For me, it's been.... interesting. For the most part, I'm upbeat. I'm wearing a warrior attitude and charging head-first into this new year. I'm DETERMINED to make it good. I'm not giving things weight if it's not crucial to my life in one way or another. I'm re-organizing my priorities. I'm loving life.
I've also tripped up twice already, falling into a daily funk of "Nope. Don't want to do anything but sit here in my PJs." So, three steps forward, one back? Still forward progress overall, so I'll take it.
Another snafu is that I SOMEHOW injured my left wrist on Friday. I have not an inkling of a clue as to what the HECK I did. I was kneeling at work to measure something, and then I braced myself on the edge of a piece of furniture as I stood back up, mostly because I'm too out of shape to stand up from a kneeling position without bracing myself....
Anyway, the surface I braced myself on was soft, and I got up straight without tripping or anything. It is a move I'm sure many have done throughout the course of humanity, and a move I KNOW I've done countless times without injury. And yet, SOMEHOW, this time I pressed too hard on my left arm or something? Because a pain shot up through to my shoulder.
Friday evening and all throughout Saturday, I kept my wrist wrapped in an ace bandage. Sadly, due to work injuries at previous employers, I've gotten pretty skilled at wrapping wrists and ankles. Sunday I switched over to wrapping my wrist - and my knee, which decided to join the party randomly - in sports tape. Yesterday the pain was almost unnoticeable, but my wrist is still stiff, and if I bend it at JUUUUUUUUST the right angle the pain flairs up briefly and shootingly. If home care of bandaging, icing, and heat don't get me back to normal by Friday I'm definitely getting it checked out, but right now it seems to be an inconvenience that's healing itself.
To be fair, I've been writing nearly non-stop since I injured myself, which both proves it can't be THAT bad, and that I'm an idiot who's clearly not letting myself fully rest in order to heal.
Whoops.
I've got stories to write, dang it! I can't stop because my off-hand decided it wanted to injure itself!
Speaking of, I actually managed TWO chapters of "Woven Heartstrings" this past week!
Yeah, that "I don't even know anymore"? As per usual for me, this story has taken on a life of its own and is taking longer to tell than originally planned. As of right now it seems I'm writing a new chapter for each day that passes in the story. The story started a week before Christmas - I think I figured out that it started on December 18th, but I'll get to that later - so we'll say seven or eight chapters now in total? We'll see where it takes itself.Woven HeartstringsSummary: Chat Noir needs a Christmas gift for Ladybug. Marinette is a very crafty and creative person, so Chat Noir asks her for some help in making a gift for his lady. While hesitant in aiding Chat Noir’s attempts to woo her superhero self, Marinette reluctantly agrees. Although, after a week of working side-by-side with Marinette, Chat Noir’s not so sure he wants to gift the scarf he’s making to Ladybug after all.
Status: Chapter 3 of ? (I don't even know anymore... 7?)
Ships: MariChat with hints of LadyNoir and Adrienette
Rating: K / General Audiences
Universe: This story DOES NOT take place in the “It’s You” universe along with “Peeping Tomcat.”
Spoilers: This story is Season 2 compliant, and therefore has mentions of minor spoilers from Season 2 of Miraculous Ladybug
In the meantime, have fun with the latest two chapters if you haven't read them yet!
"Chapter 2: Crafting"
"Chapter 3: Connection"
Yeah, sorry for the crappy title for chapter 2... I just.... I dunno, it was a weak chapter for me. It was a struggle to keep people in-character for some reason, the story wasn't going the way I wanted at first, it kept me WAY later than I wanted to write, edit, and post, and by the time I was done I had no further energy to spend another three days coming up with a good title.
In truth "The Request" isn't really gangbusters of a title either.
The only one I really like is "Connection" but I might go back at one point and have each chapter be a yarn, crafting, scarf, and/or crocheting reference.
As of right now though, that's too much effort. Sorry, Taurus Pixie.
Poor titling or no, it's wonderful to see how much love this impromptu story is getting! I'm actually in a little bit of shock at how many faves, follows, kudos, and reviews emails I get daily.
I didn't think to do my normal "24-hr stats" like I did for “Peeping Tomcat”, so these are stat totals thus far: posting of chapter 1 on 12/24 through this writing on 1/8.
A little clarification here. Two people - Seirenpoison and AndreaDragonheart - faved two chapters each on DeviantArt. Seirenpoison, whom you might remember as the lovely lady who drew me some "Peeping Tomcat" fanart, faved the first two chapters of "Woven Heartstrings", while AndreaDragonheart skipped over the first chapter and faved the second and third ones. So, technically there are four faves, but it was the same two people who would have only be able to fave once on any other platform.FFN: 1,319 views, 36 faves, 53 followers, and 12 reviews
AO3: 1,046 hits, 105 kudos, 12 bookmarks, and 6 comments
DA: 28 views, 4 faves (2 people on 2 different chapters), but no comments
Total Results: 2,393 views, 145 faves, 65 followers, and 18 reviews
Tumblr Notes: 12 likes
I also don't want to take up the space to show the 18 reviews, but here are the main sentiments:
- Awwwww!
- This is so cute. I'm loving this story.
- The emotions are so strong and subtle at the same time. I love the balance.
- The characters are spot on!
- Your details about crocheting are so amazing.
- You're making me want to crochet!!!!
As for the Tumblr notes? Well, the announcement of the new story only got a reaction out of Pixie, who liked and reblogged. The announcement of the second chapter garnered seven more likes, but no reblogs. The announcement of the third chapter on Sunday has four more likes thus far, but no reblogs again.
So, I'm not entirely sure where all the views are coming from, but I'm loving it! Especially since I'm also starting to get faves and follows on "Peeping Tomcat" again as a result! Sadly, I wasn't expecting the resurgence, so I don't have the specific stats for the views that came after I posted "Woven Heartstrings." However, here were my stats a week after I posted the final chapter of PT:
And here are my stats now:FFN: 21,420 views, 138 faves, 212 followers, and 89 reviews
AO3: 6,821 views, 265 kudos, 38 bookmarks, and 30 comments
DA: 454 views, 37 faves, and Seirenpoison commenting on 3 chapters
Total Results: 28,695 views, 440 faves, 250 followers, and 122 reviews
Can we talk about how the DeviantArt views QUADRUPLED since I finished my story!? Sadly, the 8th chapter Guilt remains the only chapter with no faves... Also, that asterisks after the AO3 comment count is to indicate that those are 31 initial comments. A few of them turned into comment threads between me replying and then getting a response. In total, there are 68 comments on PT.FFN: 29,427 views! 163 faves, 217 followers, and 96 reviews!
AO3: 8,339 views, 302 kudos, 47 bookmarks, and 31* comments
DA: 2,010 views! 39 faves, and Seirenpoison still is my only commenter
Total Results: 39,776 views! 504 faves, 264 followers, and 130 reviews
Also, thanks to emails, I know that PT received at least 5 more kudos on AO3, one new fave on FFN, and 3 new FFN followers since "Woven Heartstrings" went live about 2 weeks ago. I also have a new author follow on FFN.
I guess people want fluffy MariChat stories. Who knew?
 |
| Hacker Girl Facebook sticker by Birdman, Inc. |
Each chapter of "Woven Heartstrings" also falls between 3,000 and 3,600 words, so they're vastly shorter chapters this go. Another plus, since fanfic readers tend to consume content when they're filling short bursts of time, such as waiting for their next class, waiting for an appointment, riding on their commute, relaxing on their lunch break, as they have their breakfast and/or dinner, just before bed, etc. They don't want to be drawn into a long chapter they might not be able to finish before they have to do their next activity, or when they're trying to unwind to go to sleep.
I get it. Doesn't mean I'm going to stop writing my 11,000 word chapters if the story calls for it, but I get it. I'm sort of an acquired taste. People need to dedicate time to read most of my stuff, instead of my stuff helping them fill the awkward amount of time they already have.
So, it's nice that I have a few one-shots, and now this smaller story with shorter chapters. It's a way to showcase my writing and make people WANT to dedicate the amount of time they'll need to read through "Peeping Tomcat", and in turn "One and the Same" once I'm ready to post that.
Speaking of.... yeah.... I haven't worked on OatS in nearly a month. I've been focused on WH. And I mean FOCUSED. Yesterday I was nervous that I wrote myself into a corner. I knew where I wanted the story to go, but I feared that chapter 3 ended up meandering too far from my original plot. I ended up spending about three hours yesterday trying to figure out where my plot went, and if my original concept would still work.
It doesn't fit EXACTLY how I wanted it to go originally, but I still like the direction the story took me.
But, for reals, I took NOTES on what I'm doing so I won't write a dead-end by accident. Just.... don't look too close at the notes if you want to avoid spoilers.
Fear not. After going back through what I wrote, I realized my subconscious had it all sorted out for me.
Chapter - and day - one had him practicing how to crochet until he's "perfected" it enough to feel comfortable making his scarf. Chapter - and day - two had him actually starting the scarf, but he's only at Marinette's for a little over two hours, and that's with a few distractions and interruptions. In the end, I think I estimated he finished the evening with the equivalent of, at most, 90mins of work done. In chapter 3 I didn't specify how long he worked on the scarf, but I imagined about 20mins by the fireplace, and then another 2hrs or so at Marinette's.
After scouring the internet for the better part of a half-hour, I found that the average beginner using a half-double stitch and medium weight yarn - both of which are true of Adrien - could complete a scarf in about six hours, if not faster. Again, I was nervous that our little bean was taking WAY longer than that. Day one he spent more than an hour to crochet a 12cm square. Creating a scarf long enough for Ladybug would be roughly 165cm. Yes, a lot of those above notes were me figuring out the proper length of the scarf. I also tried to figure out, if Adrien kept his pace of 12cm per hour, how long would it take him to hit the full 165. It was NOT fast at all.
But I remembered that he was still learning and practicing those first 12cm. When he actually started his scarf on Day 2, he knew, more-or-less, what he was doing, and could therefore work at a faster pace. I figured about a cm - or roughly one row - every 130 seconds. Still a little slow, but he's still a beginner, and his claws could be an issue with the yarn, slowing him down further. I then figured he could move a bit faster - about one row every two minutes - when he was out of costume and didn't have his claws to contend with. He would also start working faster as he became more confident with his skills, as well as no longer being distracted by Marinette.
I slowed him down again as he figured out color switching, but he was mostly monitored by Marinette for that, so his pace didn't slow TOO far.
After probably an hour of doing calculations and mental adjustments to try to keep the crocheting pace "realistic" I was satisfied that I had done it correct all along. I just need to go back and tweak a word or two in chapter 3, but that was mostly because I caught an inconsistency when I went back through my story thus far.
So, uh, YAY, BRAIN! It's good to know I have it all realistically figured out even when I don't have it all realistically figured out.
 |
| Hacker Girl Facebook sticker by Birdman, Inc |
Details, man. They're a killer.
And once again, I wonder how I can get a job as a script supervisor, because then maybe my attention to details could be useful....
...oddly enough, though, I'm terrible at paying attention to details in my everyday life. Like, if you dyed your hair without warning me that you were going to? If a business just opened on Main Street? If someone is wearing a new blouse or jewelry? If one of my friends GOT A NEW CAR without giving me a heads up? Nope. Not going to notice. At most I'll get an uneasy feeling that something is "off" but lord help me to figure out what....
I'm weird. Okay?
Point is, I have an almost hourly break-down of each day within the story, so I can keep track of what Adrien and Marinette are doing from December 18th through to about 10pm on Christmas. I know the pace Adrien is crocheting at now, and I can make sure he has the time needed for everything I want him to do.
My only remaining issues are Adrien's gift to Marinette, and a way to showcase certain things that I know to be canonically true to my story, but I haven't QUITE figured out how to present them in the story. I think I have time to sort those out though.... for the most part.
So it's back to working on chapter 4 I go, with hopes of being able to pick up the pace a bit faster as I progress: much like Adrien's crocheting.
As for OatS? Fear not, kiddies. I am NOT abandoning this story. I firmly believe working on WH is helping me with this larger project.
As stated above, having smaller, shorter stories like "Woven Heartstrings" is a good way to garner readers, and to prove my writing is worth the time spent reading it.
Trying to get "Woven Heartstrings" done before its too far past Christmas, especially now that I have about four more chapters to write instead of just one, means I'm learning how to write and edit faster, which are skills that can help me out when I get closer to my "End of March/Beginning of April" posting deadline for OatS.
Finally, OatS can quietly brew in the back of my mind while I focus on this story. Have it be a bit of a palette cleanser so I can start fresh and renewed once I'm done with WH. Seeing reviews for my existing stories definitely helps as a motivator as well.
Oh! This post is getting pretty long and I haven't talked about my resolutions again! Well, I guess I'm aiming to chat about them a bit next week, but I'll close out with at least listing them:
- Try yet again to write at least 4 out of 7 days of the week.
- Post at least one new completed story per month.
- Finish and post my fanfic sequel "One and the Same".
- Win NaNoWriMo again this November.
- Continue my weekly blog post routine.
What are your resolutions? Let me know in the comments.
No comments:
Post a Comment