Regarding fic, planned and otherwise

[aadler]

Last year I set myself to do a dozen stories — I listed them, with abbreviations for the titles — and wound up coming not even close to finishing. This year I was going to finish that out. Not doing so well on that. I’m less than two thousand words into what will be the fifth of the twelve (as listed in this post, the one that first announced my intent), and I’m stubbornly determined to finish it before I begin another. And it’s resisting me, and I’m letting other things delay me in focusing, and … Yeah. Familiar story.

I’ve also signed up for this year’s summer_of_giles. That’s not exactly invariant, but after my entry in 2013 I’ve skipped only 2015. (Invariant would be RemixRedux; the only year I skipped that, after beginning in 2006, was last year when it didn’t take place, though for a while it appeared that it would. Disappointing.) I already know what I intend to do for it, and it won’t be a major effort, but a small note in the eventual personality of Rupert Giles. Not one of the twelve originally posited, though, so it won’t get me any closer to my goal.

My son in China just sent me a query about how I go about planning for a story: detailed advance notes, vague outline, or just jump in and fly by the seat of my pants? I’ll have to consider how to prepare my answer in a form that will make sense … and caution him, likewise, that everyone who writes goes about it a different way, and the right way for any individual writer is the one that works for him/her.

What seems to work best for me is being on military deployment. I don’t get to do those anymore, though, so I’ll just have to find some operable substitute.

Comments

[snogged.livejournal.com]

Good luck with your writing.

[aadler]

Luck only operates in company with commitment. Still working on the latter.