Fic Talk > General Discussion
Question of the day part 10
mare:
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on July 26, 2013, 10:40:05 AM ---What was the biggest obstacle you've ever encountered while writing a fanfic and how did you overcome it?
I think I'm stuck on my biggest obstacle right now, and that would be a story called Guilty Roads! This story is the bane of my fanfic writer existence. I don't enjoy writing it, but others seem to enjoy reading it (or did back in the day, when I was updating it regularly) and have been hinting and begging for updates for the past three years that I've been blocked on it, so I feel pressured to keep going. I don't like to give up on projects, and I do still like the story, and those are the only reasons I keep trying. I just hate writing it. I hardly ever feel that sense of excitement and inspiration that I feel for other stories with Guilty Roads, so writing it usually feels like homework. I either have to force myself to do it, or it doesn't get done. I was hoping if I just forced myself to do it for awhile and got back into it, I would be fine, but that has not been the case. And since I still have no actual outline for it, there is no end in sight, so I can't even use that as motivation. It affects my other projects, too, because I don't feel free to work on anything that's not posted without feeling guilty, and god forbid I post another story before finishing one of my posted works in progress first. Ugh, Guilty Roads!!!
The good news is that the biggest obstacle I've actually overcome would probably be Secrets of the Heart, which I was in the same boat with last summer, and I DID finish that one, and I think it's a pretty good story! So there is still hope for Guilty Roads.
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It sucks when that happens. What is it exactly about that story that you aren't enjoying? Is it the plot or the direction? or is it because you want to write on something else? Is it too late to try to make an outline for it?
I know when you get to the point where it feels like homework and isn't fun to write, maybe it is best to just put it on hiatus because when that happens, sometimes it does come across in the writing. I know I'm a fan of that story and would hate to see it go, but I also don't want you writing something you are hating. Maybe if you just leave it alone, one day you'll have the sudden desire to finish it. When the pressure is off and everyone stops asking about it. As long as you let your reader's know. I hate when people just flat out leave a story behind with no explanation. LOL
mare:
--- Quote from: mare on July 25, 2013, 09:25:54 PM ---What was the biggest obstacle you've ever encountered while writing a fanfic and how did you overcome it?
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Mine was probably finishing Scars Run Deep and Wide. It's the only story I have ever come close to completely abandoning and the only reason I didn't was because of the random emails I would get asking me for an update. I let a full two years go in-between updates on that one and it was hard as hell to try to re-channel that story but after I was done, I felt such an amazing sense of accomplishment and I really did owe it to those people that never let me forget I had left it unfinished in the first place. Ironically enough though, they all stopped reviewing towards the end, so I'm not even sure if they read the entire thing or not. LOL :shrug:
RokofAges75:
--- Quote from: mare on July 26, 2013, 11:29:57 AM ---It sucks when that happens. What is it exactly about that story that you aren't enjoying? Is it the plot or the direction? or is it because you want to write on something else? Is it too late to try to make an outline for it?
I know when you get to the point where it feels like homework and isn't fun to write, maybe it is best to just put it on hiatus because when that happens, sometimes it does come across in the writing. I know I'm a fan of that story and would hate to see it go, but I also don't want you writing something you are hating. Maybe if you just leave it alone, one day you'll have the sudden desire to finish it. When the pressure is off and everyone stops asking about it. As long as you let your reader's know. I hate when people just flat out leave a story behind with no explanation. LOL
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Thanks for the input, Mare! I think it's a little bit of everything. I do like the story so far, and I like the storyline in theory, but I don't actually enjoy writing it, especially Nick's part, which is basically the whole premise of the story LOL. But I don't want to abandon that and try to change the direction of the story just because I'm bored with it. I think it deserves to be written the right way, and that's what I'm struggling with. I have a rough outline in my head, but I haven't been able to put it down on paper - every time I try, I just end up getting overwhelmed by it. So I just try to stay one step ahead of myself and have some idea of where I'm going with the next few scenes.
It may not be a bad idea to officially put it on hiatus to take the pressure off me, but then I'd be worried I would never come back to it. The word "hiatus" is like the kiss of death to me - the only stories I've officially put "on hiatus" are the same ones I've eventually just "discontinued," and I really don't want to do that to Guilty Roads. It has too much going for it to give up on.
How many of you have put a story on hiatus for a long time and then eventually finished it? How long was it on hiatus? How were you able to get going on it again?
RokofAges75:
--- Quote from: mare on July 26, 2013, 11:35:46 AM ---Mine was probably finishing Scars Run Deep and Wide. It's the only story I have ever come close to completely abandoning and the only reason I didn't was because of the random emails I would get asking me for an update. I let a full two years go in-between updates on that one and it was hard as hell to try to re-channel that story but after I was done, I felt such an amazing sense of accomplishment and I really did owe it to those people that never let me forget I had left it unfinished in the first place. Ironically enough though, they all stopped reviewing towards the end, so I'm not even sure if they read the entire thing or not. LOL :shrug:
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That's exactly what happened to me with Secrets of the Heart. I would get those random reviews every once in awhile that would re-inspire me, until I finally made myself focus on it and only it last summer and wrote until it was finished... but like what happened with you and Scars, by then, some of those people had disappeared and didn't even read the ending LOL. That's okay, though. The sense of accomplishment you feel when you finish a story that you struggled with for so long makes up for the lack of reviews!
usako:
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on July 26, 2013, 12:08:35 PM ---Thanks for the input, Mare! I think it's a little bit of everything. I do like the story so far, and I like the storyline in theory, but I don't actually enjoy writing it, especially Nick's part, which is basically the whole premise of the story LOL. But I don't want to abandon that and try to change the direction of the story just because I'm bored with it. I think it deserves to be written the right way, and that's what I'm struggling with. I have a rough outline in my head, but I haven't been able to put it down on paper - every time I try, I just end up getting overwhelmed by it. So I just try to stay one step ahead of myself and have some idea of where I'm going with the next few scenes.
It may not be a bad idea to officially put it on hiatus to take the pressure off me, but then I'd be worried I would never come back to it. The word "hiatus" is like the kiss of death to me - the only stories I've officially put "on hiatus" are the same ones I've eventually just "discontinued," and I really don't want to do that to Guilty Roads. It has too much going for it to give up on.
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You can just close it for summer holiday. lol That's how I prefer to call those stories that I haven't written in a long time. As you said, "hiatus" sounds so much like death.
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