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chicafrom3So is everybody reading this week's xkcd series? Because if not you should be. Because it's AWESOME.
More to the point, does anybody know if Nathan Fillion is reading it? I know somebody on the RSS feed claimed to have tweeted him a link, but I don't know if he actually saw said link or is reading it. If not he should be.
Also, "no, that's the opposite of true" and "things are rarely just crazy enough to work, but they're frequently just crazy enough to fail hilariously" are awesome lines and I'm going to bestealing borrowing at least the first for my Better Than It Sounds 'verse because it's exactly the sort of thing Liam would say to Kyle.
Speaking of.
The Better Than It Sounds 'verse is the one featuring the geek rock band A Good Name For A Rock Band, by the way. I don't know if anybody remembers me mentioning them. Probably not. But it's one of my original-fiction 'verses.
Anyway, the Better Than It Sounds 'verse only recently received its formal name (previously I was calling it "the 'verse with Liam and Michael and them" and "the geek rock band 'verse" and the like). I've been nesting hardcore in TVTropes for the past couple days, worldbuilding like mad. Those two things aren't as unrelated as you might think, said geek rock band is in fact a TVTropes tribute band -- they named themselves, their albums, and their songs after various tropes -- and their view of things bleeds over into the 'verse at large. The end result is that I have an Excel workbook where I'm trying desperately to keep track of the rapidly-expanding cast, the band's discography, and associated tropes. I've been writing liner notes for their albums, piecing together running gags various characters are fond of, reworking relationships as necessary. I've gotten annoyed when characters from other 'verses bleed over and make me think that said 'verses are related. (Tasha, honey, I love you, but stay in your own universe, please?) I've planned out backstories. I've been sorting out A plots and B plots and C plots and plots that just don't make the cut.
I haven't actually written any of the actual story.
(This is not strictly true. I've written fragments of the story from back when it was entirely different story. Back when the band was named something else, Liam's nakama was blood family he didn't particularly like rather than the friends he was closer to than his real blood family, and Michael was an entirely different character in both personality and backstory. I don't think that counts, I had to throw it all out anyway.)
I mean, yes, okay, worldbuilding is important. But so is the actual text, isn't it?
This isn't the first time I've done something like this -- the last novel-length original fiction I planned out, I have ridiculous amounts of notes on the worldbuilding stuff and about three pages of actual written story. It's not even just original fiction; one of the reasons I've yet to finish The Trial Of Brendan Lahey is because every time I sit down to write more of it I get distracted by worldbuilding stuff that won't actually affect anything in the story itself, and if anybody remembers that Newsies cyberpunk AU I was talking about a long while ago, well, I've got about twenty pages of notes on characters, settings, technology, and plotting, and a handful of fragments of the actual story. I still know exactly how I wanted that Hamlet adaptation to play out, but actually writing it just hasn't happened.
This is a distressing pattern.
The easy thing to do would be to chalk this up to a lack of proper motivation or just call myself lazy and deal with it. Then there's the fact that I'm really not any good at all at braining proper plot (case in point: I know that a subplot of the BTIS 'verse is Conor and Tess and the transition from 'just friends' to 'victorious childhood friend'. How exactly that transition happens? ...you got me.) All of these are true but also excuses.
The fact is, worldbuilding is fun for me. I like developing a fictional universe to the point where I genuinely feel like I know the characters and the world and all the little details that nobody but me cares about.
Writing is also fun, obviously, or I wouldn't do it. Nobody's paying me for this. But it's also work; it's struggling through the parts that don't particularly interest me to get to the parts that do, it's finding a way to cover that particular plot hole, it's trying to keep everybody in character. And I get bored and wander off to write part of a different project, always intending to come back and pick up where I left off, but new projects are shinier and more fun, and it's a vicious cycle, basically. Short fics, the kind of stuff that's pretty much tailored for my attention span, are more my speed.
Which doesn't work so well when it comes to writing original fic. Fanfic, a ton of the worldbuilding's been done already. Your readers are coming at it with an understanding of the background, of who the characters are and what they're doing there. Original fic requires that worldbuilding be done in-text, if you want any of your readers to care about your characters at all. I could write a vignette where Conor and Tess are just being cute at each other, but nobody but me would understand who they are or why this moment is significant, and nobody but me would care.
And that's okay. Sometimes I do that. I have a handful of short stories that I've written and have no intention of showing to anyone else because all the worldbuilding is in my head. They're just to make me happy, and they do, and that's okay. But for fiction I intend to share with other people? Even theoretically? My style doesn't work so well.
(At least not for the big 'verses like this one. I have in fact written short stories with all the necessary worldbuilding contained within, but those are not the sort I'm talking about; those tend to have a narrower scope, a more specific purpose, and less heavy backstory.)
I lost the thread of what I'm trying to get at. This is the problem with thinking in tangents, you don't always remember where you were originally headed.
Um.
To sum up, worldbuilding is fun and necessary and generally a good thing, but I do it at the expense of actual writing, which is a problem that I don't know how to fix.
More to the point, does anybody know if Nathan Fillion is reading it? I know somebody on the RSS feed claimed to have tweeted him a link, but I don't know if he actually saw said link or is reading it. If not he should be.
Also, "no, that's the opposite of true" and "things are rarely just crazy enough to work, but they're frequently just crazy enough to fail hilariously" are awesome lines and I'm going to be
Speaking of.
The Better Than It Sounds 'verse is the one featuring the geek rock band A Good Name For A Rock Band, by the way. I don't know if anybody remembers me mentioning them. Probably not. But it's one of my original-fiction 'verses.
Anyway, the Better Than It Sounds 'verse only recently received its formal name (previously I was calling it "the 'verse with Liam and Michael and them" and "the geek rock band 'verse" and the like). I've been nesting hardcore in TVTropes for the past couple days, worldbuilding like mad. Those two things aren't as unrelated as you might think, said geek rock band is in fact a TVTropes tribute band -- they named themselves, their albums, and their songs after various tropes -- and their view of things bleeds over into the 'verse at large. The end result is that I have an Excel workbook where I'm trying desperately to keep track of the rapidly-expanding cast, the band's discography, and associated tropes. I've been writing liner notes for their albums, piecing together running gags various characters are fond of, reworking relationships as necessary. I've gotten annoyed when characters from other 'verses bleed over and make me think that said 'verses are related. (Tasha, honey, I love you, but stay in your own universe, please?) I've planned out backstories. I've been sorting out A plots and B plots and C plots and plots that just don't make the cut.
I haven't actually written any of the actual story.
(This is not strictly true. I've written fragments of the story from back when it was entirely different story. Back when the band was named something else, Liam's nakama was blood family he didn't particularly like rather than the friends he was closer to than his real blood family, and Michael was an entirely different character in both personality and backstory. I don't think that counts, I had to throw it all out anyway.)
I mean, yes, okay, worldbuilding is important. But so is the actual text, isn't it?
This isn't the first time I've done something like this -- the last novel-length original fiction I planned out, I have ridiculous amounts of notes on the worldbuilding stuff and about three pages of actual written story. It's not even just original fiction; one of the reasons I've yet to finish The Trial Of Brendan Lahey is because every time I sit down to write more of it I get distracted by worldbuilding stuff that won't actually affect anything in the story itself, and if anybody remembers that Newsies cyberpunk AU I was talking about a long while ago, well, I've got about twenty pages of notes on characters, settings, technology, and plotting, and a handful of fragments of the actual story. I still know exactly how I wanted that Hamlet adaptation to play out, but actually writing it just hasn't happened.
This is a distressing pattern.
The easy thing to do would be to chalk this up to a lack of proper motivation or just call myself lazy and deal with it. Then there's the fact that I'm really not any good at all at braining proper plot (case in point: I know that a subplot of the BTIS 'verse is Conor and Tess and the transition from 'just friends' to 'victorious childhood friend'. How exactly that transition happens? ...you got me.) All of these are true but also excuses.
The fact is, worldbuilding is fun for me. I like developing a fictional universe to the point where I genuinely feel like I know the characters and the world and all the little details that nobody but me cares about.
Writing is also fun, obviously, or I wouldn't do it. Nobody's paying me for this. But it's also work; it's struggling through the parts that don't particularly interest me to get to the parts that do, it's finding a way to cover that particular plot hole, it's trying to keep everybody in character. And I get bored and wander off to write part of a different project, always intending to come back and pick up where I left off, but new projects are shinier and more fun, and it's a vicious cycle, basically. Short fics, the kind of stuff that's pretty much tailored for my attention span, are more my speed.
Which doesn't work so well when it comes to writing original fic. Fanfic, a ton of the worldbuilding's been done already. Your readers are coming at it with an understanding of the background, of who the characters are and what they're doing there. Original fic requires that worldbuilding be done in-text, if you want any of your readers to care about your characters at all. I could write a vignette where Conor and Tess are just being cute at each other, but nobody but me would understand who they are or why this moment is significant, and nobody but me would care.
And that's okay. Sometimes I do that. I have a handful of short stories that I've written and have no intention of showing to anyone else because all the worldbuilding is in my head. They're just to make me happy, and they do, and that's okay. But for fiction I intend to share with other people? Even theoretically? My style doesn't work so well.
(At least not for the big 'verses like this one. I have in fact written short stories with all the necessary worldbuilding contained within, but those are not the sort I'm talking about; those tend to have a narrower scope, a more specific purpose, and less heavy backstory.)
I lost the thread of what I'm trying to get at. This is the problem with thinking in tangents, you don't always remember where you were originally headed.
Um.
To sum up, worldbuilding is fun and necessary and generally a good thing, but I do it at the expense of actual writing, which is a problem that I don't know how to fix.
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I'm the opposite way -- hate to worldbuild; or, rather, it can be fun, and I enjoy it, but I'm not great at it and it kind of scares me; I also have trouble worldbuilding in a way that connects to and enhances the story, rather than just throwing cool shit at the wall. I'd always much rather throw some characters into a particular set-up and then fake the worldbuilding. Which doesn't work well in the long run.
So, you are totally not alone, and there are people out there (like me) who suffer from the opposite problem and also flail around. :) Also, in the You Are Not Alone department, I hate plotting as well. I find it really difficult. My favorite thing is dialogue. And I also like to write little fanfic-esque vignettes and stories about my original characters where I don't have to go into all the exposition-y stuff for the audience.
I don't have any real advice... do you have a group of people that you can corral to beta-read your stuff? Having an audience that will give me feedback sometimes pushes me to work on my stories.
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have trouble worldbuilding in a way that connects to and enhances the story, rather than just throwing cool shit at the wall.
Like ninety percent of my worldbuilding is generally stuff that won't actually connect to the story. (Their liner notes. Why on Earth did I need to design their liner notes?) But it's fun. XD Plot is...significantly less fun.
do you have a group of people that you can corral to beta-read your stuff?
Erm. Niki, sometimes, when I've got something written down that I can give her. ...aside from that, no, not really. I write in such a disorganized way, jumping all over the storyline, generally, when I write at all, that it's hard to have something solid that I can give to someone to read.
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We could do something like we both agree to write a story about our characters (just a short story, or an on going story if we want) like every two weeks or something, and post them to our LJs (with a filter if you don't want everyone to read it). Even if they don't have much to do with the main story (if there is one... my characters just have lives), but just to get us to write on a regular basis.
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Oh, good, I'm not alone in doing that. I keep track of so much in regards to my OCs, all of it fictional and yet changing constantly, and most of it totally irrelevant to anything.
We could do something like we both agree to write a story about our characters (just a short story, or an on going story if we want) like every two weeks or something, and post them to our LJs (with a filter if you don't want everyone to read it). Even if they don't have much to do with the main story (if there is one... my characters just have lives), but just to get us to write on a regular basis.
I like that idea! I did mininano last November, which was helpful in getting me to write even if most of what I wrote was awful -- having a concrete goal to write something regularly is really helpful.
BTIS does have a main story (I think. It's either the Michael/Liam plot or AGNFARB's transition from four geeky boys in a college dorm room to a Major Internet Sensation, I'm not entirely sure which is the A plot), but I would totally write stuff that is either about the subplots or not contributing to the plot. XD
We should totally do that!
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XD There is the added benefit of us becoming familiar with the other's world and could probably help each other work things out if we get stuck. (Maybe you can help me figure out an actual plot.)
I don't think either of those plots needs to be more important than the other. They are completely separate kinds of stories... what I like to call The Big Picture (stories that are seen more from the outside like the band becoming an internet sensation), and The Little Picture (interpersonal relationships and conflicts, which are seen from the inside, such as the Michael/Liam plot). A good story needs, IMO, a Big Picture and a Little Picture, or it runs the risk of being impersonal (no Little Picture), or melodramatic, like a soap opera (no Big Picture). You just have to balance them both.
I'll go make my LJ filter right away so I don't forget. Maybe long with writing actual stories we could use it to bounce ideas off each other or post paragraphs that we wanna work in somehow, just stuff that will help with the actual stories.
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I do have all these little bits of information that don't really fit in much
...I have backstory for Liam's coat. ...uh. Yes. There may be something just slightly wrong with me.
I think getting an outsider's view on our respective 'verses will definitely be helpful. <3 I've got the opposite problem, that of far too many plots, so maybe we can balance each other out.
A good story needs, IMO, a Big Picture and a Little Picture, or it runs the risk of being impersonal (no Little Picture), or melodramatic, like a soap opera (no Big Picture).
You speak trufax. Although given that the only Big Picture plot is the band's rise to fame, and allllll the other plots are Little Picture interpersonal stuff, balance may be hard to achieve.
we could use it to bounce ideas off each other or post paragraphs that we wanna work in somehow
Perfect! <3
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I definitely need a big picture, but I'm not sure what it would be... I see my characters rather than having one main story about them, like a novel, there are lots of little things, like a TV show. I hope not a soap opera, lol.
So do you want to do a story sometime before the 20th? That's two weeks from today. Or the weekend of the 21st and 22nd, we don't have to have super strict deadlines. XP Maybe we should start out focusing on one thing, like a certain character, or a setting or something. What do you think?
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We'll find a big picture for you. Somehow. Maybe. Hopefully.
The weekend of the 21st/22nd sounds good. Two weeks should be enough for me to put something together, I hope. I like the idea of focusing on one thing, but I don't know specifically what. Given what a massive cast BTIS has.
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Ooh I have an idea. What about a relationship? We could pick a relationship, romantic or otherwise, and write about the beginning of that relationship. So how a couple got together, or how a friendship started, or how a friendship turned into a romantic relationship, etc ... just the beginning of a relationship.
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Don't I know the feeling. XD It's...a bit awkward trying to write when you're not sure what's going on.
But I've got slightly less than 700 words of Liam and Michael's first meeting, so far. And Michael hasn't even shown up yet. So, uh...hopefully that'll pan out.
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I started writing about Shannon and Jarrett's changing relationship, but to do that I had to explain how she broke up with Lennox, so I've got two pages and no mention of Jarrett. I think I may just scrap it and start over. I'll post it so you can see it, but it's definitely not going to turn into the story.
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My main problem right now is getting Liam, Johnny, and Patrick involved enough in their conversation that they won't notice when Kyle wanders off in order to meet Michael and then introduce him to the other three. Which is HARD because they've already covered the salient points. That, and Liam keeps wanting to do Exposition even when it's not appropriate.
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What about a controversial topic for the three to get involved in their conversation? Anything from actual controversial topics to something like who makes the best amps or whatever. Just something for them to debate over.
Inappropriate exposition can be annoying, too. When Dmitri is talking, he can do that (like on his LJ which hasn't been updated in a long time... username is dmitri_ev if you wanna read it and see what I mean). And Shannon always goes off on tangents.
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Checking out the journal now! Only a couple entries in but Dmitri sounds adorable. <3
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I'm very glad to hear you think Dmitri sounds adorable. He is pretty adorable. Even when he makes Bad Decisions.
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Bad Decisions might make him more adorable. Rooting for the underdog and so on.
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Yeah, Dmitri is pretty adorable when he fucks up. Of course, Fionn is pretty adorable, too. I don't to see him get hurt, which might happen if he pursues a relationship with Dmitri.
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I don't to see him get hurt,
This is one of the hard parts of writing, isn't it? Drama generally involves hurting your characters to some degree or other, but sometimes you just get so attached you don't want to see them get hurt.
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Hardest characters to write about. Or maybe that's just me. But it's a combination of not wanting to drag them down into the drama they're better than, and the fact that they just don't tend to generate drama of their own.
If that makes sense at all.
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Declan himself isn't really creating any drama; it's all in Shannon's head. It could be interesting to write about their neighbour-y relationship. Hm. Maybe that's what I'll do for my story!
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I started writing about Shannon and Jarrett's changing relationship, but to do that I had to explain how she broke up with Lennox, so I've got two pages and no mention of Jarrett. I think I may just scrap it and start over. I'll post it so you can see it, but it's definitely not going to turn into the story.