The Girl with the misspelled Tattoo - Writing Post

[heavensqueen]

Pacts. promts, word wars and everything else that helps creating the best coal of the year!

Comments

Early Treats

[(Anonymous)]

Who's writing already? I'm 542 words into my first treat. It's just a fluffy thing but that's what the letter asked for.

Re: Early Treats

[(Anonymous)]

Fandom?

Writing Goals

[(Anonymous)]

Anyone ready to toss their hat into the ring this early?

I'm going to aim for 6 treats this year. I'll have a lot more time after the deadline than normal so I may as well use it!

Re: Writing Goals

[(Anonymous)]

Good luck!

I've consistently written 3-4 stories in Yuletide, so I'm content to aim for that again. This year, I hope at least one is a pinch hit.

Help me decide... balancing offers

[(Anonymous)]

I don't have a problem meeting the minimum numbers of offers. However.

There's a few canons where, if I match on them, I'll be tempted to write something long and epic. This could be fun, but it could also be stressful and demanding and mean I write no treats.

Should I offer those canons, or shouild I stick to canons where I'm more confident I'll be able to write in my normal range (2-4k) and write multiple stories?

Re: Help me decide... balancing offers

[(Anonymous)]

That's a tough one... I guess you need to decide if you'd rather make several people happy with shorter treats, or make your recipient super-happy with a long gift.

Trick or Treat exchange

[(Anonymous)]

For those who want a warm-up before Yuletide.

Community:
http://trickortreatex.dreamwidth.org/

Archive:
http://archiveofourown.org/collections/trickortreat2015/profile

Deets:
exchange for fic and art fills with low minimums - 300 words for fic. Exchange is vaguely hallowe'en themed so prompts mostly fall into either sweet or scary categories. Huge range of fandoms and prompts. Low pressure. Community challenge this year is to get everyone 2 gifts. Assignment deadline is this weekend but treats can be uploaded until reveals on the 31st.

Re: Trick or Treat exchange

[(Anonymous)]

Anybody else doing the "i'm not finished, why is 300 words suddenly so hard" panic dance? Just me?

I matched on a nostalgia fandom I thought I'd have no problem writing for and it's turned out to be incredibly difficult to strike the right tone, especially considering there was no letter for guidance. I've got 200 that goes basically nowhere right now. D:

invisible offers with zero requests

[(Anonymous)]

What have you offered that isn't showing on the summary yet?

Re: invisible offers with zero requests

[(Anonymous)]

This might be better in the main post not the writing post?

Found the inevitable thin-excuse-for-Avengers request

[(Anonymous)]

http://sebastianstanstongue.tumblr.com/post/131693039664/dear-yuletide-writer

Because someone always wants Avengers for Yuletide...

Re: Found the inevitable thin-excuse-for-Avengers request

[(Anonymous)]

You must be really hard up for wank if you're posting this on both posts.

Femslashex

[(Anonymous)]

Is anyone else refreshing the page impatiently?

[(Anonymous)]

http://astolat.livejournal.com/300261.html

BRB taking Crimson Peak out of my offers. Thanks a lot, Astolat >:(

[(Anonymous)]

There is already a thread about this.

Illustrations

[(Anonymous)]

Would it be weird to illustrate my fic?

Re: Illustrations

[(Anonymous)]

No - I would love that!

The Stepping Outside The Comfort Zone Workshop

[(Anonymous)]

Your recip would like something you've never tried your hand at before, be it gen, het, slash, femslash, casefic, worldbuilding, xeno... You could opt to ODAO, but instead you want to spread your literary wings. Ask for tips in this thread!

Re: The Stepping Outside The Comfort Zone Workshop

[(Anonymous)]

I'm writing a treat in the form of poetry / lyric for someone who requested it! I'm really nervous about whether it's any good. Has anyone written something poetical / lyrical for Yuletide before?

First draft milestone

[(Anonymous)]

When are we hoping to get our first drafts done, ambitious writing coalies?

Re: First draft milestone

[(Anonymous)]

Before deadline?

/unambitious, really busy

Last-minute pinch hits for Fandom Growth Exchange!

[(Anonymous)]

http://fandomgrowthexchange.dreamwidth.org/11172.html

Not my exchange nor did I post this on the last meme, but after seeing how many pinch hits are left, just boosting the signal in case the prompts inspire anyone. Seeking post-deadline pinch hitters to write 2000 words for rare pairings/groups of characters, due this Friday at 10:59 p.m. UTC.

Harry Potter and the Empty Assignment

[(Anonymous)]

Does anyone else want to read that fic?

Re: Harry Potter and the Empty Assignment

[(Anonymous)]

I'm hoping it's crackfic and not truth in advertising.

Treating Shortlist

[(Anonymous)]

Anyone got one?

Mine has a spreadsheet and everything.

I have narrowed it down to 10 treats, none of which require canon review over, oh, 5 hours. That's do-able, right?

Re: Treating Shortlist

[(Anonymous)]

SA

Oh and I should have said I'm Afkaf.

Post the first sentence of your fic - if you dare

[(Anonymous)]

With all the identifying information stripped out, of course. Don't want to end up like that one coalie last year.

Re: Post the first sentence of your fic - if you dare

[(Anonymous)]

[Name] was terrified.

Etiquette Help

[(Anonymous)]

I'm new at Yuletiding and AO3 exchanges in general, so I was wondering if I could ask a question on etiquette?

My actual assignment was kind of meh. I think I can write something pretty decent in the 1-2k range for it. But there is a prompt that I really love that I want to treat that I know will end up being about 10k or possibly more. Is that bad form, to quite obviously devote more time to a treat? Will my gifter be disappointed by that?

Or should I just go for it?

Thanks!

Re: Etiquette Help

[(Anonymous)]

The answer will depend on the person, to be honest. I think most people -- myself included! -- would say that it's okay. If you're inspired, you're inspired, and some stories will naturally be longer than other. Length doesn't necessarily mean that more effort/time was spent on it, compared to a shorter fic.

On the other hand, many (again, myself included) people will check their writer's works after reveals. Some might feel disappointed that there's a treat that was longer than the one they gave to their actual recipient, but I also think a lot of people would not reflect over it or even notice.

So yes, in closing, I think you should go for it! The person you're writing the treat for will no doubt be really excited that you were so inspired by one of their prompts, and I think that makes up for any possibility that your recipient will be pissy.

/Sparanero

Easter Eggs

[(Anonymous)]

So... the canon setting for my assignment is based on a RL location that I'm very familiar with. And if the characters were there on a certain date post-canon (which they could've been) they'd have seen my Dad pulling a crazy stunt that got into the local papers. And I thought, what the heck, why make up some random event when I can draw on real history? It's not the whole basis of the plot or anything, just a throwaway line about something eventful that the protagonist saw happen.

Does anyone else write utterly obscure easter eggs into their fics?

Re: Easter Eggs

[(Anonymous)]

I've done crazy easter eggs twice before, and both times the recip didn't seem to notice, and I was kind of disappointed. Oops.

Updates

[(Anonymous)]

It's been about a month since the original writing goal post, so I thought it was high time for a progress report! How are you guys doing?

Re: Updates - Sparanero

[(Anonymous)]

Original goal
Assignment + 4 treats

Current status
Assignment: 5000 words ...of notes *whimpers*
Treat 1: Finished! It's for my main recipient as well, but I wanted to write it as a warm-up since I've never written in this fandom before. I'd planned on something short, maybe even Madness-length, but it ended up being 6000 words. Oops?
Treat 2-4: I've saved several letters and have quite a few ideas, but I need to decide which ones to write. Can't do them all, unfortunately! I think I'm gonna focus on my assignment first, even though that might mean I'm left with very little time for these treats. We'll see how it goes, I guess.

Plot Bunnies Thread

[(Anonymous)]

For anyone still struggling to get their assignment off the ground

Re: Plot Bunnies Thread

[(Anonymous)]

The canon is set in the early 20th Century in a smallish town. My recip would like something shippy, canon compliant, fluffy, and with no smut. Their prompt is basically just 'banter.'

I'd prefer to have an interesting plot on which to hang the banter. I'd do 'Snowed In', but that's kind of happened before in the canon. I'd like for them to get into some kind of scrape/adventure, but I'm not sure what or how.

Anyone have any ideas?

I finished my first draft!

[(Anonymous)]

Yes, it's 10 pages of steaming pile of shit but holy fuck I'm happy it's written and I can actually start the editing process.

I just hope I can get keep this groove on and find a beta soon because let's just say there's still a lot to do :/

Re: I finished my first draft!

[(Anonymous)]

Congratulations on your TEN PAGES HOLY FUCK GJ!

It's Sunday!

[(Anonymous)]

Hi writing post! I have devoted the afternoon to writing, and am hoping to maybe even get through the first draft of both my and my dentist's fics. We'll see if that's me being over-ambitious, though.

When I sat down about 45 minutes ago, I had all of ~200 words written for my assignment. Now I have 1032! I'll likely need another 1-2k before all is said and done on that one. I'm charting one character's emotional journey from "vaguely uninterested/detached to this other character" to "willing to put her job on the line for him because she's fallen for him", and it's proving more difficult than I thought. Surely I can come up with a couple of bonding scenes in here to make it feel more natural! I hope!

Anyway, I shall be back in another 30-45 minutes or so and report my progress again. If anyone else is writing today, please, let me know how it's going! We can keep each other company!

~Sister

Re: It's Sunday!

[(Anonymous)]

Hi there! I haven't checked into this post but a couple years ago I was "Monday" anon so let's go with that for Sunday. :) I'd like to work on a second treat if I can! It's for a huge, huge canon, so something like "AU where X does not die" could go pretty much anywhere...it's going to be up to me to rein it in, not let it get out of control, and just present a few meaningful scenes from a world in which X is alive and doing living-people things. Not sure whether I'll get that done, but I finished a poem-parody today I was on the fence about doing so...that's one thing done, I guess. Good luck to you!! :)

~Monday

Outlook for Thursday (your guess as good as mine)

[(Anonymous)]

For checking in about our midweek writing progress as it, well, progresses.

Re: Outlook for Thursday (your guess as good as mine)

[(Anonymous)]

Well, I have ~1700 words of my first (and longest) of my three fics, and have got the characters to the location I need them to be so that the plot can start.... Thursday is going to need to involve a LOT of writing. Like, 10k words of writing, I think.

But I have to stay home all day to wait for a package in any case, so I guess fate is smiling on me?

/Sparrow

Coalies of the Weekend, Unite!

[(Anonymous)]

How are we all doing? On our fifth treat? Scrapping our assignment and starting over? Defaulted, and feeling sad or liberated, but still poking at treats?

Do do DO do, do-do-do-do-do, do-do-do-do-do... it's the DEFAULT WEEKEND...

Re: Coalies of the Weekend, Unite!

[(Anonymous)]

Starting my first treat!!! I'm so excited (especially because my assignment is done) but I don't have a plot! Just a scenario! Oops!

Probably popular fic?

[(Anonymous)]

Weird question that will probably read like a humble-brag. This is my first Yuletide, and the stories I'm writing, both for my main prompt and a treat, might end up being popular. They're fun, quirky, weird, and both belong to five-minute fandoms.

Any, I dunno, advice? I've only ever written for a tiny fandom before.

Re: Probably popular fic?

[(Anonymous)]

Um, you don't seem to need advice? What's your question, exactly?

*slightly irritated but also honestly baffled*

Word Wars?

[(Anonymous)]

Any coalies around and want to keep me company while I try to bang out this draft today? I'm going to start a 20min sprint shortly, so maybe check in on the hour with progress?

Re: Word Wars?

[(Anonymous)]

Word warring with mah self! 17 words, but in my defense I'm just working on editing an already written scene.

Off to the store, but if anyone's around later I'll be trying to finish this thing today or tomorrow.