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Something Pam said over in another poll thread about finding Jonathan difficult to write for gave me the idea for this poll. I'd be intrigued to see which characters writers have most difficulties with. When I was writing Masques, I was pretty spooked to begin with because it was the first time I'd really had to write Lex Luthor and I wasn't at all sure I could do him justice. As it turned out he was a lot of fun to work with and didn't give me too many problems.  So, writers - which of the LNC characters do you find hardest to write? Anyway, hope I get this right. <G> (Edit: Okay, ignore that typo in the poll itself. Should have waited till I was fully awake, I guess, to do this.  ) LabRat 
Athos: If you'd told us what you were doing, we might have been able to plan this properly.
Aramis: Yes, sorry.
Athos: No, no, by all means, let's keep things suicidal.
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I put down Other. For some reason, I have no trouble sketching out a plot that involves Clark Kent and figuring out what he might say (i.e. teasing Lois about one thing or working on a story.) But I wish I could just cut Superman out of everything sometimes LOL! Sketching out a rescue or two on top of giving him a part in the evil villian's plot~saving the day blah blah~ just drives me crazy--I can't do it! 
"Meg...who let you back in the house?" -Family Guy
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I'd have to go with villains. I'm working on a story right now, and I'm having a terrible time getting inside the villains' heads. Well, I've done other stories where I borrowed the villains from the show, and they weren't so hard. But for this story, well, I'm having a hard time deciding *who* my villains are, and it makes things so much tougher...
Melisma (trying not to worry about it, here under her Rock)
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Well, I have voted for Cat, although I have to say that I was tempted to go for 'villain' or 'other'. The thing is, sometimes villains cooperate, and other times they don't. Sometimes I can come up with what I hope is a convincing original character. Sometimes I can't.
Perry I find tricky, but if I fight with him for long enough, we usually reach an almost satisfactory compromise. I'm sure 'my' Perry's could be better, but I can usually live with what I come up with.
Lex... I think I'm doing okay with Lex these days. I hope so, anyway. However, sometimes he won't be evil enough for me. Then I really have to prod him with a poker.
Cat, though... Cat I find thoroughly intimidating as a character to write. In fact, I'm not sure that I have ever actually included her in any of my stories, and it is simply because I don't think I could do her convincingly.
So, my answer is, it depends upon the circumstances.
Chris
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I voted for 'other villian' although I probably should have included 'other' too.
With EAJALAC I'm having the most trouble writing the villian (trying not to give spoilers for those who haven't read it), because I've taken some characters from the show and changed some aspects of their personalities while leaving some other aspects the same.
~Anna
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The other thing I have difficulty with is re-doing a moment that's been done a thousand times before... revisiting the "ordinary man" speech, or the "I thought you were dead, you rat bastard..." from TOGOM or Pilot rewrites... But then I'm easily bored I either try to come up with an interesting new twist (and I'm impressed when other authors manage that, too) or find a way to sidestep the problem entirely. "Two hours later, they'd agreed they'd both made mistakes and resolved to move forward." <g> PJ
"You told me you weren't like other men," she said, shaking her head at him when the storm of laughter had passed.
He grinned at her - a goofy, Clark Kent kind of a grin. "I have a gift for understatement."
"You can say that again," she told him.
"I have a...."
"Oh, shut up."
--Stardust, Caroline K
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i put down "other." lois and clark live in my head. i give them a situation, they react to it, and there you go. it happens to a lesser degree with martha, jonathan, and perry. i think i've seen enough of pretty much all the main l&c characters that i can get a good feel for style. since i tend to focus on l&c, that's more or less all i need. if i have trouble writing someone else, well, they conveniently manage to not show up in the story that much.  it's the other characters that i have trouble with, the ones i don't know very well, especially the ones i have to invent myself. i think that may be the hardest part. maybe. the thing that i really have the most trouble with, actually, is the plots. i can come up with ideas left and right, and i can usually come up with the people i need to make them work. i can come up with a few things that i think should happen and a general direction, but i have a devil of a time trying to flesh out the plots. that's why my average fic length is less than 15k... Paul
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but i have a devil of a time trying to flesh out the plots Oh, I know, I so hear you there. If I can figure out how to flesh out some of my plots, like I would be writing epics right and left. But I usually burn out after I hit somewhere around 20 pages.
"Meg...who let you back in the house?" -Family Guy
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Merriwether
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I tended to have the most trouble with Clark because I knew he was probably the most popular with the gentle readers. Personally I'm not that enamored with Clark so it's harder to write him as interesting. Lois is no problem. Jimmy, I don't care about at all so I just ignore him. As for the others, they become the needed role fillers when I find I have use for one. Tank the Retired (who can't understand why anyone would want to write a story that isn't about Lois)
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I'd have to say the villains. The bad guy/gal can make or break a story, and they're the most challenging to write because it's difficult for me to understand their motivations.
I believe there's a hero in all of us that keeps us honest, gives us strength, makes us noble, and finally allows us to die with pride, even though sometimes we have to be steady and give up the thing we want the most. Even our dreams. -- Aunt May, Spider-Man 2
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I voted other, 'cause the one character I have the most problem with it Dr. Klein. I wasn't going to vote at all, but then Bernie showed up in the WIP I'm writing now and I realized my answer. Let's see, the reason..."Lois Babble" is easy. I do it in RL all the time, but "Techno Babble"...not so much!
Anne >^,,^<
"I only know how to make four things, and this is the only one without chocolate." Lois Lane "All My I've Got a Crush on You 10/24/1993
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Hack from Nowheresville
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I voted for Lois; I find reasonable/working/passionate Lois ok to write, but I'm no good at all with angry Lois.  I also voted for "Other", on account of original characters. In 8 stories, I've invented a grand total of two tiny bit-part original characters. Mere
A diabolically, fiendishly clever mind. Possibly someone evil enough to take over the world. CC Aiken, Can You Guess the Writer? challenge
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Oh, original characters get easier I think it took me a few years of practice, but they got easier... then when I was plotting Hearts Divided, it occurred to me that I'd need at least four OCs (with recurring involvement in the story, no less!) and panicked  But as the story evolved, they did too, and I had a lot of fun with them Though of course, you want to avoid making the OC the *main* character... PJ
"You told me you weren't like other men," she said, shaking her head at him when the storm of laughter had passed.
He grinned at her - a goofy, Clark Kent kind of a grin. "I have a gift for understatement."
"You can say that again," she told him.
"I have a...."
"Oh, shut up."
--Stardust, Caroline K
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Funnily enough, original characters don't bother me at all. I guess because there are no rules to follow with them and no one can read it and say 'Well, X would never do that!'. Although, I guess they could if it was a long story and a character pattern had been established that was worked against. But, generally speaking, you have a much freer hand and less to worry about. So, I'm curious - what is it about original characters that you've found restrictive? LabRat
Athos: If you'd told us what you were doing, we might have been able to plan this properly.
Aramis: Yes, sorry.
Athos: No, no, by all means, let's keep things suicidal.
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Main character OCs do run the risk of being < gasp! > Mary Sues. It's why I enjoyed Gerry's "Date With Superman" so much. Rachel was very much an OC, but she didn't discover Superman's ID before (or even after) Lois, come from Krypton, wow everyone with her brilliance, investigate a mystery with more efficiency than Lois, discover a familial relationship with any of the main characters, reflect back on her close personal relationship with any of the main characters in the past, rescue Superman from Kryptonite, or even fall in love with Jimmy. (Of course, Tank prolly wouldn't classify that last as Mary Sue behavior... ) I'd say villains, particularly original villains, are the hardest characters to do right. I only read the first few sections of Yvonne's Purity, for example, so I can't say whether or not the characterization lasted all the way through, but her villains there were superb. Not insane mwa ha ha! types, but rather people with their own agenda, prepared to coldly and ruthlessly pursue it. Most bad guys don't think of themselves as such. Well, except for Tempus. And Lex, who was darn proud of it. :p
Lois: You know the deal.
Clark: Superman gets the guys in capes, Lois and Clark get the guys in suits.
-- Action Comics 827
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LabRat, I don't think that it is a problem with writing original characters, so much as writing original characters in the context of fan fiction. The problem there is that there are a couple of unwritten... not rules... exactly, but conventions / dangers of which I think the writer needs to be aware.
1) there is the danger that they might turn into Mary Sues, as Hazel said.
2) there is the danger that they become the focus of the story. Okay, so using original characters works sometimes, but I think there is a danger that they tip the balance away from Lois and Clark (or other series' characters), who, after all who the story is supposedly about. (But remember, there are exceptions to every rule; Irene's Firestorm etc series works very well indeed.)
So long as original characters stay in the background and advance Lois and Clark's plot they are fine.
What makes original characters intimidating, however, is that you have to flesh them out. With established characters, you can jump straight in to the story. We know what Clark looks like. We know what his motivations are. Ditto Lois. The challenge then is to get the established characters to react to the situation in which you place them.
Original characters are different. You need to sketch enough background to show where they are coming from, but not so much as to be boring. That is a quite different skill. The challenge with established characters is to keep them in character. With original characters, it is to give them a character to begin with, and make it one that the readers can react to and sympathise with.
I want to write original fiction, too. Oddly, I find that less daunting than writing original characters in the context of fanfic. There I can do what I like; they can react off each other. They can take over the whole story. That doesn't matter. It does here.
Does that make any kind of sense at all?
Chris
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Yes, very good points, Chris and Hazel. And, of course, that's why many cut their writing teeth on fanfic - because they have a ready-made set of characters there that everyone recognises instantly and they don't need to do the groundwork on. That's very true. In fact, now that you've pointed it out, I dare say that was the case for me too, when I started writing fanfic. It's so lost in the midsts of time that I've forgotten, but I'm pretty sure it must have been easier to start with established characters than it was to launch into my own. LabRat
Athos: If you'd told us what you were doing, we might have been able to plan this properly.
Aramis: Yes, sorry.
Athos: No, no, by all means, let's keep things suicidal.
The Musketeers
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Uh, just curious. Does anyone want to elaborate on what 'Mary Sue behavior' is?
"Meg...who let you back in the house?" -Family Guy
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there's a good explanation of mary sue-ism here, which is where i got this particularly relevant exceprt... The answer is "Mary-Sue-ism". The term comes, I believe, from early Star Trek fiction. To quote Melissa Wilson who wrote the excellent "Mary Sue Litmus Test" and "Dr. Merlin\'s Guide to Fan Fiction" : You already know Mary Sue. Mary Sue is the perky, bright, helpful sixteen-year-old ensign who beams about the ship. Everyone on the ship likes Mary Sue, because Mary Sue is good at everything. Mary Sue is an engineer, a doctor in training, a good leader, an excellent cook, and is usually a beautiful singer. Mary Sue often has mental powers that may manifest themselves as telepathy, precognition, or magic. If Mary Sue is very young, she is often the offspring of one or two already established characters. If she's a little older, she will probably end up sleeping with the author's favorite character. Her name is often the author's name, be it a net.name, a favored nickname, or the author's middle name (this is seen in the most famous Mary Sue of all time, Wesley Crusher, who was named after Trek creator Eugene Wesley Roddenbery). By the end of the story, Mary Sue will be in bed with the desired character, will have beamed away amid cheers from all the regulars, or will be dead, usually accompanied by heavy mourning from the cast. The reader, on the other hand, will be celebrating. basically, a "mary sue" is a way for an author to write him- or herself into the story and show off how cool the "character" is. wesley crusher from "star trek: the next generation" was, as mentioned, named after gene roddenberry, and was a representation of everything he wanted to be. most mary sues, however, are not as well written as wes (and there are a lot of people who don't like wes, either). hope that helps. Paul EDIT: i see chris was posting when i posted. yes, "gary stu" is a term for a male mary sue. also, there are some fun mary sues... when this came up a couple years ago, tara "starkitty" smith took the idea and ran with it... take a look here.
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Shadow, a 'Mary Sue' is a character who is more perfect than perfect. Imagine (and try not to shudder when you do so) a (usually female) character who: 1)is more beautiful than any of the other characters 2)has the most perfect personality 3)attracts the attention of all the male characters; they fall over themselves, competing for her attention 4)resolves the plot, saves the day etc etc etc, making all the other characters look flat-footed and useless in the process. I believe the male equivalent is Gary Stu. Can someone confirm that? Thankfully, there is very little Mary Sue-ism in LnC fanfic, but it is very common elsewhere. For more information, you might want to go here . Chris
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I gave a list in my earlier post of what might be considered Mary Sue behavior in a Lois and Clark fic. The general guideline is this: If Lois and Clark are present in the fic only to show how wonderful your OC is, then you're probably in Mary Sue territory. Here are some other warning signs: In a S1 or S2 fic: your character discovers CK=S before Lois; your character succeeds in getting Lois and Clark together despite themselves; your character figures out how to beat Lex, whether or not your character is the one who puts the plan into action. In S3: your character get Lois and Clark back together again despite themselves; your character figures out the clone thing before Clark, or prevents the clone from switching; your character is from NK, and stops Clark from needing to go off with Zara. In S4: your character helps Lois and Clark "make it to the church on time"; your character figures out a way for them to have children; your character handles Tempus better than Herb (okay, anyone could do that ). In any season: your character is a better reporter than LnC, or puts the clues together more quickly; your character rescues the main characters from their own stupidity or ineptitude; your character is related to any of the main characters; your character is "retconned" into playing a significant part of a main character's past; your character has a truly convoluted history, to make the character fit into the Superman mythos; one or more of the main characters are attracted to her, whether or not it remains unrequited. I left out "Lois/Clark falls for your character," because, after all, this is Lois and Clark, and fics like that can't really fit into the genre. Unless, of course, as Zoom points out, the SO dies tragically and your character is there to comfort the bereaved one... click here and scroll down a bit for the most hilarious Mary Sue avatar I've seen in a loooong time. Look at Irene's superb Superfutures series for a great example: all her characters are well-rounded and real and very, very human. (Okay, half-Kryptonian.) As Chris says, the male equivalent exists too; these are often dark, broody types, or smart-mouthed characters who are so good at what they do that they earn the grudging respect of their elders, despite their appalling behavior. Or perhaps they have a tragic past, which explains their unhappiness... oh, wait, that works for regular Mary Sues, too. I will conclude this over-long post by quoting my own Mary Sue parody, deliberately written to include as many Mary Sue elements as possible: Clark stared with astonishment at the beautiful young woman before him. True, she was gorgeous enough to stun anybody, but that was not the reason for his current state of stupefication. Some four inches shorter than his own height of six feet, she was actually standing eye-to-eye with him -- because her dainty, pink-varnished toes were hovering four inches off the ground.
She could fly! She had super-powers like his!
"How...?" he stammered. "I don't -- who are you?"
She smiled softly, her perfect white teeth flashing in the starlight. "I am your twin sister," she said, her musical voice piercing through his veins with an uneasy thrill.
"My twin sister?" Clark repeated. He found that he could not take his eyes off her -- her lovely blond curls that cascaded over her slim shoulders, her cerulean blue eyes that sparkled like the most pristine of seas, the ruby lips curved in a smile that cast an enchantment over any male that ever saw her. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Even though Lois told him that he was okay-looking -- well, maybe a little more than okay-looking -- how could he possibly be the twin of the vision of perfection that stood before him? His stomach squirmed uncomfortably as he realized that his adoration for her was not even remotely brotherly.
"Yes," she affirmed. Her long, silky eyelashes fluttered momentarily, and Clark watched, entranced, as a single tear, the shape and sheen of a perfect diamond, slowly slid down the alabaster skin of her cheek. "It grieves me, Kal-El, that we have never met before."
"Why?" he asked, anguished. "Why was I never permitted to see you? And how did you arrive here on Earth?"
She lowered her eyelids for a moment, wondering what to say. She knew it would be too difficult to explain that she was really his twin sister from an alternate universe, where Lara had died in her teens and Jor-El had come to earth and married Bruce Wayne's twin sister, who had given birth to a girl rather than a boy. She understood that this strange truth was the cause of Clark's feelings of unbridled passion towards her; after all, they were not really brother and sister at all. Yet she, knowing that she was Clark's counterpart from another universe, realized how wrong it would be to requite his love. No, it would be better if he remained ignorant of the warped reality of their existence and continue to believe they were sister and brother.
"The story would be too long to tell," she demurred, her voice lowering to an octave that sent shivers down Clark's spine. "But I have come to help you in your battle for truth, justice, and better fashion sense. "
She paused for a moment, wondering if she ought to mention her amazing spiritual powers, powers that only a female Kryptonian could possess. But with her typical modesty, she decided to remain silent. Why make Clark feel insecure? She would only demonstrate her awesome abilities, so far beyond Clark's own, if circumstances demanded a deus ex machina on her part. The opportunity would most likely arise some time in the very near future, anyway.
"I will be honored to have you on my side," Clark said, humbly and huskily. "But tell me, please -- what is your name?"
"I?" Her smile once again flashed in the starlight. "I am Haz-El."  Hazel, who has read some truly appalling Mary Sue Tolkien fics, and some truly hysterical parodies of such fics as well
Lois: You know the deal.
Clark: Superman gets the guys in capes, Lois and Clark get the guys in suits.
-- Action Comics 827
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Hm, thanks everyone! This gives me a lot to keep in mind whenever I start writing again...in case there's a need for an OC.
Ciao
Jen
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Reading this thread makes me shiver when I realise just how close Lee in 'Firestorm' got to being a total Mary Sue character! Wow!
I had no idea about what a Mary Sue was when I started writing.
Irene
who probably wouldn't have written Firestorm if she'd read about Mary Sues first.
I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several days attack me at once.
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Hazel, I didn't know whether to laugh or be nauseated at your parody! It's brilliant, and utterly stomach churning. Irene, thank goodness you didn't know about Mary Sues! Fandom would be all the poorer without Lee. Chris
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Ohohohohoh!!!!!! I'm sitting here howling, Hazel, this was just too, too... AGH!!!! I'm speechless....  under her Rock)
Do, or do not. There is no try.
- Yoda
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Actually, this whole Mary Sue discussion is both enlightening and entertaining. I not only ed at Hazel's parody, I followed all the links that were posted and  ed lots more!
Do you know the most surprising thing about divorce? It doesn't actually kill you, like a bullet to the heart or a head-on car wreck. It should. When someone you've promised to cherish till death do you part says, "I never loved you," it should kill you instantly.
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Irene
who probably wouldn't have written Firestorm if she'd read about Mary Sues first I'm with Chris. I'm glad you didn't know, Irene. Lee is one of the most non-Mary Sues I've ever read. Good OCs *are* possible; they're just harder to write than fanfic. I suppose you can say that any fiction writer is creating OCs, and its the good authors that avoid the Mary Sue syndrome. Come to think of it, if one of us was Siegel or Schuster creating Clark Kent, wouldn't we be guilty of creating a Gary Stu? I mean, think about it. He's bright, he's the ultimate good guy, he's good-looking, he's nice to old ladies and kittens, he has these amazing powers... Good grief! I'm glad people seem to enjoy the parody. Yes, it's okay to laugh about it, because you know I didn't take it seriously. Believe it or not, there are people who actually write that kind of claptrap and *mean* it. Since Rivka said she enjoyed reading the links, I thought I'd add these for any Tolkien fans out there who have read even a fraction of the awful "modern girl falls into Middle-earth and joins the fellowship" Mary Sue fics that are so prevalent. Try this (although I would add a bit of a language warning, at least for me ) and also this one (follow the link to the actual story in the middle of the page), which takes the tiresome summary "falls into Middle-earth" quite literally. Mary Sue parodies are great fun, when they're not mean-spirited. Hazel
Lois: You know the deal.
Clark: Superman gets the guys in capes, Lois and Clark get the guys in suits.
-- Action Comics 827
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Well, looking at the poll, I was surprised to see that most seem to find villians really hard to write. Strange, that. I, myself find characters like Jimmy harder to write, 'cause they're not there for much. In this, I agree with Tank... BF
“Rules only make sense if they are both kept and broken. Breaking the rule is one way of observing it.”
--Thomas Moore
"Keep an open mind, I always say. Drives sensible people mad, I know, but what did we ever get from sensible people? Not poetry or art or music, that's for sure."
--Charles de Lint, Someplace to Be Flying
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Weirdly, I put Lois and Clark. I spend a lot of time agonising about their characterisation, because I think I have a tendency to make both of them too soft and squishy. With Lois, I can occasionally overcompensate and make her too hard, so I'm constantly trying to hit that ideal middle ground between the two extremes. Villains are great fun to write - I don't have a problem with them. M&J are also fun and usually give me a nice warm feeling inside when I'm writing them. Jimmy's okay; never tried Cat for more than a sentence or too so I don't know if she's difficult or not. Perry has a tendency to become a characature of himself if I'm not careful, and ditto Dr Klein - although the character is pretty cartoon-like anyway! Original characters aren't too scary to write, although I haven't done that much. They were easiest in Purity, because they were all villains <g>. You can really let rip with your 'bad' side when you're writing original villains - I'm sure EvilEl understands where I'm coming from here. Yvonne
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Hazel, that was fantastic! I'm still laughing so much that I almost can't type!  Now for an attempt at keeping this even remotely on topic. I haven't written any L&C fic (though I did make an attempt the other day...) but I have written a couple of pieces for Farscape. However I find it very difficult to write a plot driven fic, so anything I write tends to be introspection/POV for (one of) the main characters, and even then, its usually an episode addition. So I don't usually have to worry about Mary Sue. At the moment I wouldn't consider writting about the supporting cast as I struggle to flesh out characters without a lot of help from the show, thus leaving only the main characters. The same goes for OC's too. Especially them, since I'm aware of Mary Sue! Loriel
"Inappropriate attachment" didn't begin to cover the depth of the feelings Vaughn had for Sydney Bristow.
~Ties That Bind by RJ Anderson~
I ramble at http://www.livejournal.com/~loriel_eris
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Beat Reporter
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Beat Reporter
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Originally posted by Loriel Eris:
However I find it very difficult to write a plot driven fic, so anything I write tends to be introspection/POV for (one of) the main characters, I have the opposite problem. I don't like writing a bunch of thoughts, I feel like it bogs down the story, so I tend to only write plot-driven stuff. I usually get right to the point and then am told that my stories are too short or not waffy enough. 
Anne >^,,^<
"I only know how to make four things, and this is the only one without chocolate." Lois Lane "All My I've Got a Crush on You 10/24/1993
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Pulitzer
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That's a good point -- writing a-plots and b-plots are similar but not identical skills... I think most of us tend to favor one or the other, though nothing's set in stone. When I first started writing (lo these many moons ago) I was *terrified* of writing a-plot. I teamed up with a co-author so that he could write the a-plot for me <g> A few years later, I was writing one of the early eps for Season 6 and realized it was almost all a-plot. It worked out okay, though, because the writer of the ep before mine had mostly written b-plot, so it wasn't too difficult to blend them together. Um, I think I had a point to make... probably wanted to say that even if you're not good at/comfortable with a certain aspect of writing right now, doesn't mean you're doomed forever PJ
"You told me you weren't like other men," she said, shaking her head at him when the storm of laughter had passed.
He grinned at her - a goofy, Clark Kent kind of a grin. "I have a gift for understatement."
"You can say that again," she told him.
"I have a...."
"Oh, shut up."
--Stardust, Caroline K
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Hack from Nowheresville
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Hack from Nowheresville
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My trouble wth a-plot is trying to think up an actual plot! And even if I do get an actual glimmer of a plot, I can't seem to expand it. I think I'll blame my science type mind here - you're supposed to be concise, plus I was never very good a t just 'waffling' when it came to English essays. So I think I find POV easier becuse they story is already there. Um, I think I had a point to make... probably wanted to say that even if you're not good at/comfortable with a certain aspect of writing right now, doesn't mean you're doomed forever Thank goodness for that! That means I may get back to my 'epic' at some point in my lifetime! Loriel
"Inappropriate attachment" didn't begin to cover the depth of the feelings Vaughn had for Sydney Bristow.
~Ties That Bind by RJ Anderson~
I ramble at http://www.livejournal.com/~loriel_eris
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Columnist
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Yeah, thanks for that, Pam I'm having a *really* hard time coming up with a plausible plot for one of my WIPs right now - but hopefully with a little, erm, *encouragement*... yeah, that's it... the muse will get it right... Melisma (ducking under her Rock to work on said WIP)
Do, or do not. There is no try.
- Yoda
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Um, I think I had a point to make... probably wanted to say that even if you're not good at/comfortable with a certain aspect of writing right now, doesn't mean you're doomed forever Couldn't agree more with this. I've changed so many of my writing habits since getting involved with FoLCdom. Two in particular. I used to write in a non-linear fashion - until I started online brainstorming with my beta, Kaethel. Then it became much handier to write linear because it was less confusing for her and made it easier to note where the scene or moment being brainstormed came in context with the larger story. Which in turn, made a solution to my current problem easier to find. These days I write in linear almost without thinking about it and just never think to do anything else. Secondly, for some unknown reason, when I started writing Masques I began writing it in single pov. Up till then, I'd mostly, if not entirely, favoured omni pov. Now, I find omni looks terribly weird (in my own stories and in the context of writing, I don't have any problems with it, curiously enough, when it's used by other authors and in the context of reading) and I've had to go through my old files changing them from omni to single before I can even get started on finishing them. Seems no matter how long you've been at this game, you can still learn something new. Which is, of course, half the fun.  LabRat
Athos: If you'd told us what you were doing, we might have been able to plan this properly.
Aramis: Yes, sorry.
Athos: No, no, by all means, let's keep things suicidal.
The Musketeers
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Hack from Nowheresville
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Hack from Nowheresville
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These days I write in linear almost without thinking about it and just never think to do anything else. So do I, which means that if I get stuck at a certain bit I can't just leave it for later and write the next scene, which, in turn, means that the whole fic grinds to a halt... Loriel
"Inappropriate attachment" didn't begin to cover the depth of the feelings Vaughn had for Sydney Bristow.
~Ties That Bind by RJ Anderson~
I ramble at http://www.livejournal.com/~loriel_eris
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Yes, that is a hazard... but I'm always worried about one of two things... When I first started writing, in my teens, I'd imagine lots of details, maybe make some notes, and even write out pivotal scenes in these imaginary stories. Never wrote a story start-to-finish. So I'm worried that once I've written up the main scene I wanted to see with the story, I'll not go back and write the boring set-up & interaction along the way to *get* there -- although that's less of a temptation now than it used to be; can't get FDK without working a little harder than that Also, I find writing ahead to be risky, because you never know what surprises L&C will pull on you while you're writing earlier sections; it could mean substantial editing (in which case, why not save myself the bother and wait til I get there to write it) or that L&C will be trying to go one way, but I'll be forcing them back into line. There was a spot in Hearts Divided that had been the starting image for me to write the story -- but once I got there, Lois *insisted* that things change quite a lot. So I never did get to write the proto-scene... anyway, I like to have the flexibility to change things as I go... But that's just me and as I haven't written much of anything in the last year... large grains of salt may be required. PJ
"You told me you weren't like other men," she said, shaking her head at him when the storm of laughter had passed.
He grinned at her - a goofy, Clark Kent kind of a grin. "I have a gift for understatement."
"You can say that again," she told him.
"I have a...."
"Oh, shut up."
--Stardust, Caroline K
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I went for Martha and Jonathan...mostly because I never gave it a try...writing them I mean.
the other character would be Myrtle Birch...and now that I think about it, it's also because I never gave it a try!
You know what Seneque said "it's not because it's difficult that we don't do things, it's because we don't do it that it's difficult".
Carole
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Originally posted by Melisma: but hopefully with a little, erm, *encouragement*... yeah, that's it... the muse will get it right...
With my muse, the only thing that works is bribes...lots and lots of chocolate. My hubby is worried that I'm going to develop diabetes 'cause he thinks I'm the one who's eating all those M & M's... :rolleyes:
Anne >^,,^<
"I only know how to make four things, and this is the only one without chocolate." Lois Lane "All My I've Got a Crush on You 10/24/1993
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, Anne! And never thought of that one! Must remember it the next time Stuart tells me I can't have X, Y and Z because it's not good for my blood pressure.... LabRat (who senses that her Muse is about to develop a serious liking for Chinese takeout...)
Athos: If you'd told us what you were doing, we might have been able to plan this properly.
Aramis: Yes, sorry.
Athos: No, no, by all means, let's keep things suicidal.
The Musketeers
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