donutsweeper | (no subject)

(no subject)

How do people write long fics?

Seriously, it is a skill I have never mastered and barely been able to comprehend. I love reading long fics (within reason), but writing them? I can't do it.

Recently the newest part of an AU series I like was posted. It was 110k words long, bringing the series (of 10 stories so far) up to 600k or so. 600,000 words. And, according to the author, the next part might be double the length of the last one.

Yes, the recent part could have been edited a lot and yes, it used some techniques that result in longer stories (multiple POVs that sometimes retell the same scene from different perspectives) but still... even if it had been cut to half that length, how the heck do people write stories that long?

I really, really wish that was something I could do.

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I am struggling with this right now so badly. I can't plot. I can't plot and so I write short stories and now I need, for this concept I'm really keen on to work, to make it longer, and I can't figure out how to plot it out so that there's a reason for people to keep reading. It's driving me crazy. I could go on for chapters and chapters with ideas I have, but it's the plot that is killing me. I need the 'so what?' factor.

I admire people greatly who can sit down a write something big and plotty. It's a skill. I'm more of a short, slice of life writer, I guess.

That is my problem EXACTLY. Gah, why is it so hard? *passes chocolate*

I always thought of myself as a snapshot writer, but slice of life works perfectly to describe what I do as well. At least those kind of stories are still fun to read, right?

I think it depends on what you're interested in. I write stories for human interactions and tossing characters into situations and seeing what happens. So I don't care about the plot, because the characters are what's driving the story. But in a long fic, you need a plot too and I think it's probably a practice thing. We just don't do it much. It doesn't help me that most of what I write is set in procedural fandoms, where a mystery is needed. How the hell do you write a mystery? I mean, at least in Dresden or Merlin or Doctor Who, you can blame it on magic or aliens, but in something like Sherlock or Castle or whatever, you need actual clues and culprits.

I always thought of myself as a snapshot writer, but slice of life works perfectly to describe what I do as well. At least those kind of stories are still fun to read, right?

They definitely are, and are usually more my cup of tea than longer, angst ridden fics. I'd rather read something short and poignant, than 63 chapters of people moaning about their lives. To each his own, I guess.

Oh yeah, I tend to get bored and start scrolling with those long, please oh please have something happen, fics too. But, oddly, off LJ I tend not to read short (under 1k) and I almost never crosspost anything under 500 words.

Ugh, PLOT. Writing long would be so much easier if I was a porny author, then you could have page after page in the bedroom... which is not me. Magic, aliens, magic aliens... those are much easier to write. :)

I think most of my fics come in around 2-3k, but I'm a wordy sort of writer. I've never been good at keeping it brief. That's why I respect your ability to drabble so much.

I don't really read a lot of fic in general, now that I think about it. I read my flist's offerings because that's usually part of the reason they're on my flist, but I don't go in search of fic very often. I don't know why. I think maybe because I don't want to be influenced by others' interpretations of the characters. I read more fic in fandoms I don't write for than ones I do.

I often wish I was a smutty writer too. Then you could at least pad the story out with some sex. But smut isn't for me. I prefer epic friendships.

Oh well, I suppose we all have our gifts. And I always enjoy what you put out in the world. :D

Awww thanks :D

I actually read a lot in fandoms I don't write in much too, or I read in it before I start writing. But you're right, it does lead to a fanon influence. The number of times I'll be reacquainting myself with canon and realize- hey so+so actually never does X (even though it's something that appears in so many stories it's almost accepted as canon) is kind of scary, especially with closed canon fandoms or fandoms with long periods of time between new content coming out.

I found something randomly the other day called the Fanlore (http://fanlore.org/wiki/Main_Page) wiki, that has pages for various fandoms and characters and lists fanon on the pages, which I found very helpful, not only for distinguishing fanon from canon but figuring out all the inside jokes in the fandom too. Like Anderson and dinosaurs or John and jam in Sherlock. ^_^

Edit: Whoops! Forgot I was in my icon account.

Edited 2012-10-02 22:42 (UTC)

:) I recognized you anyway!

Oh that does look like it would be a good resource! Those sort of things (the jam and whatnot) can really get confusing.

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