2017 Goals

Personally, my 2016 was pretty amazing.

I got to meet 2 of my favourite authors (Jodi Picoult and Rainbow Rowell); saw plenty of concerts and musicals; got to meet 2 of my favourite musical artists of all time (Carrie Underwood and Delta Goodrem, who made the year pretty amazing on her own tbh); my sister got married, so I got the big brother I've always wanted; and I got a permanent teaching job, which means job security and is everything that is amazing.

So, other than losing some of my favourite actors in the celebrity massacre that was 2016, I don't have a lot to complain about from last year.

Even my mental health is the most stable its been in a few years. I still struggle with depression, but I haven't had any major anxiety attacks in a year and I was really proud of how I handled the stressful times last year that in 2015, would have sent me into a spiralling meltdown.

But if my 2016 had a flaw, it was the lack of writing time I did.

I feel there was a massive decrease from how much I wrote last year as I've done previously. I'm not really sure why.

Some of it was absolutely due to work. I had more responsibility this year, plus I was putting extra work in for my application to get the permanency, which meant there were many times I was just too exhausted to even think about typing.

There were also a few minor health issues I feel may have contributed too- nothing serious, but I have been dealing with some crazy headaches in the past year, which also doesn't help with motivation to write.

The fact that my current WIP After Forever isn't an easy one to write either.... yeah, ok. That's a factor.

I write because I have all these stories in my head. And it keeps me calm and stimulated to work on something for fun. Writing is, and always has been, strictly a passion project for me.

And the passion wasn't lacking in 2016. I have so many stories in my 'to write' list. Many of them were planned and developed last year. I spent so much of the year wanting to write, wanting to work on the new chapter of whatever I was working on, but just lacking the physical and mental energy to do so.

I hate that. Because not writing makes me uncomfortable. I don't feel good- mentally or emotionally- when I don't write.

I'm about to post a oneshot on ff.net What's in a Name? that is my 95th fanfiction on the site. I don't really do New Year's resolutions- because I'm horrible at keeping them.

But my 2017 wishlist is to make writing a priority again. To figure out a way to be more motivated and physically inspired to write, without making it feel like a chore or something that is forced.

Because the idea of reaching my 100th published fanfiction in 2017 is something that sounds kinda amazing.

If you have any ideas/suggestions/recommendations on how I can make this a thing, please let me know!

Writing Processes

Recently I was asked on Twitter how I organise my fics and my ideas, and instead of trying to explain in 140 characters, I thought visual aids might help.

I'm posting this here, in case anyone else is interested.

IDEAS

The way I organise my plans and notes has evolved over the 5 years I've been posting fanfiction. For about a year now, I've been using the OneNote program- it's easy to file and group notes and separate everything. 

I have 3 main notebooks for fanfiction related stuff:

1. Fanfiction Plans.

This is where I plan and outline every fic I'm going to write. As you can see in the picture below, each fic has it's own section.

Each section has 4 pages- Summary, Character List, Plot Outline and Notes. You can also add subpages if you want (and sub-sub pages). The screenshot below is for the fic I'm currently working on.

2. Fanfic Ideas

This is just where I keep a list of every little idea I have, or title idea, or a quote I think of. Sometimes I can piece several ideas together to form a story, sometimes one will fit into a plan I already have. 

 3. Carlie's Guide to Oz

This is where I keep all my notes on Oz in general. Some are canon from the musical or book, some are from the Wizard of Oz, some are from things I've established in previous fics that I liked, and some are just headcanons.
Whilst I'm not a huge fan of the Wicked book, because the musical doesn't have the room to get to in-depth on world building, sometimes I will use elements from the book. Or at least as a basis, and then I might put my own spin on it.

FICS

As for the fics themselves, they're all written on Microsoft Word. I have a folder (titled "Neds" for 2 reasons- 1. if someone is looking at my computer (because this folder is on my desktop for easy access) I don't have to answer awkward questions; and 2. Private joke between a friend and I.

The "Stories in Progress" folder has another folder in it, just for Wicked fics so I can keep them separate. This is the list currently:


I try to work on only one fic at a time, and I'm usually inspired to work on one in particular when I go looking for my next project.

If I'm not feeling inspired to settle on one in particular, I might jump around and draft the beginning of a couple until one grabs me- and that's why the word count in the above picture is all over the place.

Once a fic grabs me and I get into a flow for that story, I'll stay with it until I'm finished (although at times I might stop and write a one-shot if I'm having writer's block or it's a special occasion or request of some kind).

I hope this helps!

Sneak Peek: The Right Thing to Do

As you may know (if you care and/or are paying attention), my next Wicked fanfiction is entitled "The Right Thing to Do"

I've been planning and trying to write this since 2012, and I am determined to finish it now!

If you've really been paying attention, you will know this fic has a secret (well, not so secret) title in certain circles as "the Sassy Gay Julyan fic".

Basically when I first had the idea, I ran it past Julia- as I always do (well, did. Not so much these days :( She's busy and time zones suck). And Julia demanded an OC.

When I told her there was no room in this fic for a female OC, she decided the simple solution was to make it a male OC. And of course, he should be sassy and gay. So, SGJ was born.

She was pretty insistent.

I really had no choice

Julia wrote him a backstory and everything (which I'm not using most of, but I keep it because it amuses me):

Right so Sassy Gay Julyan. He grew up in the Vinkus with a dream of being a famous star on Emerald Street (the Ozian equivalent of Broadway, obviously) but after coming out to his parents as gay, they demanded that he stop with all the glitter and become a totally serious lawyer. Naturally, he goes to Shiz with the intention of fulfilling his parents' wishes, but soon meets Fiyero Tiggular, who teaches him it's okay to put glitter in inappropriate places. But when Elphaba wrongfully punches Fiyero's precious nose, Sassy Gay Julyan realizes that he needs to take action. So he not only becomes an Oz-renown nose lawyer, but also, he becomes the practically worshiped directed and star of the musical: "Smell the Sparkle," a tale based on his life and his experiences as a Sassy Gay Friend. He also frequently gives Fiyero Sassy Gay advice and flirts with all of the guys in a (mostly) platonic way.

Yeah, Julia's still upset over Fiyero's nose being broken in Out of the Blue. 

In case you couldn't tell.

 Anyway, I'm not using a lot of that backstory, but I love it.

I wasn't really sure writing Sassy Gay Julyan (the character, not the story) would turn out, but when I showed the first mention of him to Julia, she loved it. As have a few other people who have seen it. So, I thought I'd share it with you guy.

• 
  

  "“Will we finally get to meet your friend? Julyan?” Boq asked.
• 
  

  They had all been hearing about Julyan for about two years, but none of them had ever met him. Julyan was Fiyero’s best friend since the boys were five, and all they really knew about him was that he was gay and living in the Emerald City. He had studied at the CEC earning a degree in performing arts, and was performing in the ensemble of Wizomania as he created his own musical in his spare time. The name of which kept changing. None of them were even sure there was a plot. “I think so,” Fiyero answered Boq. “His contract with Wizomania was up a month ago, and he hasn’t mentioned anything in his letters about renewing it. He keeps insisting this is the year to finish the musical.” “I’m pretty sure you need a plot and title before you can finish anything,” Elphaba said dryly. “It has a plot!” Fiyero defended his friend. She rolled her eyes. “Yero, the last I remember, it consisted of an epic love story between a pirate and a ninja; a talking unicorn and an underground break dancing society. None of which to me say ‘this is a logical plot’. It doesn’t even have a title, unless he’s reconsidered “Jump the Horn”, which references none of the above so-called “plot points.” Except maybe the unicorn,” she acknowledged as an afterthought. “Ok, so it’s a work in progress,” Fiyero admitted. “But still…”"

It's only a little bit, but there you go. Enjoy ;)

A Christmas Carol

Videos galore! Enjoy

A Muppets Christmas Carol trailer:

"A Place Called Home" from 2004 A Christmas Carol movie:

"What If" from 2001 A Christmas Carol movie:

Ghost of Kiamo Ko: Elphaba's dinner party dress

I can't believe I forgot to post this! I saw this dress in April 2013 and have been waiting all this time to use it, and then forgot to put the picture up!

(Also, please ignore the fact that I'm in the photo)

Twister of Fate... or the Plot

If you're reading this... I am dead.

No, kidding. Obviously, I'm not dead. But that's immediately where my mind goes when I read a sentence starts with "If you're reading this". There's a whole trope about it, even.

Anyway, this post is going up after chapter 18 of The Ghost of Kiamo Ko is up, which is the chapter which changes everything.

So, I thought the time was right to discuss some of the plot changes I made and why I made them. I was originally going to do this in a video, but I eventually decided against it.

There were 3 big changes I made in GoKK from Rebecca, and several smaller changes I made either to fit the new plot caused by the big changes; or just to make the story my own. So, I'm going to talk about those 3 big changes.

WARNING: Spoilers for Rebecca ahead! If you haven't read the book, or seen the movie or seen the musical and you don't want to know what happens, STOP reading this now. 

The thing about Rebecca is that its a gothic novel. Meaning dark, angsty and quite frankly- depressing. Explains a lot, right? And whilst I don't mind gothic literature, changes had to be made to fit Wicked into Rebecca's universe and characters.

1) Rebecca's death:
Rebecca: She is an expert sailor with her own little boat and everything, and she dies in a boating accident.

GoKK: Sarima dies of a long illness. I changed this because of #3 on this list. In hindsight, I probably could have kept it the same, but it's simpler this way.

2) The dinner party:
Rebecca: It's not a dinner party in the novel, but an annual costume ball that Rebecca and Maxim used to host, and Maxim and the new Mrs de Winter are convinced to resurrect it. As the new Mrs de Winter is an artist, she is trying to design a costume. Mrs Danvers finds a draft of a sketch, and suggests that she might be inspired by one of the portraits of de Winter ancestors in the gallery. Specifically, one of Caroline de Winter, a woman all dressed in white with flowing dark hair.
The costume ball arrives, and Mrs de Winter is keeping her costume a secret from Maxim and Frank (AKA Avaric). When she comes downstairs, Maxim reacts badly. Turns out, it was the exact costume Rebecca wore for her last ball before her death.

GoKK: I changed this because obviously, a costume wouldn't work for Elphaba unless she could disguise her skin. And I find that singing works well as a talent for Elphaba because she is a talented singing in the Wicked book, and well... the musical is fairly obvious. LOL.

If you want to see the scene from the 1940 movie, you can see it here.

3) Maxim's revelation:
Rebecca: Much of this is the same as you see in GoKK. They got married, Rebecca revealed herself as a bitch and had numerous affairs. They hated each other, she died and Maxim confesses his love for his new wife.
However- Maxim's confession was very different. Yes, he hated Rebecca and loves his new bride... but (SPOILER) he also killed Rebecca. I KNOW!!! He went down to the boathouse to confront her about her most recent affair (with a gun), she said she was pregnant and it wasn't his- although it would be raised as his- and he was so mad he shot her. (Although in some adaptations, he pushes her and she falls and hits her head and dies that way). And then he put her in the boat, took it out of the bay and sank it.
And that's why he keeps the new Mrs de Winter at a distance.

GoKK: Honestly, no matter the circumstances, I just couldn't see Fiyero committing murder. Or I didn't want him to commit murder, haha.


So that's that. The three big changes I made. Maybe you guys could see it differently. Maybe you really wanted Fiyero to have killed Sarima (like Julia). Thoughts? Comments?

Fanfiction Fans: A new Facebook Page

So, if you're reading this you've either stumbled on to my blog somehow (which somehow always surprises me, even after 2 years of having said blog) or you've just read my Author's Note for chapter 15 (technically it's the 16th chapter posted but as chapter 1 was the prologue, I'm referring to it as ch 15, ok?) of Ghost of Kiamo Ko.

Which means if you read the aforementioned AN, you're here about my new Facebook page. So, there is the link and here is some information about it.

Dude, you already run 2 Facebook pages. 
Yes. Yes, I do.

Ozian is an official langugage was created because when editing my Facebook profile one day, I was outraged you can claim Simlish, Pirate and Sarcasm as "Languages I speak" but not Ozian, which is totally a language. And since then, it's really developed into a Wicked fangirling page for myself, so I don't annoy all my non-Wicked fans Facebook friends. Where I try and use as much as the Ozian vocab as possible, because it's fun.

I am still very proud of the Wicked Debating Society page, even if it hasn't taken off as much as I would have liked, and quite often has a habit of falling into "Carlie is stuck on a fanfiction and needs some help". But the point of it was because talking in-depth about Wicked (as in plot, characters, etc) is fun and quite frankly, 140 characters on Twitter is not enough. I think mostly I'm just proud of the profile/cover pic.... still.

What is the point of this page?
There are actually several points to this page.

1. You can recommend good (or bad if you want) fanfics you are reading/have read.
2. You can discuss/question/rant about issues regarding fanfic in general.
3. If you have an idea for a fic, but it's not something you feel strongly enough about to want to write yourself, you can donate it to the page in case someone is looking for an idea.

Do fics have to be Wicked related?

Nope. Any fandom, pairing, genre you want. You never know who will be interested. For instance, I'm reading a quite good Harry Potter parody fic I've found (the first parody fic I've actually enjoyed), and posted said link on the page. Of course, I'm sure there will be many Wicked fics on there, but any and all is welcome.

So, this page isn't about your fanfiction?

No. I'm sure at some point I will be posting about my own stuff, but no. This is just a page for those who like reading, writing and talking about fanfiction.

I have debated in the past establishing a Facebook page for my own writing but a few things keep stopping me. Mainly,

a) Would anyone be actually interested?

b) Is it weird (or stuck up) if I do that? Or is it just marketing myself as an author on as many platforms  of social media as I can? 

In conclusion, check out the page! And get involved! 

The Ghost of Kiamo Ko: Elphaba's Wedding Dress

Thanks to Maddy (Ultimate Queen of Cliffies) and Lucy (heatqueen) who helped me pick Elphaba's wedding dress for this chapter :)

For some reason, I was obsessed with Elphaba having a tea-length wedding gown.
 

In my own time

This is the song Elphaba sings in chapter 3 of The Ghost of Kiamo Ko. It's called 'In my own time' and it was written by Delta Goodrem and featured on her first album, Innocent Eyes.

Here is the song:

Last year, Delta re-recorded the album for it's 10 year anniversary. Although I was thinking of the above version when writing this chapter, here is the 2013 version:

Writing Confession #3

I'm sorry I've been neglecting this blog a little this year. It's not as though I'm not doing anything exciting (musical wise. Other than that... yeah, my life is pretty boring), I just haven't been writing about it. Oops.

Anyway, another writing confession:

Sometimes I really regret not writing a Stranger to Myself sequel.

I like this story a lot. I love most of my OC's, I love Elphaba and Fiyero's meet-cute, and I love so many of the little things I made for this story. And I loved writing Melena.

I had my reasons at the time for not doing a sequel- I didn't want to keep dwelling in the same universes because I thought people would get bored; I didn't really know what the story would be... but every so often when I re-read it or I get a review from someone who's just found it and read it... I regret that I didn't write more in that universe.

Data Collection

Last night I started writing yet another Fiyeraba wedding in my latest fanfiction. Occurring in chapter 7, it is the earliest a wedding has ever occurred in one of my fics, although it is not your typical Fiyeraba wedding.
I can't really say more because it gives away the plot, but anyone who has read Rebecca will understand what I mean.

And that segued into just how many Fiyeraba weddings I have written. And children/pregnancies whatever. The result is the following table, a collection of data from all 40 (including the one I'm writing at the moment) Wicked fanfictions I have written since 2010.

 The title column is fairly obvious, so you know which story we're talking about. 

Fiyeraba Weddings: Any story where Elphaba and Fiyero get married, including All These Years when I only wrote the reception. 

Pregnancy/Birth/Baby: Any story where a pregnancy is even referred to in passing. 

Fiyeraba Older Children: When Elphaba and Fiyero's children are featured in a story where they are at the age when they can talk.

Character Death: This doesn't have to be a major death, just a death that is necessary for the plot. 

Major Dramatic Event: Instances when their is any dramatic near death experience in a story. Shooting, cancer, running over by a carriage, breaking Fiyero's nose... you know, the usual. 

Surprisingly, the only story that has all 5 things is my current fic... 

STORY TITLE	FIYERABA WEDDING	PREGNANCY/ BIRTH/BABY	FIYERABA OLDER CHILDREN	CHARACTER DEATH	MAJOR DRAMATIC EVENT
40 W­­­­­­eeks		X
All These Years	X	X	X
Auld Lang Syne
But for a Moment	X	X			X
Come What May					X
Days Go By		X	X
Don’t Tell the Bride	X
Ever Ever After	X	X	X
Falling In					X
Far Longer than Forever	X	X			X
Feels Like Home
Flying Without Wings
Get it Right
If I let you go
In the After			X
Innocent Eyes
Kiss the Girl
May I not lose you	X	X	X		X
Moments of the Ever After		X	X
No More Walking Away
Once Upon a Time	X	X
One Hour
One Night with the King	X	X		X
Out of the Blue					X
Possession-less
Public Enemy Number One
Rain
Saviour
Step 2
Stranger to Myself				X	X
Taking Chances	X	X		X	X
The Beginning of Forever	X
The Ghost of Kiamo Ko (current WIP)	X	X	X	X	X
The Planting of Seeds
The Reason
Three Leaps Ahead	X
Vinkun Wildflower		X	X
Written in the Stars
You give me love
You’ve Got Mail					X