Status and Support

[Dinah]

I thought we should have somewhere to go to ask about the status of works in progress. It could also be a place to offer moral support to writers who are struggling with a chapter, a character or the ability to put words on the page.

To get things rolling, Blacknblue is working on the next chapter of "Payment." He's started posting the story at fanfiction.net.

[Kotik]

Good idea this Can we also nag about the status of our favourite works, like when's the next chapter of "The Briar Patch" coming ?

I've only recently resumed writing, but there's some new chapters for "Trip Of A Lifetime" coming the next weeks

[WarpGirl]

OMG! YES! Go BnB I wish he'd post here though I hate reviewing at ff.net I sumbmitted my next chapter. Hopefully little bloodshed. And since Briar Patch just got a new chapter I won't nag. BUT I will say I'm hungry for more. I also started a thread where writers can gripe about problems, but I believe the more the merrier. Part of the fun of this is getting help from other people.

[honeybee]

Well, I'm still trying to wrap up Family Secrets. I'm working on Chapter 26. I post them on ff.net, but then polish them and send them here.

I know exactly what's going to happen - it's just that RL has prevented me from sitting down and writing it all down.

I am grateful though, it was the commenters here that suggested T'Pol meet a "good" brother - and suddenly a story that I thought would be 10 chapters had gone to 26 and counting. My OCs are running amok, too.

[WarpGirl]

OC's are so tricky, because they can honestly be great like Honeybee's and Dinah's and others whom I can't seem to think of off hand... Or tragic distracting, annoyances. I have a few OC's ready and waiting to make their appearence and I am ABSOLUTELY TERRIFIED! Seriously I am scared. I'm used to video game fic, you can do a lot more with it and not get in trouble. So any and all advice is WELCOME!

[Transwarp]

I have a few OC's ready and waiting to make their appearence and I am ABSOLUTELY TERRIFIED! Seriously I am scared.

"Cast out Fear. There is no room for anything else until you cast out fear." Seriously, is there a more nurturing, accepting place on the Internet than right here? (I don't get out much, so I suppose it's possible; it's just hard for me to believe.)

The nice thing about fan fic is the author doesn't have to develop background or characters. The grunt work is already done. When you introduce an OC, you are starting from square one (well, maybe square two, since the milieu is already defined), at least for that character. Use the same tools you would use in 'normal' fiction to introduce and develop the character. Let the reader learn motivation, character and background through the OC's actions and interactions with others. (Show, don't tell.) Most of all, trust your ear. If it sounds good to YOU, then run with it. If it falls flat when you read it back, then get out your red pen and start revising.

If you find you are struggling, and nothing you type seems to work, and you are on your third revision of your fifth attempt at an appropriate scene to introduce the character, and you can't pin down the character's voice, and it all seems so VERY hard... welcome to the club.

But if the words flow effortlessly from your imagination onto the page, and you nail it the first time? Then I hate you.

[WarpGirl]

Thank you for making me smile. And no it is not easy for me. My main "fear" I guess is that I'm either going to make cardbord OC's or OC's so complex that the main focus gets shifted from TnT to the OC's. I swear it's the stuff of nightmares. If I slept.

[Transwarp]

Thank you for making me smile.

My pleasure. BTW, what is video game fic? Maybe I should try my hand at that:

Pacman stared down the corrider at the long row of uneaten dots. He should be gobbling them up, trying to get to the next level, but there was no joy in gobbling any more. No joy in life. His appetite was gone. Gone, like Ms. Pacman. He bitterly recalled the last message he had ever received from her: "Our marriage was a mistake. I am leaving you for Donkey Kong. HE understands me."

[panyasan]

Great to know the next chapter of Payment is going to be posted. I also am very curious about Dinah's fic, WG's new chapters and Honeybee's next chapter of Family secrets. I just sent the first improved version of chapter 14 and 15 of The Captives to my beta, so I hope to post that chapters by the end of this month. I could tell my inspiration had dried up a bit, I was a bit embarresed about my sentences in the first version. They were horrible - my own native tongue was shining through, especially in the structure of the sentences, but luckily, the muse came back.

I already started the Conclusion-chapter with a scene with Kov and I was struggling with the scene with Trip and T'Pol, but I realise I like to write about TnT more then any other character. I am also dying to finish a new story called Barefoot (I really enjoyed my self writing the first part), but I want to finish The Captives first. Need more time.

[WarpGirl]

Panyasan you've made me so happy. Off to try and sleep now. Maybe.

[Escriba]

They were horrible - my own native tongue was shining through, especially in the structure of the sentences, but luckily, the muse came back.

Don't you hate that? I mean, having this "return to your original language" moment? It's a little frustrating. I found long ago that I can't write a story in Spanish and then translate it. It doesn't work. The rythm is different. But thinking in English is hard and a little limiting to me!

But it's a luck that you've recovered your muse, panyasan. Congratulations!

As for me, I'm writing chapter 11 of Mirage. I'm trying to make the dialogue between the two characters entertaining enough for the readers while I'm leaving the usual three Chekhov's guns per chapter. I'm always dreading that the readers are going to get bored with so much ping-pong point of views and plot points.

PS: Am I the only one that is in awe with prolific authors as Honeybee? I don't know how you can write so much. I think I lack the discipline.

[honeybee]

PS: Am I the only one that is in awe with prolific authors as Honeybee? I don't know how you can write so much. I think I lack the discipline.

Awww. You noticed. But seriously, I'm not always so prolific - but I do really enjoy sitting down to write in the same way people enjoy exercise - it's hard, but it's rewarding to have done it.

As for OC's - that was my biggest worry in the story "Implications" - I realized I would essentially have to create love interests for both Malcolm and Archer - and that's the scariest thing - to make characters that a regular could believably fall for and not make them Mary Sues. Ugh. God knows the professional writers always had trouble with that. I very nearly quit the story because of no ideas. Then, I started with - okay what profession? Then what would each woman look like? What alien traits would they have? Then, what would draw Malcolm to someone? Then, what complexities or flaws would Malcolm be drawn to? (Easy answer. Malcolm wants the unattainable.) Then, do the same thing for Archer. I'd be very interested in hearing how other people solve these kinds of problems.

In Family Secrets, I first just thought all the Romulans would be mad, bad and dangerous to know. Then, the idea of a Romulan who was still a Romulan but could turn "good" came along. . . .and how do you do that? I think the major thing is planning ahead but then not being married to your plan.

The rythm is different. But thinking in English is hard and a little limiting to me.

Well, I for one am impressed with your English. It must be very, very challenging not to write in one's mother tongue, and thank you for making the effort. It is very much appreciated.

[WarpGirl]

I think the major thing is planning ahead but then not being married to your plan.

Yes! I totally believe in that. But sometimes when you have to scrap the origional plan, nothing new replaces it.

Well, I for one am impressed with your English. It must be very, very challenging not to write in one's mother tongue, and thank you for making the effort. It is very much appreciated.

I'm still always forgetting Escriba and panyasan aren't native English speakers, just by their posts on the boards! Really you two, you're amazing!

[Kotik]

They were horrible - my own native tongue was shining through, especially in the structure of the sentences, but luckily, the muse came back.

Welcome to the effing club
Yep, writing in English is a bit tricky at times. But for me actually it is the other way round. I could never write anything about ENT in German (my mother tongue), because I only watched ENT in English. In German it would simply not work. What sort of accent do I give Trip? A nasty thick Berlin accent like my own? Bavarian? Low Saxon? I once tried watching a German dubbed "Carbon Creek" and IIRC I didn't manage longer than 20 seconds. I heard Trip speak standard scientific German and the thing was utterly ruined. ENT doesn't work in my language.

For the writing in English, I have a very simple process, that works for me. Once I've written a first version, I usually send it to WarpGirl, who often points out things to improve or correct, like my latest California mixup ( ) Once that is done I start fine-tuning it. I read it out loud and usually thats when I stumble upon wording issues. In average my work goes through 10 to 15 of such re-reading cycles before I publish it. Has worked pretty well for me so far

[WarpGirl]

I should point out that sometimes I ramble about things and ususally they turn out better when he DOESN'T listen to me! BTW I'll be done in a few minutes dear. It boggles my mind that so many non-English speakers who write here have a better grasp of my language than I do. Not to mention it makes me feel ashamed for goofing off during grammer and punctuation in school. I was such a little idiot.