Nanoha FanFiction Discussion

[00-Raiser]

Well, I've said this before but I never have outlines for my fics. I have general ideas of what I want to include and how it'll end, but that's about it. Nothing becomes concrete until I actually write it.

There is one exception, though. I had an outline written out for Ace Enforcer because it was my first attempt at a murder mystery and I felt I should set all the evidence and clues straight so it all added up.

[DezoPenguin]

Originally Posted by RadiantBeam

*looks at earlier drafts of BtBR*

I knew I abandoned those plans for a reason.

Originally Posted by sniperk

Well, I don't know if I fall in one of this categorys but, from the two long fics I'm writing at the moment, CaD and Decisions, CaD I had the outline since the beggining, so the story is kind of set in my mind, but Decisions I started on a spur of the moment thing. I remember that I asked 00-Raiser to take a look at the first draft of it for me and then asked him. "What do I do with it now?"

Of course, now I have the outline, but in that moment I had absolutely no idea what I was doing.

Actually, those two responses illustrate my point precisely. All writing starts with an idea, but once beyond that point there has to be some fleshing out of the idea, to say "this is where I'm going with this story, and here is how I want to get there, and this is what I want to happen along the way." Without that knowledge, the story will just ramble on. I've seen way too many reasonably entertaining pieces of fanfiction just stop because the writers didn't actually know what they were doing.

Compare, tropewise, The Chris Carter Effect which is when the fans realize that the writer has no idea where they're going (or just come to believe that they don't). Equally applicable to fanfiction as well as TV because both are installment series.

There's also a variant which seems to apply to pretty much the entire "urban fantasy" genre, which is, "the plot will be extended for as long as the readers can be convinced to keep buying books." Therefore, nothing will ever be resolved, intentionally, because the story would have to end at that point. Which is, not coincidentally, why I've given up on almost all urban fantasy other than The Dresden Files (in which each book provides plenty of good writing, so that I don't necessarily care what the hell is happening on the metaplot level).

[spawnofthejudge]

Originally Posted by DezoPenguin

Which is, not coincidentally, why I've given up on almost all urban fantasy other than The Dresden Files (in which each book provides plenty of good writing, so that I don't necessarily care what the hell is happening on the metaplot level).

I can't even do that. I need my stories to have a specific end in mind, or at least some sort of planned resolution. Without that, I'm sort of asking the question "what am I doing reading/watching/experiencing this anyway?"

[RadiantBeam]

Originally Posted by DezoPenguin

Actually, those two responses illustrate my point precisely. All writing starts with an idea, but once beyond that point there has to be some fleshing out of the idea, to say "this is where I'm going with this story, and here is how I want to get there, and this is what I want to happen along the way." Without that knowledge, the story will just ramble on. I've seen way too many reasonably entertaining pieces of fanfiction just stop because the writers didn't actually know what they were doing.

The irony of that being that sometimes, when an author really wants to develop a story into something more, they actually end up developing a coherent plotline to focus on one point!

A good example would be "Sisters". I knew pretty early on that I wanted to continue to develop the idea of Miyuki/Nanoha, but I also knew that I couldn't just depend on the romance angle between the two of them because the incest factor was still involved. So as a result of that, I had to seriously step back and make some outlines with plot ideas to carry the whole fic, with the romance playing a major role in the overall story and character development instead of being the complete sole focus of the fic.

(I wish I could say the same for BtBR, but, well.... Fiasse and Elise got really annoyed with being just side characters. >>;;;; )

[Kaijo]

For myself, sometimes I wish I had kept my MGLN: Crisis notes, as a way to show people who want to see how my thought processes go. I had a vague outline of how I wanted things to go, and varying amount of detail with regards to events on the way, but I constantly surprise myself with how I change things as I get to the plot points, and how much vagueness I leave.

Early on, before I got there, I literally had just a few notes on The Golden City; I wasn't quite sure how to handle things, except for a vague idea to confront Precia. I wasn't even sure who would go up there, and had lists that sometimes included the Wolkenritter, Alto, Vice, Arisa and Suzuka. As I got closer and closer to that point, I realized it would be a bit too much to get all those people up there, so I created a land battle in the city so that everyone else could be involved. This decision was done literally like a chapter or two before I got to that point.

Red Jewel Diaries is more of a set of short stories, but I'm on the eve of doing huge multi-arcs again.. this time, two stories at near the same time; one takes place on Earth, and one on Mid-Childa, and both will have some light connections between each other. I have some detailed notes for both, but interestingly enough, I don't quite have the endings plotted out because there are several ways they could go and I just have a vague idea of confrontations in my mind. To me, the endings aren't nearly as interesting as the buildup that gets you there. I feel if you can do a decent buildup, the ending will naturally take care of itself.

Pretty much, if you can put together a decent buildup, the story will write itself. You'll find ideas for scenes you didn't think of before, or realize you need to add or delete scenes. And of course, some scenes I have clearly in my mind from the start, come through just as planned, heh. I think it's partly this unknown factor that makes it exciting for me to write.

Although, lately, I haven't been writing as much as I'd like to. I want to, but I keep distracting myself with other things like rewatching the MacGyver series, heh. Dragon Quest is almost done, though, as I've been adding little bits here and there and slowly chipping away at it; things are just going slower than I like right now, heh.

[Nanya01]

Originally Posted by Byrnbot08

Also: How do the writers here feel about extended stories (as in exceeding 5 chapters/parts)? Would love to see more around. Gotta love those plotbunnies.

...

*Points to FF.Net page*

5 chapters isn't really that long, IMO.

...

So, yeah, I like extended stories. Like reading them. Not so much in writing them.

...

So why do I write so much?

I have no clue.

I just do.

[ghazghkull]

Originally Posted by Nanya01

...

*Points to FF.Net page*

5 chapters isn't really that long, IMO.

...

So, yeah, I like extended stories. Like reading them. Not so much in writing them.

...

So why do I write so much?

I have no clue.

I just do.

You haven't written much lately though :/

You used to produce on a regular basis, like at least once a week with Day in the Life. Life been busy I'm guessing?

[Byrnbot08]

Originally Posted by Nanya01

5 chapters isn't really that long, IMO.

Well, I consider 5 parts or chapters to be sufficiently long enough to show that an author is either writing a nice long piece of fan-fic, trying to lengthen the current plot of the existing story or adding to a series of continuous one-shots/omake-type stories.

Any less would indicate something along the lines of either:

• A short story.
• A one-shot gone horrribly long
• An insincere author (abandoned a plotbunny due to lack of interest/determination ,)
• The author being too busy in life to work on it or...
• The author is dead. Either internet dead (no activity,) or really dead.

Also @Nanya: Loving Day in the Life, have been re-reading chapters. Like the format, but get confused around the jump between characters sometimes.

And I have checked the whole thread before I started posting as a user and have read some very interesting classics around here. Brilliant stuff.

Meh. Getting long winded. Standing by...

[RadiantBeam]

Originally Posted by ghazghkull

You haven't written much lately though :/

You used to produce on a regular basis, like at least once a week with Day in the Life. Life been busy I'm guessing?

Well, if it's too much for him to handle on his own I don't mind helping him out with it. But Nanya's probably busy with real life, and I'm not involved in the project anymore except for the Miyuki arc, so it's kind of all on him at this point.

[Nanya01]

Originally Posted by ghazghkull

You haven't written much lately though :/

You used to produce on a regular basis, like at least once a week with Day in the Life. Life been busy I'm guessing?

*looks at all the video games around him, the new season of slayers, school work.*

...yep. Busy.

[ghazghkull]

Originally Posted by Nanya01

*looks at all the video games around him, the new season of slayers, school work.*

...yep. Busy.

School, is excusable.

Anime and games? Shame. For shame!

[Keroko]

Originally Posted by ghazghkull

Anime and games? Shame. For shame!

Sush. Authors need their... research.

[Nanya01]

Originally Posted by ghazghkull

School, is excusable.

Anime and games? Shame. For shame!

I've also got work till midnight several nights a week.

[RadiantBeam]

Originally Posted by Nanya01

I've also got work till midnight several nights a week.

Well, write when you have the time and the urge. There's no real pressure.

[Satashi]

Originally Posted by 00-Raiser

Well, I've said this before but I never have outlines for my fics. I have general ideas of what I want to include and how it'll end, but that's about it. Nothing becomes concrete until I actually write it.

Same. As you all know (which is funny because people on FF.N don't) I write on-the-fly with no real plot thought out or idea where I'm going :3 It just kinda...goes. Like SbtB which was originally going to be a one-shot teaser, and AlternativeS, which was going to be a simple 3 part story...

Thank the gods I have you guys to help me. AlternativeS, especially, wouldn't have been done if not for everyone here. :3

[Comartemis]

Pretty much, if you can put together a decent buildup, the story will write itself. You'll find ideas for scenes you didn't think of before, or realize you need to add or delete scenes. And of course, some scenes I have clearly in my mind from the start, come through just as planned, heh. I think it's partly this unknown factor that makes it exciting for me to write.

Assuming of course that you can find the motivation and the time to write the damn thing. I can't count the number of times I've gotten plotlines and stories fully fleshed-out complete with timelines broken down by chapter and then the thing just died on me because my muse and I both got distracted by something shiny. As is, I've got three fanfic ideas brewing at the moment, two of which are likely to get a single chapter done before they die on me like they always do.

Sometimes I hate being ADD.

[sniperk]

Generally I don't know how the story I'm writing is going to play out. I have a few landmarks that I want to get to during it, but the end I never know before I start writing it. Well, I never did finish a multichapter story before so that doesn't count as much, but while I know what I'm gonna do with both my ongoing stories, I have yet to think on how they'll end.

[deathcurse]

I do a form of plot mapping where you write a sentence describing the first scene and the last scene, then fill inbetween with other scenes . So I have a backbone of a plot while I write, but unfortunately, most of my stories do a length-creep on me ....

Never finished a multi-chapter story yet either (hopefully Angel will make it to be my first... .....), but I always know how it's going to end....unless tragedy strikes !

[sniperk]

Originally Posted by deathcurse

I do a form of plot mapping where you write a sentence describing the first scene and the last scene, then fill inbetween with other scenes . So I have a backbone of a plot while I write, but unfortunately, most of my stories do a length-creep on me ....

Never finished a multi-chapter story yet either (hopefully Angel will make it to be my first... .....), but I always know how it's going to end....unless tragedy strikes !

In my case, comparing to anime, in a 24 episode season, I know what will happen until episode 22-23, but the last one, how things will effectivelly end, I have no idea.

My thinking is similar to kaijo in that regard, because I think that when the buildup is done the end will be apparent.

[spawnofthejudge]

I'm actually writing my first true outline... I don't think I'd be able to handle a mystery plot without one... but most of the time, I like how the writing sort of takes me along for the ride, rather than my plan really meaning anything.