Fanfic Writers' Virtual Water Cooler

[Sealurk]

I'm currently plauged by the original fic that I'm writing, set @ 1650 -I want to be as historically acurate as possible, because I am using a real historical event, but I want to have an interesting story with great flow. I want to bring people to this historical event and have them walk around in the space...you know?

In an oddly similar fashion I'm working on an original novel set a few decades from now in what will hopefully be a plausible, technically accurate depiction of the future, but I'm having trouble with making the logistics, politics and details of the setting really work (if I don't get stuff like this worked out, I won't be happy - I firmly believe in getting every possible detail right). However I think I'll try and pay more attention to the characters and plot for the moment so that I can actually get somewhere.

*looks around* has anyone seen SF&Coffee or Sealurk lately??

Here! I've been insanely busy with the hell that work has become as well as volunteering at the community cinema (which is possibly the greatest waste of time I've yet taken part in due to total local apathy despite volunteer support) and SF&Coffee is away at the moment. I suspect she will be back soon.

[Falcon Horus]

I'm trying to get my details right, as well... though this basically means that what started as a text-file with an order of things, has just plunged into one chaotic mapping of people, events, ages, family trees, and what not...

[Princess Awinita]

Now, before we get too far into the topic of death and destruction and mass deaths and graves and the like, I have something to hopefully lighten the topic, in this case Inspiration.

What inspires you guys to write a certain scene ? Like say you go camping, and you're writing your story, and all of a sudden the characters take a camping trip, and during the trip they also do work, but also enjoy themselves during the vacation. Though it is also a working vacation.

Or maybe the characters go to a concert because the music you're listening to is directly live from a concert. And as such makes for a fun tale! {for example say you got the whole album direct from the concert of Daft Punk's ALIVE 2007 in Centeral Park delux edition on your machine}

Or maybe watching certain movies, like martial arts movies, {thinking here of a list, like the following, Shadowless Sword, The Sword, Black Mask, Death Trance, just to name a few}

Or maybe reading certain books, like for example LOTR, and then starting to copy the writing style in the books, {you know, instead saying "Jim said" its "said Jim" or "said Tony" etc}

I must admit, it happens to me, a lot. Mostly on camping trips.

Does anyone else have such thoughts and inspirations ?

A note: do NOT get me started on what happens to my mind in the bathroom during a shower. {the only thing to write notes on is a fogged mirror, I am sure we have talked on this already so I wont bring it back up}

[SaraBahama]

I had to run out for a second while I was in the middle of responding to your post. That sounds great--you've already got characters and they're your ancestors! How awesome is that?

Indeed!

Part of what kicked this off was the limited historical documentation available -I mean, these are my great-great-great (you get the idea) grandparents and history left them 2 pages in a book! REALLY? So it began as a search for the details to give depth to the event, and it has blossomed into me wanting to share their story (there are times that I lose confidence in my ability to do it justice...but I press on because I want to try -I'm vested in the story).

Whytewytch -thanks for that little insight about the fletching; that will give me ideas about how to incorporate those ideas into my own. That is a wonderful explaination of how the emotional anxiety plays out in physical action in a natural way.

In an oddly similar fashion I'm working on an original novel set a few decades from now in what will hopefully be a plausible, technically accurate depiction of the future, but I'm having trouble with making the logistics, politics and details of the setting really work (if I don't get stuff like this worked out, I won't be happy - I firmly believe in getting every possible detail right). However I think I'll try and pay more attention to the characters and plot for the moment so that I can actually get somewhere..

I sympathize: I start to write, only to stop and wonder if some minute detail is correct (ie: "would this young girl be talking alone with a man who is not her relative in the 1650's?"). I'm almost driving myself crazy.

Here! I've been insanely busy with the hell that work has become as well as volunteering at the community cinema (which is possibly the greatest waste of time I've yet taken part in due to total local apathy despite volunteer support) and SF&Coffee is away at the moment. I suspect she will be back soon.

Glad your both ok -I can wait to hear from you as long as I know things are ok. SF is usually chatty, so when I see no posts from her, I grow concerned.

Now, before we get too far into the topic of death and destruction and mass deaths and graves and the like, I have something to hopefully lighten the topic, in this case Inspiration.

What inspires you guys to write a certain scene ? <snipped>

In fanfic, it is usually the emotional subtext that we never get to see on the show. We know it's there, we just don't hear what is going on in the character's head. I rather enjoy working out the internal struggle the character MAY be having in relationship to a particular scene.

This can also be my downfall: I'm so engrossed in the inner voices, I ignore the external action. Gotta work on that.

Otherwise, it is my rather fertile imagination that makes me want to create a scene because I can just "see" it in my head.

[Amara D'Angeli]

Now, before we get too far into the topic of death and destruction and mass deaths and graves and the like, I have something to hopefully lighten the topic, in this case Inspiration.

For me to get in the right head space for writing several different emotions, I have to have the right music. I'm not sure I'd call that inspriation, but it definitely serves a huge purpose.

I started a new fic a couple of weeks ago and couldn't even get started until I made a playlist that sounded like I wanted the scene to look (if that makes sense). Of course, I already knew what I wanted to write and how I wanted it laid out, I just couldn't seem to get the words going until I had the music playing. So perhaps the inspiration came first, before the music, and the ability came with the music?

I dunno. I find I don't generally need to be "inspired" to write. It's an inherent part of me.

[Falcon Horus]

...I mean, these are my great-great-great (you get the idea) grandparents....

Goes a wee bit on and on?

....and history left them 2 pages in a book! REALLY?

Hey, that's still more than many of us can say about their great-great-great-.... -great-great-great grandparents....

I sympathize: I start to write, only to stop and wonder if some minute detail is correct (ie: "would this young girl be talking alone with a man who is not her relative in the 1650's?"). I'm almost driving myself crazy.

Sounds eerily familiar... can indeed turn oneself crazy.

...I have something to hopefully lighten the topic, in this case Inspiration.

What inspires you guys to write a certain scene ?

Inspiration comes and goes. The less stressed I am, the better it comes. Am I in an evironment that I love to be in, like a grand landscape or on a historical site, it'll hit me too. Watch a good movie and the possibilities are endless. And in my bath-tub...

[Whytewytch]

Sara--you're welcome. Hope that helps you see how details of an era can be subtly incorporated, too.

Sara & Sealurk--one of the best quotes I've heard recently is credited to Nora Roberts: "I can edit garbage; I can't edit a blank page." I also used to get sidetracked by details like that, sometimes still do, but overall, I tend to put the words in a different color or highlight the text in question. Later, once I've written a bunch, I can go back and check details. The only thing I'm a stickler for now is the proper name--I cannot write my characters if they don't have a name, and it has to be one that fits them. I can't write about "Bob the other member of Robin Hood's gang" or "Susie, the sexy alien of the Keltiad". Right now, I'm doing a Scandinavian myth original--my characters are Sören, Göran, and Katja. Even seeing their names helps me get in the mood for my story. The current title, however, is "NaNo 2012"--guess when I'm planning on doing the bulk of the writing?

Princess A--Ideas come to me from many and various sources. In fan fic, it's usually as I'm watching the show and I see a missing scene or wonder why so & such has no sweetie (since I write mostly romances). In original fic, it can come from myths, legends, a piece of music, a stray comment in a non-fiction text or an odd picture that calls to me. Oddly, we were talking about this at my local RWA meeting and I just blogged about the topic yesterday.

[Starfist]

I've found that if I listen to a piece of music it will often spark an idea. Or fit a piece that I have already written.

I have to admit to being a fan of military history.

On the subject of Auschwitz. It is a place on my 'Bucket List' that I'd like to visit before I die.

[SaraBahama]

Sara--you're welcome. Hope that helps you see how details of an era can be subtly incorporated, too.

Sara & Sealurk--one of the best quotes I've heard recently is credited to Nora Roberts: "I can edit garbage; I can't edit a blank page."

I heard your voice in my head today, so while I was waiting to pick up my hubs and kid, I jotted down a scene in a notebook...thanks for the kick in the pants.

I also used to get sidetracked by details like that, sometimes still do, but overall, I tend to put the words in a different color or highlight the text in question. Later, once I've written a bunch, I can go back and check details. The only thing I'm a stickler for now is the proper name--I cannot write my characters if they don't have a name, and it has to be one that fits them. I can't write about "Bob the other member of Robin Hood's gang" or "Susie, the sexy alien of the Keltiad". Right now, I'm doing a Scandinavian myth original--my characters are Sören, Göran, and Katja. Even seeing their names helps me get in the mood for my story. The current title, however, is "NaNo 2012"--guess when I'm planning on doing the bulk of the writing?

what a wonderful idea!

[Princess Awinita]

I've found that if I listen to a piece of music it will often spark an idea. Or fit a piece that I have already written.

I have to admit to being a fan of military history.

On the subject of Auschwitz. It is a place on my 'Bucket List' that I'd like to visit before I die.

Sometimes when I'm listening to comedy stuff, heck even LOTR playing on my DVD software on my machine gives me writing mood pretty well off!

[Whytewytch]

I heard your voice in my head today, so while I was waiting to pick up my hubs and kid, I jotted down a scene in a notebook...thanks for the kick in the pants.



what a wonderful idea!

Glad I could help! Was I speaking with my New Hampshire accent or my North Carolina one?

[SaraBahama]

Glad I could help! Was I speaking with my New Hampshire accent or my North Carolina one?

Oh! It was definitely the North Carolina one. New Hampshire ones make me slip back into my Bahamian accent...

[Whytewytch]

Oh! It was definitely the North Carolina one. New Hampshire ones make me slip back into my Bahamian accent...

It's funny, the teen said that my accent was thick when we'd only been on the ground for a short time.

[Princess Awinita]

How about you go on vacation then at the airport you start speaking in your native langauge, or your fellow does, then you say fast "You idiot! We're in America, speak spanish!!" Trust me, they wont notice you

\But if you are going to Disney World {or any Disney park} NEVER ask anyone "How many Imagineers does it take to change a lightbulb ?" because the answer will ALWAYS BE, "Does it have to be a lightbulb ?" My brother asked that wquestion and it took me an HOUR to get back on my feet from laughing so hard

[Falcon Horus]

Woops... ... I just read the start of one of the many WIP's I once started and I realize that I have no clue where I was planning on going with it. This could be considerate unfortunate cause if I may say so the beginning isn't that bad...

Oh, and I found a new soundtrack to write to - two in fact - Brave & Isles of Wonder (London 2012 opening ceremony music).