TGRF's Fan Fiction Chronicles - Entry #42

It's been awhile since there was an update. That's because I've been studying character arcs a lot, and that led to extensive study of the 3-act structure, and specifically the 2nd act. I've never really had a good grasp on the 2nd act, so I thought now was as good a time as ever to see what I could learn. There are some issues, but I think I'm making progress.

Meanwhile, I haven't been writing. I originally wanted to jump right into Eternity, but as I studied character arcs, I decided I needed practice writing them first. So I switched gears to the Valkyrie prequels. But then as I started outlining those, I realized I needed more information on the 3-act structure. And once I started learning that, I decided I needed an even shorter story to test it out on. So I went to my Personal Challenge, where readers challenge me to write a story incorporating an HS character and a single random word. Even those were too long...

TGRF's Fan Fiction Chronicles - Entry #41

When I posted my last update, I was feeling a bit overwhelmed with everything I've been learning about character arcs and how to construct them. Since then things have died down a fair bit and I feel like I have a good grasp on the positive character arc, and at least a solid understanding of the flat character arc. I have not looked at the negative character arc yet, but that's planned.

I have, as I said, run up a few bare-bones outlines as tests for working with character arcs. These tests used the Valkyrie, as they appear in Eternity, my final fan fiction series. Specifically, they dealt with their backstories.

I still plan on writing those short stories up and posting them. But there's still some kinks I need to work out in the process, especially with the flat character arc, which I only really began to get a grasp on today.

I had been planning on restarting my Personal Challenge,...

TGRF's Fan Fiction Chronicles - Entry #40

Recently, I mentioned how my study of character arcs was proving a lot more expansive than I had original anticipated. It keeps getting larger, but at least I feel like I'm finding a ton of new information I was previously missing. It's kind of all hitting me at once, so I'll need time to sort through it and figure it all out.

Here's what I see happening: There's no way I'm not going to practice creating character arcs. I think practice is the best way I'll be able to get a firm grip on how the different character arcs (and parts of the arcs) work together. I thought for a bit about what characters I could use to practice with, and naturally decided on characters I had been toying with for Eternity. Namely the Valkyrie.

The Valkyrie are perfect test subjects because their primary traits are already somewhat defined by the game. All I had to do was create backstories for them which explained how they...

TGRF's Fan Fiction Chronicles - Entry #39

Some of you might know that I've briefly paused the development of Eterntiy and its installments while I read up on character arcs. I'm now beginning to realize that said pause will be longer than I originally thought.

Not only is there a lot to character arcs and how they are put together, but getting an idea of how they work and how to create them is proving a lot more difficult to grasp than I had originally supposed. I'm going to have to study multiple sources, breakdown lots of examples, and probably practice writing short character arcs some before I'm in a spot where I can restart the development for Eternity.

I might create a short thread for that above-mentioned practice. No promises; that's still in the foggy future.

Currently I'm studying the wisdom of K. M. Weiland. If you know if any breakdown of character arcs (and specifically FORMULAS for how to create them) which are...

TGRF's Fan Fiction Chronicles - Entry #38

My last update listed some of the biggest and most pressing problems I have with my writing. There are of course plenty more problems, all of which are preventing me from writing the novels I would like to. I have compiled these problems into a 'checklist' so that I can keep track of them, and cross them off as I deal with them. That will give both me and you a good gauge of what I need to do before I can start my novels. It should also serve to keep me on track.

If you have any suggestions for that list, please let me know. A story's worst critic is its author.

Onto Eternity. I have, once again, changed the story. The problem I had with the last few iterations was that I never liked the direction the story took. It didn't set up any sequels, and it didn't really show the war on Valhalla the way I envisioned it. The newest iteration shows the war better, and definitely has some potential for sequels...