Desiderius Price

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First time I came across fanfiction, I thought I had downloaded a stolen copy of JKR’s fifth book, so I deleted it. Didn’t realize until sometime later that it was fanfiction, not her book. Once I realized, I began to read, got hooked. I found a fanfic story that I liked, and while waiting for the author to post, started to drum a list of possible plot ideas to send to them … before I knew it, I decided to sketch it out, and I had my own story, though taking a minor character of hers and changing it into a major character. After I that story, I began a sequel. With how these stories started, I can’t bring them here

It’ll be even worse than that for the main party In my smut version, I’m planning on a curse they’ll have to deal with. (Yes, it’s a fandom with magic, I’m just trying to keep it sufficiently nebulous here so that on the off-chance a reader is reading this post...spoilers and all.) Small party’s influence will be more of unexplained events from the perspective of the main party; the main *won’t* be looking for the small party, because of how convinced everybody else will be of the small party’s demise. (ie, I’m splitting hairs with how a canon device works, and the interactions of another character with said device; such that everybody sees the small party come into contact and assume “dead”, which is why I might need to portray some of the small party’s happenings before the story climax.) At a certain points in the story, the small party’s actions will even lead the main party to believe they have a spy among their midst as the main party gets whittled away and things “leaked” to the enemy; this is because the small party will realize that going along with the villain’s plans will actually give them the best opportunity to vanquish the villain, at just the right moment. Now, on a practical level, I am writing some scenes from the perspectives of the main party and the smaller party, this does help; and in that era of my writing, I did use spreadsheets too (unlike my originals where I’m using a database). I’ll be creating a database for the fanfic works too….

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That was one possibility I explored, but then I leave out a bunch of stuff, like the small party trying to figure out what’s happening, where the small party’s manipulating the events in the main party. (They’re even having to sacrifice people of the main party, to help resolve the overall crisis, it’s that dire that there’s no other choice – I basically pushed the situation that close to total defeat.) It’s like the proper solution is a “choose-your-own-adventure” choice to the reader, follow the main party, or follow the small party, both are compelling stories, and both have main characters.

I’ve tried all of the above, didn’t like any of them. I did work out a bit of the smaller party’s timeline, of course, while working on the main party’s. However, it’d be a bit of a spoiling, at least if I did it at first. I also tried it later as a flashback (before I understood the Deus Ex), didn’t like it that way. The advantage of doing it up front, as I go along, is that the mutual actions will mesh quite nicely. However, there’s less mystery/suspense on the main party (from the reader’s perspective), because what ought to be unexplained things going on, now have an explanation. Of course, these are my recollections after about a decade since I last tried to sort it out. I do know that as I try to revise and work my way back, that unless I sort out my dilemma to the better way, I’ll be just as stuck now as I was then.

I’ve got a story that I’ve been stuck on for years, some ideas for addressing it would be nice. Like any story, it’s got heroes and villains; at a key point, several of the heroes get separated from the others. From the perspective of everybody else, this small party is believed to be dead, and therefore, unavailable/out-of-the-picture. Now, the main party of heroes keep on pressing forward, fighting the villains, but things get worse and worse for them, until it seems like certain defeat. Small party is able to observe/interact/strategize, but can’t divulge their existence until that pivotal moment. (Obviously, you can see where I’m headed with this, the small party’s actions are the ones that change the outcome.) There’s quite a bit of…action to both sides. So, my dilemma is how to best portray the two parties. If I go purely with the main party, I get the atmosphere I want, a really dark and dreary story; however, it’d seem a very deus ex solution. If I go with main to the end and come back to the small party, there’s little to no suspense for that second party and it’d come across as a flashback. If I mix the two parties, alternating the POV between them, then what happens to the main party isn’t a surprise and zero suspense. Ideas? Thanks.

Smut had better be organized, at least as organized as my “visual inspirational research material” ….

I normally don’t go that far to write entire scenes unless I’ve got computer troubles. However, the notebook has the advantage in that it doesn’t need recharging, just a pen to use. Does every idea make it? No, but a greater amount do. Sometimes things will come to me at work, and I’m certainly not going to use my work computer to record this, so a moment or two to jot into the notebook, and hopefully I’ll remember to look at the notebook later. I’m far quicker at typing too, which is why I prefer typing. However, if it’s a one liner or something, or I need to see it in a way that’s tough to do easily on a computer, I’ll use pen+paper. We’re typically talking major points to a scene or something, not generally prose. Sounds better organized than me. Most of my bills/mail just form a stack on my desk until I need that part of the my desk and thus they get unceremoniously dumped into a box to be dealt with “later”. I have been trying different takes on my software solution, the XML database for storing the data in. Generally it’s the view that a character has a file, and I put their information into that file. Ditto for organizations, or events, or places, or what not.

It’s also practice for raising my unholy army….

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I...dunno...just started to crave continuing it, got intense over the weekend, don’t know why. But, in an effort to unstick it, I’m going through the old forum topics to see if there’s something close to what I need. Otherwise, I’m putting up a new topic.

Why all this hatred for Mary (or Gary)? Just because they get to have all the cool adventures, save the day, and even hook up with the sexiest characters around! I mean, if we were all Mary/Gary Sue, we’d be immortal!

I carry a bound notebook just for jotting ideas down on the run. Sometimes, writing it out into my 3-ring binder helps. Ultimately, both of these get transcribed into a little database I have on my computer (custom software), which makes it easier to track stuff to characters, events, etc.

I’ve got a story that’s been on hiatus for ten years because I got stuck and can’t get myself unstuck.

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