Writers on Writing

[Angel]

Whether you write phanphiction, fanfiction, short stories, novels, poetry, drabbles, novellas or anything else in between, here's the place to talk about it. Discuss writing techniques, works-in-progress, what inspires you ... or anything else to do with your personal writing!

[Simple Rose]

Hmm, well it appears I discovered this particular area of my life only recently...

It began with a phanfiction, actually! Not just any old phanfiction though, an RC phic! Some may remember "Safe in His Arms" from POTO.com or fanfiction.net... well, it was just so much fun that I had to continue! One day I began to think "what future could I have if I did an original?" and so I began Water in the Wine Glass! Some know I had to kind of abandon SIHA, due to inspirational issues, but I quickly and graciously handed it off to my ghost writer, EverMystique (who is also my editor!).

Anyway, so you'll be delighted to know that I'm very nearly finished the epilogue of Water in the Wine Glass! I'll be beginning my next project soon after, "Lacrelia". The story as it stands right now consists of an ancient dealing (by way of Constantine III) that has a huge effect on modern times. It will be a romance/fantasy/epic, and I'm looking forward to writing it!

[Angel]

You should know I love your writing, Em ... and I'm very glad to hear that WITWG will be updated soon! (Also, your titles are the bomb. I hate coming up with titles.)

[LittleLotte394]

I mainly write short stories. I just finished a ghost story that I may or may not get around to posting on FictionPress.net. Sometimes, I'll try to write a fanfiction, like my "A Public Announcement." However, my mood usually sets the writing style for me.

I'm starting a series of fanfictions soon, based off the Living Dead Dolls created by Ed Long and Damien Glonek. Each story is going to give background information for the doll, and details of their death. I guess my best friend was right when she called me morbid.

And, Em, I can't wait for the WITWG update!

[Jaycee]

Well, I've been writing as long as I can remember, but I never really let anyone see my work until now. I'm really nervous about peope reading ym stuff, which is why I really like the idea of writing on the internet, where stories are reviewed by people you don't actually know. I'll keep writing fanfiction until I get good enough to wrtie my own stories (or at least until I can think of a good idea for an original story). I just started a new POTO phanfic which I'll probably be posting on FF.Net sometime today. I think it's a lot better than my modern one, and it's definitely my best work yet. Of course, that's not really saying much condsidering the stuff I usually wirte.

[Hi-chan]

Well, hmm....how to describe my writing...? I don't really have a set writing style...I don't think. ^.^;; I like to experiment with different styles and and types of writing. Of course, I won't dare attempt poetry--I suck! XD I often get struck with random ideas for stories, so I've got all these little scraps of half-sheets with my story ideas written on them. And when I get the random inspiration to start writing that idea, I write! I just pull up Microsoft Word and write what comes off the top of my head. Of course, now I've got all these word documents that are works-in-progress. I can never finish a story, no matter how hard I try! I have a few finished works, but...

The one thing I hardly EVER do: I don't like writing in first person. I get bored with just the account of one single character! It's so hard to follow the thoughts and ideas of one character without jumping to another, even in my third person writings. So I'm writing a series of phanfictions that will hopefully help me fix this, though it's proved to be quite a challenge, because I plan on writing three or possibly four parts and I'm still on part one! I can only write in first person for so long, so many of my first person works I just write as one-shots. Pretty darn good one-shots, too. ^_^ Though, since I don't like writing in first person, I currently have three first-person one shots, all of which are really good, but only one of which is PotO, so it's the only one I can post here! XP The other two are from anime shows that I like, since when I first broke out into fanfiction, I wrote for my favorite anime. I just got into writing phanfiction last summer.

I also like to experiment with crossovers, so I'm working on a PotO crossover with the CBS channel 2 show "Cold Case". I'm still in the planning stages with that fic, but it proves to be really good when I'm done with it. ^_~ There's also my very first PotO story (which happens to be AU because I love AU ^_^). I'm in the process of rewriting it because I reread what I had one day and realized I didn't like it! It wasn't going where I wanted it to go. But, hopefully, I can fix that.

[Angel]

Like Jaycee, I've been writing for as long as I can remember. It started out with (rather hideous) fantasy stories and actually not-too-hideous poetry. Since then, I've dropped both fantasy and poetry and taken up historical fiction and a little bit of phanphiction.

The first thing I always do when I write is to come up with the last sentence, as I like to end on something particularly powerful or thought-provoking. (You know, no pressure or anything, but if you want to check out what I'm talking about, my penname on fictionpress is Brackynn ) And in the total opposite to Hi-Chan, I adore first-person! I love getting into the intricasies of a person's mind, and I find that a bit cumbersome when working in third-person. I'm also a nut about planning. There's no way I can just begin writing something and wing it. And when I say planning, I mean Planning! Plot, characters, background research, symbols to include, the list goes on. It's annoying sometimes, but generally I find it makes for a well-structured and overall better story. I'm jealous of people who write wonderfully without planning!

As for my works-in-progress ... well, I have a list of short story ideas this long, but the one I'm concentrating on now is titled The Price of Bread and is set in Paris on the brink of the French Revolution. It's about a young street urchin and the lengths she goes to to get what she wants.

Finally, I'm working on a novel-length story set in France, spanning 1838 to 1911 (although the story officially begins in 1869 ), which I spent eight months on-and-off planning and have been writing since December. It's coming together slowly, but surely ... it currently stands at 28 407 words (or 49 pages of size 10 Times New Roman on Microsoft Word), and estimated final word count is around 120 000 words. Basically, it tells the story of Geneviève Rochefort, an aristocrat sceptical about the value of love -- and her chances of ever finding it. Naturally, she falls headfirst into a love triangle that she's in furious denial about, especially when she discovers the shameful past of one of her suitors ... incidentally, the one she just can't help falling in love with. There are also a number of sub-plots, but they're a bit too copmlicated to summarise here! Currently, the title is All Roses Have Thorns, but I'm considering cutting the 'All'. I'm also considering another novel idea, which I really need to develop more ... although I know there's no way I'll be able to write this one in anything but third-person (grr)!