Adventures in NaNoWriMo-land

{fic} Unnecessary Warnings | NCIS(/Criminal Minds) | Gibbs, Abby | Femslash

2009-12-01T02:02:15Z

A related ficlet

Unnecessary Warnings
Character/Pairing: Gibbs, Abby (Abby/Emly Prentiss)
Rating: All
Challenge: #165 L.J. Gibbs on ncisdrabble100
Word Count: 300 exactly
Summary: Abby confronts Gibbs about his "friendly warning."
Notes: The first line is from my NaNoWriMo project (a Criminal Minds/NCIS xover fic), but that won't be ready to view for some time and I wanted to do some drabbles related to it. =) Femslash!
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( Protection's all well a good but... )

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Plotline complete PLUS hit 50K early!

2009-11-23T07:19:19Z

*laughs like a maniac* Oh my god, I can't begin to describe how excited I am! *squee* Soooo proud of myself! =D =D =D

My goal was to complete my plot (as holey and messy as it is) by midnight on today/Sunday; well, I'm off by an hour, but I didn't go to bed before it was done. Extra awesomeness: I made my "bonus point" goal of hitting 50,000 early/first run of the plot! This week will be spent (besides doing ridiculous amounts of other RL things) writing additional scenes, fleshing out sections, and tackling some of the massive plot holes. =p

This story is by no means pretty, lovingly in character, detailed, or, y'know, particularly clear, but this is definitely a first-first draft. I did not have to resort to killer vampire bunnies, someone eloping, aliens beaming Hotch aboard an UFO, or the zombie apocalypse (aw, damn, I <3 zombies). Hee. ^_^ I'm pleased as punch with my accomplishments thus far.

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Wowie! 44K =D

2009-11-22T00:55:59Z

Yes, I got to use this scene snippet I wrote out sometime last month (potentially for Shook the Bones) and now have it in NaNo! (Revised/added some)

( snippet, whee! ) And then I finally got to the - le gasp!! - ~~dreaded~~ ~~cliche~~ required three words!

( second snippet, same scene )
Yup, I've gotta handcuff the antag, but then I'm ready for the story wrap-up! Hell, with only 6K to go before breaking the word count goal, I would not be surprised to be going into week four and my filling-in stage with 50K! =D Awesomeness.

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Wow.

2009-11-21T05:03:20Z

At the evening's Write Now Write In, I wrote 2,969 words. Yay! With the "white elephant auction" we had all sorts of awesome and random things. Raised $27.15 for the Young Writers Program, w00t, and I came away with a pack of colorful craft foam sheets, and a gift set of Bath & Bodywork's vanilla bean ($3.50 on the bid!) Also, big stash of goodies like pixie sticks and faux playdough and marbles. XD Awesome stuff. I love our ML, Zhie is queen. I also like her brother and her husband, very nice family. =) And all lots of fun to chat with.

So it was a great night, I got things accomplished, had way too much soda today, and I wish there were more frequent write-ins. ;)

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Quick update!

2009-11-19T15:07:55Z

Anyone else who's reading this doing NaNo? Keep an eye on @NaNoWriMo (Twitter) for nightly word sprint. These things are amazing. I went from having maybe 24,700 words by early evening on Monday to 27K by the end of the night. Last night I did the three sprints, even with some distractions, and got another 3K written.

With the past few days of writing, I'm suddenly at 36,200 words! Wow, that's a helluva lot from Monday's sadness of having been slightly behind! I'm not letting myself take breaks. Time goes in every day to NaNo even though I've got to tune up my focus on apartment searches and grad school finances. ;;^___^

Finally working more on outlining plot, too. I've got a pretty full board of notecards, though I still need to plan how the "showdown" goes and how/where I'm ending. Sunday is my goal of wrapping up the plot (as messy and full of holes as it is) so I can spend next week adding scenes and filling holes.

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Plans & Goals

2009-11-17T03:26:39Z

Because for some reason NaNoWriTool miscounts the words (seriously, I don't know what it is) and doesn't match either Word or the official site's gauge, I've cleared any sort of spelling/grammar check and any autoformats from Word and have decided to type there from now on. But I'm also writing some bits in the WriTool before transferring it over. (At least, that's what I did for two big dream/nightmare sequences that I just added.)

I was rather depressed when first transferring the story to Word since I was suddenly coming in under yesterday's goal at around 24,500. Today I'm supposed to be up to 26,666, so you can see why I'd be daunted. But then I went to work with some word count cheats (don't judge me! All WriMos do it!) and then figured out something I could envision writing. I tell ya, I reach this halfway point and suddenly I feel stumped. NOT a good thing, dude. But the nightmare sequences are pretty good, though will need to have some fact checks (in term of episode scripts) and help emphasize some of Reid's issues closely wrapped up with Gideon's abandonment.

Ummm... I've got a fair amount of NCIS now in here. It's confusing in my mind as yet how the characters ought to be introduced and handled. For now I'm still keeping this written for "someone like me" -- meaning my imaginary readers know both CM and NCIS. I'll tackle whatever issues later.

I'm struggling at the moment with figuring out transitions/scenes to bridge gaps from one event to the next. I think a lot of crap is coming out of me in the meanwhile, lol. See... my goal is to have the story (aka what's passing for a plot) finished by this Sunday (the 22nd) evening. The final week of NaNoWriMo I want to spend going back to write more scenes / fill in plot gaps. This is not at all going to be an editing or even much of a revising stage. It's more like prepping for that next step.

So that's the plan and hope. Two (wait, three!) possible write-ins before Sunday. I'm making it a requirement to get to two of them, so this should help me move along. Word-warring and a determined writing atmosphere.

Wish me luck, folks. Really. =)

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Oh happy day~

2009-11-13T20:59:08Z

Received the official notice today from UMN that I have been accepted to grad school! (I'm studying for my MA in adult education.) Soooo excited about that.

I am no longer ahead of my word count (aww) but I'm still on target (huzzah!) - I'm away from home in North Carolina to see family for the next few days so clearly a less computer-focused life is occuring at the moment. ^_~ I did mange to write about 1K yesterday on the plane. I didn't realize it was that much until I was typing it up from my notebook. Lovely surprise!

At the moment I'm @ 21,288 word count and am caught up to the point of my extra scene that I wrote some time last week. Yay for NCIS! =) I did write two very Hotch/Reid focused scenes this week but today's writing has been very focused on Prentiss and Abby. I really wonder how the pov/focus will turn out when this is ultimately done. For the rough draft I'm just letting it go all over the place. =)

Well, that's all for my update. =)

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NaNo cover for another author

2009-11-11T00:32:39Z

Made at a request. =)

Cassidy's Fate Regalta cover by ~scifiroots on deviant ART

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Wk 2 pep talk from Chris Baty

2009-11-10T03:47:30Z

I was rather amused, particularly by the opening paragraphs of his letter this week. =)

( You are part ninja, part monkey, and part stairmaster cyborg. )

On the homefront here I've got 17,269 words on the meter! And whaddya know? The scene I've been working on (and have not yet completed, so it's a longer one) is Hotch/Reid! Le gasp! Actually the earlier Abby/Emily scene is in-progress and I revisit it every other day.

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Abby and Prentiss art

2009-11-09T23:55:56Z

Two variations of a manip for Abby and Prentiss. I want to do something better (albeit more complicated) later on. I just didn't have the energy yet. =p

Abbs&Emily: Swirls
Abbs&Emily: Torn Photograph

Enjoy!

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NaNo comic!

2009-11-09T18:33:35Z

The lovely Hidama provided me with text to use in a comic and I happily agreed. I love this gal, she's a witty, friendly person - totally awesome and smart and has provided more support (and inspiration!) than I could ever hope for. =)

I've posted the comic on DeviantArt over here. I would love to hear what you think!

x-posted to my personal journals.

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Milw. write-in @ Anodyne today!

2009-11-08T20:15:06Z

#Milwaukee #NaNoWriMo write-in today @ Anodyne on KK (Bay View) 3pm. =D local chain, s'posed to have GOOD coffee

Two hours before Anodyne #nanowrimo write-in and I'm pretty much ready to go, lol. Yes, I'm psyched. Cafe is open 'til 9 if I stay long time

@hidama "1st to start doesn't mean 1st to cross the finish line" #fortunecookie Figure this means you reach 50K before me? =) #nanowrimo

Makeup applied, Star Trek t-shirt on, ridiculously large white heart earrings. Yup, ready to get out of the house! #nanowrimo write-in

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New Post Secret - Emily Prentiss!

2009-11-08T04:53:42Z

As mentioned in a previous post, probably my biggest surprise this week was finding myself transitioning into a femslash scene. I knew I was going to have a side thing about Prentiss and a girlfriend, but I didn't know it would end up being Abby Scuito from NCIS, nor did I know how much I'd fall in love with the idea. It's still not a main point, but the relationship certainly has more time than anything of Hotch/Reid like I previously imagined.

Anyway, Emily's post secret relates to my revelation.

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Twitters from the afternoon

2009-11-08T04:33:42Z

So after the insanity (thy name is writer's block?) of the previous post, I thought I might as well post my comments/Twitter updates from while at the write-in today. =) Which TOTALLY KICKED ASS. I <3 my regional people. Adding a bunch of "writing buddies" today to my profile, lol.

( thanks for the productive atmosphere! )

@hidama <3 It's inspiring to be encouraging. =D

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nano_scifiroots @ 2009-11-07T15:20:00

2009-11-07T21:21:25Z

After a word war at the beginning of the write-in I came to a sudden stop about two hundred words after the word wars:

ummmmmmmm dude why'd i stop typing? what do I need to say? ABBY WHERE ARE YOU

"Who the hell is calling me at this time in the afternoon? I'm trying to take a nap! With Burt! the farting hippo stuffed animal whom I love."

What the hell Abbs? You're acting crazy.

"You're the crazy one, yelling inside my head and acting like you know anything about me. Or Prentiss. Or whatever."

Shit. Why am I talking to myself? I don't want to count this in my word count anyway.

Damn I'm crazy.

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NaNoWriMo write-in!

2009-11-07T19:05:51Z

I'm so excited! In a little bit I'll be taking off to go to my first write-in! If you're in the Milwaukee area, the NaNo write-in is today from 2-7pm at Borders in Greenfield (the one in the parking lot of Southridge Mall). I'll be there wearing my maroon Writing Center t-shirt and a red skirt. ^__^

It's amazing to me how quickly I can come awake when I have something to get up for. I bounce around, enjoy my shower more, happily apply makeup, pick out some funky jewelry and wha-la! I'm ready to get out there!

I only have 1K words to go to meet today's goal so I'm excited about getting ahead of the game today! Looking forward to meeting fellow NaNo writers and writing in a different setting. Squee! I'm happily bouncing around here, lol.

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omg femslash!

2009-11-07T00:11:39Z

*snirk* It is something rather out of the ordinary for me to be writing -- femslash, that is. I've been fond of a number of f/f pairings over the years but haven't paid nearly as much time to fanfiction in the femslash realm as I do for m/m slash. =p

Heavens know Broken Silence was intended to have a couple romance subplots going on - namely Hotch/Reid developing a relationship - and yet of the 9,557 words written thus far, you'd be hard-pressed to see a hint of H/R. Instead there's blatant Prentiss/Abby am I'm in fact writing an exclusive scene for this pair right now. I think it's terribly ironic that I feel out of my league writing f/f romance given that I'm a woman myself. Maybe it's cuz I feel like I ought to have some decent background to draw upon when writing with someone I should be able to (physically?) relate to. Then again, I have nothing but a couple really awful relationships that are better forgotten than used as source material. =p

Anyway, just wanted a moment to flail over the femslashiness of goodness. (Had no intention of the Abby/Prentiss pairing until Emily's phone rang and I realized that the voice on the other end had to be Abby. *g* The rest is history.) Don't think there's going to be any Rossi/Prentiss in this story. I love the girls too much.

Now.... can someone pretty please offer me some graphics/art with Abby and Prentiss together?

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Hit with a bit of inspiration!

2009-11-06T16:54:54Z

*bounces* Excited about getting slapped with a plot!spatula by one of my muses today. =D Swweeett! Also I gathered up my supplies to be able to physically arrange notes about plotting - a generalized outline.

Since I haven't been sharing much in terms of updates, and I'm also just a silly person, so I took a photo *g*

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Word count mania

2009-11-06T01:23:49Z

Wow, I just checked and of my 11 "writing buddies" on NaNo, only three are ahead of me! (Granted, Paju is at #$@% 20,565 somehow.) Otherwise Junkfoodmonkey's at 8,345 and JessieQ at 8,559. Me? I haven't finished writing for the day but I'm at 7,446. Just under 1K short of today's goal. So I'm not doing too bad!

Even so, my muses are being far from supportive. In fact I'd go as far as to say they are absent. ::glares:: I'm finally touching on the major storyline I want to write, though. It's just frustrating to be this many words in already and yet lack that feeling of momentum/inertia. Also, the personalities aren't coming to me very well right now, which is so frustrating! I mean, I know I can write these characters!

Fav scene I've written on the BAU? (Because probably my unsub at his arson scene is "the best" thus far) Here's the snippet:

( is the kitchenette on fire? )

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Okay, I'm doing a meme instead of writing...

2009-11-02T23:17:59Z

Writing Meme

Answer each question and post links (if available).

1. What fandoms have you written fic for?

A-Team, classic!Battlestar Galactica, CSI, CSI New York, The West Wing, Sports Night, X-Men (films), Sailor Moon, Ronin Warriors, Gundam Wing, Ranma 1/2, Final Fantasy VII, Chrono Cross, The Dead Zone, Pirates of the Caribbean, House, Criminal Minds, Eureka, Zorro (classic Disney series), Star Wars (classic), Star Trek XI, Stargate SG-1, Man from UNCLE... did that capture everything? o_0

2. Who are your favorite characters to write?

Bruce Lewis (Dead Zone), Greg (CSI), Jack (Pirates), Hotch (Criminal Minds), Josh Lyman (West Wing)

3. Feedback: Need it or not really?

I really, really love feedback. At this point I don't need it, per se, since I write largely because I want to do so. However, feedback is incredibly encouraging and does aid the inspiration to write more of a subject/series/fandom.

4. How many stories have you written?

I think upwards of 200 can be found around the net? On my own website (Art of Life), I'm pretty sure there's less than that, but still a significant number.

5. What is your favorite genre to write?

Tags to canon events... reinterpretations of scenes... Romance hurt/comfort. =p

6. Do you write in first person or thrid person POV?

Usually third, though I've done plenty of first person.

7. What is your favorite fanfic that you have written?

Um... No Fricking Way (for Firefly), Thin White Line (CSI), At His Side (Dead Zone), Lost at Sea (Pirates), Screwed (West Wing)
It's funny and rather telling that two of my top favorites are humor stories, that rather happened by accident. =p

8. What is the longest story you have ever written?

Ocean Soul - ~33,130 although I think at least one of my anime stories from the "old days" topped that.

9. Do you write your story from Point A to Point B or do you jump around and write various parts as the Muse strikes?

I'm a linear writer, I very rarely have skipped ahead to a different scene and added stuff inbetween later to finish...

10. If you could rewrite one story, what would it be?

Ocean Soul, which will get rewritten some day. But don't hold your breath til then. It was written over a period of four years and my writing style changed rather drastically. My interpretation of the characters also evolved, which proved some difficulty when writing later parts because I needed to stay consistent with previous chapters rather than current thoughts.

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Two more Post Secrets! =D

2009-10-25T20:42:30Z

Reid's and Rossi's this time.
( i need you so much closer )

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Character post secret

2009-10-25T04:55:00Z

This thread on the NaNo forums is awesome. So far I've made two post secret cards for my story's characters. =3

( images behind cut )

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Some useful forum threads

2009-10-24T14:03:10Z

The NaNo forums are great and you could spend more than a year digging through things and replying, I'm sure. So get that browsing out of your system now (or so goes my theory, at least). I've bookmarked a number of threads relevant to some ideas for my own story, but there's also a few general threads it should be worth it for anyone to check:

"Adoptable Stuff" includes a list of things like "adopt-a-death," character, motive (this is helpful!), subplot, plot, name, place, weakness, hobbies, explitive, & more... I've got a couple pages filled with ideas from some of these threads

The Dares thread (this links to part two with a link back to part one) similarly provides a fair amount of inspiration and some craziness.

The character-development forum is also interesting to look through, though many things regarding making up profiles will show up in the "useful sites and orgs" forum.

I wish you well! We're down to 8 DAYS!

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Sleepy... But NaNo banners!

2009-10-23T18:55:08Z

Stock photos = love. So I've got some banners to share!

( three banners! )I would really appreciate credit if you use them. Thanks!

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Graphics

2009-10-22T20:43:11Z

My forum banner w/ the story's working title.

And icons! =D

8 for you to use. I'd love credit (enmuse on LJ, enchanting_muse on IJ and DW), but in this case I'm not pushing the issue. ( icon love )

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