Discussion The Scribble Pad (Fanfic Writing Discussions)

What Nyota said. I've often got replies to my reviews where the author said "I didn't even realise I'd put that in there", and my answer is always the above. I'm on the essay end of the review spectrum (understatement of the century) because I like to look at patterns and underlying themes in people's writing, and when your brain is wired that way you tend to spot the subconscious layer of writing and you see how alive a character is in the author's mind. Characters that are alive make for good stories, and good stories are a pleasure to read and review!

With that being said, I don't think that there's any such thing as good and bad reviews, or even good and better reviews. A review is just what the reader took away from the story they read, and different readers will take away different things. For some it's the pleasure of emotions, for others it's the pleasure of the plot, for others yet it's the pleasure of analysis, etc. etc. and all of that is good. In the end it all boils down to the absolute joy of interaction between a reader and a writer, and that's what we're here for.

 

It's the last day of 2024, which means it's time to look back on what we achieved in the last twelve months and make hyperambitious resolutions that we can't keep up with for 2025!

So: given the way 2024 went for me, I had to downsize my goals considerably in September, but the good news is that I achieved pretty much all of what I said then I wrote a detailed outline of Outsiders and even several chapters that I started posting; I added stories to three of my on-going collection threads (I actually finished The Secret Life of Droids thanks to the Word Race, which was an unexpected bonus); I managed to keep up with the UDC XI so far and there's only two weeks to go (crossing fingers that I'm not jinxing it as I type); and I caught up with the vast majority of reviews I had pending for 2024 fics. I also had a goal of writing at least one NSWFF story this year, which I'd already achieved with the Kessel Run before I downsized my goals.

For 2025, my primary writing goal is to bring three of my on-going threads to a close, namely Outsiders, which is a multi-chapter, and Outcast and The Family Holos, which are one-shot collections. My secondary goal is to add to the rest of my one-shot collections, plus participate in the KR and Fanfic Olympics with at least one NSWFF story.

Then, as a reader, my resolution is to not let a mountain of pending reviews pile up for the Review Race. To that end, I'm setting myself a goal of writing at least two reviews every week, and I’ll go without cookies if I don’t (which would be good for my silhouette, but I digress).

That's it for me, what about everybody else?

 

Excellent balance @Chyntuck of realistic and ambitiousness.

I'm going to do a year long Dear Diary and participate in the Fanfiction Olympics and Monday Mush and OTP challenges.

 

I'm on track to finish A Shattered Mind's Eye early next year, most of the writings actually already done I just need to get the Epilogue just right.
At my current publishing rate of one chapter per week I'm likely to end it early March or so, and in the meantime as I edit and fiddle with the little things I'm going to start my own yearlong diary challenge with one of the secondary characters from that story whose perspective I find rather interesting.

I've got a rather ambitious goal with that, hoping to cover years of that character's life in months, but if done right I think I can do it.

 

I'm focusing heavily on some RL goals in 2025, and while I'm obviously pursuing those for RL reasons, I'm hoping it will indirectly help me with fanfic and other hobbies as well by reducing some of the stress in my life and leaving more time and energy for the things I enjoy. That's the theory, at least. We'll see how it actually goes.

For fanfic-specific goals, I didn't achieve any of my 2024 goals so I'm trying something a little different this year. The actual goals are still basically the same, though.

1. Leave at least 1 review every month. I know that's not very much but I often end up going months at a time without commenting. I want to do better about showing my admiration and appreciation for the stories I enjoy!
2. Finish a oneshot for the Obscure Sorrows Mini-Games Challenge. Sometimes I'll be in the mood to write but have no ideas, so I'll go through my hundreds of docs looking for something to work on and can't choose anything, so I end up writing nothing at all. I've worked on this particular vignette on and off for a while, and I keep coming back to it, so I want to focus on that and finish it.
3. Complete the Kessel Run. It honestly helps me so much with perfectionism. Plus it's just such a fun time and a wonderful celebration of creativity!

Wishing everyone all the best in 2025, in writing and in life!

 

Happy New Year!
I planned on starting the diary challenge ASAP, but my dad probably cracked a rib when he fell trying to pack the car, so here's hoping things can only go up from here.

 

I confess I've been moving away from fanfiction lately to focus much more heavily on original work (links in signature), and I hope to average 1,000 words per day over the course of the year on that project.

I'll still try to do a diary though, since I've had lots of luck with that project and owe it a huge developmental debt.

 

Ouch! Hope he's doing okay, and that he's just getting his year's bad luck out of the way early.

I'm always loathe to set my own goals. First sign I might miss one and I'm guaranteed to assume the worst and end up missing 'em all. But thanks to the great community here and its wide array of challenges throughout the year, I'm gonna continue to try new things whenever possible, all while working on my next standalone project in the background. I also need to get better at leaving reviews, too!

Good luck, everybody! Looking forward to reading all the awesome stuff you're gonna share!

 

He's stubborn, slept it off, says he feels better this morning. At least well enough to spend his time cleaning up me and my mom's messes.
Hopefully that's good news.

 

That reminds me of more than one of my favorite teams' athletes. It takes a lot to get them out of commission.

 

Going through a new year's slump lately. Might have to finish off the rest of the drabble challenge in the coming months.

Trying not to stress myself out to much about fic writing, so I'm going to avoid putting too much on my plate challenge-wise.

Goals are:
- Stick with the longfic, hopefully getting to a point where I can post a chapter per week
- Finish UDC XI, then maybe work my way through the UDC X prompts. They're a fun challenge!
- Work my way through the Angstmongers challenges
- Make a To-Read-and-Review list and work my way through it!

 

Goals.

Honestly my writing and reading are pretty intermittent nowadays. So I won't set goals or deadlines. A couple of stories in the pipeline. One that has accidentally turned into something mushy and heartfelt, and the other a rather silly attempt at big screen Star Wars action.

That's all I will promise. I don't have the mental power to commit to competitions right now.

 

Okay, I thought I did worse on this than I actually did. I wrote a week for the UDC, so that is something posted. And though I didn't make it here to review something every week, the amount of reviews that I left over the year seems pretty close to or even over 52. So, not too shabby.

This year's goals:
1. Write something that I post (if it ain't broke don't fix it? )
2. Leave at least 5 reviews for 5 different authors per month.

There we go, that seems like enough to start with!

 

Loving the weekend. (Especially a long weekend!)
Over the last 24 hours I'm in the process of writing chapters in both of my currently active fics that are in a class of their own, very near the top of my all-time favorite chapters/entries I have ever written.

 

It's the end of March, and that means it's time to check how I'm doing on my 2025 fanfic goals! Here's what I said at the end of December…

… and I'm glad to report that I've been doing very well!

The threads I want to bring to a close in 2025: I posted a weekly update for Outsiders every Monday since January; a lot of that was stuff that I'd drafted in 2024 but I also wrote a fair bit of new stuff. I'm more than half-way through the story and it's novel-length, so I’m counting this as a win. I haven't updated Outcast or The Family Holos yet, but I had a look at those story concepts in-between two KR prompts and I'm planning to write at least one of them during WIP month.

My one-shot collections: I returned to my Wookiee myths and legends for the Spring Bingo and I'll (probably) manage 5 ficlets for it. I'm also hoping to finish at least one of the half-written stories I have for my other one-shot collections during WIP month; if not, that's fine, there's always the November Word Race

The heavy-duty challenges: I just completed the 2025 Kessel Run with a NSWFF thread, and while it's not my best writing, I'm reasonably happy with it and most importantly I'm happy with myself for not going overboard and keeping the stories to a sensible length. I was also able to work in-between KR prompts on my plans for another NSWFF thread in a different fandom for the Fanfic Olympics this summer; at this point it would take a massive assault from DRL for that one not to happen because I've laid all the groundwork and I'm just waiting for the list of prompts to turn that into stories. I have further plans for a SWFF thread for the Olympics, but that idea has taken on a life of its own and it may just be too ambitious; I'll have to see where it goes.

And lastly, as a reader/reviewer: I'm proud to report that I obliterated my goal during this first quarter. I’ve written a whooping 143 reviews since the beginning of the year and while I can't reasonably commit to keeping up that pace for the rest of 2025, I'll do my best to not fall too far behind

What about everyone else, how have you been doing? The original discussion about goals starts here, if you want to find your post.

 

I'm currently on track to finish A Shattered Minds eye this month. I did actually consider putting it off until the end of the year to better align with my DDC, it definitely had some spoilery stuff in it, but for various reasons I don't want to get into at this time I decided finish now and anyone who cares can choose to put off reading it until later.

Along a similar note I officially have one or two supplementary texts in progress that ought to enhance the Clawmouse Clan experience. Both of which are related to other challenges on these boards. (Definitely wasn't planning on getting TUNDRA for the angst challenge, but after panicking for a hot minute I managed to rework a plot bunny I hadn't even fully developed before now into a story I absolutely adore. Expect that in the next couple weeks)