writing talk

Loved Cassie's "Written," and wholly disagree w/ those who thought she should have been more explicit about her characters' motivations. The mark of a good writer is in being able to tell your story the way it needs to be told, and when necessary, trusting the reader to be smart enough to appreciate scenarios that allow for intrepretation -- to show, not tell. More details in the story would have done it injustice. (I once wrote a post-colonization story in which Mulder contemplated suicide; I didn't take the advice of my beta reader and wrote in a particular way he could have done it. In retrospect, I should have listened to my beta: It would have been much more compelling if I'd left it up to the reader to imagine all the different ways Mulder might have gone about it.)

Also read a few stories recently that I thoroughly enjoyed, over at Restricted Section -- a D/G series by MsScribe. I love the "feel" of them. The first is "The Fairy Hunter," followed by "Eyes Wide Open," and finally, "After the Dance." Dare I hope that she'll continue? I wish they'd tell us the date something posted ... I haven't searched there in awhile and don't know when these were submitted. Might give me a better idea of whether she plans to continue or not.

I've instituted a writing rule myself: One page a day. I tend to write, when I'm inspired, in large chunks. I hate writing a bit, then going back to the part and be unable to get back into the same "voice" as before, or forget exactly where I was going. But these days, if I don't force myself to write, I never feel like writing. I think about it a lot, but never actually do it. This way, one page may encourage more, and even if it's crap it's often easier for me to edit my work than it is to form it from scratch. And at the end of a year's time, say, at least I'll know I'll have 365 pages of something. <g> I wasn't going to post this story as a WIP, but it's so damn long that I don't see any way around it. I've loved to be able to finish it first, as I'm not the best writer of WIPs, but I just don't think that's going to happen. Alas.

WWW: The One Where Draco and Ginny Start Dating and Ron Turns Purple

Did you hear that Ginny Weasley and Draco Malfoy ran into each other (literally) in the hall? And now he has to tutor her in Potions? And by the way, the Yule Ball is next week and neither of them have dates?

Fanfic conventions: We all know them. Some of them we love, some of them we hate. Anyone who's read a story has encountered one or more of these conventions -- sometimes even in the same story. Some conventions show up in nearly every fic. If you've ever =written= a story, you've probably used one or more.

But conventions are conventions because they work, right? What ones work for you, and which don't? Are you tired of seeing the same old thing, or do you look forward to a new twist on an old favorite? Why do fanfic conventions come about, and are they necessarily a bad thing?

( Post: Anything worth doing is worth doing again ... and again ... <g> )