Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Fanfic Related writing question

I'm taking the plunge and have started writing my first non-drabble fanfic. Actually, this is the first fiction I've written that wasn't required by a professor and I have a question about the process.

I started with a situation that sounded interesting and I hadn't seen anywhere else. I had a few ideas, tried to put the scenes into some sort of order and started writing. As I've gone along I've thought of other stuff to include and made those additions.

The issue is that I'm up to 30 - 40 pages and I don't know where this is going. I'm not really worried about the length but I am surprised I'm this far and don't see a solid direction yet. I guess I've never had to plot things out before.

How common is this kind of problem? How do you deal with it?

Second question--my writing style is not very consistent. Sometimes I see what I'm writing about clearly and am able to really flesh a scene out and other times not so much. I've read a lot of multiauthored stuff out there that is more consistent than mine. Do I worry about it at this point or do I finish the story and edit it into shape? Suggestions?

Thanks,
Shallowford

Welcome, new writer! You would probably benefit from one or two beta readers to help you flesh out your story and check over the plot. Simply ask for help and see what responses you get. Telling a little of the plot might help pique the beta readers interests.
Another thought is to read extensively on the Archive for similar types of stories to what you intend to write.
If you are basing your story on episodes from Lois and Clark, the scripts are listed above the main page on this site.
Good luck!
Artemis

As Artemis said, you would probably benefit greatly from a BR.

Writers are very different on this - some can't write a paragraph until the one before it is perfect. Others write wildly and then go back and edit later.

Personally, I wouldn't worry at all at this stage. I would simply get the story down and deal with any inconsistencies (plot, style, characterisation) later.

If you really can't find an ending you like, is there any way to turn what you have into a vignette? That way, you've got a smaller piece to try to mold into shape and it's much more satisfying to finish something (smaller) than to battle endlessly with something big. Also, you could post it, be encouraged by the FDK, and probably be ready to tackle something longer.

Hope this helps,

Corrina.

Hi Shallowford,

I am still fairly much of a newbie writer myself -- I started writing L&C fanfic this past spring, and had written very little fiction before that. One thing I have learned from various authors whose works I admire is that the bulk of the writing time is actually spent in re-writing (i.e., editing). Don't worry too much about things like consistency in style in your first draft. The first draft is just to get the ideas "on paper." But do plan to go through several iterations of editing before you publish/post your work. You can iron out your consistency problems at that time.

Again, keep in mind that I am still very much learning the writing craft myself, so take my advice with a grain of salt. FWIW, the other thing I have been learning is that different authors approach the writing process differently. The bottom line is that, regardless of what advice you receive from me or from anyone else, find what works for you and go with it.

Joy,
Lynn

p.s., I second Artemis' suggestion of getting beta readers (BRs). I never cease to be amazed by how much my BRs' suggestions improve my own works.

Every author has their own method. I haven't written too much long-fic myself, but the times when I have, my technique has been to plot out the basic outline in my head, start writing, get confused when the story suddenly veers away from where I'd thought it was going to go, and then write and delete several pages (often at the same time) until I end up at an ending that may or may not resemble the one I had planned.

Your experience may differ. *g*

And yes, getting a BR to go over what you have is very helpful in so many ways. You can choose whether to work with one while you're still writing, or write a first draft and send it to them when you're done. Your choice.

Actually, you're seeing a demo of my writing style. I plot in my head, but I get great ideas from the feedback. In fact, my latest story changed radically from feedback. 30-40 pages is a great start and you should probably ask here for a beta at this point.
I sort of envision the process like painting a painting: first the sketch of the plot to get the ideas; then writing a first draft to see how things are flowing; then getting feedback and maybe new ideas; then filling in the details when you go back.
Hope this helps
Sorry I don't have time to beta now for you. Maybe later when time frees up.

Artemis

When I first began writing fiction, I had many of the same questions. The best advice I got was that I should write down the bones and then go over and over them, adding flesh to them. You might not write in sequence but add on what occurs to you as you read again and again. One of the most important things you need to do is figure out the point or purpose of your story. If you don't know where you're going, you probably won't get there. Hope this helps.

Jude

Two mistakes ALL beginning writers make:

1) "Okay, I finished my masterpiece! And I'm not changing a single word! I want my prose to be completely natural - none of that manufactured stuff!"

2) "Okay, I finished my - wait a minute, this is garbage! I'm throwing it out and never thinking about it again!"

Obviously, neither of these approaches is the optimum one, but we all have a tendency to lean one way or the other.

If you read books about writing, you'll notice several consistent themes. One is that a first draft is always horrible (except for a very few natural writers who are universally hated by the other 99.9% who actually have to work at writing). The other is that your tale, whether it's a super-short or a record-length opus, always benefits from being edited.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge ("Xanadu" and "Rime of the Ancient Mariner") used to write in the morning, have a long, leisurely lunch, and then edit in the afternoon. He called it "killing his darlings" because he generally took out about half of what he'd written earlier in the day.

You'd think that as a writer gains experience, he'd have to edit less. Apparently that's not true. The pros I've heard and read say that they spend as much time editing as when they first started, but the more experience they get the deeper they drill into their work to slice and dice their prose. And as a semi-talented amateur, I have found that to be true in my writing also.

The hardest thing for me is to give each of my characters a consistent voice, so that Lois always sounds like Lois and never like Perry, and so forth. Some writers find it helpful to play out the scenes in their heads as if on a movie or TV screen.

Here's a link to a thread on writer's block. It's not the same thing, I know, but it lists some good books for writers of all skill levels.

Oh, and here's the most important part - Welcome to the world of writing! I know, you said you'd done some drabbles already (that's something I don't have the guts to try), but stepping out anywhere new takes courage. Congratulations on your first steps! And don't worry about getting lost. If you look around, you'll see all kinds of nifty things you can use.

I look forward to reading your offering. Happy editing!

I haven't written any long stories in quite a while, but even the shorts that I throw out on occasion I go back over and wind up making changes.

One thing I've gotten into the habit of doing with my shorts is to read it back out loud. You often find sentences that seem to read just fine, but out loud they sound clumsy and confusing.

As most have said, longer fics definately are well served by the use of a beta reader you trust. For me, I was terrible at spelling and grammar. The beta was hard pressed to keep my on track in just those areas, but being a respected writer herself, she was able to ask me questions, and point out weak points that inevitably lead to improvements to my stories.

One thing you must remember. There are no 'bad' stories; merely different ones.

Anyone who takes the time, effort, and has the courage to put their work out there deserves kudos for that alone.

Tank (who is somewhat amazed that after all these years he still enjoys coming here and reading yet another take on our favorite couple)

Total agreement. It's very hard to take that first step and put out "your baby" into the cold cruel world where she might be exposed to the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. But it's very rewarding too.

The L&C boards are good ones to start on, as everyone here is so encouraging. There is a tradition of positive criticism and no flaming. It's a great place to dip your toes into the writing ocean. I'm very grateful for everyone here on the boards who has encouraged me.

Betas are very helpful and are recommended - just post a request for someone and you'll probably get a quick reply.

Soooo...Lois can keep her long hair and Tank won’t flame me?

Thank you all for the advice and encouragement.

I’ll give more attention to the planning side and see if I can put “writing time” into my schedule (unfortunately doubtful). I’m sure that would help with consistency. Switching between Word (work), Openoffice (home) and paper (everywhere else) probably isn’t helping either. I’m more interested in telling a good story than in hanging onto every word so I think I have a good attitude towards editing. Now I just need to get a plot to help figure out which parts advance it.

By the way, I tend to use smaller fonts writing in Word so I have more on the page which screws up estimating. I just reformatted the story into .TXT and it’s actually 15-20 pages, not 30-40.

I think I have an interesting vignette to post but I was just looking for advice here. I have a few more sections that I want to do and then I’ll be looking for a BR.

I also have a suggestion that seems to be working well for me. Since I’m paranoid about losing files I make frequent backups. I’m trying a little editing as I go but rewriting something I’ve lost never seems to be as good. Then I decided that I would just make a dated backup each time I write. If I delete, edit or fall asleep on the keyboard and replace the entire file with “fffffffffffffffffff” then I still have a usable version somewhere. Storage is cheap these days.

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Omit needless words. Omit words. Omit.

-Will Strunk-

I think any author who's just lost that 12 page 'perfect' scene to a glitch will be saying 'amen, to that, Shallowford.

I still remember the days of working on my little Amstrad WP, which had the endearing :rolleyes: habit of not letting you know when you saved that your floppy disk was full until it was - and then locking down the entire system when it got there. So you had no choice but to reboot, losing the work.

Thank goodness, things have improved since then!

LabRat (who, despite this, retains fond memories of her little Amstrad...)

At the end of the day, assuming I made changes, I email myself my story draft. This way I have them stored forever and ever in my gmail account, which Google backs up for me and I don't have to worry about it ;p

I don't have a 100% method, but the vast majority of the time, I will write dialog for a scene first. I do this with no speech tags. And I let it sit for several hours. If, after I go back the piece, I can't figure out who's talking, I usually tweak until it feels more in character. It's very important to me to get a really good understanding of how a chapter will flow before I start painting it with details.

After I've done that, then I will go back and start to fill in with tags and details. And then, after I've forced myself to finish a draft no matter how much it reads like garbage, the fun, for me, begins. Because that's when I really start to edit and make changes and move things around. I always find I'm more enthusiastic about working on a piece once I have the minimum done, and I have a solid block of text to work with and change.

For instance, here's an example of my draft 1 (sorry, I don't have any L&C stuff on hand since I haven't written L&C since 2005ish, so this is for something else):

Which ended up like this after many edits:

It's a slow, layers by layers method of filling stuff in, but I've found it to really work for me.

Thanks Aria. I've been using placeholders for each scene--basically the same thing at a higher level. I wouldn't have thought to use the technique for dialog. Brilliant!

Thank you everyone. This has been both helpful and encouraging.

Shallowford

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Things don't need to be new to be appreciated, just new to you.

-every antique dealer's secret thought-