sleeplesspotato: tabby kitten looking up (Default)
Barely got any writing done this week, though it's not for lack of ideas -- quite the opposite. I have too many. OTL I've gotten stuck at almost the 3.5k word mark for the Buddha Cafe fic; I've been reading about trans rights in Japan, and it's been somewhat depressing. :( I think I can finish the 2nd draft regardless, but it's been a bit difficult motivating myself to get back to it.

As for the other ideas, I remembered that I used to follow the exercises in 21 Days to a Novel (here's a PDF with notes describing them) when I was fleshing out bigger/longer stories; it seems like I need to do this for Omegaverse KakaIru, which has some plot complications and multiple characters. I've also been thinking about another stalled Omegaverse story that I'd already written a few unfinished drafts for in the past; I have some new ideas for it, and I can use the 21 Days exercises to flesh those out. It's fun to dig deep into fleshing out the characters and setting, though sometimes it feels like I spend all my time on the prep work instead of actually writing.

All the same, it might be the right time to take a break from writing and just focus on the prep work, whether it's doing research or laying down story foundations. I can try it out for a week and see where it goes.
sleeplesspotato: tabby kitten looking up (Default)
Delayed post by a day, was too sleep-depped to focus. :( I was able to write, though, in spite of how I've been stumbling over the current scene in my Buddha Cafe fanfic.

It's partly that I'm not trans, and I haven't been able to find a sensitivity reader yet -- maybe this is just not a story that I can or should write, even if I feel like I'm writing from a similar place of vulnerability. It's partly that I haven't worked a retail job before so there are a lot of details missing from my mental image of it (which mostly consists of what I've seen in media and other people's complaints about what it's like). It's partly that I'm unable to stick to an outline; I write like a clumsy person trying to find their way through an unfamiliar forest at night, with all the ensuing blundering around and doubling back. It's partly that I just want to get my ship together at the end, and I haven't figured out a way to do that that makes sense.

My stories and characters all have their own lives, and mostly I'm just along for the ride. Sometimes I realize that what they do isn't really suitable for a cohesive narrative. When I try to force them to do what I want, they die, or turn into something else entirely. If I'm the deity of my own worlds, I'm quite incompetent at imposing my will on my subjects.

Nevertheless I keep going back to it because I can't go without for too long. Some stories just need longer to finish fermenting in the back of my mind; sometimes I need to change my point of view, and that takes a while. I don't know if this second draft will be ready for a beta (if I ever find one) by the time I finish it, but I can probably keep going until I reach that point, even if it takes longer than I thought.

---

Btw I'm jonesing to get started on one of my Omegaverse plotbunnies, either the KakaIru one or the KibaShino one. Maybe I should -- they're somewhat clearer in my mind than the Buddha Cafe fic -- though maybe I should finish the Buddha Cafe draft before starting another one. I'm guilty of starting a lot of different things and finishing only a tiny fraction of them; I want to break that pattern as often as possible.

First post

Apr. 14th, 2021 09:27 am
sleeplesspotato: tabby kitten looking up (Default)
Mandatory first post. I'm planning to use this journal to track my writing progress, though I'm also likely to use it as a dumping ground for random things I find on the internet.

Fanfic WIP:

- Buddha Cafe fanfic: draft 1 finished and annotated, ready for draft 2

Fanfic planned (ie, ambitious stuff that may never get started):

- Omegaverse KakaIru: Kakashi's the heir to a conglomerate and an alpha; Iruka's a schoolteacher and an omega; they get together and angst happens, partly caused by my OC Hatake Kazumi (Kakashi's grandaunt who's basically a female version of him from an older generation)

- Omegaverse Kibashino: Kiba's an alpha slacking his way through college; he wants his overly serious beta childhood friend Shino, but thinks that Shino doesn't want him (and of course he's wrong); Shino suddenly goes into heat, and angst ensues

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