my fingers are frayed

[lobelia321]

I have finished typing up all the handwritten wraith fic fragments.

Page count: 83! Word count: 28,594!!

I am insane.

Now I must go and by heat patches for my back. And then return to have some coffee and cake and finish reading the manuscript of my book. I am up to chapter 3 in the re-reading. There are five chapters in all. I am taking Jane Smiley's advice (which, though coined for novels, works very well for academic non-fiction also, I find): Re-read the first draft as a reader, not as a writer. Try not to want to 'make it better' at this stage. Your job is to understand what the manuscript is actually about, not to judge the manuscript.

Comments

[sheldrake.livejournal.com]

Hello!

I know this is a bit out of the blue, but I just read your 'Tibet' fic. See, I do get around to these things eventually!! I really liked it - such an unusual idea for a crossover, but you made it work very well. Oops, best go - am at work.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

111111

Wow. You read Tibet fic!! Nobody read Tibet fic! It is one of my least read fics of all time!

Thank you so much. That is so nice of you, both to read and to feedback.

It is the epilogue to my millions-of-words-long HP opus. One of these days I shall post, oh yes, I shall. Now that I'm nearing completion with a) my Book, b) my wraithfic. Who knows what I may not yet accomplish, eh?

You know that Torchwood fic you recced the other night? I read it and it made me realise that there are some fic that can be read with no canon knowledge but that there are some fic that are truly fanfic and without canon knowledge I felt lost.

[junalele.livejournal.com]

83 pages? ROFL. You *are* insane. *cackles*

And that seems to be a really great advice of Jane Smiley. Really clever. Not that I ever thought about doing that myself. Okay, to be honest - not that I ever had the time for it either. *cough*

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

83 pages? ROFL. You *are* insane.

I am truly out of my mind. I managed to squoosh the margins down to 1 cm each and print the whole thing out double-paged and thus got it down to 67 pages (i.e. 34 A4 sheets of paper) but still! How did this happen? I don't even remember writing half of this stuff! And I even planned! I broke the fic down into 3 parts and then labeled each bit I've written 1, 2 or 3, and now I'm going to cut it all up with scissors and stick it back together in order...!!!

But I love this fic. I hadn't realised how much I love it. Not remembering writing half of it means that it's like reading someone else's fic! It's also quite insane, and insane-making because it's wraith! And they're evil! So of course it's wrong and rape and evil and angst and omg so very, very hot.

Um. One shouldn't really go on about one's own fic, should one? Alas. I'm just so happy it's okay! It's been sitting on my hard disk since spring, staring at me with its gimlet eye. And now it's actually going to be finished!!!

Hm, you don't actually know SGA, do you? But maybe once I'm done with wraith, I'll finally get round to typing up that Rodney McKay/Cristiano Ronaldo fic that I discovered in my A5 notebooks when going through, searching for fragments of wraithfic. *g*

[junalele.livejournal.com]

Oh, I do know SGA. Of course, I do. It's a tv show, isn't it? *grins* So I know who the wraiths are and who McKay is and so on. And I definetely will read the fic. Especially ftaer your unintended self-pimping. ;)

But maybe once I'm done with wraith, I'll finally get round to typing up that Rodney McKay/Cristiano Ronaldo fic that I discovered in my A5 notebooks...
Excuse me, but there is a finished fic with Cristiano in it laying around in your notebooks? *screams in outrage* What do you mean maybe? Of course, you will type it up! Hello! *grumbles*

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

there is a finished fic with Cristiano in it laying around in your notebooks?
There totally is! My handwriting is so crap that I had to peer at it, giving myself a headache, but it is there and it is basically finished! Okay, as soon as wraithfic is up, I will type this up, just for you, and only then type up the sequel to wraithfic (which I discovered not in my notebooks but on my upstairs computer...!!!). The things that happen when one is at home with a bad back and unable to do much...

SGA! TV show! If you want any episodes, I know where to find them online. *g*

[junalele.livejournal.com]

Okay, as soon as wraithfic is up, I will type this up, just for you
*smiles happily* That's more like it. Also maybe you should go through all your computers and noebooks because maybe there's a finished cristiano/Draco-one lurking somewhere? ;)

If you want any episodes, I know where to find them online. *g*
You do? I so want! Where do I go, where do I go?

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Sign up for ninth_chevron. Or ask isiscolo very prettily and tell her I sent you. :-)

[junalele.livejournal.com]

Oh, a letter of recommendation of sorts? Like that. And I will definetly do that. :D

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

I alerted her that you might be coming her way. She is, understandably, paranoid about making her links available. :-)

I can also rec my favourite episodes, if you want... *g*

[junalele.livejournal.com]

Totally understandable. And please, rec away. I think, I watched most of season 1... And maybe a bit of season 2...

This is great because German tv decided to show shit mixed with some shit and tv shows also have the perfect length. :D

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Also, Jane Smiley!!

I posted in greater detail about her advice here, and also .

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

That last weird dot should read here.

[junalele.livejournal.com]

Oh, don't worry. The link worked anyways. I shall memorize the 'Writing is writing, not planning'-one. No really, so much useful advice. I guess, she has a point there with it being better to just read the rough draft once instead of instantly correcting here and there. Because I tend to re-write the entire thing then or at least completely use the flow. And oftentimes - if it's something lengthier - you have forgotten about some things and so you'll change something which will then no longer fit to a later part. Argh!

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

The best advice I gleaned from Smiley was 'the rough draft is not there to be judged, but to be understood'. This has been so helpful for my Book because I tend to go into a downward spiral of self-criticism as soon as I open the manuscript of my book. Today I did two hours on it! Now I deserve some quality wraith time.

[junalele.livejournal.com]

You do!

Also I liked the one where you wrote that professional writers or literature scientists have to become amateurs again to write a book. So, right! Because most people I know who studied literature can't tune out the critique in their heads anymore. Which come to think of it may just be one reason why I like to read fan fiction so much. Even though I actually do regard it as literature I'm not tempted to put the same rules and expectations to it so I can read it all relaxed.