[	Tags	|	writing	]
[	mood	|	contemplative	]

Well real life and a general fatigue has slowed down my writing a fair bit recently. However, that slow down has proved useful in another way. It's forced me to reappraise whether I am over planning my fics. On some days I have struggled to write portions and yet on other days when inspiration has hit me and I have disregarded my plan, I have been able to write quite easily. Thus the fate I had planned for certain characters has been binned and a plotline changed.

This led me to a question for the writers on my flist. When does planning become too constricting such that it stifles creativity?  So I thought I would try a rough poll.

1. Do you just write loose outlines for each chapter or the story as a whole?
2. Do you outline character arcs and metaphors or just the narrative content and plot?
3. How closely do you stick to your plan. Rigidly or until the roadblock you hit means the plan has to go?
4. How long do you hit your head against the wall before modifying the original plan?
5. Do you when you have that splurge thing allow it to take you wherever it is headed, or reign it in when it runs contrary to plan?
6. Does planning hinder or inspire your inspiration?
7. Do you do you do character bios as part of your planning?
8. Are these bios only for original characters?
9. Are the bios redone for each fic?
   

Thoughts, comments and suggestions are welcome.

 For those very few looking for the next chapter of 'By Erie's Shore' this was delayed by the weekends football. I know it should have gone up on Thursday but pre game stress meant I didn't manage to update the chapter based on the notes sent back from my beta. Hopefully it should be up in the next couple of days.

Mind you it might mean that I finally get around to writing the Spike & Giles footballing piece that I have been mulling a while. I did manage to get some work done on another WIP just not the one I was supposed to be working on.

Oh I also had a thought , Neil Pearson for Avon ? 

Well given that I haven't posted in a couple of weeks. I think now is a good time to give an update on the status of various WIPS.

The past couple of weeks have been pretty much a bust for writing due to the chesty cough from hell but thankfully that seems to be clearing up now. As it was it couldn't have come at a worse time as I was getting well into the swing of putting words down on paper and finding the characters voices again.

I know I still have two Christmas prompts to complete. 

Five Golden rings for 

xxmagex

 Partridge in a pear tree for

w00hoo

 I will get to them hopefully before next Christmas.

On the other WIPS. The second draft of Gifts from Charing Cross road is with my beta, hopefully the structural concerns that afflicted the first draft are gone now. If the answer is a yes then I should be ready to post this in the next couple of weeks.

Also with the beta are first six chapters of 'By Eries Shore' so when Gifts comes back this will be going up straight afterwards. It would go up before but it makes some passing references to the earlier fic.

Needless to say a couple of chapters into Erie I had a wonderful plot bunny for another fic. Unfortunately from rough sketching it's looking to be another monster rather than a slot in so I may try to get Erie half done before I start. I don't think I have the time , energy or skill to go with the juggling some on my Friends list do.



 

Since it is a month since I last posted any fic I thought it only fair to update everyone as to where I am in the various promised fics.

The road to Dakar - Still on hold awaiting for the muse to strike beyond the initial idea and planning.

Gifts from Charing Cross road - Faith & Giles - About 1/3 done although I think it needs some heavy revision I have this pencilled in for first draft completion by the end of October.

An officer and a slayer - My submission for My Fair Faith - This is currently undergoing beta and is likely to be the next thing posted depending on the length of notes that I get.

Stepford Faith - About a 1000 words in hope to get this done sometime in the next three weeks, then off to Beta.This has now turned into a sequel to An officer and a slayer.

By Erie's shores - The sequel to running on . This is still in the planning/research stage. Intending to start at the end of october. So figure November/December before this starts being posted. Sorry for the delay.

A query to the writers on my flist. 

As I got towards the end of my first fic I started thinking more technically about the actual writing process rather than just about telling the story and this got me thinking about Points of View. I was wondering if people could give me some pointers.:-)

Now I think from the little I understand that everything I have written so far is third person limited narrative with a shifting POV such that the reader can only perceive the unfolding events through the eyes/one eye:-) of the character observing them. Would those of you who have read them agree with that assessment ?

The over the shoulder approach. 

Thus I shifted POV's primarily between Faith & Xander but also occasionally to other characters within the same chapter. Is this good practice or should the POV's be limited to chapter changeover's or is it merely a stylistic choice? Or does the use of the multiple POV's make them ensemble rather than ship fics ?

Now I have followed the same approach for my latest fic but I for a time wondered  instead about shifting to a tighter limited third person with a single rather than multiple narrators thus leaving the thoughts of the other characters for the reader to speculate on? In essence tightening the POV to one of either Faith or Xander.  Is this more fun providing the reader more space for speculation? Better for tighter length and focus?

I have seen  liz_marcs  mention unreliable narrators am I right in thinking that here you would be allowing the thoughts, prejudices etc to influence the passed on narrative, an all in the eye of the beholder effect?

Plus thought process and emotions , this seems to be a development of the third person limited, should this generally be confined to the focus of the story, a single narrator , or a pair and not covered when shifting to other POV's? Or is that just another stylistic choice? Can that generate unnecessary flab in the narrative?

Also as a more general query which do people prefer writing in and why? Does the subject matter influence your choice or is it the result of habit or training ?

All pointers, thoughts etc gratefully appreciated. 

I have a query for the writers and military members of the flist. I'm writing a Faith undercover at the Pentagon fic for the My Fair Faith ficathon over at Facets_of_Faith and have a couple of queries.

1) The Pentagon is a no salute zone for all ranks am I correct? Is there any military etiquette for giving way to superior officers in lifts , escalators, doorways etc ?

2)Faith is going undercover as a 1st Lt in the Marines (I know she's a bit young) but this is Hollywood Buffy military here.:-) Would she be in the Marine service uniform or Greens in the Pentagon? My only knowledge of the building comes from E-Ring and JAG.

3) Xander is using his soldier knowledge to train her would but is undercover as an Army Captain would this be remarked upon or the would the JSC nature of the building mitigate against that.

4) Which ring would the iniative successor likely be in. Hidden away with the accountants ?

5) Are foreign military aides stationed at all in the building or just visitors.

6) Time of reporting for duty. I figure this may be earlier than Faith is up being somewhat of a night owl so throwing out her body clock and making for grouchy Faith.:-)

I'm going to make up the security arrangements on the front entrance.

[	Tags	|	writing	]
[	Current Location	|	Work	]
[	mood	|	curious	]

There will not be a chapter of Running on posted on Tuesday as I have an exam on the Friday which will be occupying all my attention. 

Probably just as well as I am going to re-evaluate the next chapter partially because I am unhappy with it and the direction, plus the pacing seems off. Also the lack of response to the last couple of chapters has caused me to reevaluate some things I had planned. I still will finish the fic at this rate around the end of May but am unsure whether to go with the original plan.

Beyond that I have a number of ideas for my next few pieces of fic. Given I may either have a surfeit or no time depending on how my job hunt goes I thought I would ask the question as to which one to do next?

Road to Dakar - A fic set after the events in Oxnard and before the events of Running on dealing with Xander in Africa. Takes place around the famous race and the two primary characters are intended to be Xander and Dawn.

Gift from Charing Cross Road - A followup to Remembrance dealing with Faith and Giles in London. Intended to be shortish around 5000 words.

Stepford Faith - A non running on fic. Faith/Xander

Untitled - F/X fic

I am also toying partially prompted by the wonderful road trip fics/drabbles from Nemo_gravis and Mara_sho of doing a Buffy/Top Gear crossover involving the recent American road trip and F/X. But this is only a lunatic idea currently.

Query to the Americans on my Flist .Is it customary for an officer of the law to remove his headgear when addressing a member of the public at or inside their house ? Thinking state troopers and sheriffs departments here.

Another one for the flist writers. Use of latin or another foreign/arcane language in a fic, yes or no ?

The reason I ask is I have used two languages one of which is latin later in my fic. The latin is associated with Willow spell-casting and is only rough. i.e translated, my own latin is rubbish. Should I warn of its inclusion or leave it up to the readers to figure it out. One piece is partially there for the flavour , the other part is a clue.