Structure in fic
I've been mulling over this topic in my own writing and LJ and thought I'd bring my question here.
I was reminded today of the dense, bizarre story Endure by hmpf.
This is how it ends.
A man on a desert plain, standing by a hole he has dug with his
bare hands.
It made me think of a discussion by unovis_lj about HL stories with unusual structures, and this might be the most unusual (the chose-your-own-adventure structure of sylviavolk2000's Immortal Database is pretty original as well).
So, other unusual story structures or thematic approaches I've enjoyed:
Heat Goes to Cold and Tongues of Angels by turned_earth
The Road to Hell by Paula Stiles
White Rabbit by Dargelos
What's an Honorable Man? by Yvette Christofilis
And Then Some by Loch Ness
Such Grave Joy, and Becoming, by tryfanstone
Glass Bells by Tritorella mostly because it was so unexpectedly affecting, given that I usually can't take mpreg seriously.
Give and Take by unovis_lj
Stillheart by Sleeps with Coyotes
It's interesting, that for a fandom with a structure heavily dependant
on flashbacks, there aren't more flashbacks used in the fic. My
writing is typically linear. I've experimented a bit with
flashbacks or episodic type writing, approaching a story from more than
one angle, but not to the creative extent that some of the authors above have done.
Those writers out there who have played with structure and theme, what do you think about when you write in this way? Do you start with a structural idea and then go to the story or does the story come first and the structure later?
I was reminded today of the dense, bizarre story Endure by hmpf.
This is how it ends.
A man on a desert plain, standing by a hole he has dug with his
bare hands.
It made me think of a discussion by unovis_lj about HL stories with unusual structures, and this might be the most unusual (the chose-your-own-adventure structure of sylviavolk2000's Immortal Database is pretty original as well).
So, other unusual story structures or thematic approaches I've enjoyed:
Heat Goes to Cold and Tongues of Angels by turned_earth
The Road to Hell by Paula Stiles
White Rabbit by Dargelos
What's an Honorable Man? by Yvette Christofilis
And Then Some by Loch Ness
Such Grave Joy, and Becoming, by tryfanstone
Glass Bells by Tritorella mostly because it was so unexpectedly affecting, given that I usually can't take mpreg seriously.
Give and Take by unovis_lj
Stillheart by Sleeps with Coyotes
It's interesting, that for a fandom with a structure heavily dependant
on flashbacks, there aren't more flashbacks used in the fic. My
writing is typically linear. I've experimented a bit with
flashbacks or episodic type writing, approaching a story from more than
one angle, but not to the creative extent that some of the authors above have done.
Those writers out there who have played with structure and theme, what do you think about when you write in this way? Do you start with a structural idea and then go to the story or does the story come first and the structure later?