#WTF WHY IS THIS POST ALMOST 8K WORDS LONG | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ltleflrt · 6 years

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Because I regard you essentially as royalty in terms of Destiel fic, can you maybe give us a basic rundown on how to write a fic? Or a detailed one, if you want. Like, what is your process? How do you plan it out? How/when do you pick a title? Because I've tried before to write multi-chapter fics and I just end up giving up on it because I either took too long between updates because ya know life and forgot things or because I didn't plan enough and no longer know what I'm doing.

Hold on hold on hold on...

*walks away for a minute and muppet flails*

Okay, I’m back, and thank you for the sweet compliment! :D

So, my process; I have one! I didn’t used to think so, because it felt chaotic and without form, but as I’ve started helping other people with their writing I’ve started to see a pattern in how I come up with stories and make them happen.

Obviously the first step is the The Idea. I get them from all over the place. I’m a daydreamer, so sometimes they just pop up out of the blue, and in a lot of cases they’re inspired by some other media. A book, a fic, a movie, a song... I think that’s pretty common. I also have a tendency of looking at my favorite tropes (and I mean REALLY LOOKING, by consuming any and all of it I can find lol) and thinking to myself, “how can I flip that upside down?”.

Kiss the Baker was the result of reading all the Gay Panic Dean fics I could find and reading them until I started wondering if there would ever be a universe where Dean didn’t have a gay panic.

The idea for Satin and Sawdust came from the fact that I’ve written two fics tagged “Dean Thinks He’s Heterosexual” and it made me wonder why I never see any Gay Panic Castiel fics.

Anyway, ideas come from all over. And they’re fleeting, so I write them all down. I have a huge list. Whenever one of those AU lists comes around on my dash I copy my favorites into my list. It’s very long lol. Which is good, because sometimes I’ll come up with an idea like “I want to see Cas be the one who thinks he’s het this time” and get stuck. Like wtf do I do next?

Answer: I refer back to The List. Because sometimes I can pick out several of those ideas and smush them together. I took Carpenter!Dean, and Dean Loves Wearing Panties from the list, and scrolled down until I found Veterinarian AU, and I start trying to connect the dots.

Remember in writing classes in Jr High and High School we were taught to make those bubble charts? You write something in a bubble, and then branch off bubbles around it? I do that in my head. I start making things connect. I cross out things that won’t fit. I have a special file for whatever story idea I’m working on and it looks vaguely like an outline because it’s that list of ideas with notes for ideas, or snippets of conversation. If I chat about it with my friends (almost always @jupiterjames) I’ll copy/paste those conversations into that file. I’ll list songs... anything that gives me a feel for what’s starting to form. If I have any title ideas they’ll go in there too.

Speaking of titles, THEY’RE HARD. I hate them. Occasionally something will pop in my head before I even start working on the fic, and I swear that angels sing when that happens. But for the most part I have to brainstorm and brainstorm, and get advise from friends, and I google quotes about themes I think my story will encompass. It’s a struggle. My least favorite part of the writing process next to connecting large plot points lol. But I’ve gotta have a title before I post it, so I’ll have something by the time I’m done with the first chapter.

Just for funsies, here’s my notes file for Satin and Sawdust.

Anywho, that’s all the developing stuff. I don’t actually go into the notes file all that much afterwards. When I have big gaps between chapters I will, plus I’ll re-read everything I’ve written already. But I hold quite a bit of that junk in my head. If you’re having problems remembering, make the file! Visit it often!

Believe it or not, at this point, the story is still pretty nebulous. I’ll usually have several directions the story can take at different junctions, and I don’t think too hard about them until I get there. I think about my stories in more detail a chapter at a time. I focus on a single scene, or the small group of scenes that are related enough to put in a single chapter. I zero in on those details and forget about what’s going to come afterwards.

Breaking down the larger idea into smaller chunks is the only way I can work myself through a 100k+ beast without going mad. And honestly, I still drive myself a little crazy. I have to stop looking at the big picture, or I’ll give up just because the idea is too overwhelming.

Once I’ve got a chapter done, then I take a few days and I start considering the cloudy visions in my head and pluck out the scene I think needs to come next. It usually takes me 2-4 days of contemplation before I’m ready to sit down and make words happen again. Writing a 4k-8k chapter takes me 2-3 days. So between the contemplation break and the actual writing, I take about a week.

Life definitely gets in the way sometimes. When I was in the middle of Addicted To You, I had reconstructive surgery on my face. I was doped up on super strong pain meds and couldn’t wear my glasses for almost a month. So obviously I took some time off, and I was SO MISERABLE (seriously, don’t break your face, it’s the worst) that I couldn’t even think about the story, much less writing. When I felt well enough to get back to it I re-read what I had already twice, plus went over my notes file, plus I listened to all the dirty sex songs I could find to get my mind back into the groove for it. It felt like doing homework, but it was the only way I could remember wtf I was doing. I’m sure I lost some of my initial plans, but that’s normal with any story I work on. And it turned out okay lol

And last of all, find someone who’ll let you ramble at them about your stories. Someone who will genuinely pay attention, not just nod and smile. I did a lot of writing on my own, but a lot of my Dragon Age and Mass Effect fics wouldn’t exist without @hot-elf being my sounding board and cheerleader. And same goes for my Supernatural fics and @jupiterjames. I would probably have written just a tiny fraction of my stories if it weren’t for them. Chatting about my stories helps me develop my ideas, and keeps me motivated. When I’m stressed I’ll send a chapter to JJ with just a request to Validate Me! and she always knows how to talk me out of my angst. I will talk out my ideas with other people as well, but they’ve been the biggest influences on my writing, so THANKS LADIES I LOVE YOU!

Writing Buddies Are The Best.

Anyway, that’s about all I have to say about my process. I hope it answered all your questions and gave you some ideas on how to work on your own stuff. And if you ever have an idea you want to talk about, feel free to send me chat messages :D

#writing tips #writer's angst #castiel-lord-of-the-bees

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