Well, it's summer, and reading original works and fantastic fan fictions is no longer enough (Story junkie? Me?). I figure this would be a good opportunity to improve my story-telling skills and have a good time.

7/1/11 So I just finished my first story on the site, "Getting Closer Than I Ever Thought," for Junjou Romantica and that was a fun experience. As a reader, I think it's fun to anticipate what's going to come next, so that's why I went for the chapter-a-day approach. I had about half the chapters ready before I began posting (I've learned from others who publish in serial that having a buffer is invaluable). A few times I had to write on the fly, which seems like it can yield some fun results. I think I'll want to go back and fix the latter half eventually, after I've thought about it some more. I felt the need to wrap things up in a hurry because I have a Finder fic in the works and i was afraid it was getting just a little too much of my attention.

8/1/11 I finished my Finder fic, "An Understanding" yesterday after a delay. I learned various things working on this, like it's really important to keep your momentum going when you're writing, otherwise the story just fizzles out and writing the rest is like pulling teeth. Staying focused and ignoring distractions is a big struggle for me, and it definitely had the upper hand for a few weeks there. I only had about half this story planned when I started posting, and it soon wrestled me for creative control and bam! We had a dead body at the hot springs, and therefore a mystery, and therefore a sequel. I also learned writing scenes with two or more people of the same gender is super tough, and that I need to be more creative in making distinctions about who is who in a way that adds to the story instead of just sitting there. Also, I want to learn how to write more beautiful sex scenes!!!! I have read some gorgeous ones in the Finder fandom and feel ashamed at my puny attempts! Oh well. Practicing is how we learn, right? Right. Anyway, the sequel will be a cross-over between the wonderful "Totally Captivated" and the Finder series. I'm pretty foggy on what I'm doing there, so it'll be "interesting."