you'd think a person talking about writing would be able to title a post

[snick_backup]

Progress continues slowly but steadily on my current WIP. It's a little weird for me to focus so long on one project; I tend to jump between them like a magpie. That thing over there is always shinier than whatever I have in my beak. But I started this one in the beginning of February, when I was in the middle of a schedule that was sucking all my energy, mental and physical, and so writing 200-400 words a day on something super low key was all I could manage. And lo, now I have 9800 words (with no end in sight).

(It doesn't hurt that other than the upcoming Sid/Geno exchange, I have no exchanges right now to distract me. I'm not even tempted anymore. I don't have any idea how long it'll be until that exchange bug starts to hit again.)

But sometimes, even at this pace that feels glacial, I have to stop, because I don't know what happens next. And this is not really a story where I can bull my way to the next plot point; it doesn't really have a plot. This fic is all about the journey. So sometimes I just have to stop and let the next part come to me. I have to think about it as I'm driving or in the shower, as I go to sleep. I have to daydream.

I realize that this sounds like a very ~artsy writing technique, for good or ill. It is also so inefficient. I get impatient, because I want the next bit of story to happen NOW. Or I want a LOT of the story to happen now. And meanwhile the fic continues to come to me in installments of 200-400 words.

Crossposted from Dreamwidth. Comment here or there. ( DW replies)

Comments

[ladymercury-10.livejournal.com]

But sometimes, even at this pace that feels glacial, I have to stop, because I don't know what happens next. And this is not really a story where I can bull my way to the next plot point; it doesn't really have a plot. This fic is all about the journey. So sometimes I just have to stop and let the next part come to me.
I feel like that a lot, like I can't just decide what should happen next, it has to be whatever feels right for the story. Which then inevitably slows me down, because I have to wait until I know.

[snickfic]

Yeah, exactly. This happens to me ALL THE TIME. Erg.