Fanfic Writers' Virtual Water Cooler

[Whytewytch]

I read this as puppy, and was trying to remember when you got a dog. Then Falcon Horus started talking about bright orange tails and boy, did that give me a strange image. At which point I re-read your post and realized you were talking about fish.

Seaboe

ROFLMAO!!!!! Oh, Seaboe, that was awesome. A nice little mid-day chuckle for me.

My male guppy offspring have the colors of their father (Sid) and the tail of their mother (Nancy). Nancy's grey-greenish with a silvery blue tail. She's a pretty little fish. Sid has a sword-tail, and Nancy a round-tail. However, looking at the drawings on the image I found, I'd have to say that the offspring have more like a veil-tail. They are my pretty boys! And my girls are pretty too of course, in their own right, except when they scare the hell out of me by jumping out of the box I keep them in when cleaning out their tank.

Gupster gave me a fright the other day. He stopped swimming. Just stopped and was floating near the top of the tank. Fanny was swimming worriedly near him. Then a little something dropped from by his tail and I realized he was just making. Good thing his mom wasn't swimming under him at the time!

It's been an inexplicably slow day at work today so I put together the time line for everything that's happened in my current Stargate WIP (I've been telling the story a little out of order by parceling out details and even I was starting to get worried I was going to contradict myself). I've also figured out exactly how long this beast is going to be and now know I'm a third of the way through the story and boy does that feel good!

Amara, you should see the spreadsheet I have for ATWLB and its universe. At least now I know I'm not the only one who has to actually make reference notes and refer to them for her own fiction!

I have actually started doing this sort of thing with my original works--did something similar with the last two of my Robin Hood Thieves books, as well. I actually find that I enjoy it. Mind, I enjoy whenever I get a chance to do anything creative, especially since it's so few and far between these days.

[Amara D'Angeli]

Amara, you should see the spreadsheet I have for ATWLB and its universe. At least now I know I'm not the only one who has to actually make reference notes and refer to them for her own fiction!

I'm an over-planner in some regards. But this story, while I knew exactly the story I wanted to tell, how everything happened, and the high points the characters were going to hit as they navigated their way through recovery, I left a lot of the details in the air. After a while I realized there were too many things that happened at specific times and I wasn't precisely sure when to refer back to (important because the when is very important for the way some of the characters interact) especially considering there's some psychological treatment to contend with. It's not very pretty and it's certainly not the most fanciest thing I've ever done, but it sure is helpful!

I have actually started doing this sort of thing with my original works--did something similar with the last two of my Robin Hood Thieves books, as well. I actually find that I enjoy it. Mind, I enjoy whenever I get a chance to do anything creative, especially since it's so few and far between these days.

I found that as I started telling more intricate stories it was imperative that I have some sort of a "bible" I could follow. This also happened right around the time I started writing serial screen plays. Funny that...

[Sparky She-Demon]

Think you could show us that "bible" of yours?

[Whytewytch]

I'm an over-planner in some regards. But this story, while I knew exactly the story I wanted to tell, how everything happened, and the high points the characters were going to hit as they navigated their way through recovery, I left a lot of the details in the air. After a while I realized there were too many things that happened at specific times and I wasn't precisely sure when to refer back to (important because the when is very important for the way some of the characters interact) especially considering there's some psychological treatment to contend with. It's not very pretty and it's certainly not the most fanciest thing I've ever done, but it sure is helpful!



I found that as I started telling more intricate stories it was imperative that I have some sort of a "bible" I could follow. This also happened right around the time I started writing serial screen plays. Funny that...

I'm actually using a binder--geography section, characters section, timeline, etc. One binder per story, pics as well as details of language, backgrounds, etc.

[Amara D'Angeli]

Think you could show us that "bible" of yours?

I'll be happy to show you the timeline I just created for my current Stargate WIP.

Some notes about the timeline:

Spoiler:

This timeline starts in the center (the purple text) and works in both directions. I've separated time not by date but from "zero hour" to the point in time where the story starts weeks.days before rescue to a point weeks.days after rescue. Because not all the events have happened yet pretty much only events that have happened through the first ten chapters are outlined. Since I know what else has/will happened it's not yet on the timeline. Mostly I just wanted to make sure the things I've referenced at some point in the story will occur in the same way if referenced later in the story.

Question marks mean the date isn't specific but the events are in chronological order.

That's all I've got for this fic right now outside the chapter structure (this fic is based on a person's recovery from catastrophic events and their journey through the primary emotions) which chooses the primary, secondary and tertiary emotions I'm hitting through the treatment process. This helps keep me on the path. For example, these are the chapters of the fic (spoilered for length and to let the people who don't care skip over it...):

Spoiler:

Chapters 1-10 are written and posted.

The bibles I'm currently working out of are for television series in the works and no, I can't share those right now. But as I work, I'll be happy to share other planning and information tools I use for reference purposes.

ETA: Oh, and here's an outline I have for a Bones story I'm working on. This is sort of what I meant by high points when I mentioned outlining your fics. The crossed out text is for chapters I'd written.

[Starfist]

I don't admit to having a 'bible' for my pieces of fiction.
But I do have a lot of books which I use for research.

[Amara D'Angeli]

I don't admit to having a 'bible' for my pieces of fiction.
But I do have a lot of books which I use for research.

Well "bible" is more a catch phrase for television work anyway. It's the information on back stories mentioned by characters and the way things have happened or been done in the past; information about projected story lines; and locations, props, actors, etc.; so that you can avoid Jossing yourself. It's something I brought to my fiction with me. Usually I just jot down notes and save them in files for the stories I'm working on. Like reference material.

[Starfist]

I would love to see the bible for 'BSG' or Stargate...

I was asked once...
"Why do write about your own SG team rather than SG-1?"

To which I replied... "So I don't upset any fans of Jack, Sam, Daniel or Tea'lc. By having them do something. And have someone say... But they wouldn't do that.

I do have SG-1 make cameo's.

[Falcon Horus]

I would love to see the bible for 'BSG' or Stargate...

I believe BSG had one, but Stargate didn't.

I rarely have notes, except for this one Sanctuary/SGA(/Merlin (general Arthurian Legend)) crossover I once started but never really continued; my WWII SGA AU fic has notes on historic data and research about the Jews in France during Nazi-reign; and I have some notes jotted down somewhere about an original story idea floating around my brain.

But beyond that, I'm rather scarce with notes, and timelines and bibles.

[SF_and_Coffee]

Given that ATWLB involves time-travel and a rather large cast of original characters from offworld cultures, flashbacks/memories for both Jack and Cromwell that date to as long ago as the 1970s, elements of the Gateverse that were introduced from the 1994 film onward, and some of the offworld OCs reference events in the history of their worlds' cultures as being relevant to events taking place in the story's present time... yeah, I've definitely had to create and use a bible for it.

[Starfist]

Is it a large 'bible' SF&C?

[SF_and_Coffee]

Is it a large 'bible' SF&C?

I imagine that depends on your definition of "large". It's certainly a rather complicated one...

[Princess Awinita]

I imagine that depends on your definition of "large". It's certainly a rather complicated one...

Just like the Gateworld Cantina family tree. If Someone can ever decode it, they're better then Mensa. It is rather complicated. I'll just say that.

[fems]

I would love to see the bible for 'BSG' or Stargate...

I was asked once...
"Why do write about your own SG team rather than SG-1?"

To which I replied... "So I don't upset any fans of Jack, Sam, Daniel or Tea'lc. By having them do something. And have someone say... But they wouldn't do that.

I do have SG-1 make cameo's.

In the Final Cut version of the pilot BW mentions (in the commentary) that TPTB more or less regarded Kate Ritter's lexicon (on RDA's site) as their bible for the show, so I guess that means they didn't have one themselves and it explains why there are quite a few contradictions/retcons throughout the seaons.

[SF_and_Coffee]

I was asked once...
"Why do write about your own SG team rather than SG-1?"

To which I replied... "So I don't upset any fans of Jack, Sam, Daniel or Tea'lc. By having them do something. And have someone say... But they wouldn't do that.

I do have SG-1 make cameo's.

The other way around that, of course, is to study the characters well enough that you can imagine how they might react in a given situation, what they might say or do, and what they would most likely be thinking. Because even when you create your own original characters, they do need to be consistent with themselves. Once you've been writing about them for a while and your readers have become familiar with them, those readers will notice when one of your OCs acts or speaks in a way perceived as "out of character" and will probably say so.

On the plus side, at least when you use canon characters, you already have a model for how they would act, and it can be good practice for learning to maintain consistency in characterization.