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2003 Writing
Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you'd predicted?
Way way more. A good year for me is 200-300 pages of raw first draft, according to my records (yes, I track these things in a spreadsheet, otherwise I could convince myself I wasn't making much progress at all) I wrote 684 pages of first draft in 2003! Much of it never saw the light of day, or at least other eyes than mine. 298 pages of that was the Body Swap.
Somehow this past year saw me get back a lot of fun in writing that I haven't felt for a good long while. Some of that is just getting feedback -- for a long time I've not been showing my stories to anyone, and I'm coming to the conclusion that I really do need an audience. I don't sneer at the ego-enhancing aspect of an audience, but what's best is telling the stories to others.
What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January 2003?
I was tentatively trying some small scenes with Fraser and Ray when the year started, and wishing I had a story idea that I could write. So having this relative burst of creativity is startling enough by itself.
I think though, the most personally startling pairing was Teen!Rays. Surprised as anything to find myself writing it!
What's your favorite story of the year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you happiest.
That's probably the still-not-permanently-titled Body Swap novel, which is about half-revised at this point It's long and sustained and I'm hoping it will please readers. But it isn't finished, so it's going to count as a 2003-4 production.
Of the various stories I've run in![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
ds_flashfiction I think I'm happiest with "The Fellowship Goes South" which has lines and concepts that tickle me no end of pink. I'm also pretty chuffed about my responses to the Darkness Challenge -- I really didn't expect a simple conversation in the dark to turn into a dramatic life and death struggle and Cliche Challenge -- Amnesia? Waking up in a dress? Turned out to be more fun than I had modestly hoped for. Oh, and "The Secret Life of Shoes" reads much like a scene from the actual show to me. Looking back at some of these and going, "Huh? I wrote that?" is just amazing, really.
I'm also very fond of the Transvestite!Ray vignettes: "The Adventures of Regina, Queen of Manitoba", "Ineluctable", and "The Curtain Calls". Somewhere out there is a long funny story with Miss Fraser, Miss Butchy, and Ray as a guy in a dress, but I'm not sure how to write it yet.
Oh, and I nearly forgot to mention "Seven Snapshots" which covers 35 years of story in 857 words without any dialogue, or for that matter action. I reread that and say to myself, those are writing chops, go you!
And I also take a bit of pride in "Faith: Three Reflections" which is a rare excursion into drabble land for me -- three linked drabbles concerning my favorite Buffy/Angel character.
Geez, I did a lot of stuff that I really like this year -- I could list it all if I just kept going now. It's all in my Fiction Memories, if you want to take a look.
Did you take any writing risks this year? (See above for unexpected pairings, etc.) What did you learn from them?
Writing is always a risk, y'know? I think I could have tried for more "drama" in my stories -- I tend to be melodramatic, and light, whereas as the actual source material for Due South actually ranges all over the map from far out farce to soul-shattering heavy drama. Taking more risk on the heavy end of the spectrum would be good for a change of pace.
In a more meta direction, as far as the writing process goes, I think I've really made some leaps with my revision skills. The process is a lot easier and much more fun than it used to be; I've really shed the attitude that every word I so painfully write is sacred, and now I redline paragraphs with glee, confident that I'm producing stories that read much better, smoother, efficiently. Not that I don't have a ways to go yet, but I think I can point to some solid progress in this. Knowing that I can correct it is making it easier to write a first-draft.
Do you have any fanfic or profic goals for the New Year?
Finishing the damn Body Swap!!! I really like it, I'm still enjoying working on it, the end is in sight and I so very much want it to be Over already, like a 300lb monkey on your back.
I have no plans for any more Due South stories after this. Not that I'm quitting DS, it's just that I don't have anything waiting in the wings, I'm going to just take challenges as they come for a while, until lightning strikes again and I might find myself enmeshed in a big messy project. I like big messy projects... at least when they're over and done.
And getting back to the original-fic Gay Superhero Soap Opera that I've pecked away at for the past five years might be fun....
Way way more. A good year for me is 200-300 pages of raw first draft, according to my records (yes, I track these things in a spreadsheet, otherwise I could convince myself I wasn't making much progress at all) I wrote 684 pages of first draft in 2003! Much of it never saw the light of day, or at least other eyes than mine. 298 pages of that was the Body Swap.
Somehow this past year saw me get back a lot of fun in writing that I haven't felt for a good long while. Some of that is just getting feedback -- for a long time I've not been showing my stories to anyone, and I'm coming to the conclusion that I really do need an audience. I don't sneer at the ego-enhancing aspect of an audience, but what's best is telling the stories to others.
What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January 2003?
I was tentatively trying some small scenes with Fraser and Ray when the year started, and wishing I had a story idea that I could write. So having this relative burst of creativity is startling enough by itself.
I think though, the most personally startling pairing was Teen!Rays. Surprised as anything to find myself writing it!
What's your favorite story of the year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you happiest.
That's probably the still-not-permanently-titled Body Swap novel, which is about half-revised at this point It's long and sustained and I'm hoping it will please readers. But it isn't finished, so it's going to count as a 2003-4 production.
Of the various stories I've run in
ds_flashfiction I think I'm happiest with "The Fellowship Goes South" which has lines and concepts that tickle me no end of pink. I'm also pretty chuffed about my responses to the Darkness Challenge -- I really didn't expect a simple conversation in the dark to turn into a dramatic life and death struggle and Cliche Challenge -- Amnesia? Waking up in a dress? Turned out to be more fun than I had modestly hoped for. Oh, and "The Secret Life of Shoes" reads much like a scene from the actual show to me. Looking back at some of these and going, "Huh? I wrote that?" is just amazing, really.I'm also very fond of the Transvestite!Ray vignettes: "The Adventures of Regina, Queen of Manitoba", "Ineluctable", and "The Curtain Calls". Somewhere out there is a long funny story with Miss Fraser, Miss Butchy, and Ray as a guy in a dress, but I'm not sure how to write it yet.
Oh, and I nearly forgot to mention "Seven Snapshots" which covers 35 years of story in 857 words without any dialogue, or for that matter action. I reread that and say to myself, those are writing chops, go you!
And I also take a bit of pride in "Faith: Three Reflections" which is a rare excursion into drabble land for me -- three linked drabbles concerning my favorite Buffy/Angel character.
Geez, I did a lot of stuff that I really like this year -- I could list it all if I just kept going now. It's all in my Fiction Memories, if you want to take a look.
Did you take any writing risks this year? (See above for unexpected pairings, etc.) What did you learn from them?
Writing is always a risk, y'know? I think I could have tried for more "drama" in my stories -- I tend to be melodramatic, and light, whereas as the actual source material for Due South actually ranges all over the map from far out farce to soul-shattering heavy drama. Taking more risk on the heavy end of the spectrum would be good for a change of pace.
In a more meta direction, as far as the writing process goes, I think I've really made some leaps with my revision skills. The process is a lot easier and much more fun than it used to be; I've really shed the attitude that every word I so painfully write is sacred, and now I redline paragraphs with glee, confident that I'm producing stories that read much better, smoother, efficiently. Not that I don't have a ways to go yet, but I think I can point to some solid progress in this. Knowing that I can correct it is making it easier to write a first-draft.
Do you have any fanfic or profic goals for the New Year?
Finishing the damn Body Swap!!! I really like it, I'm still enjoying working on it, the end is in sight and I so very much want it to be Over already, like a 300lb monkey on your back.
I have no plans for any more Due South stories after this. Not that I'm quitting DS, it's just that I don't have anything waiting in the wings, I'm going to just take challenges as they come for a while, until lightning strikes again and I might find myself enmeshed in a big messy project. I like big messy projects... at least when they're over and done.
And getting back to the original-fic Gay Superhero Soap Opera that I've pecked away at for the past five years might be fun....
no subject
Did you pull this list of questions from anywhere in particular? Would you mind if I used them in one of my own journal entries?
That Meme...