Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Fun with Polls How many WIPs do you have?

Writers, how many unfinished fics do you have littering your hard disk? Or story ideas that haven't even been started yet?

(Sorry, readers, I couldn't think of a way to include you in this poll )

I received some sort of weird joy out of picking '4 or more'. Maybe because I enjoy being just a *little* bit of a slacker when it comes to writing. It's 6 to be exact. Three have actually been started, although I can't for the life of me remember the 3rd without checking my documents. Just goes to show the last time I opened that one. The other 3 are post-its since I'm addicted to the post-it software for computers now. Oh, that's right. I remember the 3rd. It's being BRed by Rivka. **cough, cough** Sorry, something in my throat there. (Hey, she did order me to nag her about that! )

Jen

I also voted for 'four or more'. I finished the two long stories I have been posting (yay!!) but I have a whole lot of ideas for more fics.

AnnaBtG.

I've only got one that's been languishing for about eight or nine months. In the meantime, I've written a couple of things to completion, so the highest number of WIPs I've ever had is 2.

I'm starting to get another idea, so it might spike up to 2 again in the near future.

I picked one, btw.

4 or more? Oh, come on. Tell me I'm not the only one who has WIPS on her hd in double figures. 13 at last count. Most of which have been half-written for over five years and half of which will most definitely never see the light of day.

LabRat (who knows Kae at least has to have more than 13...)

I must have a different definition of a wip.

I don't consider a few notes joted down on a half-formed idea as a wip. Most of the time I never bother to jot down anything when I have an idea. I just let it percolate for a while, then I either write it or I don't.

A wip is a legitimate story that I've invested the time to start and plan to finish unless it unravels somehow storywise. I have occasionally written a vignette or two while working on a wip, but once I've started a story, that's the one I work on, either until I'm done, or trash it.

Tank (who is in that decision phase at the moment... whether to continue or trash)

I voted "4 or more" but maybe that depends on your definitions -- there's only one story that I'm currently working on writing. I've got a new idea I'm tossing around, too, but that's Elena's fault, and I haven't got beyond jotting a few notes.

And then there are the files where I had an idea, and started writing, but then ran out of steam, or plot, and abandoned. Just counted, and was somewhat surprised to find at least 12 story-ettes there. (I have associated notes files, and various versions, some with new titles, so it's hard to say for certain.) I'd forgotten about some of them Some of these *may* eventually be finished, some of them are dead beyond all hope. But it'd be stretching the meaning of the word to say they're "in progress" 'cause they ain't progressing.

I'm a linear writer, and apparently that holds at the story level, too; I very rarely have more than one story that I'm actively working on.

PJ

I put "three" but then after I hit "vote" I changed my mind because I remembered a tiny little snippet that I guess technically is a WIP.

My stories develop very much like babies - I have one that has been conceived but is still an embryo, another that is in a fetal stage - more than half written. And another is actually two weeks overdue and scheduled for an induction <g>. Then there are a couple that are currently just a twinkle in the eye.

Lynn

PS - I didn't count all of the WIPs I have that are not LnC fics. When I think of those...oy, I have so much to do!

Eeep!

*hides*

(Oh, you do know what happens when your sig-line guy asks for change, right, Jen?)

Hah! Well... um. I dunno. It depends on what you call a WIP. Stories that are actually started but somehow stuck at the moment... quite a few. Stories I'm working on regularly at the moment, aka real WIPs (with emphasis on P), two. Stories that are just basic ideas and where nothing it really written yet, dozens.

Kaethel

Yeah, I'm with Labby. Between Elisabeth and I we [i]had[/] most of a new 5th season, which will probably never see the light of day. Then their are the dozen or more started stories that will see the light of day, someday. Then there are the dozen's of ideas that keep popping into my head, which I have to keep beating back with a stick!

James, who is creatively gifted but dysfunctional in my writing.

I'm the only one who picked zero!

And it's odd for me, because generally while I'm posting a story, I'm sort of pecking away, even just half-heartedly, at something else.

Not this time. This time, inside my head, I can hear the wind whistling...nothing. Empty. Quiet. Like a library, where if even a tendril of an idea starts to sprout, the mean lady behind the desk shushes it savagely.

Anyone else know her? Just wondering...

CC

I don't like that lady especially if she's in your head CC!

~Liz

I chose other because they are not all on my hard drive, some are still in my head fully flourished and begging to be released.

Thankfully there's a lot of empty space up there to keep it all

TEEEEEEJ

Um...8, I think. 4 that I'm actually working on, 2 that I wrote about one page of then got stuck, 1 in BR, and 1 that I started to research but my hubby the history-expert told me it was the wrong time period for what I wanted...dang! Now I have to do all that research all over again!

That's just the ones I can remember off the top of my head, since none of them are actually on my hd, but in various notebooks scattered about my house and car...

And that doesn't count ones that I just have ideas about that I haven't started at all.

I got to pick 4 or more , although all of mine might be more aptly relegated to the next poll for RIP because God knows it'll be years, if ever, before I ever get a chance to work on em again - or before I find that darned vacationing Muse. (Last postcard from her was Tahiti, about 2 months ago, so if anyone sees her, let me know.) I've got 4 that actually have stuff written on them, and then I've probably got 3 more with titles/outlines/storylines-in-my-head...so we'll see what becomes of them in the future. The 4 I've got started I really, really want to finish.

I suppose it's time I answered my own poll. For some reason I can't remember, I actually voted 'other', but I've now done a proper count. It was really interesting, incidentally, to revisit old notes dating back 4 years or more. Some of them had turned into proper stories two or three years later, and I hadn't even remembered I'd made these earlier notes. Some of them were just plain lame and very embarrassing.

Anyway, here's what I found:

3 WIPs with more than a few of pages written on them.

2 never-ever-ever-to-be-published ideas because they're boring and lame or a bit controversial.

11 ideas which I'd totally forgotten about and might revisit now that I've discovered them.

1 one-sentence note which I really do not understand at all! (Clark the stalker, anyone?).

I'll put the RIPs where they belong...

Yvonne

I write stories the way Mozart wrote music: I develop most of it in my head first, and then when I feel comfortable with it I write it down. Mentally I have about a gazillion WIPs, but there's only about a dozen or so on my computer.

I get so many ideas, I can't possibly NOT write them down. Right now the muse is on my side (probably much to SQD's dismay, since she gets strange little e-mails from me all the time--"Guess what! I've written a new fic!"), and I've had a long running of ideas and drive. So, yes, I'm 4+. The rundown is:

*6 WIPS, 4 of which are well-developed and almost done, 2 of which are sketchy but still have a page or so written out

*4 ideas that I am GOING to write, but haven't put anything to paper yet.

I have to admit, only one is a LARGE project that takes up most of my time. The others are shorter fics, challenge fics, and fluffier pieces. I have big ideas but they must wait in line until I finish the one I started in October. (Silly Wanda thought she could finish that by November 2003! Ha! Still going...)

--Wanda

Hey how about that. That's how I do it too. I work out the the theory of diffrent character at how they should get from point A to B inside my head. I find it much faster then using a chart. A chart hinders my creativity. and it makes me . That's why I'm known at work as a space cadet. I can't help it if my brain can run at 600 miles per hour.