Fic Talk > General Discussion
The Writing Thread
RokofAges75:
--- Quote from: nicksgal on January 21, 2021, 05:46:56 PM ---Four chapters and 3.5 pages left. I'm hoping to finish those 3.5 pages today and maybe get a chunk of the next chapter done. It dawned on me during this editing that if I had originally decided to focus on two characters doing the fighting, then everyone else did ... nothing. :shrug: Which is uncharacterist ic for them. So I've slowly had to add in either *something* or a cop out like "They were enclosed in one of Brian's barriers." Thank goodness for Brian having the power to seal everyone off so I can just focus on AJ or Howie like I did originally without it seeming out of character!
Except Nick, of course, is like, "To hell with that, I hate every minute of this not doing something!" So he gets to do fun things like:
Nick glanced at him, then started trying to walk toward him, but AJ pulled him back. Nick clenched his fist and gnashed his teeth, then whirled on AJ and forcefully poked him in the chest before he started gesturing toward God largely and wildly with his hands. He continued opening his mouth as though he spoke, but no sound came out.
and
As Kevin and Brian are clearly having a calm conversation about the emerald demons' powers: Meanwhile, Nick pounded on the barrier with his fists and appeared to be shouting.
--- End quote ---
Yay for you! You're so close!
That is one of the hardest parts of writing group stories - trying to keep things balanced between the five guys and make sure they all have something to do in a scene. I'm sure it's even more challenging in an action scene because you want to give them all action, but don't want to slow down the scene too much describing what they're all doing in too much detail.
nicksgal:
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on January 21, 2021, 06:03:31 PM ---Yay for you! You're so close!
That is one of the hardest parts of writing group stories - trying to keep things balanced between the five guys and make sure they all have something to do in a scene. I'm sure it's even more challenging in an action scene because you want to give them all action, but don't want to slow down the scene too much describing what they're all doing in too much detail.
--- End quote ---
Thanks for the yay. ;D So close, but so far! Those four chapters are 51 pages worth of stuff, so it will take some time. I'm a little worried about what editing the next chapter will look like because that was the one that spurred the original PBox six month update hiatus. I'm hoping it's not as bad because it's just already all there.
I'm prone to splitting them up just so I have less characters to worry about, to be honest. Which is fun with PBox because it definitely falls into the "loads and loads of characters" syndrome and only gets worse as time goes on.
Like I said, thank goodness for Brian -- best unintentional cop-out ever! I figure it's like a movie with a fight scene, you're either jumping between focuses or really zoomed in on one piece of it and the rest is just blurry background noise.
nicksgal:
I realized that I kept writing "same" to so much of this, so just know that I nodded along exuberantly and have only kept parts I wanted to specifically comment on.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on January 21, 2021, 05:59:19 PM ---What's the weirdest place you've ever worked on one of your stories?
I guess the airport? I know that's not that weird, but I'm not comfortable writing in public, so that was a stretch for me. That was during one of my daily writing streaks for A Heart That Isn't Mine in 2019, and I was at like 50-something days of writing in a row and determined not to break it when I went to LA with Rose, so I wrote a little bit on my phone at the airport to keep the streak alive.
--- End quote ---
I think it's fine as long as you're not acting things out in the airport. The amount of times my husband has walked in on me clenching a fist to various degrees of clenched is high. At least he always asks if I'm okay and then says "Oh, you're writing again." He's stopped asking questions, haha.
50-something is a lot in row! Did you write on the trip too or did that break the streak?
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on January 21, 2021, 05:59:19 PM ---I know I've told this story here before, but my favorite was when I drove my car out onto a rural road in the middle of the night, parked it next to a cornfield, and climbed out of my moonroof just to make sure that a plausible means of escape for a scene from Song for the Undead. I wanted to try it myself, but I didn't want other people in my apartment complex to see me doing that in the parking lot LOL.
--- End quote ---
I have not heard that story and I laughed so hard! I hope you were kind to yourself and left the door unlocked so that you didn't have to climb back in through the moonroof.
Also knowing this, maybe you did have to restrain yourself from acting things out at the airport, haha.
RokofAges75:
LMAO Don't worry, I'm not that weird!
I did write on the trip, but only a sentence or so on my phone at night just so I could say I wrote something LOL.
LOL Your husband's gotten used to it, huh? It's probably better than he not ask questions.
nicksgal:
Should have answered first so I didn't keep writing "what Julie said" below.
What's the weirdest place you've ever worked on one of your stories?
So I asked this question because today was a late arrival day for my students, so I had an hour to myself to kill and nothing work-related to catch up on (what a weird world!), so I went back into my editing with a watchful eye on the door because can't have the kids suddenly appear behind me and ask "Who stabbed what with a sword?"
Tell us something semi-ridiculous you do while writing that if someone walked in on would be very confusing for them.
I am also a pacer. I've spent many years with Nick in my head and I know that if I stare too long at something, but feel focused, it means he has something to say in particular. I used to type a million different versions until I settled on the right one, but as time's gone on, I usually opt to mill it around in my brain instead. So I pace while he thinks and I've been able to cut it down to maybe three rewrites tops, but usually just a long pause and one pass through initially. Sometimes he'll want it changed for an edit, but I figure that's all part of the editing process. And even saying this out loud to someone that didn't write would doubly add to the semi-ridiculousness of this. Writers get it, people who only read or watch things do not.
I also act things out, but have no good stories like Julie's moonroof. I do have a lot of things bookmarked for stories that are also pretty weird. Pages of "parts of weapons" diagrams and also youtube videos about albatrosses. Admittedly, the physics in PBox is still a little wibbly.
When you're writing, how are you picturing the story? Is it just words on a page? A movie? How do you think this helps or hinders your writing?
Definitely like a movie, but I always think in terms of dialogue first. I always feel like the best way to showcase characters is when they speak and how they interact. But if I get stuck on whatever their bodies are doing, I'll doodle. It happened in my "Wishes" edit where I just went, wait how did they sit next to each other? Something so mundane, but I had to doodle it out to get it straight in my head.
What are your favorite kinds of scenes to write?
Definitely the banter and bonding. Dialogue snippets. I've enjoyed getting into everyone's individual head lately. That was a fun experience.
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