Comments | m_mcgregor: Things Fanfic Must Stop Doing - A series of arrogant rants and grumpy mutterings.

m_mcgregor

Things Fanfic Must Stop Doing - A series of arrogant rants and grumpy mutterings. - Rant #3

Apr 16, 2008 04:26

Things Fanfic Must Stop Doing - A series of arrogant rants and grumpy mutterings. - Rant #3

I should have known that being all complainy would be the only thing that could get me to make daily entries here. Why have I been cursed with the ability to whine so incessantly?

Today we look at something a little less glaringly awful than The Burly ( Read more... )

things fanfic must stop doing, writing thoughts

Comments 26

draconin April 17 2008, 08:55:28 UTC

[..]simply let the narration flow to a new scene[..] Rather than delineate when a new scene has started with asterisks or some other visual indicator, the author simply lets the narrative explain that we've moved on to another scene.

Oh, but that can also be horribly abused! I (started) reading a fic the other day where the author had tried to do this. However, the transitions were extremely abrupt and not indicated in any way. You'd be reading along and, figuratively speaking, come to a screeching halt in realisation that you were no longer in the same scene or dealing with the same characters. In this case it was compounded by the fact that the author seemed to have little grasp of html or formatting and many scene changes were done without even benefit of a new paragraph! Coupled with the facet than they had used a computer spill checker but apparently never red the result, it got abandoned very quickly!

m_mcgregor April 17 2008, 09:35:10 UTC

Well I wouldn't say that was abused so much as it wasn't used at all. It sounds like that author wrote the story as if they were using the three-asterisks but then just didn't put them in. When I say use the narrative to indicate a new scene, I'm talking about something along the lines of:

"I'm not sure, but at least it wasn't an elephant."

After that, things went rather smoothly for a few days. It wasn't until nearly a week later that Joe finally got a response. It was late in the afternoon, and he had been finishing his laps around the school when he heard Patricia calling his name.

"Joe! Joe!"
You get a transition from one scene to the next, but without the need for the asterisks ( ... )

jlbarnett April 17 2008, 23:04:50 UTC

Doesn't really feel like a transition to me. And what if you want to move onto characters that are in no way conencted to the previous scene.

m_mcgregor April 18 2008, 12:29:36 UTC

Doesn't really feel like a transition to me.

What about it doesn't feel like a transition? The narrative has moved on to a different time and place.

And what if you want to move onto characters that are in no way conencted to the previous scene.

1. You start a new chapter.
2. You use the three-asterisks or some other artificial break. I never said you shouldn't use them, you just don't do it every two paragraphs.
3. You realize maybe the kind of story you're writing shouldn't have POV changes like that in the first place. That's one of the big issues I didn't really mention. Certain writing styles do not lend themselves to having quick-POV changes, or even any POV changes. Again, one can look at Harry Potter for a good example. 99% of those stories are from Harry's point of view, with only two or three instances in which we see something through someone else's point of view - all of which are treated as a dream sequence for Harry.

Thread 8

tessarin April 17 2008, 09:12:09 UTC

You know these are really interesting and helpful. I trawled through the latest chapter I have to post after the previous discussion and removed 50% of the tags, or tweaked the structure. Left some in as well. It does seem to avoid the pullout effect that you mentioned ( ... )

m_mcgregor April 17 2008, 09:41:39 UTC

I'm glad you find them helpful. While a good complain-a-thon always cheers me up, I'm more interested in stirring up some intelligent discussion on the nature of writing fanfiction, and what we can all do to write more betterly!

I would say twice in 5000 words isn't terrible, although as you said, in most published fiction it's going to be used far less often. As long as you're aware of what you're doing and understand how and why you're using it, you're better off than most people. Sometimes you challenge yourself with writing and you find you can't work your way out of a scene without using a trick like that. That's okay. You're pushing your personal envelope and making the effort to improve yourself. Maybe this time you can't figure out a way out of it, but maybe next time your scene winds up being more skillfully crafted as a result.

Sometimes when you write yourself into a corner in one story it means you are better able to avoid such a trap in the next story.

Sometimes you may want to do it just because you are writing ( ... )

tessarin April 17 2008, 10:09:30 UTC

Oh the get your fic out there is a powerful pressure. Especially as feedback is key.

There is a balance though isn't there between being conscious of what you're writing and allowing that awareness to stifle the creative muse. Too much concentration on the technique and too little on the expression. As with all of these things balance is the key. When both are right you get excellent fic. The problem being honing technique can often seem too much like work and people are often writing specifically to avoid that pressure?

e.g. fic: 'rosemary for remembrance' on ff.net anonymous April 17 2008, 11:39:53 UTC

Hm. Am curious as to whether you'd think a short story I finished up not long ago 'abused' astericks (well, in my case I went for '---', but same idea). The story ended up almost entirely small, choppy bits that had felt much longer in my head.

Re: e.g. fic: 'rosemary for remembrance' on ff.net idhren24 April 17 2008, 11:40:57 UTC

whoops! Er, see below for the 'logged in' version.

e.g. fic: 'rosemary for remembrance' on ff.net idhren24 April 17 2008, 11:40:12 UTC

Re: e.g. fic: 'rosemary for remembrance' on ff.net m_mcgregor April 17 2008, 14:20:06 UTC

It depends on the reasons they were used. If you were using them in a specific stylistic choice and you felt that was the best way to get your story across, I don't know that I'd be the one to say "you're wrong." It's a very subjective choice at that point.

Someone could certainly write a story, most likely a short story, in which it was nothing but a series of short scenes not connected by a normal narrative.

The examples I'm complaining about are more like massive crossover stories where every few sentences the action jumps to a different POV.

idhren24 April 17 2008, 14:54:38 UTC

It seems to fall into the 'short story with scenes unconnected by narrative' category; it just seemed much more choppy on rereading than when I was writing it.

bumpkin_is April 17 2008, 13:09:14 UTC

I think, IMPHO, that this is a combination of a few things ( ... )

m_mcgregor April 17 2008, 14:32:01 UTC

Well there's definitely a viewpoint that style is entirely subjective and that you couldn't say one way or an other whether one style is the "correct" one. What you can say however is that writing fiction in the English language carries with it a set of basic rules and guidelines, and that without understanding those rules, guidelines, and why they exist, then you never really transcend as a writer. If you don't know why you should be avoiding three-asterisks, then you never get to the point when you can use them with a certain degree of skill and confidence. If you don't know why you shouldn't be using "Tom Swifties" all the time, then you'll never know when you should use them ( ... )