It’s April 5th, 2015. Week thirteen of writing 1,000 words per day of fiction.

For some, April is the month of Camp NaNo! I’m joining some of those people in writing sprints this month to not only help myself keep the 1K train rolling, but also to help those people stay motivated by having a writing partner! It’s time for the Week Thirteen update on my 1K a Day Challenge!

Days 88 through 94 have been successes, with a minimum of 1,000 words per day written. 

Stats for Days 88 to 94:

Day 88 – 1001 words
Day 89 – 1078 words
Day 90 – 1151 words
Day 91 – 1031 words
Day 92 – 1040 words
Day 93 – 1201 words
Day 94 – 1695 words

Total count for the year thus far is 124,758 words. Average daily word count is 1,327 words. Gridfall is at 117,925 words. Based on my projections for the story, it is 59% finished.

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So I’m talking about the round robin writing game I’m participating in, and last week it was for A Knight’s Taint. This week I’m talking about Captain/Planet, the second humorous story in the game, fourth overall. It is also the first pre-existing story that we’re writing on.

If it’s not obvious enough, this is fan fiction for the beloved/controversial children’s cartoon Captain Planet. I say controversial because the entire thing was absurd and was basically about eco-terrorists breaking the law to do good.

This is not just a straight-up fanfic of the show, though. No. This is more in the vein of the Grimdark trailers and parodies that have been popping up as of late for all those children’s things you loved when you were but a child. The most recent was a Power Rangers short film starring James Van Der Beek and Katee Sackhoff, which is what prompted this one in the first place.

I was incredibly excited to write for this one when it first appeared. I’m still excited for it, but the idea of writing grimdark Captain Planet was amazing at the outset. Planeteers that murder people with their power rings, Thai hookers, drunken Russian hackers, swearing all over the place, evisceration. Leaning into the characters and their personalities for a more real-world feel while extending the craziness to its perverted conclusions (in more than just the sexual sense of the word) has been a lot of fun and I’m really glad we have this one in the mix, if only because it’s a familiar space we get to play in while doing something different with it. Captain Planet has yet to make an appearance, but I have a feeling it’s gonna be bombastic as hell when he arrives.

This is not the first time someone’s tackled a darker Captain Planet. Funny or Die has their own version, starring ridiculously enough, Don Cheadle as Captain Planet, which I highly recommend checking out.

Next week I’ll talk about the final story in the writing game, The Magician, The Hanged Man, and The Fool, which is probably my absolute favorite and why I saved it for last to talk about.

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You can follow me on Facebook or Twitter to see my progress and little daily anecdotes, and join in if you like!

And remember, writing is a skill. So write the hell on, writers.