The W1S1 Check-in and Chill Lounge and Bar

Lillie

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Nope. Not me.

Not an idea in my head for it.
 

Sai

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Ah man, with everyone else doing MoD stories, I want to write up my idea too. Anyone want to swap stories later tonight for some basic betaing?
 

Tienci

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If I end up with a story to swap, yes. :)
Right now, I'm still in the brainstorming/plotting phase!
About to start writing out what I have in mind for the beginning and hopefully it goes somewhere...

Yay soapdish for the w1s1 start!
 

shelleyo

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For those who plan on submitting to MoD, they have a countdown clock on their site to make the exact deadline clear. It's midnight on the 15th Pacific Standard Time. That's 2 am on the 16th my time (Central), 3am Eastern and I think 1 am Mountain, for those in the US.

http://machineofdeath.net/deadline-clarification

Shelley
 

faerydancer

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Congrats on starting your story, soapdish!

I'd be happy to swap, Sai and Tienci. Extra pairs of eyes are always helpful, especially when there isn't time to let the story sit for a while.

And thanks for posting the countdown, Shelley. I was worried the deadline was midnight tonight for some reason. Whew!
 

Tienci

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Well, I started writing and my MOD story is up to 1k.
I work this evening so I have about 2 more hours to work on this story until I get back home around midnight tonight.
Now that the set-up is done, I think I'll go and try to plot out the middle and end (particularly the end--I have an idea of the middle) so I can fill in the blanks later; with such little time left, I've got to figure out where this story's going.
*off to figure out where the story's going*
 

shelleyo

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Good luck to everybody.

I've actually figured out an angle on mine that will work for a revision to make it suitable for other speculative markets. That doesn't mean it'll be any good, but it would work and keep it from being a one-shot wonder submission with nowhere to go after it bounces home. Whether I'll want to do the work on it, I don't know, when I could take the same general theme I used and switch the circumstances to write a whole new story. We'll see.

I haven't looked at mine since yesterday, and am almost ready to start revising. I noticed, as often happens to me, the character and idea evolved during the writing, so I have a few major changes to make to the beginning. By the time I get to my endings, I've usually found a better way to tell the story or developed another angle, then need to fix the beginning and some details throughout like that's what I'd been thinking all along. Those are some of the best moments, even though I know when that it happens it means I'm not as close to done as I thought I was.

My ending was also a bit too heavy on narrative because I was getting antsy and wanting to get it all down to see if it actually worked. My middle, however, seems pretty solid. If I do say so. ;)

I'm almost finished editing a much longer story, then I'll start on this one. I hope to submit it later tonight sometime.

Shelley
 

faerydancer

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Glad to hear you have an alternative angle on yours, Shelley. I think I have one on mine, too. I'd just remove the "machine of death," and replace it with some other thing that predicts your death. it's pretty much okay I think otherwise. Like you, however, I don't know if it'll be any good. lol But hey, it's at least reassuring you can use it outside of the context of the antho if need be.
 

Sai

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I have 2k of my MoD story down. I've set-up the plot and am in flashback mode right now. I have an ending in mind, but it's going to be that chewy middle that trips me up, I just know it.
 

shelleyo

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I wish there were more fun prompts like MoD. Now I've moved on to my Identity Crisis story.

I looked longingly at the contest guidelines more than twice. The prompt wasn't for me, I guess. Good luck.

Shelley
 

Sai

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Heh, it seems that every other story I write is about my characters having an identity crisis, so maybe I'll submit one of them. I'll read the essay first to make sure I'm on their wavelength.
 

Izz

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A discount bookstore up the road is having a sale atm: fill a bag they provide with as many books as possible and pay only $40 (NZ). I crammed 18 books in that sucker :D

Good times, good times.
 

Lillie

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It pays to know how to pack a shopping bag properly. :D

Well done Izz.
 

soapdish

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A discount bookstore up the road is having a sale atm: fill a bag they provide with as many books as possible and pay only $40 (NZ). I crammed 18 books in that sucker :D

Good times, good times.
That is so cool. Man, I wish we had something like that here.
 

Sai

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Well, I wrote 3,000 plus of my MoD story, but I think I'm going to call it a night. I still have 24 hours before the deadline, so I'll just hustle to work on it sometime tomorrow.
 

zanzjan

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Creeeeeeeekits.

Out of an obtuse need to overfill every single possible moment of my day, I signed up for an "Intro to fiction" course which started yesterday. I was sort of hoping it'd give me a bit of different insight on writing craft, or that at the very least it'd kick me in the ass to get more writing done. We've had a short story due every day so far (ouch!) and I've actually managed to pull it off -- 750 words and 900 words, which is like a *miracle*. That I wrote anything that came in under 7k seems entirely unforeseen. And they only mostly suck!

Meanwhile I also sat down and read through the piece I'm working on for me, and decided that the best way to resolve having too many characters and not enough dead people was (duh) to shift a few very suddenly from the first column into the second. Now I don't need to worry about what they're up to, AND my bad guys get a few extra baddie points on top of it. I might just wrap this stupid thing up after all.

Sorry for the long rambly update. Brain hurts.

-Suzanne