Fic Talk > General Discussion
The Writing Thread
RokofAges75:
--- Quote from: nicksgal on January 16, 2021, 12:42:27 PM ---I also ended up spitting this out onto the paper during that writing session: “If I don’t have you, all those promises don’t mean anything!”
Did I accidentally Backstreet and lean into it or did my brain purposefully put the words in that order to intentionally Backstreet? :shrug: I know I accidentally Hamilton sometimes, but in a BSB fanfic it's less clear to me because there are definitely times I do it on purpose (like the thing Nick bugged me about this morning or every Incomplete reference in PBox), but I've also found a few while editing where I've thought, "Haha, BSB. I don't think I meant to do that?"
--- End quote ---
LOL You probably can't help it at this point. After so many years of listening to BSB, the lyrics are just engrained in our brains.
RokofAges75:
--- Quote from: nicksgal on January 16, 2021, 12:42:27 PM ---Do you all always know the exact end before you start writing or is it more vague ideas? If you write in order, what do you do when monumental things like that pop up? If you don't always write things in order, would you drop everything and write an end before you've finished a middle?
--- End quote ---
I don't usually know the exact last line or anything, but I rarely start a story without having some idea of how it will end, and I usually envision what the last scene will be well before I get there. I'm about half a chapter away from the last chapter of Bethlehem, and I've known for a while what that last chapter will look like. I've imagined it in my head and even written down a couple of good lines of dialogue I want to include. That's usually as far as I get with writing ahead; if I think of a really good line, I'll write it in my outline, but I don't write whole scenes ahead of time.
What has been harder for me, at least with this story, is the stuff right before the ending. I'm in that "falling action" section of the story arc now, where the exciting climax is over, but I still have a lot of loose ends to tie up before I can get to that last scene. I'm trying to be concise without resorting to a lot of summarizing and time skipping. I think I've got it figured out now, but I definitely spent a couple weeks going, "Okay... so I got through plot Point A, B, and C. Now how am I going to get to Point D?"
--- Quote from: nicksgal on January 16, 2021, 03:59:29 PM ---Here's another fun writing question for today:
What's something small about writing that you love when it happens?
Mine is word choice. That moment when you are carefully choosing your words and you stumble upon a place where you get to use a word with many layered (and often contradictory) definitions and they all fit together beautifully in a nuanced way in that portion of the narrative. It happened twice to me today: attention and cleave. I was very excited.
Carry on with your Saturday writing, all!
--- End quote ---
I agree about word choice! I probably spend too much time on that when I should just be trying to write a first draft, and it definitely slows me down - but I love when I read it back over later and realize I have a beautiful passage that doesn't need editing.
"Cleave" is a great word!
I love when I think of something funny to write that makes me laugh, especially when it's comic relief in an otherwise dramatic story. For example, I often sing the word "incomplete" Nick-style when I see it ("In-com-puh-lee-ete!" all drawn out and dramatic), and I just wrote a character doing that in my chapter, which made me smile and also helped me transition from one part of the scene to the next.
I also love ending on a nice, round chapter number. I'm on Chapter 20 now, and since I should only have one more to go, I'm planning to make the last chapter an epilogue instead of Chapter 21 just so I can make the last numbered chapter a multiple of ten. It will work well as an epilogue anyway because there will be a little time jump, but it's also perfect that a story set in 2020 would have 20 numbered chapters. I have a weird OCD thing with numbers; it would bug me to end a story on Chapter 21. This is why BMS had both an epilogue and a "post-epilogue," which I came up with to avoid having to have a Chapter 201.
nicksgal:
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on January 16, 2021, 11:57:16 PM ---I watch a lot of reruns of The Monsters Inside Me on Animal Planet LOL. I love me some flesh-eating bacteria!
--- End quote ---
I figured it was something like that! That stuff is so fascinating, but I also hate knowing that my eyebrows are full of microbes, for instance.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on January 16, 2021, 11:57:16 PM ---The ice cream cones were probably full of gluten - oh noes!! Now it's gonna give him explosive diarrhea, and Brian's gonna be stuck in the back of the van with him and no bathroom. Oh noes!!! Brian may be the one who needs comforting after that, haha.
--- End quote ---
Oh noes!!! Gluten!!! They're both going to need comfort after explosive diarrhea in a van and no bathroom. Oh noes! And Nick would just eat another ice cream... Time for the crazed fans to kidnap more Boys or for one of them to get really good at kicking open doors. Man, if only Kevin got kidnapped too, they would be all set!
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on January 16, 2021, 11:57:16 PM ---Thanks! My little break lasted longer than I intended, but I did finish the first scene of Chapter 20, which was my goal for today. I hope you were productive before picking up hubby!
--- End quote ---
Yay, proud of you! I got through the rest of the chapter I edited yesterday, and part of today's chapter. Then Nick was being picky, so driving to the airport was a good break. Then I finished up to the point where I'd put a comment on part of the chapter that says "Would Nick notice and understand this conversation if he's already in his untamed demonic state?" And now I'm tired, so tomorrow, I guess. But there's only 1.5-2 pages left in the chapter to edit, so it's going alright! I also have my next four chapters' "describe your writing plan/goals in five words or less" planned out, haha. Hopefully tomorrow is very productive!
I didn't want to forget to respond to the ice cream story tomorrow since there's a new page in this thread now. Night!
nicksgal:
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on January 16, 2021, 11:59:41 PM ---LOL You probably can't help it at this point. After so many years of listening to BSB, the lyrics are just engrained in our brains.
--- End quote ---
That's probably it, our brains are just going "Yeah, that sounds right, great word choice!"
I guess we shouldn't worry until we think something like "Does his friends get all your time?" sounds right.
RokofAges75:
--- Quote from: nicksgal on January 17, 2021, 10:41:07 AM ---That's probably it, our brains are just going "Yeah, that sounds right, great word choice!"
I guess we shouldn't worry until we think something like "Does his friends get all your time?" sounds right.
--- End quote ---
LOL! Ahh, cringe!
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version