Subject: Ah, yes.
Author:
Posted on: 2012-08-01 17:10:00 UTC
How could I have forgotten? The Rule of Funny.
Subject: Ah, yes.
Author:
Posted on: 2012-08-01 17:10:00 UTC
How could I have forgotten? The Rule of Funny.
Hi, guys. *waves* Just wanted your opinion on how to stop yourself from wasting your time on somewhat irrelevant things. I'm pretty sure that I just spent about an hour of scattered time discovering the Cassandra Claire debacle, reading in between other small tasks. Do you ever feel like these things, while fascinating, are really just your idiotic bits *wanting* to find stupidity so you can shake your head at it in an unproductive and unnecessary fashion? If yes, how do you keep yourself writing goodfic and not just tearing your hair out over the bad side of your fandoms and oohing over the shiny side? It's fun, but it has the flavor of work. Perhaps it's because I'm incredibly lazy in my free time, but I'm appalled at the amount of time I being a spectator rather than a productive reviewer and writer.
Ah, yeah, there are probably some people that are wondering why I didn't formally introduce myself. Hi. I've been around a bit before, but I've been off-board for a bit, that's all.
Virtual chocolate, anyone?
Oh, and I discovered Serenity/Firefly-verse lately. Like it a lot, generally. Maybe I should've put that in a different thread, but then again, I seem to recall strict admonitions on the subject of pushing stuff off the front page with too many threads.
I have been in the same boat time and time again. I click one link, then another, then boom! Two hours of potential writing time gone. Here are a few practices I've taken on in an effort to curb that. Give 'em a try.
Scheduling
Organize your time. "I'm going to write from this time to this time, have an hour or so to unwind and grab a bite to eat, then resume writing at this time before calling it a day at this time." Writing it down helps.
If you need to do research for a specific subject you might be covering, set aside an hour or so before hand. If you're in the middle of writing when you discover you need to look up a subject, write down what you want to look for on a piece of scratch paper. Then, set it aside until after you've finished your allotted writing time.
Disconnect
From the internet, I mean. If you're hooked into a modem or a router, unhook yourself. If you're on a wireless connection, turn it off. If you can't go cold turkey, I think there might be parental control softwares you can use to limit your internet usage to a certain amount of hours per day. But don't quote me on that one.
Don't push yourself
If you really don't feel like writing, then you shouldn't force yourself. You'll only end up with a lackluster product. Just try to relax, finish what you're doing, and set up a time to get some proper writing done in the future.
I would also suggest taking a look at Scrivener. It's a writing program specifically designed for writing projects of all stripes - short stories, novels, scripts, research papers, work reports, and so on. The aspect of it most relevant to what I've been talking about is its full-screen editing mode. It's just like it sounds: the project fills up the screen and can only be dismissed through the escape key. You can't just click out of it.
One caveat: Scrivener was originally created for Mac computers. They have a PC version, but I've never used it so I don't know how it compares.
Food for thought, anyway!
Phobos is absolutely right. Paper and pen are invaluable. If you're having trouble focusing on the task at hand, cut yourself off from the source of the distraction. Ninety percent of my writing is done in a plain old composition book, usually while watching TV or relaxing after work; it keeps me from spending too much time in the depths of Cracked or sporking sites.
On the other hand, that's not to say that you can't enjoy the occasional bit of irrelevancy. And I wouldn't even call the Cassandra Claire mess irrelevant, to be honest--it's a fascinating study of human foibles and fandom screwups. The Ms. Scribe saga is my personal favorite.
I learned something about myself last year during NaNoWriMo. I cannot be trusted with an internet connection, if there is writing to be done. I spend more time looking at Failblog and Cracked than I do working on whatever I am working on.
So, how did I fix it? Simply put: notebook and pen.
I find that I get far more done if I am writing things out by hand, away from an internet connection. It is slow going and it is painful, at times. You have to deal with hand cramps and (in my case) sometimes not being able to read your own handwriting. In the end, though, it really worked for me.
-Phobos
Maybe it can work for you?
I kind of avoided notebooks during NaNoWriMo because they reminded me of the terribly written first-ever fanfics I wrote (back in the days when I didn't know fanfiction existed). But that's an interesting idea.
I learned something about myself last year during NaNoWriMo. I cannot be trusted with an internet connection, if there is writing to be done. I spend more time looking at Failblog and Cracked than I do working on whatever I am working on.
Just to underline that. That, aside from random ideas coming up, is one of the reasons why I carry notebook and pen with me when I go somewhere.
Alternatively, if you prefer writing at your computer, unplug the internet. Not just deactivating, plug out the cable. Or turn off the wifi. Or router. The more work it is to activate it again, the less inclined you are to do it. And if you have a laptop with a halfway decent battery, go somewhere where you can't get internet. This is also helpful if you need a new location for fresh inspiration.
Okay, I was rambling. Make out of this what you want.
I too have recently discovered this and am reading a goodfic named Forward. It's AU, but explains that at the beginning.
Link for those who want seventy odd reasonable length chapters more stuff to read in their lives:
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4099993/1/Forward
Well, thanks. If I ever get around to finishing it, I'll tell you. :)
With my chronic laziness, I'm not sure that I'm the best person to answer this question, but I've found that getting organized really helps when I want to do work. I set myself a goal, like "I want to write a fic about [insert series you're currently fired up about]" or "I want to write a fic to practice writing action scenes". Then I start sketching out an outline and write myself a little plan so that I'm not just making it up as I go along. That way, I get to ration the excitement that comes with starting up a new project, and hopefully it goes on for longer.
Welcome back to the board. I've just come back from a stint of inactivity myself.
For advice/welcome, respectively.
Can I ask--where is Hourai? (I'm guessing... pseudo-Arabian fantasy? But then again...I don't know...)
Hourai is the Japanese name for Mt. Penglai, which is a magical paradise island in Chinese mythology. The Japanese had a different interpretation of it but it's basically the same place. It's just a different take on the name I go by in other places on the internet, Hourai Rabbit.
Olympus, Othrys... oh, hey, I learned something new today! *hug*
There's a whole internet show for that. It's called "What the F*** Is Wrong With You". It's NSFW, but the philosophy behind it is that laughter is the only weapon we have against stupidity. Come to think of it, that philosophy is pretty similar to what the PPC does...
Anyways, yeah. Just laugh. And believe me, I know all about the bad side of fandoms. One of my favorite fandoms is Kingdom Hearts, which is notorious for it's fanbrats squeeing over the bishonen characters (Which is pretty much every single original character in the series and the Final Fantasy ones), Mary Sue's abound, and ship wars.
So all you really can do is laugh.
You get tired of beating your head against a wall. Or I did, anyway. I still watch The Daily Show, but I gave up reading badfic, reading fandom_wank, etc. It just gets to be tiring, and there's enough to be angry over in this world without going out of your way.
That, and if I spend four hours on my laptop... if I've spent four hours writing and, say, building something in Minecraft, it feels good. If I've spent four hours reading badfic and going "AAARGH, why would anyone write that?!" it feels like I've wasted the day.
There's a lot of excellent 'fic in Firefly-verse. If you're into Sandman, search AO3 for "Endless Moments," it's a really awesome series crossover with Sandman and Firefly.