I wanted to do this Dragon Age Bang, I did. But it's now been a full four weeks since the last update on the group page and the deadline to post anonymous story synopses has passed (by nearly two full weeks) without a single word from the organizer. And so I say, "Forget it!"

I'm still going ahead with the story but, once I get a little farther downstream with it, I'm going to start posting chapters weekly on my blog instead. I won't get a custom illustration but at least it will see the light of day (in a limited, no-one-reads-that-blog sort of way).

It wouldn't bother me so much except that this is my one DA story that really goes outside of lore and I am making people and events up from whole cloth. It's real fiction, albeit in a familiar setting, not "just" fanfic. And so I'm going to keep working on it, Big Bang or no.

So I signed up for the DA Big Bang all filled with trepidation and excitement. But the organizer hasn't met her own deadlines. The AOL group (and who the hell uses AOL by choice?!) has nothing or at least is so useless I can't navigate it. There was supposed to be a place to post anonymous story synopses two days ago and NOTHING! And so I want to wavy my tiny fists and kick my feet in a tantrum before I stomp out of there to someplace where people actually appreciate me.

But that's childish. I made a commitment and I want to live up to it (plus I've really enjoyed writing my Cullen fic even without romance or fluff). It just frustrates me that I'm trying to play by the rules to remain eligible and either LJ is hiding things from me or the freaking updates aren't happening. Comments on the "mandatory" check-in are being moderated but apparently the aren't going to be published so I can't verify whether anyone else actually did so.

A message to the organizer goes unanswered. No instructions on how or where to post those summaries have appeared. I am contemplating starting to post what I have on my fanfic blog starting next month if nothing happens. I would love to write something and have someone illustrate it but at this point it looks like it won't happen. [sigh] Maybe next time.

I broke 16,000 words yesterday on my Cullen fic for the Big Bang in completely rewriting the beginning. Of course I've got the fic out to two people for a read-through so a fair number of those words may end up on the cutting room floor, so to speak.

I've decided that the beginning of DA2 is going to be the cutoff for this one. I've got a linked story of Anders nibbling at the back of my head (same universe, same rules, same incidents from different viewpoints) but the Circle tower is such a very, very small world. For Cullen that works: I'm telling the story of what happened to him that led him to Kirkwall. But I've spent a fair amount of time fleshing it out in my head and I would like to use what I've got.

Bah, I don't know what I'm going to write next. This one is shaping up and I've still got three others on the go right now. Between those and drabbles I've got my hands full enough without plotting out other avenues. Now to sink into angst and get those Templars properly tortured...

Since I have so much time I've mostly set aside Training this week and have been focused on some of my other stories. I've discovered that I like to write an ending long before I have the faintest idea how I'm going to get there. I still have the end of Act 2 and all of Act 3 to write for The Champion's Side and I've already written killing Anders and the last chapter, for instance.

That behemoth topped 40k this week and I'm not even close to done. Then I wandered through The Swing of Things, hoping I could find my way back into that one because I really do love it. I gave up trying to move the plot forward and wrote the final scene in which Shepard comes onto the SR-1 and asks the guys if they've known each other long. But nothing between Chapter 9 and there, damnit! Just a blank grey expanse of espionage shenanigans.

Speaking of spies and poor behavior, I still can't get Kaidan and Shep to do anything interesting enough to get them out of that freaking ballroom. I went that way without thinking through the reason for their being there and now I can't come up with one. But...feathered masks! Kaidan in a tailcoat! I can't drop it entirely! [sob] It's been months, though...

As always, what I had in mind as a simple story has grown far beyond what I thought I would write. I have passed the ten-thousand-word mark with my Cullen story for the Big Bang and still haven't started the part where he's imprisoned much less gotten out of Ferelden.

I believe that means that this is going to be two fics, unless the rest of the story takes a lot less than I think to finish. I suspect I'm going to get to the twenty-five thousand minimum with just what happens to him him the Circle tower. I working on the scene where Kyla gets conscripted right now but I've written a lot about what happens when Uldred signals the rebellion already. There's a whole pile of angst just waiting for my attention!

So my Dragon Age Big Bang fic, Training, is going to be a story about Cullen. I'd already been messing around with it but I made some serious progress this week. I'm at about 9,000 words plus a bunch of notes and outlines for things I intend to include. I've worked my way up to the point where he's about to get imprisoned by Uldred (well, with some small gaps like Duncan and the Amell conscription, :D).

They way I see it, that's probably about a third of the story. He's far more intimately involved in the DA2 story and Hawke is going to blow Amell out of the water in part because she doesn't come with a big "FORBIDDEN" sign on her forehead. 'Course, I think I'm going to go the Ultimate Sacrifice with her because the angst isn't supposed to focus on her or Anders. This is Cullen's story!

My real concern isn't that I can't finish it by December but that I'll never finish it. :\