It's Like a Simile

One of the reasons I'm not much for poetry is that I'm terrible with figurative language. No matter how much Douglas Adams I read,  I can't seem to figure out just what to compare with what else. I'm a bit lacking in description altogether—although I've been told that's not always a bad thing—and my metaphors and similes in particular are no exception.

For me, at least, they're a part of writing that are difficult to practise. I've read to never use a simile you've seen in writing, and it seems like reasonable advice to me. If it's that unique a simile, you're just copying someone outright; if it's not, why bother using it? As such, my only choice seems to be either trying to change another writer's exact wording—which doesn't seem right—or coming up with new ones outright.

The process seems to be

1. Find something that could be compared to something else without it obstructing the flow of the story.
2. Figure out something interesting with the quality to be emphasised.
3. Make sure the compared thing doesn't conflict with the narrator's knowledge or setting (e.g. a comparison to something that doesn't exist in the time period).

And there you have it. The problem is that I can't come up with anything good off the top of my head. It buzzed like... a bee? No, that's too simple. What else buzzes? Uh... Well...

That's about how it goes with me.  Recently, I had the idea to start a "Simile Bank" on the phone I carry around, so that when a good one hits me out in the field, I can save it right then. Unfortunately, it's rather rare that that happens, but it's a better bet than trying to puzzle it out in the midst of writing. I have about four right now, but you'll have to wait until they make it into my stories before you can read them. If I posted them here, after all, somebody else might put it into writing, and then I can't use it.

How are you with similes and metaphors? Other figurative language? What methods do you use to keep your comparisons fresh?

Take One Down, Pass It Around

How many POVs is too many?

I've gotten away with stories (fan fictions) that switch the point of view character every chapter and come back to any of the same ones very rarely. I've also done stories with some twenty-four POVs—hardly equally weighted—and some with about three or four. But what's the farthest you can go, either way? Is the story too one-track-minded if only the main character gets to carry the POV? Is it too incoherent if a long series of characters keeps passing on the baton?

I certainly prefer books with multiple POVs. Not dwelling on certain Hetalia/Hunger Games crossovers, original works like the Unwind dystology do a great job with POV-switching. There are certainly main characters that carry more POVs, but still other characters get their own voices, and even inanimate objects carry the story every once in a while for a change of pace.

Of course, I'm sure there are plenty of ways to go about multiple-POV stories the wrong way. I can't think of any actual examples, though; most books seem to be almost entirely single-POV.

There's nothing really wrong with that, though, right? A novel tends to be the main character's story—that's why the protagonist is the protagonist. Of course, many other characters' stories are entwined with the main character's, but does that mean they have to tell it in their own voices? Dialogue can cover a lot of that, and, of course, the other characters are moving along with their own actions as well.

What do you think? Who should get a POV? How is switching between multiple POVs done right, or wrong?

Visual Association Centers

I've been considering a visual novel for a while, particularly due to my experience with the Phoenix Wright games.

As such, my first hope was a fan fiction of sorts for that series; outside of a crossover, it's a little hard for me to think about fan works that wouldn't themselves be visual novels.

Of course, an original visual novel might be fun, too. There would be a lot more to put together than for a plain text-only, one-route novel, but that's the point, isn't it? I would just have to figure out what story wants to be seen as well, and not as a manga; what story could be playable with some alternate courses of action.

One friend has suggested Midnight at the Iston Diner for this. I am sort of drawn to the idea of doing more of a mystery for my visual novel, given my inspiration. It really wouldn't be bad seeing Jenny and some of the others, either.

What kind of visual novel would you want to play? Does anything of mine, Iston or otherwise, strike you as a good story for one? Would you even want to try a visual novel from me, or is it safer to spend my time on "normal" novels?

Put a Face on It

It has come to my attention that relatively few of my stories have actual antagonists established. This seems like a bad thing.

Now, some I just wouldn't want to state outright because it would spoil a lot of the story. But I can only think of one of those cases where I know the mysterious antagonistic force itself.

This is probably indeed a bad thing. Granted, I don't have all of my story ideas fully developed; that would take a ton of work for a lot of ideas that won't ever really insist on being written. But it seems like I leave out the antagonist disproportionately often. Even when I don't know the "Other Main Characters" well, I'll at least hack out a basic description. The bad guys? Not so much.

There are a few reasons why. One: I'm lazy sometimes. It's hard avoiding that when it comes to story ideas that just sort of showed up and didn't demand to be taken anywhere. Two, and hopefully the more major reason: there isn't always a distinct antagonist. Particularly in my favourite types of stories where all of the characters are at some point enemies, it's hard to specify exactly who should be labeled the antagonist. There are also times when it's more of a manner of survival—then who's the bad guy? Nature in general? Infectious bacteria? Large rocks?

Do I need more distinct driving forces all of the time? Is it more acceptable to wait for the evil masterminds to show themselves than the rest of the cast? How important is a real antagonist, anyway—as a symbol? As a finite force to be dealt with? Do you ever find yourself skimping on the real masterminds during the more up-front struggles of your stories?

At a Tremendous Pace

What's a better idea—taking a story at 2,500 words per day or 175?

Those were/are my average statistics for Phoenix Wright: Ace Tribute and Mayflies.

In some ways, it doesn't seem like I really had a choice. Ace Tribute absolutely demanded to be written to an extent I've honestly never experienced before. While my first NaNoWriMo novel (1,667 words per day) was rambling, inefficient, and confused, somehow this fan fiction turned out to be my pride and joy despite the frantic pace. Perhaps that's not the right way to phrase it. Is the pace really the independent variable here, or is it just a reliable measure of how darn inspired I was? I didn't set out to go at any particular pace at all. It just turned out to be over 7,000 words in the first three days, and it never slowed down that much until the very end. I honestly still don't understand how that story happened, and how it turned out all right. I may need an entire other post to try to work it out.

On the other end of the daily word count spectrum is Mayflies. Upon the start of the writing period in the 2YN class, I assumed an 80,000-word story and carefully calculated the rate I needed. My main error was assuming that I would take it up for NaNoWriMo last November, which I did not (in order to finish The Long and Winding Road instead, although that in turn ended up taking a backseat to Ace Tribute). I bumped up the word count from 160 or so to 175, and I may keep nudging it up. Usually I hit about 190 a day, anyway. The tiny goal, like most things, has both good and bad points. On the positive side, it's barely enough work to seem like a formidable obstacle when I'm not so inspired, so I'm able to go at it pretty steadily. On the other hand, my progress is slow. I don't mind terribly much, though. The charm of the story disappeared somewhere in the extensive world-building section of the 2YN class, so I find I'm not taking it that seriously as something I fully intend to publish. I'm just going to keep hacking away at it and seeing if it turns out all right.

It seems like inspiration is really the controlling factor when it comes to writing pace, but, at the same time, I can't always refuse to write when I don't feel like it. Admittedly, I haven't been dedicating much time to my stories lately because I've been busy with life-related things, but I still need some sense of discipline. How much can I make myself write before it seems like a chore? What do I consider a reasonable pace? How can I get motivated to write at that pace?

It's different for every story. Ace Tribute didn't require any outside motivation. Some of my other fan fictions just needed a few reviews to keep me chugging along. Mayflies just keeps going for the sake of all the time I've spent on it, and the idea that somewhere there's a worthwhile story to tell. I can't hope to be inspired every moment, but I can't just write 1,000 words of a story and kick it to the curb forever. I seem to have done that with Chasers and Piracy Cruise Lines, but I'm hoping to bring them back to the surface when I have few enough projects going that I can actually focus on them instead of just experimenting with the general idea.

What's your usual writing pace, if you have one? How heavily does it reply on discipline, or inspiration?

In an Inking Mood

As sort of a companion to my blabbering about writing and other art forms, I wanted to point out one idea in particular. If writing is like drawing, then I believe it follows:

Editing is like inking.

I don't find myself drawing as much as I used to, but, for finished drawings, I basically go through three steps: sketching, inking, and colouring. I would usually have several sketches and ideas floating around at the same time, so I could either go sketch or ink when I felt like drawing. I inherently enjoyed making the sketches more, because it was undeniably a creative process.

At the same time, I didn't want to just keep a bunch of pencil sketches rotting in a drawer, so inking was still a necessary thing to do. Usually I would still put it off until I was in the right mood—usually a little less excited but still artistic enough to have an interest in the drawings. This was also when I wasn't terribly inspired to create anything new, so why not go over the old stuff?

Writing is the same way. The actual writing is the exciting and creative part, but I'm not always in the mood for that, and the first draft isn't complete (as much as I love posting serially). So I still have to go back over what I've made, strengthening the needed points and erasing the errors and irrelevant strokes. It's not as amusing, but it's a good pursuit for those times I'm not inspired enough to churn out new material, and it's a necessary step in creating a polished, finished project.

Does anyone else think the same? Are there any other comparisons you'd like to draw (haha) between the two forms?

He Said, She Said

Speech tags are quite the troublesome creatures. Some people say not to use them at all; some say to only use "say"; some say to use whatever as long as you don't add adverbs.

I'm still a little conflicted on this point myself. I would do a study of books I read to see what techniques they use, but... I've never actually noticed. I don't know whether that means it's the right way of doing it or it just doesn't matter to me as a reader, though.

Although I do admit I have somewhat of a stance. I don't remember what story it was, but some time ago I decided to never use the word "said." Not by replacing speech tags with more sideways attributes, but by using "growled," "muttered," and so on. That did not go well. I agree with the idea that these sorts of tags should be used sparingly, and only if the tone of the speaker isn't obvious in the words themselves. Sometimes I have to debate between using such speech tags or using italics, exclamation points, etc. in the quote. I'm still not sure how to resolve those.

I don't like the idea of never using speech tags, though. I do try to avoid them sometimes, when I'd rather break up some dialogue ("I don't know." He leaned back, his head thumping against the wall. "I've just about had it, myself."), but I don't think this needs to be a golden rule. It's nice to have "beats" like that, as I've heard them called, but sometimes it leads to noting every time someone rearranges his legs or something, and it's just a lot of words without meaning. I'd rather throw a few "say"s in there than put out such boring beats all of the time.

How about you? Do you take much notice of speech tags in your reading or writing?

Applied Physics

Despite my deep loathing of the subject, I've found that physics can, in fact, be useful. Even to writing. More specifically, I found the explanation of elasticity to be quite relatable to how I tend to develop my characters. Here's a lovely illustration for those unfamiliar with this concept:

[image from http://www.tutorvista.com/content/physics/physics-iii/solids-and-fluids/elasticity-modulus.php]

At the beginning, the stress (basically, force or pressure) gets added to the object, and the strain (stretching or compression) of the object increases proportionally. So, when the story just starts out and the character's troubles have only begun, he can adjust to the stress put on him and grow without being harmed too much.

Once the elastic limit is hit, things start to get weird. No longer is the relationship between stress and strain so simple. The object can still stretch and compress, but it doesn't take much more stress, and, once the stressor is removed, the object can't return to its original state; it is permanently deformed. So, once our main character reaches a certain amount of stress or trauma, it just isn't something he can adjust to. He can indeed rise above the circumstances, but he has to stretch himself too much to do so, and he'll just never be able to go back to the person he was.

Last but hardly least is the fracture or breaking point. What happens to the object there should be obvious. The character, likewise: whatever he used to be before, he is now but a broken shell of a man.

Exactly how much stress you want to put on a character, or how much he can handle before hitting one point or the other, can and ought to vary from author to author, story to story, and character to character. Want to break everybody? Go ahead. Just warp them? Sure. Break a few, warp a few, and just stretch the others a little? No problem. It just depends on what kind of story you want to tell and what kind of characters you want to deal with.



Double-Crossed

I have a soft spot for crossover stories. Of course, a lot of this is because of the fan fiction series that I loved writing even if I cringe to actually read it, but the appeal goes farther than that. It even goes farther than the general concept of throwing beloved characters from a generally bright and sunshiny series into various death traps and other trauma.

Really, all writing is crossover writing. I don't mean we're all really fan fiction writers (although an argument could probably be made for that), but we're too far along in time for any work to be wholly its own thing. Brutal is a crossover between Hetalia and The Hunger Games; The Long and Winding Road is a crossover between Hetalia and the zombie apocalypse; the story of Max in prison is a crossover between Macbay Transportation Services and a writing prompt; Portalmancy is a crossover between the ideas of a more literal photogate and the power to telepathically switch door hinges.

Whether it be an entire pre-made universe (such as the real world, if not a published story), a system of magic, a character trait, or or a time period, everything in a story is from somewhere else. The only real creation is crossing things over, finding a complex combination that hasn't quite been laid out in words (or pictures, or maybe notes) before.

That's my take on it, at least. What do you think?

And By Flip-Flops, I Mean Freedom

Symbolism is supposedly a big part of literature. I'm not really in on the bandwagon.

When I was little, my school had a Young Authors and Poets club. I joined, figuring I was pretty good at poetry (although at the time I didn't think it was anything more than writing in verse). The first time we did a group critique—or at least swapped each other's pieces and talked about them—a boy named Seth informed me it wasn't a really good poem because it didn't have enough symbolism.

I've since dropped out of the poetry sphere, but that doesn't mean I'm out of hot water yet. Symbols are still important to prose, or so I hear, and, well, I write prose. It's a way to incorporate deeper meaning into things without hitting the reader over the head with it.

Symbolism also seems to tie in with theme, which may be why it gives me trouble. It's all about getting a point across, which just isn't why I write. Sure, there are things that I argue, but most modern people are just going to be offended by what I have to say, and I've never once written a story for the theme. I just want to play with characters I like in a world I like, and pushing a theme into the mix may still allow that, but it hogs some of the focus.

So, I'll probably try to work in some symbolism, although the way I write it would have to wait until editing.

What kind of symbols do you use in your stories? Like to see in other stories?

(For anyone curious about the title: In my "nerd prison" school, flip-flops weren't allowed, which made me unhappy because I quite like wearing flip-flops. Additionally, Dad won't let [trans: make] me drive if I'm wearing flip-flops. Thus the freedom part.)

Shouting at a Brick Wall

It's hard to tell what readers think if they don't say anything. This is a rather frustrating fact, although I understand that there are plenty of legitimate reasons for readers not to comment.

For example, I get a lot of hits from foreign countries that aren't predominantly English-speaking. If the reader is not very confident in his or her English, I can totally understand why he or she would want to avoid saying anything the wrong way.

I'm not very good at critiques myself, so I don't want to review if I don't feel I have to—usually for oneshot fan fictions or other completed fan fictions that I can just add to my favourites to express approval—but I do try to give a few comments on things that affected me and encourage the author to post the next chapter soon. It just seems like a way to show respect for the writing and what the writer goes through.

Recently, I checked out the profile of someone who reviewed Cage, and I saw one section that I really loved:

"You know that thing you as a reader, or writer for a matter of fact, call too lazy to review? To us as writers it scares us and we begin to think:

Is my writing really that bad?

Does anybody even read this stuff?

What's wrong with it? Grammar? Spelling? My style? SOMEBODY TELL ME!

I suck at this... I quit.
 

Why do I even write anymore?

That's what causes some of your favorite stories on fanfiction to become abandoned, because the author lost their will to write. Every time we go without a review we get discouraged and that little sense of doubt in the back of our had starts nagging at us, telling us how much our writing sucks. When I was a reader I didn't believe in reviewing. But now as a writer, I review all the stories I possibly can. All it takes is a few seconds... Be kind about it too."

Thankfully I've been blessed to find someone patient enough to review just about everything I write, fan fiction or blog, so my situation really isn't that bad if no one else gives me feedback. Still, sometimes I have to wonder. I can see that people have viewed a chapter or post, but what did they think? Did it bore them so they never even finished? Did they think it was absolutely stupid and just held their tongues to avoid being rude? Did they just get redirected accidentally and not want to see it at all?

Then there's the case of Break Out, a fiction that has more or less moved entirely out of my interest. Still, I continued it because some reviewers pleaded so earnestly that it was a good story and something I should never consider abandoning. Then all of the reviews per chapter dribbled off to three or four. Now, that's a great number in my opinion, for, say, The Long and Winding Road or Cage. Those stories, however, still cry out to be written. Break Out is only there for the readers, few of which seem to care about my efforts enough to lend a bit of time to review. Am I right in feeling ripped off, or am I just whiny? Do I have to once again threaten to end the series for those enamoured reviewers to return? Has the uninspired quality sunk so low no one thinks I deserve a review?

I've always been insecure about the quality of my writing, and I think some dose of that is inevitable for the lot of us. But as the quote on my eBook cover goes, "A writer only begins a book. A reader finishes it." Writing is a cooperative enterprise, and I want to feel like we're all actually cooperating. I'm sure I'll feel a bit differently as to how that relationship works when I have some stories for sale instead of just available for free on fanfiction.net, but I'll always want some feedback.

As far as the blog goes, I'm not too worried about stopping it. The New Fiction Idea #So-and-So series in particular has been helpful to me to keep track, even if I don't get all that much feedback from possible readers of the story. That's not to say I'm not disappointed in the same manner when something like New Short Story Idea #3 doesn't get any comments, but I can handle that. This blog isn't all that much work, and it's one of those things that I feel like I'm doing for myself. It's intended to generate a bigger fanbase for when I publish, but maybe it will get there. I'll just keep throwing my ramblings out there and hoping someone will respond.

It Beats Killing Real People

Or: Writing for Stress Relief.

You see, I'm a murderous person. (I'm sure those that have read my Hunger Games fan fictions will be shocked by this revelation.) My "backup" career choice is based on my fascination with how people die.

At the same time, the Bible says murder is a no-no. I'm not going to get all of the schooling necessary for medical examiner-dom anytime soon, either.

The only instantly-gratifying, bloodthirst-satisfying solution, then, is killing people who don't exist. It's also great for stress relief.

For example, let's say I'm extremely upset with people who travelled long distances to Oklahoma in order to rob the people who had lost their homes, limbs, and/or elementary-age children to the recent tornadoes. So I write a story where some fictionalised versions of these thieves engage in such matters and either meet their terribly gruesome deaths or head home only to find their houses have been destroyed in one of the wildfires in Colorado. Or both. Yeah, probably both.

Of course, I do my share of killing off perfectly innocent characters as well. It's just whatever I feel like doing at the time, whatever would help blow off steam. That's the magic of writing—I can do whatever I want to these characters, and it will never be wrong. It might even be enjoyable or helpful to some people.

Do you like to get away with murder in your stories? What else?

Order Chronological Writing In

You know how they always told you to do all of the hard problems on a test first and then go back to the easy stuff? Apparently it's supposed to be exactly the opposite of that when it comes to writing. Write every scene that comes easily, that you see in your head, in whatever order you feel like writing them, and then go back and put in connecting writing later.

It seems I'm just too "OCD" to do either.

Maybe it's just because I'm used to publishing chapter by chapter, and usually at a pace that wouldn't allow me to jump around if I wanted to. Maybe it's my need for a sense of completions—I'd rather write a finished chapter than a disembodied scene.

In any case, other authors advise working like this, and it does seem like a good idea to churn out what wants churning out. Just the other night, I was held hostage (i.e. awake) by a variation of a future scene in The Long and Winding Road. Is that when I'm supposed to cast away the bedsheets, run for the computer, and write it? I think that would have been possible, but I'm already wary of editing a normal amount—having to go back through the earlier scenes that I would write later to go back to the future scene and adjust some mindsets, wounds, etc. would not be a lot of fun. And it would probably be as confusing as it sounds. I don't mind challenging myself, but... shall I mention again that I am "OCD" about these things?

I'll never know how much this kind of technique would benefit my writing until I try it, though, so I may experiment with one of my less serious New Fiction Ideas. If it turns out to be too conducive to writer's block, I can always scrap the idea and start at the very beginning (a very good place to start, might I add).

How do you do your writing? Follow the inspiration? Take it chapter by chapter? Utilise some other odd technique that works for you?

Thou Shalt Not Judge (Except When it Makes for a Good Story)

Usually, it's not nice to pass judgment on people. You could always be right, of course, but that little bit of victory doesn't warrant jumping to conclusions and probably hurting the one judged.

However.

If you can jump to conclusions without actually jumping to conclusions—form hypotheses without assuming they actually apply—you can end up with some good story material. And the farther you go (or the more ridiculous, depending on your writing specialty), the better.

Let's say you're on your way to work/school, and as you pass the local running track, you catch a glance of a young woman. She's suitably fit and in what you consider to be normal morning running clothes, but she is currently sitting on a bench at the side of the track, sipping from a Starbucks cup. The first assumption you have is that she has either been out running or is getting ready to run. That doesn't explain the whole situation, though.

First, let's say it would be no one would go running with a full cup of hot coffee/whatever on earth else she's drinking from Starbucks. From there, we can take two basic routes.

One, she has not been running with a full cup of Starbucks and is drinking it before she hits the track. Makes sense—but why is she having her morning caffeine on an otherwise empty park bench? Maybe she's just enjoying the morning. Maybe she's pretending to just enjoy the morning. Maybe that other space on the bench had been taken up by her boyfriend, who then left her in both senses of the word. In fact, she doesn't have a habit of drinking coffee—she just left the bench to grab something bready and something sweet to drink to calm her buzzing mind, and she couldn't stand to stay around all of the people in that Starbucks when she's barely able to keep herself from crying. There aren't too many people that pass this way, certainly not many that would pay any attention, so she came back here, to a spot that she can no longer say is her favourite place to run.

Two, the cup is empty. She drank it before she started running, and there aren't any convenient disposal spots along the track, so she had yet to get rid of it when she caught a glance of her best, best friend from high school who stole her boyfriend and, just a few months ago, her job. Said best, best friend is leaving the tennis court in the middle of the running track, and the jogger was on route to run into her. Instead she decided to park it on a bench, pretending to drink some coffee so no one passing by suspects anything, until the best, best friend was gone. If they ran into each other again, the jogger would probably end up beating the crap out of her. That would not be a good thing to repeat.

But perhaps we're not interested in writing high school dramas. Luckily, as you pass the track and turn a corner, you see two men putting up a section of fence: one, who doesn't particularly stand out, squatting to hold the bottom down as another, topless and wearing bright orange pants, drives in some nails. It looks like something a prisoner would wear. But what is he doing in the street, if he is indeed an escaped prisoner? Did he have help? Did one of his helpers sustain a wound that required a little cloth to bind? How did he get out of that one?

Any normal human being would take note of such things, maybe find it odd, but shrug it off and keep moving. Writers, on the other hand, can keep chasing the most insignificant character on the side of the road—not with the car, hopefully, but with crazy trains of thought veering off to wild conclusions worth reading. Just try not to get anybody hurt.

The Required Amount of Slacking Off

Writing requires discipline. Staring at a blank Word document just letting random scenes flit about my head is not productive. Looking at a half-written page, closing it, and running off to play Neopets is not any better. Trying to write the next chapter of a fan fiction while checking email, forums, and deviantArt every few seconds isn't the best idea, either.

At the same time, forcing myself to stare at the blinking cursor for forty minutes when The Muse is hiding behind the lamp and laughing at my foolishness isn't the greatest way to write, either. Discipline by itself can put words on a page, but a story should be more than just that. What's the point of writing for enjoyment if, well, I'm not enjoying it? Writing isn't necessarily a romantic enterprise 100% of the time, but the words should start flowing once I get started. If not, I can't guarantee the slightest bit of quality in the story, and that's not going to help me get back into the swing of things.

I'm still trying to find the balance between putting my rear to the chair to write and taking enough breaks. I need some taste of life to write about it (or some strange, alternate version of it, anyway), but I didn't exactly get loads of writing done while I was running about Japan and China in May. (Additionally, I'm too much of an introvert to want to experience too much on a daily basis.) Managing NaNoWriMo alongside a full school/social schedule really helped, I think, but it's a totally different balance to strike in the middle of summer with nothing but church and some hospital volunteering as my face-to-face social interaction.

How do you manage writing at a good pace for you? Do you have any recommendations for disciplined writing (other than my favourite, Write or Die)? How about for break time?

Writing from Music

As opposed to just writing to music.

At an orchestra concert a while ago, I had been innocently listening to the music when Luke (sitting next to me) asked what kind of head-story I had formed from the music. I, of course, had done no such thing, but I gave it a shot for the next piece and ended up with some short concerning a werewolf and a fleeing female (no relation to Dynblaidd).

That was the last song of the night, and my little story wasn't interesting enough to flesh out, but I thought I might give it another try. I've already toyed with an idea concerning "Just a Job to Do" by Genesis (which somehow came on shuffle as I was writing this, just like the original post...), but I think I might check out some more classical-type music. Being without lyrics, it'd be a lot more challenging, but it's worth a shot. If I come up with anything interesting, I'll put up a New Fiction Idea and give credit to the song; if I fail several times, I may just post a sequel to this with the fragments I got from the songs.

Have you ever sought inspiration from music without lyrics? Do you have any songs you'd like to recommend?

Draft Dodging

Overall I'm quite new to the editing process. I've certainly had rought drafts, etc. for school papers (ten pages over historical reasons for the theory of the humours... ugh), but I've rarely done such things for my fictional works. Usually I just churn out a chapter of fan fiction, fix any of those pesky squiggly red lines, and post it.

I've been a bit better on The Long and Winding Road. I've still done little editing, but I at least reread the chapter and edit for flow issues, misincorporated words, etc. I haven't read up on any "official" terms for editing techniques, but I would consider this something like fine-level editing.

So, if the raw writing is my first draft, the published fan fiction would be my second draft. After that, some major editing needs to be done in accordance with the original characters in the alternate version of the story. Once that third draft is done, another fine, readability edit is a good option so I'm not distracted by small errors, and that gives me my fourth draft.

My fifth draft, then, would be the result of larger-scale editing: seeing if individual scenes or even chapters are necessary to the storyline and such. I'm still only vaguely sure about how this whole process works, so I really can't be sure about anything past that. I'll need to make sure things are consistent with each other and with the real world (or the post-apocalyptic real world, at any rate). Extra revisions may be needed after giving that draft to a test audience, and then I guess at some point I'll come to my nth, final draft and hit Smashwords.

I'm sure my 2YN class is going to cover editing quite well, so I'm not too worried about my inexperience just yet. Still, it all seems quite daunting, especially when my previous editing experiences weren't for anything I really enjoyed.

How many levels of editing do you aim for? Any tips for me?

A Pearl Worth Writing For

Recently I've finally come to realize that (shocker) if I don't enjoy writing a story, it's really not worth the loads of time and effort I put into it.

This is an unfortunate realization for the readers of Break Out. I've really only been writing it for the readers. I had my fun in The Rules, but Break Out was the more seriously-taken sequel to explain why I was able to have my fun in The Rules. Negligible amounts of my own interest went into deciding to write the sequel. The chapter with France finding Canada wanted to be written, as did the chapter with Italy taking an unexpected turn (which was originally going to be in The Rules, anyway). That's it. I haven't plotted enough to know what happens at the point I've reached, and I've realized I don't really care anymore. I've only been writing my 2,500 words every four days for the readers' sake, and so few showed much interest the last chapter posted (until recently) that I just gave up on it.

I'm not promising I'll never go back to it. If it becomes of interest to me, or if I have a lot of extra time and pushy readers, I'm sure I'd be fine with writing some more. I already have the "normal" amount of reviews for the last chapter, so I'm not feeling quite so abandoned. It's difficult trying to balance what I want to do with what I should do for readers, but I've chatted with a good handful of friends (and my mother), and they've agreed that I just shouldn't write it if I don't want to—it's my hobby, for veal's sake. (If I do give on forever on Break Out, I'll at least post a summary of what was supposed to happen next, so no need to panic too much.)

At the same time, I hope I don't end up doing this with all of my original fictions. The Long and Winding Road is getting few enough reviews that I can be sure I'm not just writing it for the readers, and I'm not seriously thinking that I might lose interest in it. As for my other (future) fictions, at this point I don't know. I'm worried that I'll find myself losing interest in things and losing my discipline in the process. Hopefully that's just another unfounded accusation I'm making at myself, but I guess only time will tell. If nothing else, I've powered through all 50,000 words of NaNoWriMo with a fiction I was at no point proud to call my own.

What do you think? Any advice for me? Have you ever been in this sort of situation? What do you think makes writing worth it?

(Also, if the title sounds somehow familiar but you can't quite place it, here's your hint. I also mean "pearl" in the metaphorical sense, though hopefully that's not difficult to figure out.)

The Length and Breadth of It

This week was full of writing fan fiction, a ten-page paper on Ambrose Bierce's use of the grotesque, and a four-page paper on the epigenetic effects of the Dutch Winter Hunger famine. Naturally, I came to wonder why I'm (if not particularly confident) comfortable with writing fan fiction, while these other writings felt more akin to having my teeth scraped at the dentist's.

One idea I targeted was that I don't like nonfiction. I don't have a tendency to read it, nor do I enjoy reading history books, no matter whether other students think a certain section was better than others. On the other hand, I like reading most types of fiction, particularly speculative, but not those that too closely try to mimic real life, like things based in high school (other than Seven Pieces of Chalk. If you are in a period of your life that is relatively stable emotionally, I demand that you read it, whether you're familiar with Hetalia or not). All of my fan fictions and original fictions are very much, well, fiction. Yet here I am, writing nonfiction in a blog, pretty much for enjoyment.

Next I thought it was the research. I definitely didn't like reading fancy literary journals, or most of my other sources (with the exception of an introduction written by someone named Italo). When I write stories, I really avoid all non-pathological research whenever possible. Yet I have found myself spending significant amounts of time browsing Google Earth satellite images of my setting in The Long and Winding Road. I've even done some very basic (read: rarely more than one paragraph of Wikipedia) research on historical topics for Hetalia fan fiction.

Maybe it's the formal tone of research papers? I prefer a more loose and snarky tone in my works, even if some characters' POV sections are more syntactically complex, etc. Yet I write entire formally-worded chemistry lessons in one of my fan fictions.

I guess it's some combination of the above that can't quite be generalised. I don't like nonfiction in general, but I make exceptions. It's also nice that, in my blog posts, it makes absolutely no difference how many words I use (although I do have word count requirements in almost all of my fan fictions). I don't like doing research unless it's either something that honestly interests me or for something that honestly interests me. I feel like formal writing is much too restrictive, but, utilised in small amounts for ultimately ironic purpose, it's all right.

Not that I'm absolutely sure about all of that. I'm terrible at judging my feelings in general.

Anyone else in a similar situation?

Writing Tools

What do you use to write?

I've never really been one for writing on paper. I do exchange letters with a friend--who gave me a fancy pen and ink!--but my handwriting is too junky and slow for writing my stories that way to appeal to me. Also, marking out ink annoys me. I have done some writing with pencil in journal, though only out of necessity. I jotted down sections of my NaNo novel whenever I could, which usually wasn't near a computer. I've also written pieces of What If in a drawing journal because I was at church camp with no computer access. Basically, I don't like writing in hand in general, but if I need to write enough, I'll do it.

On the other hand, I've never tried any fancy writing software. There were all of these discounts offered to NaNoWriMo winners, and I've heard people singing the praises of Scrivener and some other things in the NaNo forums. I've never tried any, because they all tend to cost money, but I don't know it would be worth it. I've made it this far on Microsoft Word and the fanfiction.net Document Editor. Then again, I'm not quite published, am I? I may look more into these things, though I seriously doubt I would ever spend money on it, because I'm just terribly cheap.

Does anyone have experience with writing software, or detailed recommendations? Coupons? Tips on improving handwriting?