[ SECRET POST #4656 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #4656 ⌋

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

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 44 secrets from Secret Submission Post #667.
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

Writers thread

[(Anonymous)]

For advice etc

To finish or not to finish

[(Anonymous)]

I'm writing a story with a modern setting. I don't know much about the vocations the characters have, but I don't have time to research them. It's shaping up to an okay story on the whole. Do I fudge it and make it an AU where it won't matter that the details aren't quite right, or do you think that's just tacky?

I'm unlikely to get any time to flesh this thing out properly. :(

Re: To finish or not to finish

[(Anonymous)]

My opinion is: it's fanfiction, who the hell cares, most people won't even acknowledge they've read or enjoyed it. Make things easy on yourself, and please yourself first.

Re: To finish or not to finish

[(Anonymous)]

It's original fic, not fanfic. Although point taken, I'm not exactly writing it professionally.

Re: To finish or not to finish

[(Anonymous)]

If it worries you, you could always see if someone who already knows something about these vocations would be willing to beta for you.

Re: To finish or not to finish

[(Anonymous)]

That would frankly be amazing. Unfortunately, I sincerely doubt that there are many people who have experience of that vocation who are kicking around this sort of scene and willing to beta.

Re: To finish or not to finish

[(Anonymous)]

Couldn't hurt to ask.

Re: To finish or not to finish

[(Anonymous)]

Does it really require a ton of time to get the basic idea, though? If you're going to spend many hours writing the story, what's half an hour of Googling?

The other anon is probably right to say that most people won't know or care, but that depends on how prominent these vocations are to your plot. I might be in the minority, but I like it when an author pays attention to the small details. It shows me that they're thoughtful and that they care about the writing. I trust them more to tell a good story to the best of their ability.

Conversely, if an author thinks that doing a little basic research on Wikipedia or doesn't make any effort to get basic terminology right, that tells me a lot, too. It tells me that they think it's OK to do things half-assed, which makes me wonder what else they've half-assed in the fic. It also tells me that they don't have a very high opinion of my intelligence or taste. But like I said, I'm probably in the minority.

Re: To finish or not to finish

[(Anonymous)]

It really is that complicated. It's not the basic terminology, it's the whole goddamn complex world in which these vocations operate (military) and the realities of two people in that world falling in love.

Writing short stories or fic?

[(Anonymous)]

For some reason I can only write novel length stuff and I'd like to learn how to write something around 1000-5000 words. I feel stupid but I just don't know how to.

Do you still follow a certain narrative structure and condense it?

How do you know if an idea you have will work in a story that length?

Can you just write in some time skips if you still want it to take place over a longer period of time or is that a terrible idea?

Re: Writing short stories or fic?

[(Anonymous)]

I like to write shorter things, and I find it works best to condense things down to just a snapshot if it's really short, or to just sit back and think "what is NECESSARY for this" and then cut out the rest. Obviously that's not a hard and fast rule and every writer is different, but for me I find it best to keep everything contained to one time and place. It just takes practice though, to figure out what works for you!

Re: Writing short stories or fic?

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks for the insight! I do need to work on editing, definitely.

Re: Writing short stories or fic?

[(Anonymous)]

I have the opposite problem, I can only write 1000-5000 word stories and wish I could write novels!

Unhelpfully, stories just come to me that way. I have to actively work not to write short stories.

My suggestion to you is to study the structure of short stories you enjoy. Are there time skips? How has the authour moved the plot along over a small space? See what you think works best in terms of telling short stories, then try and shape out a structure based on that. There's a sort of rhythm to them, I'm sure you'll find your own feel for it in time.

Re: Writing short stories or fic?

[(Anonymous)]

It would be cool if we could trade that skillset for a bit!

I'll have to go back and analyse my favourites. I'm noticing my shorter bookmarks are a lot lighter than what I usually write now that I think about it, so maybe I've just been trying to cram too much serious stuff into too few words.

Re: Writing short stories or fic?

[(Anonymous)]

IMO this is the kind of thing that's hard to explain, because most short fiction is literary in nature, even the genre has a more literary bent than longform fiction. In brief, I'd say:

1) Sort of.
2) You don't, until you try it and get a feel for how big or small your concept is.
3) Yes, but keep in mind that a big time jump is going to feel very conspicuous in a short story because of its length, and you'd have to be careful how you used it.

Your best bet is to read a lot of short stories and pay attention to all those narrative and technical details to see how other writers pull it off.

Re: Writing short stories or fic?

[(Anonymous)]

Thank you!

I think I'm just starting to get your point about the size of the concept, and I need to be writing different sorts of stories and not trying to make Frodo fly a giant eagle straight to Mordor in 5000 words or less, for example. Oops!

I will be doing some reading, and hopefully paying better attention to how things are put together now. I'd like to write something for halloween.

Re: Writing short stories or fic?

[(Anonymous)]

The following advice only really applies if you’re talking about fanfic. If you’re talking about original fiction, I have no idea.

I think if you’re going to try to tell a story with an actual arc in 5K or less, you need to force yourself to write very sparely. Almost like you’re just writing a detailed synopsis for the story, except make it a very elegantly written synopsis.

If you don’t want to write incredibly sparely, then you may need to forego having an actual arc. Find an event you want to happen to your character, or between your characters, that doesn’t rely on a lot of build up in order to be satisfying.

If you’re the sort of writer who always wants a critical event to happen as the culmination of a gradual build up, maybe you have ideas you sometimes discard because they seem too minor or trivial to make anything out of? Maybe instead of discarding that little fleck of an idea, you can apply yourself to making the most of it, and turn it into a short but satisfying fic?

Or you could just not have a specific event at all, and focus on doing an existential, slice-of-life type thing.

One other thing is that I think the shorter the fic is, the more important the last line is. A really solid last line can absolutely make a short fic. Sometimes when I write a more existential short fic, I’m literally writing to a last line. I have a line that expresses an impactful moment in time, and I write the scenario that brings the character(s) to that moment, and then I leave them there.

I really wouldn’t claim to be a terribly good writer, though, so definitely don’t take my advice too seriously. I’m just spitballing.

Re: Writing short stories or fic?

[(Anonymous)]

I'd probably work at lowering your word count bit by bit, rather than try at something so far out of your comfort zone right away.
I'm not sure how you would normally go about writing, but a good way to cut down on word count is to lay your story out in it's barest form before you write it. Basically a beginning, middle, and end, with subcategories in between noting key motives, and scenes that are essential in moving the plot/idea along. You can then go a step further by adding character growth, directive, and world building, as points within the subcategories. Keep them as short as you can.
It kinda forces you to condense what you want to write without having to throw away any ideas that might benefit your story overall. You can then go through each and every one and decide if and how long you need to focus on them.
I wouldn't recommend condensing it too much though. If your layout adds up in number to even half of the word count you're aiming for, then chances are the idea won't work at that length. I find stories at the 1-5000 word count are less plot driven, and more character derived, if that helps.
Time skips are fine, it can be a very good way to move things along, imo. Just be careful not to skip ahead right after you worked up to something. Like if you were building up a relationship between two characters for example, once they get together you should add in some early days of their relationship before fast-forwarding. It'll give the reader time to process things, and allow for the flow of the story to come back down... If that makes sense?

I wish you good luck!

Re: Writing short stories or fic?

[(Anonymous)]

> Do you still follow a certain narrative structure and condense it?

In my experience as a short-story reader, the structures are slightly different. In a novel, you have the space for multiple acts developing the conflict. Pride and Prejudice involves about a year of time, and multiple little class-based misunderstandings and conflicts that drive the lovers apart, then back together. With a short story you're going to focus on a single, pivotal moment for the characters. If it's a romance, what is the thing that changes their minds from "maybe" to "yes?" If it's a breakup, what's the moment that makes them unhappy?

I think many shorts follow the ABCDE format:

Action: Almost always in media res in a way that foreshadows the conflict.

Background: Briefly, only the points that relate to the conflict.

Conflict: Usually only one, and the rest might be dropped as one sentence in background.

Development: One to five scenes, with acceptable time-jumps between.

Ending: Resolve the conflict and leave the rest up to the reader.

Drabble Fears

[(Anonymous)]

I kind of feel like doing a sort of self imposed drabble challenge next month on my blog - one a day, shuffled prompt list, that sort of thing. My blog's not normally for that sort of thing, but people haven't been liking my usual output at all lately though it's in part because I haven't been as annoying in my socialization as usual and they fsr resent that. I dunno if going this route temporarily is gonna get them liking me again or just earn more resentment and less engagement. Should I still go for it?

(I know, I shouldn't care about hits or likes, but if people hate me it's the only way I'll know they've stopped, right?)

Re: Drabble Fears

[(Anonymous)]

There's a lot to unpack in this but... yeah, you seem to be worrying an awful lot about what other people - are they even people you know? - think of you, and allowing them to dictate your actions. I think that's a more concerning issue than whether or not you should do a drabble challenge.

IMO, do it if you want to. But ask yourself... if this doesn't bring the attention and approval you crave, what then?

Re: Drabble Fears

[(Anonymous)]

I agree with the other anon here, but I would write them if I were you? It might take your mind off of things a little, and a change of pace might get some response from followers. (maybe get their mind off of whatever turmoil they might be have at the moment as well)

Re: Writers thread

[(Anonymous)]

I thought of the perfect line of dialogue while out shopping and it doesn't fit in ANY of my WIP. I have an idea for another work that has been back-burnered for a long while because it involves fae and accidental marriage and hate-to-love, and I don't have the mental energy right now to hammer out the specifics of the accidental marriage ceremony over a faerie circle, but goddamn don't I just want to write the scene that would surround that line of dialogue.

FML.

Re: Writers thread

[(Anonymous)]

If you write the line of dialogue down in reference to the back-burned idea you don't necessarily have to grind out all the details in the here and now, do you? It might not end up as perfectly as you'd like, but so long as you jot down the key points of the scene, you can work out the finer details when you have the drive to do so.

(then again I have a very backwards way of writing, so I'm probably missing the point here;;)

Re: Writers thread

[(Anonymous)]

I agree with the above anon. Write down your dialogue line and sketch out your scene and then you can come back to it later.