see the thorn twist in your side

[musesfool]

I'm poking at the girl!Sam five things fic, and I'm wondering how it works for other people - do you try to keep the sections of similar lengths? Start with the shortest and lead up to the longest? Or is length not a factor

Comments

[melayneseahawk]

With the Five Things fic, I've done it before with them the exact or similar lengths. I didn't really mess with chronology (unless there was a specific chronology that didn't make sense out of order) or canon-relevance.

But, then again, that's just me.

[marag]

I've only written Five Things fics twice, and I tried to have them progress thematically. In one case, I realized after I posted that I'd screwed up the order. ::headdesk:: Narf.

But in general, I think they should lead up to the last one, which should make your final point.

I mean, unless it's total crackfic or humor and it doesn't matter.

[musesfool]

But what if your theme is mostly you want two characters to have sex in various ways? ;p

[soundingsea]

do you try to keep the sections of similar lengths? Start with the shortest and lead up to the longest? Or is length not a factor?

I actually like to vary the length. That's not to say that I purposely underwrite sections (well, no more than I underwrite everything), but I like having some shorter sections.

Do the sections progress thematically? Chronologically (not that they are all the same story, because obviously, five things stories are generally made up of five different AUs, but chronologically where they would have appeared and/or branched off from the canon timeline)? From least plausible to closest to canon? The way they seem to read best? Or is it just the order you thought of them?
I've done chronological a few times, sometimes meaning branch point, sometimes date in multiverse standard time (you know, "when she is 5, when she is 18, when she is 34, when she is 50, when she is 90, even though the five-year-old from part one doesn't grow up in the same reality to become the 18-year-old in part 2), sometimes even age of

[iamstealthyone]

wow. apparently 20 years ago today, Joshua Tree came out.

*feels old*

*joins you*

Regarding five-times fics, I put my sections in chronological order, mainly because I'm very anal. For length, I usually have each section roughly the same word count -- 500 to 700 words per section. (Again: anal.)

That said, I've enjoyed reading five-times fics that aren't in chronological order and that have section of varying lengths. :)

[oxoniensis]

20 years?! Gawd, I must be ancient.

As for five things stories, I've never actually written one, but I've sort of written a three things story (my most recent story) and I didn't make any attempt at keeping sections the same length - I don't think that's necessary at all. I think you could end up spoiling the parts by trying to force them into a length they don't fall into naturally. As for order, I went with chronological, because that worked for my story, but I think a lot of different methods potentially could work. Which isn't the most helpful comment ever! *g*