Challenge Dear Diary Challenge 2018|New year, new challenge.

@Ewok Poet: By March?

If anybody is capable of that and it's not a bunch of short things, I would love to hear more about it.

I was thinking it would be more like having a complete rough draft by March (and with a 30,000ish word piece, that wouldn't be too difficult--I think I could even manage it, if I didn't write a word on anything else), and revising as you post throughout the year.

Both of my diaries probably have far too many characters. That's the biggest issue my thesis committee, all of them, had with my master's thesis, so it's usually not a hill I want to die on--but this is strictly amateur writing, so I just let the character lists be as random as life oftentimes is.

And gosh, I am only three entries into your 2016 diary, @Pandora - not proud!

That's all right. I'll probably finish that diary in 2025 (and have the next post up in, like, 2019) so you have plenty of time to catch up.

 

Wow! You have a master. I...don't even have a bachelor. And yeah, people do ask me how come.

Would it help if I encouraged you to continue?

 

Regarding when I typical get my diaries finished, it is usually some time during the summer, but I very rarely work on *just*that my diary straight through. I'll often write a bit of a buffer, take a bit of a break, then go back to it. Last year with the double narrative, I think it took me till around September/October.

So fat this year, on my NSWFF, I have written 12 entries (totalling just under 10k words... yeah, my muse kinda exploded), so if it was a traditional diary, I could have been very well been done by March. But this is a double narrative and my muse is seemingly wants to take advantage of the buffer I am nicely sitting on at the moment.

 

Is it too late to participate? I need a weekend break from my kindergarten duties & some really tough RL stuff going on.

 

Happy wriggles, @AzureAngel2 -- no, the end of January is the deadline to start. You can do a six-month diary. We have that option this year. Or you can start July 1 for a six-month diary if that's easier.

 

That is good to hear. Then I will come up with something shortly before my birthday.

 

@Ewok Poet: Wow! You have a master. I...don't even have a bachelor. And yeah, people do ask me how come.

It's just an MFA in Creative Writing (also known as the Master of ****ing Around), so it isn't as though I have an impressive master's degree. But it is a master's degree, which means I am qualified in only one way, the one that counts the least, to teach Introduction to Creative Writing at the university level. I used to tell myself to get it together, write a real literary novel, get it published, and then they wouldn't care if I could walk and chew gum at the same time, let alone teach.

I still haven't gotten it together, but I won't digress about that.

As for your situation--there are many reasons (usually financial or health related) why someone might not finish their degree, and I certainly wouldn't ask them about it.

Would it help if I encouraged you to continue?

Honestly, I'm at the point, writing wise, where I don't know what would help. I appreciate it when people enjoy reading my work, but alas, that doesn't make it any easier for me to write more of it. The most I have been able to do lately is bits of prose for the Character Interview Thread (which has been fun, so there's that).

Maybe it would help if I got out and pushed?

 

@Pandora, I hope the muse kisses you profoundly and tenderly.

Mine certainly kissed me to come up with my diary.

 

Started a second half-year diary for SW.
Sibling Snark & Sweetness The title says it all

 

January 2018--Discussion and Mini-Challenge

The first one of the year, brought to you by Pandora.


Discussion: "In the beginning."

It's a very good place to start.

So: as an author, why have you decided to write this particular story as a diary? What do you find attractive about this form, and what do you hope to accomplish by using it?

And/or: why has your narrator decided to begin writing a diary? Are they accomplished diarists, or is this one of their first forays into personal writing?

*

Mini-Challenge: Sunshine

"Oh, dear," said the Force Vampire. "Let us get out of that nasty stuff."

 

For my "Long and Winding Path" diary, the diarist Miara is looking back on what she has experienced and then will use that to dictate or guide how she moves forward in the "present."
For the "Sibling Snark" diary, Sorath is LOL loquacious about he and his sister's experiences
As an author, I have loved the first person format of the diary and have set out a context of the diarist wanting to bask in happy memories and pivotal moments etc.

 

The first two entries are up for my cracktacular diary in NSWFF: The Backpack
This is going to be a half-marathon diary, I didn't get as far written as I wanted, but hopefully I can make it to the end. I've got the ideas all plotted out.


Discussion:
So: as an author, why have you decided to write this particular story as a diary? What do you find attractive about this form, and what do you hope to accomplish by using it?
I had this idea last year, but then one I liked better came to me, so I went with that. It had been sitting in my head for the whole year and I still wanted to do it, so I thought why not! It's from the POV of an inanimate object (a backpack), so I thought it would be fun to think of things from that POV. I think this format is fun because it allows you to explore things you might not otherwise do. It allows me to get into the mindset of someone (or something) and really think about how they feel and react. Emotions aren't always rational, and it's fun to get into that type of thing.

And/or: why has your narrator decided to begin writing a diary? Are they accomplished diarists, or is this one of their first forays into personal writing?
I'm pretty sure this is a first for this backpack. He has experiences, but they are limited and he's never had quite the adventure he's about to go on.

 

A backpack? Now that is fascinating.

 

I swear I started to write a reply to this, but apparently not.

As an author, I really like getting into one character's head really in-depth and exploring their thoughts and emotions, both as they interpret them and how they display them to the world. I actually hate writing 1st person present tense narratives - it's hard for me to write them and not have it sound like a 5th grader wrote it - not that there's anything wrong with beginner's writing, I just know my work in 3rd person is much less frustrating for me to write. So diaries(/1st person past tense) kinda blend those two narratives. Plus, I like that the DDC with it's 24 (or 12 or 48) entry format allows me to write longer stories, without needing a longer plot. I'm really good at creating character scenarios, but long term structured plot with rising/falling action - yeah, forget about it. I have done it, but I much more prefer shorter plots. I also really enjoy playing with biased narrators and that's kinda hard to do with 3rd person narratives.

As to why I chose these particular stories:
-for my SW diary, this has been an OC and story that has kinda been brewing for awhile. I tried doing it in 3rd person and it just didn't work - half the hilarity of the OC is being in his (big, biased) head and I just didn't like it in 1st person present tense, so I decided to just wing it and do it as a diary. I don't think it's my best work, but it's a story that just wants to be written so this is how its getting done

- for my NSWFF, I knew I really wanted to get into some of the OCs Mav and I have created over the past few months and do a bit of a longer story arc. I thought about doing a Leo or Elvie diary, but I just love Rose and Marc so much I knew I wanted to do another "married to powerful men and I have no idea what I am doing" diary.


As for the narrators:
Pan's diary started out as his last 'testimony' and I think, since he survived and now is in a medcenter, he's kinda just continuing it out of pure boredom. But I don't think he's very experienced at journal writing (which I think is obvious from his writing abilities.

For Marc and Rose, I think they have both done journaling before, or have at least written their thoughts on paper and they are both in positions where they have a lot of complex emotions to sort through. They both know they will probably have to write some sort of memoirs one day, so this is where they are starting.

 

Yes, yes, yes, I made it, I made it - I DIDN'T START A DDC!

 

Still updating that diary despite all that life throws at me right now.

 

THERE ARE SIGNS OF INTELLIGENT LIFE IN THIS THREAD.

All right, and sorry, I will put the all-caps back where I found them. But yes, @Findswoman, we think a planning strategy discussion is a good idea, so consider this post the official go-ahead to begin.

 

There is Pandora, behaving like EP.

 

The capslock thing is habit forming
As for planning diaries, I like to think in broad strokes, how many entries max /minimum will be needed and what I want to happen if not in detail in each one and then as I go along the specifics come out. What is nice is the entries don't have to be super long, just a few sentences.

I frame my diaries as "looking back" memoirs although keeping them for "official log" reasons also works.

Diaries by R2 and I-Five fit in this category.

 

Hi everyone, just a quick housekeeping note. Over the last few months, we've chosen not to enforce the "PM the sock every time you post" rule.

Blame Kahara, who is writing this, for not letting you all know about this policy right away. She sometimes has trouble with communicating directly and keeping track of things, and she was the one mainly concerned about this. And talks in the third person. I should have put this in the challenge thread much sooner and instead procrastinated. Sorry, folks!

We know that many of you are having a difficult time this year and it can be hard to remember to PM. Moving forward, we're planning to treat the PM's as a guideline and helpful (for us, the thread-runners) suggestion rather than a requirement. As long as you're still updating on schedule, no worries.

If we get a massive increase in participation next year we may want to consider the PM's necessary again, but we won't change anything without letting you know. And we will ask for and follow your feedback at that time.

Since @Findswoman has provided us with a great discussion for the thread here http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...r-new-challenge.50047167/page-3#post-55074313, I'm not going to put one of those in this post. But I know it's been too long since we had a mini-challenge for your diaries. So here you go.

Mini-Challenge: Parental Being's Day

While the next couple of months will have celebrations for mothers and fathers in many non-GFFA places (though by no means all!), we have no idea whether such a holiday exists in the Star Wars universe.

But for the sake of the challenge, have your diary character(s) reflect on what the people who raised them and/or their biological parents mean to them. And if you want to create a holiday for this, knock yourselves out!

 

My muse kinda sauntered off both of my diaries this year, but I'm not too surprised - basically doing 3 diaries after doing a double diary last year was probably not the smartest idea. I mean, I COULD have continued both and I do want to (I even have a couple unedited entries I should get around to editing and posting), BUUUT I have other stuff I want to write more. And I decided that this would be the year I just wrote what I wanted, even if meant leaving stuff unfinished.

However, I do have a ~5000 word vignette I have yet to post, mostly because I'm kinda not very happy with it. I basically condensed a 15k short story into 5000 words just because that is kinda normally the length of my longer 2/3 part vignettes for my series, so it's kinda everywhere. It isn't bad but I know if I take the time, approach it from the more emotional POV, it could be better. Buuuut, making an half-marathon diary out of it (and I do have enough material for 12 entries... I think) does mean writing/posting a VERY sad, very emotionally draining fic over like 6 months (which I'm not sure I can do... it's been a rough year thus far) instead of getting it over with in like 3 weeks.

Plus, I do have kinda a different idea to get back into doing longer fics and I know, at this point, the muse can only focus on one longer fic.


I know this is more me musing and not really answering the question/discussion Findswoman proposed, and maybe I'll do an actual post with some diary strategies, but this is one: taking an idea that just isn't working or that you just aren't happy with (either one that you started or one that is floating around in your head) and reworking it into a diary format with this challenge that forces you to post within a time limit.

 

I don't know that I'm the best person for advice since I've never actually finished the challenge, but here is goes anyway.
If you are the kind of person who's muse likes to wander off, I'd write as much as you can as quickly as you can. That's always my problem, that even if I plot out ideas for each entry, once my muse decides to take a vacay, that's it, I'm done.

If that isn't a problem for you, I'd at least have a general idea of what you want in each entry, and then allow yourself to deviate as need be. The nature of this challenge means you are going to post it over a long period of time so more ideas might come to you, or comments may make you want to add/change things as you go. But basically, it's just like writing a multi-chapter first person story, just with a specific posting schedule.

 

Thanks for all the helpful tips! I started outlining something for the half-marathon today, breaking down the story month by month. I hope it will help me stay on track better this time (though I think part of my problem with last year's DDC was that I tried to get too ambitious with the multiple narrators; it led to a crazy posting schedule I just couldn't keep up with) I still have some details to fill in, but I feel like I'm getting a handle on things.

It occurred to me that this will be the second time I’ve done a DDC featuring angsty teenagers. What’s up with that, anyway?

 

My influence.