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the-sympathetic-villain · 2 years

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What's your writing process for longer fics like I Know What You're Going To Say and A Life For A Life? I want to try my hand at writing longform fics, but I'm not entirely sure how to tackle it.

Oooooohhhhh that's super exciting! Long fics are my absolute favorite to write and I hope you have a lot of fun tackling a new story!

I apologize this took a while. It got longer than I intended lol

So, my process starts with an idea. Sometimes it's a prompt like A Life For A Life or sometimes it's a theme and a universe like I Know What You’re Going To Say. And it has to be a good one. If I can't lose myself spending hours just thinking about it, I know it won't hold my interest over the months I'm going to take writing it.

Once I know its something I want to write, I start brainstorming. I usually spend a week or two and let my mind wander in the universe. Like literally, I'll let entire scenes play out in my head. I experiment with the rules of the universe, and since its fanfic, I experiment with different characters in different roles.

I just let my mind wander, and from there, I start to develop a baseline for who the characters are, ie their personality traits, their backstories, their relationships to each other. What I like, I keep. If an idea for a scene starts to drag, I change something. Sometimes I change the rules of the universe or I'll try the scene with a different side or whatever gets my brain flowing again. During this period, anything goes. Anything can change. And I just write down anything I like or that feels right.

The thing with longer fics is I have to leave a lot of room for flexibility. If I try to plot out every scene before I start writing, I know I'll burn myself out before I even start the first chapter. So I never spend more than a week or two brainstorming before I start writing. I'll usually have the first few scenes already in my head. I'll have an idea of the major plot points and scenes and a have a first draft of how I want it to end. And that's it.

After a week or two, regardless of where I'm at on the plot, I start writing something. For You Belong With Me, since it was my first big fic, I had about 80,000 words written before I even posted my first chapter lol. That way, if I hated something, I could just make changes without worrying about retconning anything. But now that I've been writing for a while, I trust my instincts. I know I'm not going to write myself into a dead end, even if the ending I envision changes.

And from there, I just keep writing. Not all of it gets posted. I have tons deleted scenes and moments from all my stories which will never see the light of day lol but it helps me understand my characters. And I keep plotting. Up into the day I finish a fic, I'm still tweaking the plot, making adjustments and deepening my understanding of the characters.

What comes up in my stories is a fraction of the universe that exists in my head. I Know What You’re Going To Say in particular, like 80% universe exists only in my head. You Belong With Me is finished sequel pending but there are things I know about the universe and the characters that never made it onto paper. They're just living and growing in my head.

And that's my process. Which honestly might sound overwhelming and incomprehensible to people who rely heavily on plotting but it works for me. I like a story that wanders a bit lol

I hope that was helpful! It can be overwhelming to think about starting a long fic and I do recommend pacing yourself. Unlike the short fics I write, I find long fics have a much more fluid pace. Some chapters come as naturally as breathing and others give resistance and may take several rewrites.

And also, please tag me if you do post anything here! Or let me know what I should follow on AO3. I'd love, love, love to read what you're writing! 💜💜💜

#writing #ask #korruptbrekker

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