Week 2 is here, and I have seven of the nine projects to 2k, which from past experience can take a bit of time to get that opening just right so the story starts off flowing well, but once the story starts flowing, it is often easier to get the other chapters written out. Also, the eighth project is a little over half-way to the next word count. But here's where my stories stand on getting to the 8k goal at this point.
- 15. Three Witches – 53.4%
- 76. The Silent Place – 42.0%
- 18. Whispers of the Veil – 40.1%
- 30. Buried Within – 34.5%
- 72. Portrait Between the Pages – 32.1%
- 20. What You Can't See – 29.5%
- 72. After a Thousand Years – 29.5%
- 26. A Picture's A Thousand Words – 16.6%
- 11. Vibrations (Working Title) – 0%
I'm hoping to have the last two done by the end of today, although that may be a bit optimistic on my part. Which, last self-progress report I accidentally combined in the stats the titles After a Thousand Words with A Picture's A Thousand Words—it was actually the first that I'd finished and had to go through a few drafts.
What You Can't See
I'm not sure how I feel, particularly after having changed up the second chapter from being expository in nature since the first chapter already contained quite a bit of expository. It goes back to show-don't tell, yet the point of expository is set up, of relaying to the reader things they need to know before they get in. It's not exactly the funnest thing for me to write and I don't think it's the funnest thing to read. But when I say this, I'm not saying it's skippable material, or that one should go the opposite route of expository focusing more on showing rather than telling, but more of it's not that meat of things that readers love.
And, I am actually debating going back and rewriting the first chapter, which would be a first for ONC, but I'd want to do it before submission for the first round is over, so I am thinking getting my stories to the first 2k milestone is my first step and my second is in fact getting this chapter looked over now that I've had a break and deciding if that's what I wanted, of if I was having a brain fart at the moment of writing it and need to rework it.
It's not, though, a big deal. And true, as someone who publishes constantly in a serial manner with her fanfiction, the ideal is having the chapter you publish actually be your final draft.
Yet, I also like the part covered in the second chapter and feel that's how I want it to be.
The thing is, will this first chapter when I rewrite, if that's what I decide is needed, end up being chapter one and two, and chapter two become chapter three?
Portrait Between the Pages
I had a fun time writing this, but also making the cover for this one using the cover making AP that Wattpad attaches itself to. Which, I remember a time when Wattpad had it's own cover ap and the covers we could make based on that were limited. I still actually have some covers made in that ap, like the one for Muggle Ghosts.
It's definitely going to, I think, be a fun journey, with Hermione conversing with the portrait in the book she found, with there being limits to what that said portrait will tell her, either based on what they personally knew, or are set up to do.
The Silent Place
For what I wrote—well, I'd honestly thought what ended up being three chapters would be done in one or two. I also imagined something simpler. And then, I discovered The British Library was located next to King's Cross.
For those who don't know the significance of this—well, the place that was used to shoot Grimmauld place in the films is located near King's Cross and because of that I like to imagine that Grimmauld Place in the Harry Potter universe would also be located near King's Cross.
From there I knew I wanted Regulus to go to a nearby library and so I searched for libraries in London.
And there it was, right at my finger tips, the library of any bookworm's dreams.
I'm talking The British Library, with over 14 million books, one of the five libraries in the United Kingdom that after a certain law is to receive a free copy of any published work for archival purposes. And a quick search revealed that, yes, the library would have existed at the time I needed it to as the building was created on July 1, 1973.
There are also not a lot of buildings build after 1901 that have received Grade 1 status, but The British Library is one of them, in part because this is the national library that was originally a part of the British Museum, but books is just one type of item kept at the library.
And this has ended up shaping the direction of the story, with the first three chapters revolving around Regulus finding this library while the next part involves him meeting the Muggle girl at a place he knows his family wouldn't want him to be, but he's there because he couldn't stand the noise. And to Regulus, the library is effectively going to be to him as motorcycles and girls in bikinis are to Sirius.
Buried Within
One of two projects which has nothing to do with Harry Potter this year, this project is letting me tackle Lockwood & Co fandom. I was originally going to go with a super annoying OC who annoyed the company, as in the daughter, but then the plot and characters started developing as I wrote the daughter OC and I realized I couldn't make her annoying—instead it was her mother, who has definite issues going on, but her father who was going to originally be an enigma and thus someone the mother could blame for problems isn't actually the problem, solidifying with a character whose mother is in ghost denial, but in the age of The Problem her ghost denial isn't that they exist, but that they are around her at a given time, that they could be around her, not understanding the issue with a dead body being found in the wall.
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
I've gotten one chapter done and need to get tags added I think to my tag book (hey, I've got over 900 works now and need a way for readers to sort though what I've written, so I've tagged everything I've written with #yemihikari to help facilitate that, or at least have tried to. But I don't believe I've written a story involving Colin Creevy before.
I've gotten one chapter done, one chapter is in the works and one more left to write before I move onto the next project.
My one worry is the photo taken as a tourist being considered to take a backseat because a lot of the story doesn't take place at the tourist destination, yet it still does factor in because while it takes place in Great Britian, the UK, the Black family does have ties back to France in the very least their motto, so there are certain things that I am wanting to work towards the plot moving along.
Vibrations
I'm probably not going to go with the title once I start writing. It's kind of a place holder right now.
The introduction, though, is written, and I've already found I'm inspired in some manner by a second prompt for that one.
Also, there is a chance of having to go back and adjust some introductions because it doesn't quite say what I want, or there ends up being another prompt that ends up influencing the piece.
