"PerNoWriMo" 2: Heaven and Hell to Pay! On the Control Freak Work Ethic, Friendly Bullies, Helluva Boss, and a Deal with the Disney · 10:30pm Nov 16th, 2023
As we pass the halfway mark of the month, I have great news to report:
I've met my target.
60,000+ words.
And. Still. Going. 
"ARE WE GONNA WIN!?"
Blog Number 235: Supererogatory Edition
Goddamn have I been waiting for this.
You know what's really fantastic? When you spend most of a year - many years, in fact, since my last great peak in 2018 - repeatedly starting the engine and then watching it sputter out, cursing the dratted engineers who thought building such a contraption was a good idea, wishing you knew what insider's technique would get the dratted thing to obey you, starting to fear you were in the wrong business and should quit for something less stressful... only to pull the cord and suddenly hear that REV!
It's beautiful.
Lord knows it doesn't justify the years of crap I had to put up with. That's five years I'd rather do over again. But at least - oh my stars, let's hope - at least it can get better now, right?
Right? 
Please say yes.
Oh, and since I talk about other media later, I'm putting this warning here:
SPOILERS AHEAD!
Probably should've done that with the previous blog post. Bear with me a mo...
For the record, this isn't actually my first time busting a November ahead of schedule. Long-time visitors of this corner of the site might remember a certain November 2020, when I - against my own expectations - managed to not only bust through the 100,000+ words ceiling I'd been secretly aiming for since... well, since I started records, but got a little extra into the bargain too:
It sure was.
That was an exceptional month, and one reason why 2020 remains my best post-2018 year for writing (2018 was my all-time peak, though mostly in the first three or so months). I couldn't believe I'd managed it*, and I got some sweet fics into the bargain at the time (the Sister Sidestep trilogy, for example). According to the figures I kept, 2020 produced 377,783 words total. 2018 - my peak year - produced 481,619 words total. Nearly half a million.
*I mean, technically I could, but I was a wee bit overwhelmed with emotion at the time. I think I'm excused a little imprecision in my figurative language, y'all.
But what marks 2023 as a different beast is the higher set of odds against it. Recently, I've seen an increase in my workload employment-wise, so less leisure time for me; a domestic shake-up is kicking in around now that means I don't have the luxury I used to; and so far, this year hadn't appeared any more promising than the other post-2018 years writing-wise (worse in some respects, since I've tried getting more ambitious, which means larger and harder-to-finish projects swallow up more and more of the word count for no easy payoff), so there's no obvious morale-booster there either. In those circumstances, achieving my normal output was a long shot, to say nothing of this juggernaut that's apparently kicked in.
Sometimes, I wonder if all this might actually have been a benefit in disguise. With a tighter time limit, I've less occasion to be flabby and indecisive. My increasingly systematic and ruthless approach to writing projects - which I've been patiently building up for years - has trimmed a lot of fat too: time wasted daydreaming, for example, or getting distracted by too many new ideas now I've got time-tested, passionate ones that can fight back. I suspect the wake-up call of having been on-site for ten-plus years has also impressed upon me what I don't want to be doing for the next ten-plus years.
And more to the point, I'm built for this approach.
I know this is going to sound weird, because the popular ethos is that you're supposed to hate your job or love your leisure time or prefer the relaxed approach of watching TV and going to parties over doing homework. Well, in that case, I'm a hopeless freak.
I LOVE my job. Sure, things about it frustrate me, but that's when e.g. someone else's messes spill over into my day-to-day routine, or things I'm used to suddenly stop working as they should (thank you, buggy technology). I've got more time at work now, and sure it can get overwhelming on some days. But when it works, when it feels like I'm in control and enjoying every minute of it, when I do something right and get recognized for it, I feel like the luckiest sod on Earth.
I'm terrible at parties. I never know what to say. "Hey, random person I barely know, I like heartwarming cartoons and epistemological philosophy, wanna talk about literary techniques and why stellar evolution is so awesome?" Not a winner. And yes, I'm the sort of person who gets a kick out of reading the dictionary. I even have dictionaries for particular subjects just so I can get ahold of that sweet, sweet obscure jargon*.
*Without a biology dictionary, I would never have known what the Krebs Cycle is, literally one of the four cornerstones of how living things get all their energy to do what they do. Sometimes the backstage tour is just as fascinating as the performance.
Of course, I love a good fictional read or a gripping TV series as much as anyone. Even there, though, I deviate from the norm. I tend to get obsessive if something really clicks with me*, to the point of revisiting and revisiting and revisiting it over and over and over again. I also tend to be slower to start something new, especially if it's not clear to me what the attraction is. And increasingly these days, while I'll obsess over days and weeks, on any particular day I'm unlikely to go more than an hour or two of bingeing before feeling I'm overdoing it.
*More on that later.
Ironically, too much leisure time actually brings me down rather than builds me up. Whereas I've had days when I spent all of it chasing some research for a project or ploughing through a few scenes I've been itching to write, and virtually never felt like I was overdoing it or wasting time. Getting in the zone, as it were. 
I like hard work, when I know what I'm doing. I like doing homework. I like managing things and organizing things and planning things and testing things and checking-and-rechecking things. I like being in control of things. I like to tackle, not just sit around watching stuff but working things out. I love getting into the flow of the moment.
I relate to this episode so, so much.
Shoot, I obviously can't recommend the approach for everyone. Allowing for different circumstances (e.g. I'd guess most people dislike work because it's stuff they need to do to get paid, and not because it happens to suit them personally), I think it's also a match-to-personality thing. All I know is that bits and pieces of this approach have worked for me on-and-off the last few years, and the more control I feel I have over it, the better I seem to get. Culminating in what I suspect - but can't yet prove - is this recent turnaround that's been waiting for just such a chance.
Or maybe it's because I got myself an actual desk last month. Writing at an official desk feels soooooo much more official than writing on whatever surface is available around the house. 😕
So yeah, I got a boost late last month that seems to be carrying over into this month, and I am hoping like hell it's the breakthrough I've been gunning for since the 2018 peak-then-decline. Wish me luck, people. I'm going to try beating the November 2020 record.
(For the record, that's 111,581 words).
🔥 And yes, yes, I know quality =/= quantity. Trust me, I didn't come all this way just to write a hundred dreckfics in a month. You'll get something I'm proud of, don't you worry. 🔥😈🔥
In related news, I now have a second entry for the Imposing Sovereigns IV Contest! It's in draft form, and I'm sorting out some cover art issues, so you're gonna have to wait a little longer before I show it to you.
For those curious, it's about Diamond Tiara. Not a character I've done much for, to be honest, but a weird combination of fortuitious timing (the Little Witch Academia mention last blog post*) and taking an interest in an imagined future Equestria (for another project behind the scenes) has pushed my interest in bully-turned-friend characters who happen to be into the business scene.
*Diana. Diamond. The character names were way too similar for my brain not to make the random connection. I'm just wired - sorry, weird - that way.
Sadly, I daren't reveal too much here, not least because I have to admit it's a case of "I wanna tackle this character because I think I could do a better job than the show managed*". The particular subject matter is also dark as all get-out, so it's not going to be to everyone's tastes. But, as will often happen when you take on a character yourself, I find myself gaining a new appreciation for her and definitely want to do more DT fics at a later date.
*Personal opinion time: Diamond Tiara stopped being interesting after a couple of unorthodox Season Two roles, and her redemption in Season Five did not sit right with me. Especially since she all but vanished afterwards, right when we should have seen the tough work that real redemption involves.
So yeah, fingers crossed!*
*Or hooves crossed, if you're Loganberry. 
Also, Amity Blight from The Owl House. You know how many spooky parallels there are between Little Witch Academia and The Owl House? Once you notice them, you can't un-notice them.
Coming soon...
Basically, I'm thoroughly looking forward to hitting that "publish" button again.
They're not wrong...
In other news, I've been rereading Good Omens - the collaboration between Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.
One thing that struck me was how much people's perceptions of the book - with special focus on demon Crowley and angel Aziraphale and their ironic working relationship despite being on opposite sides of the cosmic morality fence - deviate from what I'd dimly expected. Sure, the two characters are front-loaded and their actions kick off the plot, but after that it's very much out of their hands and they disappear for long stretches.
You don't hear people talking much about the "Just William-style" child gang - ominously dubbed the Them - and their childish penchant for Seinfeld-like absurd conversations about random occult or fictional stuff. Or about the Witchfinder Army, which consists of a sad old bastard called Shadwell who lives in near-poverty but is convinced he's the vanguard of a brave and heroic tradition*. Nor of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, all of whom are creatively reimagined to put their particular "talents" to modern use.
*At the risk of cynicism, and allowing this is an extreme case, I think Shadwell's might actually be a depressingly realistic depiction of most human psychology. An overoptimistic hero complex combined with an inherited fringe (if not outright delusional) view of reality and distinctly unimpressive, even unhealthy, day-to-day living conditions. Dunning-Kruger comparisons aside, I suspect a lot of human beings - even the brighter ones - subconsciously take orders from their inner Public Relations Officer.**
**It's notable, for instance, how many cognitive biases tend to be self-flattering.
Then again, there is something about the angel/demon and Heaven/Hell comparison that sticks in the mind. The overt good-evil personifications, maybe, for a species (humans) obsessed with moral behaviour and judgement whilst still wanting explicit anthropomorphism of the traits to identify with?
Maybe they're just really cute together?
Maybe the flexible way it can be used as a canvas for projecting one's own ideas of good-evil onto a fictional reality (hey, guys, you get to decide who goes to Hell and what punishment awaits them!)? Maybe the sheer widespread momentum of the ancient Judeo-Christian traditions of demonology and hagiography that have grown up around the dominant religious legacies of the last few millennia?
Maybe the connection between mundane acts of good and bad, and some higher cosmic version of the same, lending itself well to uniting day-to-day experience with grander narratives? Maybe the anti-nihilist hope that an afterlife where we're given special attention, however painful, trumps a universe indifferent to our vices and virtues?*
*A viewpoint I've never clicked with. If I was evil, I'd definitely be in favour of no Hell. If I was good, I'd still rather be on Earth where the action is, and therefore wouldn't have much interest in Heaven either.**
**To jump across to another tradition, I quite like the Buddhist concept of a bodhisattva (specifically the Mahāyāna type) - someone who seeks to achieve Buddhahood or the ultimate enlightenment, but who'd also rather stick around and help others achieve it. Translated into secular, it's still one of those ambitious, comprehensive ideas that deeply appeals to me.
Or maybe they're just really, really cool. 😎
Anyway, that the book is still funny as hell* should go without saying. Apparently, there was a great adaption on Amazon Prime Video a few years back. Never seen it myself, but I've heard good things about it.**
*Although it feels a bit dated in some places. Technology, for example.
**I don't believe the one about it being better than the book, though. That's a tall order.
Apparently apparently, a sequel had also been bandied about since the time of the original's pre-publication, but it's very much never developed further than the "maybe" stage. Frankly, I can't imagine them topping such a lightning strike of a book, so perhaps it's for the best it stayed an undeveloped concept only.
Much as it pains me to admit it, I've never been a total fan of the Josh Kirby illustrations. Yeah, they're creative and closer to the spirit of the madcap parodies than the uber-serious Leo Nickolls cover art, but they also look a bit... how can I put this... undignified. Especially the cover for Pyramids.
Also, a little follow-up to a discussion point from the previous blog, which might interest the nitpicky. It's concerning Mort by Terry Pratchett, and the once-considered deal Disney would have made to adapt the film.
Happily, I've got Terry Pratchett: A Life with Footnotes by Rob Wilkins - Terry's former and long-time assistant and business manager - in front of me, and it sheds some light on the creative process that went on behind the scenes of that particular negotiation. I want to post extracts here because they stand as a stark warning against letting the lure of "more money/brand recognition" drive the creative process when the lions want a share:
At the Discworld Convention in Birmingham in August 2010, an American called Karen Tenkhoff had introduced herself to me. She said she was from Walt Disney Animation Studios, and that she had John Musker and Ron Clements with her, and would I be able to arrange a meeting for them all with Terry? Terry was actually taking part in a panel at this point, but I ducked around a corner and used my phone to do some hasty Googling, belatedly educating myself in the process. Musker and Clements were the directors behind The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Hercules - distinguished Disney filmmakers with 25-year histories at the company. Karen said they were in England to do some location scouting. Did animators scout for locations? Apparently so. They had looked around Stratford-upon-Avon, among other places, and had then come on to Birmingham to scout for Terry. I was, naturally, very excited to set up that meeting. John and Ron were sharp, funny and brilliant company - and they wanted to make a Disney animation of Mort.
So that was the start of it - and even that seemingly innocent and ad hoc initial get-together caused its own ripple of unhappiness, as practically everything connected with this project seemed to.
Beware Greek-Myth-adapters bearing gifts!*
*Just for pun. Nothing personal. Sounds like Musker and Clements were perfectly fine personally, and maybe they were just enthusiasts themselves - I think they were quite enthusiastic to get Treasure Planet out there for years, and while I know reception for that film is mixed at best, I do think there was a genuine passion behind it. It's the broader context, though, that you should watch out for.
Yes, on balance I like the film. What? Just my honest opinion. "Sir, with no intention to take offence, I deny your right to put words into my mouth!"
Meanwhile Transworld, Terry's UK publisher, when they got wind of the negotiations, were instinctively worried about what an arrangement with Disney would portend for Terry's books and his brand. "I'd been conflicted about this," said Larry Finlay, Transworld's Managing Director. "I knew it was a deal that could have made Terry a lot of money, but I was also convinced that he would have hated what Disney would have done to his stories and to his characters. I felt in my bones that it was a Faustian bargain, one that Terry would live to regret massively. When I heard that Terry would be getting a mere two per cent on all merchandising rights, including any spin-off books - of which there would be very many - with no creative control residing with him, I was absolutely determined to persuade Terry NOT to sign Mort to Disney."
"Come now, my dear old thing! What's wrong with signing a perfectly legitimate contract between fiends - I mean, friends?"
When an actual meeting occurred between the various company and work representatives over Broadway, New York:
It emerged that if Disney deemed the film a success - the definition of which could apparently even encompass the film making a billion-dollar loss - they would be able to exercise a right to all the other Discworld books involving Mort's characters, which is to say anything with the character of Death in it, or, if you will, every Discworld book apart from The Wee Free Men and Snuff. They could also exercise the right to any future use of those characters. And they would also own the right to the use of all Mort's settings, including Unseen University and the entire city of Ankh-Morpork - again, both in the past and in the future. In other words, by making this one film, Disney would come, in effect, to own Discworld, both as it stood and as it was still to come. As Colin said, "We came close to losing the business in that deal." By the time we got up to leave, the film of Mort wasn't happening any more.
Then there's a fascinating interlude about Griff Rhys Jones starting work with the big broadcasting corporation - i.e. the BBC - and how he and his partner Mel Smith, "had none of the money and none of the control", so they founded their own production company Talkback where they'd possess "all of the money and all of the control". Upon reading about this in a magazine, Rob Wilkins then approached Terry Pratchett to make a similar case:
Instead of getting, as Terry would have put it, "blown around like a ping pong ball in a hurricane" between other people's production companies, we could determine our own future, be the originators. It wouldn't save us from production hell, because that was just something that was built into film making. But it might save us from production hell all the time. And at least, when production hell occurred, it would be our own production hell - a production hell of our own devising and one where we defined our own ways out. Which had to be better, didn't it?
Terry didn't have to think about the idea for very long.
When we arrived at the Westin Hotel, Terry left for his event and I stayed behind and called Mark Boomla, and, there and then, we began to put the groundwork in place for Terry's own development company, Narrativia.
Speaking as someone who dislikes the direction Disney has been going for years*, I'd say they definitely dodged a bullet on this one.
*The "adaptation" of Artemis Fowl should remind you of what a botch job the company can produce when it owns properties it clearly doesn't care about.
Ha ha. "In theaters May 29, in the garbage May 30."
In other news, and as you may have guessed from a couple of screenshots above, I've been obsessing a tiny bit over Helluva Boss.
Surprisingly heartwarming at times, for a show about demon assassins.
Long story short:
- I don't like everything about it, but mostly it's good-to-great, and when it works, it really works.
It's probably a good idea at this point to indicate generally what kind of "mature" I tend to be OK with, and what kind less so, because - if nothing else - it'll give you some idea of where I sit vis-a-vis Helluva Boss and its style of comedy.
- Violence and gore: I'm OK with, preferably if there's a worldbuilding point to make with it rather than it just turning up out of the blue.
Swearing: depends - I have weird exceptions, words I'm not bothered by* and odd hangups I never like to see or hear, but by and large I don't mind, especially if it's used sparingly to enhance the impact rather than littered all over the place gratuitously**.
*This sometimes translates awkwardly across the Pond: I use words here, like "damn", that don't cause so much as a raised eyebrow, but which (it turns out) are a bit stronger over in America.
**For the same reason it's a bad idea to emphasize everything in a story: people get used to it and it loses its punch.
- Difficult topics: generally open-minded, but not a fan of drug use.
Sex and nudity: very squeamish about*.
*I know "prude" is a derogatory term, especially since it usually means someone who's a busybody towards others, but it's very much what I see myself as. Let me clarify: in this case, "prudery" is just a set of impulsive reactions that make it hard for me to sit through certain scenes in certain media, and not meant to imply I go around wagging my finger at people. If it floats your boat, fine. I just personally am not comfortable around that kind of thing, which is one reason why I usually skew towards family-friendly media and, at most, distant verbal innuendo-style jokes, emphasis on distant. Still, some of the romance drama and the LGBTQ+ stuff is part of the fun of Helluva Boss. So if there's a better word for this than "prude", fine by me.
So, yeah:
Goddamn, do I feel your pain, Striker.
- With that in mind, I find Helluva Boss either good or good enough (at its average and best) or - at its worst - a bit like tuning in to someone's juvenile attempts at being edgy. Not a deal-breaker at all, but one of those bumps and dents you gotta take to get to the good stuff.
- Favourite episodes? From Season One, "Loo-Loo Land". For such a short episode, it's impressive how much it improved my opinion of the show and what it was capable of, putting Stolas and Octavia's broken domestic drama at the forefront whilst still being super-funny and planting the seeds for Blitzø's backstory with a wickedly designed antagonist. I think I was won over as soon as the first song was sung: a lullaby with some gorgeous astronomical backdrops.
- Favourite episode from Season Two (so far)? "MAMMON'S MAGNIFICENT MUSICAL MIDSEASON SPECIAL (ft. Fizzarolli)". The prior episode already put Fizzarolli on the map as one of the best characters, but this one took it to new heights. Mammon finally makes an appearance, and he turns out to be a superb jolly scumbag of a villain. This episode literally made me cry, the romantic angle works beautifully, and best of all? That. Effing. Final. Song. I cannot get over what a triumphant, hilariously ironic motivational piece it is. I love it.
- Least favourite episodes? From Season One, "C.H.E.R.U.B." It mostly amounts to dialling the cynical comedy up to eleven, and I just don't find it fun after a while, especially with a lack of relevance to the ongoing plot and a massacre at the end that goes against the idea of the assassins sticking to certain codes and standards to stay all that sympathetic (relatively speaking). From Season Two (so far), "Seeing Stars", which feels like a weaksauce rehash of "Loo-Loo Land" and kinda makes Loona look badly hypocritical.
- Season One was a pretty comfortable and consistent high note. Sure, some episodes were more "good, not great" (Episode Six feels like it should be a bigger deal than it ended up being, for example), but apart from Episode Four, I'm happy watching all of them. Shame about the debacle involving Episode Eight, because when it came out I really liked it (although geez, how many interclass romances can the demon royalty have!?).
There was a period during Season Two when I was losing interest. Episodes ranged from "good-but-not-great-because-they-kinda-muddled-some-things" to "subpar by Helluva Boss standards". Episode Five was a meh missed opportunity to develop Millie, Episode One I thought was fun and sweet (and took an interesting approach with Stolas) but otherwise felt too exposition-heavy to leave much of an impact, and Episode Four comes really close but suffers from a clash of tones and watering down one of the show's best villains a little too much.* Episode Three came the closest to being outright great, and for long stretches it is, but it goes one contrived coincidence too far with Chaz's backstory and good lord, I do not like one particularly obscene joke. And then Episode Six came out, and I felt like we were firing on all cylinders again. Yahoo!
*Seriously, I could write a whole blog or blog section about the awesome nightmare fuel of Striker from Season One versus the badass-but-sometimes-irreverently-treated Striker in Season Two. I get that he can't be an indomitable badass all the way through, but I think they're going a bit too far the other way and occasionally making him an outright buffoon.
Oh, and favourite characters? Restricted to the core cast of I.M.P., Moxxie (especially alongside Millie). I just like the nebbish, thoughtful underdog type with a soft side and badass cred, especially once you find out about his family life.
- Including all the cast, Fizzarolli. Starting with his rubber-hose style of animated liveliness, going through his madcap and scathing style of comedy, and ending with the backstory reveals of Season Two.
- Favourite villain? Crimson, a villain who can be both laughably evil as an ignorant tantrum-thrower and frighteningly evil as a murderous control freak. Runners-up would be Striker in Season One - the guy's a monster in that ep - and Mammon in Season Two - who's such an over-the-top sleaze whilst still being a jolly fraud and legitimate threat that he's always entertaining whenever he's onscreen.
- Overall, really looking forward to the next episode. There's life in the show yet!
All in all, that was a lot more than I was expecting to write. Kinda scuppered my chances for creative writing today, but hey, I can deal. One day isn't going to cost much, right?
Anyway, lovely talking to you on this increasingly-pen-pal-like blogging arrangement. It might be another while before I post a progress report, and trust me, it won't be as massively involved as this one. If nothing else, I'll be busy next week with a combination of Christmas shopping and preparing to publish my contest entries.
Till next time, then! Impossible Numbers, out!
PREVIOUS PERNOWRIMO POSTS
2023
<<< "PerNoWriMo" 2: A Force for Good? On Pony Comics, Academic *itches (Take Your Pick), and Mort
<<< "PerNoWriMo" 2: Redemption
2021
<<< "PerNoWriMo": Failure
<<< "PerNoWriMo": Meet the Impo
<<< "PerNoWriMo": Report from the Halfway Mark
<<< "PerNoWriMo": A Bit of News for Imposing Sovereigns Contestants
<<< "PerNoWriMo": My First Success is a Lemon!
<<< "PerNoWriMo": A Luckless Lapse
<<< "PerNoWriMo": Personal Novel Writing Month
Sorry if this is too much. I got kinda chatty in the moment.
I don't feel up for a ton of blog posts, not with my time restrictions, so once a week is about what I'm capable of these days. Which in this case meant a bunch of stuff I'd been sitting on suddenly leaped up and took control of my typing hands.
Still, I'd intended it to be a miscellany so people could pick bits and pieces from it. I promise there won't be a quiz later. 🤓
Yes!
But it's also okay if it's only okay!
Okay!
I worked on a Disney licensed videogame and had a friend who worked directly for them as an animator, and those experiences convinced me that the company is evil incarnate—and not in a cool or interesting way. "The banality of evil," is the best possible way to describe Disney's core structure. It's systematic, not personal. The people working there don't matter; they can't change anything about how each department grinds relentlessly on and on. Replace everyone, top to bottom and the empire would sail on without a hitch, aside from perhaps losing slightly more money on bad decisions in any given year.
Oh yeah, and Helluva Boss rocks. With all the ups and downs, it's still better than most series out there.
Damn, your successes here really make me want to finally participate in the National Pony Writing Month big-time again. I only did this once in 2014 and never again after that. I dabbled with the idea this year already, after talking about a filly OC in one of my stories that I wrote back then in a pony Discord server and after the people there got hugely interested in her, but now I really crave doing that.
I really should participate next year again and set myself a huge goal.
5755219
Thank goodness someone said it!
5755280
I'm just waiting for the day when Disney proves "too big to fail".
On the one hand, I'm curious as to how long that system can last if enough people get sick of it, but on the other hand, if they're still making money long after most of the audience has gotten sick of it and are turning up more out of hope or brand loyalty than any real enjoyment... well, I predict dark times ahead. Sure as hell makes a mockery of meritocratic pretensions, if it's simple lazy inertia keeping
the Church of MammonDisney afloat.Speaking of Mammon! 😜
Agreed. I'm hoping the ongoing arc of Season Two builds up to something spectacular, because it dawned on me recently that some of the problems I have with Season Two could be partly explained by them being more "pieces of the puzzle" than "standalone story" as in Season One, like the development of the Goetia family and the steady mental breakdown of Striker. We're just hampered by having to wait months for updates. One of those "better when you can binge all at once" experiences.
5755325
It's a mixed bag. I've tried it on and off for years (called it Personal Novel Writing Month when I wasn't affiliated with an actual event), and sometimes it's worked, sometimes it hasn't. When it works, it's a great way to get the old gears grinding. But when it doesn't...
Myself, I take the view that, if you've got a craving for a story to be told, why wait? I always want to push myself. The Novel Writing Month is just a framework to hang that wish on.
Besides, I doubt I'll be able to keep up this pace forever, or even for very long. I just want to see how far I can get it.
5755329
You're comparing an outright demon to a massive corporation buying successful books/stories with deceptive contracts and then slapping the big Disney tattoo on them as if they had come up with the ideas themselves?*
Fair.
Good thought about S2! I hope that's the case.
-----------------
*I wonder how many kids think Disney created all those classic animation characters and stories? Peter Pan, Winnie the Poo, 101 Dalmatians...
5755329
For me, it works like this, that I make a goal of writing a short story with at least 2,000 words every day, then sit down, ask myself "What will I write today?" and then an idea comes. And I write it down and it becomes a full story. That's how I did it in 2014. I get inspired easily and if I want to write a story, then I will write one.
This ability has suffered a little from 2017 - 2019, because of something that happened in early 2017, but I brought my writing back to what it was before piece by piece in the last 4 years and it's now almost the same that it was prior to this event again. I just need a tiny step more. So, that ability of writing a story because I want to and made the decision to write one might have returned by now. If not, then I'm very positive it will have returned by next November.
.
Maybe because a lot of unfinished stories are sitting around? That's how it is for me, I have several unfinished stories and I'm not starting any big writing projects until those are finished. Until they are, I write only story scenes if I have a spontaneous inspiration, or one-shots at most. Like my latest two stories. And a few story scenes I have written down in blog entries this year.
I get near constantly new ideas for stories, most of everything inspires me, one great vision came to me just yesterday. But I hold off on them, until my currently incomplete multi-chapter stories are complete (or, for the ones with unpredictable length, at least until I make steady progress without interruptions again).
.
Very far. You're the pony author with the most stamina and writing endurance I have ever seen. I can write for 11 hours straight, without a break, on a good day, but I am nowhere near to what you're pulling off. I can already tell your final word count for the month will be much higher than what you have so far.