annerb: (Sex)
2011-06-23 10:46 am
Entry tags:

Writerly Confessions

Even though I laughed it off at the time and even took some time to mock it, this complaint comment I got a while back has been lingering and festering even though I hadn't even realized it. (Like the one I got last year on 'Rusted Wheel' saying what a shame it is that I'm such a lazy writer.) The more recent one accuses me of shirking my writerly responsibilities because I basically hadn't written what they wanted me to write and was rather writing, well, whatever I felt like. Which, okay, fanfic. And free will. And everyone being entitled to their opinions. But the thing is, these comments linger in the special snowflake writer brain. And the only thing to really suffer is my writing. Because I get in that head space where I'm subconsciously trying to please someone else and not just my muse, and that never works. Plus, I am also a contrary crazy person, so I'm simultaneously unconsciously sabotaging whatever the mean person wanted me to do just to be perverse and juvenile. (And petulant. How dare you have a negative opinion of me! *stamps foot* God, the writer brain is a diva.) Eventually I either figure out what I'm doing or just get over it. Par for the course, right? Only, I'm getting a little tired of it. I mean, I understand that people are entitled to say whatever they like about me. I'm cool with that. But I also need to stop letting these things hijack me. So. For my own future benefit (one hopes), here are the things I'm not going to apologize for anymore (even subconsciously):

Three Confessions )

Though, I guess I may apologize for spending time I could have been writing ranting. Lol. *dives back into WIPs*
annerb: (SJ Smile)
2011-05-24 08:26 am
Entry tags:

(no subject)

I was re-reading Linda Bedroll's Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife for the millionth time last week, and I'm wondering if it's strange that I want fanfic for this fanfic book? I want Hannah/Goodwin fic to be specific. Because...yes. That would be awesome. And despite the idea for a fic circling in my head, I have neither the writing time nor the period knowledge to do it justice. So, the search begins. I am already sure it is futile.

Speaking of reading... my kindle just arrived! Why don't more of you have your stuff up on AO3? Hmmm? It's time to fill this sucker with a metric ton of fanfic. Oh yes. *rubs hands together* What do you have on your kindle/eReader?

And last, but not least: another writing lesson I refuse to learn, or rather, am forced to relearn over and over again. When I am writing a fic, there is often a passage (or ten, depending on the length) that I absolutely love, one I feel completely encapsulates the point of the fic, that therefore becomes the default fulcrum of the fic. But, to put it mildly, I revise. I mean, the similarities between my first draft and my final posted draft are very few. (I swear, I should post a before and after one of these days. I think it might amuse you all.) So, I revise. I rewrite sections, I move scenes around, futz, futz, futz. And there is always this point where everything stalls out and I am trying to work that Perfect Passage back in to the Perfect Spot and it just isn't working and I begin to assume 1) my writing mojo on this story is stalled out, 2) the fic sucks, or 3) that I just need to let it sit and marinate for a while. But then after much hair-pulling and swearing and bitching to Trout on IM, I usually realize that it is Perfect Passage that is holding everything up. That Perfect Passage is stating the blatantly obvious that is better off NOT being said. Yet, the fic never could have evolved without it, and Perfect Words are rare and special and it is SO HARD to actually delete them, even for the betterment of the fic. So I am forced to remember all over again: the delete key is your friend. (As is the backup draft.)

*goes off to delete stuff*
annerb: (ficathon)
2011-05-21 11:02 am
Entry tags:

(no subject)

Why is it the day that you are completely cut off from laptop and even paper and pen is inevitably the time a long stalled out fic suddenly comes to life in your head? Why is it that you spend the entire day with the PERFECT string of words circling endlessly in your brain (Omg, that was how this scene was supposed to go!), and you get home really really late, exhausted and almost dead to the world, crash into bed and then dream those perfect sequences over and over again. Then you wake up the next morning, open the languishing file, and EVERY WORD IS GONE.

You are a cruel mistress, Muse.
annerb: (Find A Way)
2011-05-13 12:11 pm

Writing Woes, TV, Mouth Breathers, Romance Novels, and Random Recs

Hey guys. I'm alive. Really. Just had some unexpectedly awesome things happen that have sort of temporarily taken over my life. Just one more week of insanity though, and things should settle in again. Writing has sort of fallen to the wayside, sadly. Not that I haven't been writing, just not writing effectively. The next chapter of my Ginny fic has demanded to be rewritten and taken unexpected turns three or four times in the last few weeks. It's being as slippery as a Slytherin. Snerk. I've also started and abandoned three or four ideas for my [livejournal.com profile] help_japan  charity fic. Oy. I tried poking at the next installment of the DC Series, but Daniel is being stubborn. (What else is new?) I've had a few other things open on my desktop, adding a few words here and there, but I'm not really settling to anything, sadly.

I just got a review on one of my oldest stories, which is nice. Really. Comments are always great. It's just... I do my absolute best to pretend I never wrote this particular fic, so the rare time someone leaves a comment, it gives rise to that urge to DELETE THE STORY FROM EXISTENCE yet again. All of you who never posted your first ever fic? I envy you SO MUCH. Lol.

I'm really behind on TV watching. I can't really build up any interest in the latest Sanctuary, though I imagine I will get around to it eventually. (I'm sorry. You all know how I feel about character bashing, but I just...can't make myself like Will. I'm trying. And another aside, I was commenting to holdouttrout the other day that I rewatched Star Trek Reboot again the other day and noticed that Chris Pine is a total mouth breather too, it just in no way bothers me the way it does with Will. I cannot explain this. Lol.) I saw Fringe, but don't really have any thoughts at the moment. Maybe later. It's a long hiatus to ruminate over. Looking forward to all the summer shows starting up again soon though. Yay White Collar and Covert Affairs and Leverage and other ones I am probably forgetting about.

Speaking of Leverage, I'm pretty broken up that Con-Con was canceled. Not surprised, just sad. I'd really been looking forward to that.

Seems there's gong to be a new Lady Julia Grey book coming out on June 21st. Let's hope it doesn't suck as much as the fourth one did. I'll give it a read and let you know if it's worth reading or if we should just continue to pretend there were only three Lady Julia books.

I've been reading throw away shitty romance novels. )

Here are a few fic recs to make up for it:

The Package Deal by [livejournal.com profile] ziparumpazoo  (Fringe, Peter/Olivia, Walter)
She drew these two men together and forced them, sometimes painfully, to build their own warped version of a family. They’re a package deal. An If/Then statement. It’s that simple.
This is a great morning after fic for 6B, showing Olivia's relationships with Peter, but also Walter, who is an inescapable part of the deal. Such a perfect glimpse into what life with the Bishops would be like.

The Bridal Path by Vyola (Addams Family, Wednesday/Joel)
To marry an Addams means taking marriage very seriously. After all, it is till death do you part. And even then, sometimes they come back.
Okay, so it's not like I'm this big Addam's Family fan or anything. I'm pretty sure I saw the movie a million years ago. But, god, I love Wednesday, the quirky worldview of the Addam's family, and their non-traditional romance. This is such a great little fic. Short, quirky, and definitely worth a read.

The Priming Game by amonitrate (Ironman, Rhodey, Tony, Tony/Pepper if you really squint)
Rhodey wonders if from now on it's going to be Tony Before and Tony After.
This is a fill in for the time between when Tony is rescued out of the desert and when he lands back in America. Rhodey's POV on the changes that have come over Tony, the secrets he is clearly keeping, and the suspicions of the US Government that threaten to push Tony over the edge. Such a clear vision of the characters and their relationships as well at the way Tony is changed by his experience.
annerb: (Stargate)
2011-03-31 07:05 pm
Entry tags:

Add this to your Things That Are Awesome pile.

How to Steal Like an Artist (And 9 Other Things Nobody Told Me) by Austin Kleon

If you write, draw, create...read this. I found it pretty damn inspirational.
annerb: (Story)
2010-11-05 11:03 pm
Entry tags:

Agency in the Romance Genre

So, just some random thoughts swirling around in my head that have been induced by NaNo this year.

Romantic Fiction Experiments, Oh My! )
annerb: (Sex)
2010-05-12 06:00 pm
Entry tags:

AAAAAAAARRRRRGH.

I have strayed once more into the great wilderness of writing. You know that place, where the paths are impossible to see and you begin to believe that maybe you'd hallucinated them all in the first place. Clearly it is time to take a deep breath and remember the two best pieces of writing advice I have ever been given:

#1- Done is better than good.

#2- Write fast.

The first, from my tenth grade Humanities teacher, was said to remind us that if we never stopped stressing about making our papers perfect, we would never finish at all. Simple math tells us that any number is superior to zero. SO JUST FRICKIN DO IT AND STOP STRESSING. If we let our pursuit of perfection paralyze us, we're not just 'not-good', but 'never-even-showed-up'. So finish. Not brilliantly, not perfectly, but just FINISHED.

The second was recently said to a partially full crowd of people at the tremendous Con-Con by Dean Devlin in response to the age old convention chestnut: Any advice for aspiring writers? His point was that the more time and energy and sweat and tears you put into that first rough draft, the harder it will be to tear it apart and edit it and actually turn it into something better later. By the time the first draft is done, you will be so damn sick of the story that you won't care about making it into something good, in fulfilling its potential. And let's all be honest, everything needs editing. Nobody is awesome enough to create something brilliant in a first draft. If someone claims they can, they are either being dishonest, or they are just lazy writers with no interest in being better than they are right now (which, hey, is anyone's right, just don't couch it as something it's not). So write fast, dammit.

Done is better than good. Write fast. Done is better than good. Write fast. Done is better than good...


If I write it fifty-bazillion times more, I might remember to believe it. Lol.

What's your favorite bit of writing advice you've ever heard? Hit me. God knows I could use it. :)
annerb: (Sex)
2010-03-08 09:59 am
Entry tags:

Because I tend to forget them over and over again...

Writing Lesson Learned (and Relearned) #28,490

Story stalled out? 90% done and just not finishing itself? One mediocre scene in the middle that you don't want to even read, let alone finish writing, keeping everything else from getting finished?

DELETE IT.

Delete, delete, delete. Don't be afraid, just do it. Delete!!

Who knew that one little key could be so painful and yet so darn useful?

You'll probably know it's the right move when the second that section is dead and gone you feel like a frickin metric ton of bricks has been lifted from around your neck. And look! Words start flowing again. How lovely.

You remember economy, right, Annerb? From way back when? Brevity? Remember when you used to write reasonably-lengthed ficlets, when you worried that you were perhaps too terse? Yeah. Remember that. And if it isn't essential to the story trying to be told, DELETE IT. Your attachment to that one line or scene is not as important as the story. For the love of words, just delete it. You'll feel better, I promise.

Love, Me.
annerb: (Cora Victim)
2010-01-29 04:32 pm

Worst book EVER and awesome things that make up for it. Sort of.

So...I'm still alive. Really. I'm in this weird stretch I hit sometimes when the words just stop (usually because there is some plot hole or major issue with a story that I refuse to admit). This is when my reading phase kicks in. I get strangely voracious after not reading much of anything for a long time. I think it's the distraction factor. My brain is subconsciously churning away at whatever writing block I'm pretending doesn't exist, while I read, read, read, read until a solution presents itself, BAM, usually in the middle of something. (Got a lot of half-finished paperbacks abandoned around the house due to this.)

Unfortunately, I am reading stuff so fast that I'm desperate to get my hands on enough stuff. Inevitably this means I get desperate enough to hit the paperback historical romance rack, even though I know this only ends up torturing me. (BUT! I picked up 'Silent in the Grave' on a stupid supermarket whim once! I could discover another Lady Julia Grey to fall madly in love with! Really! Suuuuuuuuuuure.) Needless to say, I did not stumble upon my next great beloved heronine of snark this time. No. This time picking up the first novel with a minimally embarrassing front cover with no half naked people humping on it, I stumbled unknowingly into some of my most HATED elements. Some I had been fooling myself into thinking were only the foibles of young, eager fangirls writing their first grade school fanfic. I don't know why it's so much worse to find them in print. Maybe it's the back section where the author pimps all their other novels and you realize they've written 25 of these hideous things, many of which sat on the best-sellers list at some point and seem to repeat the SAME EQUATION. This particular novel's sins?

Cut for ranting and mention of non-con )

Ok. I'm done ranting now. Really. And since I feel it's bad karma to dump vitriol out into the world without at least a little squee to balance, here are some things that don't suck and that I quite love:

Any Persuasion fans out there? As much as I love Pride&Prejudice, I think Persuasion may be my favorite Austen book. I think it's the maturity of the characters, the subtlety of their ship, not to mention the drawn out angst of missed chances. (no, I am not predictable in my kinks. Lol.) Anyway, I have just finished Susan Kaye's 'None But You' which is a retelling of Persuasion from the point of view of Captain Wentworth. I haven't read the second half 'For You Alone' yet. (HURRY UP UPS, do you have any idea what I have been reading in the meanwhile?!) But I can comfortably say that the first half alone is enough to make me love and adore it. Great tone, delicate touch, and more Mrs. Croft. What more could you possibly want?

If SJ smut is more to your taste today, make sure you don't miss: Drink That Sun by [livejournal.com profile] penknife 

Oh, and [livejournal.com profile] dsudis  continues her awesomeness with the next in her Bechdel Fix-it's for Stargate. Really great Sam piece. Solidarity

Yes, it's always good to remember that for every piece of crap out there, there are some pretty freaking awesome things too.
annerb: (passion)
2009-10-06 09:10 pm
Entry tags:

Betas and How I Could Not Live Without Them

You know who just never gets enough credit? Betas. Those generous people who take time out of their own writing and jobs and families and responsibilities to help you make your story better. I have been blessed with a fabulous collection of betas and I am sure I don’t tell them how essential they are to me nearly enough. (Doubly so for those poor wretches who put up with my WIPs and escalating word counts and general woobie!Annerb behavior. ;)

But here, for your amusement, enjoyment, torture…a glimpse into the process that is beta and revision. Dedicated to all the betas with much love from me! Oh, writing. What a twisty, twisty hobby you are.

And Ode to Betas... )
+++

Let’s hear it for the betas!


annerb: (Hardison and Parker)
2009-08-25 04:12 pm

Leverage and Fanfic

For anyone not reading the Kung Fu Monkey blog, you might be interested in this snippet from the latest post. A fan asked:

"@619: I personally HATE fanfic so I was wondering..... 1)How do YOU feel about fan fiction? 2)Does it irk you that so many people "borrow" your characters and use them in their own crappy stories? 3)Do you think of fanfic as a form of flattery? 4)Do the other writers and the actors feel the same way?"

John Rogers' answer is interesting, particularly since he has made little to no effort to hide his awareness of online fandom in general.

Copied and pasted so you don't have to dig through the long post... )

Interesting. At once sort of very common sense, but also sort of...snide about us people wasting our time and over-inflating ourselves instead of actually doing something real (and up, apparently). But the core is really here: We write for different reasons. Very much yes. Some might argue fanfic, writing done for nothing more than personal pleasure, might be more pure because of lack of interest in profit, etc. Or I could just be over-rationalizing. Heh. Because if there is one thing true of fanfic vs. original writing, it's that there is little to no risk in fanfic writing, where silence is often the most harsh criticism you will hear. And even then, no one begrudges your right to post whatever you want.

annerb: (Puddle Jumper)
2009-06-22 04:34 pm
Entry tags:

Status of Me. And a meme.

Still alive.

Still on writing vacation. (Though...I can already feel the fannishness building up. I'm looking forward to the explosion.) My crippling writing guilt is also finally beginning to recede, though a recent comment from a reader asking if I was okay, in the sense of hoping nothing catastrophic had befallen me since I have been neglecting my WIP so woefully long...that sort of brought back another wave of crippling guilt. Deep breath. Then I have to remind myself that other than a few outstanding WIPs, sequels, and such, I am not signed up for a single ficathon right now. Phew.

+++

To focus on something more positive (and certainly more finished), I thought I might take a stab at the DVD fic commentary thingy, if anyone really finds this sort of thing interesting. But if someone actually does, I wouldn't mind giving it a try. I consider it pressure-free writing. Woot.  Oh, and my stories are here.  If you pick one of the longer novel-type fics, I'd appreciate any hint as to a specific chapter or scene you have the most interest in. Or something.

*climbs back under rock*

annerb: (ficathon)
2009-02-16 07:54 pm

Annerb's Writing Process: The Bitching Phase

So, little more than a week until [livejournal.com profile] dayofindulgence  (and subsequently [livejournal.com profile] surreallis ' birthday), and things are not quite going as planned.  Indulgence Fic #1 has been trucking along nicely since early January, full of a multitude of lovely cliches, but currently sits at 31 pages with no sign of being done.  Quite far from it in fact.  Plus, the entire fic has taken an abrupt turn and is going someplace that I find fascinating, but very unexpected.  This might be a good thing if I was not only a week from the due date.  So, enter Indulgence Fic #2, a fic that is the definition of indulgent and melodramatic and may possibly be polished into postability in the next week. Maybe. So, best case scenario? Two Indulgence fics!!  Worst case scenario? Yeah, let's not even talk about that.

None of this ficathon woe is helped by that fact that a number of other projects have decided they no longer want to be ignored. I'm in that weird phase where I have a bunch of fics 90% done, but that last 10% refuses to cooperate.  This might mean an avalanche of fic when the dam finally breaks, but more likely a long dry spell.  *pokes fics*

Hope you are all having better luck than me!

Maybe Mallomars will fix this situation. Yes. Good plan.

annerb: (Miss Bingley)
2009-01-14 10:51 pm

Uh, what the hell just happened?

'Uh, what the hell just happened?' otherwise known as 'Annerb's written another weird and vague fic that makes my brain hurt.'

Wherein I blather on about writing and authorial intent. Or something. )

In other news: MALOMARS. YUM.

annerb: (Days Like This)
2008-08-19 06:25 pm
Entry tags:

(no subject)

I'd do the WIP meme, but I SWEAR every time I mention a story, I doom it to never being finished. So yeah. Not doing that again.  So instead, I'll just post a number to give you some small idea how enormous my WIP folder is:

19.

Yes, that is how many different active stories/series I am in the middle of futzing with at the moment. And only one of them is my currently posted WIP. I have been known to have all 19 open at once, just in case the muse decides to cooperate.

And don't even get me started on the Abandoned Fic folder or the Sequels Graveyard.  We should have an Abandoned Fic Ficathon where people can adopt these poor suckers. Yeah, because we need another ficathon around here like we need another four years of Bush.

If I sound a little cranky, well, it might be because I spent an hour or two compiling a Master List of Fic that LJ ate. I hope it gets indigestion.
annerb: (passion)
2008-05-31 01:11 pm
Entry tags:
annerb: (Stargate)
2008-05-20 12:01 pm

Blah, blah, blah

I'm suffering from writing project schizophrenia these days. I mean, it's pretty much business as usual for me to have three or four stories underway at any one time, but usually I get obsessed with one in particular and sort of immerse myself in the mood and story of that one particular fic.  This is how I actually manage to finish a fic now and then. 

Right now, however, I have five stories open on my computer and I'm flitting back and forth between all five and getting absolutely no where on any of them. Quite frustrating.  Plus, the mood of each of these pieces is so completely different that it's kind of jarring.  On a positive note, that darkfic that I have been wimping out on for *years* is actually one of the open files (rescued from the Abandoned Fic Folder).  I seem to have finally come up with an idea of where I want it to go.  Of course, I am also working on a slightly more fluffy project, an insane crossover fic for holdouttrout that is requiring an unexpected amount of action/adventure (and plot), a belated birthday fic (almost two years belated), and, finally, a fic for the [community profile] sg1friendathon.  I thought you all swore to hit me over the head if I signed up for a ficathon again?  Fail, people. (And a special glare to Trout, Ms. "Oh, just go look at the prompts! Here's a link!")  I cannot believe I have promised to write a fic about Sha're.  I mean, I like a challenge as much as the next person, but is there a single character with less (consistent) canon characterization than Sha're? Oy.

I think discombobulated is the best word to describe my writing these days.

So what about you guys?  What are your writing habits?  Are you a one at a time from start to finish writer? A circus freak-like writer with twenty plot bunnies juggling around your head just waiting to avalanche all over you the moment you're not looking?  How many WIPs do *you* currently have open on your computer? ;)

I've still been doing a lot of reading these days, having re-triggered my hibernating sweet tooth for SJ.  I read Jojo's Crisis again yesterday.  Quite a good fic.  I quite like fics where one of the characters is pushed into doing something drastic just to deal with all the shit SG-1 gets thrown at them all the time.  Plus, there is Jack and Sam so pissed off that they are actually saying things they never would otherwise.  I also really like the use of random flashback scenes to add depth and emotion to all the various relationships touched on in this fic.  The near complete absence of Teal'c is regrettable, but we have all misplaced Teal'c when it's convenient to us, poor guy.  I still think there should be a Teal'c: Intergalactic Manwhore Ficathon. He deserves to get some too.