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unmitigated crap
So, now that the whole Stargate Fan Awards voting business is tidied away . . .
I reset my word meter this week, to officially kick off the new story. The signs of progress are a bit deceptive, though; most of the word count so far is the work I did back in May. I’ve made damned little progress this week in actual writing, with tonight – Saturday night – being the most productive by far.
I’ve mostly spent the time (when I wasn’t, you know, working, eating, sleeping, etc.) in Ponder Mode: envisioning the overall plot, considering characters, looking for interesting angles, chewing over inherent problems. Planning what kind of research I need to do. Making lots of notes. And smashing into frequent walls. I hit the Unmitigated Crap Zone for the first time in months.
That’s the point when I become convinced that what I’m writing is unmitigated crap. It usually happens when I’m actually writing; this is the first time it’s hit me in the overall plotting stage. I consider myself fortunate that it’s the first time it’s hit me since early this year – that’s a very long stretch.
When I first started writing – working on Up a Long Ladder, beginning in fall 2007 – I hit that state frequently. I was working in near-secrecy: Lothi and my partner knew I was writing, but no-one else did. And neither of them got to see the work in progress. Lothi finally got to see it when I was about half-finished, and had run so hard into the Unmitigated Crap Zone that I sent her the half-manuscript in a state of despair, convinced that it sucked.
She managed to convince me that it didn’t, and to keep at it. Thanks, Lothi.
Since then – with Phoenix Rising, I was a bit less anxious, but I finished the whole thing before I even revealed the title to the world in general. With Aftershocks, I succumbed to the seductive lure of ongoing feedback and started posting as a work in progress. And Lothi and Melissa now read each chapter as it’s finished, pat me on the head and feed me biscuits. This has cut down considerably on the UCZ, for which I am deeply grateful.
It’s been tough hitting that zone again. Especially without any finished material to leave in a basket on my closest friends’ doorsteps with a little note saying ‘please be kind to my baby fic’. No, this one’s being a hard case whilst still in gestation, the little bugger, alternately kicking hard and retreating into sulks. I’m pretty sure it won’t be stillborn, though, and that’s what really matters.
The bright spot is that tonight, after several days of mulling but no real writing, I got a decent chunk of work done. And I even got to add a teensy leetle bit to my word meter.
'Beth
August 2009
I reset my word meter this week, to officially kick off the new story. The signs of progress are a bit deceptive, though; most of the word count so far is the work I did back in May. I’ve made damned little progress this week in actual writing, with tonight – Saturday night – being the most productive by far.
I’ve mostly spent the time (when I wasn’t, you know, working, eating, sleeping, etc.) in Ponder Mode: envisioning the overall plot, considering characters, looking for interesting angles, chewing over inherent problems. Planning what kind of research I need to do. Making lots of notes. And smashing into frequent walls. I hit the Unmitigated Crap Zone for the first time in months.
That’s the point when I become convinced that what I’m writing is unmitigated crap. It usually happens when I’m actually writing; this is the first time it’s hit me in the overall plotting stage. I consider myself fortunate that it’s the first time it’s hit me since early this year – that’s a very long stretch.
When I first started writing – working on Up a Long Ladder, beginning in fall 2007 – I hit that state frequently. I was working in near-secrecy: Lothi and my partner knew I was writing, but no-one else did. And neither of them got to see the work in progress. Lothi finally got to see it when I was about half-finished, and had run so hard into the Unmitigated Crap Zone that I sent her the half-manuscript in a state of despair, convinced that it sucked.
She managed to convince me that it didn’t, and to keep at it. Thanks, Lothi.
Since then – with Phoenix Rising, I was a bit less anxious, but I finished the whole thing before I even revealed the title to the world in general. With Aftershocks, I succumbed to the seductive lure of ongoing feedback and started posting as a work in progress. And Lothi and Melissa now read each chapter as it’s finished, pat me on the head and feed me biscuits. This has cut down considerably on the UCZ, for which I am deeply grateful.
It’s been tough hitting that zone again. Especially without any finished material to leave in a basket on my closest friends’ doorsteps with a little note saying ‘please be kind to my baby fic’. No, this one’s being a hard case whilst still in gestation, the little bugger, alternately kicking hard and retreating into sulks. I’m pretty sure it won’t be stillborn, though, and that’s what really matters.
The bright spot is that tonight, after several days of mulling but no real writing, I got a decent chunk of work done. And I even got to add a teensy leetle bit to my word meter.
'Beth
August 2009