Irony is the Shackles of Youth

I have crossed the 50,000 word mark on the worse thing I have ever written. So I'm half-way done. I expect writing on this to slow down (and have, in fact, planned on such a thing). There are 18 chapters outlined so far. My original plan was for 20 chapters. That's what the goal word count (100,000) is for, with each chapter consisting of 2 scenes. So far I've been sticking to that template in the initial draft. I think I know how this is going to end. I might go ahead and outline out those last two chapters before too much longer.

Once I get to about April, I expect I'll start using my daily word counts to go back in and start editing. I often edit before I finish the whole work. I'm holding off doing it here because I want as much of the main story line done as I can get. At the same time, as my daily word goals decrease, I'll get frustrated if I can only write a couple hundred words at a time on the main story line. I'm still working on where the balance point is. That's why I'm doing a terrible story for this. Who cares if I never make it something good? That's not the point.

Also, I have discovered that all the years of reading fanfiction have really influenced how I write sex scenes. I have to say its for the better. I can tell the difference even if no one else can't.

I was trying to concisely lay out the plot for this story in paragraph form so I could get a reasonable outline written. I’m experimenting with something new to see if it will help me finish more things instead of existing in WIP hell. I get to the end and have this:

When Arnule, the cook’s youngest and homeliest son, breaks the ring of the head priest, he is forced to compete in the King’s Quest - a tournament to determine if the royal line is still worthy of the throne - to make amends. Only fools, glory hounds, or overly ambitious nobles compete in the King’s Quest. To make matters worse, someone has rigged the quest and the competitors are dropping out or dying at an alarming rate. Soon Arnule is pairing up Bertrand - another competitor - in a desperate attempt to stay alive till the end. Arnule knows he can’t completely trust Bertrand when it’s obvious the other man is determined to win and doesn’t mind keeping secrets to do so. But is that enough to keep himself from falling in love with him?

WHY DO I HAVE THE HARDEST TIME WRITING SUMMARIES FOR EVERY OTHER STORY I WRITE, BUT SOMEHOW COME UP WITH AN AWESOME ONE FOR A THROW AWAY EXPERIMENT?

*sobs at the randomness that is the life of a writer*

I have to admit, I am more impressed with the island of Hawaii than Oahu. But mostly that's because Hawaii still has active volcanoes. Which are awesome. I got to hike along the rim of Kilauea. I couldn't go into the crater itself because the National Park service had it closed due to venting gasses, including toxic gas. No thank you. I'll watch from a distance. I took lots and lots of mental notes for the rewrite of Dragon of Blood and Fire, because I think I want to expand on that universe more. It's an interesting universe, but you don't see enough of it in the stories. Before I can do the rewrite, I really need finish up the first draft though. Hrm.

I also have about 5 pages of notes and drawings for the Hawaiian dragon story. I started writing it on the trip here (during that 16 hour flight from hell, oh god, why do I have to do that again?) and strangely enough, I think it's going to be in a very similar format as the Dragon of Blood and Fire. That's probably why it reminded me of that story. It's nice to finally start it, because I've had the idea for the story for almost two years now (since I was last out in Hawaii). But I think I'm going to get all my ideas down on paper, because I'm not sure I want to come back out here. Maybe with miome, but that's the only way.

Now to do some writing.

So I was reading a fanfic the other day, and while it had interesting parts, there was one aspect that wound up annoying the ever loving crap out of me. I'm not going to say for what fandom because really, the characters were so OOC that they might as well have been original. However, they were interesting characters in their own right, which was why I kept reading. And also why I kept being annoyed.

Sometimes, you start reading a fanfic/story, and you immediately know it's going to be crap. Either the writing is terrible (or just not to your taste), the characters are annoying, the plot has all the depth of a parking lot puddle, or there's just a general smell of shit floating around that you can't quite put your finger on. So you stop reading. Other times you only realize 13 chapters in that there is a huge, glaring, ginormous issue and it is slowly driving you insane because it's dragging everything else into turd land.

This fic was the latter. The problem? The main characters were in a fairly adventurous, kinky, polyamorous relationship which several other people found out about (sometimes by walking in on them) and everyone was not only fine with this, they were generously supportive of their choices. So supportive that in my head every time someone mentioned how supportive they were I pictured them looking like Buddy Jesus.

Keep in mind, when I say everyone, I mean everyone. Sixty year old grandma who is the neighbor? Yep. Middle aged conservative police officer? Yep. People who generally hate the main characters in the series? Yep. Random people off the street? Hell, they're dispensing advice! The author even mentioned people that might have a problem with what was going on, but they were always shadowy, "those other people" kind of characters that were only mentioned in passing. If they existed somewhere in the large city where the story took place, our protagonists certainly never ran into them.

I think I could have swallowed this if it was supposed to be set in a futuristic, sci-fi, fantasy, or alternate world kind of setting. But no. This was supposed to be set right now. And while I hope in the future we are all a little more open minded and accepting, we sure as hell ain't there yet. Even if we do get there, I can't imagine random strangers giving advice about the best bondage gear sources in the middle of the street to people they've just met 100% of the time.

I'm not a big angst fan or anything, but I felt like the author missed an opportunity to ass ADD some dramatic tension to the story by always making everyone okay. That was my other biggest issue. A lack of tension in the story. There was some, but it was usually resolved fairly quickly until the next bit came up. Even the over-reaching tension/plot of the story wasn't that tense. It was disappointing.

Ah well. There was kinky bondage threesome, which there is a distinct lack of in fandom. At least the author managed to handle that semi-decently.

Now I want to read some good arranged marriage slash. Couldn't find anything I liked on the internet. May wind up writing some.

Just what I need. Another WIP.

Things delicious has taught me:

- There is a truly horrifying amount of terribly written slave fic on the internet.

- Some people need their writing license revoked.

- And the people tagging them need to get better taste in fic.

- I do not like to read porn written in first person. I find it kind of icky.

After three comments in the space of a week on the old entries and a nudge from rappleart3, I appear to be working on the final chapter of the Witch King story. I have a whole three paragraphs. This is a vast improvement over the one sentence that part five has sat at for almost two years.

Now to just figure out a way to get these two to admit to each other what is going on and why they acted the way they did. In five pages or less. Sigh...

You know, just once, I'd like the scene where the two main love interests meet because one of them shows up mysteriously naked to be a little more realistic. Kind of like this.

( Because really, seeing someone naked does not make you instantly trust them and/or fall in love especially when they wind up in your house/apartment/encampment with no explanation. )

Just about everyone says that the werewolf smut is "A++, must continue" material so I will endeavor to work on it this week. The story is about as close to PWP as I tend to get, which will be a nice change from starting/working on anything plot driven. I basically started writing it because I went on a werewolf reading glut and was disappointed in what I was finding. Which of course makes me want to write that.

I'm seriously considering looking up wing sex stories just to see if that will inspire anything. After the werewolf one is done of course.

I also have my thesis proposal presentation on Wednesday. Which means I desperately need to put it together today and tomorrow. Yeah for procrastination!

Finally, for the first time in a month I have come into the office and not been cold. Everyone in this area called and complained on Thursday about the temperature. It seems to have worked. Ahhh... blessed comfort.

I will not start another WIP. I won't. I won't.

I did no writing this weekend. On the plus side, it was very relaxing. On the minus side, I about drove myself nuts. I might need to start fitting writing in. Somewhere. In my crazy, crazy schedule.

But it will not be another WIP.

Not even if it involves fur-lined loincloths.

Not even if I could do something 3x better than some of the stories I've been reading.

Must. Stay. Strong.

I gave the presentation for my part-time job today. Everyone told me it went well, but I'm still unsure of whether it went well or if people were being nice. Sigh. Also my laptop decided to not play nice with the wireless or vice versa. Anyway, something horked but I did manage to work around it.

Also, my uterus has the worse timing ever. -_-

Wrote one werewolf drabble and am going to see if I can get another done tonight. I'm contemplating starting a sequel. This is all the fault of you people asking about Gene and Jesse's adopted kids. My goal is to do at least one a day. So if I don't do another tonight, I'll have at least completed my goal.

You know, most people when given a assignment of writing a paper that is 3-5 pages long, have to figure out how to make the minimum requirement of 3 pages without looking like they are padding the paper too much. Me? I have to make sure I don't exceed 5 pages while still managing to put everything I need to say in the paper.

This is what happens when you a) are a writer, b) like explaining things, and c) do way too much research into random topics for stories giving you more perspective than the average person on why there are holes in the paper.

Also, I have an idea for a yaoi story based on chess pieces. I'd ask you people to stop me from writing something like that (especially with all the WIP's I already have going), but I really know better.

Back to getting this paper done before it's due tomorrow.