KJ

Title: Face the Music
Fandom: Dragon Age
Rating: M-ish
Wordcount: 12,051
Characters: Alistair, Fiona, Teagan, Bianca. Gen, with passing references to past Alistair/f!Cousland and Fiona/Maric
Spoilers: For the mage and Grey Warden questlines in DA:I
Notes: Written for the 2015 round of dragonagebb. My attempt to answer the question of what a exiled Alistair might have gotten up to during the events of Inquisition. Featuring wonderful accompanying artwork by stupidlullabies. Thanks to phdfan for a lifesaving beta read.

Summary: Over a decade after he walked out of the Landsmeet, Alistair never expected he'd end up back in Redcliffe as Arl Teagan's master-at-arms, training knights and guards, avoiding his memories -- and fighting the effects of the Calling, which came on more suddenly than he'd expected. As he begins to consider whether he needs to leave, a new responsibility falls on his shoulders: the security of Grand Enchanter Fiona and the other mages taking shelter in town.

On AO3

Title: Orders
Fandom: Dragon Age
Rating: Teen (for violence)
Wordcount: 12,622
Characters: Bethany Hawke, Carver Hawke, Alim Surana, Nathaniel Howe, Sigrun, Oghren, Velanna, Janeka, Stroud. Hints of Bethany/Nathaniel
Spoilers: For Awakening and the DA2 Legacy DLC
Notes: My entry for the 2014 Dragon Age Big Bang. Illustrated by veusovon. The artwork is embedded in the story and posted to the artist's Tumblr.

Thanks to my artist, to my beta spiritofemby, to my fantastic co-mods violacea and cherith, and to everyone here who helped me figure out what story I wanted to tell. :) I literally could not have done this without you.

Summary: When a Deep Roads misadventure forces Bethany Hawke to join the Grey Wardens, her brother Carver chooses to go with her. But instead of a safe haven, the twins find trouble in the Wardens: commanders who want to separate them, a mysterious woman who takes a strange interest in them, and a series of ambushes by the Carta.

On AO3

Title: Honesty Hour
Fandom: Dragon Age
Rating: G
Wordcount: 822
Characters: Sera Aeducan, Natia Brosca, Morrigan, Alistair, Leliana
Spoilers: Minor for the game, major for "Justify the Means".
Notes: This is the second of three fics I've written for a giveaway I did on Tumblr earlier this year. This one was requested by maricsblade, who asked for Sera and Natia (from my AU fic "Justify the Means"), "what I really think of you". It ended up being a couple of missing scenes from the fic, and I hope a nice little window into both of their characters.

On Tumblr / On AO3

So far I have managed to write something on my DABB every day this month, although some days have seen more progress than others. Today is one of the "others" -- I fleshed out a little bit of one scene but have no really succeeded in adding much wordcount; on the other hand, I might have figured out something about the long-term plot. But I did come up with something I was pretty happy with yesterday and the day before. Have a long snippet, 700-some words (spoilers for DA:O):

( fight fight fight )

Days written: 22/31
Words written: 14,656
Words of fic written: 12,320
Stories worked on: Three, some ficbits, and a bunch of editing
Stories posted: One (an ongoing WIP), plus ficbits and several reposts

( Chart of the month club )

Specific goals:

1. Write an average of six days per week. Nope. Not even close. My trip sort of threw this one out the window -- I didn't write at all in Seattle, and not much on the road.

2. Finish Right Hand Woman, for real. I actually drafted the final segment last night, so I think that counts. I'll try to get it posted this afternoon.

3. Do the WIP files project. Success! This week, I went through everything, mothballed a few stories that will probably never be finished, and got some prompt fics archived on AO3. And earlier this month I finally cleaned up all my stories from the DA Alphabet meme and posted those to AO3 as well.

4. Continue working on DABB story, in preparation for the November 3rd check-in. Not really . This will be my overriding goal for November, since the draft is due December 6th.

I was expecting to feel much worse about my progress on things, but actually looking over it, I did pretty well, with the exception of so many days skipped. I'll call it a win, overall.

Goals for November:

1. Write at least ten minutes every day, per the rules of wrisomifu. With the exception of today (which will be spent wrapping up "Right Hand Woman"), I intend to use these minutes to work on my DABB. Speaking of which...

2. Complete first draft of my DABB. No excuses.

3. Write at least one public post on my LJ/DW every day for NaBloWriMo. It doesn't have to be super substantial, but it does have to be more than a Tweet. That's the whole point of having a journal after all.

That's not many goals, but especially considering that this is a concert month, I think that's enough.

As previously mentioned, I signed up for the second wave of dragonagebb, and although the rough draft isn't due until early December, I haven't written a single word yet and am starting to get a little concerned. Not *too* concerned -- a draft of a 20k word story in two and a half months shouldn't be a problem, especially if I end up unemployed for some of that time -- but a little bit. Mostly because it's not the execution I'm stalling on, it's the idea.

It's like this: I have a story I want to write, but I have a feeling that to be told properly, it would need to be much longer than 20k words. And it's not only a time issue, it's an interest issue, because the much longer story would essentially be a Blight retelling, which I'm not sure would hold my attention as a writer. So that's the conundrum -- finding a complete story that can be told in 20-30,000 words (somewhat longer is fine, just not an epic) without rehashing the entirety of DA:O.

( The concept. )

If anyone has any thoughts on ways to take this idea and cut it down to a more manageable size, I'm all ears. I bit off way more than I could chew with "Wardens of Ivalice" for Mega Flare last year, and I'd rather not do that to myself again.