I know I normally post a screenshot for this but because of some rules and restrictions I placed on myself, I am not able to at present.
Instead, I figured I'd tell you a bit about how I challenged myself for DabiHawks week below the break.
THE CHALLENGE:
1) The fic must be single chapter
Everything I've published as part of my public fanfiction has been multi-chapter; Hell, even things marked done are still getting added to. This has to be a true one-shot to get me out of the box.
2) The fic must be fewer than 1,000 words
Brevity is something I struggle with. I started challenging myself this way with The Games We Play, but it did not take long to fall back into my habits and verbosity. Fewer than 3,000 words has been a struggle. This is again designed to force me out of the box I put myself in.
3) Avoid too much inner monologue
I feel like my reliance on inner monologue is actually a crutch and I wanted to force myself to break free from that habit.
4) Avoid focus on inner worlds
Again, another strength of mine that I feel is a crutch in my own writing. I want to only use enough to set the scene, and leave the rest to the action of the characters this time.
5) No Editing / No Editors
I tend to over-edit myself into a writing hell, like I have with Leather & Lace and next weeks chapter drop. Once I said it was done, I have not been allowed to even open that fics document. I will get a little editing tomorrow when I upload the draft in preparation for publication, but aside from that, this is not edited and has not been reviewed by an editor.
6) Ambiguity is the spice of life
I tend to write very concretely. Besides, there are no monoliths in reality, so why do we (in general) write characters this way? I wanted to leave enough action for their to be a story but leave motivations and drivers as reader interpretation. I believe rules 3 and 4 help achieve this.
7) No smut
This will be my second published smut-free fic. I need more of those. Besides, even if they don't get as much attention on AO3, writing Cherry Blossom (my other smut-free piece) has been an absolute delight and I feel like perhaps smut has put me in a box.
Those are the rules I set to write with. I was able to still make my beta readers feel something in spite of these restrictions, so I take that as a Mission Accomplished moment. In the same vein, while I am cautiously optimistic, I am also extremely fucking nervous. It's so far out of my usual writing style that when I last look at it, it felt rushed. It felt like it was so far removed from my flavor of a writer that it doesn't feel like me.
But maybe that's a good thing? Growth as a writer will naturally look and read differently. Plus, they say to do one thing a day that scares you to grow as a person, and for whatever reason, this does.
I'm excited. I'm terrified. I'm anxious. I'm giddy. I am all over the place.
But my beta readers felt something, and that's enough of a win for me.
Thank you to the following people - the people who beta read this fic and helped keep me on track with my rules and goals this round. In doing so, they showed me that I can set intense restrictions and still deliver. I couldn't do it without you.
- Velvet
- NyaPowa
- @ibbgun
- @hokusu
- @emerysn-writes
