[ SECRET POST #2793 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2793 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 036 secrets from Secret Submission Post #399.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

07. http://i61.tinypic.com/2cnwcw8.jpg

[(Anonymous)]

I *never* have any idea where my fics are going when I start posting them. I use reviews to help guide me on my path.

[(Anonymous)]

Note: I never want to read a fic like that. Plot? Characterisation? How can they possibly exist under those conditions?

Arghh.

+1

[tyger66]

Agreed. If I'm reading a fic, even an already complete one, and it becomes apparent that the author has no clue where their own story is going next, I instantly stop reading and generally avoid that author from then on.

When I was younger I wrote fics that way, and they were terrible. The best plot/characterization generally comes in a story that was already complete before the first chapter was ever posted.

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks for the assumption. Mine does have a plot and characterization. I don't have every detail mapped out.

[(Anonymous)]

NAYRT

"Don't have every detail mapped out" =/= "have no idea where this is going but I'm posting it anyway."

[silverr]

This sounds like a fic that might somewhat "write itself" if you give it free rein. It doesn't hurt to just keep writing and just see where it goes.

(If you're worried, though, maybe find a fandom friend to Brainstorm and bounce ideas off of?)

[(Anonymous)]

Some of the best stories are complete surprises to their authors. Keep writing and see where it takes you!

[(Anonymous)]

I had a similar thing a few years ago. All my reviewers expected one of my oneshots to be a continuing work because I wrote the ending badly. I felt forced into making more chapters even though I had no idea what the hell the story was or how to write it. For me personally, it stressed me out so much, I just closed up shop and messaged all my reviewers saying I wasn't going to continue it. There's nothing wrong with letting go of a project if they're making you anxious. Maybe it's just a story for another time.

[kallanda_lee]

If it's any consolations, nor did the writers of Lost, and they managed to get their stuff aired.

[(Anonymous)]

I feel you, OP.

For me, it took several abandoned WiPs to get to the point of not posting until I was finished with at least a rough draft of a story, because every time I posted a work as a WiP, the pressure to keep performing just became too much.

Trust me, many, MANY people only have the vaguest idea of where their stories are going, and don't know what strange routes it might take. One step in a writer's growth, I believe, is allowing the story to go where it will, because at least in my experience, it may go somewhere completely unexpected, but it ends up being wonderful in the end.

Just remember the old adage: "Not all who wander are lost." ;)

[a_potato]

Pfft, don't worry about all that. Forge on and see where it takes you.

I started a WIP years ago with little idea where I wanted to take it; I pantsed all the way through. Took me the better part of a year, but I eventually finished it, and although I now cringe when I read some of its prose, it remains my most ambitious and successful fic. Not only was it received well, but it felt fucking amazing when I posted the final chapter.

AND. No one had any idea that I didn't know what I was doing. It looked, to those who read it, as if I'd had everything planned from the beginning.

So sit yourself down, OP, and start writing that fic. It might just surprise you.

[queerwolf]

There's nothing wrong with letting the story take you somewhere you didn't expect. I just wish more authors would finish it before they started posting. I've said it before, but there are reasons I stopped reading WIPs.

[(Anonymous)]

Same here. I try not to touch WIP's until they're done.

[elephantinegrace]

Do people usually think that the author knows what s/he's doing when posting a WIP? Unless there's a note saying, "This is already fully written and I'm just sending chapters to my beta for proofreading" or something, I assume that it's being made up as it happens. Is this...not what people do?

[(Anonymous)]

I always post in WIPs; I always know exactly where I'm going.

The middle might wander a little on the way, but I don't even start writing, never mind posting, unless I have the end scene(s) already solidly worked out.

[(Anonymous)]

I may not have the work completely finished or even know every detail when I start posting, but I always know beginning and end (and usually, though not always, middle) when I start.

[queerwolf]

A lot of authors actually plot out their fics so they know exactly what's going to happen, even if they're still writing as they post it.

[(Anonymous)]

I think this is ok?

The only long fanfic I ever wrote was supposed to be about 9000 words total. I started posting chapters thinking I had a good general idea of what was going to happen -- and it got away from me almost instantly and turned into a 100K beast. If I hadn't posted it as a WIP, I doubt I would have finished it at all. But I'm glad I did. I would say keep writing and see where it goes.

OP

[(Anonymous)]

It just feels like I'm writing so randomly. I introduced this twist (a resurrection) and have since been absolutely ignoring it in favor of something else that I think is really going to be the bulk of the story. Only now Character A is not dead. Even though she was in my story, it's not like I just never had her be killed off.

Re: OP

[(Anonymous)]

Do you want to bring the twist / Resurrected A back into the story, or drop it and move on?

It's possible to do either one and still end up with a generally good story, I think.

Re: OP

[(Anonymous)]

I mean, I like the idea of bringing her back into the story, I just...don't really have a role for her to play in the part I'm most interested in right now. I don't know how she's back, why she's back,if her being back relates to the other plot, or if it's just "meanwhile, Character A isn't dead!"

[(Anonymous)]

I'm kind of in the same boat, except I intended to write a multi-chaptered story. I'm several years into it and have been going jflkajfkldsjf;dsajk over the littlest things. It started out strong, but it's obvious the writing has gotten a bit weaker in latter chapters, and even though I have a general idea of where I want it to go, some of the crazy twists I threw in there make me wonder how in the hell I'll resolve any of it. And I also worry people suspect I don't know wtf I'm doing.

tl;dr didn't mean to make it about me, but I just wanna say I hear ya on the O SHIIIII WTF HAVE I STARTED

[(Anonymous)]

if it makes you feel any better, anon, if the writing starts out good, I'll assume an author knows what they're doing until they give me a lot of really good reasons to think otherwise. Your readers can't see inside your head, so they might not perceive the story as as much of a mess as you do. For what that's worth.

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, I know what's obvious to me isn't necessarily obvious to the reader, but it's still one of those things that'll stick in the back of my mind.

But thanks for the thought.