WIP challenge - day 17 check-in post!

[littlebutfierce]

Poll #8333 Day 17 check-in!

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 7

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How's the fic going today? a

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Brilliant
0 (0.0%)

Awful
1 (14.3%)

Somewhere in the middle
3 (42.9%)

Yet to be determined
3 (42.9%)

What's your biggest challenge with your goal fic this week?

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For discussion: I'm really interested in hearing about people's fic-writing process lately. Do you start at the beginning & write until you get to the end? Do you write the ending first? Skip difficult scenes? Write scenes multiple times until you manage to get the right version out of your brain onto paper/screen?

Comments

[littlebutfierce]

I tend to write scenes randomly in whatever order they occur to me, often when I'm doing my 750 for the day: so I'll write a scene a day (v. occasionally more), w/o worrying about the connections between them or even if they're internally consistent. Eventually, when I feel like I've written most of the fic that way, I pull all the bits together into one hugely rough draft & start hacking away from there.

I also do write scenes multiple times on multiple days -- sometimes after I've written a scene in one way, I'll think of something else to try.

Today I wrote a clump of words that is maybe the opening to my Kaleidoscope fic. Gotta pull together all the other scenes I've been trying over the last few days to see, though (& gotta finish canon refresh...).

[jagnikjen]

Nothing as of yet, but I might get lucky this evening.

Usually I start at the beginning and write until the end. If I have trouble getting from one scene to the next, sometimes I'll skip ahead hoping that an idea on getting from point N to point T will spark. It usually does.

Then somewhere in the process, I start revisions before I'm completely finished, layering in internal thoughts, emotion, etc.

[lilly_c]

I've been really busy lately so I've had to resort to my "un"favoured style of short hand (eg L says "yeah whatever" to B -insert snarky comment- etc...) and it can get really hard to figure out what the actual context of the scene and sometimes whole fic was but I get there in the end.

I usually start wherever feels comfortable because I often have ideas for scenes in the middle or at the end before I've had chance to work out the begining.

When I'm writing a really big/long fic (3500+ words) I find that I go back to some scenes over and over until they're exactly the way the were in my head and look right on the page/screen.

I often handwrite my fics first unless it's a drabble or I'm on the computer anyway and the idea won't leave me alone until it's written.

[linaewen]

I've barely thought about fic lately, let alone write any, but today I did a bit of editing of older chapters for posting, and I found myself really caught up again in the story. It's good to go back sometimes and read the old stuff in order to be reminded that yes, this story deserves some attention!

I write from a chronological outline, but even so, I don't necessarily go from beginning to end. I seem to write snatches for each "section" of a chapter, and I may jump from one to another if one part is proving particularly persnickety. When I have several sections with writing in them, I go back and string them together and fill in the blanks. I can't really seem to get into a good flow of writing, though, unless I get the first paragraph down right. That seems to open up the writing flood gates, so to speak.

[elistaire]

I start at the beginning and go until the end. But I do a lot of plotting in my head before I even start.

[devilc]

Edited.

[bay_alexison]

Able to finish editing my friend's story, or what she gave me so far. After that I decided to finish working on a fic commentary I owe another friend of mine for a while now, haha. I'm unsure if I want to work on the sixth chapter of my Big Bang tomorrow as I want to wait until NaNo to do that, but I'm really excited for this chapter! D:

It depends on the story. My one shots I tend to go straight away from beginning to end. My longer stories, like my Big Bang, I tend to write the beginning and then write scenes out of order if I suddenly thought of a scene I totally want to write.

[meridian_rose]

Like a jigsaw; I often have a end in mind, and maybe a start. But middles are hard. So I write scenes that I know belong in there, and then struggle to join up the whole. Short fics [one k or less] - one-shots, especially crack - are the only ones I tend to write straight through.

[meridian_rose]

L says "yeah whatever" to B -insert snarky comment- etc. LOL, I make notes to myself - WRITE STUFF HERE or RESEARCH THIS BIT or X/Y ARGUE A BIT. And then I too sometimes come back and wonder what ideas I originally had for that scene :D

[lacygrey]

Got the scene done I was planning to on the 17th but didn't set a goal for the 18th very early. I think it will have to be 'the scene in the bakery where Ogata gives Touya the keys to the car' because I thought of it yesterday when I was fixing something else.

I don't think I have a writing process yet. I'm still discovering. My present WIP of 15K+ didn't get written in chronological order though - more like: beginning, end, middle, then more beginning and middle, then revamp everything. Sometimes Ive done a table of paragraghs and all. At the moment I'm fiddling with ywriter. I wouldn't call it a process. More like experimentation.

[littlebutfierce]

I hope you were able to get some writing in!

I often start revising before I'm done, too -- sometimes it's a good way to get me psyched up for editing, b/c I realize that the first draft isn't as lousy as I feared. :D

[littlebutfierce]

Hee, I do that sort of thing sometimes, too: INSERT TOUCHING MOMENT HERE. & then going back to write the touching moment is a killer. One of my betas keeps pointing out where I describe what happened in dialogue instead of writing the dialogue, & it's always bits that I'm intimidated by, but once she encourages me to write the actual conversation, most of the time it seems to work out okay. So I guess the lesson to myself is notice those parts where I'm scared & just make myself jump in, ha.

I definitely write scenes over & over again until they feel right.

[littlebutfierce]

Oooh, yay for editing! It's lovely to be able to go back over older stuff & still be excited about it!

[littlebutfierce]

Do you ever get worried that you'll forget bits you've plotted in your head? I'm not a longfic writer, but if I think of a snippet of dialogue or something to add in & I'm in bed about to fall asleep, or on a crowded bus or something, I get really nervous that I'll forget whatever I've thought of before I'm able to write it down. ^^;;

[littlebutfierce]

I'm glad you were able to get some editing in! It sounds like this month's been really hard, fic-wise, for you. :/

[littlebutfierce]

That's great that you're so excited about the next chapter of your big bang -- NaNo isn't all that far away, I guess, though it must feel hard to wait!

[littlebutfierce]

I like the jigsaw analogy -- & yes, sometimes middles can be really hard!!

[littlebutfierce]

I wouldn't call it a process. More like experimentation.

Eeee, that is a really good way to think about it -- kind of encouraging & freeing, I think!

[elistaire]

I rarely have anything that is so specific. It's usually just general plot points, more like a "lump" of emotion or setting or action. But I do scribble down a sentence or two if need be!

[lacygrey]

I also do write scenes multiple times on multiple days -- sometimes after I've written a scene in one way, I'll think of something else to try.

I do that too! Sometimes I forget that Ive written it the first time though and then come back and find two of them (esp. in notebooks). I tell myself its not wasted though, the first time I was just 'working it out'.

[lacygrey]

I start revisions before I'm completely finished, layering in internal thoughts, emotion, etc.

I know that. I'm beginning to realise what a long process writing longfic is, especially when your thoughts on a character change over the writing process and the character themselves changes over the course of the story - it gets complicated sometimes.