kennahijja | (no subject)

(no subject)

Meh, bleh, am sickish - was in bed all of yesterday with a nasty cough and the headache from hell and a bit of fever. Headache is better today (and I keep bashing it with pills), but cough still there, and it's still way too warm :(.

That said, I'm writing a certain fic, and it drives me *bonkers*. It grows. And grows. And keeps growing. And it's not as if it's growing *plot* - it's just accumulating scenes, and sex, and words and stuff. I know exactly where it will go and how it will end, but it just refuses to move forward even though I'm writing like mad. This never happened to me before - usually, fics stay within the limit they were conceptualised for.

Does that happen to you? And if yes, how do you rein it in?

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This one thing I'm writing? The sex wouldn't end. I kept saying: enough now. leave him alone. he'll be sore if you do it again.

Gave up in the end and just wrote the damn thing.

Get better soon, darling. ♥

I kept saying: enough now. leave him alone. he'll be sore if you do it again.
*snicker*
That's one lovely image ;). Good advice too - I'll try just to plough through it, even if they *never* shut up ;).

Yes! The one I'm writing now, it won't stop! More things keep coming up, and it's the longest thing I've ever written and the end still hasn't happened and I blame Fleshdress compleatly for this!

*grin*
I feel your pain - keep writing snippets of the end scene just because I wonder if I'll ever get there the chronological way :).

First off: get better, you! *hugs* Let yourself be tucked in and have someone pamper you.
As for your question: Umm. I wish. Oh woe, how I wish! Hasn't happened to me in years; sadly, the contrary is the case: every bit is like pulling teeth. F*****' torture.
If it puts you a little at ease: scenes, and sex, and words and stuff sounds wonderful, in my ears. Image you're dealing with a graphic novel: where things happen between panels; sometimes the really interesting things, which you don't have to tell. But you hold their reins. (if that makes any sense at all)

Thanks for the hugs - still coughing like mad, but otherwise feeling somewhat decent again. Being off sick helped, even if it kept me from a computer :(.

Oh - yes! I'll take wordage over teeth pulling any day! Though the wordage level kind of bothers me...

[You don't feel like beta/test-reading 30 000 words of R/L, by any chance? Just kidding! Wouldn't do that to you!]

Hope you get rid of the pesky snotty remnants soon! *tea, dear?* Thyme tea does wonders, as does boiling chopped fresh ginger, makes a spicy brew that goes well with honey!

Beta - seriously, I would, and most gladly, if I didn't have a freelance work deadline that's currently eating my brains, health suckage, more deadlines, oodles of reviews to write, and well, my own, hum, R/L that has progressed to a whopping 3 out of 25 scenes... ^_#

Let's see; I anticipate to re-assume human shape around the 20th (or disintegrate completely), that'd be a close call for beta work, I fear?

Also, I've been sucked into the Ouran Host Club vortex and have found a way to finally watch my FMA DVDs... woe. My concentration is frazzled, if not shattered. Akh.

*snickers*
Thyme tea is my staple already, though little luck so far... And I honestly was kidding! Don't worry about it - I know how busy you are, and was just teasing. I'll keep to ears in the future :).
*hugs*

Oivej! Okay, here's the big gun: chili oil, i.e. now and then a spoonful of teh hawts! It's mean, but a recipe used by professional singers when they need their voice and lungs back, presto. Get well soon, so you can enjoy the nice part of autumn (before it gets gooey and grey).
Fie, ears can't hurt me. Nope. No way. ;D

If I ever write enough again, I'll let you know. argh! wish that were the only problem I was encountering.

You will, I'm sure. Write enough, that is :).

I'm sorry to hear you're ill. Get better soon!
*hands cup of e-tea*
I don't know really how I can help you with the fic. Maybe you should write it until you see an end?

*thanks and sips*

I see the end - I just wanna *get* there already! ;)

I'm sorry you're sick. Try honey, lemon, basil, and fresh ginger, boiled in water with green tea leaves sprinkled liberally in.

As for the growing fic, unless you can connect them to thread a plot through it, be ruthless. Cut it up. Save parts for later fics or individual fics if you like, create three or four ficlets if you like, but don't force it to stay together. I did that once, and that fic, despite the fact that it wasn't long by your usual standards, despite the fact that I liked the scenes in it, DOES NOT WORK. And it bothers me. As for keeping a thing reined in, sometimes it helps to create a plot structure first and stick to it stringently. Refuse to write, or write on the same page, what does not fit into the story. Apart from that, you're better at this than I am, and will probably have better ideas of your own. Good luck!

Oooh, thanks for the intriguing recipe - can't lay my hands on any fresh ginger for sure at the moment, but all the others... *makes notes*

The problem with the fic is, it does fit in... it just doesn't stop! I've written similar plots in ten pages, not close to a hundred... I'm just worried that people will yawn and give up with a hearty 'yes, get over it already!'

*hugs and love*

I've got a similar problem with my femgenficathon, only without the sex. Lots of writing. No reason for the reader to read it.

No reason for the reader to read it.

That, I doubt.

Trust me! No plot. Just a few incomplete scenes of dialogue.

I'm with Chthonia here - not bloody likely :). Plot isn't *always* necessary either ;). Though your plots are usually solidly there.

Remember that you don't see - well. The ones that you don't see.

Well, yeah, but I usually *feel* them. It's just a matter of pulling the invisibility cloak slightly askew :). Or do you mean those we never *get* to see at all?

The ones you never get to see at all! The Remus/Sirius entirely in dialogue; Tonks and the radio; Sirius arguing with Snape - there are probably more, but these are the casualties I remember!

(Though Tonks and the radio is looking like a tasty stand-in for the femgenficathon deadline if I can't get anywhere with the plotless wonder.)

All of those sound rather intriguing. What was Tonks doing with the radio? ;)

It's happened sometimes, but mainly with things that add extra plot, so I suppose that's not a lot of help. The only times it hasn't was a few scenes in NTLJ, and that's long enough that I could leave them in because I liked them. :)

Heh, I even kind of like them... it's just that I've never written a one-shot that turned out this long... Well, and still remained a distinct one-shot with no way of splitting it up.

it's just that I've never written a one-shot that turned out this long... Well, and still remained a distinct one-shot with no way of splitting it up.

If you can't split it up, maybe calling it a novella rather than a one-shot will help?

Hope you're better soon!

You manage to conceptualise fics, including approximate length? Go you!

That said, yes, that did happen once to me, where more scenes kept occurring and some were relevant to the plot line (yes, there was one), whereas others just struck me as a good idea at the time, and yes, meh. It's long, and still sitting unfinished on my hard drive. No point in trying to finish it now - Harry's under 18, so it's illegal here; but it was giving me heaps from the time those extra scenes kept creeping in, long before the change in law.

In fact it's happened more than once, but always with stories where I had too broad a concept and not enough details in mind (ie the plot direction and specific steps, even where I had a clear idea of where it was supposed to end). So I try to stop it when it starts, now, because those fics never get finished: they refuse to assume a form.

So maybe be careful, eh? See how much you could trim out without hurting the story arc. Maybe once it's trimmed your writing will get back to the method you prefer to follow. Just don't throw the unnecessary scenes away!

You manage to conceptualise fics, including approximate length?

Well, yes and no... It's usually clear whether 'ficlet' or 'short one-shot' or 'long one-shot'. And usually a clear start and finish with some middle-scenes, but here I *have* the finish, and everything's plotted out perfectly clearly, I just can't believe it keeps going on for this long... I'm just not sure how boring it's becoming, and whether I shouldn't start weeding ruthlessly instead of just going on... It's probably a good idea :).

:( I hope you get better soon!

Thanks :).

Ah yes, recognise that. I just keep on writing, give myself over to it, and then put it away. Go back to it several days later (when you're in a different mood) and *then* you'll start to notice that you can edit and delete a lot.

Hopefully.

Works most of the time. *g*

*squints at deadline and decides to take advice*
Thanks!

Feel better soon. I've never had the story of mine pull me along too far, but as I love your stories, I would urge you to let it.

*glares at story*
I'll probably have to if I want to see it out somewhere near the deadline :).

Fuck yes, happens all the time. I find the best thing is just to write it all. You can always cut it down later...

And get well soon!

Thanks! Will do :).

Sorry to hear you're not well. Hope it's a 'can't do anything except sit in bed and write' sick and not a 'can't do anything' sick.

My Christmas fic developed a couple of scenes I wasn't expecting, and while writing it I felt it was getting a little long (I guess partly because my heart wasn't in it as much as is if for muse-inspired fics). But no-one who commented seemed to think it was too long.

Maybe try writing it all out - then take a few days away from it, then go back and re-read it to see if any looks superfluous. If it does, you can always recycle the cut segments (or the ideas therein) into another fic.

And don't worry too much about 'words not plot' - I wouldn't say that to many people, but you always have such intriguing plots that you'll probably have more than most other people manage. I wish I could have even a quarter of your plot genius!

No, I sure didn't have the impression the Christmas fic was too long... it was just perfect.

*blushes* You have tons of plot genius yourself! And this one has comparatively little ;). But I'm scribbling on it while coughing - it's *got* to get moving sooner or later. Though the little 'what, it needs two more sex scenes and an ending and I'm already at page 63!' voice is a bit intimidating, *g*.

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