2020 Summer Solstice Sekret Sequel Something Speedround

Friendly Frog

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I think I've finally got a handle on my mad scientist. I think. Also I've decided to just gloss over some scenes I just can't seem to get myself to start writing. I've decided to trust my instinct and if the scene is fighting me this hard, it is probably not likely to work with the rest of the story. Better to concentrate on the things I do want to write before I throw up my hands and go back to my Silmarillion fanfic.

I'm hoping I can get some writing time tonight. At least the mad scientist scenes written would be lovely. A finished first draft would be even better, but probably not there yet. Get a move on, Froggy, you're late and you've got no one but yourself to blame this time, so get those green flippers flapping or they'll be flailing very soon.

Oooh no you're not. I played a lot of these too, weirdly mostly at my dad's house bcuz he has lotsa PC game but no consoles. First half of every other weekend was mucking the stables & grooming horses, second half was playing all the OG Lucasarts games. Monkey Island and both the Indy games were my favorites, thou Loom was highly underrated imho.
Ooh the classics. Good times there. Still kicking myself I never got the full Monkey Island upgraded edition. But I've introduced the nephews to Yoda Stories and they love it too.

Wondering how many of us have an instantly identifiable style at this point. Mine is [...]
-not quite finished
*roll*

Ooo. Definitely the ones who experiement on themselves. Like the guys who proved H. pylori caused gastritis, by drinking a culture full of it.
... That one I didn't know. Definitely high mad scientist level.
 
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Albedo

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7200 words. Can I hit 10k? seems likely. Probably going to go over. Hoo boy. I don't think I'll be writing any bonus pieces this year, and I wanted to do some of the other prompts so badly!

On the procrastination side of things, I'm finding out that something even more diverting than Skyrim with lots of mods is Cities: Skylines with lots of mods. This is the game that Simcity 5 should have been, had EA not utterly destroyed the Maxis franchise.
 

Brightdreamer

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Over 11K words, hoping to finish a draft today and get started on needed revisions; it's a quick and dirty dash to the end of the draft at this point, with characters spouting infodumps even because I know certain sections are going to need major revision anyway so I'm just sorta tacking down ideas.
 

Woollybear

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You guys are working so hard on your stories. I am impressed! Well done.

I saw it as a prompt, and feel very inadequate by comparison. Oh well. It's my first time.
 

Sue77

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I saw it as a prompt, and feel very inadequate by comparison. Oh well. It's my first time.


There's no need to feel inadequate by comparison, Woolybear. The joy of any Sisyphus is that the prompt is exactly that - a prompt. What you do with it is entirely up to you.

It doesn't matter if you write a 50 word drabble, a flash fiction piece, a short story, a novella, or even (as I did for the Winter Sisyphus) the first chapter of a novel-to-be.

I left those who read my effort up in the air as to what was going to happen. Nobody got upset, or criticised my 'story', it was accepted for what it was.

Whatever you have written, it will be enjoyed by those who read it, also the Guessing Thread is great fun.

We were all new to Sisyphus once, so there's no pressure, just relax and enjoy the company. :Hug2:
 

Jaymz Connelly

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Yes. What Sue said. Exactly.

It's always a little intimidating to join in something that's been running for a while, but prompts are just prompts - they're not meant to curtail your imagination. You can go as wild and woolly as you want, or as simple as you want. Long or short, doesn't matter. For me, I got one, instant idea when I saw the prompts, and I worked with that prompt. It's not a hugely long story, but I'm happy with how it turned out.

Also, sisyfus, the original one that kicks off in 2 1/2 months (ohmigod, YES!), and this one, are both meant to be FUN. There's no comparing to other peoples' stories. We all march to our own drummer with writing and every piece written is totally awesome, and I mean that sincerely.
 

Norman Mjadwesch

vacuous eyes, will bark at shadows
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Gawd. I started with a very clear idea for multiple stories when I saw the prompts, and instead of picking and sticking I found myself mired in goop.

Oh well, themz the breaks sometimes.

I’m still attempting to finish multiples but can’t seem to focus on any of them through to completion. Weird. I know I’ll get there with my main one, but this isn’t my normal process.

Normal? Ha. Interesting concept.
 

Woollybear

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Thank you for the hugs, guys and gals!!!

:) it's fun indeed, and to see everyone running in a pack like this toward the finish line. :)
 

Friendly Frog

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So I didn't write yesterday.

I oiled the stairs instead. God, I'm so transparant.

But I did put in a few hours of writing today, so that evens out. The stairs look awesome, by the way. Would that so much could be said for my writing... :Shrug:

Like Brightdreamer, I'm just throwing stuff into it to have it written down, so it can be edited into something lightly better than this first draft drivel. There's a fleck of gold somewhere, mind, but surrounded by buckets full of mud.

I wonder if part of my problem wasn't that one of the chosen prompts was one of mine. Clearly I had too many idea already in my head from the start and now it's hindering me rather than working for me.

Still, shuffling on. I will get there. 6K roughly, and all of it stinkin'. I promised myself I get to play one of my new games if I can just finish this bleedin' first draft.

You guys are working so hard on your stories. I am impressed! Well done.

I saw it as a prompt, and feel very inadequate by comparison. Oh well. It's my first time.
If it wasn't just a prompt, I got the wrong memo too.
 

CobraMisfit

I want to be Comic Sans.
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I cannot believe I missed signing up for this AGAIN! Stupid life distractions.

Welp, if anyone wants beta-eyes between now and the 25th, lemme know!
 

eyeblink

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6300 words with one major scene and three short ones to go. Plus a rewrite of the opening scene in the light of later developments. It's getting close to the wire, but the story is getting there and will hopefully be more or less presentable by the deadline!

I still can't think of a title, though...
 
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ajaye

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I've been writing and rewriting as I change my mind about that little thing aka crux of the story and I've been doing it for days and tonight I thought now I'm getting somewhere and rather chuffedly checked my word count thinking ooh it must be at least 2k and I have 590 words.

But I think I know where I'm going now.
 

AnnieColleen

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I did another rewrite of my opening last night -- I've still been slogging through a first draft, was having more and more difficulty moving forward, so I went back to refocus and put the cool factor right up front. Hopefully that should help with getting through the rest of it!
 

Brightdreamer

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I can't think of a title, either...

Well, I have unexpected bonus time to revise; we only worked two hours yesterday before we were shut down and sent home. Someone on our shift last week has tested positive for COVID. We all wear masks, and it's a large warehouse so we pretty much distance (and I wear gloves besides), so there's no requirement for us to test. Still, they have to shut down and do a deep clean before we come back on Friday.

Started on revisions the other day, hope to do more today. Trying to condense, but it's not getting smaller.
 

Kjbartolotta

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Gonna be right up to the deadline on this one, from the lack of stories in my inbox looks like everyone else is right there with me. Good by me. I think everyone who's submitted a story has gotten a reply and is on my master sheet, if you have submitted and I haven't responded plz let me know. I am also on vacation right now (wooooo!) internet is spotty and I'm not bothering to check my email too often, but I should still be able to get back to you if need be.
 

Brightdreamer

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Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'll be burning midnight oil to hit deadline, too.

We had an abbreviated workday (power outages messed up the computer software on which work depends to actually work), and I have a dinner of minimal time commitment, so I need to get back to revisions, but I only got less than four hours' sleep total last night - not even consecutive hours - so I'm kinda crashin' energywise...

Still, have a few quick things I can tweak at least, even if I don't do much active revising until after dinner. (The current scene needs some serious revising/pacing fixes, I think, which will require concentration I don't have but I need to buck up and zzzzz)
 

Woollybear

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I sent it off!!!!!

And I got nervous!!!!

LOL but what fun this has been so far.
 

Sue77

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Aargh! My post is showing on my phone yet here, there is a blank space with my name and status. I think the end capitals are in the wrong order. ;)

I'll retype...

Yay! Well done Wollybear.

Sadly, I've yet to complete a full draft. I've had a bit of a difficult week, but the amount of writing I got done today has improved it no end.

I'm about 3/4 of the way through the penultimate scene and I'm up to 6,200 words.

This is going to be a longer story than I originally thought - eeek!
 

Kjbartolotta

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Anyone who's feeling like they might not finish their story in time...errr, I'm right there with you.
 

Brightdreamer

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About halfway through revisions, maybe a little past that, and it's up to 14K words... dang it.

The next parts are the ones that need the most work/help, because they're the parts I slapdashed down to reach the end of the first draft. Now that I have a bit better grasp of the story, I can flesh them out better... which probably means more wordcount.

At this point, I'm just hoping to end up below 20K.
 

eyeblink

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7800 words and counting. We are now a novelette.

What we are not yet still is a story with a title.
 

Coddiwomple

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OMG, it's that time of year again isn't it?*

What time is that, you say? Time to pull a story out of my... brain, just under the deadline???

Noooooo no no no...

It's BIRTHDAY time!

Happy Birthday, Norman!
Best of all possible besties

:TheWave: :Cake: :Cake: :Cake: :TheWave:


:partyguy: :Jump: :LilLove: :banana: :PartySmil

*In Oz time, that is. It's also time to congratulate Norm on his upcoming story publication. Happy birthday and congrats, Dogface! I hope you get all you wish for and deserve ;)