Miscellaneous Fanfiction Writing Thread (Solicit Advice Here)

[Siriel]

Their ideals are one and the same

Saber doesn't particularly pursue some vaguely defined world peace.

[Altaris]

Saber's young and bright

If you think Saber is young, bright and not old and bitter like Kiritsugu i don't know what to tell you

[Arashi_Leonhart]

Saber's actually older than Kiritsugu, heh.

Their ideals aren't the same, although they share similarities. Their methodology is the same, though, of sacrificing the few for the good of the many. Saber still sees honor and dignity in that, whereas Kiritsugu does not. Part of what makes their mirrored image interesting is how by the end of Zero, Saber has moved slightly more toward the cynical side since she's like maybe I've even bungled it up more than I thought before, while Kiritsugu actually finds some comfort before dying in the more idealistic side of hey, I maybe did a little good by saving a life for the first time even after fucking up so much.

It's actually one of the reasons I like Zero, because it makes Fate seem more compelling.

[Altaris]

For me I always think the reason why Kerry and Saber cannot stand each other is because they literally remind the other of themselves.

FZ is such a swirl of ideals and emotions, things that Gen is best at.

[Imperial]

I felt it was underlined pretty clearly in that scathing response Kiritsugu serves up after Saber has to put down Kayneth.

Saber goes on about chivalry and honor, which disgusts Kerry. If she did what he did and had no illusions about the horrors of war, he might have actually gotten along with her. But because she believes in a just cause, he thinks she's just another self-righteous warmonger.

Edit: What Arashi said but not so eloquently

[Mashina]

What's the best way to handle dialogue for characters with speech impediments? Like severe stuttering, coughing etc.

[Seika]

Lean more on dialogue tags and description than on actually showing it in the speech itself, because reading too much st-st-st-st-st-stuttering is a sure-fire way to make someone quit your story. If possible, lean on impediments which make it hard for a character to start sentences, so you can preface the dialogue with a note to that effect and then continue with something more readable.

[Mashina]

I was thinking of having them get cut off by other characters most of the time, and while I do want to underline how difficult it can be to hold a conversation with them, I don't want it to be too offputting either. I suppose I'll try paring down the in-dialogue stuttering to a minimum.

[Arashi_Leonhart]

Yeah, if you do something like stuttering, best to do it once at the most per quote and let the narrative drive the rest.

I-its not like I want to help or anything, baka.

[Imperial]

I was thinking of having them get cut off by other characters most of the time, and while I do want to underline how difficult it can be to hold a conversation with them, I don't want it to be too offputting either. I suppose I'll try paring down the in-dialogue stuttering to a minimum.

That sounds like a good way of doing it.

If it's clear there are three people in the scene but only two of them can communicate effectively, your job is pretty much done. Might not be bad idea to highlight the stutterer's facial expressions or body language to convey frustration or have it be a more effective way of getting a point across because he's not a strong speaker.

[Frostyvale]

Is reading your own work enjoyable?

I'd observe this in three points. To start, let's assume that what you've written is enough to be "good" by your standards.

The first: Words mimic imagination, and imagination fills in the little holes that text leaves open. The scene is still alive and beautiful. You find that you enjoy this little fantasy you've drawn up.

The second: It's the next day. The scene is the same, and the words haven't changed either. Yet, you feel that the events you read are somehow lacking, that there are bits and pieces that could have been done much, much better. They hurt to look at.

The third: It's been a long time. You've not seen this piece in ages, practically forgotten about it. You read it, and it feels like someone else's work. Things are good enough, faults so old that you can forget them.

And finally:

Is it primarily quality or novelty that makes a piece of writing enjoyable? Can you excuse a work of middling technical merit, because of a particularly interesting point of plot?

[You]

Can you excuse a work of middling technical merit, because of a particularly interesting point of plot?

It depends on the "errors", and the particularly interesting thing imo.

[SeiKeo]

'Technical merit' in fanfiction is oversold as being important past a certain floor. You can take it as a general rule that us rubes on the internet are not generating words that are themselves interesting outside of our interest in the circumstances.

[Arashi_Leonhart]

http://forums.nrvnqsr.com/showthread...ic-Idea-Thread

[Imperial]

Is reading your own work enjoyable?

It's torturous and something most writers go through.

I know Bloble isn't keen on the first part of Lancer Gets Serious and Five wishes the opening of The Manhattan Project II had been stronger.
Ask just about any writer on this site with a long-runner, and they will feel embarrassed by the first several chapters.

Writers tend to be their own worst critics, but you'll never get any better if you don't flex the muscle.

[Prix with a Silent X]

I think that's true to a point, but there have been times when I have gone back to something I carefully edited and worked hard on a few years in the past. Once there is enough distance that the process is kind of closed and has been put away, I have had some occasions where I have been able to appreciate something that I wrote. It's usually a kind of surreal experience, though, because as nice as that is, it usually ends up feeling like I had a moment there where something was good that I can't figure out how to reclaim. It can feel like regression rather than progression when one goes to look back at their current project after seeing past, completed work that was actually decent.

[Magus]

It's torturous and something most writers go through.

I know Bloble isn't keen on the first part of Lancer Gets Serious and Five wishes the opening of The Manhattan Project II had been stronger.
Ask just about any writer on this site with a long-runner, and they will feel embarrassed by the first several chapters.

Writers tend to be their own worst critics, but you'll never get any better if you don't flex the muscle.

Yeah, I was looking over my FF.net version of Fate/Proto Crossing this morning after some people started favoriting it again recently, and I saw a lot that I would fix in revisions… unusual sentence structures, places where I could be clearer, typos, stylistic choices that I would no longer make, etc. Of course, taking time to edit the fourth chapter (as of yet unpublished) was what cause my schedule to slip to start slipping in the first place.

I haven't updated the thing since August… I just got busy with work / grad school / other unrelated projects. But once I'm done with the term and have some breathing room again, I'm starting to think I'd like to return to it.

Is this fic just going to be something that I write in short bursts once per year? I mean, the first draft was written for the 2014 fanfic contest. It was rebuilt in the summer of 2015 after being ignored for months and I started posting it on FF.net when I had a lot of time at the end of my astronomy grad program. And then the scheduled slipped to an unofficial but indefinite hiatus as things started up again….

Sure, a lot of things could be improved / parts of vision are based on now outdated information, but I still think the core idea's an interesting one.

[You]

Is reading your own work enjoyable?

i re-read my frozen fanfic like last week and i was like "dis is p good"
and then when i got to the end I was like "shit i did put in this as a symbol didn't I? completely forgot about that"

but i've re-read some of my old stuff and i was like ew.

[Bloble]

Sometimes I read Tomb of the Sun God and think "damn who wrote this I am nowhere near that good".

So we're not always overly self critical.

[Arashi_Leonhart]

I sometimes write poetry that I'm impressed with.

I've yet to write prose that I'm impressed with. There's maybe individual scenes or moments that I feel good about, but if it's longer than 1000 words there's bound to be garbage in there.