I didn't have a good enough idea of the plot happening around it for the characters to have the conversation they needed to have, but I have that now, so I was able to write it. The reason this update is on Wednesday morning instead of Tuesday is because my word count numbers are really fuzzy when I'm in the middle of a chapter. I did finish it at like 10pm: it is a total of 3558 words, 2,375 of which are new. I may have made the end a little too abrupt, but I can always go back and pad that out. The last few chapters have had Rukia and Renji off doing their own things for a while, and they got to hang out together again in this one. I think it's kinda cute of me that, for the sheer amount of Renruki fanfic I have written, even though I enjoy writing other characters and trying out other dynamics, I just really like writing Rukia and Renji scenes, it's still my favorite thing. Renji is wearing his pink-flowered yukata and making bad tea and Rukia is just relentlessly horny for him, and they would not stay on topic, but it's fine, I'm only doing this for my own enjoyment anyway.

Every time I finish a chapter, I think, oh geez, now I have to come up with another one. I think I know what I'm doing next, and it's mostly talky, but this entire act has just been people talking to each other so I might try to work in a fight scene??? I hate writing fight scenes, that tells you how badly talky this story has gotten.

Anyway: GOAL PROGRESS

This week, +3971 words, which gives me 12,171/20,000 = 60% of my goal, with 6 weeks to go.

I hadn't been reporting word count on the overall act iv rough draft progress, in part because I wasn't sure how much of Ch 51 was going to go and how much was going to stay, but that's resolved now, and the current damage is 8 Chapters/20,871 words. When I got started on it this fall, I estimated that it would end up at somewhere between 12 and 18 chapters, or 30-50k. I think the low end of that was perhaps a bit optimistic on my part, but I might be about halfway through? (which is to say, 18 ch/50k is probably what it's gonna be). Why does 20k seem so small when you've actually written it and so big when it's hanging out in front of you?

I'm gonna try to have a few more productive writing days before I need to go into Full Thanksgiving mode, but I kinda do need to get on that and next weeks numbers may well be trash. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It also seems that I have fallen off the art truck entirely, which I am disappointed in myself for, but also ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[griseldabanks]

I've been seriously considering participating in SlowMoWriNo, a variation on NaNoWriMo where, instead of writing 50k of a story in a single month, the goal is to write for approximately 15 minutes a day for a year, starting this November, and hopefully have a novel done in a year's time. It's a challenge for those who are busy and/or burnt out, which perfectly describes me right now. I'm getting pretty close to finishing the first draft of my current WIP, and while I should probably just take a break from any sort of organized writing for the rest of the year to avoid a complete burnout, I also really like the idea of SlowMoWriNo.

So I think I'm going to do it. I can push myself for fifteen minutes a day, right? In order to still be giving myself a break from the hefty fanfic project I've been focusing on for the past four years or so, I'd like to use SlowMoWriNo to work on one of my woefully neglected original stories. Even if all I have to show for my work after a year is an outline or notes rather than 50k of readable story, it will be more than I've got right now!

I've got quite a few story ideas that have been gathering dust in my mind for years now, so which one should I dust off and take a poke at? I'll describe each one below the poll. Basically, you're voting for which story you'd like to hear updates on and potentially get excerpts from, because I'll be doing that for accountability purposes in the year ahead.

The Ambassadors - Sean is scrubbing the floor of his village's chapel when the village is attacked by a rampaging dragon. Before he knows what's happening, the dragon smashes through the chapel and dies. With her last breath, she places a dragon egg at his feet. The egg hatches in his hands, revealing a baby dragon with black scales. Though he has heard all his life about how evil and dangerous dragons are, Sean just can't bring himself to let any harm come to the baby dragon. So, changing his name to Shard, he runs away to find a place where he and his new dragon friend can live in peace. Medieval fantasy, dragon rider story, lots of angst and lots of fluff, no romance but lots of friendship with an emphasis on brotherly love between the main character and his dragon, strong Christian themes (complete with my own barely-disguised fantasy Christian religion :P). The first draft is written, but I need to completely rewrite it because I've reworked and refined a lot of the plot and worldbuilding.

The Arcblade - Aiden Averrod, captain of the airship Robin, is just about broke and looking for work for his crew when a mysterious noblewoman hires him to give her transport on her quest for the fabled Arcblade, a mystical weapon said to bring peace to their war-torn land when it is unsheathed. Reluctantly, because he has no other choice and because the young lady has a fat purse with promise of another one forthcoming when the quest is achieved, Aiden agrees and sets off on a quest that will completely upend his life. Eighteenth century-ish fantasy, steampunk (crystalpunk? is that a thing?), serious laced with humor, swashbuckling, includes a romance between major characters. So far, I've written a grand total of two scenes and then realized I needed to revisit the worldbuilding -_-

bartender story (unnamed) - Bob is the friendly, rotund third-generation owner of the town's tavern. All is going well in his life until a band of heroes comes through and...well, one thing leads to another, and in the end, Bob's tavern is just a pile of ashes. Demanding repayment for damages, Bob tags along with the band of misfits as they continue their quest to save the world from the Dark Lord. Medieval fantasy, satire with a heart, tongue-in-cheek poking fun at fantasy cliches, probably no romance but we'll see. Nothing written for this so far.

broken heart story (unnamed) - Annie has had a crush on [unnamed heartthrob] for years, but would never dare tell him. After all, she's ugly. She's fat. She has terrible acne. She's cripplingly shy, and she's been picked on and bullied her whole life. There's nothing he would ever find attractive about her. But one day she happens to witness [unnamed girl] cast a spell on him that turns his heart into an origami heart made of many separate pieces of paper folded in on each other, which she pulls apart and scatters to the winds. Without his heart, [unnamed heartthrob] has no emotions, no personality, and his so-called friends start avoiding him because he's acting so weird. Taking pity on him, Annie decides to get his heart back. Even if it might break her own heart in the process. Modern-day urban fantasy, probably some kind of magical school setting (maybe university-level?), angsty drama, romance, basically a reverse Beauty and the Beast about true love looking past the surface. Nothing written for this so far.

clone sister story (unnamed) - [Older sister] is struggling to accept the clone of her deceased younger sister, who has just been completed and come home from the lab. The decision to clone [younger sister] was a snap decision her mother made in the throes of her grief after the accident, but since then the whole family has come to grips with the knowledge that [younger sister] is gone forever. But the cloning process was already started, and her mother was unwilling to pull the plug, because she believed that clone was a real person, a real little girl who needed a mommy. Now that little girl is coming home, and they all have to remember that, just because she looks exactly like [younger sister], she is a different person. [Older sister] isn't sure what to think. Near-future sci-fi, family drama, angst and grief, family relationships with a focus on the sisters, strong Christian and pro-life themes. Nothing written for this so far.

The Family - The Shiwaga family is a wealthy, well-respected clan that has been a pillar of the town of Avalanche for generations. What no one realizes is that they're also secretly a mafia-like organization working to sabotage the government, believing it was usurped from the rightful ruler - someone Shiwaga hopes to be able to influence once they have been returned to power. (This story is actually kind of hard to summarize, both because it's currently a mess and because there's at least a dozen main characters who are all supposed to be equally important.) Meiji Japan-inspired epic fantasy, huge cast of characters with opposing motivations, family drama as well as world-threatening crises, romances as well as friendship/familial relationships are front-and-center, currently the ending is more bitter than sweet but I want to reevaluate that. This was the story I worked on the two times I've done NaNoWriMo before, so two of three parts are written, but in a very slapdash fashion that's basically just a fleshed-out outline that will probably have to be completely rewritten anyway. The original thought was to make this a trilogy.

The Four - Timor was found as a small child, abandoned in the forest and somehow managing to eke out an animal-like survival. Since then, he has been raised in the home of Avadris, a one-time counselor to the High King, who has been dead for years. As Timor grows older, Avadris slowly puts two and two together and begins to suspect Timor is actually the High King's son that everyone thought was killed the same night the king and queen were. In the hopes of restoring the order and prosperity they enjoyed under the High King's reign, Avadris announces Timor as the heir to the throne when he turns twelve. Though he asked for none of this, Timor suddenly finds himself running for his life from those who want nothing to do with a new High King, accompanied by strangers who may become friends - or may end up killing him. Medieval epic fantasy, adventure/quest, non-traditional fantasy races/peoples, no romance but various platonic relationships among the impromptu band of companions. This is what I consider to be my first "real" story idea, but even though I came up with it when I was twelve and still believe in its potential, I've never finished a draft and don't really know how it ends anymore ^^' Probably needs to be started over from scratch for the...fourth or fifth time.

four siblings story (unnamed) - Jack, Sophie, Rebecca, and Grace are recently orphaned siblings who know they have to stick together to survive. The good news is, they all have superpowers that have manifested as they struggle with their grief over their parents. As they try to gain control over their powers and figure out how to balance them with the serious side effects those powers bring, they are taken in by the wealthy Dr. Clementine, a jovial old philanthropist who promises to be like a grandfather to them while also giving them opportunities and resources to hone their supernatural skills to the fullest. But it's not long before the four siblings begin to suspect his motives are more sinister than they seemed at first. Modern-day urban fantasy, children's/YA fiction, adventure, no romance but a heck-ton of positive sibling relationships and eventually found family, standalone with possible sequel potential. Meant to evoke some combination of Escape to Witch Mountain, The Girl Who Could Fly, and E. Nesbit (Five Children and It)/Edward Eager (Half Magic) books.