Planetfurry BBS

[Shadu]

I rename ths topic as 'GOOD ADVICE'

well if any of my stories ends up being good enough I'll ask for posting permission but I'd like to at least have it prefinished. By this I mean to have at least the unprofread complete story so that I can go posting the checked and corrected chapters for evreyone to enjoy.

now this would be my method and I won't comment badly on anyones method for as they say, to each his own.

[Kinsfire]

Being one of the worst offenders....

It can be very hard sometimes, when you're driven by ... something ... to write. I had every intention of working through Serina, and not doing anything until it was done. (I have not abandoned it, by the way - I think one of the reasons that's on hold is I have to build myself toward a very ugly scenario coming in the next few chapters, and I don't want to do that to the characters. You grow to love your characters, y'know?)

However, my muse kicked me in the butt and handed me some things. She's insistent, she is.

Does it excuse it? No.

Does it mean that I'm going to stop doing it. Unfortunately, the best laid plans ... you know the rest. I'll try. That's all I can say. (I'll understand if you choose to remove Serina from the shelf for the time being. I think it's been almost two years? (I REALLY don't want to do to the characters what I have to...))

[Tygon]

Don't you dare to claim this for yourself, Kinsfire. I think I'm much worse than you. I have a grand total of 4 serialized stories that haven't seen any updates in times reaching from half a year to two years. And that's not counting the several serieses of short stories I have.

I very much fit in both categories Mike spoke of. I have too many stories to work on and at least one of them, namely Victoria & Tygon, doesn't have a plot. I just started writing. Mind you, I can't really work in any other way. When I think about something I don't write.

Anyway, I can only say: Take Mike's advice. Work out a plan and don't overload yourself.

[hikaru]

Heh. Y'all aren't alone with that. Along with IC, I have/had plans to finish Yin's IC, Druu'Kal's story as well as Hazel's IC (which probably won't ever get written).

All the way up to the end of Act III, I had a plan for what would wind up happening. I had goals throughout the act that I wanted the characters to achieve. With that in mind, I usually simply set the characters down and give them a little push. They'll generally get to where I want them to go.

With Act IV, I don't have a planned ending and that's scary. I don't know where this is going to wind up. I've gone from writing a set story to writing a soap-opera. Yes, I have events planned that I want to get to, but I'm doing it all on the fly. There is no "goal" and that's daunting.

If I didn't already have 3 acts under my belt, I'm not sure I would have started on Act IV without having a firm idea as to where it would end.

Cheers

[Elfen_Furry]

You guys are definately not alone...
My Vampire's Drought story had a 15 year pause in it due to various circumstances, and then started to finish it off, with the last entry being back in last July...
Currently, it is in in mid-chapter, now that I got the protagonist alive again (see what happens when you kill of your main character!), but cant go beyond that.

Its also in the research stage, because some goth idiot challenged a couple of my claims here and I told him that I am following the classic vampire genre and not the goofed up on that Ann Rice started (and they all seem to follow). But its research that I am not willing to do and know from my own experiences and knowledge. A writer should not have to go out to prove himself to his fans, but somehow, this is what it has come with me and "Vampire's Drought."

Hopefully soon, I'll start to finish off that chapter and hope its only a hump in the road, and after that, finish off the rest of the story.

But there are many other stories I have on the many hard drives I have that will not live the light of posting day. Nor a couple that I did post that will not see completion, due to circumstances beyond my control and the tremdous loss of datum I have endured these last 3 months... *Shakes his fist at Binney and Obssie- the Binary God of the System, and the Computer God of Obeselence...* DAM YOU TWO!!!

Eventually, I'll do what I can with what little time I have left and hopefully get things gone along the way...

The key solution is to set aside some time every week to at least add something to the story. Besides the outline that goes from start to finish, the story must continueally flow from one chapter to the next. If one takes Stephan King's approach to writing, "Everday I give my stories a bit of time to put down 1 word, 1 sentence, 1 paragraph- adding anything to get the story to its completion." In a way I adopted that method, and it seems to work out well. Whether it be 5 minutes or 5 hours, I put something everyday to which ever story wants or needs them; and its the only thing that has kept me slightly head of my "A (raw) chapter every 3 weeks" schedule.

[Chris Regan]

It’s also in the research stage, because some Goth idiot challenged a couple of my claims here and I told him that I am following the classic vampire genre and not the goofed up on that Ann Rice started (and they all seem to follow). But its research that I am not willing to do and know from my own experiences and knowledge. A writer should not have to go out to prove himself to his fans, but somehow, this is what it has come with me and "Vampire's Drought."

Hi All, It looks like I'm on my soap box again for give me. Elfen I've read "Vampire's Drought" and I think you did a very good job with it but I've edit it.

There are many different types of blood drinking Vampires out there. Ann Rice's Vampires Mythology is just one type of vampire, there are thoughts that were Born with one Vampire parent which I will grant you is rare because it is very hard for vampire females to get PG for most male vampires are sterile. But there are a few that can procriate.

I have heard them called Sanguinarius which is what some blood drinker call them selves. In that class there are the Classical which are the "Forever Knight" and the "Ann Rice" type that you see portrayed on TV. You have othes and many can fit into the above class, you have your night timers, Inheritors class 1 & 2 vampires, genetic vampires, then there are your energy vampires, Psi vampires, Sexual Vampires, then there are thoughts that are not real vampires at all the Bloodists and the fetish types of vampires. The last two are said to be the most dangerous.

I have read that if real vampires get to much blood or energy they get sick just like humans do if we over eat or drink. It in caused by an energy overload.

There are two-three lines of thought on how they got here, I've heard of two different types of viruses that could cause Vampirism, V5 and HVV long ago there where many disoders that was thought to cause vampirism Porphyria,TB.

Vamperism is an engery disorder that takes time to learn to control, it's like they are addicts that need a fixes and take to much so they are up on a high then crash down to earth, it is sad really.

[Kinsfire]

I've found one thing has helped me immensely - and I've needed it what with these HP fanfics that won't let me go.

OUTLINE!!!

I've needed it immensely for these, and it's forced me to go back to my other stories that I need to pick up again and outline where they're going.

Even if it's a one word description for the chapter. I've also discovered that you might not necessarily FOLLOW the outline, but it's a good guideline.

(Listen to me, talking as if I'm a pro...*snort*)

Kinsfire

[Chris Regan]

[Kinsfire]

A short HP fic I did had an outline for a minimum of eight chapters, with an epilogue to follow. When done it was four and an epilogue. But that outline got me going with it, and helped me when I spent about an hour trying to figure out where to go next with it.

Outlines are your friend. Write the minimum to remind you of what you need to do, and remember that it's subject to change. A major plot device in my Ring of Doom saga CHANGED when I realized that it would actually improve it if I did a certain extremely unexpected thing. So my outline got rewritten to show that.

[Cateagle]

Well, I've got an overall outline for "From The Wings" and it's broken down into story arcs, the epilogue, and some independent chapters. Not all the arcs are fully outlined yet, but the first two are, partly because I needed to develop some background for Lee & Debbye in "Gone Wylde" and partly because it struck me as a good arc in it's own right.

There are some independent chapters, more or less, between the first two arcs though they will set up some things for the second one. It helps greatly to have such and I'm in the process of developing the background and first story outline for my "Mach Angels" story-verse.

Mind you, the outline is still flexible, some things have changed over time, especially in the second arc of "From The Wings" where some names already seen will appear in the story.

[hikaru]

Unfortunately, with IC I was running full speed towards a cliff, never intending to go past the end of Act III. Now I find my self nailing boards together to extend the lip of the canyon into a bridge as I try and muddle forward without a hard and fast plot planned out.

The only thing that's saving my ass is that all my characters are very well developed. Hazel's a character from another story I was intending to write. I had her personality pretty well mapped out long before Act IV started in. At this point, the biggest hurdle is trying to figure out where to go with the story without making it a hug mess of side stories that never get back to the main plot.

[Chris Regan]

[Elfen_Furry]

What problem? Fritzgerald took something like 22+ years to write the Great Gasby.

Following that, Vampire's Dought is has taken more than 15 years, and its still not finished.

Not that I'm following Fritzgerald... but some things take time.

[Aramis Dagaz]

Since we're on the topic of how long it takes to write a story, I'd like to post a related question:

When writing, do you write the story in the order it will be published (eg, write chapter 1 before writing on chapter 2, write chapter 2 before writing chapter 3, and so on), or do you allow yourself to write other chapters if your muse takes you there (you're writing chapter 3, but suddenly write a piece planned for chapter 5 because it suddenly hit you)? What are your reasons for doing so?

For me, I tend to write one chapter at a time, in the order my readers will read them in. I do this because while recording ideas is fine, I don't want to get too side-tracked writing chapters that are currently not connected to the story. I don't want to end up having chapters 10-15 ready to go but chapter 3 isn't even in first draft yet. Also, as I write, the direction of the plot may take a different path than originally planned, and I don't want to have to throw out or seriously rework a chapter written earlier.

[Cateagle]