Fic Talk > General Discussion
The Writing Thread
RokofAges75:
--- Quote from: nicksgal on January 07, 2021, 07:30:56 PM ---In the past I would try to start at the beginning, but just writing what's interesting has actually been pretty helpful to me, because then I get to the heart of why I like the idea right away and then I can figure out how to build to the point earlier on than if I started writing from chapter one, page one, paragraph one, word one.
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That is a cool idea to write the middle first and then build back up to that point. Do you ever have a hard time going back and writing the beginning, which may not be as interesting as the heart of the story?
--- Quote from: nicksgal on January 07, 2021, 07:30:56 PM ---I'm the worst at outlines. I don't like to use them, probably because mine are never very detailed. I think I said it once, but Kevin's first fighting chapter in PBox was definitely "Kevin's healing power is awesome as an attack. There are plants." and I only had that after I decided that Howie, Kevin, and AJ were each going to get a chapter to show off their skills. Which is... not much of an outline? The last chapter I left on for PNecklace literally has a comment on the Chapter marker that says: "X and Z hang out. Z and B have an important conversation about _____." And I only have that because part of it's already written and these scenes almost ended up in the previous chapter until what happened in the previous chapter was more interesting for longer than I thought it would take to tell that part. I definitely have pages of notes in google keep where I scribble down random things I think of, but it's only coherent for me. I think everyone else would look at it and wonder why I felt the need to write that down. Half of them read like me spitballing to myself, complete with things like "Omg, what if Nick forgot about their secret santa exchange, that would be hilarious!" or "(Hahaha, remember Sam Goody? So funny.)" It's like collaborating on the forum, but with myself.
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There's no right or wrong way to do an outline. It can be whatever you make it. Mine all look different depending on what I feel I need to write down for the story. Some of mine have definitely sounded like yours with lots of questions and ideas that aren't set in stone yet ("What if this happened?"), and I have put little jokes in for myself too LOL. When I was writing Broken and BMS way back in the day, I had little notebook I kept in my nightstand and would jot barely legible notes in it, sometimes when I was half asleep. No one else would be able to decipher most of it, but it made sense to me.
nicksgal:
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on January 07, 2021, 09:54:07 PM ---Yes, absolutely, but looking something up is a lot different from making something up. Making it up requires much more creativity. I can see where making a map would be helpful. I still have a printed map of MacDill Air Force Base shoved in a drawer from when we were writing Undead; I referred to that a lot.
LOL I can forgive teenyboppers for their ignorance back in the day, but now that there are so many resources at our fingertips to quickly fact check something, there's no excuse for making those mistakes except being too lazy to look it up.
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I've been there! It's pretty base-ic? (I'll see myself out...)
I'm just trying to catch up on the state of BSB fanfic basically. It seems unlikely that these things are still going on because time... but figured it was worth it to check.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on January 07, 2021, 09:54:07 PM ---It just kinda lives in my head until it becomes a fully formed idea or goes away, I guess LOL. The other day when Nick was tweeting about signing up for some biomedical/genetics symposium, I jokingly tweeted, "I feel like I should write a fanfic about Nick going to med school" because he always shows such enthusiasm and interest in medical innovations. And then I thought, "Hey, there could actually be a story idea in that." But that's about as far as it went, so I didn't write anything down there. If I have enough to write more than a sentence about an idea, I'll start a doc for it, which eventually turns into an outline if it sounds like something I would actually be interested in writing. I have a folder for them on Google Drive.
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How often do they "just go away?"
What a nerd, signing up for a symposium, just kidding! I am also a nerd who loves symposiums. See, and my first thought to you quoting this was "Please call it 'Dougie! Carter, MD'." (I will see myself out again.)
How many docs are in the folder right now?
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on January 07, 2021, 09:54:07 PM ---With that kind of stuff, it's a lot like lesson planning - I can take time to write it all down, but once I do, I don't usually look at it when it's time to apply it because it's in my head. But writing it down does come in handy for those times when I step away from an idea and come back to it after months or years and need a reminder of what I was thinking LOL.
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Off topic, but that's why I hate writing down lesson plans when I actually have to do it, because them being "in there" is good enough for me to execute.
How long does it typically take you to go back to an idea? I feel like PNecklace has in some form been jumbled in my head for the past decade, but I'm doing it now like that author who writes a chapter, deletes, and then rewrites from memory because I have long ago lost any written record of what it was early on post-PBox. I'm so appreciative of the Google suite.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on January 07, 2021, 09:54:07 PM ---I actually love doing medical research. I find it interesting, and it's a fun challenge to see how in-depth I can get and how much medical jargon I can decipher LOL.
I found a really cool tool not too long ago that lets you view 3D, interactive anatomy of the entire human body. You can zoom in, peel back layers, rotate the body in any direction, etc. If you ever need to get a better understanding of anatomy for the purpose of writing an injury or something, it could come in handy. It's also just cool to play with if you like that kind of stuff.
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I knew you did! Which was why I wanted to learn more about your experience with it and what you do with it once you've gotten what you need. How much of that medical jargon and in-depth research ends up in your works? Or is it like your version of world building where you know twice as much to avoid plot holes.
That sounds fascinating and I will definitely check it out, but I for sure gagged at it being described as "peel back layers," though I'm sure that's exactly what it is.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on January 07, 2021, 09:54:07 PM ---Yeah, I have a few unfinished ones. In the last ten years, there have only been two - a Nick/Kevin suspense/drama called Guilty Roads and a BSB/Harry Potter crossover called Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Backstreet Boy.
I don't usually get bursts of inspiration for other stories when I'm in the process of working on one, unless it's a brand new idea, but I try to keep several ideas on hand so I have some options already outlined when I finish a story. Half the time I end up getting a new idea and don't write any of the old ones, but having too many ideas is better than not having any.
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Those demanding stories are the worst, so pushy. I hope you are eventually able to get back to Guilty Roads. Did you ever write HP fanfic outside of that crossover? I'm not very versed in HP (which seems odd given all this), but can you just tell me what houses the Boys were in? I'm just curious if we have similar opinions.
Do any of your current options feel like "What's next after Bethelehem"? Or do you feel like a new idea will strike?
nicksgal:
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on January 07, 2021, 10:06:26 PM ---That is a cool idea to write the middle first and then build back up to that point. Do you ever have a hard time going back and writing the beginning, which may not be as interesting as the heart of the story?
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Being away from writing so long, I just decided that rather than waiting to write the parts I wanted to write, I just started writing what seemed most interesting to see if I would stick with it. It's definitely been more interesting to me and fun to weave in those tidbits in the right places. The first bit of anything I wrote was actually some tiny parts in last week's chapter then I think part of what ended up being the "10th chapter" because I was ready for a dramatic reveal after many years. It feels like I might have placed it too early in the story, but knowing Nick had to get from where he was in PBox to there and then all the way over here through the course of the story, it just felt like it needed to happen sooner rather than being dragged out for drama. Unless I decide to add another chapter in there over the course of the edit? Probably not?
I didn't this time, but it's the first story I've tried it on that didn't already have a beginning completely written. And I definitely had bits and pieces of the beginning from 2015ish, so it wasn't going in completely blind or anything. I think it's harder to say for a sequel than a brand new story too, because it technically already had a beginning that was written -- that's PBox. Ask me again the next time I have a totally new and different story, basically, haha.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on January 07, 2021, 10:06:26 PM ---There's no right or wrong way to do an outline. It can be whatever you make it. Mine all look different depending on what I feel I need to write down for the story. Some of mine have definitely sounded like yours with lots of questions and ideas that aren't set in stone yet ("What if this happened?"), and I have put little jokes in for myself too LOL. When I was writing Broken and BMS way back in the day, I had little notebook I kept in my nightstand and would jot barely legible notes in it, sometimes when I was half asleep. No one else would be able to decipher most of it, but it made sense to me.
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That's fair, I've just found my one sentence outlines to be very unhelpful if I come back to them from some time away. I guess questions are the way I lean if I'm not sure because that's what I start off doing when I have a story anyway, asking and answering major questions. I'm glad you write yourself jokes too. They're fun to go back to after you pop away from it for a minute. I always laugh at them the next time I read them.
That's why I love google keep. I definitely have a receipt paper from one of the restaurants I worked at that has some vague scribbles of part of Gobosei on it from right after IAWLT came out on my inspiration station. Keep is nice because I always have my phone on me, so I can start a little document whenever the mood strikes. I love that you kept a notebook for them. Do you still have it?
RokofAges75:
--- Quote from: nicksgal on January 07, 2021, 10:51:15 PM ---Being away from writing so long, I just decided that rather than waiting to write the parts I wanted to write, I just started writing what seemed most interesting to see if I would stick with it. It's definitely been more interesting to me and fun to weave in those tidbits in the right places. The first bit of anything I wrote was actually some tiny parts in last week's chapter then I think part of what ended up being the "10th chapter" because I was ready for a dramatic reveal after many years. It feels like I might have placed it too early in the story, but knowing Nick had to get from where he was in PBox to there and then all the way over here through the course of the story, it just felt like it needed to happen sooner rather than being dragged out for drama. Unless I decide to add another chapter in there over the course of the edit? Probably not?
I didn't this time, but it's the first story I've tried it on that didn't already have a beginning completely written. And I definitely had bits and pieces of the beginning from 2015ish, so it wasn't going in completely blind or anything. I think it's harder to say for a sequel than a brand new story too, because it technically already had a beginning that was written -- that's PBox. Ask me again the next time I have a totally new and different story, basically, haha.
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I can see how it would be easier to start somewhere in the middle when it's a sequel and you already have the characters and world established. I do think it would be harder to do that with a brand new story, but you'll have to try it and let us know how it goes. That being said, I can also see how it might make it easier to complete a story if you write the middle and end first and then just have to go back to the beginning and fill in the gaps to finish it. That might make it feel like the hard part is over - unless you're someone who struggles most with beginnings. For me, getting started is often the hardest part, so I don't know if that theory would hold LOL.
Here's a question for everyone: What do you usually have the hardest time writing - the beginning, the middle, or the end? How about the easiest?
--- Quote from: nicksgal on January 07, 2021, 10:51:15 PM ---That's why I love google keep. I definitely have a receipt paper from one of the restaurants I worked at that has some vague scribbles of part of Gobosei on it from right after IAWLT came out on my inspiration station. Keep is nice because I always have my phone on me, so I can start a little document whenever the mood strikes. I love that you kept a notebook for them. Do you still have it?
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I haven't used Google Keep before; I'll have to look into that!
Yep, I do still have my Broken notebook. I'm kind of a low-key hoarder who keeps anything nostalgic LOL.
Anyone else have any writing-related mementos they hang on to?
FrickingKaos:
I have notebooks upon notebooks of stuff that I wrote in high school, including what would eventually be my Nick and Amanda series. I also have the notebook I started drafting If I Knew Then and Take Me Home in. Lots of notes. I have a notebook where I was writing down stuff for when I wrote Finding Carter too. I kept all of it and once in a while I like to go through them.
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