Glowfic Break

[Alicorn]

This is an announcement of a glowfic hiatus for all and only those glowfics I am personally involved in. It will last at least one week, effective immediately. I may extend it if it is effective at its intended purpose, possibly indefinitely.

While I am very attached to my longform glowfic stories, and prefer even sandboxing to nearly any non-glowfic use of my time, it seems to have done a number on my solo writing. I have gone from writing more than twelve thousand words a week, every one of them advancing the plot of a novel, to a situation where I can barely eke out a chapter every few months - not because my time is completely saturated with glowfic (it isn't) but because my brain's feedback loop is drunk on the stuff.

Which would be one thing if I were writing fantastic epics, but you may have noticed that Effulgence and Incandescence aren't going anywhere fast either, and their fizzling has made me leery of making new brainchildren with new people which may well do just the same thing after I've become dependent on them too.

I have gotten myself into a situation where how much time I can spend writing is almost totally outside of my own control. Diversifying my writing partners has helped, sort of (and I appreciate you all), but doesn't solve the fundamental problem.

I love writing, I need to do it, and I need to be able to do it in quantity, regardless of whether specific people are interested at specific times. I'm terrified that I'm going to badly damage my writing-based friendships by backing off from coauthored work, but I need to be able to write. I'm sorry for those of you who were holding out hope that specific stories would see their conclusions (or even their introductions) done justice, but I need to be able to write. I know for a fact that the adjustment period wherein I won't be able to write a damn thing will be agony, but in the long term, I need to be able to write. I apologize to anyone who wanted to do a glowfic with me and didn't get on the bus in time, but I need to be able to write. It seems pretty clear to me that I am unable to balance glowfic with novels.

The hiatus might not work for getting me jumpstarted on solo writing, in which case this is a lot of drama for nothing much; I'll come back sheepishly and think harder about what to do. It might work okay and I'll extend it a little but then something will click and I'll decide I can do both somehow. It might be that my scarcity will inspire sudden paradoxical energy from kappa or Aestrix and I can have my cake and eat it too, doing glowfic and getting longform work done.

I might suddenly finish Goldmage and my novella in progress and disentangle the Elcenia spaghetti plot and publish four short stories in one day and sail off cackling into the sunset and never come back to glowfic at all.

If I never come back to glowfic:

- Incandescence, at least, will get a decent burial. I will write up summaries of all the plot we had in mind. I've already talked to Aestrix about this, but I'd like to do the same thing with any other abandoned glowfics too.
- You are all so encouraged to continue to write glowfic with each other. There are a bunch of you now. You don't need me to have fun with the format. I don't think my problems with glowficcing are likely to be common.
- I am still happy to talk about glowfic on this forum. You can even still Talk To Effulgence Characters and get answers if you want, at least from me; this doesn't push the same buttons as threading does.
- This will not be the last time you see inklings of my glowfic characters. Why wouldn't I populate future stories with expies when convenient, since I've got so much practice? If you think you recognize somebody later, maybe you do; you can ask.
- This will not be the last time you see inklings of some of these settings and plots, either. Kappa feels proprietary about some features of Effulgence, and it's fanficcier to start anyway, but I have Aestrix's permission to play with our mutual toys.
- It will have been such fun while it lasted, you guys, you have no idea.

[Shoal]

Do what you need to do. Take care of yourself. That's the most important thing. I hope you have a good hiatus.

[Bluelantern]

Do what you need to do. Take care of yourself. That's the most important thing. I hope you have a good hiatus.

Second that, take your time and your talent wher you need them to be, and good luck! :)

[anthusiasm]

Good luck on your hiatus-ing! I am sad but also excited for you! Have fun writing amazing things!

[DanielH]

I hope, both for your sake and selfishly, that you find a way to come back to sandboxes while still maintaining a more in-control ability to write. In any case, I hope this helps you get back to somewhere healthy with your writing ability.

If you don't mind my asking, was this as sudden in your head as it appears from out here (where you seem to have first mentioned the possibility < 24 hours ago)?

[Alicorn]

It was less sudden (and it's occurred to me many times that it might eventually be necessary) but still pretty sudden.

[Bluelantern]

Did you even took any breaks before? You deserve one either way

[DanielH]

If I read you right, you'll still work on existing longform glowics as coauthors permit. Are those only Effulgence and Incandescence? Would you count your Marri worlds, or are those still different sandboxes to the relevant parts of your mind? What about Resplendence?

[jalapeno_dude]

This sounds like a good decision, or at least an experiment worth trying. Looking forward to your future output, in whatever form!

[Alicorn]

Kappa or Aestrix could tempt me back if they were infused with sudden energy even if the break otherwise worked fabulously at producing novel chapters. Witchlight doesn't have enough plans-in-the-works to be that tempting. Resplendence is in a similar boat.