writerconfidence returning, maybe? (plus meme)

Mar 30, 2010 20:21

First: You guys are awesome. I don't mention that nearly enough. But you are. ♥

Second: So uh, y'all know that England and America and time travel and Shakespeare and zombies fic I have been mentioning offhandedly for a while?

I think I have a rough outline.

Super-rough, mind you. I'm going to have to do a lot of filling-in-the-blanks in patches ( Read more... )

process: part preparation and part panic, meme me

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meltedpeep March 31 2010, 00:53:06 UTC
The confidence is entirely deserved. ♥

Understanding already that the writing process for "Running Out of Alibis" was...not the easiest thing you have ever undertaken, I never got to read through all of the first draft before you opted to revise it. What was something you felt particularly strong about changing/expanding on, and how did you go about accommodating those changes to the rest of the story? (Assuming any of your tweaks called for that.) Other people's editorial adventures are interesting to me, and I know this one especially was a challenge for you.

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puella_nerdii March 31 2010, 01:13:50 UTC
Most of the tweaks had more to do with cutting down on than expanding -- I have a slight tendency to dwell a little too much on the details when I write, sometimes, and to get overly elaborate in order to show off all the shiny research I've done, and a lot of the revision process was curtailing that (with help from Mith and Linden, who are usually quite good at calling me out when I do it). I also realized that structure games do not suit me as a writer at all and I really should never try to play them; the original draft had a scene with Germany and Italy in the kitchen, which was partially there as kind of a statement on compromise and partially there because I really did want to show the Crisis affecting the rest of the world and not just Russia and America (which...is sort of my meta-statement on the Cold War in general, but there you go), but also partially because I really really wanted thirteen scenes in the fic. You know, for the thirteen days thing. Linden, however, told me to ditch the structural conceit, and so that scene ( ... )

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meltedpeep March 31 2010, 02:56:55 UTC
Interesting! And totally understandable, given how much you had to work with and how serious your research efforts were. For what it's worth, the final product is very accessible as well as entertaining, so the choices you made were evidently the right ones.

OH LORD the structural OCD problem I get that too! I can't tell you how many times I have stalled on a fic because of sections left blank since I decided that something should go there to balance some other aspect of the narrative. It's such a trap.

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puella_nerdii March 31 2010, 03:08:02 UTC
It's strange because I usually don't get structural OCD -- I am more of a from-the-ground-up writer, generally speaking, in that I figure out the structure as I go along -- usually I get an initial image or idea, immerse myself in research, and see what kind of story emerges from the huge pool of stuff I've accumulated. So I sometimes go in with a vague idea about theme, or at least "this is the part of the story I want to focus on, I think," but usually theme reveals itself to me in the research and the writing. It's a very anthropologist way of doing things. (Which -- makes sense.) While I am big on form reflecting content, form is usually more syntax for me than, well, structure. (I have had lots of conversations with Linden about this, since she usually DOES have a structure in mind before she starts writing, and the contrasts are interesting.)

My version of the stalling-on-fic is that I get hung up on tiny details and cannot figure out how the narrative progresses once I get stuck because oh my god I have fractured the ( ... )

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