donutsweeper | January 2009 list

Overall, a pretty good month

Great Fun To Be Had- TW, Jack/Ianto, It was great fun, but it was just one of those things, PG-13, 300 words (karaokegal lyric prompt)
Back To It- DW, Ace says goodbye to the normal life to return to her old one, G, 100 words (karaokegal lyric prompt + dw100)
Leaving a Mark- TW, Jack/Owen, Owen's learned some things in life, PG, 100 words (karaokegal lyric prompt)
The Long Day- NCIS, Tony's creative when annoying Tim, G, 543 words (for chatona + karaokegal lyric prompt)
Longing Looks- TW, Jack/Ianto (with squick warning), Ianto ages, Jack doesn't, PG, 477 words (for karaokegal)
The Changing of Me- House, dark themes, House thought he changed those around him to be more like him, but maybe it was the other way around, PG, 300 words (karaokegal lyric prompt)
A Case of the Nerves- NCIS, Jimmy's nervous, G, 100 words (ncisdrabble100 challenge: beginnings)
Marks of a Hero- TW, None of Jack's injuries ever leave a scar, PG, 509 words (karaokegal lyric prompt)
Throwing the Pebble- DW, spoilers for "LotTL," the Doctor thinks about how much Jack had changed, G, 337 words (semi-coda to "Telepathic Talks")
The Incident On The Docks- NCIS, A fight on the docks ends badly for DiNozzo, G, 509 words (for mad_jaks)
Breeding Character- DW, Tegan tries to get Turlough to help, G, 230 (for pointytilly)
Laying Claim- TW, Jack/Owen dynamic, Jack teaches Owen a thing or two, PG-13, 136 words (for sistercarrion)
A Night At The ~~Morgue~~ Opera- TW/due South crossover, Ben gets a call from the morgue, G, 353 words (for travels_in_time)
Tossing and Turning- DW, The Doctor couldn't sleep, rated G, 335 words (for unfeathered + karaokegal lyric prompt)
Silent Symphony - NCIS, Gibbs and Abby can say a lot without speaking, G, 200 words, (for awanderingbard)
Holding Down the Fort - Dresden Files (bookverse), Harry has a quick conversation with Mouse and Mister, G, 235 words, (for aeron_lanart)
Straight Flush, Jack High- DW, The Doctor makes a tactical error in taking Jack to the Rybar Nebula, G, 464 words (for _medley_)
The Fix-it Man - SPN, Dean does what he has to so he can get the job done, G, 441 words (spnflashfic)
Caffeinated Killings - NCIS, Ducky knows how to keep Abby happy, G, 100 words (kensieg and the ncisdrabble100 challenge: sweet)
An Atypical Rendezvous - NCIS/TW crossover, Gibbs meets up with Jack Harkness again, G, 300, (for secbeth, sequel to "An Atypical Investigation")
A Moment In The Morgue - NCIS, Gibbs and Ducky ready the morgue, G, 232 (for nakeisha)
The Ache- TW, Jack was Torchwood now, and tired of it, G, 100 words (for snakewhissperer and tw100 challenge: politics)
Acceptance - NCIS, Tony broods and Gibbs tried to help, G, 200 words (for thaddeusfavour and ncisdrabble100 challenge: reflection)
Happydale Horrors - SPN/TW crossover (sort of), The ‘Happydale Home for Seniors’ was living up to its name, unfortunately for Sam and Dean, PG, 644, (for morgynleri_fic)
Just Another Day - SGA, It had been a long time since Ronon had been part of a team like this, G, 400 words (LFWS entry)
In The Shadows Lurk - NCIS/SPN crossover, in Peoria Tony DiNozzo becomes entangled with both a serial killer and a mysterious man in a black Impala, PG, 7612 words

5 drabbles, 20 ficlets, 1 full length story. 26 stories total. 15257 total words

I signed up at findyourwords for writing a total of 85,000 words this year (last year's total was 77653) and the resolution to write or edit every day and do a big bang. We'll see what happens.

Only two things this month were not written as responses to requests or challenges. I need to work on that.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Oh, hee. I see. It's funny how it's easy to give someone else a prompt, but not so easy to "prompt" yourself, isn't it? I still think the writing is the hard part, though. It is for me anyway!

writing's not easy either, but sometimes (most of the time) it's the basic premise of the story that I have the hardest time with

I always find it interesting to know about other people's processes. I feel like I have premises (and where there's a premise, there's always an outline) coming out of my ears, but I find the writing itself so difficult that I'm never going to be able to write all those stories. Or maybe not difficult so much as slow and I don't have enough time. Or maybe slow and difficult are the same thing... I watch Jades write, for instance, and I have no idea how she does it! I think my best pace is about 600 words an hour. I wish the words didn't struggle with me so much. :)

oh dear, Jades AMAZES me. If I have the idea, I'm fast- but more at your pace than hers. I've managed a few massive (for me) stories in short bits. My Dean as a dog fic, for instant, I wrote in a day and a half. And it was 4500 words or so.

I never have outlines though. which makes PLOT really really hard

I know you've said that about plot before. Whatever you end up doing though, it works! Jades says she writes to see what happens - do you feel that way too? I've realized lately that I have to "write" the basic story in my head before I can start writing it in earnest in an actual document. So I may *think* to see what happens, but I'm only writing to get the story out. Some of the details may be a surprise, and the way it all fits together structurally may change, but my curiosity is pretty much sated before I start to write, and I wonder if that's part of my problem. It's either caused by or stems from the fact that I'm not really a fiction writer, I think.

I suppose I'm a lot like Jades that way. More often than not I'm just writing the snippet so there's no real plot to be had. I see a scene, write it and I'm done. I really don't write all that many long things- this NCIS one is my 3rd longest and one of 4 or 5 over 5k. If I'm lucky I have two or three signposts planned for a story before I write it, but more often I let the characters figure out what's going on and how to get from A to B.

You *are* a fiction writer! You method is a lot less stressful! Although, I can see that if you know how it's going to end there's less incentive to get the story there.

Maybe I should say I'm not *naturally* a fiction writer. A lot of people I talk to have written stories since they were very young, because they couldn't *not* do it. I've written copiously and compulsively since I was young too, but almost never fiction. I figures it's not part of my basic makeup to express myself that way. Though I have to say, I am enjoying it. Every new tool for self expression is good to develop. :)

If I'm lucky I have two or three signposts planned for a story before I write it, but more often I let the characters figure out what's going on and how to get from A to B.

That makes sense, and I love that it works! It's one of those mysteries of writing. It always seems to work great for you.

I'm VERY glad you've decided to take the plunge and express yourself this way! :)

[thanks for linking me here, Rusty :D]

I'm fascinated by the idea of knowing the ending before you start. It might be a result of being more used to writing non-fiction (although I strongly dispute your claim that you're not really a fiction writer :P), and it certainly works for a lot of people.

It's also not quite true that I don't know the ending when I start. I rarely know where the plot's going, but the plot's never the point. If I'm going to write, the point of the story has to be 'what do I want to say about this character'. The plot is only there to help me do that, which is why I like taking cliches and playing with them. I did that on purpose in Sic Transit Tempus - ghosts, shapeshifters, time loop, telepathy, werewolves etc etc - because it's easier that way. When you use a cliche, people already know what to expect, their brains sort of gloss over the details, so plot holes, what plot holes? It doesn't matter because they have expectations and knowledge already, and they lock into the characters instead. And I *always* know where I want the characters to be at the end compared to the beginning. That's the one ending I do know!

*rereads* Hum. Maybe I should work this up into a whole post instead of spamming Donut's journal...

I never noticed that about Sic Transit Tempus!

*g* For I am cunning like a cunning thing. But yeah, I basically built the series on every sci-fi/fanfic cliche I could come up with. It certainly saved me having to come up with actual plot ;)

I'm fascinated by the idea of knowing the ending before you start. It might be a result of being more used to writing non-fiction

Hmm, might be, though I guess with formal writing I did have to train myself to plan before writing, because it goes much better that way. (It has still managed to surprise me though!)

"Knowing the ending before [I] start" sounds funny all of a sudden, because even though we were talking about the actually writing down of the words, I guess I do think of the mental process before that as part of the writing. It has twist and unexpected turns as it's taking shape. I just don't think I'd be able to write anything of any length without having a pretty good outline, because I can't write much in a sitting, certainly not more than 1000 words. If I can write in chunks, though - "I'll write this scene today, and then I can stop and do that scene tomorrow" it seems manageable.

Did I remember wrong, thinking that you said you write to see what happens? It's a good point about the "character story" - I know what you mean, and I know you always have that in mind. It's what always rings out so strongly in your writing.

What you say about writing in manageable chunks definitely makes sense. I can see that being a really good thing, being able to just stop, knowing where it's going and how much more you've got to go.

In terms of plot, I always write to see what happens. I know what I want to say about characters, and that steers the story overall (dictates reactions and thereby the plot), but I usually have absolutely no idea 'who did it' until I've really got going. As a rule of thumb for long stories (ie over about 3k), I'll get to 1/3 of the way through and figure out the major plot point, then get to 2/3 of the way through and figure out the ending. For me, it has to gather momentum in my head as I go, rather than being spaced out evenly. I'm definitely a binge writer (well, I'm a binger generally, but particularly with writing) and I need that impetus to get done.

Z bears the brunt of this. When I was writing 'Moonrise', I knew I wanted the ninja monks, but I had no idea whatsoever who had done it and I was coming up to the end of Jack's part, where I really *had* to know. We were talking about something related, when I suddenly went "OH GOOD GRIEF IT'S SARAH!"

Then had to explain myself ;) I have to do that alot...

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