zwei_hexen | Write every day! - August 2025

ysilme

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: 1,2k with 90 words for the drawer WIP.
The rest was talking with an old friend (who's not writing in any way) about good and bad writing, how to properly construct a story (or not) and all that good stuff, inspired by a conversation about mutual crime novel likes and dislikes. During this I realised I seem to have acquired quite a bit of insight and understanding of plot construction and such things, without ever noticing before that I did. Likely by osmosis?

sylvanwitch here: 352 new words on the chapter one revisions.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

trobadora

Checking in for the 6th.

From:

sylvanwitch

Hi, you! Thank you for checking in. :-)

From:

ysilme

I'm so happy to see you checking in for everyday! :o) ♥ I hope the words are cooperative enough, too. *hugs*

From:

sylvanwitch

That sounds like a very rewarding and lovely conversation!

From:

ysilme

It really was! The friend is my old BFF from school (B from B&G). We've been close for the longest time, which evolved into getting also best friends as couples with our respective partners, but are growing more and more apart since over a decade, and at times in a painful way, which is why I enjoyed our conversation so much. Part of the process is that we seem to age quite differently mentally, and now to spend time with my friend in the same way we used to do was just the nicest experience.

From:

sanguinity

Aug 6. 650 words on a story I had planned to trunk, but which a friend encouraged me to finish. Now I just have to pick out a TV show for my protagonist to binge-watch. Which is a question fraught with subterranean and treacherous meanings, when you and your readers are all in fandom.

ysilme: I'd guess less by osmosis, and more by apprenticeship. Of spending years putting one word after another, building a plot brick by brick, and then doing again. And again. And again.

sylvanwitch: Yay, words!

From:

sylvanwitch

Yay, words, indeed! :-)

I love the way you describe the problem of the TV show, and I hope it ends up being an entertaining puzzle to solve. Also, YAY for the friend who encouraged you to finish the story. That's a good friend. :-)

From:

sanguinity

She is a good friend. We shared a fandom years ago, but we still do that fandom-in-law thing, where we still read each other's fic and take an interest in their fandoms' big wins and losses, even though we don't have a fandom in common anymore.

But I was getting into a new fandom and felt I'd missed the moment for this fic, and that there probably wasn't much appetite for the topic anyway. And she was all, "That's a fic I want to read." So I'm writing it for her, and maybe some other people would enjoy it, too.

From:

sylvanwitch

Oh, your friendship sounds really lovely. I'm so happy you have each other!

From:

ysilme

Congrats on getting to work on that story! I feel your concern about choosing that TV show but salute your solution (as read in yesterday's check-in).

I've read a crime novel the other day where I couldn't get rid of the feeling the author would have profited of experience as a fanfic writer, and the ends to which some of us go to have a story work properly and feel grounded and well-rounded, much like your consideration of this issue.
It's very well-established genre in Germany, Scancinavian crime novels, the author was German (and, as established in the convo with my friend who does review reading for a crime novel recommendation site, apart from having read hundreds of books from that genre) riding on the wave of a book genre demanding steady replenishment and generally not-so-critical readers if the location is cool or so. The book was a quick and nice-ish read in general, but there were so many inconsistencies and lack of realistic or proper background, nearly nothing to generate the atmosphere of being in Scandinavia (on the Lofotes/Norway, in that case), and unrealistic behaviour of protas and side characters it was jarring and frustrating. If that had been a fanfic everybody would have assumed it to be written by an inexperienced teenager ignorant of how things work, or too lazy to do at least basic research... think generic High School or Coffee shop AU in a fantasy or historic fandom. /o\ So let us have - and celebrate! - all the detail-obsessedness we like to apply or have going on in the background. I firmly believe it's worth every bit of time spent on it!

Hm, you're right, rather more by apprenticeship. I've always believed to be rather inept at plot construction, but I suppose after so many pubished fics that all seem to have worked well in that regard, this is also one of these cases of just seeing what you aim for or want to achieve, not what you already managed. ;op

From:

sanguinity

That's a shame about your disappointing novel! But yes, being obsessive about getting the details right makes a huge difference. Often, if you get a handful of telling details exactly right (and manage to avoid any big errors), you'll be given credit for getting the entire big picture right -- when all you knew were your telling details!

And yes, you've built a LOT of plots over the years; you have a sound sense of how to put one together. It may not be complex plotting with lots of twists and turns, but in terms of being able to get your readers in and out with a sense satisfaction for the journey: I'm betting you know a good deal!

From:

brithistorian

Congrats on the writing, and on the absorbing the information about writing. It wasn't until I starting writing posts of GYWO that I realized how much I had absorbed about writing.

Day 6: 1637 words of "I Don't Like Your Girlfriend — Remix"! I finished chapter 61, and I'm about to go post it as soon as I finish this comment!

Edited Date: 2025-08-07 03:39 am (UTC)

From:

sylvanwitch

You are making such excellent progress! Go, you! *\o/*

And thank you for the congrats! They're much appreciated. :-)

From:

ysilme

Thank you!

sanguinity pointed out to me that it wasn't by osmosis, though, but rather by apprenticeship, and she's right, of course. But I agree, generally we do absorb - as well as experience - a lot of the technical parts of writing just by doing it. I'm also definitely reading differently in general since I've started to write in earnest. (I've been drawer fic/mind story writing ever since I remember/learnt how to write, but have only started in 2012 with pursuing proper fic writing, with my way of reading also changing around that time.)

Go you for a great word count and finishing another chapter!

From:

brithistorian

we do absorb - as well as experience - a lot of the technical parts of writing just by doing it

Definitely! When I first started writing seriously, the skill I had to focus on was "generating a large enough number of words" — 1000 words was a lot when I first started. Once I got the hang of producing words, the next step was trying to make those words better.

I'm also definitely reading differently in general since I've started to write in earnest.

Absolutely! Now I find that when I'm reading a book, I find myself excitedly going "Yes! I see exactly what the author is doing here!" (And plus, more and more often now, I'm able to point to places where I've used the same technique in my own works!)

From:

the_siobhan

Day 4: more notes
Day 5: about 200 words
Day 6: about 300 words

From:

sylvanwitch

Slow and steady wins the race! Go, you! :-)

From:

ysilme

Words are wording, wohoo!!! (The other day, I was suddenly humming "words are wording" along the melody of "Beds are Burning" by Midnight Oil, and now I can't get that out of my head. *g* There are worse aural fixations, tho.)

From:

cornerofmadness

Day 6 0 1800 words between the lyrical title one and the wip big bang

From:

sylvanwitch

WOW! Wooooo-hoooooooo! *\o/* That is super impressive!

From:

cornerofmadness

thanks

From:

cornerofmadness

thanks

From:

ysilme

Oh, that's AWESOME, congrats! *\O/*

From:

yasaman

Day 6: 365 words for me today!

From:

sylvanwitch

YAY! Words! You are making such good progress!

From:

luzula

Day 6: 200 words again.

From:

sylvanwitch

200 is 200 more than someone who didn't write yesterday would have to report. :-) YAY! Go, you!

From:

carenejeans

Day 6: Some noodling, but didn't get much done. Alibi noodling? I did write an actual alibi sentence too. ;-)

From:

sylvanwitch

ALIBI NOODLING is sending me! I love it! Go, you!

From:

ysilme

Yay for noddling, alibi or not! Although alibi noodling is just the perfect combo, I'm going to keep that! ^^

From:

badly_knitted

Yay words! Well done!

Aug 6th - 900 words exactly. O_O An expanded ficathon fill, and I finished a challenge fic I started at the weekend, just in time to post it tonight. Yay.

From:

sylvanwitch

Thanks, you! :-)

Oh, that's excellent! Go, you! *does the happy posting dance for you*

From:

badly_knitted

Thank you *joins dance and twirls you*

From:

ysilme

Cool word count! XD I had exactly 66600 as overall word count at the end of July, which quite amused me. ^^
Go you for finishing that fic, and expanding that fill!

From:

badly_knitted

Yikes! I think I'd panic and delete a word if I got that!

Thank you!

From:

ysilme

*g* I'm not superstitious, but love neat-looking numbers, even of this kind! ^^

From:

badly_knitted

I love any other neat numbers, that one... It's not even really superstition, just a strong aversion. Not even sure why. Well, maybe watching The Omen when I was very young, lol!