I do realise it would have been better if I’d posted this on the first Friday of January, but better late than never, right? This will become a regular monthly feature along with a Writing Wrap-up on the last Friday of each month. It may not be all that fun to read (sorry, this was a last-minute post!) but it’s very important to me personally because I procrastinate a lot. And by that I mean, A LOT. I don’t follow schedules or plans even though I have a lot of goals I’d like to achieve and it so happens that I can never accomplish them all.
To fix that, I’m trying to discipline my flighty mind by making plans. Nothing too rigid so I’ll feel suffocated or disinclined to follow, but more like an outline. In the immortal words of Captain Barbossa,
So here’s my “plan” for January –
1. Finish Good to Be a Little Bad
This is a fanfiction story based on White Collar, my second favourite TV show of all time. I started this way back in July 2015 (I can’t believe how long ago that was!) for Camp NaNoWriMo, but I stopped at Chapter 19 because I didn’t know how to write a fulfilling climax for it. I haven’t had any brilliant ideas since then, probably because I’ve partially forgotten about it, but I’m committed to end all my unfinished stories and this is the easiest of the lot. I also feel very guilty because a lot of people on FanFiction.net have given such wonderful feedback and I really want to finish it just for the fans.
2. Finish character sketches for Uncut
For those of you who don’t know, Uncut is my NaNoWriMo 2016 novel for which I’ve written around 50k words. The problem is that I’ve decided to change the story in the middle, so I have to rewrite the draft starting from somewhere around 20k. I’m a pantser by nature, so I had a very rough idea going into this project. I realised I need to have an outline and character sketches at least before I begin again so that I have a better idea of what I’m doing during the re-write. I’m only going to be doing these for a total of ten characters (as of now), who I feel are crucial to the story. For my protagonist, I’m going to be using my favourite Sara’s Character Evolution Files series to help me get the character arc right.
3. Plan the short stories for my blog
I usually post a flash fiction piece on the blog, which means that if I’m not free on Friday evenings, I’m going to miss a post. To prevent that from happening, I want to have at least an inkling of the fiction pieces I’m going to post for that particular month. It can be as vague as an idea to even a complete story, but I believe a little knowledge beforehand would go a long way in making these posts regular.
That completes my list for January. I’m sharing this with you, my readers, because I think that if I declare my intentions publicly, I might be able to force my mind to finish most, if not all, of these tasks, just so I have something to write about in the wrap-up post. I hope you will help me hold myself accountable to the plan. Have a wonderful weekend! 🙂
I love your Flash Fiction so please do post more of it.
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Oh, thank you! 🙂 Then I shall.
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My, aren’t you organised? Good luck keeping to your plan.
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I think this is the tip of the organisational iceberg, so to speak. Almost 90% of the people I know are more organised than I am. Just trying to learn from them and see what happens. Thank you. 🙂
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Well I definitely fall into the remaining 10%, if that makes you feel any better, hahaha.
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These are great goals! I’m sure you’ll be able to get a little bit done in each category. This is why I wrote short stories for NaNo this past November. Now I don’t have to worry about writing shorts for my blog, lol.
I look forward to reading your wrap-ups and goals.
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Thank you. 🙂 I really hope to get at least something done now that I have concrete goals in mind and that I’ve cut down the different tasks into manageable chunks.
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One of my favorite lines by Captain Barbossa… As for you changing up your novel, I’m providing feedback for a friend’s novel and she has decided on revamping the entire middle section! I’m excited to see what she comes up with, just as I’m sure whatever your end product is will be amazing.
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It’s his most memorable quote for sure.
Thank you! 🙂 I never outline my stories, but this time I want to so that I know what to do when I start writing. Let’s see how that goes. 🙂
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Good luck! And you may end up not sticking to your outline. It’s amazing how characters take on a life of their own and don’t always want to do what you had planned for them.
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Oh, I have quite a few stubborn characters who I’m sure won’t let me stick to all the plans I’ve made. I’m still a little unsure about how to outline. I think I’ll refer a few guides and then choose what I think is best for the story. 🙂
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Ha ha, Captain Barbossa. 😀
This sounds like a good plan for your writing projects. And you’re using the Files to help! (*heart dances*) I’m just glad that so many people find that series helpful.
With the flash fiction, are you looking for prompts or ideas to help you generate those pieces in advance? Or is it more a matter of setting aside the time to write them? If it’s the latter, I don’t know of many writing prompt sites, but DIY MFA has Writer Igniter (http://diymfa.com/writer-igniter), which generates random writing prompt ideas. Maybe that might help?
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Anything that would help me approach it with a clearer idea of what to do would be helpful, I think. I’ll be sure to check that out. Thank you, Sara. 🙂
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Rooting for you, Nandini! 👍
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Thank you. 🙂
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