Black dribbly candles... yep it's necromancy time again

This time two things, but first a few words of explaination. I have been writing fairly solidly since ther last thing I posted. But recently I found myself on the fifth reworking of what I was sure was a good idea, I had 25k words down (again) and a good idea of where to go. But it was the fifth rework for a reason, it had taken ages and wouldn't flow so ultimatly I packed it in because it was no fun any more.

I looked here and followed Destri's advice on finding an interesting bit of lore and filling it out. And the new one is going swimmingly, but I have rather hammered it down to push through the block with internal editor set to 'off' (I'm kinder to my internal editor than Haute... ) so it's very rough. Which brings me to my first question:

How do people redraft? Any tips? I generally tend to write fairly close to a finished product first time and then just edit descriptions, word choice and balance things a bit. But this needs more than that and I wondered if anyone had any effective methods. I lack patience and have a tendancy to resort to cut and paste.

The second question is more one of taste. What do you listen to while you write? I tend towards soundtracks and (some) classical which don't interfere but create a mood but am interested in what other people listen to, especially as I'm getting bored of my limited collection.

I wish I could offer some better advice about my redrafting process, but all I really do is read though the piece and look for things like continuity errors, repeated words, misspellings, things like that. Like you, I try to get it very close to how I want it in the first draft. Hence I spend the most time on that.

I do keep a outline, and I also check it against the piece when I do my redrafts. I sometimes find things I missed that way, and add them in. Or I might find that I really did not need them in the first place, and leave the story without it. Here again, I always have a solid outline with all the major events in the story before I start writing.

As far as music goes, I listen to all sorts of things. Most of the time just whatever cds I am in the mood for in general at the time. Lately I have been listening to a lot of Kamelot. Or I start winamp and put in on shuffle, and listen to my mp3s. Once in a while I will go for specific albums when I want to help myself get in the mood. For example, when writing The Battle of Bruma, and later editing one of the Vols chapters, I listened to the Gettysburg soundtrack.

If I'm writing something and I feel it needs a redraft, I make a new paragraph directly under the one I want to re-do. I look at what's in the paragraph that's important and keep it, rewording if necessary and then add or subtract things based on the flow. I do it one paragraph at a time until I'm satisfied. Then I delete the original and go from there



I usually leave my ipod on shuffle. Its mainly thrash and black metal with some love songs here and there and older pop. If I really feel like I need to get in a specific mood, then I find songs that fit the situation. For example, for Wrothken in the Shivering Isles I listen to a lot of Mindless Self Indulgence or sad break-upy songs, depending on what he's doing. For Kirsty, I play Lady Gaga, Alicia Keys, or anything kind of "light." Lilitu gets Cradle of Filth or JOJ (<---their full name isn't forum friendly, but the first word is Jack and the third is Jill...use your imagination). Basically anything that will give me a feeling similar to what's going on in the story.

This post has been edited by Jacki Dice: Jan 7 2011, 07:17 AM

I tend to the "make the first released draft near as damnit to the last draft" style of writing myself.

Currently I'm revising the FanFiction.net editions of my works, partly because of style (FF's filters eat most conventional section breaks) and also because sometimes I make massive clangers:

1. Calling Caranya Caminalda - who was offed in chapter 2
2. Referring to the same day with three different dates - and two different eras!
3. Referring to the Bruma guild in the present tense and making Volanaro the new guild head.
4. First, indicating Ancotar is at Black Plateau, then suggesting he was killed several chapters on.

Most of these are flubbed sanity checks, relying on my imperfect memory instead of going over what I've written.

This is particularly vexing, since I have so much catch-up to do on the crossover fiction.

As for listening material, I tend not to listen to anything. I need all the concentration my braincell can handle.

If you think the Crossover is hard now, wait till Ra'jirra leaves the Captital Wasteland and visits the Mohave Desert area !!

Which he won't be, mALX. The end point for that fiction is just after [redacted]. He'll leave further exploration to the younger, more expendable types.

Does that mean you will write it, but use a different character? Lol.

Let's just say I'm playing with the idea of an alternate universe "Freaky Friday"-style swap. If I go through with it, Slippery Elmer's going to hate me.

Something else I want to do is write the biography of Zul gro-Radagash, as a nonfiction document countering the terrible guff expelled by his fan. Ra'jirra is very eager for the truth to be known >;)

SPEW !!! Er... Slippery Elmer ...

I like the idea of a freaky friday type switch, but will Ra'jirra be in the wasteland while ... Slippery Elmer is ... er ... slipping it to Cyrodiil? Or willl Ra'jirra help him deal with the shock of the alternate universe?

Nope. This is a completely different splay of the Bethesda multiverse, because Zul already did the main quest in a radically different fashion.

Elmer's going to find himself in the body of a Dunmer (an Urshilaku barbarian, actually) and vice versa. The entire prologue is just an excuse for doing this.

Part of the fun here is the two getting acclimatised to radically different bodies, parts of which have been [UNTRANSLATABLE: TYPE III CONCEPT] through judicious application of handwavium compounds. Apart from that, it's really rather routine; Elmer (technically) becomes a courier again and Theldyn Assurnibipal becomes a courier, period.

Obviously I'm writing it now, but Theldyn is proving more difficult to write.

Here are several of the thoughts that go through my head when I'm typing away...

-How much information do I want the reader to know at the time? This is what creates tension, that feeling of not knowing exactly what's going to happen. Info-dump, as I've read, is a hurdle that many must learn about and avoid, because giving away too much means the tension gets spoiled. That tension is what keeps your audience interested. They want to find out what happens next. That is why I strive to only write into the chapter the plot information necessary, and make the rest filler.

-On that topic, I also strive to ensure all that extra filler has real meaning. Every word that is inserted into the tale needs to belong there, because pointless filler is just that: pointless. Having too much random babble makes readers bored. What do I mean by filler that has a reason for being there?
>Describing the setting
>Chatter, so long as it builds character
>Getting a quick chuckle out of the reader

I'm sure I can think of more, but not at this time (and that's filler for I ran out of ideas ).

Essentially, I write the plot to make the readers need to read more, and write the filler to make the readers want to read more.

-I always keep the overarching conflict in mind. Writing a good fanfic is like writing a good TV series, where every episode has its own little picture to paint, but the combined pictures provided by all the episodes form the overarching main plot of the conflict between the protagonist and the antagonist.

-On the topic of antagonists, I feel that better results are obtained if the readers are aware of his presence, but know nothing else about him for a considerable time other than he's trying to make life difficult for the protagonist. This ambiguity helps to build the tension, as the readers will never truly know who the big bad is until you out and tell them.

-I try to have two strong characters at the forefront of the story, the protagonist and a good side-character. This opens up so many options for storytelling that often cannot be accomplished with a lone wolf protagonist. Things such as learning about each other (which incidentally gives the readers a reason to care about the story), to help each other grow into even better versions of themselves, and finally, it gives me a viable reason to... perhaps... pull a fast one on one of them, which can make for one heckuva plot twist and completely change the course of the story.

-Oh, and don't introduce both at the same time. The Star Wars prequels made that mistake and it resulted in the viewer being unable to figure out who they were supposed to support, or who's story was being told. Stagger the introductions, it will make your story easier to read.

There's more, but that should do for now...

I am so glad I found this thread. As I stated in the Author's Notes of my FF thread (shameless plug), I am not a writer at all. Heck, my education level is a G.E.D. that I got when I was 16. In the 33 years since then (everyone get their calculators out now), I have read a lot, but written precious little. I started reading some fan fiction and "got bit by da bug", thinking that it sounded fun to try. I was right. So far I have found it to be very enjoyable.

I am babbling...

I really appreciate all of the material in this thread. My "writting style"...have I been writing long enough to have a style?...has been make it up as I go. I do have a plan of sorts, but I never thought to outline ahead of time, or storyboard, or use any of the other techniques mentioned in this thread. I want to thank Treydog for starting this thread over 4 years ago. And I gotta give a shout out to Acadian for helping me get started.



Unreal...That is EXACTLY what I did, albeit for lazy reasons. I didn't want to come up with a backstory before I started writing. Since starting my thread, I have read Linara's FF and I freaked out because her beginning was so similar to mine.

For me the rough draft is just that, rough. It is little more than an outline, an antiseptic relaying of events with maybe a dozen lines of dialogue to lend it flavor. I work differently from most writers I know in that my subsequent re-writes expand on the rough draft (most writers I know tend to write fat and pare down in the re-writes). I use my rough draft to 'get to know' the chapter. After that I try to find the 'voice' of the chapter. That isn't to say that I am looking for the narrator of the chapter (although that does happen from time to time). What I mean is that I am looking for the best way to tell the events of a chapter. Some of the questions that get me there: Whose eyes are we seeing the chapter through? What is the overall mood of that character through these events? What cadence of speech best communicates both the mood and the events?

Once I have found the 'voice' of the chapter, the writing tends to take care of itself.


Most of the time I don't listen to anything at all. I like hearing the sounds of life going on around me. Most of the time the soundtrack of my writing sessions are birdsong . . . screaming, shouting children . . . insistent lawnmowers and leaf blowers, and the crunch of gravel as cars pass by.

Ah, those were the days! I miss that more than I thought I would!

Right now it's the occasional yowling when the two cats decide to wassle each other. In the summer when the windows are open, it's the sound of tires on pavement. Not quite the same as gravel, though.

What I really miss, though, is the smell of coal smoke that tells me there's a live steam locomotive in the vicinity. That's what you get for practically growing up on railroad museum grounds.

ROFL!!!! Oh yes, the whole reason I have a playlist that I listen to. Now if I could find a way to stop:

-

the youngest from giving repeated signals to get your attention and when he gets it asking something like, "Do you wish I was _____________ (fill in the blank with anything from Elvis to a pencil eraser)?"

-

Or springing _________________ (fill in the blank with anything from "Herkimer" snakes to fake spiders) at you -

-

and the husband that sneaks up behind you every time his ball game/Friday Night Fights/Nascar/etc. goes on commercial - and either runs his hands across the keys so you have to find where you were and delete the mess he made - or else makes like a spider is crawling on you - or jabs you in the ribs suddenly - or signals the dogs to leap on you -


-

all while you are typing.


*


PS: And Grits - I KNOW you know what I'm talking about, lol.


*

This post has been edited by mALX: Feb 5 2011, 11:45 PM

LMAO!!!!! now THAT is funny!!

We have no younglings about in this household, just the cats. However, the fill in the blanks could still work.

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The first would be; "After sharpening my claws on your computer chair, do you wish I was________________ (fill in the blank with anything from jumping into your lap to walking across your keyboard)?"

-

The second would be; or springing ______________ (fill in the blank with anything from a hairball to the ocassional nasty feline flatulence) at you.

-

The third distraction comes from my fiance (spellcheck please). Since I am so new to this and have been going at it like a junkie that found some better crack, she doesn't quite get the interruption thing. She will come in and just start talking to me about daily stuff, what I want for dinner, etc. I remain patient, after all she does deserve my time, but there is always a sigh of relief when I get my solitude back. She questioned me about what I was doing, and when I told her, she just kinda rolled her eyes and said, "Oh my God, I really have become engaged to a geek!" I just laughed and reminded her how much time she spends in Facebook apps...nothing like a well fitting shoe to make an effective point.

People would be punched. -shudder- Though the fake spiders, I have to tell you about this.

We normally go to my grandma's house to Thanksgiving. My little cousin (he was about 7 or 8 at the time) knows of my phobia so usually he hides the fake spiders left over from Halloween. My brother and uncle LOVE spiders to death and just so happened to come across one of the fakes. That day I wore my hair curly and one of them threw a spider at me while my back was turned. I didn't know what it was and the spider actually got caught in my hair! The entire house was laughing and it took a long time (at least ten minutes) for me to catch what they did!




Wrothken says this to me all the time, especially when I cry over the Skyrim trailer

And my little tuxedo cat loves to sit right in front of the screen as I type or lay flat on the keyboard

You know it!! The kids usually try to sneak stuff by me when I’m writing, since I can see the stairs from where I sit. So I listen to THUMP THUMP THUMP tiptoe tiptoe tiptoe THUMP THUMP THUMP and then I have to chase them down and search them.

Mr. Grits has learned to give me some time during the day unless he wants a repeat of this at night:

Grits: *typing throughout*
Mr. Grits: I’m going to bed.
Grits: Huh.
Mr. Grits: The kids are asleep.
Grits: Uh huh.
Mr. Grits: Are you coming up?
Grits:
Mr. Grits: *sighs*
Grits:
Mr. Grits: *goes upstairs*
Grits: Did you say something?

This post has been edited by SubRosa: May 4 2019, 09:05 PM

Oh, I recognize the "THUMP THUMP tiptoe tiptoe" from the earlier years !!! And every now and then, something that wasn't supposed to be ... handled ... came thumping down the stairs as well.

Also, at the early ages a child is sure that if they look you in the eye, you will not see what their hands are doing (for some odd reason). They will try to hold your vision while sliding their hand into (pick one: Cake, Cookies, etc.) - like you can't see their arm stretching over to it!


@ TheOtherRick - the worst part is, he is no youngling - just has a wicked thing for practical jokes, lol. (wonder where they get that from?).