Heroscapers
Go Back   Heroscapers > Blogs > TGRF


The ramblings of a designer turned writer turned computer geek turned writer turned designer with way too much time on his hands.
Rate this Entry

FFC #89 - April update

Posted April 8th, 2022 at 02:54 PM by TGRF
TGRF's Fan Fiction Chronicles - Entry #89

It's been almost a month since my last update, so I decided the time was ripe for another one. Not just because it's been a month, but because I feel like my last three updates were written in a rush, and there's a lot of stuff which got jumbled together. So I'm quickly going to highlight where my writing is at, where fan fiction is at, and where my forever-planned novels are at.

Writing
Ever since Red, my stories have generally gotten shorter and more formulaic. The obvious exception is HiS, but that was only long because the main character had something like five separate arcs to get through, and backtracked at least twice.

On the whole, my stories have decreased in size, until I was turning out things like Valkyrie and Utgar, both of which were 10-12 chapters. They were also formulaic, relying too heavily on character arcs and plot structure.

I've since re-evaluated my writing process, looking at examples from Dilmir and Red, and I feel like I'm back on the right track. I've switched my focus from arcs and structure to premise, escalation, and depth, while still keeping the best of what I've learned. I feel like this has improved my writing quite a bit, yielding longer, less formulaic stories.

And that leads me to:

Fan Fiction
I have finished rewriting the first of the Dilmir sequels. Originally, I wasn't going to do much rewriting, settling instead for mere editing. That plan didn't work out, and I'll detail why when I release the story. The upshot is that I had to go back and rewrite the whole thing. There are still some scenes you should remember from the original (if you remember it, that is), but most of it, especially the middle, is brand new. I didn't originally want to do this, but it had to be done, and I feel the story is a lot better for it.

I will proofread the story soon, which should only take a few days. You should see it around next weekend, unless there's something major I need to change.

For those of you who haven't read Dilmir yet, I would recommend you do so, if you plan on reading this story. There will be a recap, but there's just a lot of stuff in Dilmir I can't convey in a few short paragraphs. Both stories are tales set on Feylund, featuring elves and magic.

In terms of writing, I'm fairly pleased with how the tale turned out. The main goal for me was to just get away from that twelve-chapter limit I seemed to be stuck in, and I did finally do that. The tale is around 84 pages, without chapter divisions.

This story didn't have too much development. Most of the plot comes from the premise, the skeleton of the original, and steady escalation of the main problem. Stakes and character are of course present, but were not a huge focus. It's definitely a return to how I used to write, which is something I've been trying to get back to for awhile.

The next story, which will be the final sequel to Dilmir, I plan on taking more time with. I'm going to look at characters and stakes, as well as additional subplots to add depth. I did a little bit of that in the first sequel, but I really want to try merging the best of what I used to do with the best of what I've discovered since, for this story. It will be a complete rewrite as well, using only the basic premise of the original story.

Novels
Now I've been talking about writing novels for a long time, and I've gone back and forth on how close or far off I am. Now that I've finally gotten away from the 12-chapter/40 page max I was stuck in, I feel like I'm pretty close. Going back to Dilmir has solved one of my biggest issues in writing, which was over-reliance on structure and formula. That leaves only a few minor issues, all of which I know how to solve and am working on.

I of course need to see how this Dilmir sequel fairs. If there's big issues, then I need to fix those. I don't anticipate there being any though, and if there aren't, then I'll be using the final sequel to clean up any remaining issues and tighten up my writing process for good.

After that I may want to write something else. It depends on how comfortable I feel with my writing process, if I have a suitable idea for a story, and if I do not yet have a fleshed out idea for my first novel. We'll see. Either way, once the Dilmir sequels are done, I anticipate being very close to starting work on my first novel, which will probably mean an end to my fan fiction, unfortunately. I would, however, likely be able to participate in the fan fiction competition, if that were to get going again.

However, that's all up in the air, definitely at least a year or two out. And a lot can change in that time, so for now the only solid plan is to get the Dilmir sequels out, and then see where I'm at.

Until then, keep reading. It makes you a better writer.

~TGRF.
Posted in FFC
Comments 1
Total Comments 1

Comments

Old
As a fan of TGRF I would recommend reading both Dilmir and Curse of Feyland.

It's a good story-line with compelling characters.
Posted April 21st, 2022 at 08:21 PM by AMIS AMIS is offline
Updated April 21st, 2022 at 08:22 PM by AMIS (Would one day like to sit and chat about upcoming story ideas.)
 
Recent Blog Entries by TGRF

All times are GMT -4. The time now is 06:04 AM.

Heroscape background footer

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
User Alert System provided by Advanced User Tagging (Lite) - vBulletin Mods & Addons Copyright © 2024 DragonByte Technologies Ltd.