Nano, YT

[pauraque_bk]

So, catching up... Nano was pretty easy for me this year, which is why I didn't make a bunch of posts bemoaning the pain of it all. It was partly easy because of the format I picked -- a character writing his own memoir in the first person. Memoirs tend to have a fairly loose structure anyway, so it was easy enough to go off on tangents about different people and places. I managed to keep up the pace every day with minimal grumbling. I don't think what I produced was actually that good, but at least it wasn't painful!

Last year I struggled badly due to over-planning, so I went in with no plan this year, which I think also makes it easier. It's tempting to use Nano to work on a concept you've been nurturing for months/years, but I think it works better if you start with a fresh idea that you're not attached to. Next year I might just do it as "write 50k words in a month" rather than "write a novel", which isn't honestly a goal of mine anyway. Short stories are way more fun for me.

My Yuletide fic is going kind of okay. It's turning out plotty, or at least plotty by my standards, by which I mean... it has a plot. I'm writing way outside my usual genre, which is entirely my own fault and not something pressed upon me by my recipient, I hasten to add. I'm just making it difficult for myself, as usual. And having agonizing moments of certainty that everything I write is crap, interspersed with moments of less certainty of that fact.

I also signed up for wizard_love, because I was browsing the prompts and some of them were absolute genius. This should be interesting, because I'm sure I've forgotten a lot about HP canon. But the due date isn't until January 30, so the timing works. I believe claiming is open for a few more days.

How are you guys doing? YT and other challenge fics coming along?

Comments

[thimble-kiss.livejournal.com]

And having agonizing moments of certainty that everything I write is crap, interspersed with moments of less certainty of that fact.

Isn't that part of the fun of fest writing? :P I'm always ready to throw myself off a cliff at some point! (Which, no, never feels much fun.) But I've never seen you write crappy fic before so I can't see a reason why you would start now. :)

I'm not participating in any holiday fests this year, due to the stupid bout of tendonitis around sign-up time. So I'm playing with ideas for my wizard_love fic instead, and trying to see if I can make myself write and finish a holiday fic sans fest. After all, Christmas Eve is a deadline too! If only Santa could be as intimidating as an HP fest mod...

[atdelphi.livejournal.com]

All my holiday writing is done for the year! Although now I'm chewing my nails waiting to see how the anonymous ones are received...