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I never really sit down to think of the technicalities of my own writing because intense self-reflection, especially about my own words, is not something that comes naturally to me. Often, when I write, I just... write the story in a way that makes sense to me (which may not always make sense to others), instead of worrying too much about writing techniques or specific narrative plot structures etc.
Having said that, answering fic writing asks have helped me to, once in a while, look back on my writing and the processes that I'm comfortable with as I write.
I remember answering an ask once about whether I start stories with a plot idea or a character idea. Of course, there are so many ways to start a story. And not all writers do it the same way, and in fact, not all stories spark to life in a writer's mind the same way either.
Some people come up with a strong hook and work from there.
Some think of a premise e.g. a zombie apocalypse if it's a dystopian AU or even "A gets injured during dance practice and B takes care of them." which is more scenario than anything else.
Some people create a character and revolve the story around said character which can be a personality quirk or even just.. a job/attribute e.g. nerdy girl who struggles to make friends or bounty hunter.
With some sci-fi stories, sometimes you can also think of a technology idea/innovation e.g. wrist watch that allows you to teleport across time and space, and work from there.
Not all my stories come to me in the same way but most of them, I realised as I was attempting to pin down my answer for this ask, start from a single line of dialogue. I build the rest of the story, the characters, the plot, the world, around that single line of dialogue. Most of the time, I can tell who is saying the dialogue and what setting they're in which helps me to fill in the blanks for the rest of the story and pull something together.
So, here are some of the dialogue pieces that are THE ones that sparked off the respective stories I've written. If you haven't read some of these fics yet, please beware of spoilers!
( Read more... )
Having said that, answering fic writing asks have helped me to, once in a while, look back on my writing and the processes that I'm comfortable with as I write.
I remember answering an ask once about whether I start stories with a plot idea or a character idea. Of course, there are so many ways to start a story. And not all writers do it the same way, and in fact, not all stories spark to life in a writer's mind the same way either.
Some people come up with a strong hook and work from there.
Some think of a premise e.g. a zombie apocalypse if it's a dystopian AU or even "A gets injured during dance practice and B takes care of them." which is more scenario than anything else.
Some people create a character and revolve the story around said character which can be a personality quirk or even just.. a job/attribute e.g. nerdy girl who struggles to make friends or bounty hunter.
With some sci-fi stories, sometimes you can also think of a technology idea/innovation e.g. wrist watch that allows you to teleport across time and space, and work from there.
Not all my stories come to me in the same way but most of them, I realised as I was attempting to pin down my answer for this ask, start from a single line of dialogue. I build the rest of the story, the characters, the plot, the world, around that single line of dialogue. Most of the time, I can tell who is saying the dialogue and what setting they're in which helps me to fill in the blanks for the rest of the story and pull something together.
So, here are some of the dialogue pieces that are THE ones that sparked off the respective stories I've written. If you haven't read some of these fics yet, please beware of spoilers!
( Read more... )
