The long vs. short fic debate, for ME
Aug. 13th, 2005 06:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
girlofpreyI'm slightly conscious of the fact that none of my 'fics' tend to make it even to the 500-word mark. I feel certain you all hate me and think I'm a half-arse sort of 'writer', or if you don't, that I hate myself and think I'm a half-arsed sort of 'writer'. That said, I'm going to waffle about it. I don't do that much fanfic reading anymore. Not much at all except for really rare pairings I'm interested in or ideas/summaries that pique my interest. And I tend to like them on the shorter side when I do read them. Personally, I blame the fact that I hardly ever get time on the computer anymore, so that staying on for any length of time makes me anxious that someone's going to yell at me, and the fact that when I first got into slash/fanfiction it was a 24/7 sort of thing - I'm burned out, yo.
So yes. I prefer to READ fics on the shorter side, and at the moment I wouldn't say I PREFER to write them - I would like, as I say, to hit the 1,000 mark more often - but they're the ones I get bunnies for most often. I like writing to be intense, to have an 'atmosphere' - I'll very often be nitpicky about getting each word write, each phrase, the length of each sentence - and that's hard to keep up over a longer piece. And in any case it tends to work better - to have more 'punch' - in shorter things. And it works well for the things I like to write about: hidden feelings, things just bubbling to the surface, but mostly only noticed because they're NOT being talked about. I like stories that add layers to things - that give them a little 'twist'. Things that are perfectly plausible within canon but completely outside the normal conception of it. I think spending too long on these kinds of ideas detracts from them - makes them an argument rather than an idea
But now that I come to think about, this could all work just as well in a longer fic, done right. Subtler, and more drawn out. Hmm.
Maybe I'm just an impatient person by nature. I like having ideas, pouring them into a computer for a couple of hours, just 'trimming' the edges so that it's tight, it's meaningful, it works. I waffle a lot in essays - I don't like to do it in fic. Or maybe I just feel the ideas I want to write so intensely, I want to get them written before the feeling. Or maybe I'm just a lazy cow and don't want to have actually, omg, plot out stories, and add my own characterisation, and think up my own situations and dialogue. Which ties into the 'twist' thing above I suppose - then it's MY story, as opposed to a 'negotiated reading' of someone else's. Maybe it's because I don't believe enough in my ships and my slash - that niggling knowledge that other people do not see this when they read/see/watch. Or maybe I just believe in my slash so much that I think it is in fact canon, and the characters have their own reasons for not doing the sex. I don't know. Probably it's a bit of both.
There's the other issue that my two settings for fic writing appear to be 'one-shot drabble' and 'epic'. And dude, epic is hard - I'm learning that with this Alaskan fic I'm attempting to write. I can't seem to get past the first chapter because I'm too busy thinking about my later epiphanies and climaxes to get into the initial characterisation; it's difficult to write the initial characters, the canon characters, knowing how I'm planning to change them. And I get that this is probably what all writers go through, and I'm probably thinking about it too much, and just not used to longer-style writing, and probably not setting aside enough time for writing - difficult when I seem to be constantly 'on call' for the family ::eyeroll:: - so I can get into it. I'm not making excuses. I'm just saying - it is difficult. And when I can bang out a drabble in a couple of hours, post it, and have feedback within a day, it's difficult to stay motivated for it, y'know?
I don't entirely know what this is - a justification or a confession, or just some self-indulgent, self-examing ramblings. All I know is that it does annoy me, sometimes, when I find a damn good idea for a pairing/fandom I love, and it exists only in drabble form, and the author doesn't seem intent on continuing it - it frustrates me. And I know that I WANT to write longer fics - actual stories rather than one-shots. Sometimes I think I 'stop' a story too early, because I get impatient and want it finished. But sometimes I'll add things into a fic when I sense it needs to be longer, even if I have no specific ideas - Clarathea is a recent example. So maybe my fics already do have 'their' length, and I'm just not writing longer stories at the minute. And maybe, again, I'm thinking too much, and when I have a longer story idea, I'll write a longer fic. I don't know.
And I'm not getting onto any of you - my Friends, or anyone else who reads my stuff. I don't REALLY think you're all watching my journal and judging me. Or pushing me to write longer stuff. And I know my writing's pretty good (not to sound pompous or anything ;) ). I'm just slightly conscious of the general shortness of my fic, and the fact that my bunnies tend to be sort of 'write and go!' - or 'hit and run', maybe - and I do hope to vary it in the future. And I've pretty much only just started writing fic, after all. I just wanted to say this all because it's been on my mind, and maybe you've all noticed, and maybe you haven't, but I wanted to say it. Yes.
It is said.
So yes. I prefer to READ fics on the shorter side, and at the moment I wouldn't say I PREFER to write them - I would like, as I say, to hit the 1,000 mark more often - but they're the ones I get bunnies for most often. I like writing to be intense, to have an 'atmosphere' - I'll very often be nitpicky about getting each word write, each phrase, the length of each sentence - and that's hard to keep up over a longer piece. And in any case it tends to work better - to have more 'punch' - in shorter things. And it works well for the things I like to write about: hidden feelings, things just bubbling to the surface, but mostly only noticed because they're NOT being talked about. I like stories that add layers to things - that give them a little 'twist'. Things that are perfectly plausible within canon but completely outside the normal conception of it. I think spending too long on these kinds of ideas detracts from them - makes them an argument rather than an idea
But now that I come to think about, this could all work just as well in a longer fic, done right. Subtler, and more drawn out. Hmm.
Maybe I'm just an impatient person by nature. I like having ideas, pouring them into a computer for a couple of hours, just 'trimming' the edges so that it's tight, it's meaningful, it works. I waffle a lot in essays - I don't like to do it in fic. Or maybe I just feel the ideas I want to write so intensely, I want to get them written before the feeling. Or maybe I'm just a lazy cow and don't want to have actually, omg, plot out stories, and add my own characterisation, and think up my own situations and dialogue. Which ties into the 'twist' thing above I suppose - then it's MY story, as opposed to a 'negotiated reading' of someone else's. Maybe it's because I don't believe enough in my ships and my slash - that niggling knowledge that other people do not see this when they read/see/watch. Or maybe I just believe in my slash so much that I think it is in fact canon, and the characters have their own reasons for not doing the sex. I don't know. Probably it's a bit of both.
There's the other issue that my two settings for fic writing appear to be 'one-shot drabble' and 'epic'. And dude, epic is hard - I'm learning that with this Alaskan fic I'm attempting to write. I can't seem to get past the first chapter because I'm too busy thinking about my later epiphanies and climaxes to get into the initial characterisation; it's difficult to write the initial characters, the canon characters, knowing how I'm planning to change them. And I get that this is probably what all writers go through, and I'm probably thinking about it too much, and just not used to longer-style writing, and probably not setting aside enough time for writing - difficult when I seem to be constantly 'on call' for the family ::eyeroll:: - so I can get into it. I'm not making excuses. I'm just saying - it is difficult. And when I can bang out a drabble in a couple of hours, post it, and have feedback within a day, it's difficult to stay motivated for it, y'know?
I don't entirely know what this is - a justification or a confession, or just some self-indulgent, self-examing ramblings. All I know is that it does annoy me, sometimes, when I find a damn good idea for a pairing/fandom I love, and it exists only in drabble form, and the author doesn't seem intent on continuing it - it frustrates me. And I know that I WANT to write longer fics - actual stories rather than one-shots. Sometimes I think I 'stop' a story too early, because I get impatient and want it finished. But sometimes I'll add things into a fic when I sense it needs to be longer, even if I have no specific ideas - Clarathea is a recent example. So maybe my fics already do have 'their' length, and I'm just not writing longer stories at the minute. And maybe, again, I'm thinking too much, and when I have a longer story idea, I'll write a longer fic. I don't know.
And I'm not getting onto any of you - my Friends, or anyone else who reads my stuff. I don't REALLY think you're all watching my journal and judging me. Or pushing me to write longer stuff. And I know my writing's pretty good (not to sound pompous or anything ;) ). I'm just slightly conscious of the general shortness of my fic, and the fact that my bunnies tend to be sort of 'write and go!' - or 'hit and run', maybe - and I do hope to vary it in the future. And I've pretty much only just started writing fic, after all. I just wanted to say this all because it's been on my mind, and maybe you've all noticed, and maybe you haven't, but I wanted to say it. Yes.
It is said.
