Writing, Drafts, Revisions, etc.

[the_moonmoth]

As those of you who follow me on tumblr probably saw, over the last couple of weeks there has been a lot of wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth over trying to piece together the final chapter of The Ewer of Enheduanna. I thought I'd write a bit about it because sorting it out was an interesting process for me.

So I recently did a meme on

Comments

[torrilin]

Huh

[the_moonmoth]

(Really, it's sort of a rule of Spike... If you need more conflict, find an excuse for a Bad Spike Plan. Dude is his own worst enemy.)

Lol very true

The idea of writing about Spike's bad plan from Buffy's POV had not occurred to me. And I think in a different story it could work (hell, I'm sure I've seen it work before). For this one tho, Buffy already has her mind made up. Spike is the one who needs to change his mind.

You're completely right, and this is one of about a hundred reasons why this draft sucked.

[torrilin]

Well, there's stuff that was good too!

The pipes bit seems like it could be handy if you do more with this universe. It's a plot complication that doesn't seem to involve a dumb Spike plan. So far. But I'm sure there's a way! And the Spike saves Giles bit. I think pitching them outta this story was good, coz they aren't the right shape to go with the rest. But the concepts are handy and usable.

[rahirah]

Heh, I'm glad that my obsessive fiddling turned out to be useful. :D

once a scene is written/a fic is completed/etc. I really struggle to see alternative ways of presenting the action

This was very much the way I was when I first started writing. To me, once I'd written a scene, that was the way it happened. It was like part of me believed that I was channeling real events from somewhere rather than making shit up. The day I got my first really substantial critique, which required me to make structural changes in a story rather than just tweaking a line here or there, it broke my brain, but in a good way. It forced me to see a story as a bunch of different elements, all of which could be rearranged or swapped out at need

[the_moonmoth]

The day I got my first really substantial critique, which required me to make structural changes in a story rather than just tweaking a line here or there, it broke my brain, but in a good way. It forced me to see a story as a bunch of different elements, all of which could be rearranged or swapped out at need.

Yeah, it's a really, really useful skill to have beaten into you. I've been doing the fanfic thing for 12-13 years now and this is the first time I've ever come up against something like this, which is... not ideal. But I'm glad it happened. I have two stories I'd like to write at some point that both have no firm structure in my head as of yet, and I feel a bit more confident about tackling them now, knowing that I can change things around like that if I need to...

[herself_nyc]

I'm glad my wramblings about writing were helpful to you. :)

[the_moonmoth]

Very helpful indeed :)