Plans for Things · 12:53am Aug 7th, 2012
Alright, so here's the deal. I'm not going to be getting a chapter out for a little while, probably, but don't worry, I'm still making plenty of progress and fully intend to write ~50,000 words for NaPoWriMo still.
Confused yet? Excellent!
The thing is, I'm a very stressed out person who suffers from depression and that stress is easily added to. I found that trying to make myself write this story in a chronological order with a deadline is very self-destructive. I run into some writer's block and I keep trying to muddle through the chapter I'm working on at a very slow pace and I simply can't write fast enough to make the word count for the day. Then I get behind, which turns into added stress in my life.
So instead of just working on a single chapter, I'll be writing all twenty-three of the remaining chapters at the same time. I'll write what I know I can do and what I feel like tackling. This way, progress is easily made and maintained, I don't get burned out trying to think of what happens next, and I'm mostly stress-free.
Unfortunately, this means that chapters will be very slow. I'll certainly try to focus more on earlier chapters, but I really can't guarantee anything. That said, I may write a few one-shots to fill the gap. I have no shortage of ideas for them that I'd like to do eventually.
Essentially, stories are still being written and the lack of updates is nothing to despair over.
That is exactly how I wrote my novel, and for exactly the same reason.
In terms of fanfic, I don't have that problem as much but I also don't take on huge projects, or stress as much as a lot of people about writing well.
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I'm actually kind of surprised that more fanfics aren't written this way, but then again, most of the longer fanfics I'm tracking don't update very often, probably for this very reason.
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I think most fanfics take a long time to update because people are working for free, which means that literally everything in their lives, including watching TV, is more important. And that's totally fair, the first rule of MLP fanfic is "Don't look the gift ponies in the mouth." Besides, their eyes are soooo much cuter.
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I suppose there is that, too. And yes, the eyes are so damn adorable.
Yeah, don't kill yourself over this!
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I'll be sure not to. :P
I guess another thing holding me back is the fact that all my good revelations and story planning comes to me late at night while I'm reading fics on my phone. I can't very well write a story on my phone in any reasonable amount of time, so I just have to make notes and come back to it later. For example, just last night (this morning) at 4am, I figured out how to write a particularly difficult scene.
275527 Inspiration has a way of coming at the most inconvenient times xD