Fic Talk > General Discussion
2 Writing 2 Thread
RokofAges75:
--- Quote from: nicksgal on February 17, 2021, 09:40:04 PM ---Have you ever come back to a story you took a really long break from writing? If so, how long was that break, and did you end up finishing the story? What made you stop writing it in the first place, and what made you come back to it?
Does the whole of PBox et al. count? PNecklace is technically a new story as a novel, but part of that longer story. If it counts, then twelve years total, with some tiny notes in 2013 and some pieces of writing in 2015, but never enough to post or call a complete chapter. I'll let you all know if I ever finish the whole thing, but it's looking good. Probably exhaustion from writing an epic and an annoyingly persistent and loud character. I guess PNecklace with those bits from 2015 would be a five year break.
Otherwise, ask me about Gobosei eventually? That's probably the only other one that would qualify. But again, never say never about anything else.
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Sure, it counts! I feel the same way about Broken and BMS - two separate novels, but really one long story, so I tend to lump them together too. Twelve years is impressive!! I'm glad you're feeling good about your odds of finishing it. What an amazing accomplishment that will be!
--- Quote from: nicksgal on February 17, 2021, 09:40:04 PM ---What's the longest you've worked on a story that was eventually finished?
I started writing PBox in the fall of 2005 (right around Thanksgiving Break seems right... November 25th or so sticks out in my mind as a PBox date) and finished it in early Spring of 2008 (right around March 28th or so seems right... though I think I held on to the last chapter for a week before posting). So about two and half years.
Other than those little bits in 2013 and 2015, being about halfway done with PNecklace in about five to six months seems like lightning speed more befitting teenybopper Dee. Unless you're counting those five years between the first written words of PNecklace and now... Let's not and pretend that this is lightning speed, haha.
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That is pretty fast for an epic story! I probably wouldn't count those five years either. Count the time when you were actually working on it consistently.
nicksgal:
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on February 17, 2021, 10:37:07 PM ---Yeah, I wish! It is similar in one way, which is the reason I thought I would wait awhile on it, but mostly different. Sorry for that vague answer LOL; you'll see what I mean if you read it when I'm ready to post it. I've been thinking it would be my next project for three years, and it kept getting pushed to the side for other stories, so maybe it's finally time.
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I love vague answers, they're the best! I'm glad it finally decided it was tired of being pushed to the side because it sounds like you're pretty excited about it.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on February 17, 2021, 10:37:07 PM ---That is actually comforting to hear. It seems like some writers get story ideas all the time, but that has never been the norm for me either. But I guess that's okay because the more ideas I have, the more WADD I have to deal with as I try to decide which one to tackle first. It's easier if I have limited options LOL.
What I've found myself doing more often lately is combining ideas into one. Bethlehem was one of those; I had been wanting to write a survival story and an A-Rok story, but didn't have a solid enough idea for either, so when I came up with the idea of the Boys quarantining in a cabin to work on the Christmas album, I ended up combining those ideas and making them work with that premise.
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I call 2006 my year of trying to start a bunch of different things and none of those worked well. I think the times I've actually focused on something is when I committed to the one thing, no matter how long it took. Looking back, that's really what I did with PBox and said "everything else is on hold until this is done." I should have known better and just said, "Yo, just PBox," haha. It's part of why I've tried not to focus on anything else that's popped up unless it felt like it would be a quick, short, and finite thing, like the holiday story or death by snail. But hopefully I'll still feel inspired on the others after everything is said and done! I'm a little worried about the WADD, since there's probably three things I could work on after finishing PNecklace. We'll see how I'm feeling at that time.
I think combining ideas is a great way to find inspiration for all of them, especially if there's not a strong novel-length idea for the plot of any of them yet. I thought Bethlehem was a beautiful combination of A-Rok bromance, survival, and Christmas in quarantine! I hope some of your other ideas can combine in such a serendipidous way as well.
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on February 17, 2021, 10:37:07 PM ---LMAO! I don't like to use the word "never" because when I say I'll never write something, I usually end up writing it eventually... but I'm 99.99999% sure I won't ever write a Kentucky cousincest story LOL.
I love bus crashes! But that was the premise of the ER crossover I finished last year, so I probably won't be writing another one of those.
LOL I should keep a running list so I don't run out of ideas and have to resort to herpes.
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That's why I didn't tell you to not write it, I said think long and hard, haha. Also, "won't ever" is very different from "never."
Aw, I know, but bus crashes are just so iconic. I would read 1,000 of them if they were still being written.
Add it to your ideas folder! Maybe a google sheet would be best, then you could list the stories and years you wrote any of them.
nicksgal:
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on February 17, 2021, 10:41:54 PM ---Sure, it counts! I feel the same way about Broken and BMS - two separate novels, but really one long story, so I tend to lump them together too. Twelve years is impressive!! I'm glad you're feeling good about your odds of finishing it. What an amazing accomplishment that will be!
That is pretty fast for an epic story! I probably wouldn't count those five years either. Count the time when you were actually working on it consistently.
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Thanks, me too. I don't know if it's the speed or what, but in general it seems pretty good. I'd feel really excited to finish my magnum opus finally. I think this past week was the only time I felt frustrated between that sixteen days to write chapter and three days to edit chapter. I was a bit of a wreck! haha But in the grand scheme of things, sixteen days isn't even that long. And maybe that 16 days had more to do with the month long break than anything else, but then I wrote that other chapter in two days like normal, so who knows.
And great, if you agree that I shouldn't count those five years, then I won't. ;)
RokofAges75:
Have you ever come back to a story you took a really long break from writing? If so, how long was that break, and did you end up finishing the story? What made you stop writing it in the first place, and what made you come back to it?
I think the longest break I've ever taken on a story that I eventually went on to finish was 4-5 years. That was with Heroic Measures, my ER crossover. I can't remember when exactly I started writing it; it was sometime in 2012 or 2013. I know I had the idea and an outline going in early 2012 because I posted about it here. I wrote the first two chapters really fast, started Chapter 3, and then didn't write any more of it until the summer of 2017, when I finally finished the third chapter. I wrote Chapter 4 a year later, and then finally got into a groove with it and wrote the rest last spring and summer. It was always more of a side project, which is why I didn't even bother to start posting it until last summer, but still, it's crazy that a ten-chapter story took me 7-8 years to write, especially one that was so in my wheelhouse.
The chapter that gave me the most trouble was the most action-packed one in the whole story, a Frick & Frack one where Nick got to be a hero, so again, not sure why it took me so long. I actually think what derailed me every time I tried to work on it was that I would inevitably start watching ER for "inspiration" and get sucked into an ER marathon instead of writing.
I always knew I would come back to it and finish it eventually because BSB + ER = the perfect story for me. It was just a matter of when. The pandemic hit at the perfect time when I wasn't in the middle of another novel, so I was finally able to focus on this one and get into a groove with it. It was actually a lot harder to write than I thought it would be - kudos to the ER writers, who always made it seem so easy to seamlessly blend the medical stuff into the action of an appropriately-paced scene.
What's the longest you've worked on a story that was eventually finished?
If it's not Heroic Measures, it would be Song for the Undead, which took 7 years to finish. In terms of actual time spent consistently writing, it would definitely be Undead.
nicksgal:
--- Quote from: RokofAges75 on February 17, 2021, 11:12:44 PM ---It was always more of a side project, which is why I didn't even bother to start posting it until last summer, but still, it's crazy that a ten-chapter story took me 7-8 years to write, especially one that was so in my wheelhouse.
The chapter that gave me the most trouble was the most action-packed one in the whole story, a Frick & Frack one where Nick got to be a hero, so again, not sure why it took me so long. I actually think what derailed me every time I tried to work on it was that I would inevitably start watching ER for "inspiration" and get sucked into an ER marathon instead of writing.
I always knew I would come back to it and finish it eventually because BSB + ER = the perfect story for me. It was just a matter of when. The pandemic hit at the perfect time when I wasn't in the middle of another novel, so I was finally able to focus on this one and get into a groove with it. It was actually a lot harder to write than I thought it would be - kudos to the ER writers, who always made it seem so easy to seamlessly blend the medical stuff into the action of an appropriately-paced scene.
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I didn't realize it was only 10 chapters! That's an action packed crossover! I can see why it would be hard to get into the groove because it doesn't seem like a story that would have a lot of rising action and falling action, just catalyst fast-paced action then end. It's not like real life medical dramas are a lot of waiting around in the fast-paced hospital part, you know?
How many ER marathons did you let yourself get sucked into?
I'm guessing you mean the writers of the actual show, but do you think ER fanfic writers have that same skillset to seamlessly blend the medical stuff into appropriately paced action scenes?
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