she just don't know what else to do about it
In the scramble of remix pinch hits, I've been thinking again on strategies that make remixing fun and also somewhat easier when you're under the gun, and there's one technique that I don't recall getting talked about all that much when people discuss changing tenses and points of view or the main focus of the story, and that's structure.
I find it really helps when I'm facing a quick turnaround to have an easy hook to hang a story on - five things, maybe, or flashbacks, or using some kind of external structure like a drabble pyramid, which enables you to constrain your story and also meet your word count.
For example, So let it out and let it in is a five - or in this case, three - things story. The original is about Dean comforting Sam while he's sick by singing to him. I took that idea and rewrote the original story as the middle section, and added an earlier occasion and a later one - this gives me a structure to follow, so I'm not flailing around going, "OMG what am I doing?" (This was a super last minute pinch hit remix that was literally finished at 6 am the day the archive opened.) Remembrance of a Weeping Queen is also kind of a five things structure, with River kissing each crewmember to find out what she's missing (and that, also, was written the night before the archive was supposed to open.)
For Boys of Summer (Hot Corner Rag), I combined two interlocking structures - one involves alternating scenes of the present with flashbacks, and the other involves using the innings of a baseball game to delineate sections.
All the Roads That Lead You There (Mile by Mile Extended Dance Mix) and One Minute at a Time (Blast from the Past Remix) both play with chronology.
Ennui (La Ronde in Four-Four Time) took the original story and expanded it to include Remus and Lily, and also has a revolving POV on each of the pairings (and is also loosely based on the structure of La Ronde by Arthur Schnitzler), which made it easy because each section followed the other in a way that made organic sense.
I've yet to write a remix that is a series of linked drabbles or a drabble pyramid (section 1 - 100 words, section 2 - 200 words, etc.), mostly because when I'm under the gun, things like a rigorous attention to word count go out the window, but it helps me focus if I can say, "Okay, this story will have five sections of 200 words each, and I will meet the minimum word count and also hopefully be able to tell the whole story in that arrangement." Having a goal keeps me from freaking out.
Most of these strategies can also be used for almost any other kind of ficathon (you're on your own with the big bangs), because even if you're not remixing, having a structure in mind when you start writing can help keep you from going off on too many tangents that will leave you frustrated and unable to finish on time.
I find this the easiest way to get a handle on a story I can't otherwise figure out how to tell, but maybe that's just me.
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/316427.html.
people have commented there.
I find it really helps when I'm facing a quick turnaround to have an easy hook to hang a story on - five things, maybe, or flashbacks, or using some kind of external structure like a drabble pyramid, which enables you to constrain your story and also meet your word count.
For example, So let it out and let it in is a five - or in this case, three - things story. The original is about Dean comforting Sam while he's sick by singing to him. I took that idea and rewrote the original story as the middle section, and added an earlier occasion and a later one - this gives me a structure to follow, so I'm not flailing around going, "OMG what am I doing?" (This was a super last minute pinch hit remix that was literally finished at 6 am the day the archive opened.) Remembrance of a Weeping Queen is also kind of a five things structure, with River kissing each crewmember to find out what she's missing (and that, also, was written the night before the archive was supposed to open.)
For Boys of Summer (Hot Corner Rag), I combined two interlocking structures - one involves alternating scenes of the present with flashbacks, and the other involves using the innings of a baseball game to delineate sections.
All the Roads That Lead You There (Mile by Mile Extended Dance Mix) and One Minute at a Time (Blast from the Past Remix) both play with chronology.
Ennui (La Ronde in Four-Four Time) took the original story and expanded it to include Remus and Lily, and also has a revolving POV on each of the pairings (and is also loosely based on the structure of La Ronde by Arthur Schnitzler), which made it easy because each section followed the other in a way that made organic sense.
I've yet to write a remix that is a series of linked drabbles or a drabble pyramid (section 1 - 100 words, section 2 - 200 words, etc.), mostly because when I'm under the gun, things like a rigorous attention to word count go out the window, but it helps me focus if I can say, "Okay, this story will have five sections of 200 words each, and I will meet the minimum word count and also hopefully be able to tell the whole story in that arrangement." Having a goal keeps me from freaking out.
Most of these strategies can also be used for almost any other kind of ficathon (you're on your own with the big bangs), because even if you're not remixing, having a structure in mind when you start writing can help keep you from going off on too many tangents that will leave you frustrated and unable to finish on time.
I find this the easiest way to get a handle on a story I can't otherwise figure out how to tell, but maybe that's just me.
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/316427.html.
people have commented there.