Tag: Anonymous

Any tips for writing a long fanfic? Because I always end up stopping within the first few chapters and it’s sad because I’d really like to write a long fic but I only seem to be able to write oneshots!

I stop too. A lot. I stopped for nearly five months after the Dwarfling was born. I’ve stopped for a little while now, bc things are… a bit difficult rn, and my brain is somewhat disorganised and I’m currently running low on spoons. 

My advice tends to be crud, but here you are, Nonnie:

1. Have a firm idea of what you want to achieve in the story, and write towards it. It is the ultimate goal, but there must be twists and turns and delays upon that road. Don’t rush. Change takes time. It’s tempting to resolve everything as quickly as you can – but it’s more engaging to see the journey. 

2. Throw setbacks at your characters. LOTS of them. Make them struggle, make them doubt and strive and grow and fail – that’s how we can see what they are made of. 

3. Ask a million questions. A MILLION. That setback – how did your character react to that? How did everyone else react to it? What does this setback mean for the plot now? What will it mean for your character long-term? 

4. Give your characters opinions. Make those opinions clash with the opinions of others. Oh look, now you have a subplot! Which must also come to a resolution, and must also test your characters. Huzzah!

5. Oh yeah – subplots proliferate when you’re not looking. They breed like bunnies. Prune them back to three or four strong ones at a time, or you’re going to confuse your reader a bit, jumping tracks like that.

6. If your main difficulty is the actual LONG part of longfic, then believe me, I know. It’s hard. The trick I have is to simply pick it back up again. Doesn’t matter how long it’s been sitting there untouched. Just pick it back up again, at some point, when you are able to work on it. It’s not abandoned – it’s INDEFINITELY ON HOLD.

7. Build the tension over time to a climax, then release it with whatever – failure, success, happiness… but whatever has been achieved in that climax must now inform the NEXT order of events… and so the tension gets to build again. Never let it slacken entirely, or you risk One Million Endings Syndrome. 

8. Pace pace pace pace pace. Keep it moving forward all the time, as inexorably and steadily as you can. Any departures from the pace will be very noticeable to your readers (you can use this for effect at some places, but use it sparingly or it becomes jerky and uneven). Don’t dwell forever in a moment or it becomes stale, but! don’t jackrabbit through it either. You’re the tortoise, not the hare. You can win the race in the end. 

Oh man I don’t want to clutter up your feed or anything but I just found Sansukh and I read the entire thing in, like, two days and I have a lot of feelings right now and it was so amazing and wonderful and please tell me you’re still writing it it was so so great you are great ahhhhhhhhhh

d;sjkfhlsakfjhaljhdalj

YOU ARE TOO KIND, THANK YOU SO SO MUCH!

Yes, I am absolutely still going! I am finishing this thing, believe you me 🙂

(cradlesong anon) so this major-key broadbeam cradlesong is becoming, conceptually, what bomfris sings to disith and durin to get them to sleep, so i’m probably going to change some stuff around if thats ok? i just have this image of bomfris rocking two cribs at once and singing them to sleep, and thorin (stonehelm) comes in in the middle and starts humming along, and it’s just very peaceful and quiet and full of love. not super harmonically complex, but just very warm.

(cradlesong anon) pt 2 im changing the lyrics a bit, so it’s for two treasures, and im gonna use your alto line but an octave or two down for thorin. bomfris’ line is gonna stay the same. im just feeling things about bomfris and thorin and little disith and durin and how loved they all are, idk. would that be ok, to change it like that? 

(cradlesong anon) pt 3 i just decided that the tenor line that comes in around measure 32 is going to be bombur singing along from the halls of mahal, watching over his daughter and grandchildren. and now i made myself sad.

Hey Nonnie! Absolutely – go nuts, move it around as much as you like! It’s your thing now, this major version is your baby and you can play around with it in any old way: lyrics, tune, harmonies, anything. It’s all yours, with my enthusiastic encouragement and blanket permission for WHATEVER! I can’t wait to hear what you come up with.

And omg ajhsdglajhasgdfsah that headcanon hurts my heart. A lot. In a completely wonderful, perfectly perfect way. Bomfris and Thorin and their tiny little surprises and BOMBUR HOW DARE YOU augh

actually, now that I come to think of it… wow, that is EXTREMELY fitting for a Sansukh song, that lil

soupçon

of angst in a casserole of love and happiness!

I hope this isn’t rude, but somehow your appearance is nothing like how i imagined you ( i a good way though! You don’t look bad in real life or in my imagination lol). It’s just that for some reason but kind of imagined you as a slightly plump, very sweet older woman with long wavy dark blond hair. To be honest very similar to my classics teacher (who I’ll say everyone loves to bits and who is a very good woman) anyhow, thank you very much and i hope that wasn’t rude (i mean it well)

She sounds beautiful ❤

Sadly, I am nowhere near that cute! Small, scruffy, scrawny thing with blue eyes and noodle arms, hurtling at light speed towards totally grey hair, that is me. 😀

You have no idea how proud I am of the fact that you’re Australian. Us Aussies don’t get much recognition in media (does fan fiction count as media?) and you’ve written one of the best known fics in the LotR fandom. You’re amazing, keep doing you 😃

heyyyyyy fellow Aussie 🙂

image

Know the feeling – I just about howl with happiness every time I hear our accent on something that wasn’t produced in Oz, it’s so bloody rare. That’s so awesome of you to say, lkasjhdgflajh thank you! 

idk what fanfic counts as, honestly. But hey, it’s all entertainment in the end, I guess 🙂

I will deffo keep it up, thank you so much again! *hugs*

SO DETS HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE THE AUTHOR OF SANSUKH. I mean. People cosplaying your characters. Writing the most popular fanfic in the LotR/The Hobbit fandom ever probably. Having to follow all of Tolkien’s storylines, even the ones he didn’t elaborate on. How are you doing this while also having a family and a social life I do not understand. I love you so much.

I DUNNO I DUNNO ANYTHING, I AM JUST A SMALL GREYING NERD HERE TO HAVE FUN AND LOVE DWARVES

my internal monologue is mostly a high-pitched aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

Hey Dets, I’m in a bit of a pickle and need some advice on continuing a story that burned out, especially if the original idea for the story had me like “Yes, THIS” Is there anything I can do while including “taking a break before continuing” because honestly, that advice doesn’t work for me.

As always, my advice should be taken with a huge dollop of salt on top, because I suck at advice, Nonnie. I will try my best. Here we go.

Read your own earlier work. Don’t edit. Just read it.

That’s what I do, every so often, and it DOES help me to keep on chugging. 

I go right, RIGHT back – sometimes from the beginning, sometimes from one of the earlier chapters in which no ‘big important’ event happens (like ch9, or 13 or something). On occasion it sparks more ideas for where I’m going next. It definitely helps me find more consistent character journeys by tracing them all the way from the beginning.

And it never fails to bring back the feeling of what it was like, back at the start, when I was full of tumbling ideas and words, all fighting for a chance to get out and onto the page. That’s a good feeling, and not a bad one to recapture.