Woo hoo! My first entry: Pondering

[agilebrit]

Sometimes the writing process is more interesting to me than what comes out at the end. For example, my Kitten Poker fic went through two incarnations before I finalized it. The first version was Spike and Angel (in script form)...but I was getting uncomfortable with the slashy aspects of it, and I didn't really know where it was going to go. So, I swapped it over to Spike/Fred (still in script form), and THEN I put it in story format because all I hear is how awful script format is. And I'm very satisfied with the way it came out (other than a dangling participle that made it appear that mewing noises were coming out of Spike's arm instead of the basket).

And now there's this horrible thing I'm working on. It started out as a confrontation Fred had with Spike after he became corporeal, after the Cup of Torment debacle....and that lasted about a page and a half, and fizzled. Then a plot bunny grabbed me by the throat and whispered "What if the effects of the Box of Flashy were just temporary?" Okay, cool. I can work with that. I think.

My problem is that a plot with no theme is just...nothing. I'm finding out the hard way that it's a lot easier to start with a theme (the point I want to get across) and no plot, than it is to start with a plot and no theme. "Mustard Seed" started with a theme (sequel to "Reward;" Spike starts to question his faith after some bad things happen), and blossomed from there. It was a long, strange, and ultimately satisfying journey, which ended in a kind of bittersweet way...but that's the way life generally IS, isn't it?

So, now, on the current WIP, I have seven pages of...not very much. No working title, no chapter names, and no theme. No grand idea. And I have characters who have their own ideas about who they want to work with.

I think I'm going to sit in the corner and sulk now.

Comments

[dragonflymuse.livejournal.com]

I'm having that crisis too. I have snippets of ideas ~ bits of dialog and moments I want to use, but no real framework in place, no arc yet to guide me... I sympathise completely.

And I liked the kitten poker fic :)

And ~ nothin' wrong with getting a little slashy subtext happenin'...

Slash...

[agilebrit.livejournal.com]

LOL Not sure how much "sub" was in that text....

It would be nice if the characters would do what *I* want them to do instead of going off on their own. I had some dang monsters in "Reward" that were supposed to be big and scary and have this huge battle....didn't happen. The monsters didn't want to fight. Darn them.

Re: Slash...

[dragonflymuse.livejournal.com]

I get that ~ I know what I want my characters to say and do, I just am having a hard time either justifying them doing it, or making it believable.

[bigsciencybrain.livejournal.com]

HI!!!!

And isn't Riddick such the badass? *girly giggle* Hubby thinks I'm weird to be more excited for a Vin Diesel movie than any of the LOTR movies. Oh well. To each her own.

[alliterator.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, the difficulty of writing a story on just a theme. I tried that and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Good luck with that plot bunny, though!
And I can make you an icon if you want.

[alliterator.livejournal.com]

Or should I say just a plot. No edit function on comments, Kahn!