TGRF's Fan Fiction Chronicles - Entry #77

I’ve said elsewhere that I want to use this time to further study writing, specifically what I have left to work on.

One of those areas is stakes. Stakes have always been a bit of an issue for me, as I’ve mentioned before on numerous occasions. Despite various proclamations that I had ‘fixed’ stakes or ‘found the answers’, they always were difficult to work with when developing a story.

Over the years, I’ve gotten an increasing understanding of the nature of stakes. Not only in simply what works and what doesn’t, but why those things work or don’t. I’ve analyzed books and films, read research, and formulated my own findings. Usually when you come up with a theory that fits everything like a glove, it’s a sign you’re on the right track. Well, I’ve found such a theory, and I wanted to share it with the other writers here.

I’ve gotten bits and pieces of what exactly personal stakes (the...

TGRF's Fan Fiction Chronicles - Entry #76

A while ago, I finished the Mistborn trilogy, by Brandon Sanderson. In a word, I’d describe it as a solid read. Some things I took issue with, others I thought were masterful. The end result was that it got me excited to start the Stormlight Archive. I finally got my hands on the first book about half a month ago, but in all that time, I’ve only read through the second chapter.

While there are a few reasons for my apparent lack of enthusiasm for the book (some of which have nothing to do with the book at all), there were a few which I feel have contributed heavily to the book’s current un-read state, and which I think can be instructive in how not to start a story.

I’m coming to realize that Brandon Sanderson is known for his unique style of switching PoV constantly throughout his books. While he certainly managed to use it to his advantage in Mistborn, here it’s causing me to lose interest after I...

TGRF's Fan Fiction Chronicles - Entry #75

While the fires of my creative writing have been reduced to smoldering embers, I've been devoting my writing time instead to research. I feel like I'm ready to start work on my novels, and I want to clean up any remaining issues my writing has in preparation of that.

I've mentioned what those issues are previously, but there is one I have not mentioned, largely because I was unaware of it until now. It isn't so much an issue as a simple lack of experience, but it's still worth nailing down: how to write a series.

When it comes to writing a connected series of stories, there are two basic ways of outlining it (that I have found - if you know of others, please do let me know).

The first method is what I did with Dilmir. Each story is its own complete thing: character arc and 3-act structure separate from any other story. Each story introduces a new conflict, and each conflict is wrapped...

TGRF's Fan Fiction Chronicles - Entry #74

Writing is a field of unknowns. Take this entry. This could be my last entry for a good while, or I could be back in two weeks. I have no idea which.

Why could it be my last entry for a long time? Because I finally did what I've been saying I need to do off and on for a while now. I got a job. We'll see if this magically sparks my writing powers - so far they are sapped more than they have ever been.

However, getting a job isn't why I wanted to write this FFC. Throughout the later half of my writing years, I've posted various 'roadmaps to novels'. As a whole, they've been fairly inaccurate. But, because repeated evidence clearly has no effect on me, I'm going to post another one.

As I've said elsewhere, I've been nailing down the remaining issues my writing consistently has. I've noted everything I can find, and for the most part I know how to deal with all of them. It just remains...

TGRF's Fan Fiction Chronicles - Entry #73

I spent a few minutes looking at the screen today, the realization washing over me that I might have just defeated my greatest writing nemesis.

Throughout my writing years, I've narrowed down my problems to a few consistent ones. Crunched intros are there, due to me trying to introduce everything at once. Undeveloped antagonists seem to be haunting my more recent stories for some reason. Stakes - an older nemesis - hems and haws on if it's still an issue. But the big one, the main thing I seem to always struggle with, is a double-header: squished content, and the inability to get a character to change.

These are two sides (plot and character) of the same coin: absent middles. On one side, you have the plot, going straight from the beginning of the story, to the midpoint, and then straight to the end. What happens in the middle? Unfortunately, the 3-act structure is a void there. It took me awhile to...