May 2016 Update · 7:25pm May 12th, 2016
Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time in a very long time, I'm writing consistently again.
Check below the break for more!
So.
I'm still not out for the summer yet. I have two finals next week, and then I'll be done with my sophomore year of college and off to work for the summer. That being said, I'd like to elaborate on writing a little.
I have never, ever considered myself a good writer. Certainly, I improved between middle school and Chill, my most recently published fic (back in January 2015, ugh). But as I'm pursuing a decidedly technical degree, writing has never really been at the forefront of my mind like it should have been, and like it is for professional writers. It's something that I regret, because I do really enjoy telling stories and sharing them with y'all, but it's not something I can do a whole lot about.
Or so I thought.
You see, even though engineering is a very technical field, good writing is more important than I ever would have imagined, going into it. Technical writing, but I'll take what I can get. The idea of communication itself is absolutely critical for technical fields, which I had previously not stopped to consider. But it's true, when you look at corporations and scenarios like the principal-agent problem. Communication is key, speech perhaps more so than writing, but I'm not here to write about speech. I'm here to write about... well, writing. So let's get into it!
As I stated in my previous blogpost, there are three new stories I hope to have published this year (maybe four or five, but we'll see). Of these, one is a rewrite of a Writeoff fic, one is mostly just a title, and one is going to be upwards of 200,000 words. Yes, that's the right number of zeros. This story will be longer than everything I've previously written, not limited to fanfiction, combined. It's a massive undertaking, but it's a story that I'm dying to tell.
It's called Havoc Mare. Genre tags will most likely include: Dark, Mystery, and Thriller. These are subject to change, of course, but it won't be a romance or comedy, I can say that much. Character tags: Twilight Sparkle and, um, Other. There will be more characters, but I'm still trying to plan the story's subplots and all that junk. If you mouse over the spoiler in the last blog, you can read a previous concept for the story. Suffice to say, it's decidedly different now. There will still be at least one (hopefully awesome) fight scene with Twilight getting knocked out, but beyond that, the ideas and motivations have shifted away from that.
And now we come to the wordcount. I was not joking earlier; this story really will be about 200k. The basic story alone will take upwards of 100k, without subplots or anything. Again, this could change, but at this point in the planning process, I'm not sure how likely that is. This also means that this story will be my second chaptered story on the site, something that I've been putting off for a long time, mostly due to fear of hiatuses or anything that will prevent me from finishing the story.
I'm not the most consistent writer, as some of you may be aware, but right now, I'm feeling that spark come back.
And it feels great.
Expect Havoc Mare to appear in mid-late July. I won't be writing the whole thing ahead of time, so you'll have to bear with me for updates, but it should be a blast. I'm really looking forward to getting started on it.
The next blog will go up when Havoc Mare has been published on the site.
Thanks for reading, and have a great summer!
- Floydien
I await it with joy.
~Skeeter The Lurker
Eww, technical writing classes. Don't get me wrong, it's a critical skill that marks the difference between a good engineer and a great engineer. But my degree had 12 credits of tech writing, and just ugh.
There is some value in understanding how to write memos, or technical specs, or such, though frankly a lot of that you pick up by emulating your senior coworkers. But IMO the two important points (which are moreso experience skills than taught skills) are:
- Broadly speaking, how well-organized can you make your thoughts? Anything from high school English papers, to Fimfic blogposts. Just ensuring that you understand how to logically order you points, ensuring you spend more time detailing the tricky points and less time overcomplicating the minor points, and that you have a target reader in mind.
- Can you write technical stuff for non-technical people? Your users and clients, your project manager, and at some companies even your boss will have no idea what the technojargon you just said means. To get your points across, you need to recast this into simple terms, basic analogies, and clear examples/use cases. Since these other people are critical to the business, it's imperative that you can speak the same language. This can't really be taught, but luckily you can practice a ton on your non-engineering friends, your significant other, parents, whoever.
Looking forward to it.