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Feb. 5th, 2012 02:07![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sekritomgPost the first sentence (or several) from every WIP you're currently working on, even if it's very short. Then invite people to ask questions about your WIPs. With any luck, you'll get talking about writing, and the motivation to take that WIP one step closer to completion will appear as if by magic!
Tuesday at 11 a.m. in Denver, Colorado.
Man, that's ... amazing. So, like. This story is probably going to feel kind of sparse. Or maybe it will get heavier as it goes on. On its own I feel bad about this sentence, like, it just hangs there. But in context I think it works all right, because the conversation that begins the story is meant to be disjointed and the reader isn't meant to internalize the full impact of everything that's said until later in the story. I think. I hope. Also, time is very much of the essence in this conversation, because one of the characters is very impatient and trying to get the other character to do something immediately, and when the narrative picks up a week or so later, things are very different.
Bebe and Kyle have always had a lot in common.
This is for porn and I want to keep porn short and sweet. Who's gonna bang and how and why? No need to describe anything not related to the banging. This sentence actually answers all of those questions, in the most basic way.
It’s 10 p.m. on a Friday when Kyle is interrupted for the first time.
This is for a long-delayed story that is based on this picture, which is based on many other things, but as far as first sentences go, this one is just a description of what happens the moment after the moment in this picture: Stan interrupts Kyle, who is drawing on a blackboard at 10 p.m.
On Saturday the hippie and the Jew are kissing at the movie theater at the 1:50 p.m. showing in the back row, parkas crinkling and sneakers making sticky noises as they skid against the floor.
This is from Cartman's perspective so he'd think of Stan and Kyle that way. This story is not actually about Stan/Kyle, but how Cartman reacts to them is the telling key to his character in this story, so I put that up front.
Gradually and yet surely, Stanley Marsh began to style himself as someone — something — projecting an artifice, like a 1970s sitcom set in the 1950s.
This isn't a very good opening sentence, actually. The working title of this story, which I've been trying to finish for well over a year, is St. Rosa and The Swallows, or, Notes on Camp. The first epigraph is about artifice in camp, and that's going to me kind of the theme of the story. I think I do a bit more telling up here than I should, so maybe I'll rework it.
They were best friends when they were younger, but they aren’t anymore — not because anything happened, not because one of them hurt the other.
This is a story about Stan being a physiotherapist and Kyle being divorced that I described in some post about stories I'm not writing, but clearly I'm writing it. Slowly. I'll probably shuffle this around, but I want to get it across that life sort of took Stan and Kyle in different directions, not that there was some drama. I think I was getting into this back in the fall, when it was in vogue to write about Kyle and Stan drifting apart and getting back together. So this is mostly a response to that.
Noah’s nose was in a book when his sister called.
Sequel to this. Noah's Stan and Kyle's younger son, and he's the main character, so. Everything in the story filters through him. And he's pointedly trying to keep away from his family and pretend they don't exist. So you can see what a gifted writer I am, this is really just clever as fuck. I mean, this is more interesting than Noah is Stan and Kyle's son or Noah is a dickbag who isn't paying attention to his family, but not by much. Show and don't tell, and all that.
There lived in the mountains an old warrior named Randy, who was the son of Marvin.
No, really. Icelandic saga AU. These start with some genealogy, sometimes, so ... when I started writing this I was trying to be as formulaic as possible, because for some reason I assumed the reader wouldn't buy it unless I stuck to the conventions of saga writing as closely as possible, then little by little broke out into ... whatever I'm doing.
[RIAT intentionally left out due to massive first-line spoiler, if anyone cares.]
“I just realized something.”
This won't be the first line of this, it's just the first line of the document. This is a chapter of a longer story, though. Technically the first line of this WIP is, "It was going to be the warmest Christmas break in his memory, but Stan was still pissed." And I wrote that sentence in like April 2008, and I really couldn't tell you why. I am not the best writer these days, but I was certainly much worse back then.
Well, I ... think I learned something today? Other people should do this. I like memes.
Tuesday at 11 a.m. in Denver, Colorado.
Man, that's ... amazing. So, like. This story is probably going to feel kind of sparse. Or maybe it will get heavier as it goes on. On its own I feel bad about this sentence, like, it just hangs there. But in context I think it works all right, because the conversation that begins the story is meant to be disjointed and the reader isn't meant to internalize the full impact of everything that's said until later in the story. I think. I hope. Also, time is very much of the essence in this conversation, because one of the characters is very impatient and trying to get the other character to do something immediately, and when the narrative picks up a week or so later, things are very different.
Bebe and Kyle have always had a lot in common.
This is for porn and I want to keep porn short and sweet. Who's gonna bang and how and why? No need to describe anything not related to the banging. This sentence actually answers all of those questions, in the most basic way.
It’s 10 p.m. on a Friday when Kyle is interrupted for the first time.
This is for a long-delayed story that is based on this picture, which is based on many other things, but as far as first sentences go, this one is just a description of what happens the moment after the moment in this picture: Stan interrupts Kyle, who is drawing on a blackboard at 10 p.m.
On Saturday the hippie and the Jew are kissing at the movie theater at the 1:50 p.m. showing in the back row, parkas crinkling and sneakers making sticky noises as they skid against the floor.
This is from Cartman's perspective so he'd think of Stan and Kyle that way. This story is not actually about Stan/Kyle, but how Cartman reacts to them is the telling key to his character in this story, so I put that up front.
Gradually and yet surely, Stanley Marsh began to style himself as someone — something — projecting an artifice, like a 1970s sitcom set in the 1950s.
This isn't a very good opening sentence, actually. The working title of this story, which I've been trying to finish for well over a year, is St. Rosa and The Swallows, or, Notes on Camp. The first epigraph is about artifice in camp, and that's going to me kind of the theme of the story. I think I do a bit more telling up here than I should, so maybe I'll rework it.
They were best friends when they were younger, but they aren’t anymore — not because anything happened, not because one of them hurt the other.
This is a story about Stan being a physiotherapist and Kyle being divorced that I described in some post about stories I'm not writing, but clearly I'm writing it. Slowly. I'll probably shuffle this around, but I want to get it across that life sort of took Stan and Kyle in different directions, not that there was some drama. I think I was getting into this back in the fall, when it was in vogue to write about Kyle and Stan drifting apart and getting back together. So this is mostly a response to that.
Noah’s nose was in a book when his sister called.
Sequel to this. Noah's Stan and Kyle's younger son, and he's the main character, so. Everything in the story filters through him. And he's pointedly trying to keep away from his family and pretend they don't exist. So you can see what a gifted writer I am, this is really just clever as fuck. I mean, this is more interesting than Noah is Stan and Kyle's son or Noah is a dickbag who isn't paying attention to his family, but not by much. Show and don't tell, and all that.
There lived in the mountains an old warrior named Randy, who was the son of Marvin.
No, really. Icelandic saga AU. These start with some genealogy, sometimes, so ... when I started writing this I was trying to be as formulaic as possible, because for some reason I assumed the reader wouldn't buy it unless I stuck to the conventions of saga writing as closely as possible, then little by little broke out into ... whatever I'm doing.
[RIAT intentionally left out due to massive first-line spoiler, if anyone cares.]
“I just realized something.”
This won't be the first line of this, it's just the first line of the document. This is a chapter of a longer story, though. Technically the first line of this WIP is, "It was going to be the warmest Christmas break in his memory, but Stan was still pissed." And I wrote that sentence in like April 2008, and I really couldn't tell you why. I am not the best writer these days, but I was certainly much worse back then.
Well, I ... think I learned something today? Other people should do this. I like memes.
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no subject
Date: 2012-02-05 02:15 (UTC)Cartman's line is the best. Notes on Camp is the most exciting because holy SHIT it exists. Really?? I agree with you on the too much telling, there -- and the "someone -- something" comes off as a bit pretentious, though it's hard to judge without the rest of the story and a more in-depth look at its Stan. The Cartman one is SUPERB showing. You are not "clever as fuck" in a sarcastic way, shh, you are clever in a genuine way. This meme is great with discussion, like you're doing here, but without it it's not worth much, since after all intro sentences have to vary in length / complexity.
Vikings is super funny to read after all these. Is the name "Marvin" canon? Because ... Marvin the Marsh ... oh I'm not sure what the last one is! So I'll be surprised later, then. This really was the warmest Christmas break in memory.
The weather.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-05 02:30 (UTC)I'm really proud of that Cartman story and I hope one day to finish it.
I don't know if "Marvin" is canon, but that's what people call him, I guess, I think his name is in some episode but I'm too lazy to look it up right now. It really, really doesn't matter, haha, vikings AU who gives a shit. But it's a WIP, so.
The last one is FH, um.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-05 15:24 (UTC)I'd be very excited to see you write Cartman's pov! I've tried it a few times and it was hard/my attempts were horrible.
I think I know the RIAT spoiler you're referring to...
Why are you writing Kyle/Bebe porn?? D:
no subject
Date: 2012-02-05 15:57 (UTC)To say that there are "spoilers" in my way-too-long 1980s South Park British AU is probably really fucking insane. Like, man, people are just effing lining up to see what happens in this story.
Why are you writing Kyle/Bebe porn??
Because it's actually S/K porn?
no subject
Date: 2012-02-05 16:30 (UTC)That is a relief! :DDDD
Also, I forgot to mention: I'm really happy you're writing a sequel to the Kenny/Craig that shows more of Stan and Kyle's little family. Are any of these close to being finished?? lol I'm so greedy.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-05 16:36 (UTC)Cool, because Craig is, like, barely in the story. He and Kenny, um. Don't get on well.
Are any of these close to being finished??
Good question.
My SPBB will have to be 85 percent finished in a few weeks, by default, so, kind of. The next chapter of FH is close enough, but since I'm working on SPBB I'm not going to deal with it right now unless I get antsy. The fic for that Nhaingen pic is closer than not, although it's a pretty flawed story that goes into a scenario more than, like, some kind of plot. I feel really insecure about that, but it just happened that way. That Icelandic saga AU is maybe about halfway done. But, I write that in 1000-word chunks when I was to blow through something ASAP.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-05 16:36 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-05 17:28 (UTC)(oh, and I won't miss Craig too much in the sequel, I'd rather hear about Kyle and Stan, always)
no subject
Date: 2012-02-05 17:58 (UTC)Oh my god, oh my god, I think about how much I 1) hate hiking and 2) want to read this, like, a lot. I really try not to have WIPs just hanging around the internet. Clearly I'm not doing great with that. I'm sort of sad that Token/Clyde is a backburner project, but I know how it is.
(Craig is still around, he's just ... not horribly central to Stan and Kyle's childrens' lives.)
no subject
Date: 2012-02-05 22:36 (UTC)Frankly I'm thrilled that anyone cares about that Token/Clyde story! It will definitely be concluded, just not in a timely fashion.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-05 22:39 (UTC)I'll admit I'm mainly into Token/Clyde for the ongoing side stories of Mr. & Mrs. Marsh's insular domestic existence, and fat Craig's quest to self-deprecate himself into fame and fortune.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-05 23:02 (UTC)ngl, I started this as Token/Clyde and mainly got into Craig myself. And of course had to employ domestic/settled Stan/Kyle, too, yes yes.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-05 23:21 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-05 23:35 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-05 23:40 (UTC)I am so happy
Stan and Kyle are like having really bitchy friends
no subject
Date: 2012-02-05 23:48 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-05 23:50 (UTC)Kyle: have you ever seen one of those shows on Bravo where some poor woman's friends, like, make her get a makeover, and they force her to try on all of her clothes and then the hosts explain why everything she owns doesn't suit her?
no subject
Date: 2012-02-06 15:31 (UTC)Oh man they would try to throw away the tiny, ratty old t-shirt that he was wearing when Stan first kissed him or something. and he would snarl at them and clutch it to his chest.
also he might cry during the hair cutting portion, not because he doesn't want them to cut his hair, but because he's got a lot of FEELINGS about its inadequacy, ok.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-06 16:51 (UTC)1. True.
2. Ratings gold.
Oh my god, I'd write this, if we were in that kind of fandom.
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Date: 2012-02-06 16:58 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-06 17:29 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-06 17:35 (UTC)OR AT LEAST TELL ME WHO WROTE TO BRAVO
!!
no subject
Date: 2012-02-06 17:49 (UTC)Stan.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-06 19:07 (UTC)Man, there would be a lot of suspects. Cartman would do it to embarrass him, Butters would do it as a kind way of telling him that his clothes are bad, Kenny would do it so he could steal Kyle's TV while he's out of town...
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Date: 2012-02-06 19:16 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-06 19:28 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-06 19:38 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-06 20:37 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-06 20:47 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-06 21:11 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-06 21:13 (UTC)Oh well.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-06 21:24 (UTC)I was going to work out, but I have to for real do some kitchen cleaning when I get home, and fuck if I'm gonna do both in one day!
no subject
Date: 2012-02-08 19:47 (UTC)Also, the Cartman pov one intrigues me.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-08 20:09 (UTC)