Writing Post 2019

[coalcube]

If you give anyone coal you lose your rights to the good egg list. 

NYR due before you sign up for 2019 Yuletide.
Prompts revealed and Madness opens: Approx 9 November
Default deadline: 11 December, 9am UTC
Assignment deadline: 18 December, 9am UTC
Main Collection Reveals: 25 December (Countdown)

Yuletide Discord for Hippos. Google Group for PHs.

yuletide | yuletide_admin 
2019 Collection | 2019 App | Letter Post (LJ)

YuleSwaps | Crueltide | Yuleporn | IF | Wrapping Paper
Two for One | Make the Yuletide Gay (TNB+) | YuleBuilding 
Femslash Festivus | Misses Claus

Flat / Recent | Top-Level

 

 

Comments

I have a treat lightly plotted

[(Anonymous)]

I could end up matching with this person, in which case it would be my assignment. If not, pretty sure they'll get this story as a treat. I almost feel a little guilty, because their letter mostly had prompts for a character not nominated, but one grabbed me and hasn't let go.

Anybody else already in the planning or writing stages?

Re: I have a treat lightly plotted

[(Anonymous)]

I have an outline for a treat! I was afraid I'd forget my ideas by the time it actually rolled around. I may start writing it if I get a muse! :)

Re: I have a treat lightly plotted

[(Anonymous)]

Yes! I have a few potential matches and ideas for two of them. Hoping it means I will have at least one in drafting stages by the time I find out if either of them is my assignment.

I also have a treat started from a previous Yuletide that I hope will get requested again this year. Whether or not we match, just knowing they still want it will give me motivation to finish.

Re: I have a treat lightly plotted

[(Anonymous)]

I've already started a treat! Hopefully I actually finish it, but I really like the idea of it. I'm just worried that I won't quite hit the thing the recip sounded most excited about in their likes list, but two cakes, right? I'm hitting a lot of their other likes, and going off a prompt they had.

(I'm not signing up, so no worries that I'd match them.)

[(Anonymous)]

Is it OK to say I've only watched up to x season, so please set fic before then, or after then but only with what was known then? Or is that bad Yuletide etiquette?

[(Anonymous)]

It's fine, coalie.

Writing Goals and Plans

[(Anonymous)]

hello fellow coalies

what are your ambitions for this year of Yuletide and how do you plan to support yourself to achieve them?

Re: Writing Goals and Plans

[(Anonymous)]

GOAL: Finish my assignment by December 1
How:
-very restrictive offers with short canon review

(Before anyone points out that I should give my recipient due care, believe me, ensuring that a beta has time to look at my assignment will markedly improve it, and also I often get second and third ideas for a fic while working on the first one)


GOAL: Write one treat
How:
-idk, man, be nice to myself? I'm hoping I can consume a totally new canon that gives me fresh ideas and prompts me to write immediately.

So close and yet so far

[(Anonymous)]

I nearly offered a fandom because I love it and they asked for a character I've always wanted to write a fic for. They even have similar ideas for a plot that I've had! Buuuuuut they want a ship I don't like. :(

Question

[(Anonymous)]

I've been doing this for twelve years and I still don't actually know: how many characters in a request/offer have to match for a writer/recip to be paired together? For example: if I were offering Scooby Doo, but only Velma and Shaggy, could I be matched to a person requesting Velma, Shaggy, and Scooby?

Re: Question

[(Anonymous)]

Nope! Yuletide is "and" matching. You can only match on characters you offered (or "any" requests).

What are you writing/plotting/drafting?

[(Anonymous)]

Since some people already seem to be getting started on treats (at least at the plotting/drafting stage), do you want to hint at what you are writing about so we can get excited about fic to come?

(Selfishly, I also want to talk about what I am working on because I am excited about this canon and the fic and get impatient when I remember that it's going to be almost 2 months until anyone else gets to see it).

Re: What are you writing/plotting/drafting?

[(Anonymous)]

Underappreciated sidekick and main antagonist fall in love. Things get heated, in more than one way. No one in this universe ever seems to have time to sleep.

Is this getting out of hand?

[(Anonymous)]

I have over 4'000 words written for what is likely going to be a treat.

I suppose if it doesn't end up being my assignment by some miraculous stroke of luck, I will have to write at least as much - or two shorter fics - for my recipient, otherwise it'll look weird.

At least I am early.

Struggling?

[(Anonymous)]

Anyone having early struggles with their assignment?

Re: Struggling?

[(Anonymous)]

My recip had (only) one really general prompt that was just the wrong amount of information for me -- think "I'll be happy with anything about X!" where X is something I'm fine writing, but have no ideas for on my own. If it had been "write me anything about the canon!" I'd have ideas, but all of my ideas are about other things, and I don't want to ODAO when there's nothing actually wrong with their request. I'm happy to write about X, I just don't inherently find it interesting. If they had ANY specific prompts, or discussion of why they find X interesting, or even general likes for me to work with, it would be so much better.

I was hoping canon review would help inspire me, but so far, not really. I have a general idea for how to structure the fic, but no content to fill it in yet. Sigh. Anyone have brainstorming tips?

Brainstorming

[(Anonymous)]

Because another coalie mentioned being stuck for ideas and I could use some help too.

Re: Brainstorming

[(Anonymous)]

Coalies, what are some serious but not TOO serious problems I could throw at a civilian space station? Human only. I want it to be the kind of thing where one small problem could compound another. At the moment I don't care if it's sabotage or damage or poor maintenance or an accident or a misunderstanding that causes the problems (or maybe any of the above), I just need something for the space station's leadership team to work together to deal with.

I'm considering some sort of sickness but I've never written that kind of thing before and I'm not really keen on the research - but maybe sickness could lead to a problem (reduced work capacity and people making mistakes). Or maybe some kind of space event (solar emission? comet?) that causes a disruption. Or it could be a people problem, IDK. Aliens aren't a thing in this universe, although there are some superstitious people who might consider them.

Nov 25-29: Check-In

[(Anonymous)]

To motivate myself and, hopefully, others, I'm going to start posting threads for the weeks and the weekends before the deadline. (Unless they're really annoying, in which case I'll stop, but I think we've done some similar things before?)

Reply with your goal for this time period and check in at the end of it.

Re: Nov 25-29: Check-In

[(Anonymous)]

We have. A number of years ago the writing thread was really active!

My goal is to have a short story for another challenge I signed up for before Yuletide finalized today. I have a rambly rough draft, no ending. Going to fix that and I'll only have editing to do later in the week.

Also today, I need an ending for one yuletide story I've already written. Revisions later in the week.

Of the two other stories planned, I need first drafts. I kind of know what I'm writing, so I'd like to have a solid first draft for both of those by bedtime tomorrow. I'd say today, but I have other things to do and might not have time. I'll reply to this with updates. I hope several people join in!

Helpdesk: Word choice, Fact checks, Sex positions

[(Anonymous)]

Can we have a (this) thread for the quick questions that seem easily solvable but lead to you getting stuck on your fic because you get hung up on the decision/because Google fails to give you an answer?

Like:
- Wryly or dryly? Moan or groan?
- What popular TV show would people be watching in Tel Aviv on a Sunday night?
- Does this sex thing actually work or would it just hurt?

Re: Helpdesk: Word choice, Fact checks, Sex positions

[(Anonymous)]

How much handwaving regarding casework do you accept in shipfic for cop/crime/spy canons? I don't usually much enjoy writing casefic (although I have written some), nor do I read it much because I tend to be into canons and related fic mostly for the relationship dynamics. And so my references to police work/spy stuff are often limited to how the work affects the characters and their relationship. But it means that I don't always have a fully developed framework of all the details of the case that might be relevant if someone was actually writing or desiring proper casefic.

Is there a line up to which you tolerate handwaving/glossing over of facts/information related to criminal cases or spy stuff? Are you like me and tend to skim over those parts anyway because you want to get back to the main characters making out?

I am struggling with this for the fic I am currently working on ... I don't want really it to get any longer, and I am not really interested in the crime stuff beyond it serving as background and as character motivation.

But I wonder if there's a point at which handwaving starts to look more like lazy writing/lack of research.

Dec 2-6: Check-In

[(Anonymous)]

Coalies, what's your plan for this week? Also, any weekend successes to report?

Re: Dec 2-6: Check-In

[(Anonymous)]

I have a simple yet daunting goal: a first draft.

Dec 7-14: Check-In

[(Anonymous)]

Not to step on the original check-in coalie's toes, but I just want to know how everybody's doing.

Re: Dec 7-14: Check-In

[(Anonymous)]

no toes stepped on here! /that coalie, who has been very lax this week

Last weekend before the deadline

[(Anonymous)]

Share goals, woes, and mutual on-cheering here!

Re: Last weekend before the deadline

[(Anonymous)]

I'm gonna get drunk and write porn tonight. Pray it works /o\

Dec 15-21: Check-In

[(Anonymous)]

How is everyone doing?

Re: Dec 15-21: Check-In

[(Anonymous)]

Completed and posted the draft of my main assignment!

Which means that this week I'd like to set it aside and write the second and third gifts I've planned for my main recip, and also get some shorter treats outlined.

Writing/Editing/Tweaking 25-minute sprints

[(Anonymous)]

Join me. It's 12:56 CST here right now. I'm going for 25 minutes at the top of every hour until I'm done. Join in, report your progress.

I have two short stories I'd like to finish today, and two I'd like to spiff up,and I mean to do it 25 minutes at a time.

Re: Writing/Editing/Tweaking 25-minute sprints

[(Anonymous)]

1:25 pm CST

721 new words in that sprint. I may continue to write during the next half hour because I'm on a roll, but I'll definitely do another 25 minute sprint at 2pm CST.

Even if I'm by myself I'm going to keep posting (no matter how sad it looks to do it alone, haha), and maybe later others will pick it up and continue.

25-minute writing sprints to start at the bottom of the hour. Join in.

[(Anonymous)]

It's 7:12 pm CST and I plan to start at 7:30 (dinner just finished, so by the time I eat a little it'll be time.

Gotta make more progress on that pinch hit! I'll back at 8 with a word count tally.

Re: 25-minute writing sprints to start at the bottom of the hour. Join in.

[(Anonymous)]

Eating took longer than expected, and while I ate a watched another episode of the canon for this pinch hit, marveling at the pretty and sexy. I saw it decades ago, and gosh is it fun. So no words yet.

But since I'm on my own, I'mma go ahead and start in two minutes, at 8:10 PM CST and go for 25 minutes or so. I'll check back with an update, for me, myself and I. HAHA.

morning sprints

[(Anonymous)]

It's 9am here, my house is quiet, I'm going to start a 25-min sprint at the top of each hour until I get this fic finished. Anyone else writing now?

Re: morning sprints

[(Anonymous)]

451 words but against all odds the plot is more stuck than it was before. I'm going to take a breather and try a different angle.

Afternoon writing sprints

[(Anonymous)]

I'm pretty jazzed about the 4500 words I wrote doing this yesterday, so I'm going to try it again. Feel free to join in (please!) but doing it alone won't dissuade me!

I'm all posted, so today's deadline doesn't affect me, but the pinch hit I'm working on is due in a couple of days. The story stands at 1,096 words right now.

It's 12:45pm CST, and I intend to start at the top of the hour and write in 25-minute bursts until I have a completed draft. Back about 1:30pm to check in.

Re: Afternoon writing sprints

[(Anonymous)]

Shit, ended up writing an email instead. But it's 4 minutes to the top of the hour, so I'm starting a session now, no email or phone distractions.

[(Anonymous)]

Anybody busy writing today? LIKE ME

Dec 22-25: Check-In

[(Anonymous)]

How much do you have left to write?

HUDDLE OF THE FINAL DAYS

[(Anonymous)]

Write with me, coalies!