Writing and more writing

[icarus]

In the works:

Beg Me For It
I think I've finished the next chapter of 'Beg Me For It' - 'Hey You.' (Yes, based on the Pink Floyd song - it is my first songfic, lyrics provided by justacat.) tboy has kindly offered to Beta, as CLS is now out of town.

I read the series-thus-far beginning to end, and am not quite satisfied with 'Hey You' as a stand-alone story (explaining what's happened so far is getting unwieldy, and while 'Beg Me For It' stands solidly on its own, and 'Death Eater Rock' wobbles but still holds it own, 'Hey You' I think stands about as well as a three-legged table), but I do like it as a chapter. I just wish I could take Percy's intro out. Or rewrite it with something more appropriate to the mood of the piece and less obvious to people who've read the other parts.

SSFF
I'm working on my SSFF story, which, quite frankly, I've been drawing a complete blank on for weeks. Thank you to tradescant whose boredom and prodding (and likewise tinderblast's and her singing tumbleweeds!) provoked this story and provided the mood. Now I just have to figure out what happens next.

Yes, unlike all my other, carefully outlined and plotted stories, this one was written completely off the cuff and I've no clue where it's headed. I very rarely do this, (though Harry and Percy did ambush me on 'Skinny Dipping'), and I find it alarming. Oh no, I think, what if I don't think of an ending? What then? Will I run off the edge of the edge of the earth? *beyond this point there be Dragons.*

I think the SSFF story has been difficult because now that Snape is less-maligned, I've switched camps to defend poor, unloved 'let's-all-hate-Percy.'

I see a pattern, yes I do.

Good Lord That's Huge
Good god I've written a lot though. I printed all my stories out (minus Guy Talk, Rising Sun, Animagick, Skinny Dipping and all the drabbles - you know, the recent stuff), and spiral bound them -- it's about 350 pages. All since November.

I admit, I was surprised, but very pleased.

Whimper, I've Been Flamed
I realise that this is a rite of passage, but this is the first time someone has really let me have it on my writing. My ego's in a sling.

Comments

[wikdsushi.livejournal.com]

Muahahaha!

You realise, of course, that this makes you the Heir Apparent of Prolificacy within the fandom when I retire from primarily writing fanfic. *eg* (Could be as little as two weeks to that, just depends how things go.) Now, your next task will be to break a quarter of a million words... ;)

*Baby flops down and purrs, showing no signs of deadly intent until she's already struck* I love my evil kitty. *grin*

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Retire? *eeep* Noooooooooo...

Waitaminute. That means the sequel to Civil War is almost done? (You should see me. My eyes just grew huge.)

The trouble with retiring from fanfiction is that often you never get to read your favourite author's original fiction. Promise you won't do that to us, that you'll occasionally give us a peek at original stuff in your LJ. From time to time. Please? If you've established a fan-base, you are duty-bound to us now to keep us informed of more recent works.

*Reaches for softly purring kitty. Loses hand. Kitty continues to purr.*

~Icarus

[wikdsushi.livejournal.com]

Yep, and there'll be more to write whenever I get into a slump on original and have to go back to my roots. *grin* My version of retirement is similar to my dad's: his card may say retiree engineer, but that doesn't stop him from spending entire weeks in power plants for $75 an hour. ;)

I don't think I could ever break from it entirely, at least not yet. Too many fics to read, too many to write. (Hell, I haven't even gotten around to why Emily and Remus got/had to get married, and the wedding is a hoot.) Peeks at original stuff will be few and far between, if ever, because I'm so protective of it it's sickening. However, I'll rant, bitch, whine, rave, and generally harass my characters as ever, and you'll definitely know when I finish something and/or get it published. On that front, I don't think I *could* shut up. *eg*

Hee, good kitty! Taking someone else's hand in addition to Mommy's! ;) *shows off scars*

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

*contemplates learning how to do everything left-handed*

Sigh. Just tidbits? To keep people interested? I really think that fanfiction can work as a sort of grass roots marketing. You build a readership, then use that to prove to your agent (and subsequent publishers) that people will read what you write.

This is me being a marketing geek again, but it seems to me that you could publish on livejournal and the internet a couple one-off stories from a world you've created (nothing you'd sell, but something to get people interested in the new world). Then you could tell your agent, "look, I've heard from 435 people so far and they want more. There is a market for this universe, and I am already known." I think it could make the difference between something that the publishers will read, and something they won't.

I'd ask Cassandra Claire, since you guys hit it off, if she parlayed her current fanbase into something that would convince the publishers to give her a shot. Because she does have a short story coming out in an anthology.

In my opinion, the publishing world does not know yet what a goldmine they have in the internet for marketing. They're still relying on old-fashioned 'blurbs', which more and more established writers are refusing to do. They could take the stories they're interested in, insist that the writers provide a 'teaser' that they drop on their website. Then they track which teasers get more (unique IP address) traffic. Aside from the upload, the work's all on the side of the author. That gives them the kind pre-publishing sizzle you would normally get from a series, and it's free.

Oh, by-the-way, I got curious late last night and added it up: I'm at 166,000 published words. Snape Manor would tip me over the 1/4-mil mark, easily.

Icarus