yuletide_coal | Charcoal Box

Welcome back, Challenger! Great to see you back. Hopefully you'll be able to knock it out fast, and start on those treats. Good luck!

Hee, thanks! And go you! Definite progress. :D

Wow, sounds like you're cooking! Good luck!

-sq

You can do it!

This is my last day, too, because we're traveling tomorrow and celebrating with my family tomorrow night. All the words to write, aaaah! :D

-sq

Oh, excellent! How goes the treat searching? Found anything yet?

Tense switches are the absolute worst! About... 3/4s of the way through an assignment for a different fest, I decided there were way too many flashbacks for my present tense to read smoothly, so I had to go through the whole thing and change all the verbs (and make sure it still sounded right). It was a nightmare.

Good luck writing today, and good job finishing your treat yesterday! - Snow

They are a pain, especially since now I have to decide which one to use. Decisions are haaaard. :D

How did the plot wrangling go?

I have _coal;s normal post open in another tab even though I really shouldn't so uh... slowly.... I'll close it in five minutes, I swear!!

Hee! Yeah, I would never do that.

*stealth closes tab*

(But not really.)

I haven't had a chance to write any treats yet because my main assignment kicked my ass, and then I took a pinch hit.

Now that those are out of the way, I'm looking to fashion a few extra ficlets today. I may have to take some yumadrin to make it happen, but my jove I'm getting some treats out!

Can I join in? I have three treats I'm still working on. God knows if I'll get them done in time. I had surprise!house-hunting and then tonsillitis while I was meant to be doing my Yuletide stories, and I only just got my assignment done before the deadline, never mind any treats. But they're all ideas that have really grabbed me and I'm more than halfway done on all of them, and tonight is clear and some of tomorrow is clear, so maybe with a following wind I can get at least some of them finished by Christmas. They've all got problems, though.

- one I've got a mostly-complete first draft handwritten that I need to type up, but that one's a really tricky, atmospheric story about a sensitive subject that will need a lot of editing
- one involves a sex scene and writing sex scenes is like pulling teeth for me. But it's for someone who was on the pinch hit list at the last minute, so I'd particularly like to finish this one
- one is a crossover (for someone who really wants this particular crossover) and the problem is that the focus is too much on one fandom and not enough on the other - it would be a great fic to read if you like fandom A, but if you're in it for fandom B there's not much going on in terms of character arcs. I'm considering splitting off the fandom A story into a separate fic and writing a different crossover, but realistically speaking that's probably not going to happen in the time, so the other option is to add an interesting character arc for fandom B. I've got a vague idea, but how to turn that into a proper idea and some additional scenes...

So those are my Yuletide Treat problems. Ideas, encouragement or whatever, all welcome :)
- sleepy

I'm writing for the rest of the night, now! Hopefully I can blast through the second half of this treat, then settle in to edit.

One thing, though: I just saw the email about how few fics are left to be submitted. If all of those come in early, do you know if the archive will be opened immediately? Or will it still be opened the night of the 24th/morning of the 25th, as usual? (I've been counting on being able to write tomorrow as well, I really hope it doesn't change!)

/anxious newbie

Hahaha, that's a great attitude! Good job on your assignment and PH, and I hope you get all the ficlets you want out!

Hey, sleepy!! Of course you can join in! Phew, that sounds like you've got a tough two days ahead of you, but at least you've gotten going with all your treats. If you have a beta you'd trust with story A, maybe focus on finishing that one up and letting them have the first pass on your editing if it'll need a lot of work. The earlier in the editing process you have major feedback, the better!

What in particular tends to trouble you with sex scenes? Is there a way you can focus on what you're good at-- ie, more snappy dialogue or focus on intimacy if the physical part gets to you, or vice versa?

I wish you lots of luck with today and tomorrow, happy writing!

Hey, sleepy! Sounds like you've got your plate full. Personally, I'm avoiding the treat I really want to get done because it's the most involved, and I'm not sure if I've got enough brain power left to figure it out.

Sounds like you should just pick one and start working. At least get the draft typed up, maybe? You can't start editing unless you've got something to edit, after all.

Whatever way you go, though, good luck!

-sq

I'm a newbie, too, so I'm not totally sure what the mods would do in that case... Either way, I would think they'd at least give a heads up if the archive will be opening earlier than expected, since lots of people are still getting in those last treats. I'm counting on tomorrow for some last minute editing, so I'm hoping along with you.

Good luck on your night of writing!

I really can't imagine it opening before the announced time, unless it's by a few minutes. Although you might want to check the UTC clock. I don't know what part of the world you're in, but it's actually opening earlier this year than it has in the past. Somewhere in the afternoon for Americans, I think, rather than midnight on the 24th.

ayrt

Thank you, and thanks to the coalie above as well! I'll take a few calming breaths and get back to my fic, that's reassuring to hear.

Alright, I finally got a few days off from work, got my assignments and PHs done and edited and in, and I took care of grown up stuff today like calling the bank and doctor and doing laundry.

I AM READY TO TREAT ALL THE TREATS!

Let's do this!

Yes, treats are gooood!! Good job with your pinch hitting and assignment filling, too! Now lets hope one of those treats are ours ;P

Hi guys! Sister back again. :) Unfortunately my day has been co-opted by errands and helping out my grandparents, so I haven't been able to write a word yet. But I'll be back this evening to hopefully get that treat done!

Hey Sister, nice to see you again! Have a good day with your family, and hope to see you in here writing up a storm soon.

I think typing up story A is the way to go this evening, once I've got the kids in bed at least...

With the sex scene, it's hard because it's secretly-likes-it dubcon for a character with a distinctive narrative voice who makes cultural references I don't know. Plus, slash - I'm way better at writing het than slash. So it's a challenge, to say the least. I've got some bits written and we'll see how far I get.

I think I'm going to push hard with the mostly-finished one tonight and see if I can't get a complete draft done. I've done so much research for this one, it would be a shame not to get it done.

*waves*

-C

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