Meep.

[hope]

Do I want to sign up for paperlegends Merlin Big Bang?

I have a couple of epic canon story ideas that could easily be 30K+. But I don't know if I'm very good at writing at the moment.

Maybe I'll sign up and see how it goes...

Sign ups don't start for another month or so anyway.

But it would be nice to actually sign up for and COMPLETE a big bang for once, especially seeing as I know I'm actually capable of writing that much.

Hrrrrm.

Comments

[flamebyrd]

I am going through the same indecision at the moment. The 30K aspect in particular is making me nervous...

[hope]

There are a couple of stories I have in mind that I think need at least 30K to do them justice. The thought of slogging through it is unappealing, though - the encouragement of a fest could be useful, though :)

[yue_ix]

It'd be really awesome to have 30k+ words by you to read in one go! In general big bangs are also known to be useful support group for people who worry about being able to finish an epic, along with being a good excuse to get started.

I'm not inclined to reccomend that big bang to a lot of artists, but for writers it has great praises.

[hope]

I'm sorry that paperlegends doesn't treat its artists very well :/ (Did you see cupidsbow's post about artists in fests?)

A support group for writing does sound great, though. Thanks for the encouragement :)

[yue_ix]

I can't say that it doesn't treat artists well - in fact, the vast majority of artists seem perfectly content or thrilled with it, and I'm one of the very few who has publicly expressed discontentment with some things. I had to go out of my way to be allowed to be the only official cheerleader for artists (-only) on the whole fest, and was informed that a number of services weren't offered because no one else but me had pointed out their lack.

(Thank you for that link; it summarises perfectly a lot of my feelings and works wonder in making me feel less alone. I previously had Making Big Bangs Artist Friendly as a useful link, and both post say very similar things in the way of how collaborative fests in some fandoms treat artists as less.)

If you join, I hope you'll find it a motivational environment. The mod is communicative, the people are absolutely lovely, and authors have told me they were able to surpass lots of blocks in their writing through that fest. The weekly volunteer-ran chats were great to participate in and had 30-minutes-of-productivity rounds to motivate each other. Plus, through all that, if someone signs up and they can't finish on that schedule you can be sure that fandom will always be ready to receive that epic another time. ^^

[jelazakazone]

http://reni-m.livejournal.com/251437.html has a discussion about support and encouragement for both artists and writers. Did you see it?

[hope]

Oh man, that sounds frustrating. I hope the dialogue going on at the moment improves things for artists!

I'm not used to the kind of community motivation stuff... suppose I should give it a try, though!

[vanessarama]

DOOOO IIIIT. We need more long canon fics! *pompoms*

[hope]

I want to! We should catch up and I can tell you my ideas and you can encourage me in one direction or another :D

[yue_ix]

I found this back in my emails. Have you given more thoughts to maybe joining a Merlin Big Bang challenge? Or had any idea for such a story?

[hope]

I thought signups were closed?

I do have big ideas, but not in a headspace that I can do any writing in, at the moment. It sucks :/

Did you sign up?

[yue_ix]

You are right. They weren't when I was typing the comment, but I took too long to submit. *facepalm*

I'm sorry to hear that, especially since it's bothering you. I hope your headspace gets better.

I did as a cheerleader for artists only, and probably as an artist beta, but I'm not sure about as an artist. The structure is still pretty hostile to my way of doing fests, but it felt that if I could find a writer beforehand it'd be much easier. Except the vast majority of people signing up are doing so with a ship I have no taste for, so I'm still looking and undecided.

[kinkthatwinked.livejournal.com]

I think you should do it.

The only reason you've given for why you shouldn't is that you don't feel like a very good writer right now, but to me that sounds like a reason to go for it. You're feeling out of practice, or you think there's something lacking in your technique? The only way to solve both problems is to jump in there and start writing.

Good luck.

[hope]

Yeah, I just can't get my words out right now. So I'm a bit reluctant to sign up for something and feel like a failure yet again when I can't manage to write! But maybe it's worth a try. I've got a month to find out, anyway!

Thanks!