Whispers

Original Fiction Sprawl

I finished loading in my two big original fiction projects to Scrivener last night and doing the first pass of canon review, which amounted to a light skim and no further, not enough I could even write a drabble yet, but girl, was it revelatory.

I think I figured out how these epic fantasy series sprawl so badly because there's 150K words that don't get where they need to go; they barely get anywhere at all.

During the course of a story, there's movement from point A to point B. Writers have two ways of adding motion: the characters do something or something happens. Doing something generally moves the plot/story arc in the right direction toward resolution. Something happening generally derails or provides an obstacle to the path toward resolution, thus is rather convenient when you need to open things up.

The first third of the book is usually all about opening things up and lots of things "happen." The second third is usually all about moving things forward, so whatever "happens" is usually either a direct reaction to the characters or directly shoving them into the action the author needs to get the story to point B. The final third is usually all about closing things down and things stop "happening" and it's all that direct causal chain with the characters.

When a writer feels the story pace start to lag and it's time for an event, they'll either make something happen, which drags the characters away from their goal, or they'll make the characters do/learn something, which drags the characters toward their goal.

Ladies, in this 150K, there's a whole lot of stuff happening and I can see why I kept trying to grind to a halt and plot so they would do things instead. I'm a writer that generally allows very little to "happen," which is probably why I also have very few stories longer than 3.5K.

Lessons learned. Let's see what I can do with this baby.

Learning from Writing to Order

Most people in the original fiction world learn these things from writing to guidelines and submitting, but I couldn't do it because rarely did the guidelines fit anything I wanted to write. I'm learning from writing in gift exchanges and bangs and challenges, and I've been focusing on writing fics longer than 5K heading toward 10K because I have a whole slew of original fics I want in that general territory.

In doing this, I've learned several things, some of which build upon stuff I already knew about my writing.

I've known for a while now that I write best when I have two prompts/ideas/sources of inspiration mingling into a single story. For example: Kingdoms and Thorn didn't happen until I combined the idea of mind-wiped, specially gifted, military operatives getting their freedom as young adults with the idea of a bunch of nations in a single city. Just one or the other wasn't enough to actually do it for me. For a fanfic example, let's go with "Monsters and Daisychains," an Agents of SHIELD fic that grew out of my reactions to the winter finale. It couldn't happen until I mixed the idea of what happened to Mack to what happened to Skye and how their point of similarity in that is her father. So yeah. I need two ideas generally.

How does that apply to what I've been learning lately? I hit Hawkeye comics and I blame a combination of Yuletide and geckoholic. It certainly wasn't because I wanted to go there. I deliberately put off reading or dealing with Fraction until I was sure my concept of MCU Clint Barton/Hawkeye was solid and not going to get character bleed. Interestingly enough, it too required two concepts to come together. I'll hit a theme and a storyline or a premise and a concept, such as the Hawkeyes sharing minds and then Hawkeye itself being an AI ship in a space AU. To write a sequel or a new fic, I have to go beyond the original premise and add something else to it. In this case, I've got two sequels bumping around in my head, competing for space. They'll probably both get written. In the case of my soulmates AU for Clint/Natasha, I have no second idea to add to the sharing lifeforce concept that I've got left from the first three fics. Sequel will probably not get written.

So there's that.

Also, did you know I write out of order? I did but I didn't. To write more than 5K, I can't write in order very well. I just can't. If I story develop and don't write it as I go, I don't get the rest of the story. If I do get the rest of the story, I lose the ability to write the first part right because I waited too long. What works best for me is to write the things I know and bridge between them. Thematically, I'll know this scene happens and that needs to happen and this is what starts them on that path. How did they get to that starting point? How do they get from this point to that one?

I have finally renounced my linear writing ways I had before. They don't work for me. And I think that's going to be key to getting these big original fics done.

So I'm off to go write Purim Gifts fics and maybe get a start on trovia's fic again while those Hawkeye fics percolate in the back of my brain. Have fun, y'all!

So...

Suitably Arrayed
Shadowcat | Pyro ~ X-Men: Movieverse
for arliddian
Finding the right attire for a date with Pyro is not as easy as it ought to be.

Awake
Rogue | Bobby ~ X-Men: Movieverse
for whipsy
Bobby was her husband. Her husband. She should want to see him, hold him in her arms again, hear his quiet laughter, see the love shining in his eyes.

10 Questions You'd Never Guess the Answer To
Olivier LeBeau ~ X-Men: Movieverse
Olivier's answers on a school assignment about his parents, Rogue and Gambit, are just a wee surprising.

"The Boys of Summers Have Gone"
Scott | Alex | Xavier ~ X-Men: Movieverse
for xenokattz
Can't kill a Summers. "Simply because we were licked a hundred years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win."

In Search of the Perfect Cupcake
Pyro | Shadowcat ~ X-Men: Movieverse
for arliddian
St. John Allerdyce was certainly no cook, but even he knew the simple, innocent cupcake was a weapon of mass destruction of digestion and appetites in the hands of his petite, enthusiastic lady love.

Safe
Rogue | Gambit ~ X-Men: Evolution
for whipsy
Logan shook his head. "If you two can't compromise, find some other way to meet in the middle before you tear each other apart."

Tears
Four/Tobias ~ Divergent Trilogy
We are trained to remember. We are trained to forget.

Nightfall
Pyro | Shadowcat ~ X-Men: Movieverse
for arliddian
Who ever thought we'd come to this? Shadowcat and Pyro find refuge in a post-Cure world.

Gacked from Queen Katt "xenokattz":

So, flist, if you also need a way to pass the day, give me fic/art prompts! Rules are
1) They must have an Avengers X-Men character (or two, or ten).
1.a) But feel free to include any other character from any other fandom you think I may be familiar with.
2) A line, 5 words or more, from any book/magazine/comic/pamphlet/newspaper/etc within reach of your left hand.
3) Food least likely to double as a weapon.

So, I've been meming over at in_the_blue's and xenokattz's journals and this twosome appeared (and suggest to me that there ought to be more :headdesk: ). Hope you like.

1. True Love's First Kiss
2. Objection

He'd met the girl three months ago in the Thieves Guild's favorite meeting place, a local club that all of New Orleans that knew such things knew belonged to a retired Thief. She'd been looking for a change of pace, she said, getting over the Cure gone wrong, not that she ever told anybody what her mutation was.

Title: Hearts in a Crossroad
Fandom: X-Men Comicverse
Author's Notes: for ruroca57 - Hope this hits that sweet spot!
Summary: Some things are worth going back for. Rogue/Gambit, Rogue/Magneto


A ringing cellphone woke her. Her cellphone. Rogue groaned and wriggled her fingers out from under the covers and her bedmate's arm and reached for the phone, turning her whole body toward it.

( Read more... )

Title: The More Things Change
Fandom: X-Men Movieverse
Author's Notes: for trovia - not as well done as I'd like, but here it is.
Summary: Some things never change. Erik + Logan




Driving toward the coordinates Hank had pulled from Cerebro, Erik found himself wondering at the position he found himself in.

( Read more... )

Fandom: X-Men Movieverse
Title: To Be Wild
Summary: What are sisters for? Ravenfic
Length: ~200
Prompt: starsparkle333 | Give me an inch / I promise I'll take a mile / Danger is beauty / I'll face it with a smile / / I'm on a mission / With no restrictions / Don't second guess myself / I'm born to be wild



( Read more... )

Cheering myself up. Here goes...


Story: Troika
Story Arc: Twisted
Summary: They wanted the same things. Erik/Raven/Charles drabble
Prompt: heat from firstclass100:

( Read more... )


Story: The World in His Mind
Summary: Found, I didn't know you were lost. Charles + Raven, Charles + Erik
Prompt: lost and found from 100wordstories

( Read more... )


Story Title: Shades in Blue
Chapter Title: 8. Promiscuity
Story Summary: Shades of meaning and moments of significance between Erik and Raven. A series of drabbles.

( Read more... )



So much for no angst. :rolls eyes: