Writing advice
Jan. 29th, 2013 05:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
regndoftBecause I need to stop procrastinating as well as add some organisation to my increasingly busy life.
For someone who has been writing for almost as long as she's known how to, I recently realised that I've actually never written a proper chapter fic. Sure, I've tried, but never successfully. Or I've deliberately avoided it because I've been under the impression that without knowing the ending I can't write a proper beginning, or manage an overall plot/theme.
So if my fellow fic writers have any advice, I'd love to hear it. Do you finish the entire story before publishing separate chapters? Do you keep notes while writing, or have you done avid planning beforehand? Do you even know where the story is going to end up when you start writing?
I keep worrying I'll somehow lose sight of the overarching plot if I focus on separate chapters, or not give the side characters enough to do, etc (especially since I usually write from one character's PoV). On the other hand, I worry about never finishing at all, as I tend to be easily distracted by new shiny plot bunnies.
I'll probably look for a bit of advice online as well, but fic writers have a pretty unique experience in that they can publish several chapters at separate times. And... I just don't know how to go about managing an epic!fic I've mostly finished already, but have a lot of editing to do and some key parts left to write (most notably the beginning).
For someone who has been writing for almost as long as she's known how to, I recently realised that I've actually never written a proper chapter fic. Sure, I've tried, but never successfully. Or I've deliberately avoided it because I've been under the impression that without knowing the ending I can't write a proper beginning, or manage an overall plot/theme.
So if my fellow fic writers have any advice, I'd love to hear it. Do you finish the entire story before publishing separate chapters? Do you keep notes while writing, or have you done avid planning beforehand? Do you even know where the story is going to end up when you start writing?
I keep worrying I'll somehow lose sight of the overarching plot if I focus on separate chapters, or not give the side characters enough to do, etc (especially since I usually write from one character's PoV). On the other hand, I worry about never finishing at all, as I tend to be easily distracted by new shiny plot bunnies.
I'll probably look for a bit of advice online as well, but fic writers have a pretty unique experience in that they can publish several chapters at separate times. And... I just don't know how to go about managing an epic!fic I've mostly finished already, but have a lot of editing to do and some key parts left to write (most notably the beginning).
no subject
Date: 2013-01-29 08:09 pm (UTC)I think I'm leaning towards posting chapter per chapter because it does feel like there's an awful lot of work ahead, and maybe actually finishing and posting one chapter at a time would make it feel like I'm Getting Shit Done? Though the main problem I have is related to research, which can't be alleviated so easily...
Re: secondary characters, I'm writing from one single character's PoV, which understandably narrows it down a bit, and it's not like they just hang around in the background... so perhaps it'd be more accurate to say I worry about focusing too much on the main pairing (there's a slight distinction, I promise!).
But plotting out is a good idea; I usually do, but in this case I sort of dived into the fic without one... it's a wonder this fic happened at all.
I think it is sound advice; I might be more hesitant to follow it if I hadn't already written most of it already, but as it is it seems like the best approach, both in regards to personal motivation and actual writing.
Thank you very much. <3