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!

Life's Epochs Cover

I know it's been awhile since I posted on this blog (oops) but I wanted to say something about the cover for this fic. I’m not very artistic, so I’m super proud of how this turned out. 

The three non-circled ads in this picture are real governess ads from the early 1900s (thank you Google), I just Ozified them a bit. 

I wrote the circled one for this fic, found and downloaded an old-time newspaper font to type them all up, and added the circle with Paint. 

I stylised the cover using canva and here we are!

Link to my new Wicked fanfiction, Life’s Epochs (and my first non-Fiyeraba multichapter fic) is here

My 24th Year in Review

It's that time of year again! 2 days before my birthday, where I look back and think about what the previous year of my life has brought me in terms of experiences- good and bad.

Shows/Musicals/Concerts:

• Wicked (14 shows, in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane)
• Les Mis 
• Tim Campbell High School Disco
• Picture Perfect (song cycle with David Harris and Amity Dry amongst others)
• Anthony Warlow and Faith Prince in concert
• Lion King
• The Dream (Bell Shakespeare)
• Cal Wilson, Undercurrents
• Peter Pan (school production)
• Into the Woods

Trips:

• Melbourne
• Sydney
• Brisbane
• Adelaide

Celebrities I Met (for the first time):

• Tim Campbell (finally)
• Amity Dry
• Jennifer Morrison
• Cast of Les Mis 
• Cal Wilson (I said "hi", that counts right?) 

Fanfics Published: 
NB. There was a lot of one-shots this year! Sorry about that!

• The Party 
• The Most Convenient Definitions  
• Waiting Room 
• A House Is Not A Home 
• The Perils of Dating A Commotion 
• The Lurlinemas Tree 
• The Right Thing To Do  
• Blackout 
• Sins of the Father  

Experiences Had (AKA Things I did or that happened to me):

• Got my P's
• Got a car
• Got diagnosed with anxiety (That one wasn't so much fun)
• Went in my first ambulance (would have been more fun if I could breathe)

World Book Day

Today is World Book Day!

What is World Book Day?

World Book and Copyright Day (also known as International Day of the Book or World Book Day) is observed on April 23, 2015. The annually celebrated day is organized by UNESCO to promote reading, publishing and copyright. It was first celebrated in 1995. [Source]

As a bibliophile, writer and English teacher, I couldn't not post about it. So, a colleague and I made up this little survey for you! 

1. Top 5 Favourite Authors?

2. Top 5 Favourite Book Series?

3. Top 5 Favourite Fiction Books (NOT part of a series)?

4. Least Favourite Book?

5. Favourite Genre/s?

6. Least Favourite Genre/s?

7. Favourite Childhood Book?

8. Top 5 Female Characters From Books?

9. Top 5 Male Characters From Books?

10. Book City/Country/World you’d like to visit/live?

11. Action Of A Fictional Character You Still Can’t Forgive?

12. “Classic” Book You Think Is Overrated?

13. Your Favourite Book To Film/Mini-Series Adaptation?

14. Guilty Pleasure Book/Author?

15. Favourite Non-Fiction Book/s?

16. First Fictional Character You Had A Crush On?

17. The Fictional Character You Most Hate?

18. Death In A Book You Will Never Be Over?

19. Book I Am Now Reading:

20. Book You Recommend Everyone Should Read:

My Answers:

1. JK Rowling- Jodi Picoult- Rainbow Rowell- Cecelia Ahern- Nicholas Sparks
2. Harry Potter- Anne of Green Gables- Lord of the Rings- Trixie Belden- Percy Jackson
3. The Book Thief (Marcus Zusak)- Rebecca (Daphne Du Maurier)- Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)- Fangirl (Rainbow Rowell)- PS I Love You (Cecelia Ahern) 
4. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
5. Romance, Drama, Historical
6. Science Fiction
7. First one I remember hearing about is Cinderella. According to my mum, I could find it in the dark. 
8. Hermione Granger (Harry Potter), Anne Shirley (Anne of Green Gables), Elizabeth Bennet (Pride and Prejudice), Jo March (Little Women), Professor McGonagall (Harry Potter)
9. Gilbert Blythe (Anne of Green Gables), Harry Potter (Harry Potter), Mr Darcy (Pride and Prejudice), Colonel Brandon (Sense and Sensibility), Sirius Black (Harry Potter)
10. The Wizarding World in Harry Potter. (This won over Avonlea. And Middle Earth. It was close though).
11. In Little Women when Amy burned Jo's manuscript. 
12. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. I've never been able to finish it.
13. Anne of Green Gables movies in 1985 and 1987 (you can't really count the third because it doesn't follow the books). And Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca in 1940. 
14. Danielle Steel. 
15. The Diary of Anne Frank. 
16. Gilbert Blythe, Anne of Green Gables. 
17. Dolores Umbridge, Harry Potter. 
18. Sirius Black, Harry Potter. 
19. Briar Rose, by Jane Yolen 
20. Fangirl, Rainbow Rowell. 

[PERSONAL NOTE: For those who know me, no- Elphaba, Fiyero and Wicked is NOT on the list. Because whilst it started as a book, I prefer the characters in their musicalverse forms. I made myself stick to book forms/characters only.]

The Party: Pictures

Nessa and Galinda's Bridesmaid Dress:

Elphaba's Wedding Dress

The Petal Path and The Gazebo (Pretty much what I was picturing):

The Tent (although probably with more pink):









The Garden:

The Most Convenient Definitions: Galinda's Story

In Chapter 4 of The Most Convenient Definitions, everyone revealed why they were in detention and a few secrets.

Galinda's, it seems (according to the reviews), caught everyone's attention- in a good way!

If you haven't read it yet, but you've somehow stumbled across this post, you can read it here. We'll wait.

Actually, while we wait and before I forget, if you want to see the video I mentioned in the AN of Chapter 5, you can find it here. 

Ok, so, Galinda's secret. She revealed that the reason she came to Shiz, was because her alternative option was to get married. Her parents even had someone in mind- an associate of her father's. I gave the excuse that her parents were older than most, and wanted to know Galinda would be taken care of if something happened to them.

To me, this has always been a possibility of Galinda's background. Maybe it was the "Momsie and Popsicle" thing or that Galinda is obviously rather spoilt.

So Galinda came to Shiz, avoiding marriage, and kinda hoping she might be able to find a husband amongst her classmates.

As a few people have mentioned to me, it puts Galinda's "Fiyero and I are going to be married [despite the fact I only met him a few hours ago]" in a new light. I thought so too, obviously; although I do also think Galinda is just a hopeless romantic who knows what she wants. Fiyero meets her ideal, so she immediately decides this must be it. That's my interpretation of her anyway.

The thing is that Galinda's family is wealthy. And typically, wealthy girls didn't have careers. They either got married, or went to university (often to find a husband) and then got married. There's even a trope for it. The idea just made sense to me.

My headcanon for Galinda is that she's a debutante, did a year or so of finishing school before Shiz.

And for those of you who read the book (yes, I know, I don't typically take from the Wicked book, but I have on occasion), Galinda does marry someone much older than her, and very wealthy, Sir Chuffrey.

So to me it seemed plausible that this was a very real option for Galinda; and I thought it would make a good secret for Galinda and to reveal as a crack in her "perfect" life.

I'm glad it was so well received!

Video: Works in Progress

Here's a video about all the Wicked fics I have planned, but done a little differently!

I used Prezi.com (basically super fancy power points) and Screencast-O-Matic (something new I was trying out) to make this. It was fun.