fic progress: status update, Steve question, long fic
This is going to be kind of a long Fic Progress post! Sorry? *g*
First, a status update:
I have four stories in progress. One is another Bonding 'Verse story, just a short one. It's almost done; if I'm really good, I'll finish it tonight. Another is a 69 smutlet that I started writing for the Two Weeks of Celebration. Of course, those ended on May 25th and this smutlet hasn't even gotten to the smut yet. *wry* I can't help it; I just don't find 69 hot in fic. But now that it's in progress, I feel like I should finish it. Plus, it's a challenge! Anyway, no guarantees on that one ever getting done. The last two are the perenially in progress tortured!Tony and evil!Tony. I am working on them, in fits and spurts. Torturned!Tony only actually has one scene to go. More on evil!Tony later.
After the four in progress, I have two "On Deck", both for the alphabet challenge. My "E" prompt is going to be a weird combination of angst and schmoop, unless it surprises me, which my stories have been doing a lot lately. *g* My "K" prompt is going to be phone sex. From Steve's POV. *grins* I'm looking forward to that one. I have a very nice mental image going.
On top of those, there are currently eight bunnies in the "bunny hutch", which is where bunnies go in my brain when there's no immediate drive to write them, but I like the idea too much to ditch it entirely.
Next, a Steve question I could use opinions on:
So, imagine Steve has been told about how evil or how much of a bad guy Person X is. Several people have explained this at length. He's read some records talking about the bad stuff Person X has done. But he's never seen Person X in person. Then he goes into a fight, in which he actually sees Person X for the first time. Objectively, Person X is gorgeous. Sexy as hell. Do you think Steve would notice?
I'm waffling on this. On the one hand, Steve is the sort of person to whom the person's personality is very important. I can see him totally doing the "who you are shines through and makes you beautiful (or not beautiful)" thing. On the other hand...er...I just really want him to notice. *sheepish* Yes, this is for evil!Tony, but I don't want Tony to be a Special Case. If Steve is the type to not think of someone as attractive because of how he perceives their personality/motivations, then I'm not going to make an exception for Tony. Steve can notice later.
Thoughts?
Last, I'm thinking of engaging a cheerleader to help me finish another longer story...but which one?
You know, I'm totally aware that the reason I write mostly short stories is because I've got great motivation when I'm in the first blush of enthusiasm over writing a story, and I can finish a short story before that fades. But to write something longer, like A Meeting of Minds, I need to be able to persist past that first rush. If I get far enough into it, in that first rush, then sheer determination to get it posted will carry me through. But if not, I probably won't keep writing. Hence why 2.0verse is in the "On Hiatus" bin.
From past experience, I know that having someone to act as a cheerleader will do it. I once wrote a 54,000 word story, plus eight or so short stories, in three months with the help of a cheerleader. But I feel weird asking people to do this, because cheerleading for me is a lot of work. Seriously. Someone who cheerleads for me has to be on AIM almost every day, or at least every other day (on average). If I'm not on AIM, they have to poke me via LJ or e-mail to sign on. And once I'm there they have to badger me to write so that I can send them the new bits of the story. And once they get the new bits, they have to read them and give me feedback and encourage me to write some more. And then the cycle repeats. And in exchange for this they get dribs and drabs of a single story that hasn't even been spellchecked (because I don't do that until I'm done with the first draft), nevermind edited. That's not much reward for all that work!
On top of which, even if I had someone insane enough to offer to do all that work just to keep me writing a single story, I don't know which story it would be. I'm not in that first blush of "OMG must write this!" for any of my long ideas right now. The logical one is evil!Tony, since it's in progress, but I'm only two scenes into it, so I'm not feeling really committed. But although I like the other longish ideas in the bunny hutch, I'm not burning for any of them, either.
Normally I'd just go, "Okay, then, write short stuff until something long grabs you." But I kind of want to write something long.
Oh, my muse. You discover new methods of torture all the time. *wry*
First, a status update:
I have four stories in progress. One is another Bonding 'Verse story, just a short one. It's almost done; if I'm really good, I'll finish it tonight. Another is a 69 smutlet that I started writing for the Two Weeks of Celebration. Of course, those ended on May 25th and this smutlet hasn't even gotten to the smut yet. *wry* I can't help it; I just don't find 69 hot in fic. But now that it's in progress, I feel like I should finish it. Plus, it's a challenge! Anyway, no guarantees on that one ever getting done. The last two are the perenially in progress tortured!Tony and evil!Tony. I am working on them, in fits and spurts. Torturned!Tony only actually has one scene to go. More on evil!Tony later.
After the four in progress, I have two "On Deck", both for the alphabet challenge. My "E" prompt is going to be a weird combination of angst and schmoop, unless it surprises me, which my stories have been doing a lot lately. *g* My "K" prompt is going to be phone sex. From Steve's POV. *grins* I'm looking forward to that one. I have a very nice mental image going.
On top of those, there are currently eight bunnies in the "bunny hutch", which is where bunnies go in my brain when there's no immediate drive to write them, but I like the idea too much to ditch it entirely.
Next, a Steve question I could use opinions on:
So, imagine Steve has been told about how evil or how much of a bad guy Person X is. Several people have explained this at length. He's read some records talking about the bad stuff Person X has done. But he's never seen Person X in person. Then he goes into a fight, in which he actually sees Person X for the first time. Objectively, Person X is gorgeous. Sexy as hell. Do you think Steve would notice?
I'm waffling on this. On the one hand, Steve is the sort of person to whom the person's personality is very important. I can see him totally doing the "who you are shines through and makes you beautiful (or not beautiful)" thing. On the other hand...er...I just really want him to notice. *sheepish* Yes, this is for evil!Tony, but I don't want Tony to be a Special Case. If Steve is the type to not think of someone as attractive because of how he perceives their personality/motivations, then I'm not going to make an exception for Tony. Steve can notice later.
Thoughts?
Last, I'm thinking of engaging a cheerleader to help me finish another longer story...but which one?
You know, I'm totally aware that the reason I write mostly short stories is because I've got great motivation when I'm in the first blush of enthusiasm over writing a story, and I can finish a short story before that fades. But to write something longer, like A Meeting of Minds, I need to be able to persist past that first rush. If I get far enough into it, in that first rush, then sheer determination to get it posted will carry me through. But if not, I probably won't keep writing. Hence why 2.0verse is in the "On Hiatus" bin.
From past experience, I know that having someone to act as a cheerleader will do it. I once wrote a 54,000 word story, plus eight or so short stories, in three months with the help of a cheerleader. But I feel weird asking people to do this, because cheerleading for me is a lot of work. Seriously. Someone who cheerleads for me has to be on AIM almost every day, or at least every other day (on average). If I'm not on AIM, they have to poke me via LJ or e-mail to sign on. And once I'm there they have to badger me to write so that I can send them the new bits of the story. And once they get the new bits, they have to read them and give me feedback and encourage me to write some more. And then the cycle repeats. And in exchange for this they get dribs and drabs of a single story that hasn't even been spellchecked (because I don't do that until I'm done with the first draft), nevermind edited. That's not much reward for all that work!
On top of which, even if I had someone insane enough to offer to do all that work just to keep me writing a single story, I don't know which story it would be. I'm not in that first blush of "OMG must write this!" for any of my long ideas right now. The logical one is evil!Tony, since it's in progress, but I'm only two scenes into it, so I'm not feeling really committed. But although I like the other longish ideas in the bunny hutch, I'm not burning for any of them, either.
Normally I'd just go, "Okay, then, write short stuff until something long grabs you." But I kind of want to write something long.
Oh, my muse. You discover new methods of torture all the time. *wry*