Original Fiction Goals: Spring 2019 Edition

[Pixileanin]

Eh, hey everyone.  After promising to start another thread a few months ago, I am woefully late, but here it is!

(small cheer)

I know I said I'd post every Friday, but here's the thing.  I look at this thread through the week and remind myself, "Oh yeah, it'll be Friday soon and I need to post here.  And then Friday comes and I completely flake out.  It's Thursday night, and I have a few minutes to rub together and I'm posting this thing NOW before Life decides that I have better, more important things to do. 

Sooo.... if you want a cheering section for your OF Spring Goals, I'm all in.  

I'm plugging away at this OF thing a few hundred words at a time.  I've got 13k since last October, and I wrote another compacted 500 word scene this morning.  It's coming.  I hate how slowly my first drafts come together.  My short story from last fall has morphed into something decidedly not short.  It's frustrating.  The idea won't stay small.  I'm tabling it for another month and I'll revisit it before the summer.  I have successfully attended a few local writers groups in the last few months.  I'm starting to see familiar faces and people are recognizing me.  It's hard to make connections, but I feel like progress is being made.  I also finished a 750 word short story at the last writer's workshop and was the first to read it out loud to the group, completely unedited and everything.  It was terrifying... and also fun.  I was so proud of myself that I actually finished the story within the 30 minute time that I didn't care about quality.  A finished story is a finished story, after all.  I'm calling it a win. 

My goals for the spring are to write at least four days a week on new content of my OF novel, while doing some loose plotting as well.  The messy middle is rearing its ugly head and showing me exactly how much I still don't know about this story. It's discovery time, people.  

@TreacleTart and I decided to tackle an OF collab for the House Cup.  We've got a page of ideas and threw down a paragraph or three.  Wish us luck!  

I'm about to attempt a FF to OF conversion of a one-shot I wrote last year that's not posted on HPFT yet.  It started as a failed romance between Luna Lovegood and Charlie Weasley.  Let's just call this my self-imposed World-building and Characterization Challenge.  I'm wondering if I can make this story just as compelling as an OF as it was for me as a FF.  Can it be done??

 

As for everyone else, how about a recap?

@teh tarik You've got your short story deadline coming up. (dun dun dun!!) How's it coming?  Almost there?

@StarFeather Yay for a new poem!  I want to go read it when I get another free moment.  Congrats on writing!

@MadiMalfoy Any more character vignettes coming?  They sound cool!

@Cassius Alcindor How's the plotting?  Any progress?

@Rumpelstiltskin I flaked on the winter goals, but I see that the last writing collab for the House Cup gave you some material for OF.  Anything new coming down the pipes?  Gonna vamp it up again?

@scooterbug8515 Did you get that Dragon Academy draft done?  We are waiting with baited breath for beta reading.... (hint hint)

@KJ Cartmell Hi!  I saw you lurking in the threads the other day.  Feel free to join the party!  I know you're furiously editing right now.  Stop in if you have a sec and tell us how it's going. 

And as always, if anyone else wants to jump in, have at it!

 

(dancing rabbit has decided to be our Spring OF Goals mascot.  Yay for ALL the words!)

 

 

[scooterbug8515]

Dragons have kind of gone quiet I've had to table the story it got out of hand and got to be too much.   (Please don't look at me like that).

 

While it wasn't on my list - well it was but it wasn't listed here.  I have FINISHED formatting my published novel The Gilded Rose for physical print!  I don't have an official release date yet as I only just ordered my second proof copy (the first was a massive learning experience).  If this new copy is gorgeous I may be ready to print.  If it is a disaster then I'll have to work on further formatting, but a major leg of the formatting is DONE.  Soo excited! 

 

Right now as I wait for my proof copy to print and come in the mail, I am thinking of outlining a new project that I may end up posting on HPFT. (Not dragons, )

[Pixileanin]

@scooterbug8515 Woot woot!  I am so excited for you!!!!

(Insert showers of confetti here)

[Guest Rumpelstiltskin]

Hooray for writing OF for the collab! Good luck to both of you! *cheers*

21 hours ago, scooterbug8515 said:

I have FINISHED formatting my published novel The Gilded Rose for physical print! 

THAT'S SUPER EXCITING CARRIE  

 

23 hours ago, Pixileanin said:

I flaked on the winter goals, but I see that the last writing collab for the House Cup gave you some material for OF.  Anything new coming down the pipes?  Gonna vamp it up again?

I did manage to bust out a bit of OF! Writing this month has fallen pretty flat, though. I have more prompts for spoofy vampire shorties but I really wanted to finish the next chapter of WLC, which is a bit more than halfway done. I just keep chugging away on it and everyone keeps shouting at each other so  it's not going great atm. I did manage to round up a chapter for it of supplemental material, which did include some writing if that counts.  I don't think I've written any actual poetry in a while, which is a shame, since that's always a fun avenue to explore. I've also been spinning some OF drabbles in the Writing Exercises forum, which has been kinda cathartic.  

Since I would like to update at least ONE of my fanfic WIPs (*blatantly ignores the sheer number of WIPs on my page) and because my main OF has been NOT COOPERATING (*seeths internally*), I'm looking at this for the Spring Quarter Goals:

March

We're late game now, but I'm going to finish this chapter of WLC if it KILLS me. It might. 

April

I'm going small in April, in hopes that I can get a WIP FF chapter out. Let's shoot for EITHER 1/2 a chapter of WLC OR a spoofy vampire shortie to add to BSBRIHGRN. And a poem. Rumpels will be writing a poem in April if it kills her. It might. 

May

Depending on what happened in April, I'm either going to be writing 1/2 a chapter of WLC AND a spoofy vampire shortie to add to BSBRIHGRN  -- or -- I'm going to write a full chapter of WLC. <.< And a poem or a drabble to post to the archives, if it doesn't kill me. It might. 

 

Willing I survive all that, that's not a LOT of writing, but it will be writing, none-the-less. While I'm not really pushing myself hard this quarter, it's setting me up to be REALLY happy if I surpass any of these goals. \O/ Yay! 

 

[magemadi]

On 3/13/2019 at 6:44 PM, Pixileanin said:

@MadiMalfoy Any more character vignettes coming?  They sound cool!

I sure hope so!  

March is rough for me as it's the end of the winter quarter so I've got lots of deadlines/final exams coming up very soon so I probably won't do much OF writing besides my bits for the Great Collab.  But anyway, here are my OF goals for the quarter anyway! 

March

Maybe jump into my document for my Eirraphe vignette for Kenny's challenge and get an idea or two written down for that so I can actually get that done

April

Actually get into Scrivener if it kills me or I swear to Merlin I'll just have to force myself to do it! AKA I need to start world building properly in there and fleshing out my very rough ideas of my future-ish set world so I can have those details ready to go for when I actually get into writing the novel.

Maybe write something or get ideas down for a Mrycella character vignette -- let's aim for 500-1000 words

Write my Eirraphe vignette -- at least 1000 words!

May

If progress in April is slow for Scrivener, then I will spend more time working through that and making character boards, etc. 

Finish up Eirraphe vignette if I haven't already done so! 

Finish up Mrycellla character vignette -- perhaps a total of about 2000 words for the piece then?

 

These are very loose goals as I'm not entirely sure how this quarter is going to shape up class-wise and I'm starting to get into research next month as well, so we shall see! 

Here's to a good spring quarter!  

[galadriel]

this quarter is off to a bittersweet start for me. i'd submitted a short story to a magazine a few months ago. last month, it got through the slush pile and was longlisted, but last night it got rejected in the final round. i received a wonderfully encouraging rejection email from the editor though, saying they'd loved the piece, so that was nice. it was the very first time i'd submitted something, so hopefully this is a sign of better things to come.  

 my broad spring goals: 

- finish hammering out the short story that i've been slowly piecing together. it's one of the most complex ones i've written, trying to weave together multiple characters' storylines into a short piece, and i'm hoping to mark it as Complete by the end of April. 

- complete plotting the second act of my novel. 

- two more poems for the collection i'm working on. 

apart from this, i really want to write at least one chapter of fanfic. but i'm nearing the end of the program i'm in and things are picking up, so hopefully i'll get enough time for this as well. 

i'll be back with updates and more defined goals as i make progress! good luck with your goals, everyone! 

 

[Guest Tanda]

17 hours ago, MadiMalfoy said:

 

March

Maybe jump into my document for my Eirraphe vignette for Kenny's challenge and get an idea or two written down for that so I can actually get that done

can't wait!  

 

 I also need to write Charlie and dragons plus Tonks. However, there popped up my RL thesis project. I need to research first. I'm wondering where to focus...

 

By the way, chat with @downbelow let me think of the possibility to write a new original fic... what if a dictator or totalitarians banned manga since they thought it would be setidious...

 

 

[Jo Raskoph]

May I join?

My goal for March is to finish and post 2 short connected OF stories for the Collab which will also be my entry for Rumpels' awesome OF challenge.

Then for April and March I'm hoping to contribute another 3 stories for the collab (and I'm keeping my fingers crossed, that I'll be able to return to my main OF universe for these, because I've been neglecting that recently). I'm also planning to get something done to complete Rumpels' requirement of additional material for the challenge - so: worldbuilding!

My main goal is not to procastinate, get shit done, and write regularly.

 

Go, OF goals!! We can do this

[Pixileanin]

@Jo Raskoph Absolutely!! Your goals sound fantastic!

@StarFeather Definitely work on your work first.  The cool idea sounds really cool! Chase that when you have time.  Charlie and Tonks? Sounds interesting!

@galadriel Wow! You got through the first cut the first time out of the box! I'm so happy for you!!!! Go submit more stuff. You've got this!!

@MadiMalfoy Yeah. Get that idea done. Also, get that collab done!  lol.  That's from me.

@Rumpelstiltskin Hey hey, did you get that chapter done??  Because you're awesome and you CAN DO IT!!!

@scooterbug8515 Here's your weekly poke. How's things?

@teh tarik Weekly poke. *poke*

@Cassius Alcindor How's your week been?

Lookie lookie!  It's Friday, and I'm posting here!  *pats self on back*

I got some OF words down this week. I took to reading some books on writing this week. Some of it I'm already doing (yay!) and some of it is stuff I SHOULD be doing. (yay...) But I did have three solid days where I put down new words in the mornings where it's quiet in my house. So, more of that for next week.

Onwards!!

[scooterbug8515]

My physical book arrived yesterday, there are some weird quirks with this proof. I have to look at the file I submitted to see if it is a fix I need to make or a printer error. Then I have to research cover design costs for my amature work looks good for an amature but is a far cry from professional. 

 

As for writing I am trying to figure it out.

[teh tarik]

Thanks pix, for the weekly poke.

I think I was supposed to complete the first draft of my short story by the end of March. Well, I'm currently writing the last few paragraphs of the story. It has been incredibly difficult to get to this point though - and I'm quite unhappy with what I have, but am willing to give the piece some time after I've completed the draft, before starting a rewrite, and hopefully find new direction and focus with the story.

After this, I'm going to have to give some serious thought about what I want to write next.

[Pixileanin]

@teh tarik Awesome!  Finishing is so so important and should be celebrated!!!

That's your victory song, by the way.

[Pixileanin]

@scooterbug8515 Keep doing your thing. You're getting it done!

[Cassius Alcindor]

Hello friends! How's everybody doing? 

I was researching/outlining for my OF project when I came across a really interesting piece of history that totally sidetracked me. Apparently back in the 50's and 60's, MI6 worked closely with Norway to use Norwegian merchant ships for spy missions all over the world.Now I'm scrapping what I had and starting over with a whole new story based on that haha. 

My writing has slowed down a bit recently because I've been giving a but more time to standup comedy, which I'm having a lot of fun with at the moment  Hopefully I'll figure out how to best balance my two creative interests:) Also, a big update in my personal life, I'm getting married soon, so things are really busy haha. 

How's everybody's' writing going?

[Pixileanin]

@Cassius Alcindor A wedding!  Congratulations!!!

I know they're Christmassy, but I was in a pinch...  Stand up comedy sounds fun! I've seen some slam poetry readings at open mic night around here. Some of those guys are really fantastic.

So here's the weekly update, and I'm hitting it on a Friday, look at me!  I've been reading a bit about writing by other writers, specifically Shaunta Grimes who does the Ninja Writers Group on Facebook. I don't subscribe to the Facebook page, but I got myself on her email list and she's making it work on a platform called Medium, which is sort of like a blog place. Anyway, she's struggling to pay bills with her writing and she keeps us updated on her progress. One of the COOLEST things she led me to was this video where Ray Bradbury talks to writers about writing. It's an hour long, but I tell you now that it is worth EVERY MINUTE. So put those Netflix shows on pause and hear this man speak:

RAY BRADBURY SAYS AWESOME STUFF HERE (M) for a bit of language, he's talking to adults.

So I'm going to try his advice of writing a bunch of short stories. He said to write one every week for a year. I told myself I would do something like that last summer and got derailed in a major way and finished NOTHING. But this time, starting Monday, I'm going to commit to a short story every other week.  I'm also writing on my novel, so I think a short thing every other week is doable. I coauthored three short stories in the last few weeks, and it worked with my schedule, so I can totally see myself doing one solo.

Also, if you're looking for the next step in your writing and you don't know where to turn, I highly recommend any of Holly Lisle's classes.  I'm not an affiliate, but I feel like I should be. I've purchased several of her big courses, and they turned the writing I thought I was failing at into something I could be proud of. I'm currently using her "How To Write A Novel" course for my first OF novel.

Now listen.  You're probably thinking, "I don't need that class. I've already written a novel. I know how to do this."

Yeah, me too. I've written two fanfic novels. I'm proud of them. I finished and revised them and I worked hard and I'm a better writer for it. But this OF novel idea I've had for four years, this concept that I won NaNo three years ago, that has 50,000 words that I ended up not being able to use AT ALL... has been redrafted, reworked, re-everything... and never got off the ground.

I thought I knew what I was doing.

I'm going to ramble a bit about my experience with this OF novel I"m working on. It's gonna be long folks, so if you don't have the time, do that skim thing... I don't mind.

After Lesson One, (and this is one of those self-paced courses, where she doesn't see anything you write, but there's a vibrant community on her forums where she answers questions and we get to discuss things and everything...) I had a much clearer idea about my novel, and a renewed sense of enthusiasm for what I was doing, and finally, after four years,  I could say to myself, "Yeah, this is going to work."

That was Lesson One.

And yeah, there's some lessons where I glossed things over because I already knew stuff, but there were some things that were great big light bulb moments that just blew me away.

Without giving away any proprietary information in the course that I paid for, here was the scenario:

Around about the end of January, I was doing the daily/weekly writing thing. I was making new words, but something didn't feel right. I was losing momentum and I didn't know WHY. To understand how this particular course works, Holly suggests that we plot loose (in a particular way, but that's course content).  Let things develop as we write. For an extreme plotter like myself, this is HARD, but I paid money for this and I'm following directions because, as she says, 'try it my way, because that's the only way you'll know if it works for you or not".  So I'm loosely plotting and flailing with words that I KNOW are gonna end up useless, and I'm just about ready to break out the heavy plot cards, when I get to this middle lesson that says something like this:

"Okay, so I'm going to tell you this technique that you'll probably need very soon, and usually you're going to need it around 12k words, but I'm a little late mentioning it because I had to cover some basics first. Here's what you should do..."

I stopped right there. I looked at my word count for my novel. I was at 11.9 k. I was EXACTLY in the novel where she said that I needed this technique, and when I read the lesson it BLEW MY MIND because after I worked through the lesson IT FIXED THE MAJOR THING THAT WAS HOLDING ME BACK.

So. I don't know what kind of magic this woman has, but it's powerful, plotty magic that keeps me moving forward.

For all you guys, I hope you're on the road to finding your magic.  I also bought the e-book called... and don't laugh...

"5,000 Words an Hour:  Write Faster, Write Smarter" by Chris Fox. 

Yeah, I thought that too. His basic tool is word sprints.

WORD SPRINTS.  You know, that thing we do around here all the time.  But he turns it into a science. He says to separate your plotting time from your writing time.  Plot. Sketch.  Then write.  Only the new words count in the sprints, and he advocates tracking your sprint times and wc, and over time, you're building your writing muscle.

I knew that.  I only paid 2.99, so I'm not salty or anything.  The new bit was the part about separating the plotting time, and making sure you had a plan before you set out on your sprint.

In other words, KEEP SPRINTING!!! And we all know it's more fun with friends.

 

Enough with the rambly bits. What has Pix been writing??

I did write. I collaborated with @TreacleTart for two OF shorts, and with @MadiMalfoy for an HP short for the Great Collab. They were GREAT FUN!!

From March 15th through March 27th, I have added 5,500 new words to my OF novel.  They're adding up. Yay!

@scooterbug8515 - here's your weekly poke!

@teh tarik - way to go, finishing!!! Ray Bradbury would be so proud of you!

@Jo Raskoph  - poking you for the week.

@StarFeather I saw you got through some collab entries. Woot!!

@galadriel  - poking you again, because that's my thing.

@MadiMalfoy  

@Rumpelstiltskin  - Word.

Have a great week, everyone!

 

[Guest Tanda]

On ‎3‎/‎29‎/‎2019 at 8:49 AM, Cassius Alcindor said:

Hello friends! How's everybody doing? 

I was researching/outlining for my OF project when I came across a really interesting piece of history that totally sidetracked me. Apparently back in the 50's and 60's, MI6 worked closely with Norway to use Norwegian merchant ships for spy missions all over the world.Now I'm scrapping what I had and starting over with a whole new story based on that haha. 

My writing has slowed down a bit recently because I've been giving a but more time to standup comedy, which I'm having a lot of fun with at the moment  Hopefully I'll figure out how to best balance my two creative interests:) Also, a big update in my personal life, I'm getting married soon, so things are really busy haha. 

How's everybody's' writing going?

Cassius, congratulations!   

Spy missions including Norwegian merchant ships sounds interesting! Please let us know the progress when you are ready, @Cassius Alcindor.

 

Quote

I've been reading a bit about writing by other writers, specifically Shaunta Grimes who does the Ninja Writers Group

 

Ninja Writers Group...what organization is that?  I'm curious... @Pixileanin.

 

Quote

I saw you got through some collab entries. Woot!!

Thanks! The prompts on the forums keep me writing fanfictions. I came to realize 'just enjoy writing' is the best.

 

[Guest Rumpelstiltskin]

I only have two more days to finish this chapter. I'll do it, I swear 

[galadriel]

@Pixileanin THANK YOU FOR THE RAY BRADBURY VIDEO!!

This is perfect timing, tbh. I just got my hands on the Neil Gaiman and Margaret Atwood Masterclasses a couple of days ago and there's this absolute gem of a Gaiman video where he talks about short story writing - basically putting forward the same points you did, about finishing a piece every other week or so, and using short stories to develop your style. He used a lot of examples & quoted Bradbury in the process, and ever since then, I've been wanting to look for a video where Bradbury says awesome stuff. So we're literally on the same wavelength here haha.  

I'm also such a sucker for these types of classes, even if I'm not learning anything new, and keep signing up for more just to see how different people approach the writing process. I'm totally gonna check out Holly Lisle's classes once I get to the point of dedicating time to a novel-length story. I'm at the point where I'm only focusing on shorter pieces, and slowly sending them out to publications. 

Which brings me to progress! I've completed the first draft of a new short story and I'm planning on revising it during NaNo. I've also set a personal goal of writing at least 2 short stories every month, and FINISHING them. My mantra right now is "Finish, finish, finish" no matter how bad I think it is. Like Gaiman (and probably Bradbury) said "you learn more from completed, seemingly-bad, stories than you do from abandoned ones." 

[teh tarik]

11 hours ago, Pixileanin said:

@teh tarik - way to go, finishing!!! Ray Bradbury would be so proud of you!

Thanks! I have now finished that first draft. I gave it some time, put it away and refused to read it for a few days. Then yesterday I made myself open up the file and reread and start making notes on how to revise / rewrite / refocus the whole thing.

I will probably do Camp NaNo with the goal of having a revised and readable short story by the end of April, and then all that's left will hopefully be the fine-tuning. I'm keeping my fingers crossed I'll actually finish this story.

[Pixileanin]

@galadriel omg!! I have the access pass to masterclass (went through the James Patterson class two years ago) and I'm following the Neil Gaiman class too! We should totally talk about that some time! Id love a support group or buddy just for that!

I haven't watched Margaret, but I did do some of Just Blume's talks. She's super into up front characterization, something I personally struggle with.

[magemadi]

On 3/29/2019 at 6:04 PM, Pixileanin said:

@MadiMalfoy  

Hey, we got our collab piece done! *high five*

In OF news, I've got a few ideas down now for my Eirraphe vignette and will be working on it during NaNo, with a goal of finishing it. 

I've also devoured several books in the last couple of days, so I'm getting some new ideas as well in general for my universe. Hoping to finish the Scrivener tutorial soon and get to work on my world-building truly soon!

[Pixileanin]

Hi everyone! It's not Friday, but it's close enough.

 

How was your week? Are you NaNoing, or are you NaNooooing? (I'm the later. My writing goals are tough enough without the added word count pressure).

Let me hear what you've been up to. Here's your weekly poke...

@scooterbug8515 - your proof. Tell all.

@teh tarik -short shorts, or what?

@MadiMalfoy - ??

@galadriel - how's the Masterclass this week?

@Jo Raskoph - Happy new week!!

@Cassius Alcindor - any updates?

  @Rumpelstiltskin - you still out there?

@StarFeather - words?

 

 

[Guest Rumpelstiltskin]

10 hours ago, Pixileanin said:

@Rumpelstiltskin - you still out there?

Um, hi -- hello.  Sooo, I'm currently 7 days behind my March goals and was avoiding this thread until I got that finished. Clearly, avoidance isn't the solution, though -- haha! 

Now, the thing is, I only have about 1000 -1500 words left in this chapter (projected estimate). The issue is that I've had about the same amount of words left for about two months. What's worse is that I have this chapter outlined in detail, so I really would just need to sit down and add in a bit meat and fat to those bones and I'd have this thing done. It *should* take me a few hours of rat racing and a bit of editing to get it finished (which means it SHOULD have been finished last month). It's not writer's block -- I'm just lazy. 

The most unfortunate part of it is that I've also pigeonholed myself into a stall in writing altogether. I put myself in writer's jail until I get this chapter finished, so now my FF and OF projects are piling up against the bars, and I still haven't finished that chapter. Therefore, nothing is getting done and I have a rockslide of projects ready to crush me once the guards finally open the cell door. 

But, eh, what's life without a little mayhem and madness?

[Pixileanin]

@Rumpelstiltskin DM me, and we will find a time to race. You can beat this. Break out the teapot, and let's do this!

[Guest Rumpelstiltskin]

Okay, chapter five is finally done -- thanks to Pix and Lexi. March goals are done and over with. 

As far as April goals, I'm about 350 words into 4000 (eh, projected) words. Which is not bad for one day (although we are technically 9 days into it ).