![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
A Bit of Fan-Art...
So, I downloaded GIMP the other day (basically a free Photoshop equivalent), thinking that continuing to persevere with MS Paint as I have been, while certainly noble and character-building, was also a little silly.
This turned out to be a big mistake on my part, as the time over the past two days I should have been using writing has instead been taken up with drawing on the computer...
Anyway, see one of the fruits of my labours:
Yes, it's Eleven, in his fez. The background is supposed to be kind of swirly and Vortex-y...
So, that's why I haven't posted updates on any of my competing writing projects! ;D
no subject
Although I was pleased with myself for doing my little Eleven picture...and now I'm not any more... :(
Work is fine right now. Still nothing concrete about our longterm future, but they're in the process of transferring our contracts over to our new owners (the company's new owners, that is - who btw seem much better employers than our previous overlords ever were, although they would want us to think that at this stage, wouldn't they?)
But yeah, I liked Sherlock. I thought it was good. Tbh, most of that fic was written during slow spells in work last week... :D
I...don't know what to do now...
no subject
What worried me was that it was LONG fic, which surely ,i>has to be a distraction? And you'd just had a bit of a break, which you probably needed... and then. I don't know if I should confess this or not, but while I thought your Eleven fic was lovely, if you'd been anywhere near me, you'd have seen me glaring. I couldn't believe you'd do that. I really couldn't. I wondered if it was work, all these distracto things (although I completely understand the temptation to rewrite Arthur Conan Doyle!!!)
Thing is, fanfic can be a nice break - but short fanfic, or finishing of already existing WIPs to clear your brain, surely? Like those memes that were around, or a drabble - drabbles work like sharpening a pencil.
As to what to do, frame your nice piccy, and put it up where you can see it to remind you to write rubbish until you get through this block. You can edit it later. Besides, you seem incapable of writing rubbish.
Maybe it's just me, because I find myself incapble of working full time and managing to write anything properly, but I doubt even your capabilities to make a decent stab at a novel while working full time, doing whatever rl stuff needs doing, and writing long fan fic, and doing fan art.
I mean, you do seem to be a person of many talents, so maybe I'm only judging by my feeble standards, but you got me worried for a bit. You've already proved you can write anything you try in fanfic brilliantly, so don't waste those talents with us forever. (Or, if that's what you'd rather do, just say, and let's scrap the novel plan, and I'll throw bunnies at you instead. But I don't think that's what you want, is it?)
Anyway, it's never the end of the world. :lol: Just reassure me a bit here, okay. And whatever you do, don't start another long fic. ;-D If you must do fanfic, you should finish those singing Sontarans!!!
no subject
So, it's not like I haven't done any...but it compares poorly to the volume of fanfic I've turned out in the same timeframe... :(
I think it's partly performance anxiety, if that's the right word. It sounds bad, but I can bang out a couple of thousand words of fanfic in an evening, give it a once-over for spelling mistakes etc and then post it online without a second glance (which I appreciate is not exactly best practice even for fanfic). With this thing, I find myself agonising over every other word and changing things every time I re-read them; it gets to the point where it doesn't feel like fun any more and I want to do other things.
The 11 fic, I wrote the first chapter and put it online in a moment of bravado without stopping to think about when I'd find time to do the rest of it...
The Sherlock thing was supposed to be one chapter, about 4,000 words or so, but...well, see the icon...
However, I know I have this tendency, which was why I made that post back in June or July reminding people to hassle me if they thought I wasn't being diligent. Which is why I'm sort of grateful for the above - I need it sometimes.
The singing Sontarans...thanks for reminding me about the singing Sontarans...
no subject
I did wonder if it was something like that from what you said, but treat it the same way - just write. That's the important thing. You can edit and change and rewrite and do what you like afterwards, but there's no such thing as perfection in this imperfect world. Besides, you getting something you're prepared to send out isn't even the last step - then it goes to other people who have you rewriting even more, if they ever want it. :-D So it's not as if this is what's going to get printed. Shoot the anxiety! Write, write, write, and worry about whether it's good once you've written it, not before. You can always show it to someone and see what they think, but not if you've nothing to show.
You can bash out quality and quantity, so just have confidence in that and go for it. And stories do start getting to be like work at that sort of point.
Heh, you don't want to be the sort of writer who takes 10 years over each book - I don't think you've any need to be, the volume you can turn out. :-) (I was going to say, like Mortmain, but I Capture the Castle is probably not something you've read. But the father in it is a terribly clever modern novelist who wrote one great novel and then can't follow it up... until his two younger children lock him in the tower and force him to. Be glad I'm not anywhere near you, or I might try the same thing. :lol:)
But don't stress - there isn't any great hurry. But rl, being what it is, it always pays to take the opportunity while you have it than assume it'll always be there.
But WRITE! (Do you get the message here? Don't agonise over it until you have a proper full first draft. There's room for revisions, major or otherwise, and sequels or whatever, afterwards.)
I only say this because I did promise to nag.
no subject
But yes, keep nagging! Please do!
no subject
Here's more sensible, morning advice: it's the FIRST DRAFT. No one but you will ever see this. If writing it on the screen starts freaking you out, write it longhand (Because then you can play the trick on yourself 'I'm just going to type these words up la la la.') But you have a story in your head and the important thing is just to tell it. That's all that matters here and now.
So, note carefully waht changes you need to make, and then carry on from word 30,001 till you get to the end. Then comes the bit that really is tough work - editing it/completely rewriting it into a second draft! :lol:
But, seriously, your fanfic is so excellent, you could write a novel taht way and never have to worry. I mean, given the short existence of computers in writing, most authors did. And a book-length story is different to a short story, or a very short 'idea' type novel, where you actually might want to use that approach. But tell that story. You had me sold in Battlelines, and I know you can do it. I just hope you believe it, too.
no subject
I am going to finish that rewrite of the first chapter and the new inserted chapter 2, because I know what I'm doing with them now, but that's it. Once they're done they're done for the time being and I'm moving on with the rest of it.
I will take some time this week or next to finish the Sherlock fic, because it won't take long. It's not an epic - only another chapter or two to bring it to a conclusion (although that will still make it about two or three times as long as the original Arthur Conan Doyle story it's based on...something wrong there somewhere...). Don't know about the 11 fic. It might end up like singing Sontarans, or I might use it as a distraction if/when I hit the next bump with the Bore.
Other than that and the inevitable Xmas fic (gotta have Xmas fic!),though, I have sworn on the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch not to start any more serious fanfic until I've made serious - SERIOUS - inroads into the remainder of the Bore (I'm aiming for 90,000-100,000 words in the completed first draft, simply because I read somewhere that's a good length for a modern fantasy novel). If I break this vow I'm expecting you to come down on me like the proverbial ton of bricks. If I can presume upon you like that... :)
no subject
Am I this bad? - you're making me feel like I've turned into the stern teacher or something... 8-o I expected you to finish the Sherlock fic, really. And that all sounds great. And I'll only say something if I gather there's been any unexpected return to the start, or any plotty fic. It's only the new long, plotty fic that worried me, on top of the whole ' I keep rewriting the start' thing. The story's the thing! ;-D
2,400? Pretty good, although I can raise on 8000 on that from when I was off the other week! ;-p Except your words are better... *sigh*
no subject
No, you're not that bad...you just made me think about priorities etc, which is a Good Thing, I assure you. So yeah, Sherlock and 11 will go on, but at a reduced priority, yes.
You were claiming 11,000 the other day, I thought! 8,000 is still mightily impressive, however. (Mind you, when I was writing that Two and the Spartans fic I did about 30,000 words in like a week or something, and was kind of impressed impressed with myself. Here's hoping I can hit that kind of groove with the Bore, because if I do I won't have to worry about DW fic distracting me... I can hope, can't I?! :D)
no subject
Well, The Spartans was brilliant, so, yes, write it like that!!!
no subject
Could bear a bit of a family resemblance to the Spartans too, when I get into the serious battling...