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[mare]

I get IN my way, does that count?

^ this leads me to a question!

When you are writing and you become conflicted about a direction you want your story to go in, do you tend to go with your gut? Do you refuse to change your mind and stick with what you had originally planned or do you let your readers influence your decisions? Any or all of the above?

[julilly]

I've definitely gotten away from my outline because of sudden inspiration or because it just didn't feel right when I got to that point. It usually does me in though and then I get stuck lol

[Rose]

I don't let my readers influence my decisions at all lol. It pisses them off at times I'm sure, but if I did, I'd be making some bad choices. I've done that before and learned never to do that again. I usually go with my gut and what direction the characters direct me in. I have changed my mind with what I originally planned before, usually because those damn characters have lives of their own LOL.

[RokofAges75]

Wow is the question threads over? Well in case it's not here is a question.

Since I saw all the talk about collabs I thought about a question. Has there ever been someone you wanted to collab with, but you never had the nerve to tell them? Has someone asked you to collab, but you declined because you thought your writing styles were different?

Thanks for reviving the thread!  I was so busy this past week, being that it was the first week of school, I'm just now catching up on the last few pages.

I don't think I've ever wanted to collab with someone and not asked them.  Then again, I don't remember seeking out most of the collaborations I have done.  They sort of just... happened, either because a friend and I were chatting and were just like "Why don't we write a story together?" or because one of us had an idea and the other one jumped on it.  My collabs have almost all come about spontaneously.

I have been asked to collaborate and said no, sometimes because I didn't think our writing styles would mesh, but more often because I had too many other projects, both collaborations and individual stuff, in the works at the time.

[Rose]

Thanks for reviving the thread!  I was so busy this past week, being that it was the first week of school, I'm just now catching up on the last few pages.

I don't think I've ever wanted to collab with someone and not asked them.  Then again, I don't remember seeking out most of the collaborations I have done.  They sort of just... happened, either because a friend and I were chatting and were just like "Why don't we write a story together?" or because one of us had an idea and the other one jumped on it.  My collabs have almost all come about spontaneously.

I have been asked to collaborate and said no, sometimes because I didn't think our writing styles would mesh, but more often because I had too many other projects, both collaborations and individual stuff, in the works at the time.

I think the closest you came to asking someone is when you put up a notice asking for help on Code Blue, and then you were asking anyone willing to help lol. I'm the one who drags you into new stories LOL.

[RokofAges75]

^ this leads me to a question!

When you are writing and you become conflicted about a direction you want your story to go in, do you tend to go with your gut? Do you refuse to change your mind and stick with what you had originally planned or do you let your readers influence your decisions? Any or all of the above?

Good question!  When that happens, I tend to stop writing and go write something else instead (*cough*GuiltyRoads*cough*).

LOL Honestly, that's a tough question.  I try to go with my gut, and I'm not afraid to alter my original idea slightly if it will make it more realistic to the characters and situations I've created in the story.  Where I struggle is when my gut is saying, "Your whole idea is flawed."  I haven't figured out the trick to completely retooling an idea once the story is started.  That's when writer's block happens for me.

As far as letting readers influence my decisions, yes and no.  I have let readers influence my decisions in a negative way before, but I think I've learned my lesson about that.  When I wrote You'll Never Walk Alone like 10 years ago, the readers guessed who the real killer was early on... and it was supposed to be a mystery, so I stole the Scream twist and added a second killer... which didn't make much sense because her motive was weak and weird.  I should have just stuck to the original killer only and let my readers feel good that they cracked the case because I suck at writing mysteries LOL.  I learned my lesson and didn't change anything in Secrets of the Heart.

That said, I do value my readers' opinions; if I didn't, I wouldn't post stories while they were in progress.  Sometimes their feedback does influence the rest of the story.  It doesn't change the whole direction of the story, but it does help me decide what to emphasize, de-emphasize, or clarify in future chapters.  Sometimes I will even let my readers vote on things in the story, as long as I'm willing to go with whatever choice they make.  I did that with BMS, and I knew either path would be "fun" to write and ultimately lead to the same destination, but I let the readers choose which route to go because I couldn't decide.  I just don't let them change my mind on things I've already decided, like whether characters will end up together or apart, whether they'll live or die, etc.  Those major decisions are mine to make, and I make them based on what fits the characters and the story the best.

[RokofAges75]

I think the closest you came to asking someone is when you put up a notice asking for help on Code Blue, and then you were asking anyone willing to help lol. I'm the one who drags you into new stories LOL.

Yep!  And then I wasn't asking someone specific; I was asking anyone willing to help who could write a coherent, complete sentence! LOL

[RokofAges75]

I've definitely gotten away from my outline because of sudden inspiration or because it just didn't feel right when I got to that point. It usually does me in though and then I get stuck lol

This!

[mare]

I usually go with my gut when I write something. If I feel like my characters are fighting me in the direction i'm going i'll listen to them. As far as my reader's, I do tend to listen to them but never really let them influence my big decisions. I have changed direction before based on reader feedback if I felt like I was becoming too predictable or people were misreading what I was trying to have come across, but as far as life and death or other huge factors, I don't usually stray too far off the path I had originally planned on taking.

[mare]

What if anything do you feel most guilty about when it comes to one of your stories or something you read? Give us one big confession about something concerning fanfic?

[Rose]

My stories? The fact I'm not updating as fast as I'd like due to some issues this week.

Things I read? The fact I fell behind on several stories and have yet to catch up on them.

Confession... oh! The fact I do randomly click on romances to see if I can find something to read. That's actually how I know it's so hard to find one that captures my interest. I actively try, or did before I fell behind on stories lol. It's just too often the same plot or a bland character so I click out.

The last one I thought I would enjoy With the Band story by evergreen/Jen. I was a couple chapters in when I saw how many stories (by then) it had lol. I don't do romances with more than one sequel so I immediately clicked out of it. I don't have the patience for that lol. So yes...anti-romance Rose does try romances in hopes of finding that rare one she enjoys! LOL.

[RokofAges75]

What if anything do you feel most guilty about when it comes to one of your stories or something you read? Give us one big confession about something concerning fanfic?

As far as writing goes, I feel guilty for my failure to update Guilty Roads.  I don't regret writing Curtain Call or even wish the idea for CC had come to me, but I do feel bad that it came at the expense of GR.  I think I probably would have been able to keep updating GR consistently for longer than I did if I hadn't gotten sidetracked writing another story.

As far as reading goes, my confession would be that I sometimes stick with stories written by people who are my friends or readers who have given me feedback longer than I would if they weren't written by people I want to please or reciprocate.  Even though I've always said I never want people to read my stories out of a sense of obligation, I'm guilty of reading other people's stuff for that reason sometimes.  And then sometimes I feel guilty when I DON'T read stories written by people who are my friends or readers.  I am such a people pleaser!

[FrickingKaos]

My own stories?: The fact that I put Forces Of Nature on Hiatus. Kevin tripped me up by deciding he wanted to screw with AJ. Damn Kevin.

With stories I read? I will admit that sometimes I will read stories out of obligation, like if the person is my friend I will try theirs to see if I like it. Sometimes I don't get into it and I will feel badly, especially since I have said that I don't read stuff to please anyone.

I write romance but have grown out of it, and it is hard to find one that holds my interest anymore. Erika's story Just One Kiss held my interest due to the comedy and drama mixed in. I also like Karah's stuff for this reason.....but those are the only romance writers I read. I tend to stay in the same circle of authors and won't read much else.

As for fanfic confessions, Nick in Finding Carter is loosely based off of a very good friend of mine from twitter who is studying in Florida right now

[Carter-Orange]

What if anything do you feel most guilty about when it comes to one of your stories or something you read? Give us one big confession about something concerning fanfic?

I feel guilty for not writing much recently, I have no excuse, but it could be because the kids are off school and are always hovering!

I don't really feel guilty about reading.  I wish I had more hours in the day sometimes so that I could get around to reading everything I want to.  But I know that if I've started reading a story and like it, then I'll finish it eventually.  I don't feel guilty for liking the stories I like, I always say I'll read any genre (apart from slash) and if the story if good then I don't care if it's pure romance or full on horror.

Hmm, confessions... I've self-inserted in the past, I've added people I know as characters, I've taken inspiration from TV and films, I don't really like writing sex scenes (but I've written them), I like complete peace and quiet to write, and I'm not sure what else to say.

[Sakabelle]

^ this leads me to a question!

When you are writing and you become conflicted about a direction you want your story to go in, do you tend to go with your gut? Do you refuse to change your mind and stick with what you had originally planned or do you let your readers influence your decisions? Any or all of the above?

This is hard to answer for me because it really depends on the story! I've had stories where the ending completely changed from what it was supposed to be, like In Pieces, and other times I get ideas but instead I go with what I originally had planned because it just seems to work better. I've gotten randomly inspired by things and let the course of the story change completely, but with the same end goal. It can be difficult because I find I really need an outline to keep writing and keep on track otherwise I'll just get lost in all my ideas and almost overwhelm myself. So I do try to stick to my original ideas as much as possible, but sometimes I will end up changing things.