Tag Archives: Sam talks Writing

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There was an X-Men gifset on my dash, it made me think about them.

So I went looking for more gifsets.

Then last night I watched Days of Future Past.

It was a toss up between that and X3: The Last Stand, which yeah isn’t great for a lot of reasons, but it put my fave Storm front and center and so I like watching it for that.

Which reminded me of the frisson of potential which is what keeps me returning to Storm and The Last Stand. The idea of her stepping up, taking headship of the school and leading the X-Men. Which made me think about Mystique and how I generally prefer the OT to the soft-boot but they gave Mystique more screentime later, and there was some really interesting character dynamics, and then that made me start thinking about her character.

and just… do you ever really want to write fic because you feel the potential bubbling but there is nothing, no concrete leads to turn that buzz into words?

Don’t get me wrong I love the buzz, potential is intoxicating but I just really wish I could do something about it. I keep feeling sparks and there is absolutely no fire.

It’s frustrating.

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@little-inkstone is the sweetest!

I haven’t done work on a story in months because I keep having a panic attack everytime I try, but forming it as a conversation seemed to take the terror out. I was just talking with a friend, not a big deal right? Anyway they very kindly listened as I rambled earlier and I actually got some notes down. It’s not words (not yet!) but it’s a start, and more than I had this morning.

I’m going to take the win 🙂

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emospritelet  asked:

Writer asks: 50 and 54

Yay!! thank you 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

50. Weirdest story idea you’ve ever had.
Hmm oh boy. A lot of competition here but I’m going to go for “Movie Night in Storybrooke”

The show is cover for the real deal. Make something fictional and even if people hear rumors about it, they will just laugh. They’ll say “that’s a TV show, not real life” and they won’t believe whatever the crazy story is. The network changed some things, basically pick whatever storyline went in a direction you didn’t like, because they knew better what viewers would want.

Movie night in Storybrooke, where the new season is about to start. They crowd around the TV and fight over the popcorn. They are all bickering over what has happened in the past, and their pet theories about what happens next. Teasing one another about how their alter egos do stuff (either because it’s accurate, or because it’s not). Basically just pure lighthearted family banter and bonding time.

54. Any writing advice you want to share?
I don’t want to be a hypocrite so I need to think about this 🙂 Ultimately I guess I like the quote:

“Measure your worth by the dedication to your path, not by your success or failures.” – Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic

I beat myself up a lot over not writing, or my writing being awful, just me generally sucking etc. but when I express this kind of frustration my mum often says “well you haven’t missed your chance” and I think that’s really important.

We all have writing goals (I certainly do!) and I find it demoralising when I don’t meet them but this piece of advice says that it’s ok – that what matters isn’t whether you win/lose, but simply that you played the game and didn’t give up. It’s about continuing to try, continuing to beat your head against that brick wall, continuing to try climbing that mountain and sliding down and then dusting yourself off and going again.

I do really honestly find this hard to accept because I want to accomplish my goals. However I haven’t ‘missed my chance’ because the stories are still in my head, they can still be told. I keep circling round and trying again.

TLDR – never give up! Just the fact that you try is enough.

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killingkueen  asked:

For the writers meme: 4, 7, 8, 13, 22, 45 🌻😊📚

Yay! 🙂 thank you so so much!!! 🙂 🙂 due to not posting any fanfic in literal years I didn’t think anyone would engage. I super appreciate the ask!

4. Do you have writing habits or rituals?
Probably? I ritualize pretty much everything I do as I fall into habits easier than breathing. I suppose the biggest one that comes to mind is that I usually always start with a blank document. So if I started writing a new story today the file would be #1 Day Twenty (as it’s the 20th), then if I missed tomorrow the next file would be #2 Day Twenty-Two. I then obviously have a combined story file that I update at the end of every writing day.

Why do I do this? A couple of reasons. 1) I like to see my stats of how many words I wrote on certain days. 2) It keeps me from rewriting what I wrote the day before. 3) I do most of my writing on gdocs these days and that does not like hundreds of pages, if I have to check my combined novel file (so 75k words) it lags horrendously.

7. Favorite author.
Lee Goldberg. I’ve said this before I know but the Diagnosis Murder series he did, which branched off the TV season at the best point, and then basically continued from there like alternate future seasons – superb! I have never read a set of books I have enjoyed more AND I go back to them time and time again to analyse why I enjoyed them so much.

I don’t want to write like him because I want to write like me but I do want to learn how to evoke the same joy, the same need to read the entire book in one sitting, the same craving for more books, the same disappointment when I read the final one etc. To me wanting to learn, wanting to dig in and analyse is the highest praise. I want to spend a lot of time with his words.

I also really like Anthony Horowitz. I don’t go out much (and I definitely don’t do crowds) but I made the effort to go to the local writing convention and attended his panel. He was very interesting to listen to, so down-to-earth and it was reassuring in a way to hear that he still hates everything he writes and thinks he’s a complete fraud. The guy has the most enviable career imo but he still struggles like the rest of us.

8. Favorite trope to write.
Hmm crossing the line, how far is too far, shades of grey, villain does good things (kinda anti-hero I guess), secret identity “I’m not who you thought but I never lied about …” that kind of stuff 🙂

13. How do you deal with writers block?
*snorts* erm… not well? honestly I’ve barely written anything in years. I guess I deal with it with a lot of self-loathing and frustration which is incredibly counter-productive. I beat myself up over it and that really doesn’t help.

I guess on a more positive note I never give up. I keep circling back to it. I open the documents. I make lists. Sometimes I chip away a little bit at it. I never forget the stories I want to tell.

22. How many drafts do you need until you’re satisfied and a project is ultimately done for you?
Oh boy. Well technically speaking I think it should be 4 but being satisfied can be somewhat elusive, especially as I’m my own worst critic. It should go first draft, first revision, second revision, final check. Lately (with lately being a relative term as I’ve not really done this in a while) it’s gone more like that, and then another revision, and then another, and then I think I’m done but oh not really because I hate my words and let’s go again etc.

45. Worst piece of feedback you’ve ever gotten.
“write realist fiction” aka “write something else”

That was from one of my tutors at uni. After the sting wore off I understood their point. They felt I would be able to focus more on improving my writing technique, the core fundamentals and components of writing, if I wasn’t distracted by big plots which come hand-in-hand with epic sci-fi/fantasy. However it was pretty much the only feedback I got on that assignment. If the comment had been accompanied with a thorough critique pointing out the errors in my writing technique then I would have known what I was doing wrong. Because it wasn’t I confess for months I was kinda offended.

When I got the feedback from my next assignment the contrast is what made me understand the point, as that feedback was incredibly thorough. It gave me so many suggestions on improvement, which I made a checklist from so I can refer to it during revision. Anyway even though I get the point now I still don’t like it because genre fiction is my thing. It doesn’t have to be sci-fi fantasy, I like espionage, thrillers, mysteries etc. but basically I like stories where something happens. Which I confess is hard to make happen when the word limit is 1500. Still I don’t want to write a story in which nothing happens, or which reads like a summary of a much longer story. I feel like while the comment was probably well-intended, I do find it unhelpful because I want to write what I write, and I want to get good/improve at writing that.

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Soooooo I may have just rewatched some Warehouse 13 because

Bering and Wells!!!

I figured if that didn’t inspire me then nothing would. You see I love The Librarians with ever fibre of my being. I am utterly enamoured with Pike and Number One. Killjoys makes me laugh and flap my hands with glee. Stargate comforts me. See the pattern? They all make me happy because there’s nothing wrong with them. True Stargate’s potential was fairly limitless but I was satisfied with what I had.

Rumbelle made me crazy. Once was an absolute gift because it provided so much (all those alternate characters versions, the time travel, the what if? branching paths of some episodes etc.) plus of course the itch that hadn’t been satisfied which meant for countless imaginations of my own. Those characters needed more and I was but a humble servant to those stories.

I still haven’t seen past season 3 /hides

For all I go on about Bering and Wells you’d think I would have but the season 3 finale gave me such intense feels that I took a break, and unfortunately in Sam’s world ‘taking a break’ means it will slip off my radar and I forget. I have two speeds, nada or 60. I’m either binge watching an entire season, or I won’t watch it for two years. Consistency has never been my strong suit.

Anyway, I just watched HG Wells introductory episode again (2.01) and then I was going to continue with her next episode (2.07 if memory serves) but then I remembered the Warehouse 12 flashbacks. I think it’s actually canon that Wells and Woolly were totally the inspiration for Holmes and Watson 🙂

My mind is filled with “forever cursed to meet at gunpoint” and “you’ll owe me one” and “standard issue in 1890″ as Wells grappler saves the day and “how do you say goodbye to the person that knows you the best” and “you’re going to take a deep breath and you are going to save my life” – solving puzzles, saving the day, it’s Bering and Wells!!!!!

The last time they were in my head I read a list of tropes and got a “omg they were roomates” AU, a “fake dating AU” and an “arranged marriage AU”. The episode Buried also made me really want an Archaeologist AU. None of which I did anything with because I was supposed to be writing something else. Now I’m thinking Pirates AU. HG Wells Pirate Queen has to team-up with Archivist Myka to find Poseidon’s Trident.

Here’s hoping that some of these thoughts actually turn into words this time…

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I absolutely adored the time travel fake married/family adventure episode but Dark Matter being set int he 27th century is kinda problematic. I really would like it to be another galaxy like Ida or Othalla or Pegasus etc. One that the Ancients explored, and seeded with life after Pegasus.

I mean they seeded Earth (and maybe a couple of other planets?) but the reason humans are spread across the Milky Way is because of the goa’uld. Whereas the Ancients were co-habiting the galaxy with the Pegasus second-generation (hence why they were well-known as the Ancestors) and so stargate usage etc. probably did it there (+ Ancient interference).

BUT the Ancients were known experimenters (and their ethics not so much) I mean the reason the wraith exist is because of a human colony being exposed to the Iratus bug as part of the Ancients looking into how to become immortal. So it’s not a big leap to imagine them seeding a galaxy with life and purposely not seeding it with Stargates so as to see the difference in human development.

Then the smoky bad possessing aliens could be ‘others’ from the ascension plane. Like Anubis, he got ‘stuck’ and so didn’t reform a body when he descended and so he needed to possess people. The Black Root ships were in a galaxy far away and so the explosion was like the power of a black hole for a supergate (like how the Ori invaded).

It fits and makes sense (to me at least) … except for the 27th century part and they are the same galaxy as Earth (we visit) etc. so it is definitely our galaxy and there are no stargates.

It makes more sense really for Dark Matter to be future Star Trek except that doesn’t work due to aliens – Dark Matter doesn’t have any. Still I can very easily see the Federation crumbling and becoming the GA but then I was cynical about the Federation long before Discovery hung a lampshade on it for me.

aaaaand I’m rambling again. Sorry it’s just sarashouldbestudying suggested I “embrace my inner five-year-old” and write what made me smile and I do enjoy smushing my favourite things together. It’s just proving hard to make them fit logically :/

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So far re: writing attempts I have about half a page of Christopher Pike in crisis re: fate and recklessness because if he knows his future then “this will be fine” but erm what if it’s not? I am drawn to that. I have a Judson panic re: time-travelling Flynn headcanon but I digress.

I also have a few notes re: Dakara re-origination machine and the infinity stones. Also how the Aschen and the Vulcan’s are cast from the same mould, and I can kinda see Jaffa and Klingon’s the same way. Unfortunately I can’t think of easy crossovers for the other Star Trek races which kinda sinks the whole Stargate/Star Trek mash-up my mind was musing on.

I stopped with the Pike in crisis because I WAS DOING IT AGAIN!! I have such a habit of characters ‘thinking’ and so they rarely talk to one another. I totally didn’t realize I did that until a beta pointed it out and now I can’t unsee it. It makes my work passive, as it’s a lot of statements and not a lot of forward momentum, which means it’s not a page-turner. It’s something I need to work on. A bit like how a few years back I head-hopped all the time but now I’ve trained myself to stick to proper perspective.

Briefly I considered a small one-shot with Dutch and Johnny, not the one I mentioned last time, but instead a canon piece for season five where they talk about Johnny’s mixed up feelings thanks to The Lady’s brainwashing/amnesia/delusion thing. I can kinda summarise that in one sentence though with Dutch saying something like “You are the heart of the team for a reason Johnny Jaqobis, you have a lot of love in you. You don’t miss being married to me, you miss being married. The delusion stuck easily because you do love me.” “Just not like that.” and Johnny was easy to mix up due to missing Pawter so much and Dutch being so important to him. They are family and so making them family was something he wouldn’t fight.

So yeah I kinda don’t feel like writing it as I have said it now. Plus I suspect we’ll see this on the show anyway. I haven’t seen the latest episode yet (tonight!) and there’s 6 more to go after it so I’m sure it’ll be addressed.

Anyway all of this is just saying that I’ve been trying to do the writing thing. It’s just nothing has stuck yet.

“The battle must be fought anew everyday.”

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You know what screw it I’m going to jump in on that writers month thing.

This could become a very embarrassing post if I don’t actually write anything buuuuut I need to rediscover the joy of writing, I have such a negative association with it right now, I need to remember why I do this word thing.

Sooooo anyway 🙂 the idea I have for tomorrow’s prompt is Brotp Pike and Number One. Pike is in a cell because of… #noidea … and he’s being all Pike about it because he made his choice and willing to accept the consequences blah blah. Number One is sneaky and smart and she does something #noidea which means Pike gets released and the whole mess goes away.

There’s a lot of #noidea there but thinking about it is making me smile which is a very good first step. I love Pike and I love Number One and I love their dynamic which is probably 90% made up because we got all of 5 minutes screen time (gimme that spinoff!!!) but hey-ho I don’t care it feels real to me.

Alternately… now I have started thinking about it, that prompt “first time” is very versatile. I’m thinking Killjoys Brotp Dutch and Johnny which has a completely different dynamic to Pike and Number One. Pre-canon, their first warrant as Killjoys. I can not remember if it has ever been referenced but erm *googles* I know we saw how they became Killjoys (which had Brotp fake marriage which was great btw) but not what came after. Hmm…

I’ll see what I feel like typing tomorrow I guess. Could be this, could be something else, let’s just hope it’s not nothing.

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So me and writing: a ramble by me

I love writing. I’ve been attempting to tell stories all my life but wanting (needing!) to write doesn’t actually mean I’m any good at it. No please don’t worry, this isn’t one of those self-deprecating posts, it’s just an observation.

Back starting 2015 really I tried to ‘get serious’ about writing. It was a struggle but I was kinda doing it. In retrospect rediscovering fandom May 2016 helped I think because it gave me positive feelings about writing. I was doing writing that I wasn’t super stressed about. Anyway November 2016 life happened and I got overwhelmed and slowly stuttered to a stop.

Ever since in desperation I’ve done a bit here, and a bit there, but always with the litany of negativity. As I wasn’t doing much of any writing I felt all my writing should be original, or on my neglected WIP, as words were obviously at a premium, but the more I berated myself, the less I wrote at all.

aaaaannd then I started a university course English Literature WITH Creative Writing which was not very good timing. Writing was like pulling teeth anyway with the constant “who are you kidding? this is awful!” kind of screaming at the back of my head. Now feedback is good, it’s necessary to improve, so I know there’s a glass half-full way to look at it, but regardless it did feel a bit like a kick in the teeth to come bottom third of my year group.

Which brings me to today. At the start of summer break I set myself writing goals, which I have not even touched as everytime I went to do it (or even thought about doing it) I would cry because I just couldn’t, it was too much.

So what I’m going to do, what I’m going to try and do, is recapture that positivity and learn to love words again. I really fear for myself and my course if I don’t.

No limit writing. Just whatever comes, just do it.

Of course no limit writing has it’s own problems because there is such a thing as too much choice but I’ll have to see how I get on.