things I learned from writing Educational Endeavors

In no particular order:

-- I hope I never write/post a WIP ever again. While the feedback during writing is great incentive to keep going, the pressure is just too much. Real Life got in the way far more than anticipated, and it took me 15 months to write 9 chapters/~150 pages. I lost momentum, focus, and any urge to work on the story at all. Plus, in that time my perception of the characters changed radically.

(Bitch - I think this happens to everyone when they work on the same thing for too long.)

My resolution for future long fics is to mostly write the thing, send it to beta, and post one chapter at a time, with no more than a month between chapters. That way reader-interest stays high and I don't lose focus or momentum while I am still writing.

-- Having an outline for any story helps, but for a multi-chaptered one, is essential. There is no way on earth I would ever have finished EE if I hadn't known where I was going.

(The bitchy side of this is that it makes me much less tolerant of the long, meandering, and frankly plotless fics out there. If you don't know where you're going as a writer, I'm not interested in going there with you, as a reader.)

-- Writing guys who are guys is much more difficult than writing girls with penises. Still need to work on that one, as Orli wibbled way more than I wanted him to. At least there wasn't any crying, though.

-- I can't write a sex scene that doesn't turn me on at least a little bit. *blush*

-- Every writer needs a beta/editor, no matter how great they think they are. (Not that I think I'm great, trust me.) They should be used for plot and pacing, as well as grammar.

(Bitchy case in point - the most recent Harry Potter book really needed someone to tell JKR that the bit with Hagrid's giant brother did nothing to further the plot and added about 100 pages of increased reader-restlessness.)

But oh, my grammar problems... When I get good at not using epitaphs, I overuse adverbs. When I reduce my adverbalisciousness, I get dangling modifiers and parallel construction. When I improve in one area, another area seems to get worse, like the suitcase that just won't close without something popping out the edges. Either that or lostiawen is deliciously picky and likes to teach me grammar skills one lesson at a time. ;) (*hugs* Losti - you know I love it!)

-- Finally, I learned that I can do it. I can write 100+ pages of a story. Even if it totally sucks, I finsihed it. Maybe I can write a novel someday after all. :)