2015 & 2016

[scfrankles]

I’ve been reading thesmallhobbit and okapi1895’s posts about their writing in 2015 and their plans for 2016, so I thought I’d have a go at something similar myself.

My total word count for 2015 (including my DeviantArt stuff and my big bang fic which won’t be posted until the spring) isn’t terribly impressive—about 74,500 words. But as Okapi pointed out, I am concentrating on microfiction. So for 2016, I’m not going to worry too much about the final word count. But I do want to write more often and produce more individual works—both fanfiction and original pieces. One thing I’m going to do is go back to writing for fan_flashworks. I rather let that slide due to work and other writing projects.

And I want to continue to try new things. One thing I definitely want to try this year is writing a novel—something 50,000 words or more. Writing at length is not something that comes naturally to me, but I’ve been greatly heartened by how relatively straightforward writing my fic for smallfandombang has been. That’s only 16,000 words but a couple of years ago I would have found that impossible. I’m not sure I’ll try NaNoWriMo. Simply because I’m such a slow writer—I’m not sure I could keep up. Though I don’t know—if it was just a case of getting a very rough first draft out... But I think for me it’s something better spread out over several months. And anyway, I shouldn’t really put off starting—if I want to try, I should just get on with it.

Another important thing I want to try is selling my original work. I’ve come a long way in the last five years or so, and I’m confident about the standard of my work. I get a good reaction from people I don’t know and have no reason to flatter me. And I think I’m also realistic about rejection now—I’m not going to be crushed if a piece isn’t considered suitable. I can’t see myself ever being a full-time professional writer but it would be wonderful if I could get some additional income out of something I’m good at and proud of doing.

Comments

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Thank you for saying you would miss my fic (and that my writing is good enough to be professional) ^^ Someone of your talent enjoying my work just makes me feel so positive. And I don't think I could ever give up the fanfic world now. There are so many talented writers, there's so much passion for other people's work and for writing in general, and everyone seems to have a willingness to branch out and try new things. On the whole I've found people who only write original fiction to be more conservative in their outlook. And fanfiction is such a demanding discipline - I find it far more challenging than writing original stuff. Oh, and it's fun too, of course ^_^

And, yes, I have seen professional writing that is nowhere near as good as yours or many other fic writers. Though to be fair, looking at things the other way round, I have seen some pretty dire fics too ^_^ It's a reality all writers have to face I suppose - talent isn't always enough to be successful or popular, and in the end publishers are looking for something that will make money.

But I am determined to try selling my work ^^ I will make some more posts as I go along - it will encourage me to actually get on with things, if I know I have to report on them afterwards. We could compare notes - get competitive over rejection letter totals ^_^