So I have been working on a story about Lady Christina, the one-off Who "companion" from 2009, for about two years now. (If it's any more than that, I don't want to know
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"ambitious". I hadn't thought of it that way. But, yes, this is very ambitious. And you're right, it's 99% original fiction.
Maybe -- for the sake of getting something done in less than geological time -- I should relax some of my artistic requirements. The requirement that it be a coherent whole, that it be tight, that it have internal structure. All the things that paralyze me because I don't know how to get to there from here.
Maybe I should write the clear, well-fleshed-out bits and just put them out there, turn them into mismatched beads on some kind of string. Maybe I should give up on shaping a forest and just grow some nice trees.
I want so bad for this to be done and to be something that people can read. But it is the trees I care about: I just have been assuming that I'd have to compile them into a forest, which has its own requirements.
My approach to writing is, to be blunt about it, an absolute mess. But I don't worry about the "plot." People will tell you I have one in the stuff I write, and I'm always very pleased when they say that, because mostly I feel like I throw stuff in a cauldron and eventually, finally, someday, I find out what I was writing about. But until that day happens, I just write it, and I figure it'll come together on its own into some kind of cohesive narrative. I don't think that works for everyone, but it could be that you're thinking yourself out of this, in a way. You think you have the middle of the story, and maybe you do, but there's nothing that says that the story has to end with Christina *after* she meets Ten. It could end with her meeting Ten. Maybe the story is her getting to that point. And maybe the story begins with her parents' disastrous marriage. Sometimes, vignettes strung together *are* the story. (That's really all Chaosverse was for a very long time, just a series of days-in-the-life of this family.) And I think
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Do scenes usually come to you in the order in which they ultimately appear? Or how does that work, for you?
Sometimes, vignettes strung together *are* the story. (That's really all Chaosverse was for a very long time, just a series of days-in-the-life of this family.) And I think accepting that they're the story, that the journey is the destination or some such, could be really helpful?
Scenes usually come to me out of order, but I don't let myself write out of order. I used to let myself do that, but I realized it didn't work for me, I never *finished* anything, I just had all these disjointed scenes. Now what I tend to do is write a quick note at the end of whatever I'm working on, to remind me of a scene that I want to add in, and then I add it in when I get to its appropriate place.
I find I like that better, because it allows me to stay flexible as I go, too, so that if the story morphs away from where I thought it was going, it's okay, I haven't "wasted" a lot of work or anything.
I read this post earlier, and I've been thinking about it ever since. I only very briefly (and not very seriously) wrote Christina, and I've always been very curious about her. Would it be crazy to try to write it...like a memoir? Maybe even first person?
I dunno, there is something to the idea of ditching the fic idea and going with original fiction... But i'd love to see you tie it into to the Whoniverse.
I only very briefly (and not very seriously) wrote Christina, and I've always been very curious about her. Would it be crazy to try to write it...like a memoir? Maybe even first person?
Funny, for a while I thought about writing it as a sort of meta-fiction, of sections each headed with some kind of motto, describing various facts and brief scenes about Christina. But then I got the idea that they had to Add Up To Something and was baffled as to what the something was, what its shape would be.
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Maybe -- for the sake of getting something done in less than geological time -- I should relax some of my artistic requirements. The requirement that it be a coherent whole, that it be tight, that it have internal structure. All the things that paralyze me because I don't know how to get to there from here.
Maybe I should write the clear, well-fleshed-out bits and just put them out there, turn them into mismatched beads on some kind of string. Maybe I should give up on shaping a forest and just grow some nice trees.
I want so bad for this to be done and to be something that people can read. But it is the trees I care about: I just have been assuming that I'd have to compile them into a forest, which has its own requirements.
Thanks. A lot. This was really helpful.
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Do scenes usually come to you in the order in which they ultimately appear? Or how does that work, for you?
Sometimes, vignettes strung together *are* the story. (That's really all Chaosverse was for a very long time, just a series of days-in-the-life of this family.) And I think accepting that they're the story, that the journey is the destination or some such, could be really helpful?
I think this is definitely worth a try.
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I find I like that better, because it allows me to stay flexible as I go, too, so that if the story morphs away from where I thought it was going, it's okay, I haven't "wasted" a lot of work or anything.
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YES! (Forgive the shouting.) THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO ME!
But, then, how do you know where to start?
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I dunno, there is something to the idea of ditching the fic idea and going with original fiction... But i'd love to see you tie it into to the Whoniverse.
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Funny, for a while I thought about writing it as a sort of meta-fiction, of sections each headed with some kind of motto, describing various facts and brief scenes about Christina. But then I got the idea that they had to Add Up To Something and was baffled as to what the something was, what its shape would be.
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