Who needs a chaptered fic when you can have a series?

[shimotsuki]

So the thing is, I started (sporadically) working on my Grand Saga of R/T a full year ago, intending to write a multi-chaptered, internally coherent fic about how Remus and Tonks meet, agonize, and finally get together. It was the first major fanfic plan I ever hatched, even though I've written and posted (several!) other things since starting

Comments

[mrstater]

Go you! I think that is s most excellent idea! (I would think that, having done it myself, LOL.) Seriously, it's really freeing to do it that way. You can just write whichever you're in the mood for. And real novel-writers do it all the time when they're putting books togetyer, so why not fanfic writers? Cannot wait to read what you've got next!

[shimotsuki]

I think that is s most excellent idea! (I would think that, having done it myself, LOL.) -- Hee hee! Yep, you and jncar were my inspirations for this approach.

And real novel-writers do it all the time when they're putting books togetyer, so why not fanfic writers? -- Exactly! I was writing the Grand Saga out of order, anyway, and this way I don't have to wait until I get all the parts (or at least all the early parts) done before I post.

I'll probably take another page from your book and revise the series once the whole thing's been written, but I'll worry about that step later...

[mrstater]

And the R/T community is glad not to have to wait to read all the parts! :)

I'll probably take another page from your book and revise the series once the whole thing's been written, but I'll worry about that step later...

Yes, focus on the writing before the re-writing. It gets so easy to just re-write things to death and never move forward...Though of course once you're moving on to the next project, it's tricky juggling both. ;)

My current dilemma with the writing out of order thing is that now it's crept into my WIPs -- when I got my Showdown bunny I thought it wouldn't hurt to jump into the future, but then I realized I couldn't do that in such a vastly different timeframe, so I went to the flashbacks, and now I'm giving away all the pivotal moments in Magical Creatures verse, which I do mean to extrapolate and put into the fic linearly...Oh well...

[shimotsuki]

when I got my Showdown bunny I thought it wouldn't hurt to jump into the future, but then I realized I couldn't do that in such a vastly different timeframe, so I went to the flashbacks

LOL. I think the flashback structure is working out really well in Serpents, but I have to admit I did wonder if you had originally planned to write the intervening episodes linearly. I'm sure you can still do that later -- maybe you'll even think of further things to add and expand on...

The same thing basically happened to me with the Showdown. One of my prompts is a great Dumbledore quote that wouldn't stop shouting at me to do The Post-Hospital Wing Scene (hackneyed though it is as a fanfic scenario, it does have to be in my series!). But I really had to establish more about the nature of the pre-HBP relationship, since I'm doing that in a slightly unconventional way -- hence not one but two prequels. Now I just hope I can get to the hospital wing scene, but thanks for letting me know I can still have that fic listed at Meta even if it doesn

[katyhasclogs]

Oh good plan!

I look forward to reading the showdown fics!

[shimotsuki]

There are so many great ones posted so far -- I just wish I could write and read and review faster!

By the way, I love your Breakfast Club icons. I have a sneaking suspicion I'm a bit older than you (I'm about Remus's age in OotP, heh), but I saw that film in the theater when it came out and it was a big part of my Teen Angst years...

[katyhasclogs]

The Breakfast Club is my current favourite film. Its so funny and sad and thoughtful. I watched it for the first time with two of my friends back in May, and I'm ashamed to say that when it ended we just went back to the beginning and watched the whole thing again! Which is pretty sad really, although that is the only time I've done it.

I'm about Remus's age in OotP, heh

That would put about 17 years between us... although I'm well past the Teen Angst lol.

[gilpin25]

Yippee, indeed! Sounds a great idea and the big plus for me would be that you can write what you fancy, and what you're inspired to do, rather than being tied to the "I-must-do-the-next-in-the-sequence" theory. Which I always find very annoying and tiresome, being completely undisciplined and probably stroppy as well, lol.

Can't wait to read them. :) And there's always room for another post hospital-wing fic in the world; it's sort of an R/T given. ;)

[shimotsuki]

you can write what you fancy, and what you're inspired to do -- I've been writing my R/T that way for the past year anyway, lol, so at least switching to series style means I don't have to wait five years until it's all done before I start posting.

And there's always room for another post hospital-wing fic in the world -- Didn't McGonagall say that too? ;)

it's sort of an R/T given -- Very true; it's impossible to flesh out any canon-compatible story about their relationship without some idea of what went on after the robe-shaking...