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FFC #104 - New Methods

Posted March 21st, 2023 at 02:58 PM by TGRF
Updated March 24th, 2023 at 04:58 PM by TGRF
TGRF's Fan Fiction Chronicles - Entry #104

Not that long ago, there was a six-month-ish gap in my writing, marked by a strange inability to stick with any one story. I've mentioned this before, and talked about why I believe that happened.

One of those reasons was my increasing speed in the development of stories. I had watered down a story to its most basic parts in an attempt to better understand such things as character arcs and the 3-act-structure. And while I definitely gained a new understanding and appreciation for those things, I failed to maintain the other part of stories: the meat on the bones. I had successfully boiled away everything which made the story into a story, leaving only structure behind. This is what caused my 'short story syndrome', which I've mentioned before.

Following the 6-month gap, I turned my attention to the Dilmir series. But while those stories were all respectable lengths, they did not cure the short story syndrome. To do that, I would need to have an incredibly lengthy conversation with TAF.

That conversation made me realize that I had been skipping an important first step in the story-crafting process: that of simply thinking about what I wanted to write.

When I came up with most of my fan fictions, I initially just spent a ton of time thinking about them. This included thinking about who the main character was, what the setting was like, what the conflict entailed, and how things might begin and end. I also had time to think of what additions could be cool and add to the story in interesting ways. This included side characters, plot complications, and sometimes entire subplots.

Without this step, I was just working off of half-assembled premises, pumping them out with the same tired formulas of character arcs and story structure. Stories worked, but they were formulaic, rushed, and bland.

Now that I've realized that, I am approaching writing differently. I'm taking the time to really think about any story before I write a single note. A story idea has to prove it can stick around before I devote any serious time to it. Only once it's cropped up repeatedly, do I begin my 'pre-development' phase.

During this time, I think about what the story needs to work, but also what additions could simply make it better. There are a few rules: additions need to legitimately add something worthwhile, and must be connected to the main plot in some way. Also, they must not become bigger than the main plot. I've found from experience that this can make the story flounder with a lack of direction.

This means that by the time it comes to start the real development, the story is front-loaded with a ton of plot. Development pertaining to characters, stakes, and tension is very low or non-existent, and will be worked on after the plot is fully developed.

So this is the method I am currently using to write Dawn of Darkness, the sequel to Valkyrie. As I've said before, it will chronicle the events following Utgar finding the Wellspring, and basically exists to answer this question:
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheAverageFan
Utgar is a villain: I wanna see how he becomes the chiefest of the evil Valkyrie in Heroscape.
DoD definitely has some issues, the greatest of which is probably that lack of direction I mentioned above. Not that it doesn't have direction, but rather that because of some stylistic choices I made going in, keeping the focus on that direction is proving... difficult. However, everything seems to be coming together nicely and working so far.

I am nearly finished with the development of the plot. Once I have the basic outline, it will be time to focus on the stakes, characters, and tension, and build those up and add them in. And then, assuming everything still works, we'll be ready to write the final outline and write the story.

Given that I have taken the time to figure out what things could make good additions for this story, it should be fuller than my most recent fan fictions. Side characters should be fleshed out, subplots explored, and ideas introduced which don't directly effect the main plot, but still add to it in a connected way. I doubt the story is going to be massive, but it should at least be Dilmir-sized. Either way, I know that the 'short-story-syndrome' has been officially banished.

Novel Update
The first novel is still progressing. I'm alternating between drilling down more on the plot and worldbuilding, and progress is slow. But it is moving forwards, and I'm giving ideas plenty of time to settle as I go.

I would guess you can expect to see DoD (barring interruptions) by the summer.

Until then, keep reading.

~TGRF.
Posted in FFC
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TheAverageFan's Avatar
I'm very interested to see this Utgar sequel, especially since it must've had some time to develop at least on the back burner between the first entry and now.

I'm curious what a lack of direction is. Is there too much going on in different directions or is the pace just slow?

~TAF
Posted March 21st, 2023 at 04:34 PM by TheAverageFan TheAverageFan is offline
Old
TGRF's Avatar
@TheAverageFan The story is not about the main pov, requiring the main pov to have more going on (because otherwise he would be a passive observer), which in turn is directing focus away from who the story is about.

I'm pretty sure I have the issue handled - it's just a delicate balance between giving the pov enough subplot material to give him something to do, but not enough to outweigh what the main character is doing.

~TGRF.
Posted March 21st, 2023 at 06:46 PM by TGRF TGRF is offline
 
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