#so I've been focusing on finishing this WIP I've had since august

[thetriangletattoo]

[dokidokiliteraturegirls]

Progress Update: September 2024

Hello everyone! Yui Wrong here, to give you an update regarding the progress that's been made towards bringing Feel Less back from hiatus 💖

So! Soon it'll be 2 months since Feel Less went on hiatus. And on the one hand that kinda pisses me off bc I really really like publishing this webcomic and not doing it feels like I'm missing something important from my life 😭 on the other hand, I'm satisfied with the progress that's been made! Development of updates #37 and #38 has been steady, so I don't feel like I've wasted time. However, although I've been consistently making progress towards Feel Less's return, I feel like there's been some radio silence here in the blog, so I wanted to give you all an update about how things have been going ^^

For starters, lemme start with what I've been doing. Before doing any illustrations for the new updates, I decided to take a small break to practice my art style, as I was really unsatisfied with how my drawings were coming out. I focused on head shapes, as those felt inconsistent in my art. Here's a couple doodles I did in August for practice

I want to keep practicing, but I decided figuring out a consistent head shape was enough for now and got to work on the updates. And I'm glad I did! I do believe there's been some noticeable improvement in some pieces~ Like for example, take this old MG illustration compared to a WIP for update #38

I like both, but I'm especially happy with the 2nd one~

After practicing for a couple of weeks I went straight into planning out the next updates and got to work on the artwork. And the result was that... 29 illustrations in total would be needed for updates #37 and #38!!

That's. Too many. So while drawing I've also been cutting the plan down and deleting some superfluous panels. After trimming the excess, I ended up with a much more realistic... 27 panels!! There, now that's doable 🥰

I jest of course, but my point is that a lot of work needs to be done and I've been consistently going at it for the past 2 months. As of now, 9 of the illustrations have been fully completed. I also have 2 WIPS I'm currently working on, so that number will go up soon.

Does this mean it'll take 4 more months to get this done? Of course not! ...hopefully. Listen, I make no promises, but I'll try not to take too long. I value your time and am really grateful for your patience. Besides, I don't want people getting bored because I took too long to return from a cliffhanger. I'm not Andrew Hussie. My full time job and real life chores usually mean that I only have about an hour a day to work on art, but I have a couple plans to make production faster, such as cutting down some more planned panels and buying a keyboard that doesn't make noise. Why would a keyboard's noise be relevant? Well, it's not. I mean, I guess if I had that, I'd be able to draw while taking calls from work without my bosses noticing, as it wouldnt be picked my the microphone, and that'd give me an extra 10 hours a day to draw. But I won't do that, because that'd be irresponsible and unprofessional. So therefore, the keyboard is irrelevant. Forget I mentioned it.

Also, a point I imagine some people might be wondering: Why make it so long anyway? There's no one forcing me to have complicated scenes or almost 30 illustrations. It's my webcomic, I can do whatever I want. And taking a long break where I'm not even on break might sound like a dumb idea. However, for me, Feel Less is not just a webcomic I publish on my free time. I'd like it to be a showcase of the very best I can do at the point in time when an update is posted. From that perspective, it'd be dumb not to put effort into it. To compromise the quality of my works for the sake of following a schedule has never been something I've been a fan of. Now, I do want to be realistic, but also I don't want to feel like I'm giving up and just putting out whatever I can finish by my imaginary deadline. It's a delicate balance, but for these two updates in specific, I think quality should take precedence for a bit. My goal is for you guys to read them and go "oh, no wonder it took a while". At least for those 2, then we can go back to schedule.

Overall, my point is: progress is being made! It's currently all being done behind closed doors, so it might not be noticeable for you guys. But I promise, I haven't been twiddling my thumbs for these past 2 months! Maybe I should've, because my hands are quite cramped tbh. But no matter, art must be made! In the meantime, I'll leave you with a couple panels I've finished so you guys can see some of the work that's been done~

I'll continue updating you guys as time goes on~ If you want consistent updates, I've been dropping the number of finished panels on the discord server every time I'm done with one! Also, if you'd like to help me get to the point where I can work only 5 hours a day and put more time into the comic, you can support me on Patreon and get some goodies and custom drawings while you're there ^^

Thank you all once again for your patience, I'll keep working hard for you all 💖

[choicesmonthlychallenge]

Choices August Challenge 2023

This month's challenge will be a little different. The previous host had to back out so I am taking over... however, I was already planning on hosting 2 celebration weeks in August, which with the 2 book clubs would leave me with 5 events, and that's too much, even for me. So we're making August a combination month!

PlayChoice Game's 7th birthday is August 17th, so instead of having a birthday week, I'm including prompts for this event below and it'll run through the entire month of August.

There will also be prompts for Hollywood U + High School Story, as it's been one year since PB pulled those games. Without their success, we might not have gotten Choices.

Also, I've rescheduled sibling appreciation week a few times, so let's just add that in.

I also have some August holidays and summer prompts.

And lastly, similar to @choicesprompts, if you have a WIP from a previous challenge or event from this year that you really want to finish, feel free to submit it here too (regardless of the prompt). Let's clean out some WIPs.

Any of the prompts below can be used with any story/characters. They do not have to be used in the context of the "theme" they're posted under.

Happy Birthday, Choices!

In addition to the prompts below, posts celebrating Choices and your favorites (MCs, LIs, Friend Groups, Books, etc), will be accepted regardless of if a specific prompt is used

baking a cake

blowing out candles / making a wish

the perfect gift

surprising them with their favorite flowers

surprise party

spa break

"I'm sorry did you just call my/your birthday my 'womb escape'??"

“Are you crying? Please don’t cry, I didn’t think the gift was that bad-"

"I never liked celebrating my birthday."

"I don’t think fighting for my life is an acceptable way to celebrate my birthday"

"I’d rather eat you than cake."

"Put down the frosting!"

Hollywood U + High School Story Appreciation

Just like last year's event, any and all HWU and HSS content will be accepted regardless of if a specific prompt is used

movie premiere / red carpet

behind the scenes

coffee (all the coffee)

library dates/sneaking around in the stacks

falling asleep watching a movie

classes at HWU related to your MC's field of study

"Does a ninety minute movie really warrant this amount of snacks?"

"Your taste in movies is so bad"

"I love you but I'm not watching _____ again" -----

prom

graduation

High School Reunion / Where are they now?

school clubs

skipping class together

putting secret notes into the other's locker

being paired up for a project/presentation

"I accidentally grabbed your notebook" (What do they find, doodles, writings, poems, songs, little hearts with their initials?)

"It's finals week and you forgot we have a history exam?"

Sibling Appreciation

Any and all content that is focused on siblings in the fandom will be accepted regardless of if it fits a specific prompt

teaching their sibling about/how to do something

teasing each other

being overly protective of sibling

"Could you just stop talking for once?!"

"Don't blame it on me!"

"Thanks for being there"

"Can you pick me up?"

Siblings would help you bury a body, but they wouldn’t bring out the trash for you, no matter how nice you ask.

August Days

any August holiday

August 4: International Beer Day ; National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day

August 5: Sandcastle Day

August 6: National Friendship Day

August 9: Hold Hands Day

August 10: National S’mores Day

August 12-20: National Heritage Week

August 18: National Couple's Day

August 26: National Dog Day

August 27: National Just Because Day

August 30: National Beach Day

Summer Prompts:

popsicles

sidewalk chalk

camping

fairs/festival

fruit picking

stargazing

iced coffee

sunglasses

Making summer playlists for each other

“it’s absolutely sweltering, how can you still want to cuddle?!”

“do we have any ice cream left?”

"Summer's almost over…"

“I couldn’t help myself… All the ice-cream flavours looked so good!”

Remember, you can also submit any WIP you have that are based on previous prompts from any 2023 event.

2023 Monthly Challenge Prompt Lists:

January ❤️ February ❤️ March ❤️ April ❤️ May ❤️ June ❤️ July

Guidelines + Rules

Submitted works will be featured on a weekly masterlist

Every form of creative work can be submitted: fanfiction, drabbles, moodboards, edits, drawings, poems, songs, sketches, and more—all are welcomed.

Work from any book and story from the Choices (and Pixelberry) universe are welcome (new and old alike)!

You can participate as many times as you want during the month

Clearly list the prompt your used

You can combine submissions for this event and others

Please add a cut to avoid long posts and exposing other fans to triggering/disturbing content.

If your work is NS*W please label it as such and use appropriate warnings. Adult content should be hidden under the page break.

You can get creative with the prompts. It can be a variation of the word and/or concept. It doesn’t have to be exact or literal. If the word inspires a train of thought that led you to something different, put that in the notes and send it in! Have fun with it! Make them work for you! The ultimate goal is just to find joy in creating!

Please tag @choicesmonthlychallenge​​ and if you’d like to add me you can do so as well~ @lovealexhunt​​​ (feel free to DM me your work too since Tumblr tags are fickle)

[onebizarrekai]

some ibvs-related stuff

you probably noticed that it's been quite some time since ibvs updated (like. eight months) and while ibvs tends to have pretty large time gaps between updates, this one has been particularly long. it's been more of an unannounced and uncoordinated break, to be honest. I was hoping that I could at least update it before the end of the year. I still kind of want to do that—maybe it'll be easier after my next concert is over in the next few days—but yeah, it has been a long time.

I've been having a really hard time creating stuff lately. sure, I've cranked out a few dsmp pieces, I made a lot of danganronpa art and writing this year before I did that, but I mean like, in the last while. maybe the last 6 months or so. I don't even know how I posted anything in august. like, yes, my ao3 says I cranked some danganronpa stuff out in august, but I don't… really remember writing anything in august. I barely remember what I was doing in august. I guess they were like, partially completed wips already so all I had to do was get them done. I dunno.

I finished one fairly long-ish fic in the last month. I uh, had to post it anonymously for reasons, and I'm proud of what I wrote, but that's pretty much all I've been able to get done done. I guess this is part of the problem? not really ever feeling done with stuff. or maybe forgetting how much I've achieved and only being able to focus on the stuff I haven't been able to. and I have all these ideas for this same fandom and I'm struggling to get those done too. and like, my v3 fic series is just kinda collecting dust because I haven't been thinking about danganronpa in the last few months. that's just how it is, I suppose.

I've also just had like, the worst writer's block ever for ibvs and I'm just shoveling around in fandoms (and often misery) trying to stave off stress. I keep looking back at it and going "am I happy with this" and like, I am. I should be. I'm pretty happy with it, but the longer I go unable to write it the more I feel like I'm just adding things to the story that aren't gonna matter to anyone even though… it is that. it is the story. I'm writing it for fun. it doesn't have to be perfect. it has to start somewhere, but every time I try to write it it feels like I'm off in the deep end. I have to remember everything. I have to backtrack and make sure I know what I'm talking about. I have to make sure that I don't write anything that, well… is boring as hell.

I've been getting caught in a lot of negative thinking and I'm both trying to focus on mental health while also feeling like the things I'm doing on behalf of 'focusing on mental health' are actually either sustaining the problem or making it worse. like it's making me feel more lethargic and more trapped and less able to create things. I'm trying to get a therapist, but no insurance-covered psychologist who lives in near me is willing to do in-person sessions. one of my issues is feeling like I'm stuck at my computer and stuck online and stuck inside where everything is nonpermanent and I can't move; doing online counseling would make things worse. I don't really get it. I'm hoping I get a proper one soon.

anyway… we'll see if I feel better after the concert is over. maybe after I actually manage to get a therapist. thanks for the patience, everyone.

[kitekki-khaos]

A Year of Khaos: 2023 Review

Welp. 2023 is officially over and we're onto another year. I wanted to put together some kind of year in review thing and since I didn't get a chance to do it during my final stream of the year, I thought I'd just put it all together into a blog post. So here's an overall look at the year:

2023 was my "throw everything at the wall and see what sticks" year in an attempt to really feel out what I wanted to do with streaming. So my plan was to pick a Thing for each month, really go all-in on it for the month, and make something focused around that by the end. Then change for the next month, rinse and repeat.

I've always been a Jack-of-all-Trades, which is as much a blessing as it is a curse. I CAN do just about anything if I decide I want to do it, but that also means there's no One Thing I'm really good at. The only One Thing I have is something that's borderline impossible to stream, which is writing. So... Project Year. Try everything, see what sticks.

So I present, the various skills I attempted to build throughout the year and the final product they produced:

Projects Completed:

January: Fashion Design - Ironmouse Outfit Contest Entry

(List continues under Read More)

February: Blender - New VNyan Throwables

March: Variety Streaming - Trying different Stream Categories

April: Game Development - Ludum Dare

May: Sewing - Summer Wardrobe

(horrible failure, just ended up making things in blender, instead)

June: Traditional Painting - Minis

July: Minecraft Redstone - Basics

August: Minecraft Map Building - Halloween Adventure Map

September: Stickermaking - Sticker Chat Banner

October: Dance / MMD - Halloween Transition & Halloween Stream

November: NaNoWriMo - WIP

December: Thankmas & 3-Year Debut Anniversary - Charity Streams and 3.0 Reveal

In addition to the projects I was working on throughout the year, I was also working on the 3.0 model at the same time. Throughout the entire year. Which, I came to realize was kind of a mistake trying to do both. I just barely got the model done in time because my time was so heavily split between so many things. Especially when you add that I was ALSO still editing videos for Youtube all the way until September. (which was a full 12-hour day, twice a week) So I was working on completely rebuilding my models from scratch in a program I was wildly unfamiliar with (blender), doing a new project every month, streaming 3x's a week (usually upwards of 6 hours), AND editing 12-hours a day twice a week to post 2 videos and 2 shorts every week.

It was... a lot.

Last year was a lot.

Too much. Even for me.

There were even a few more things on the list that I wanted to try out this year, but ended up not being able to figure out how to stream it. Baking, for example.

But I'm hoping to find something I can really focus on for the coming year and lessen at least some of my constant uncertainty about what I'm doing with life. And maybe ease up on the work, in general. If I was awake, I was working last year. I was so burnt out and exhausted by the time December rolled around, I had no energy left for my biggest event of the year. Honestly, I'm still exhausted. I wanted to get this post out ages ago but I just had no energy to write it.

I need to ease up a bit next year. Figure out what I actually want to do. But I feel like I have a slightly better handle. Maybe.

We'll see how it goes.

As a final note, here's a list of every game I played throughout 2023, which was honestly a lot. I try to finish as many games as I can, especially the horror games, with the exception of co-op games or sims. Some unfinished games (like Hollow Knight and A Hat in Time) I plan to finish at some point. Others, like Digimon Survive, I've decided to drop for good. Whereas yet others, I'll probably finish on my own as an off-stream game. (Slime Rancher 2 I'll probably play by myself but I've played through Ni no Kuni like 3 times in the past so I'm fine leaving that one where it was).

Games Played - 53 Total

( * - Finished / + - Co-Op/Sim )

My horror game backlog is massive so Indie Horror Nights are guaranteed to return in 2024. Obviously. Horror is kind of a thing. Variety Night is also guaranteed to return because I like having a day where I can just do what-the-fuck-ever.

However, I don't know if Project Night will be a set thing in the future. Additionally, I'm considering adding a fourth stream day but I haven't committed to the idea yet. I want to get back to fashion design but I don't think I'll be picking the seasonal collections back up for this year. Maybe just do themed outfit sets, instead. I may also try making them in blender instead of VRoid this year, as well.

There are a lot of decisions to be made about 2024 still.

I'm not sure what I want out of this coming year yet. But thank you to everyone who puts up with my perpetual indecisiveness, there will be more in the future.

Here's to a new year and new possibilities.

[suddence]

Retrospective!

HI. So. Since Suddence draft 3 is done, I thought I'd do a bit of retrospective on this story :^)

This little project started as an escape from my main wip, APHELION, which is a big sprawling sci-fi thing. I thought Suddence would be a nice little novella, 40k words tops.

Turns out, it's 60k words long. That's right. It's a wholeass novel.

Draft #1

On May 17th, 2021, I started the first draft. While I had a strong idea of the basic premise and a nice solid beginning, I wasn't sure how exactly the rest of the story would go. Most of this draft was just me writing down scenes that seemed interesting. At this point, I hadn't even figured what exactly Dany was gonna do after reaching Suddence. I threw together some semblance of a wham bam action climax. I didn't like it, but I couldn't think of much else.

Also, while I had the alternating timelines idea already, they were both written in regular prose.

After "finishing" this draft, I went back to my main wip for a while and continued struggling with it.

Draft #2

On November 16th, 2022, I started the second draft. In this draft, my goal was to tie the story down. The prose doesn't have to be good; it just has to be finished and whole. The beginning of the story stays mostly the same, except that I decided wait! Wouldn't it be more interesting if we got to read the flashbacks as if they were Dany's diary entries?

I tested this out and decided, yup. It was much cooler.

So, I focused on this for a while. Progress was meandering and I was struggling a bit with how I wanted the story to end. At some point, I peeked at my first draft, hoping to have some inspiration, and noticed I started it on May 17th. And at this point, it was also almost May 17th (2023). And I thought to myself, "Man, wouldn't it be something if I could finish this draft on May 17th? Wouldn't that be nice and symmetrical? Haha. That's not possible though."

But with the power of promising I'll treat myself to a Lego splurge after I finish the draft, it was, indeed, possible.

Now, as you read through the draft (I say "you" as if you will ever read this version of the story), you will notice that the quality significantly gets worse as it goes on. But I was perfectly fine with it! I had confidence and trust that my future editing self will handle it. All that matters right now is that it's done.

I let the story marinate for a few months, leaving notes whenever I thought of something, and went back to focus on APHELION. And I had a HUGE breakthrough there, which only boosted my confidence. I had been struggling with this wip for SO long, and it was amazing to finally have it figured out.

Draft #3

On August 1st, 2023, I began the third draft of Suddence. I switched my goal from "it just has to be finished" to "it has to actually be good." My mindset on this stage was that it had to be in a publishable state, even though I don't plan on publishing it just yet. I took the chapters one by one, reading each of them out loud to catch any strange wording or confusing moments. (There were a LOT of these that would have slipped by if I hadn't been reading out loud.)

One thing that really helped was keeping a notebook on hand, and any time I thought of something (e.g. checking the continuity on a previous scene, or a reminder to add something earlier, etc) I would write it down. This made editing SO much more manageable. I didn't have to rely on my spotty memory, I could cover so many more bases, and it's very satisfying to check each task off my list as I tackle them.

I wasn't really sure how long the edit would take. My general goal was to have something ready to show by April/May of 2024, where I'll hopefully be tabling at VanCAF again.

And now it's only been a bit more than two weeks, and the edit is done. 😳

Next Steps

So! My next steps will be to get critiques. I've set up a critique form, and now I'm preparing to reach out to people for beta reading. It's exciting! But also nerve-wracking. I've never gotten to this stage with ANY of my wips before. (Unless you count, like, my grad film, which I definitely don't.)

After critiques, it'll be one more round of edits!

I'm also going to have a copy printed out just at a local print shop, just so I can have something physical to hold :3

Publishing

I'm sure I've talked about this at some point before, but I'm planning to publish the story serially online first, and then having physical copies and e-books once it's done airing, so to speak. I've been checking out a few websites, like Wattpad and Royal Road and Substack. I'll have to poke around them a bit more before I decide which one to use.

I haven't really decided which printing company to use, either. Last I checked, BookVault doesn't ship to Canada :'( and the only other printer I've used is Lulu. I guess I'll have to look into KDP and all that eventually anyway, so I'll do some research on that front as well.

Thank you to everyone who's been following along on this journey! For now, I'm gonna migrate back to APHELION.

[tc-doherty]

Author Questionnaire

tagged by @the-letterbox-archives again, thanks :3

How long have you had your writing tumblr/writeblr? a fast and loose estimate is fine!

I started it January 1st, 2022.

What led you to create it?

My original writing blog was a side blog. I wanted to revive it but I also really wanted to be able to interact with things as a separate entity from my main blog, so I remade it here. I don't know precisely when my old side blog was made since I've deleted it, but probably 2015 or so.

What’s your favourite thing about the writeblr community?

I just love being surrounded by creative people, it's fun to always see somebody talking about something they're working on!

What’s one thing you’d like your mutuals to know about you?

If you don't know already, I love to talk. People can message me or reblog or comment on literally anything. I love to talk shop, I love to answer questions, I love to help people brainstorm, I love to talk about pretty much anything with people.

Is there anything you’d like to see more of on your dash?

I could always stand to see more positive jokes and memes and less negative ones, but otherwise it's pretty good.

Which wips or writing projects are you noodling about, lately?

Ones that I'm actively working on publishing or will soon be publishing: Dragon's Daughter, Celestials, Second Chances Ones that I am currently writing or planning about in an intentional way: Untitled 3, Northbound, Miracles, Magic Black as Knight

How long have you been working on them?

Second Chances is the oldest of those overall, which goes back to 2007 or 2008, at least. (only Silverwood is older since it goes back to around 2003) The Ghost was originally written in November of 2013 Dragon's Daughter was originally written in December of 2015 Northbound shows November of 2018, but it was based on something that I had written earlier and I don't know the exact date. I would be willing to bet 2016 though. Different parts of it come from different places so some of the characters go back to circa 2005, 2007, and 2008. Miracles is from August of 2019. Magic Black as Knight is from April 2022. Untitled 3 I finished writing this month although the initial idea is from 2019

Do you remember what inspired them/what got you started?

In order of the above: lots of mixed sources, a dream, my roommate telling me I should do it, a dream+old RPs, thinking the vibes would be fun, a dream, a completely mediocre anime that I watched

How much time, in your best estimation, do you spend thinking about them?

Anytime I'm not actively focused on something else, I'm thinking about a story. It might not be one of those listed about, but it is a story of mine. So, quite a bit.

When someone asks the dreaded, “what do you write about,” question, what do you usually say?

Hot take, I do not hate it when people ask me what I write about. I actually like that. Depending on my mood I might jokingly say something like homosexuality or magic and friendship. If I'm more serious I'll say that I write about figuring yourself out and finding the place you belong. Or if they're asking about something specific I will just tell them what that story is about.

Name any characters you created. side characters, protagonists, antagonists, characters who’ve never been written, the first original abomination you ever pulled from your ass; whomever you’d like!

I was just categorizing them for fun so take your pick:

Who’s the most unhinged?

Quite a few of them are, but it's not incorrect to say Myca and Madena.

Who comes the most naturally for you to write?

None of them are particularly difficult to write. But I have the most fun with characters who can't or won't give a straight answer, for whatever reason.

Do you ever cringe at them?

Nope. Why would I?

How much control do you feel you have over your characters? do they ever “write themselves,” refuse to cooperate, or do things you didn’t expect? to what degree? are some less cooperative than others?

I approach things from a psychology and sociology based process. I try to allow the characters to have room to breathe and exist as part of their settings, so I can figure out what they are most likely to do. I might joke about them "writing themselves" but it's only because I'm trying to follow what the most likely path is for them to take. In general, no, I'm still in charge and I'm still making the decisions.

Do you enjoy people asking questions about your characters? and do you have a preferred means of receiving said questions? for example, as asks, as replies, as reblogs, as tag notes, as comments on ao3, etc.

Of course, I love talking about my characters! Any way is acceptable.

What makes you want to follow another writeblr account? do you follow ‘em as you see ‘em, or take time scoping out the blog to make sure you align with its content? do you follow based on wips, or vibes?

I mostly just follow my friends and people who interact with me a lot. I don't follow very many people actually, only 37. It's generally people I know in real life, people online I've known or been mutuals with for a long time, some artists whose art I like, and then some writers that I talk to or somewhat frequently interact with.

What makes you decide against following?

I mean I won't follow you if you post a lot a shit I don't agree with. But also I have physical limitations so if you post a lot, I probably won't follow you, or might stop following you just because it's too difficult for me to keep up with my friends through a slog of posts. I also can get annoyed at people who constantly reblog their own stuff – nothing wrong with reblogging things and promoting yourself but there are limits. That sort of fits back into the above though it's just if there's too many posts that are getting in the way, I will stop following you.

Do you interact with non-mutuals often?

I'll talk with anybody, and I tend to respond to comments that people leave me whether they're my mutual are not! I mean maybe not if it's something generic like "nice" or whatever, but if somebody says something to me then I will probably respond to it.

Do your mutuals’ characters occupy space in your noodle?

To be honest I mostly have brain space for the characters of my IRL friends and also one or two people that I've known for over a decade. But I guess I am technically mutuals with all of those people so…yes?

Tagging: @did-i-do-this-write @outpost51 @thegoddesswater @unclear-contributions and anyone else who wants to :>

[suttttton]

helllllloooooo, hope all is well sutton! popping in to ask about the Groundhog Day fic 😌❤️

groundhog day fic,,,, love of my life, bane of my wip pile

(for those of y'all that are new here, Groundhog Day fic is about our dearly detested Elias getting stuck in a timeloop between the unknowing and the apocalypse and becoming a better person via the power of love/agressively shaking him like a snowglobe)

my first draft is still sitting at 60k words,,,, mocking me. tragically, i haven't made any progress since the last time i gave y'all an update, BUT i do have serious plans to make it my front-burner story after my RQBB stuff is finished and posted

i tend to write in a sort of cyclical fashion where i will chip away at a draft until i have a decent idea of what i want to change for the next draft, at which point i make a new outline and start on my second draft (cannibalizing the first draft as i go; i do not throw away all of the work i've already done that would be crazy), and repeat until i finally have a complete draft, at which point it only needs some light edits for me to consider it 'finished and ready for posting.’ i’ve reached the point in groundhog day where i’m shifting from draft #1 to draft #2, which means i have most of the structure of the story pretty well in hand. awesome!

the problem is. the story is just so goddamn long. and it turns out time loops are really complicated to write because you have to keep track of SO MANY DETAILS. i'm trying to make my new outline but first i have to write out everyone's character progressions for every single fucking time around and what everyone (and i do mean everyone) else is doing while Elias is focused on Elias World. i've had to make like. lists of Ways Elias Has Suffered and Must Suffer before he can be redeemed. i’m having to give him memories so he can have flashbacks because he’s the POV character and he’s been alive for 200 fucking years and some of that is probably relevant to him. i even have a fucking jonelias map tracking their relationship over the course of the story (which is 100 percent necessary for pacing purposes but COME ON I JUST WANT TO WRITE WEIRD CREEPY RELATIONSHIP DYNAMICS). and even putting all that aside, 60k words is a lot to cannibalize. even just reading through my current draft is a days-long endeavor???????

no worries though! groundhog day is far from dead! my goal rn is for the final chapter to be posted next August 5 (because that's approximately the day in canon that Elias called the crew in for his pre-Unknowing meeting, which also makes it Time Loop day!) i know that's still a year away, but this fic is going to be like 15 chapters minimum, updating on a weekly schedule (which means the first chapter would go up in april), and i am going to need. quite a lot of time to finish it lol

anyway here’s a little preview of Tim and Elias bonding(??) road trip:

Tim looks at his phone, and his look of cruel, satisfied elation fades. His eyebrows furrow. There are fourteen missed calls. Four from Martin, seven from Melanie, three from Basira. He turns away from Elias, holding the phone to his ear, waiting with concern as Martin’s phone rings and rings.

Then, “Martin, what’s going on? Is everything okay?” Tim’s other hand hand is scratching over the fabric of his jeans, a nervous tic. “Martin, I can’t—slow down, just tell me what happened.”

Tim stiffens, his hand curling into a fist. “Are you sure?” he says, his voice quiet.

Elias can see Martin curled on the floor, holding tight to what remains of Jon. He hears Martin’s panting breaths, struggling to get enough control of his emotions to snap, “Jared Hopworth attacked him. I’m pretty fucking sure.”

It wasn’t a peaceful death. Elias knows exactly how unpeaceful it was, can practically hear Jon screaming as Jared Hopworth took and took and took from him. He is missing vertebrae, a kneecap, several small bones in both of his hands, his left tibia, the bones of his right eardrums, three teeth, his left ankle, and many, many ribs.

Tim stays on the phone for a few more moments, then hangs up and casts tired, dull eyes to Elias. “Did you know this would happen,” he says, his voice a low growl.

“I can’t see the future, Tim,” Elias says.

“Did you know they were coming?”

“Would it change anything, if I did? Would you have given up your chance to hunt down the Circus?”

With a snarl, Tim punches the door of the car, then slams it behind him as he slumps into his seat. Rolling his eyes, Elias gets in beside him.

[cosplayingwitch]

Tumblr Writers Q&A Tag

Thanks for tagging me @make-me-imagine, I'm sorry it's taken this long for me to get around to things. 1. How many complete fics/oneshots do you have (that you have not published (yet))? None finished but not posted at the moment. 2. How many WIPS do you have right now? I have one permanently abandoned one-shot (but I haven't deleted it, who knows if I'll someday come back to it) and working on a major overhaul of my favorite story I've ever written- I think that counts as a WIP even though it's sort of written 3. Do you take writing requests or write original ideas, or both? I mostly do original ideas and writing challenges, but I am not opposed to taking requests in the future. (Once I actually have more time to write again.) 4. If you do take requests, how many do you currently have? As I said, no requests currently, but possibly in the future. 5. How many fandoms do you write for? One fandom comprises 90% of what I've written, then two smaller ones- so 3? But I'm considering others. 6. Are there any fandoms you wrote for in the past, that you no longer write for? No, but then again, I only started writing fan fiction last August. Not a lot of time to have a "past" with. 7. Do you write for ships, reader inserts, or other? I write mostly for reader inserts, but I've been kind of experimenting with a reader/OC hybrid situation where it's entirely first person narrating. I did write a entirely OC one-shot, but didn't care for it. 8. Niche fandoms/characters you write for? Unless you count Criminal Minds, none. 9. Do you read fics as well as write them? The last couple months I've been reading more than I write, as I haven't had time to write 10. What is your favorite genre (angst/fluff/whump/etc) to write for? I've tried, but I am physically incapable of writing anything that does not contain some form of fluff. For example, the "darker" fic I tried to write somehow morphed into a soulmates AU with a fluffy ending. 11. What is your favorite trope (to read and/or write)? My ideal to read is friends to lovers/idiots in love. To write, I've done rather well with established relationships, but I did especially love my one soulmates AU. 12. What do you do to get motivated to write? A couple of things. If it's something I haven't watched in a while, I rewatch. But also, once I have an idea of what's happening, I make a playlist for it. Sometimes it's focused towards a specific scene, sometimes it's a longer playlist that matches the entire story. 13. Is there a trope/genre you like to read, but not write? I love a good fantasy-based AU. I'm not creative enough to do something where I'd have to do full universe building 14. Any characters/fandoms you want to write for that are never requested? I don't quite take requests yet. 15. How long have you been writing fanfiction? Since August 2021. 16. Did you read fanfiction before you started writing? I started writing about a month or two after I started reading fan fiction. 17. Do you only post on tumblr, or other sites as well? (feel free to promote). I post everything on both tumblr and AO3 (cosplaying_witch) 18. What do you personally consider the word counts of "drabbles", "oneshots" and "fics" (+other?)? This is very difficult. I don't really go by word count for these definitions. For me, a drabble is a very short something that sort of flings you into a situation with no context. A oneshot is still short enough to have no chapters, just the story, but it also lets the story develop instead of dropping you in the middle; it also has no connections to other things you write like series. A fic is the longest, usually having chapters, though a really long one-shot or one that ties into another work (series) can also count. 19. Which do you prefer to write more? Headcanons, Drabbles, Oneshots/Fics, Multi-Chapter Stories, or other? I love writing multi-chapters. It gives me time to develop relationships (yes, I love a good slow-burn), but also gives me a way to "cut" around things I don't write well/don't want to actually write. I know, it's cheating, but I do it anyway 20. Are

there any stories you have discontinued? If so, why? I have a Loki x reader oneshot that has been permanently abandoned without ever leaving my WIP folder. Otherwise, no. I have problems letting things go once I start them. (Plus, I tend to write the entire thing before starting to post it) 21. What is one of your main "pet-peeves" as a writer on tumblr? Those who don't interact at all. Even just a like means the world to me. (Don't get me wrong, I understand that there isn't always time to do much more than like something, but you don't even have to scroll to the bottom of a post to like something.) 22. Do you write at a particular time of day? I used to write exclusively in the late morning/early afternoon. Now that I have a stupid full-time job, I make time to write in the morning before I leave or at night before going to sleep. (I don't write well on weekends, my mom is around and is very judgmental of fan fiction writers. I accidentally mentioned that I write once and was told that I'd end up giving it up "once I got a real job and didn't have as much time.") 23. Do you listen to music, ambiance/noise, etc. to write, or do you need silence? Music. Always music. Once I know where I'm going with a story, it actually gets its own playlist. 24. Do you outline your fics at all before writing? For my multi chapters, to a certain degree. Anything else, just the idea itself. Also, by outline I mean the absolute basics. In my last one, one chapter was outlined as "they go and get the thing done but something dangerous happens" and another was "she has a vision" 25. Do you post your writing as soon as you finish it, or do you schedule it to come out at a specific time/day? I love the idea of posting things at regular intervals, but I'm usually too excited to hold onto it. (Also, almost nothing goes up the same day I write it. I have a 3 edits/2 days rule where it has to go through 3 different rereads over at least two days before it gets posted. But once it makes it though that process, it goes up. I suppose that could be solved if I asked someone else to read through it for me, but I'm too anxious about my writing to trust it to others.)