fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2109 ]

[ SECRET POST #2109 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2109 ⌋

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

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 023 secrets from Secret Submission Post #301.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ], [ 1 - posted twice ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

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05. http://i781.photobucket.com/albums/yy92/PA-Secret/DegeneratingFic.png

are you sure it's a 'trend' and not just lack of skill?

I think you should be that one dissenting voice.

Maybe the author always had a crappy grasp of their character but it only becomes apparent as they get further into it.

Maybe you just like short fic?

Are you sure they're OOC and not that the characters are developing/changing due to the circumstances? Because, you know, people change and all.

This. It's honestly what it read like to me.

OP, maybe the characters are changing from canon because they're developing differently due to being in different circumstances. Unless all the fic you read is bad, this is probably what's happening.

(no subject)

(Anonymous) - 2012-10-11 23:31 (UTC) - Expand

THIS

tinuelena - 2012-10-12 04:33 (UTC) - Expand

I don't know. There are fics in my fandom that have I don't even know how many chapters, and sometimes it's painfully clear that the author really didn't have much to say past chapter 36.

(no subject)

(Anonymous) - 2012-10-12 08:32 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

stainless - 2012-10-12 14:09 (UTC) - Expand

I avoid most longfic because of this. Unless it's either clear the writer is actually writing to a plot, with a rough beginning middle and end, OR the writer is writing pieces that are each somewhat self-contained so the fragmentedness/evolution-as-you-go thing works, it's very easy for longfic to unravel.

I'm not saying "start with a plot outline," but having a rough approximation of one in your head so you know where you're going will never go amiss, IMO.

I agree. I think most people start out with a good-to-great idea, but many don't have any idea where they want to get to in the story ... and so they just start driving. For a few, this does lead to inspiration and a kick-ass ending, but most just run out of steam.

(no subject)

stainless - 2012-10-11 23:38 (UTC) - Expand

Yeah

I'll read longfic, but I am absolutely merciless with that shit. At the first sign of OOCness, or the first sign that the author doesn't have any idea where they're going, or whatever, I will drop it immediately. I just don't care enough anymore to read something that's poorly executed and meandering.

This right here is why I never post any of my longfic until/unless it's complete. I'd hate to start something, post it chapter by chapter, then run out of ideas halfway through and not finish it.

One of the reasons why I generally avoid 20+ chapter fics is because of what you said, OP. Of course, if the characters are developing then I might give it a pass, but IMO anything I read that's longer than 20 chapters starts getting weird for me, give or take a few exceptions.

It's really easy for a longfic author (especially one posting serially) to get absorbed by her own fictional world and sort of lose track of canon. Especially if it's been going on for months or years and she might not even care about canon any more. And a lot of times people who have been reading along get pulled in and start liker her version better than canon's, too, and it becomes a feedback spiral.

If you read a lot of longfic wips you just have to learn to recognize it and be prepared to either bow out or start pretending it's original fic (depending on whether you like the author's characters or not.)

This is the perfect description for this phenomenon.

And this is why some authors leave their longfics as WIPs no matter how much people beg them to keep going. Not only have they lost interest in their fic, they've lost interest in canon. Their writing style might have changed to the point they look back at the fic and think, "this is a piece of crap" and abandon it.

WIPs do that a lot, I'm afraid. Sometimes it's a consequence of the urge for feedback, sometimes it's because the author runs out of ideas but needs the story to keep going, sometimes it's just because authors lose interest. My recommendation would be to read stories that are already completed rather than WIPs, or at least read WIPs by people who have already written stories you know you like.

Two points: Characters should react to the world they're immersed in, not necessarily to canon, and the plot should get convoluted. Maybe you should stick to short stories.

Wow, this exactly the problem that the OP is pointing out.

Just because it's a long!fic doesn't mean that the characters should stop acting canonically and that the plot needs to go everywhere. That doesn't make any sense. If you're going to do this, then please, please stick to OC's and quit ruining canon characters.

What?

Why is the plot getting convoluted a good thing?

(no subject)

(Anonymous) - 2012-10-12 13:48 (UTC) - Expand

Your first point is valid; your second is not.

Are you perhaps confusing "convoluted" with "complex?" Because yes, the plot of a novel is usually going to be more complex than that of a short story. As a function of its length, it's going to have more twists and turns and more scenes devoted to either character development or world-building. But that does not mean that it's going to be convoluted.

Convoluted plots are bad. They're rife with inconsistencies and contrivances, and they amble along without there being any hint of a plan (even if you're a pantser rather than a plotter, you've got to at least make it look like you have a plan). They are a sign of bad writing, regardless of a story's length.

(no subject)

(Anonymous) - 2012-10-12 18:48 (UTC) - Expand

This is a trap I fell into years ago when writing my first (and only) long!fic. There's a lot of causes.

- Author burnout. It's a lot of work to write longer works and not many people really want to dedicate possibly hours a night to it.
- There's only so much you can do with a subject. If your premise has been done a dozen times by different authors, or if you're writing a fic that is very slice-of-life samey, you run out of things to say and ways to say them.
-Lack of an outline. If you don't know clearly where the story is going, and the steps its taking to get there, it's easy to get lost along the way.
- The first few chapters get the most editing, if you're posting the story as a WIP.

And then there's the desire to please the readers. This is the big trap I fell into. I expected the story to be a novel-length fish-out-of-water story with a dash of political intrigue and the horrors of medieval warfare, with the MCs getting together near the end. But I really felt a lot of pressure from my reviewers to get them noticing each other a lot sooner because it was a tiny fandom and I didn't want to disappoint anyone. (My fic was literally the only fic over 10,000 words, so I felt like a cocktease.)

And you can't rule out that maybe they just aren't a very good writer. It's all well and good to say "The MCs aren't OOC they just have changed because of circumstances." But if the author doesn't show that, and if the events aren't enough that the audience can see WHY the characters have changed, then it's bad writing.

I suspect that's a trend because of the 14+ chapters.

It seems to me that most of times, people who start long fics without knowing how many chapters they will be just don't know very well where they want to go with the story. They have an idea and they go with the flow.
That is pretty much bound to end up with convoluted plot and characters drifting out of character.

I tend to avoid very long fics because of that (and because even when I start to read them, chances are I'll get bored or forget about them before the end is posted).

I notice that this happens if the writer runs out of ideas on where to take the story and starts flailing looking for inspiration. Long fic is hard.

...wow, reading the comments here, I feel like I'm the only fanfic author who started her 40+ chapter (wip) having planned out the entire plot in advance :/
seriously, does nobody plot their stories?

(no subject)

(Anonymous) - 2012-10-12 12:33 (UTC) - Expand

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(Anonymous) - 2012-10-12 12:46 (UTC) - Expand

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