General writing fiction discussion thrad.

[LicoriceAllsorts]

Cam and I just did the one piece of co-writing, and it was a fanfic of an existing scene (from case of Shinra) which I wrote from President Shinra's POV and she wrote from Rufus's POV. In that sense it was easy because we were parallel writing rather than collaborating. Cam is the queen of collaborative writing, she's done a lot of it and she's good at managing the logistics. You could do worse than pair up with her if she's interested. From my own experience, the easiest way to collaboratively write is to take two POV characters and then tell the story between you. I think there's always a certain amount of RPing involved, though.

Despite my own inability to "do" RP, I'm becoming more interested in it as a literary form in its own right.

 

[Dawnbreaker]

So while typing up that amazingly smutty, dark fic, I was chatting with my husband. As he made a penis joke I was typing a line:

It would be little effort to fish out a dick dirk and stab him in the back now.

Wow, oh, wow, typos can be funny. xD

 

[Skan]

I feel like a broken record, but Claymore, I'm basically the same sort of writer as you (though my tendency to be overcritical comes from my training in academic writing). Really, don't knock the scripting until you've tried it. I thought it wouldn't work. It did. The person who suggested it to me is also the self-critical type as well, so I recommend giving it a shot; start with shorts, then built it up to multi-chapter things. The method basically let me turn out my first respectable fanfic in years.

I've found that co-writing can be hit-or-miss depending on who your co-writer is. One of my few experiences at co-writing ended with my co-writer vanishing off the face of the planet. If you're particularly neurotic about anything, it could turn out to be counterproductive, and you might be better off just writing on your own.

(Besides, learning to get the inner-editor to shut the hell up is a skill that you should train anyways!)

---

I don't know if I'm bored or if I've actually gained a speck of confidence in my ability to write fanfic, but after finishing that story last week, I'm 75% done with another one.

I'm probably celebrating too soon, but finishing things is such a foreign feeling to me.

 

[Fangu]

I srsly need to start working on my plotting skills. Characterization is not enough to keep (generalizing) men reading. Both guys who started on Ally never finished. But, I guess it's because Ally is a romance novel/ generation story. I'm working on a plot for a new F&B story (SIGH) (lol) which has zero romance (okay, 1%) and hopefully it'll be different from anything I've ever written/ fanfic in general.

I'm also working on a Turkfic people won't like.

/ rant

 

[Octo]

I'm also working on a Turkfic people won't like.

Can't you give us a clue what it's about? Is it the first ever turkfic where they're actually proper evil bastards?

 

[Fangu]

What can I say, everybody's a misogynist/misandrist survivalist looking out for themselves first and foremost

(By the way I find it funny that 'misogynist' is in Chrome's dictionary but not 'misandrist')
(Not that I'm surprised)

 

[Octo]

^can't wait!

If you put 'misandrist' into chrome it automatically alerts tumblr that you must be a mens rights activist....probably

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

I'm also working on a Turkfic people won't like.

I'll take that bet.

 

[Claymore]

I feel like a broken record, but Claymore, I'm basically the same sort of writer as you (though my tendency to be overcritical comes from my training in academic writing). Really, don't knock the scripting until you've tried it. I thought it wouldn't work. It did. The person who suggested it to me is also the self-critical type as well, so I recommend giving it a shot; start with shorts, then built it up to multi-chapter things. The method basically let me turn out my first respectable fanfic in years.

I've found that co-writing can be hit-or-miss depending on who your co-writer is. One of my few experiences at co-writing ended with my co-writer vanishing off the face of the planet. If you're particularly neurotic about anything, it could turn out to be counterproductive, and you might be better off just writing on your own.

(Besides, learning to get the inner-editor to shut the hell up is a skill that you should train anyways!)

Thanks for the advice. I'm going to give it a shot and see what happens.

 

[Dawnbreaker]

So I went ahead and posted that fic...I'm probably going to hell for that. *laughs*

I also have an idea for another fic...it's not as dark as the first, but it still deals with depressive, mature themes. Wow, you'd think I was going mental, but honestly I've never felt better. xD

I'd really like to get my novel completed. It's taking longer than I anticipated. Oh geez.

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

So I went ahead and posted that fic...I'm probably going to hell for that. *laughs*
.

Are you going to link us?

Good luck with the novel!

 

[Dawnbreaker]

You'll never look at me the same way again...

Desiderium (yes, it's a Warrior of Light - Dissidia - fic)

http://archiveofourown.org/works/2172666

(you'll need to log in to view it)

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

I'm always logged in.

 

[Dawnbreaker]

I updated some of the notes.

You are, are you? Wanna give me the link to your stories? I'll have some time, with vacation approaching, to read them. (after all, I am a fan of Turk fics, truth be told).

 

[Skan]

Writing Barret always makes me feel vaguely uncomfortable, incompetent, and racist.

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

Writing Barret always makes me feel vaguely uncomfortable, incompetent, and racist.

Maybe it would help if you remembered that he's not American? None of them are American - or any other nationality on earth - and while there seems to be some racism against Wutaians, there's none against people with dark skin. Barret has a lot of problems but being black isn't one of them, not in their world.

@ Dawnbreaker: my AO3 fics, which are all one-shots, are here:
http://archiveofourown.org/users/Licoriceallsorts/works

I have another set of fic on ff.net, including the Turk magnum opus: https://www.fanfiction.net/~licoriceallsorts

 

[Dawnbreaker]

I skimmed your stories, but haven't had a chance to read them. I shall this week coming up/weekend. They look most interesting.

On an unrelated note, I found writing the compendium to my novels is quite a time-consuming process, but that's probably a good thing. More's the merrier when it comes to novel reference information, as far as I'm concerned. (I want to get to a George R. R. Martin level of detail...if it doesn't kill me first, of course! xD).

 

[Dawnbreaker]

Apologies for the double-post but I wanted to let you know I read "The Constant Lover". Wow, that's just amazing. I like how you managed to make it fun and feel-good but still address some serious issues. It's a very mature fic, and I don't just mean that with the sexual content--it comes through in the dialogue and action, in that people act how they would in those circumstances, rather than the childish stuff some fanfic writers post nowadays. I look forward to reading more.

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

Thanks! That fic has a very special place in my heart.

 

[Skan]

Tseng/Tifa reminded me of something ... has anyone read synecdochic's Lullabye for the New World Order series? If you like Turks, you might enjoy it.

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

Tseng/Tifa reminded me of something ... has anyone read synecdochic's Lullabye for the New World Order series? If you like Turks, you might enjoy it.

Yes, I really love her writing... although I found it a bit long-winded in places, and I don't know if I want to get so emotionally invested in a fic that will never be finished. (I can say this now).

 

[Skan]

She is a very stylistic writer! I admit I actually haven't managed to get through much of Lullabye, but that's because I tend to have a love-and-hate relationship with how she writes characters.

I dunno if she'll finish. I think she's ... one of the fanfic writers most likely to finish her projects, but she's incredibly busy and has a number of other long projects waiting in the wings (mostly SG1 fic, I believe). I'm astonished she has written so much already.

Also, for anyone who's interested in writing meta, she has a great series of essays here. I recommend giving it a whirl if you're interested in such things.

 

[Dawnbreaker]

Bookmark'd. I absolutely love discussion and theorizing on writing, and find other people's thoughts and insights very useful. <3

 

[Skan]

I forgot about this community for the longest time, but it's a great resource for researching almost anything (and is astonishingly still active): Little Details. Lots of useful information; I was on there for firearms earlier today.

Also I'm enjoying the influx of ShinRa Executive Exchange fics in AO3 right now. I'm sure some of you guys participated.

 

[Dawnbreaker]

I've been busy porting my fics from fanfiction.net to AO3. It's really interesting to note how I've developed as a writer. In some ways I feel like I've regressed with a lack of imagination and creativity--mainly due to a lack of concentration and dedication--but in other ways I've mostly improved, such as with my focus on deeper, more subtle themes and characterization--which comes from maturity and experimentation.