On Writing!
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 ( Read more... )
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 ( Read more... )
I actually love writing and titles and summaries. I will spend about 2 hours on a typical summary if I sit down to write one. Otherwise, I often write them while I'm commuting because I have just enough attention to perfect the wording in a short summary while driving. I especially love writing summaries for comedies because you get to indulge the insanity up front. For example, The Ugly Duckling: D is all atwitter when he wakes up on his birthday with a few unexpected feathers. Suspecting foul play, he enlists H to help get rid of his unfortunate birden--er, burden. I love writing titles, too, though I'm realizing now that few of my HP titles are spectacular. I've done quite a few based on adaptations (Shoemaker) or poems (Kiss the Joy) and such, and those have been the source of my titles instead of having to be truly creative about it. I definitely use working titles...for several months my latest piece was called "Three Brothers Mashup."
2. Linear writing.
I am a linear writer. There was one time when I tried to write otherwise and it was a disaster. The rare exception is that sometimes I will write the very final scene when I'm about 3/4 of the way through because I can see the end in sight. I did that with "And So Death" because I was so bogged down in the angst that I had to remember where I was headed, needed to remember that it would be okay, and needed a break. But that was sort of a bookend and didn't fall within the main story so I'm not sure that even counts.
3. Outlining.
Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. It honestly depends on the genre, my mood, how "important" I consider the piece, and how technically difficult, among other things. When I do outline, I often include much more detail in the initial scenes and move to very high level plot points toward the end; this allows me to discover more and stay interested in the resolution. I outlined the everliving daylights out of And So Death because of the difficulty of the different POVs, timelines, the Three Brothers layer, and story bookends. (Writing that was actual torture, ngl.) Whereas with Ugly Duckling, I had a vague idea (feathers! puns! find a way to work in "The Raven"!) and just started writing and let it lead me wherever it wanted to go. It was a light comedy, for a low pressure fest, and I had time to go back if I dead ended. To be honest, though, I've never dead ended and had to reverse and try again to find the ending. I feel like it is going to happen one day, but so far, I've always been able to keep moving ahead despite a lack of a destination. I think I actually prefer writing without and outline and just seeing where I'll end up, but there's a definite risk there so it's not always appropriate.
4. Research.
I should do more of this. I mean, I definitely do some as I go and it can lead to very strange tangents, but I should research and develop backstory more than I do at this point. Sometimes I do more than others. Not being a shoe person by nature, I researched the heck out of shoe-making and shoe styles (esp classic men's styles) before writing Shoemaker.
5. Complex characters.
I need to improve here, as well. I think I need to write again without a fest deadline so I have time to indulge here. It has been awhile since I've written without a deadline. That said, without deadlines, I often won't actually write, so... sigh.
6. Monogamy. It doesn't matter if I have pieces that are complete opposites in genre or characters or whatever. I cannot write more than one piece at a time.
7. Endings.
I love writing endings. There's something about neatly wrapping up 30k with a perfectly poignant red bow that appeals to me. I often use some sort of gentle bookend, bringing back a theme or special moment from the very beginning or sometimes the climax section to give the story some balance. This worked particularly well in "Kiss the Joy," I think, as I brought back H's observation of Ron and Hermione at the very beginning and let him be in that place with nearly identical wording D in the very last lines. The approach brings everything full circle, and I love when it works well. I try to be clever about it and I'm sure some of them aren't very obvious, but they're there, in some way, in almost every single piece I write.
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3. Oh my origific outlines are like that! I thought it was just me being lazy, but you've actually made a point that I find true as well-- that it's better not to box yourself in for later chapters when you aren't sure what's all going on in the first few yet. I've never dead-ended, either. Don't jinx us! :D
5. Fest deadlines actually make me write better (and quicker). It took me 5 years to finish my first major fic and 3 months to finish A, haha. I work well under pressure, though. Maybe I'm an adrenaline junkie.
6. I am opposite! I love having lots of fics going.
7. Ohh! Gentle bookends, that's lovely. And I agree with you there; I always feel like the fic is unfinished if it doesn't come "full circle" at the end. I love endings in theory, but my do-me-veela ending is falling flat. Tips?
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3. Yes, I think I was talking about outlining with Lettered recently and this came up. I'm not sure who said it first, but outlining too much detail takes the fun out of the writing process and it's easy to get bored without being able to discover the story along the way.
5. Yeah. I hate fest deadlines but without them I lack discipline to keep going. I would like to get away from that if possible. I'm going to try fewer fests this year, or for the first half of the year at least. I'm trying very hard not to sign up for anything after Remix finishes.
7. Veela!fic ending tips? I think I would need to read it to offer suggestions. I would *love* to read it, tbh, but I'm sure you already have plenty of folks for that. It's hard to offer much beyond the suggestion to recapture or resolve a small detail or theme. But if you'd like me to do a quick read and give you some thoughts on the ending, let me know! I think I remember you said it's not terribly long...
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Nope, not exactly ~plenty~ haha! I think that depends on your idea of terribly long. Is 12k terribly long?
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Especially since I'm not betaing, I can fly through 12k and see what suggestions I could offer. Let me know! (If you want to email me, I'm ICMezzo at gmail dot com.)
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