#although to be fair this is the FIRST time i've LEGITIMATELY COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN ABOUT IT

[pertinax--loculos]

(Belated) Weekly Update 14/11

Last week's goal: Assess what changes can/need to be made to the first half; rewrite Sc1 Completed the reverse outline and did a bit of the assessment; didn't do the rewrite (see below) Goal for this week: Write 10k words

Summary ATN So, I think I am going to let this draft rest for a little while. It's less because I actually want to and more because I've been utterly consumed by other WIP ideas, but I'm leaving off it for the time being. Possibly at the start of December I'll get back into hardcore rearranging and whatnot, but right now it all seems a little too intimidating and I'm at a point where it does make sense to step away from it for a little while, so I'm gonna take advantage of that. ^_^ Hoping to come back to it refreshed and raring to go!

Those Aforementioned Other WIPs Aka the bane of my existence right now. >.<

So obviously I have D&D. It's been simmering in the back of my mind since I was about halfway through drafting ATN, and I've been slowly developing it and doing bits of outlining and teeny little excerpts as they came to me, and everything was going great. And then. And then.

Fucking PS comes along and basically sledgehammers its way into my life.

Look: I made a list of pros and cons for each:

D&D:

single POV

fairly straightforward story

climax came to me early

somewhat marketable?

familiar with characters (basically a mash-up of other story ideas)

lots of worldbuilding but again, mostly familiar

requires a decent whack of research, though I know I won't have to search too hard for the info I need

heavy themes that I still feel although I can do justice

requires me to write car races from the POV of the driver, which I've only done a couple times before

outline is being a little tricky -- could potentially get a little long, and there's certain Reveals I wanna make at certain times but I'm not sure they work

PS

multi-POV, dual timeline

I think it needs three POVs to work, but I can't decide on who should be the third POV

outline seems to be working; changed midpoint to climax

couple of plot things annoying me -- not really making sense/could be solved easily

lots of worldbuilding that I've already spent a ton of time researching and will need to do more

couple of thematic elements that may result in it sorta 'saying' the opposite to what I want it to say

requires a lot of research into something that is very unscientific (cons: wildly contradictory information available; pros: I can just make it up if I want)

requires me to pull off a very specific form of unreliable narrator, something I've never attempted

not at all marketable

IMO the inspiration for this is very obvious

characters mostly unfamiliar (still cribbed from other WIPs mostly but much less developed)

Now, to me these lists made it pretty clear that D&D would be the easier, more sensible choice overall... so I've started drafting PS. 😅

I'm still a little fuzzy on a few plot things for PS, so I've been drafting out of order (assisted by the fact it's got dual timelines, so I can draft it out of order out of order, if you know what I mean. :P) And essentially my new plan is thus:

I'm going to spend this week working on the outline for PS, and drafting what scenes come to me -- hoping to get a fair few of them done (even if they never actually make it into the WIP), hence the 10k wordcount goal for this week. If, throughout the course of this week, I figure out the Plot Annoyances and/or find a really good voice for the two main POV characters, then I'll continue on with it! If not, then next week I'll do the same thing for D&D, and then look at both of them again and make a decision then.

I just think it's pointless to turn away from PS right now seeing as it's literally consuming my life. Guys, it has a pinterest board and a playlist, neither of which I usually make for WIPs. I fucking started using milanote (which I hate on principle, simply cuz so many authortubers hock it, and I am genuinely devastated to report that it works really well for what I'm using it for goddammit) in order to figure out some things. So while I've got this intense focus and ideas flowing, I figure I may as well take advantage of it.

So that's where we're at! If anybody's made it this far -- thanks, you flatter me. 😂 Also, feel free to ask questions about either of these projects; honestly the more I'm forced to think about both of them the better, and oftentimes other people think of things that would, just, never cross my mind in a million years. :D

Hope everybody else's November is going grand! I know I've been a bit MIA (which I will likely address in a separate post, seeing as this one is already hellaciously long), but I'm hoping to catch up on drafts and tag games etc in some form or another sometime over the next few days. ^_^

#weekly update #WIP: ATN #WIP: D&D #WIP: PS #<- toooooo many WIPs for one post i Do Not Like It 😠 #writing update #late writing update indeed #although to be fair this is the FIRST time i've LEGITIMATELY COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN ABOUT IT #so i'm counting it as something of a win regardless :D