Before I found fimfiction, I had never attempted to write a story. I've certainly never tried to talk about writing a story, but this group really is an excellent way to 'pony up' and make yourself responsible to your own schedule.

I left my poor readers with a four month gap between chapters 5 and 6. I have vowed never to do so again!

Chapter 7 is currently standing at 2,400 words, but I have a bad habit of just sitting on a chapter and re-writing it over and over. Primarily, I'm dreading having to write dialogue for Zecora. My target is ~3,500. I think that makes a nice, comfortable chapter.

I'm interested in the mechanisms behind everyone's writing - how you write, when you write and what makes you keep on writing.

My writing is all over the place.. I tend to write (at 4am) whatever strong scenes come to my mind first, no matter where they are located in the story - I've already written parts of the ending and important plot points from the middle of the main arc. I stash them all away and bring them back when the story reaches them.

I also have a 1,000 word planning document where I keep track of all the bits (3 small arcs planned under one large one) and manage the timeline. (Having Luna as a day sleeper can make things a bit confusing.)

I guess you could say that I really have no idea what I'm doing, so l just made a big list.

Well you are off to a decent start. I'm no professional writer by any stretch of the imagination, so I can't tell you that your writing method has any serious flaws. With possibly the exception of writing when you're tired(as you mentioned in the general Twiluna group). So long as you can keep it straight and craft the linking bits between those scenes, you're golden.

Personally, I aim for about 2.5K word count with my chapters as a base minimum.

As for my mechanism for writing? Well, I write, usually, early in the AM hours, after I get off from work during the week. I put on some instrumental music and try not to get distracted too much. I usually brainstorm while at work, then write the scene afterwards, then keep tinkering with it for the rest of the week. I keep a separate document for both the ending which I tweek as inspiration calls, and for just general planning and threading the plot/timeline.

I wish I could say I work at it every day, but that just isn't the case. Weekends are too hectic for me to find time usually. And on the weekdays, similar to yourself, I write when tired. Distraction and sleep and other housework sometimes kill off any inspiration I might have had during the day.

One thing I would ask you is, do you have an editor, or a pre-reader to look over your work? I suck at editing myself, so I got one, and it improved the quality of my writing immensely.

402006 I always do my best writing in the hours before bed. I like the privacy and the lack of distractions, and I think being relaxed helps too. As for your story itself, I actually can't remember remember it well enough to give you any specific advice . I'll give it a reread sometime I'm not supposed to be working on my own story. Especially if you post a new chapter.

Ooh awesome, I remember the gap you had between updating... I was looking for TwiLuna stories and checking for new chapters for any TwiLuna fics like every two hours but none of them seemed to be updating and I got quite mad.

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Many moons ago I worked for some small magazines doing layout and editing... this is my first attempt to jump the barrier to creating the content. I thought that I could write and sanely edit my creation at the same time...

Well, I was wrong. It's so easy to become caught up in your own story that it just runs away from you. I like my Luna complicated, fiesty and a bit naughty so keeping her under control can be difficult.

There are parts of the story that I would change if I were writing it now, but that's what learning is all about. I have a new steampunkish Twi-Luna cruise-ship murder mystery at the planning stage - I most certainly will seek an editor/prereader or two for that one.

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steampunkish Twi-Luna cruise-ship murder mystery

I demand you write this! Also maybe get motivated.... um, if that's fine with you....