Current fannish projects

[luzula]

My hands have been hurting a lot the past week, but I found myself a better dictation program! I thought I'd talk a bit about my current fannish projects. I guess you saw my recent podfic, which is a departure from what I've been recording recently. I do love all these historical British fandoms, but I felt like I was getting stuck in a groove, performance wise, and needed something different to shake me up. Mind you, the first chapters of Known Associates are also historical, although set in 1940s New York instead. I've really been enjoying reading it. I also have regshoe’s No Man Can Shun It completely recorded except for the songs at the beginning, which I just can't seem to get a good recording of. But maybe I'm too much of a perfectionist there.

When it comes to writing, I've got 20K of my Keith/Ewen/Alison fic, and it's coming along well. Probably it will be about 100K in total. But I got a new idea during the readalong, and it turned out regshoe had also got an idea based on the same premise. We decided that we would both write our stories, which seem quite different in some respects, and then exchange them for beta! So I'm excited for that. I've got 5K of the new fic so far. I think it will about, or less than, 20K, which is a short fic for me these days.

Comments

[sanguinity]

I saw on WED that your hands were hurting -- boo! But hurrah for dictation software! (Even if it doesn't know the word 'fic'! *pause for a brief duck duck go search* Huh, well I suppose if you're going to guess, 'ficke' is as phonetic as anything else, and has a bit of flair to it as well. ANYWAY.)

Hooray for new fic and podfic! \o/

[luzula]

Ficke is not in the Oxford English dictionary, so I assume it's just a name? But yeah, dictation software is pretty great. It's hard for me to write stories with it though, because I'm so used to thinking with my hands, so to speak.

[chestnut_pod]

Yay for dictation software! Do you mind sharing which one you use? My partner is always looking for a better one.

I always love hearing about your new projects!

[luzula]

Well, at first I used the built in dictation in windows, but that one didn't know Swedish, and also it would randomly stop working. But then I discovered the one in Microsoft Word, which does know Swedish and also consistently works. Although of course it sometimes gets things wrong.

And thanks for the encouragement! : )

[chestnut_pod]

Thanks!

[cathexys]

So sorry about the hands!!!

You are just a fannish machine! And we all get to enjoy that :)

[luzula]

Thanks! Have you tried dictation yourself? I mean, for your arm. Which I am also very sorry about.

Haha, thanks! I would be lying if I said that part of my motivation for recording known associates wasn't that it would have a large audience. For the most part I am completely OK with creating works in small fandoms, but once in a while it's nice with something like this. Recording that story is basically a service to fandom.

[(Anonymous)]

It is such a service to fandom!!!!

Thank you :)

And I need to try dictation software!!

[luzula]

BTW, I thought I would give Discord a chance. But now it's asking for my phone number, which, WTF?

[(Anonymous)]

It is? I don’t remember that. Weird!!!!

[jesse_the_k]

I didn't have to supply mine -- tons of people use Discord from smartphones, so it may be "helping" you by sending a download link for their app.

They also have a laptop app -- Electron -- it's a bit smoother than the web.

[luzula]

That's weird. I tried logging in both on the desktop app and via the browser. I had already verified my account via email, but it refuses to let me get any further without giving them my phone number. Which is annoying!

[jesse_the_k]

After some searching, it looks like I snuck in before they required phones.

[luzula]

I finally reluctantly gave them my phone number, but then they said it was invalid! I guess I'm never getting on discord...

[jesse_the_k]

Forking shirtballs! Is it possibly a landline?

[cathexys]

Maybe only US exists in for Discord???

[luzula]

No, I know there are people in Sweden using discord. And it's not a landline... Well, I guess I give up.

[regshoe]

Oh dear, I'm sorry about your hands—but good that you've found a better dictation program. I hope you feel better soon!

Hehe, I was thinking when I saw you'd posted that podfic that the MCU must make a bit of a difference from Flight of the Heron :D Glad you've been enjoying it!

...but I am also very happy to hear you've recorded 'No Man Can Shun It', which is still my favourite of my FotH stories. I'm sure you'll do the songs beautifully, but I sympathise with the perfectionism. :)

And the writing is going very well! I'm looking forward to seeing your take on this premise :D

[luzula]

Thanks! The trouble with my hands comes and goes, but I think I'll keep using the dictation when I can anyway, as a way of taking some strain off my hands.

I'm not in general fannish about the MCU, and as an aside I can't believe the dictation program could handle the first part of that sentence, but it did. Anyway, I did enjoy the first Captain America movie, especially the historical aspects of it, and read some Steve/Bucky fic for it. Known Associates really digs into the queer 1940’s history and I very much enjoy those aspects of the story. But I'm leaving the modern chapters of the story for other readers.

I didn't know no man can shun it was your favorite flight of the Heron story! But it's certainly one of my favorites among your stories as well. I'll get around to recording those songs again some day soon.

I'm sorry for making you wait for my draft, given that my story will be longer than yours! But I promise to work steadily at it. : )

[regshoe]

Hehe, your dictation software is learning—'liverworts' and 'fannish' :D

I don't think I've seen any of the Captain America movies, but queer 1940s history does sound like an interesting setting to explore!

I didn't know no man can shun it was your favorite flight of the Heron story! But it's certainly one of my favorites among your stories as well.

Oh good :) Yes, gloomy as it is, I was very pleased with how the ideas worked out.

I'm sorry for making you wait for my draft, given that my story will be longer than yours! But I promise to work steadily at it. : )

No worries—I've probably got a couple of weeks' work left to go, and then I think the story will benefit from being left to sit for a little while. And I've got plenty of other stuff to work on in the meantime!

[luzula]

Thanks, that's good to hear about the draft. And about no man can shun it, I don't think gloomy is the right word to describe it! Tragic, yes, but not gloomy. : )

[regshoe]

Heh, fair enough :)

[china_shop]

Ugh, I hope your hands recover soon. Take it easy!

I think it will about, or less than, 20K, which is a short fic for me these days.

It's funny how your baseline can shift so dramatically, isn't it? :-)

[luzula]

Thanks! Writing comment replies by dictation is at least easy, as is writing emails. Fiction is much harder!

Yes, 20K used to be my longest story length...

Ugh hand pain is terrible

[jesse_the_k]

Learning how to dictate is liking learning to bicycle -- it requires new connections, and soon enough you'll be flying!

Re: Ugh hand pain is terrible

[luzula]

Yes, it does need new brain connections! It's easy to write comment replies and emails, but in those cases the exact phrasing is not as important as it is when I'm writing a story. I know a lot of people write first drafts where they don't mess around a lot with the phrasing, and fix that in the next draft, but that's not how I do it. I do that editing in the moment while I write the first draft, which means that I go back and change the sentence a lot while writing. That makes it harder to do it by dictation, but if I do all my other writing during the day by dictation, then I can save up my hands for writing fic. : )

Re: Ugh hand pain is terrible

[jesse_the_k]

I'm with you on constant revision, and it's definitely a challenge. I think the "use voice wherever possible to conserve hand-work for fiction writing" is a most excellent trade off!