Word Count: disappointing

[krait]

Extra work and relatives from out of town: reasons why I have written practically nothing, and why this post is a day late.

For the record, though, here's the Tuesday Night Word Count:


Document 1:
last Tuesday: 85,050
Today: 85,898!

Document 2:
last Tuesday: 7,590
Today: 8,086.

Document 3:
last Tuesday: 4,550.
Today: same.


NET INCREASE? Yes.
HOW MUCH? +1,344


Wow, more than I expected! Was I writing in my sleep? :D I don't remember making that many words! *pleased*

You guys are totally allowed to poke me, ask questions or demand progress, mock my snail-like pace, inquire as to whether I understand the meaning of the word 'priorities', request further clarifications, et cetera! At some point I hope to give all the major snippets a nickname, so I can keep track of which things I'm working on most often/fastest. (My priority *should* be the things in Doc3 and Doc2, which are kinkmeme things and thus kind of come with an inbuilt time limit, a.k.a. "post this before the meme ends and has gone to a new page"; within Doc1, my priority should be "things I can put on the interwebz at some point" rather than the un-share-able stuff... So far, my priorities seem to be thoroughly reversed, from what I remember of my efforts in the last couple weeks.)

Comments

[seerofbread]

Hmm well I don't think you should stress yourself about the kinkmeme things too much. Unless that's what gets you writing, which is completely understandable. (I'm pretty shitty at stress, so maybe I just can't tell you to worry about that kind of deadline because I'd totally internalize it and never finish anything.)

What in particular should you most be writing?

[krait]

Heh, sometimes I think deadline stress is the only form of inspiration I have. :D

The main reason I'm feeling the pressure for the kinkmeme things -- and I should clarify, really: there are four things in this category, which are spread between Doc3 (one of them) and Doc2 (the other three) -- is deadline-related. I started Doc3's story back before the Fill-A-Thon, and when that was announced I thought, 'great, I'll make that my deadline!' But the Fill-A-Thon came and went and I was nowhere close, so now I feel as though I'm way behind on it. The other three things are actually responses to a reverse-prompt thread, so there's the dual pressure of "I know someone wants this!" and "if I don't post regularly, those people will think I've abandoned them". Plus, of course, the fact that it's a reverse-prompt thread: I started it! I asked for this, so flaking out feels extra terrible on a personal level.

So, uh. Yeah.

Beyond those things, I suppose the things I should prioritise are the two largest Dave/Tavros fics, since they are large and therefore closer to completion than anything else. (PlusI know valmora has been super busy with real-life stuff lately, and it hopefully would be a nice surprise for her to come online and find!) One's a kinkmeme-inspired story that was supposed to be PWP but developed massive amounts of build-up and worldbuilding; the other's a fun exercise in biased narrators, but it needs some plot injections or maybe even major revamping.

Oh, and the third one is a sweet excuse for Explain The Xenobiology with lots of Boys Being Cute At Each Other, but I'm stuck because I don't know where/whether it should go beyond that point.

Things that should be low priority: all the unpublishable, gratuitous timewaster stuff. This includes That Thing With Eridan And The Ripoff Plot, the porn snippets that are too underdeveloped to even have defined casts, and the OCs. :D

Guess which bunch of things I keep being drawn to!

If you have any interest in Dave/Tavros at all, and want to poke at some of those things, I would be delighted by input! (Or, y'know, the Dave/Sollux thing, or any of the other things.)

[seerofbread]

That is very understandable! In fact, it's probably a much more admirable quality for a writer--or at least a professional writer--than the other way around.

Priorities always do seem to be difficult to keep with. You definitely aren't the only one with that problem.

That sounds like a lot of things, but, uh. I guess I'm not doing that much better myself.

I'm definitely up for poking! I'm hardly an active pursuer in Dave/Tavros, but I don't have any real problems with it and should be able to do some work. I might be slightly better for Dave/Sollux? But I haven't really tried. As for any of the other things--I'm not completely sure what they entail, but I can try helping wherever you'd like.

[krait]

Heh, well, I'm the furthest thing from a pro writer in the history of ever, but yeah, deadline pressure is super helpful when one is earning a degree in English. I could probably write a paper in my sleep, and - if 3 AM last-minute caffeine-propelled sessions count - I have. :D

uh. I guess I'm not doing that much better myself

Oooh, tell me about your current projects! How many are you working on, and what are they? What's giving you difficulties, prioritywise?

I'm definitely up for poking!

Yay! :D Several of them are in GoogleDocs, so if you have Gmail I can give you access that way; I love the notes feature there.

not completely sure what they entail but I can try

Also yay. :D I really, really need to go through Document 1 and assign some kind of... reference code, working title, keyword, something! to each of the pieces in there, so I have some way to explain them to other people. *wry* Right now, only a couple of the Dave/Tavros things have keywords, but I can give you those! Lemme make a separate comment, though.

[seerofbread]

Maybe, but. It's also useful, as you say, for papers. Usually when I wait until the last minute I spend the last day worrying and get it in just before the second tier of late points.

Hmm, maybe I'll take a hint from you and do a separate comment. There could be considered to be a whole lot, depending.

Hehe, I've actually been working on moving most of my stuff to Google Drive lately, just so I can work from most places. I'm going to go ahead and PM that to you because ~privacy~ but sure!

When I need to save something I'm still working on, I usually go for some ridiculous oversimplification or whatever and refer to it as the acronym for it. Then you can have a thing that references it without worrying about people judging you for being terrible at naming things.

[seerofbread]

Apparently I have to talk about all of them vaguely instead of a few of them specifically so sorry.

I've had surprising focus on one project lately, and it's BND which is my original pet. (I have a few original things but this is definitely my biggest pet project.) It's been undergoing some major reboot stuff, the whole world isn't even recognizable (it was that bad to start with) and I haven't actually started writing it, mostly just. Documents and documents of redesigning. So I guess for now forget I said anything.

Now, fanfic.

I've been doing Trope Bingo. I have nine things started there, but one of them is about to get posted and another one is probably just going to be visual. They're an assortment of fandoms, and uh whatever the short version.

1. TB001 is accidental baby acquisition and it's Homestuck but you know how there's a really obvious way to do that? I did it the other way.
2. TB002 is forced to marry and it's also Homestuck, in fact it's also trollstuck and I liked a lot of things I was doing with it but I abandoned it because that plotline wouldn't be well-done as a one-off.
3. TB003 is kiss to save the day so it's uh actually BND but Homestuck AU. It's gotten pretty off-topic and not really worth posting but I'm glad I did it.
4. TB004 is detective AU and it barely got started but it was PMMM and then it wasn't really anything.
5. TB005 is kidfic and that's also PMMM and it's, boy. I think I finished it, but it needs editing, but it'll always need editing. It's fun but it's also impossible JFC.
6. TB006 is telepathy/mindmeld for an original thing that.... also needs a bunch of reworking actually.
7. TB007 is high school AU for Homestuck! It's set in a universe I started making for a kink meme prompt, it's got fun interspecies stuff--which actually is the problem, it's basically complete but I don't think I could possibly have gotten the Caliborn/Calliope aspect down.
8. TB008 is uh soulmates and that's for Elementary but it.... flopped a lot and is probably going to be a visual.
9. TB009 is for AU: fusion so it's a crossover and I was JUST ABOUT TO POST IT actually, just needs a couple touches....

So yeah I'm only getting into round two because amnesty.

Kink meme has uhhhh well there's

1. HSm002 is "reversal of the Karkat-watches-Sollux-die scene" which was mostly because I suck at writing things that don't end tragically so I was hoping I'd get some of my tragedy out there
2. HSm003 is "the game ends everyone gets stuck on Alternia Dave gets trapped in Terezi's hive and feels obligated when she makes advances" because IDK I found it in a search for Jadekat what did I get myself into

HSm001 gets its own thing because actually it's HMT and it's uh "military petstuck" and might actually be related to how I wound up.... subscribing to your journal........ That kept sinking into the swamp but now I have two chapter-ish things that might be OK, I just have to decide who's going to die what the hell my endgame is.

Right now most else of what's going on is HSWC, of course. I've got one down which is Aradia♦Tavros angst and I tried starting on a Karkat♠Rose but I might not keep up with my, IDK, New Event Resolution to not start new things when I still have things to do.

Oh and TVP. That's. Complete. I probably should get a reader in on it, but I also feel like I should look over it more first and bluh. But it's airships and titles and Eridan♠Vriska and.... pretty out-of-hand, that's a good adjective for it. I really need to reboot my computer right now which conveniently gets me out of worrying about boring you with a giant paragraph of inane details.

[krait]

Quick questions: I don't recognise the acronyms PMMM, TVP, or BND (or HMD, unless it's a play on HMD, which I associate with "military petstuck"). Elaborate?

And haha, I didn't remember (or just plain don't know) how you subscribed to me, but if "military petstuck" is what I think it is, that's super awesome. Also, guess what I thought about WAY too much today during my 3-hour drive, before I ever saw this post. :D Yeaaaaah.

Awww, Aradia♦Tavros! I love those two! I find Aradia pretty much impossible to write, though; I don't have a firm enough grasp on her to try it myself. Which is too bad, because one of the reverse-prompts I got was for a pairing involving Aradia. Figures. :D Oh, well.

TB002 - I like this trope! I like trollstuck, too. If you ever decide to rework this one into something viable, sign me up to cheerlead!

TB007 - This sounds nifty; I generally don't like high-school anything, but add interspecies shenanigans and I can deal.

TB009 - Congrats on the nearly-completeness!

HSm002 - Maybe we can trade abilities regarding tragedy; my problem is that I always want to FIX EVERYTHING, RIGHT NOW. Tension is not my forte! Anything that smacks of tragedy is hard for me to write. :D

HSM003 - Everything about this is pretty much designed to make shout "WANT" while making grabbyhands gestures. *guilty looks* It's actually really close to something that came up in a WIP story I'm following, and I was delightedly alarmed, or alarmed at my delight, there. Yeah.

AIRSHIPS AND ERIDAN, there cannot be a better combination! Please feel free to provide further details whenever convenient. :D

I was going to make little write-ups for my more recent things, too (the ones I made up there? Yeah, I've had those fics in-progress since before the kinkmeme moved to DW), but now I think it's going to have to wait till tomorrow.

THINGS WHAT I AM TRYING TO WRITE:

[krait]

Okay, way back when I gave "code names" to the fic pieces I was working on then, because I had other people looking at them and it helped when we could all refer to them as something besides 'that one' or 'the one you posted first'.

Here they are; all three are Dave/Tavros things, and I've been sitting on them since before the kinkmeme moved to DW. *shame*

Codename: Red Marker
Dave and Tavros trying to get naked/sexy for the first time turns into show-and-tell instead, because Tavros is too worried about hurting Dave and Dave is about to lose his boner if Tavros calls him 'fragile' one more time. I started it intending to be very serious, with a no, BITE ME literally if it makes you shut up about my tender hide! Dave, possibly even veering into slight bloodplay territory, but then it developed cute silliness instead. Contains pretty standard xeno-junk, but I tried to include some subtle xenopsychology on Tavros's end via his reactions to Dave's blood colour.

Codename: Oral Traditions
So I have this trust kink... :D Playing around with headcanons/kinkmeme prompts about trolls and oral sex resulted in this, which boils down to: Dave tries to blow Tavros, Tavros panics, discussion ensues, Tavros blows Dave (kind of), and (not written, but maybe) Dave goes down on Tavros and is wildly successful. Again, fairly standard xenobits, with a side order of headcanons about troll intimacy and (I hope eventually to include) some use/implication of interspecies communication being unreliable, mainly in the sense of body language and instinctive reactions.

Codename: Miracle Gro
Started out as, essentially, "troll puberty is an unpleasant process that ends with the troll going into rut", i.e. a big pile of Dave/Tavros porn with a side of me playing with just how strenuous such a setup would be. Then I ended up writing the 'unpleasant process' part as well, so it gained thousands of words of sexually frustrated!Dave playing H/C nurse to miserable Tavros, with very minor bonus worldbuilding. Then I couldn't hold myself back from following the logical what-ifs through to the end, so it gained (the start of) a section wherein Tavros's legs suffer the consequences and much freaking-out is done by both parties.

Give me a while, and I'll try to do the same for the more recent things.

Re: THINGS WHAT I AM TRYING TO WRITE:

[seerofbread]

You know really probably I can't give anything too specific unless (until?) proper sharing goes down, but I can try!

Red Marker
Hmm the fluffy direction does sound reasonable, though I don't know if the prompt wasn't into that. Either way, developing multiscene stuff sounds plausible if you're into that. I'm really curious to see how the xenopsychology comes off!

Oral Traditions
I'm really delighted by the codename here. But uh. Again with wanting to see xeno things. (Actually that applies to all the time.) I think I know the kind of headcanon you're going with and I do like it and think it'd be cool to see explored more.

Miracle Gro
it gained thousands of words of sexually frustrated!Dave is pretty relatable. Overall it sounds really good and really interesting and I'd be glad to look through it whenever.

In other news I really love how standard xeno is a thing that I know what you're talking about and stuff.

Re: THINGS WHAT I AM TRYING TO WRITE:

[krait]

Red Marker: At this point I don't even remember what the prompt was (though I may've copypasted it into the document somewhere); I'm gonna roll with it. Besides, I have such a weakness for Dave's "artisic skillz" showing up in fic, a la the dick-drawing fight, there's no way I could bring myself to cut out all the silly antics. (There's a reason this one's codenamed "Red Marker"!)

Oral Traditions: thank you. :D I like puns; it's probably one reason I'm terrible at titles. My brain works like a crossword puzzle reader's, all wordplay and shortcuts and maximum-meaning-for-minimal-wordcount and egregious punning. *grin* The headcanon involved is, yep, the "troll teeth are scary, ergo oral sex is not a Thing for them" thing, but I've tweaked it here and there. Now it's more "ergo penetrative oral sex is not a Thing for them", and it's accompanied by some "scent is more relevant to troll senses than to humans" and "teeth/biting/proximity to skin has social and instinctual overtones".

Miracle Gro: Heh, I suppose it is relatable. Poor Dave. He thought he was starring in a PWP, and instead he got bulgeblocked without warning by schoopy H/C and scary biotechnical issues.

I really love how standard xeno is a thing that i know what you're talking about

Hahaha, yes. This fandom has many good points, and that one's nowhere near the bottom of the list. :D :D :D

Re: THINGS WHAT I AM TRYING TO WRITE:

[seerofbread]

RM: This might be slightly losing me. How in particular is Dave using these artistic skillz? Does he illustrate how boner work or does he just dick around?

OT: Puns don't make you terrible at titles. Being bad at titles makes you bad at titles, as does insisting on making them all acronyms. (I'm trying to not overwork myself so it might take me a bit to get to your other comment but yeah I guess for the most part you not understanding is the point, until I can think of an actual title.) (Except PMMM is the anime Puella Magi Madoka Magica which I think that makes it pretty obvious why everyone calls it PMMM.)
That does sound like a fun combination. I'm curious as to how it looks on paper, though I can only imagine it must be worthwhile.

MG: Happens to the best of us.

Re: THINGS WHAT I AM TRYING TO WRITE:

[krait]

Heh; re: Red Marker and Dave's skillz, they're not really all that significant; but as soon as I update the GoogleDocs version I will add you to the access list and you can be amused (hopefully). The red marker that turns up in the fic is pretty much the point where my SRS BSNS was declared unrevivifiable, so it was only fitting that it become the codename.

Puns don't make you bad at titles. True in a sense, but thinking in puns does make titling difficult. :D On top of, as you say, being bad at titles. (WORST part of the last bingo I did, BY FAR! I thought I would give up on one of them, I had so much trouble. And, uh, it's basically the first weak pun I could find to stick on it? For that matter, I used a pun-type thing for my Yuletide title, too.)

which I think that makes it pretty obvious why everyone calls it PMMM

Hah! Yes, there are cases where acronyms make lots of sense, and that's one of them.

like a fun combination

It really is. At least if you enjoy H/C with Dave flinging "irony!" around to cover his own emotional investment, Tavros in a bathrobe, and troll notions of delicious, romantic fingerfoods. :D And - I hope - the chance to play out a kinkmeme prompt/plot that's been done several times before, but never with a disabled character in the starring role. (Which is part of my slow working on Miracle Gro; I want to handle Tavros respectfully/thoughtfully, rather than with Magical Author-fix Cures to avoid dealing with it. Must go and dig out my notes for such things...)

This comment thread has become so long that I think I'm going to create a new post to hold my overviews for all the other things-in-progress. I'll copy-paste the three from this thread into it, too, so they're not stranded.

If you want to continue listing/discussing any of yours here, that's fine! Or you could create your own post, or whatever. I don't mind, either way.