Longfics Are Hard

[rodo]

I had kind of forgotten just how hard writing longfics is. As I mentioned in my last post, I picked up one after ten months of nothing, and what I had until then was the easy part. The start is always the easy part, which is why there are so many abandoned WIPs around. I’ve yet to meet someone who says they’re really good at the middle but can’t figure out the start, although I’m sure that sometimes happens too.

Back when I stopped working on the fic last year, I had the prologue and first two chapters typed up and another 2½ drafted. I had no idea how long the fic was going to end up being, but I estimated around 14-15 chapters. Turns out I was wrong; It’ll be 17 chapters, plus a prologue and an epilogue. I have now typed up everything up to and including chapter 5, and I’ve drafted another three, which puts me right at the hardest part – the middle. (The first act and the third one are five chapters each, the middle has seven.)

The middle is always a slog for me. I need to drudge through it. It’s hard work. And I can’t stop working on it, because once I find an excuse not to work on it, I end up finding even more excuses until it’s been ten months or five years, oops. So, writing longfic is like dieting for me. No cheat days and exceptions, or I’ll end up having only cheat days and exceptions. It doesn’t help that the middle is so important. It’s how the characters end up getting from point A (the beginning) to point B (the end) and planning the route is always more work that inspiration for me. With this one, it means a lot of mission fic – the next three chapters I have to draft are a mission each before I have another one with a big emotional moment to end the second act. Missions need so much plotting. So much tension, so many descriptions. So much to figure out… the next three chapters will make or break the fic.

Stuff I also need to figure out: the title. How does The Pall of Fate sound (or Under the Pall of Fate)? I’m not sold yet. Titles, also hard. Two chapters still need titles as well. And I need to figure out if I need to flesh out the OCs more to make them more sympathetic, and whether or not I’m neglecting some of the other canon characters.

Comments

[vriddy]

I'm the same about taking breaks in the middle of writing or editing something long, it's incredibly dangerous. And my stories aren't even that long, yet! Good luck with your longfic :)

[rodo]

I don't usually write long either. With two exceptions, it's really long for me if I manage to get to a word count in the low ten thousands. So this is exciting and scary for me. Thank you for the good wishes!