Original fic: Week Six

[haldoor.livejournal.com]

We are just a week off finishing this challenge! How are you doing with your fic?



I have actually made some progress on editing an old fic, so that's something! I haven't managed to write anything new or add to anything, but my editing has been progress, even if I have taken away words! Woot! Yes, I realised I needed to go through the original story if I was to make sense of where I was with the sequel, and so I have been spending a bit of time re-reading and cutting out badly written and/or unnecessary bits in that original. I also managed to sort out that list of example chapters I showed you last week, and now have just one tidy document called Chapters 1-5, which is as far as I got with it way back. I decided to make the best of where I was at and continue to edit the old fic to see where that gets me. Can't say I've got far, as I've only looked as far as the first 15 (of 71) chapters, and that did include going over some I'd already edited, so there's heaps more to do, but I guess there's no reason I can't keep working on them even after this challenge is over!

Here are a last couple of prompts for you should you need them:

1. My drug dealer got arrested.

2. Party late into the night.

Now, discussions: do you agree with the suggestion you should write what you know? And if so, do you think it includes things you have no personal knowledge of, but that you have read about and/or seen in movies/TV and/or in real life A LOT, so you feel that you know much about them, apart from personally?

My example here is the fic I am working on. It features a lot of things that I don't have any personal experience of: American teenage life, boys in love, American football, to name a few! It is set in the 1980s, which I personally lived through as a young adult, so there's that, but the rest of it is something I can only say I know from a distance. I have my doubts about how well I 'get' it, but I have a huge set of reference and research background on it from what I have read about, seen, and talked with others on the subject, so I hope I do it justice. I have a lot of passion for the project, so although I may not have the personal knowledge, I like to hope my desire to get it 'right' can overcome that.

Now, go forth and get those last goals for this challenge in before the week is over!

Comments

[cmk418]

I'm currently writing about magic and dragons, so I would have to say, to a certain extent, no, you absolutely don't. But I think some of it, at least on an emotional level, needs to relate to things you or someone you know has gone through. You've been a teenager, you've been in love, you've probably played a sport and experienced triumph/failure at some point. (Might want to watch or read "Friday Night Lights" to get some of the football culture down.) I think if you can draw on your emotions for all of those things you'll come out with something authentic.

I'm still plugging away with my second draft. I'm thinking about writing setting descriptions- which I despise, but while I can see the location details in my head without the words on the paper, no one else can. I don't want it to be exposition, but I want the reader to see what I'm seeing. Same goes for the characters as well. I may need to sneak in details where I can.

I wrote a one-off today for a Write Every Day challenge and it's here.

[haldoor.livejournal.com]

That absolutely makes sense! How many of us have absolute experience with magic and dragons! ;-)

Thanks for the advice - as it happens the American Football is fairly peripheral, and a good friend helped me out with some useful details back in the day, so that bit won't be getting edited out! ;-) The sequel doesn't rely on the sports thing at all, thankfully (esp. since I have very little interest!). And you're so right about the emotional aspect - I often get caught up in my characters' emotions, so that definitely helps.

I can totally relate on the not wanting to do setting descriptions, but some of course are necessary, especially when your universe is not the world we actually reside in. Sneaking in details where you can is absolutely the better way to do it. I feel like all the best books do it that way; I just wish I was better at it myself!

Your one-off was very well done, and definitely atmospheric. Great stuff! ;-)

[asphaltcowgrrl.livejournal.com]

Yay for progress! I do agree though - when they're older works, you really do need to do a read through and tweak it a bit before you can work on it.

I think that it should start with something you're familiar with in some way, and then build on that. Even if the thing you 'know' are interpersonal relationships or cooking or whatever. That way, you have a bit of a basis of fact to branch out on.

[haldoor.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Absolutely! From this distance, I can totally see my growth as a writer since then, and more objectively see where extraneous matter sits.

That does make sense! ;-)

[asphaltcowgrrl.livejournal.com]

Same here. I was looking for a detail in something from just a couple of years ago, and I can see the difference! So, growth is a good thing!

:)