On Writing!

[zeitgeistic]

Finished my do-me-veela fic and came in at 12k which is AMAZING for me. The only thing that saved this from turning into 50k of me fucking around is the fact that it has absolutely zero plot.

Okay let's talk about fic/fiction writing strategyI've gotten 4 inquiries on my writing process for Azoth now, which is just mind-blowing to me since I never felt like

Comments

[lettered]

I LOVE THIS POST. Thank you for telling us about your process. I'm sorry I flailed all over your comments; this is just so interesting to me.

I hate titles. Sometimes I have a working title, but only because I know I'll have to come up with one eventually and I dread it so much that I try to get a jump start so I don't have to choose something crappy in the end.

I usually know if something will end happy or sad, but that's about it. Actually, even that's a bit much--I'll know if the conflict introduced by the premise gets resolved or not. In H/D, usually the central conflict is usually H/D, even if there are other huge plots going on, so when I start I know if H/D end with a happy relationship together or not. But for instance, I wrote another fic in which the central conflict was that the main characters got turned into children. They managed to turn themselves back into adults by the end, but none of the emotional issues were resolved, which I didn't know would happen when I started the fic. That fic was part of a series, but I have no idea whether the series ends happy.

I feel like my planning method is fairly common, and yet I've never quite heard someone describe it the way I think of it. I start with the resolution (or non-resolution) I describe above, which is a bit like vaguely knowing you're headed east. Then I picture east, and the scene directly in front of me is pretty clear. The next scene after that is kind of vague, then vaguer and vaguer as you head farther and farther east. I know there are some stops along the road I really want to get to before the end, so there might be some unexpected turns, but all of that is hazy and distant. Now, within that first scene, I generally know the first words of the first line, and then I sort of know the gist of the next few lines, and then I know there have to be some lines after that--so the scene is like a tiny mini-road, where the first part is very very clear, and the end of the scene is clear, but the exact words I'll use to get there aren't really fleshed out until I write those initial words.

As for making characters complex and flawed, I don't usually plan on that. That said, usually the scenes I want to get to are character moments rather than "I want a dance scene". For instance, in The Boy Who Only Lived Twice, I wanted a scene in which Harry told Rabbit that Draco meant nothing to him, and I wanted Harry to say it not because Draco meant nothing to him but because he was confused about how he felt about Draco and didn't want to lose Rabbit, and I wanted Rabbit to be visibly devastated without Harry understanding why. It was just a scene I needed to have even though it wasn't strictly necessary for the plot. But once I wrote it it became strictly necessary for the characters to be who they were, and it made each of them that more fucked up, so I didn't have to consciously think about making them flawed.

I do do quite a lot of research. For He Who Must Not Be Normal I picked the actual place where Draco lived, where he worked, researched restaurants that could be reached within walking distance, looked at their menus to make sure Draco could afford them, then read customer reviews to see what he would probably like, then tried to find pictures of interiors to picture what the restaurant looked like, even though I never once described it.

Idk about writing scenes that don't move the plot or characters forward. I feel like I've never written a scene that didn't move the plot or characters. A scene is always doing something. I guess that means there's probably a lot of pointless stuff in my fics that could be cut. What dictates what I do or don't include depends on pacing, usually. My pacing usually isn't that great because if I write on a deadline I rush at the end and if I don't write on a deadline I rarely finish, but I'm highly aware of pacing through out most of the fic except at the very end when I just need to write 20,000 words in 3 days and finish the sucker, so I feel like if things are dragging I cut them or stop writing them or don't write them in the first place.

Thanks again for your awesome post!

[sophie_french]

I LOVE THIS POST. Thank you for telling us about your process. I'm sorry I flailed all over your comments; this is just so interesting to me.

Same here!!!

He Who Must Not Be Normal: God I've bookmarked this fic, I so wanted to read it and haven't yet!!! Definitely have to read it!

[lettered]

Thank you! I haven't been able to read most of the fics from erised. I AM SUCH A SLOW READER!

[sophie_french]

I am too! And there are so many amazing stories out there, it just blows my mind!!!

[icmezzo]

oh, actually your explanation of writing with haze in the distance resonates with me.the farther away, the more foggy the details are. even with most fics I outline, this is the case. I can only see clearly about one or maaaaybe two scenes in front of what I've last written.

[lettered]

Oh, cool, I thought other people might write that way too! I love going and watching the fog clear a few steps in front of me every step. When the building you knew was there in the distance becomes hazily visible, I get really excited and write faster so that I can get to it and see it more clearly, and then sometimes trees that I didn't know were there become hazily visible and that's exciting too, because they get more defined as I approach and pass them.

But sometimes I realize I sort of missed a patch and it's back behind me so I have to go back and make sure I really looked at it so that the path behind is clear instead of hazy.

[nherizu]

Thank you for explaining your writing process in detail. I've always wanted to know how you could write so many awesome stories. Even before I was active in this fandom, I've already gone around recommending The Boy Who Only Lived Twice everywhere. Although my most personal favourite is No Other Superstar because I share Draco's orientation, and I found your take on the story very interesting (and it was one of the few stories I used as references when I was first trying to figure out about that part of me). So thank you once again. Just like Sophie, I've bookmarked your Erised story even before the reveal (your title and summary kind of told me that it was yours, lol) and can't wait to read it <3

[lettered]

aw, thanks. You know, I'm not really a fan of No Other Superstar because I hit a deadline and rushed the ending, but I'm glad I wrote it because I've actually had so many great conversations about asexuality because of it. I went and did a lot of research about asexuality and demisexuality and gray sexuality etc afterwards so that I could do a better job in the next fic I wrote about it, and in the process learned so much about myself. So I'm glad it worked for you, and I hope you like the erised fic.

[nherizu]

I understand what you meant about hitting a deadline, but still, to me No Other Superstar was perfect <3
To be honest, I'm sad that asexuality is widely misunderstood, so I'm really happy whenever I see a story about asexuality (and demi and grey-a, etc.). This in particular makes me excited. Oh by the way, if you happen to write more about this topic, I'll be sure to read it. Or I'll be sure to read all of your H/D stories, to be exact. :)

[zeitgeistic]

Omg you have no idea how glad I am you commented because I have been DYING to know your process. Your fics are always flawless. I love your description of heading vaguely east. Sometimes that's how I feel, although not quite so poetic.

I can't recall any extraneous scenes in the fics of yours I've read. I think that any otherwise extraneous ones are definitely covered under 'moves character development forward' because your fics are always so character-driven and rich that way.

[lettered]

Thanks. Well, there probably are extraneous scenes, but it really depends on the story you're trying to tell. I don't think my fics are flawless, but it's nice to hear you say so.

Anyway, I love to talk about process. It would be fun to do a dvd commentary fest, in which everyone signed up to share a dvd commentary of a fic they've already written so they can talk about what they did while they were writing it and how they worked out certain things.

[zeitgeistic]

That would be a lot of fun. :)