How do I get mself into these messes?

[krickets]

I am such a one-shot offender. I never write long fics and here I find myself like 60% through this big bang and my brain has turned to mush and I have to wonder if it's even going to be worth it. (Define "worth it?" I don't even know!) I feel like I would get just as much satisfaction from writing a shorter fic, so why bother? I don't know. I will probably feel differently once I've filled in all the holes. And the sad part is that this is not even as long as some fics I've seen. Only 10,000 words!

[Poll #1779134]

Comments

[theladyscribe]

The longest piece I've written since the days when I was in thrall to all things LotR was essentially a love letter to baseball with bonus gay baseball players (that baby came in at over 15K -- my next-longest piece of SPN-related work is barely over 7K). It was an extremely satisfying piece of fiction, but I poured my heart and soul into it and have not written much in the way of fic since. (Which is probably mostly coincidence, since I wrote Glory Days the spring before I left for Egypt, and I essentially left the fandom a year later.)

Anyway, I think that not everyone is equipped for longer fic within certain fandoms. I know I was shocked when I did my final wordcount for Glory Days, since the last time I'd written anything over 10K was four or five years earlier and two or three fandoms previous.

[crickets.livejournal.com]

I am not really sure what the longest completed fic I've ever written was. I want to say something like 6,000 words and it was a Jack/Claire fic but I would have to go back and check. And it was completely unintentional and very deviant from the canon storyline so I had a lot of setting up and exposition to do. (As opposed to everything else I write which is oh-so-totally-canon, right? Hahahaha.)

[slybrunette.livejournal.com]

Considering my AU series is 10,000+ words per part, and that's the most in love with anything as I have ever been, I would say yes, it is worth it. But it's all about how much of yourself you put into it and how you are personally.

[crickets.livejournal.com]

10,000 words per part! And here I was worried about 10,000 words total, haha. I am really not sure just because I've never attempted a big bang and this is a whole new experience for me.

We'll see!

[haldoor.livejournal.com]

I've written a lot of long stuff and for me it's mostly been worth it because it's often the only way I manage to resolve what somehow needs to be resolved. But short ones give you faster satisfaction... so yeah, it's a matter of weighing up what you're trying to say and what you need from it. On the other hand, I'm crap at finishing things if they get too long...

[crickets.livejournal.com]

I think the deal is that I'm not used to this. I am a very different kind of writer and this is just something I have never done before. I can't imagine expending this much energy on one fic on a regular basis or as a general rule. For me this is definitely a "special occasion" kind of thing!

[rabiya-al-basri.livejournal.com]

I can't speak to the writing side of it, but as a reader, I generally prefer shorter fic. I feel like there's an implication in your post that you're somehow deficient as a writer for not writing longer fic, and I guess I would want to challenge that, you know? I don't think there's anything inherently better or worse about long vs short, any more than a novel is a 'higher' art form than a short story. (fanfic has the advantage over non-fan work (what is the contrasting term here?), too, that with pre-established characters, you can do a lot of character work in a short piece, which you can't really do in most short stories)

OTOH, there are things you can only do in longer works that can be really fun and rewarding; when writing essays or longer blog posts there's a huge satisfaction in pulling a bunch of disparate strands together or pulling apart a really intricately woven web of oppressive discourse or standing what you thought you knew completely on its head--things that often take quite a lot of words to accomplish--and I there can be a similar pleasures in writing fiction. So, basically, YMMV as far as whether it's worth it, but don't feel like your mode of artistic expression reflects on your worth as a writer.

[rabiya-al-basri.livejournal.com]

and I there can be a similar pleasures in writing fiction.

ack grammar. I wrote that two ways and they got smushed together by accident.

and I know there can be similar pleasures in writing fiction.
and there can be a similar pleasure in writing fiction.

[crickets.livejournal.com]

Oh no, I definitely didn't mean to imply that. I mean, I do feel like this is a little bit more of a challenge for me personally, but I know that some writers find writing shorter things more challenging. So it evens out in the end.

I think with longer fics there is so much more potential for mistakes and contrivances and I personally end up being more critical of my longer (but still relatively short!) pieces in the end. For that reason. Maybe that is why I prefer shorter fics. Less room for error. Everything has to be perfect.

I know that when I'm through I will be happy I did this. I just need to get through it!

[ellensmithee.livejournal.com]

It's worth it! If only so that *I* can read it. ;-) :-P Yours was one of the ones I was really looking forward to. There needs to be more Stefan/Caroline/Tyler, period. I'm also attempting them for the poly big bang so I need inspiration. *nods vigorously*

That said, I totally know where you're coming from. The TVD big bang is my first big fic on my own - I've written another big bang and a couple of fic series with my co-writer - but I've always been a one-shot writer, happy if I manage to make a fic longer than 1500 words.

With my big bang, I hit 10000 the other day, but I'm only about 4/5 done. I still have to write the climax. I'm really annoyed with myself that I didn't have the rough draft done before I watched the season premiere because it added a lot of little tidbits about Alaric that I'd addressed in my fic. So now I'm trying to figure out whether to adapt stuff to reflect that, and while I'm not planning to do anything like that till the draft is done, it's sort of blocking me at the moment.

One example was his finding Elena's necklace in his loft because it was sort of a plot point in my fic that he'd found Jenna's vervain necklace in his loft after her death and still wears it. I don't want to get rid of that bit, but now it's totally going to look like I stole the idea from the show. *sigh*

Anyhow, yeah. Long story short, I think it's worth it, if only to point and say "I made this!" even if you never do it again. ;-) It's an accomplishment.

But I do agree with the commenter above me that a fic doesn't have to be long to be good and that you shouldn't pressure yourself to write longer fic if you feel you do best with the short form. Longer =/= better. Sometimes it's just more verbose.

[crickets.livejournal.com]

Oh don't worry there is no chance of me bailing out now! I literally had to promise I would get this finished in order to get my name on the list for artist claims, haha. And inspiring you to write them for another big bang is inspiration enough! Yay!

but I've always been a one-shot writer, happy if I manage to make a fic longer than 1500 words.
THIS IS ME. To a t. Really. This is pretty much my motto when it comes to fic, haha.

I know what you mean about canon stealing your ideas, haha. This has happened to me before. But if you're confident in what you've written, and it's an important part of your story you definitely shouldn't change it. And it seems to me that it's different enough not to matter anyway.

I have about 7,000 words right now. I am not anticipating going much over the 10,000 -- but we'll see! For someone who has been writing fic for a long time, I actually feel like writing a big bang is some kind of rite of passage that I have missed out. Given my difficulty with long fics, I don't anticipate repeating the process, but I'm glad I'm doing it. (If a little stressed out at the moment!)

I'm glad someone's excited about this fic! Thank you!

[janie-tangerine.livejournal.com]

Mmh I'd say it is, but my average wordcount for one-shot fics is 7000 words. I'm totally not a short person and I'm incapable of staying short even when I -want- to keep it not that long. But either I realize that somehow I have a plot and if I have a plot I can't shut up, and even if I don't I always end up with long wordcounts. Even if I'm writing a single scene/snapshot I can't keep it under 1000 words - I need to go through every damn thing that happens in that scene if I go for that. I'm not sure if it's a ESL thing (I end up using more words because I need to be sure of what I'm saying) or if it's just that I can't possibly shut up 90% of the time but I find longer fic more rewarding because I just can't tell a story in a drabble or in a ficlet. Then again I'd like to be able to do more shorter pieces and I envy everyone who manages so effortlessly. I think that if you like the story enough you should just finish it without looking at the word count to see if it gets to 10000 words - and if you're more than half done it's worth a shot.

[crickets.livejournal.com]

I think we all have our different styles for different reasons. I often do write out all of those details, but trash them later and include the bare minimum. For me it makes everything flow better and I find sometimes that the unsaid is just as good. It's my own personal thing and I think that is probably for a myriad of reasons.

I already have a problem with this fandom because I can't seem to drop exposition and just jump into AU. It's like a handicap with writing the vampire diaries! Haha.

[gottalovev.livejournal.com]

for a long time, I used to write shorter fic, less than 2K. and then I got infected by the bigbang bug, just because I love the collaboration with artists on top. but yes, long fics can be worth it... though I have no idea why I signed up for a second 40K bigbang this year. geez. I am struggling, not going to lie. But then again, now I write something 7-10 K and I'm all: oh my god, that was shortish, how awesome!

[crickets.livejournal.com]

Wow 40K! Oh my gosh I would die. This was hard enough for me! (I think I actually finished tonight, yay for really detailed outlines!)

I don't see myself getting bitten by the bug. 10,000 words almost killed me!

[alliecat8.livejournal.com]

My trick for making it easier is to divide it into chapters and post one chapter at a time. Then I feel like I've accomplished something sooner, plus I get feedback that encourages me to keep going and makes me feel like I owe it to people to finish. I'd probably do a 10,000 word fic in about 4 chapters, spread out over maybe a month. It's not so much that I like torturing my readers; I just absolutely love the suspense element!

[crickets.livejournal.com]

I am hesitant to post chapters to something I haven't already finished. But also, this being a big bang is a special scenario so I don't get much say in how it is posted!

I am probably just going to put the whole thing in one big post, actually. But I will definitely think of that next time I get bitten by the long-fic bug! Writing long fics scares me.

*cowers in the corner*