snowflake 2k26: #7 + #8

[queenslayerbee]

Challenge #7.
LIST THREE (or more) THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF. They don’t have to be your favorite things, just things that you think are good. Feel free to expand as much or as little as you want.

 

• I am good at improvising, at coming up with solutions and at dealing with sudden unexpected turns.
• I value the fact that I'm honest and straightforward with people, and I value when others are the same way. I rather someone deal with the awkwardness of telling me an uncomfortable truth than try to appease me or protect my ego, and I try to be as honest (yet never cruel) with both others and myself. Sometimes it's not worth it and you might wash your hands off it, sure, but if you want to maintain a relationship, in any form, with a person in the long-term, it's necessary.
• I have a good ear for music.
• I am a creative, imaginative and competitive writer, and while I think there are many aspects of writing where I definitely have room for improvement, I'm willing to put in the work and confident in my ability to get better.
• I'm really fucking funny, if I can say so myself. 
• I have a good memory and I write a really good essay. This, along #1, greatly helped in university LOL.

Challenge #8.
Talk about your creative process.

This is something I've tried to fight, but it's high time I came to terms with the fact that I'm not a long-term planner LOL. Not an outline writer, at all, in either fiction or non-fiction (essays, as I said). There's a reason why I love writing drabbles[1] and short-form in general: I'm great at those burst of creativity, getting the story out in one sitting, and then going through it and refining it, changing it if needed, until it's exactly in the shape I want it to be.

Of course, this is a bit more challenging with long-form stories, of which I have many in my folders. I'm still learning, through trial and error, what works for me and what doesn't on that front. But trying to overplan and decide on things ahead to stick closely to a plan was never it. I need that room for sudden, in-the-moment inspiration to take me away and see where it leads. Only when a draft is complete through this method, instead of getting caught up in it or trying to stick to a schedule, can I then approach it as my harshest, first alpha reader LOL. Seeing it as a whole, kill my darlings when needed, tightened the loose threads, tweak and reinforce what works.



[1]Speaking of! Sign-ups for Season of Drabbles (and nominations for the tag set) are open until this Sunday. Be sure to check it out, if you're interested!

Also, fandomtrees is almost ready, with (at the time I write this, it's changing quickly) only three gifts left to complete it before reveals (tomorrow, if that goes well). Take a look, and see if they might be of a fandom you're in!.