[ SECRET POST #2860 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2860 ⌋

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

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 062 secrets from Secret Submission Post #409.
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

[(Anonymous)]

If writing is technically good, but boring, normally what it lacks is story.

And I don't mean plot. Plot is not story.

The story is what the characters overcome (via the events of the plot) and how it changes them; the conflicts they face and how that sets them apart from their goals and their motivations. The reason we get drawn into a book is not because it's well written (though that can certainly make the reading experience much more enjoyable) it's because that sense of "What is going to happen next?" is so potent - and that sense comes from having conflict, immediately, from page one.

There's a lot about writing which is very technical, and if your friend is technically good, that's great (many fanfic writers aren't even that). Sounds like what they need to work on is conflict. And I don't mean contrived drama, I mean something that challenges their characters' views or expectations or beliefs and makes them think on their feet.

[(Anonymous)]

I think this is probably true of novel-length fiction, but when it comes to fanfic I've read 500 word slice-of-life drabbles where nothing happens that still manage to be beautifully executed and full of vividly observed life.

Maybe that's something OP's friend's work lacks? And what would that even be, on a "you need to do more of this" level? Agree with upthread comment that it's very hard to define.

[intrigueing]

I think what you describe is the vignette/drabble version of the ayrt's term "story" -- drabbles don't have a sequence of actions, but they have a brief action/premise/idea that has the same thought-provoking/compelling effect that the ayrt is talking about.

[(Anonymous)]

Idea, yes!

But I think it's worth noting for OP and OP's friend that it doesn't necessarily have to be conflict or challenge, that the expression of an idea can be as engaging as anything else. And if OP's friend did start off with smaller works (assuming they're writing longer length fic atm) then it might be easier for them to condense that into something deeper rather than get too complex right off the bat?

If they are writing short, then maybe the converse is true and they're trying to stuff way too much into a single idea.

[(Anonymous)]

True.

I've spent years stuffing too many ideas into my short fics. It never ends well. Focus is the key.

Conversely, longer fics without a compulsive goal for the characters to aim towards gets boring fast.

There's a reason why crime fic and romances are so popular. Both are great multipurpose bare bones for a story, to provide instant drive and motivation for the characters.

[(Anonymous)]

>And I don't mean contrived drama, I mean something that challenges their characters' views or expectations or beliefs and makes them think on their feet

A work can be either one or the other at the same time depending on what one likes
also, I have a feeling OP's friend doesn't exist and OP just wants someone to tell them how to get more reviews, figure that out yourself

[(Anonymous)]

I don't know that it's necessarily conflict that's needed so much as the sense of something mattering. To the characters and the reader both. It doesn't have to be a progression or a conflict, it just has to give us a window onto why what we witness in this story is important, even if only to this one character for this one breezy second. A one hundred word story where a character holds something they love and finds it good, for no better reason than that it exists and it is theirs, can be as powerful as a story where a character struggles to overcome something.

[(Anonymous)]

nayrt

Very true -- however, I would argue it usually takes more talent to write that one-hundred-word story well, because the feelings are so much more difficult to articulate.

But then, it also depends on where the writer's talents lie.