(no subject)

[donutsweeper]

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.

Comments

[awanderingbard.livejournal.com]

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

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

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.

[songstressicons.livejournal.com]

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.

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

:) 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.