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[mare]

There can be as many questions as we want! Yay to you both lol

[RokofAges75]

OK, I've got a question, a crappy question, but it's still a question.  Roughly how long does it take you to write a chapter?

It varies a lot for me, and my answer has changed quite a bit over time.  It used to be that I could churn out a chapter a day, every day, for weeks at a time.  That was back in the early days of writing fanfic when I had a ton of inspiration and not a lot of concern about revising and editing.  Also, my chapters were really short, like 1000 words or less.

Nowadays, I can still write a chapter in a day sometimes, but it takes me literally ALL DAY.  Not that I continuously write all day, but I do spend most of the day sitting at my computer with Word open.  It's more realistic for me to spend at least two days writing a chapter, and even that is only when I have lots of time (like a weekend) and am being fairly focused and productive.  This week, I have NOT been very focused or productive, and so I've been working on the same Secrets chapter all week.

My chapters have gotten longer, and I'm a lot more anal about editing as I go, but I think the main reason it takes me so long is that I'm so unfocused.  I stop every few sentences, sometimes every few words, to look up something, which usually ends up in me checking Twitter and the forums as long as I'm online, and I can easily waste half an hour doing that.  If I would just turn off my internet when I went to write or learn to write on paper, I'd probably get chapters finished a lot faster!

[RokofAges75]

I try to get my cats to re-enact but they never do

It's a good thing you don't write romance, or I'd be concerned.

[Sakabelle]

OK, I've got a question, a crappy question, but it's still a question.  Roughly how long does it take you to write a chapter?

It depends on the story. Running Up That Hill takes me a few hours a chapter - usually an hour for each boy. It's not that the chapters are long, I just need to be ultra focused and get inside their heads so it takes me a while. Then I go back and edit for little things - make sure the guys monologues don't sound too much the same, and I always end up fixing Nick's to take out big words, complicated sentences, stuff like that.

Anything else I'll spend some time thinking about first, it takes me a long time to actually start writing. When I do finally start writing I can churn out a chapter in about an hour or two, but that's because I focus myself on writing and only writing and try not to let distractions get in the way. It's difficult. That's why the sprints work so well for me.

[Sakabelle]

I do!  I was waiting for a day when you didn't have anything.

This question came from watching the Walking Dead marathon last weekend.  As those of you who watch the show probably know, the TV show The Walking Dead is based on a comic book series, and the writer of the comic, Robert Kirkman, is also the producer of the TV show.  I haven't read the comic yet, but I do know that it's quite a bit different from the show - a lot of the basic storyline seems to be the same, but the pacing of the storylines is different, and the TV show seems to add a lot of stuff that wasn't in the comic, including characters, and leave out other things (so far).

It made me wonder what it would be like to take something you wrote in one format and adapt it into a completely different format.  So the question is, have you or would you ever rewrite one of your fanfics in a different format, such as a script/screenplay or even just an original novel?  If so, which story and what format?  Would you try to keep it as much the same as possible, or would you make major changes, and if so, what kind of changes?

I took my one AU BSB fic and turned it into an original fic for NaNoWriMo in 2010 I think it was. I kept the basic premise of the plot the same (teenagers in the gaming/anime community and their drama) but I rewrote everything. You can still see shreds of the guys' personalities of the characters I kept (I combined Nick and Kevin's characters into one and kept AJ and Brian) And actually I kept Brian's name the same but other than that I changed everything and completely ditched what I'd written before. I think doing it that way made it turn out a lot better rather than going in and meticulously editing everything to remove the Backstreet-ness from it.

[Carter-Orange]

I don't know if I'd re-write one of my stories as an original fic, or anything else.  

As for how long it takes to write a chapter.  That depends on how distracted I get.  I'm a bit like you in that way Julie.  I let things like Twitter and here distract me and then an hour might have passed and I've still only got a few lines typed!  Sometimes I can just sit down and type up a chapter in an hour or two as mine are usually between 1000 - 1500 words.  Other times I'll have to go back to it over a couple of days.  But I always read through a couple of times before posting.

When I first got into writing, I used to type my stories from work and post it straight onto the site without even checking it or anything.  The chapters were really short, like 500 words and I would churn out two or three chapters a day.  Those days are long gone now!

[mare]

It's a good thing you don't write romance, or I'd be concerned.

Yeah, i'm sure they're thankful for that too! LOL

[mare]

OK, I've got a question, a crappy question, but it's still a question.  Roughly how long does it take you to write a chapter?

This isn't a crappy question, Steph!

Just like Julie said, at the beginning, I would write a chapter a day easily!

For me, it depends on the story and what i'm writing. These short stories i'm writing are happening very quickly. That AJ story took me maybe about 2 hours all total from start to finish. Not in one sitting, but if I were to add the time that's probably would it would have been. All of the stories in Scattered Pictures have been happening that quickly. Pretty much in one day.

When i'm writing a chapter with a lot of action and dialogue, I tend to write faster then when I write something slower paced.

For Whatever the Night, it would take me about a week to write a chapter because I was running out of steam and wasn't enjoying myself etc...

I get really easily distracted when I write. I try not to be online when I do, but I will stop and just randomly start checking twitter and this forum etc...

 

[mare]

I do!  I was waiting for a day when you didn't have anything.

This question came from watching the Walking Dead marathon last weekend.  As those of you who watch the show probably know, the TV show The Walking Dead is based on a comic book series, and the writer of the comic, Robert Kirkman, is also the producer of the TV show.  I haven't read the comic yet, but I do know that it's quite a bit different from the show - a lot of the basic storyline seems to be the same, but the pacing of the storylines is different, and the TV show seems to add a lot of stuff that wasn't in the comic, including characters, and leave out other things (so far).

It made me wonder what it would be like to take something you wrote in one format and adapt it into a completely different format.  So the question is, have you or would you ever rewrite one of your fanfics in a different format, such as a script/screenplay or even just an original novel?  If so, which story and what format?  Would you try to keep it as much the same as possible, or would you make major changes, and if so, what kind of changes?

I have taken two of my stories and changed them into OF. Obviously the first was Mel's but since that was actually an OF and then turned into a BSB fic it wasn't that hard to return it to an OF lol

Shadow Woods was more of a challenge since it wasn't an AU and the guys were a band. I ended up making three of them brothers, one of them a best friend and one of them a girl lmao The overall plot stayed the same with the big twist at the end, but I changed a lot of the elements and some of the characters to fit the new concept of them NOT being five friends in a band.

I'm not sure i'd try to do it with any of my others although I have toyed with the idea for Protect and Serve.

[Rose]

I read Just Another Day when I first came to AC actually, I really liked it! I always forget that was your story lol

Really? I didn't know that lol. Yeah, it's easy to forget that's mine, given my reputation for my anti-romance story sentiments . I think I'm most inspired when I find ways to challenge myself I think lol.

[Rose]

I'll catch up on questions when I get home. I'm on my phone right now and lazy haha.

[Sakabelle]

tl
Really? I didn't know that lol. Yeah, it's easy to forget that's mine, given my reputation for my anti-romance story sentiments . I think I'm most inspired when I find ways to challenge myself I think lol.

Yep I was also reading that Rehab one (I think)you wrote. I basically gorged on Nick romance when I get back Into fan fic in 2007 lol I read everything.

[RokofAges75]

When i'm writing a chapter with a lot of action and dialogue, I tend to write faster then when I write something slower paced.

This is true for me, too.  I also find that write faster in first person than in third.  With first person, I tend to write whatever comes to mind, in order to make it sound more natural, like someone's thoughts, whereas with third person, I constantly play with my word choice.

[Rose]

Yep I was also reading that Rehab one (I think)you wrote. I basically gorged on Nick romance when I get back Into fan fic in 2007 lol I read everything.

I have no idea what I was thinking when I wrote Rehab. I so lost motivation and hated what I was writing LOL. Bad idea on my part. I'm much happier torturing the hell out of Nick as my norm.

[mare]

This is true for me, too.  I also find that write faster in first person than in third.  With first person, I tend to write whatever comes to mind, in order to make it sound more natural, like someone's thoughts, whereas with third person, I constantly play with my word choice.

Me too! I think first person definitely helps with the speed.