Loyalnprecious - Written Bits And Writing Pieces

Chapter 13 is out!! I told you guys we were going on a trip! Twice! Things are on the move 😁😁

https://archiveofourown.org/works/21294311/chapters/72523419

I hope you’ll enjoy it! 😘

A third moodboard for my on-going fic on Ao3 “Map of the Soul” as I’m posting its 10th chapter!

I never expected this story to be that epic (and that big!) but I love writing it so much! 💖I’ve become quickly attached to the characters and the places. And we’ll be travelling some more! 🛫

Of loss and love

@the-wip-project Day 3:

What’s your character’s motivation? What motivates them to act like they do?

Since my current wip is structured along with two timelines, the plot revolves around two protagonists, namely a 2020-young man, and his lost-and-found grandpa when himself was young, in 1950.

Let's start in chronological order:

Grandpa is young and is about to come of age in a changing world, when his own country is literally birthing itself, in the most violent manner: invaders taking advantage of a vulnerable people, setting them against one another in a ruthless clash. Changing times, changing norms. Almost everything this character knows is questioned: his upbringing, his family dynamics, his feelings, even the relative peace he enjoyed when a child. But he soon learns that the future is out of the question however; only the present counts. Needless to say, it is hard for this character to find his way in the middle of chaos, and to learn who he is, where his place is. As he figures out as he goes how to deal with survival, loss and love, with little guidance, some decisions are going to be drastic, and their consequences dramatic.

His grandson goes through the same process actually (I play a lot on coincidences and parallels) but in the modern world. Changes are not as dramatic, nor violent, but it doesn't mean there aren't any. They're here, undercover still, subdued, internal. And when he discovers a whole part of his origins has been kept hidden from him, the same questioning occurs, and with it the same themes, with the same potential rifts with his family. But rather than risking major upheavals in his life because losing the ones he loves scares him, he tries to run with the hare and hunt with the hounds (looove that phrase) and it works... for some time. But he can't avoid decisions to be taken too at some point; reconciliation is a decision, which parties have to agree on.

*rolls sleeves up to get to work* Right...

Wip, relief in progress

@the-wip-project Day 2, here we go!

For your current WIP:  What motivates you to write this specific story? What makes this story special for you? Is there a special twist/trope/setting you want to explore? What got you started on this particular story?

To make a long story short (haha), my current wip is a transposition of my own family (hi)story. Something that's been haunting the halls of the (complex) relationship between my mother and me, what with untold truths, heavy secrets, weaved into the fabric of historical events and past social norms, all of this distilling over the years into some damaging miscommunication, a feeling of estrangement, and even transgenerational trauma.

Ironically, it all started on the day I learnt my grandfather had passed away, which was also the day I learnt he'd been alive all along my childhood, teen and young adult years. You know, it's the kind of situation like when you step onto a big thump that has grown under the family rug for years and the cloud of dust that comes forth is downright suffocating. After a few years of stubborn research, of unfathomable frustration but also precious success that have changed me more than I could imagine, I thought I was ready to talk about it. I wasn't. Some friends advised me to write about it. I couldn't.

None would do.

Since then, I've become a fervent reader of fanfiction, and started writing my own. It was a couple of years into writing that the idea of transposing my story to other characters, another place, another historical context (still war time though) and in another language (that aspect is the most crucial I think) came to me.  I do a lot of research, but obviously I take liberties in the narrative too (I'm a sucker for soulmates au 🥺) 

The tacit deal I made with myself is that this writing would not only help me come to terms with what happened, bring it to life in the outer world (because nobody in my family cares about it but me, and that just looks like another sort of burial if you ask me) and find solace, through forms of reconciliation, which never took place in real life. 

It's a healing process, and more. Something I'd like to give my family, even if they don't want it (yet, hopefully one day they might) And that's why I really want to finish it, though sometimes it's not easy to confront some moments/scenes, especially the ones I wish I could have experienced myself.

The biggest challenge of all will be to write war scenes. I'm not fond of violence in general. So writing this will be tough.

Thoughts On Having a Writing Partner

The first time I was published in the New Yorker was the most amazing thrill. A career highlight. Nothing will beat that feeling of seeing my drawing and idea printed in the pages of a magazine I’d been reading since I stole copies from my Dentist’s office in Perth. (Sorry, Dr Farrugia).

But there is an aspect to our trade with which every cartoonist or stand-up comic is intimately familiar:  and that is the solitude of being a ‘one-man-band’. For the highest of highs (rare) and the lowest of lows (frequent), there is nobody to share it with, outside of an on-looking spouse or a flatulent dog at your feet.

This week’s issue of the New Yorker prompted me to write this post about teaming-up with a fellow comedy writer for writing cartoons, since it may well be the record for the most publicly acknowledged* cartoonist duos in an issue of the New Yorker. *(Gag writers never used to be credited. I’ll explain below**.)

In 2018, after 15 years of freelancing as a cartoonist and having been published many times flying solo, I started collaborating with my friend and fellow comic, Scott Dooley to share the frequent anxiety (and sporadic joy) of submitting New Yorker cartoons.

I hadn’t done this before and immediately found it so enlightening. Watching one of my own ideas go through the filter of somebody else’s comedy brain-wiring and come out the other end with a lateral tag or alt. punch  I’d never have considered myself was addictive, and it suddenly clicked as to why there were such things as ‘writers rooms’. (I’m slow on the uptake.)

READ MORE

A good partner is an editor, audience, fan and favorite author rolled into one. This goes for all business partners - not just writing partners. ~ eP

Sow an action, reap a habit.

@the-wip-project Day 7

Do you have a writing day? Or a writing hour? When do you get most of your writing done?

I'm a firm believer in schedules and planning; they just fit my personality.

Since all my leisure activities take place at home, they could easily be drowned under other tasks, such as school work for one if I'm not careful. So planning them is my way not to forget that they're as important as the rest and that I should not neglect them. My mental health needs them; I feel nourished from them; they keep my daily life balanced. To me, they're part of healthy habits, just like drinking water, 8h-sleep, or clay masks.

Writing falls into these habits of course, made even more enjoyable with the presence and help from my writing buddy @stankris 🥰 We met two years ago (Kris, can you believe it?) during a BigBang and bonded over our respective stories and more. Once the event was over, we remained in contact and have been organizing writing sessions, twice a week now, making do of our time zones, during which we chat, discuss plots, character development, share ideas, feedback, support... And write of course!

They've become a dear friend and these sessions are moments I've been looking forward to every week since we started. We hardly ever missed any, just postponed a few of them for exceptional reasons. And it's a blast every week!

My wips and I owe them a lot! 💜