zwei_hexen | Write every day! August 2023

china_shop

Let us know if we missed you or if you didn't check in for a while, so we can add you. Of course joining the fun is possible at any point.

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ysilme here: 1,4k for the nostalgia project.

sylvanwitch here: 543 angsty words added to Chapter 18.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

badly_knitted

Your nostalgia project seems to have really taken off!

Aug 9th - 600 words, a 500-weord challenge fic and I turned a double drabble into a triple drabble because I wasn't happy with it.

From:

sylvanwitch

I hope the trebling helped (?)! Also, YAY for 500-word challenge fics! :-)

From:

badly_knitted

Yes, I'm much happier with it now, it flows better. It was a bit lame before. That happens sometimes.

From:

luzula

Day 9: 400 words of werewolf fic; total word count 15,600. Yay, finally some proper writing again!

From:

sylvanwitch

YAY! I'm so glad you're getting some respite and writing time! :-)

From:

yhlee

Day 9: Alibi sentence.

(I'm going to a concert today, I am ALL NERVES ahahahaha, maybe tomorrow I can start doing work again...)_

From:

sylvanwitch

I don't know whether "break a leg" is appropriate (if you're performing in the concert and/or hearing your work performed), or if "good luck" works, but in any case, know that I'm sending you good vibes. :-)

From:

ysilme

Seconding that! ♥

From:

lferion

8 Aug — finished and posted the fan Flashworks poem

9 Aug — amnesty haiku

From:

sylvanwitch

YAY for both but especially for the 8th! *does happy posting dance for you*

From:

shadaras

I'm loving your respective ongoing reports about nostalgia and angst. <3 Seems like they're very productive topics for you! :D

Day 9: More brainstorming! :D Starting to sketch out possible story outlines; I'll need to pick one soon, probably.

From:

sylvanwitch

Angst is one of my favorite flavors, so to speak, so this part of the finale is making me happy. :-)

YAY for brainstorming and sketching ideas! May the right idea just leap out at you.

From:

china_shop

10th: 150ish words on a random wip.

From:

sylvanwitch

YAY for words and randomness! I hope that's helping you get the ideas flowing. :-)

From:

sanguinity

Aug 9: One complete story, start to finish, 2300 words. *goes and falls down*

Also, beta comments!

From:

ysilme

Good gracious, that's terrific, congratulations! ***\O/***

From:

sylvanwitch

Holy cow! That's amazing! WOooooo-HOooooooo! *\o/*

From:

the_siobhan

I'm at the part of the story that I think of as the filler between the fun bits and I'm not 100% sure what I'm doing with it. 200-ish words tonight before bed.

From:

sylvanwitch

I know the bit of which you speak, and I wish you just the right words to get through it, so you can move on to the parts that are more enjoyable!

From:

cornerofmadness

wow that nostalgia project is just rolling along!

Day 9 410 words between two stories and I got my novel's edits back today. I haven't been brave enough to open them. Someone hold me

From:

ysilme

Yay for words wording for you, and all the *sympathies* for not opening the edits already. *hugs and holds you*
The project really is, isn't it; I think for two reasons: one - back when I wrote this I had a vague idea what fanfic was, but didn't realise I was doing just this; I was mainly giving canon my own spin without realising I could really write what I wanted - like taking care of all the things and plot points that bothered me in the original story (killing the main prota off in battle just when he was about to finally be happy, for example - did I mention that this is a novel series in the Age of Sail era?) But now I know that, obviously, and am having the time of my life in writing this just so, with the prota living on, and all the diversity I love including queer people and relationships (although I already had one gay relationship already back then, while the rest was mostly gen / friendship). I still like to stick as close to canon as possible as this is a challenge I love as well, like fitting queer relationships into the historical setting of Britain in the late 18th/early 19th century where homosexuality was punished with death. But I also never realised that something I loved so much about the novels of this time and era is the immense potential for queerplatonic relationships; or rather didn't realise what I wrote and loved to read was just that.
But also Age of Sail naval fiction was my first major fannish love as well as one of my major autistic hyperfixations, and no matter that I've become quite knowledgeable about my current main fandom - the Tolkienverse -, my knowledge about history, background, people and terminology about the era, and the sheer amount of books I've read over time, some over and over again, allows me to just write away in a manner much easier than with any other world/universe I've ever written in before. I'm quite the perfectionist and often can't just write something down as I don't know some background detail or how this or that works, which can be quite hampering at times even for drawer fic ;op - but here, I'm so familiar with everything that it's so easy. (Ok, it does help that I'm writing in-between the novels in the AOS stories, whereas my Tolkien stories are original to a large part as I managed to pick a part of canon that's not only not having that much detail about it, but despite having incredibly detailed canon material part of this is contradictionary or still too vague to be helpful, and I have to figure out a lot on my own. Which I love just for that, too, but it doesn't make for quick or easy writing.

From:

sanguinity

Oh, lovely! Does it damage the drawerness of the project to share which AoS fandom and who you've brought back from the dead?

And yes, many of the things you're writing into your project are very familiar in my own AoS stories -- bringing people back from the dead, bringing in queer and/or queerplatonic relationships... And being familiar with AoS as a setting of course helps enormously. I'm so glad you're having such a fun and productive time!

From:

ysilme

Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be mysterious or so. The Richard Bolitho series by Alexander Kent, and Richard Bolitho.
Thank you! ♥

From:

sanguinity

Oh nice! I read the original novel, but I never continued on to the rest. (There are a lot of novels in that series!) <3

From:

ysilme

I wasn't even aware there was an original novel as such, as when I discovered the translations in the late 80s in our local library, there were already at least ten volumes around. Do you remember which one that was?
But yes, there are a lot of novels! *g* I've read them all first in the German translation, like most of my naval fiction reading as my English back then wasn't by far as proficient as it is today, and some of the translations weren't really good - the Bolitho series among them. I've only started reading those in English over time and only read a few volumes so far, although my current one, Enemy in Sight, I've already read a few years ago. And although Bolitho is my alltime favourite naval hero and I love the series in general, the overall storywriting isn't that good as far as I can tell, definitely several steps down from Patrick O'Brian and as much as I can gather also C.S. Forester (I haven't read the Hornblowers in English yet, but have read in on a discussion about it with examples.) I can't judge how well the historical and military details are as I lack the knowledge and experience for that, but with my own current experience of storytelling also as a writer I keep coming across parts, particularly those with interpersonal relationships, where I can't help but think that could've been done much better. XD

From:

sanguinity

To Glory We Steer, according to Wikipedia -- I didn't keep note myself. One of the things that I liked about it was that some of the pov characters were from the lower decks; that's not something that the Hornblower novels ever do, and I don't remember it being a prominent feature of the Aubrey novels (although admittedly, it's been a long while since I read those, so I may be forgetting). I enjoyed it, but I didn't want to embark on (*checks wikipedia*) thirty novels, so I never quite got around to selecting a follow-up.

From:

cornerofmadness

Thanks. That is very interesting really. I came to fanfic so young, i never even really thought about it much. I was a 10 year old girl telling myself more stories for my new favorite people in the world (Han, Luke and Leia) after seeing the movie in the theater. I flopped into this with imperfections and no sense of fear. By the time I was sharing fanfic by the time I was 13 it was paper zines and Elfquest did not allow you to use the canonical characters so it was a vastly different experience. (Though I am very good at hyperfixating on things)

I can see how that would not make for quick or easy writing though.

From:

sylvanwitch

YAY for the words and GOOD LUCK with the edits! I'm sure it isn't as bad as you're imagining. (I think you and I are alike in preparing for the worst almost all of the time.)

From:

cornerofmadness

thanks. I appreciate it. Ah this is my 4th novel going thru edit. It'll be bad, I mean I have a full page of look at all these problems as you go, It'll look like the track comment feature exploded on my pages. It'll take me days. It's rough but at the end of it I do know it'll be better for it (and then it has to do this at least 2 more time if not 3)