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Author Topic: Question of the day part 10  (Read 104062 times)

RokofAges75

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Re: Question of the day part 10
« Reply #270 on: July 29, 2013, 07:14:41 PM »

It wasn't a fanfic but I just read a book where the girl was sent to the "principle" noooooo.... principle/principal is becoming a major pert peeve of mine. Oh and by read I mean I stopped after that and never really started it again.

In a book?!  As in, published fiction??  That's bad!  I mean, you still find the occasional typo in published books, but to not catch something like that is a major fail on the editor's part!
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RokofAges75

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Re: Question of the day part 10
« Reply #271 on: July 29, 2013, 07:49:59 PM »

Now that I'm done catching up - thank you, Julilly!  That was a really great question, Mare - it was fun to come up with a word to describe everyone, and it was equally fun to see how other people described me.
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mare

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Re: Question of the day part 10
« Reply #272 on: July 29, 2013, 07:55:27 PM »

I've been actually just sitting here trying to figure out something else to ask I I've got nothing! LOL
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Sakabelle

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Re: Question of the day part 10
« Reply #273 on: July 29, 2013, 08:26:32 PM »

I have one!

I know a lot of us post as we write, but this question more applies to stories you're keeping to yourself. Have you ever gone back and restructured a story to change where the chapter breaks are?

It's kind of a weird question, but I'm thinking of doing that now because as I'm writing I'm finding some of my chapters seeming too short and like there's not enough happening in them.

I guess another question to ask is, how do you decide where to end and how to begin a chapter?
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~Saka ♥

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RokofAges75

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Re: Question of the day part 10
« Reply #274 on: July 29, 2013, 08:40:43 PM »

It depends on the story, but I try to make each chapter about one "thing" - so it'll either be one long scene or several shorter scenes that go together.  That's in stories with one storyline.  In a story like Guilty Roads, where I basically have three different groups of characters in three separate situations, I may have several things happening in the same chapter, but I still try to tie them together somehow, even if it's only through how I transition between them.

I don't worry about length too much; I just let my chapters go as long as they need to go to finish the scene(s).  If I do have several shorter scenes in a chapter and notice it getting long compared to the other chapters, I do sometimes restructured it to bump a scene or two into the next chapter.  I do like my chapters to be "about" the same length, but I have a few thousand word range that's acceptable to me, so it's not too hard to fit most of them into that range.

Sometimes there's not much you can do, though.  One of the stories I've started that I'm keeping to myself for now is the continuation to my Nowie slash, and I'm writing it in first person and alternating between Howie's and Nick's POVs.  I wanted to keep it balanced like that from the beginning, but I'm finding that Howie's chapters are a lot longer than Nick's so far because Howie's scenes are the ones setting up the rest of the story, whereas Nick is just kind of waiting in the wings for his moment to become an important part of the story.  I don't want to write pointless fluff just to make his parts longer, so I've just kind of accepted that I'm going to have a few short Nick chapters compared to the longer Howie ones in the beginning, but I know it will even out once I get further into it.  I'm only on Chapter 4.
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mare

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Re: Question of the day part 10
« Reply #275 on: July 29, 2013, 09:19:54 PM »

I have one!

I know a lot of us post as we write, but this question more applies to stories you're keeping to yourself. Have you ever gone back and restructured a story to change where the chapter breaks are?

It's kind of a weird question, but I'm thinking of doing that now because as I'm writing I'm finding some of my chapters seeming too short and like there's not enough happening in them.

I guess another question to ask is, how do you decide where to end and how to begin a chapter?

Questions like this one make me really stop and think about how truly spontaneous and under-thought out my writing process is. Zoinks!

Since I don't really write from an outline and just kind of wing it, I never really go into a chapter thinking about where I'm cutting it off. I sometimes don't even know what's going to happen until I'm halfway through writing them. As I'm writing that's when I start to see the clearer picture of where I want the break to happen and since generally I tend to write stories with multiple layers and points of view, I start to get a sense of "Okay I'm not sure when this will happen but my goal I think is to get to this point with this person saying these words!" and then I write until I hit that goal. I like to end things with a cliffy most times so right before my guy jumps over that cliff, I'll stop! LOL

I never really make a conscious effort to hit a certain number of words or pages but most of the time, the chapters do end up being similar in length. For me working this way avoids any filler. I really try to avoid the useless filler chapters or filler paragraphs as much as possible. Ironically the more thought I put into something the harder that is to avoid.

As far as works in progress and reworking chapter breaks etc... I do that more with my OF than my fanfics. I tend to have a harder time making those decisions mainly because I don't trust my abilities to write anything more serious then the Backstreet Boys and their zany adventures!

I have to say I have changed things completely around though, when I've waited to post things. Sometimes entire plot ideas if characters have come and gone if I wait too long!
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Purpura Lipstick

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Re: Question of the day part 10
« Reply #276 on: July 29, 2013, 09:29:51 PM »

In a book?!  As in, published fiction??  That's bad!  I mean, you still find the occasional typo in published books, but to not catch something like that is a major fail on the editor's part!

Yes a published book. I know occasionally you find them in published books but they aren't as obvious to me at least. I work with loan payments at work and cringe when someone says they want principle reduction. 
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julilly

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Re: Question of the day part 10
« Reply #277 on: July 29, 2013, 09:38:04 PM »

Principle reductions and moral cutbacks for all!
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FrickingKaos

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Re: Question of the day part 10
« Reply #278 on: July 30, 2013, 03:38:54 AM »

You know something, I almost want to write that bus crash idea you guys had LOL. I was just thinking about it.
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RokofAges75

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Re: Question of the day part 10
« Reply #279 on: July 30, 2013, 07:14:02 AM »

You should do it, Tracy!  That would be a fun story!
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~Julie

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usako

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Re: Question of the day part 10
« Reply #280 on: July 30, 2013, 07:16:03 AM »

I have one!

I know a lot of us post as we write, but this question more applies to stories you're keeping to yourself. Have you ever gone back and restructured a story to change where the chapter breaks are?

It's kind of a weird question, but I'm thinking of doing that now because as I'm writing I'm finding some of my chapters seeming too short and like there's not enough happening in them.

I guess another question to ask is, how do you decide where to end and how to begin a chapter?

I've gone back and rewritten a story but I never went back and changed where the chapter breaks were. When I start writing a chapter, I usually know from the start where I want to end it and how, usually with a sort of cliffhanger.
My chapters are usually really really long (aside Love Story, but that because it was due to the particular type of story that required 500 words each chapter), the averare is like 10 pages and that's because I want to tell everything that it's gonna to happen.
My problem is always with the beginning of a chapter. I always leave it as the last part to write and I never know how to start it.
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FrickingKaos

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Re: Question of the day part 10
« Reply #281 on: July 30, 2013, 07:32:44 AM »

I think I just might. I have been looking for a canon fic to write to bring me out of my slump. This may do the trick!
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emilo

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Re: Question of the day part 10
« Reply #282 on: July 30, 2013, 07:42:18 AM »

Go, Tracy!  I'd love to read it!
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FrickingKaos

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Re: Question of the day part 10
« Reply #283 on: July 30, 2013, 07:45:09 AM »

I'm just deciding whether I want to go old school or new school ;)
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mare

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Re: Question of the day part 10
« Reply #284 on: July 30, 2013, 07:49:37 AM »

Old school!
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Writing is something you do alone. Its a profession for introverts who want to tell you a story but don't want to make eye contact while doing it. ~ John Green
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