Deadman

I definitely don’t think it would make sense to do that. What happens in Chapter 2 doesn’t make as much sense without Chapter 1. In fact, the end of Chapter 1 sets up Chapter 2 and the next ones. It’s just a question of how to fix my lack of work on the early part of Chapter 1.

Yeah, maybe that would be a better way to go about it. I do think there is some rather obvious reasons why it happens in Chapter 1. I probably want to add a few more sentences to Chapter 1’s tackle scene. It’s not the only point where this comes up but it is the most obvious way in which it could be a glaring difference. Give a few details on the circumstances but not do a whole page on what happens.

I appreciate it, although maybe I should be a little more clear. I just did a review of the first chapter a few days ago and added some stuff to it. But here’s where it becomes an issue. Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 both have a scene where one character tackles another. In chapter 1 it’s more antagonistic, whereas in chapter 2 it’s more playful and fun. However, in Chapter 1, the tackle/struggle is less than a quarter of a page long and the description of basically amounts to “Buffy tackles Harmony and they struggle. The struggle is broken up by Spike.” with some dialogue involved. In Chapter 2, the tackle/struggle is over a page long and details what arm was used by which character to play with each other. It’s quite detailed about how they do what to each other. So I look at the difference between the tackle/struggle in chapter 1 and the tackle/struggle in chapter 2 and I wonder if I should detail out the tackle in chapter 1 and how much more detail I should do. I get that it’s partly just a question of choice.

The draft is already done. The problem is the draft was done in a different headspace. For additional context, when I first started writing the draft, I only had access to a tablet to write. And because I couldn’t type traditionally, I focused on just getting the story going. So I wrote it in point form. Then I bought a laptop and could do more. So I transferred the file over to the laptop and started writing in more detail because I could. As I mentioned elsewhere, it’s a 7 chapter story and I wrote all 7 chapters, with the first chapter being done like I just outlined. Now I’m looking at publishing and I’m somewhat frustrated that I didn’t think to go back earlier and fix chapter 1.

Well partly both. I feel like I more accurately portrayed emotions of the characters in later chapters. Where this comes in is, the story involves a character getting some of her female friends involved in her relationship with a guy. When I finished the first chapter, I felt like I had properly given justification for the future chapters. She was in an emotional place where it made sense. However, I didn’t think about going back and making sure the first chapter made it work. I now worry that the first 7 pages of the first chapter doesn’t justify where the story ends by chapter 1. I was emotionally invested in the story at the time. Not so much anymore. So I worry that the adding to the first 7 pages that I just did, isn’t getting the emotions across.

I haven’t posted the story yet, but it’s chapter 1 so I have to make sure it works because I want it to the best version, not necessarily perfect. Also worried about not being emotionally connected to the story.

For sure, I think it was partly that rewrite is a bad way to describe what I’m doing. I just worry about how to add stuff to it. In later chapters and later in the first chapter, I have paragraphs which are 5 sentences long or more. Whereas most of the stuff in the first 7 pages is literally one line in bullet point form to get the point across. So I’m worried about how much I should add.

Yeah, it’s a bit of a problem in part because in general I write like the second quote. My early writing as more like the first quote, so we have that in common. But I wrote it more bullet point form for what was essentially the first time. I didn’t even have punctuation like periods after sentences because I was thinking “I’ll fix that later.” I’m just only getting back to it now and my head space is much different now. Especially because I finished the rest of the story and it feels complete in my head.

Oh I don’t think that it’ll be a necessity to move things around. My issue is more along other issues. Here’s how it looked when I wrote the first few pages: Whereas later pages would be like this Most of chapters 2-7 look like the second quote. Which I only got into detailing like 7 pages into the chapter 1. Mainly because of technological limitations. I don’t want to have to reread the other chapters to really get into how to fix the first 7 pages.

I’m having a somewhat new problem in the same vein. I finished a story but the opening chapter was written in bullet point form originally for the first few pages, then I got more in depth later. I had it in my head that I would add to the bullet point version of the story. Now I’m going through the first chapter to try and get in shape and I’m trying to figure out how much detail to add. I want it to be consistent with the later chapters which are more detailed. But I don’t know how much to add in.

Kinda trying to figure out when to end a story that I’ve been writing. My story Scooby Gang Time has been going for a while and I have a bunch of chapters to post, but as I continue to write it, I come up with new chapters. I am wondering if I should just finish the story where I was planning to and then post new stories when I write these new ideas/chapters. For those who haven’t read it, they’re mostly one shot stories that don’t technically need to be in the same story. Thoughts?

Non-sexual nudity? So just hanging out being naked? I’ve had one or two scenes involving this. Although in my examples it was unintentional. I had one scene where a character was changing and another person walks in unexpectedly. They are interested in each other though. Would that be non-sexual?

Yes, that’s definitely a problem with writing. There’s only a certain number of ways people can physically touch each other. I had this problem with a recent story. I wasn’t sure whether a way they were getting sexual with each other is physically possible. I figured out that it probably was but I don’t think I’d ever seen people do it.

I just finished another story and I noticed something weird about my writing. This story involved a character who is played by the same actor who was in another story that I wrote. In both cases, I wrote a scene involving the character doing a dance. It completely wasn’t planned but it just felt like something I should do. So, what have you noticed you do over and over again, or at least more than once, with a character or just writing content that happens to feature similar themes or things the characters are doing?

Oh by no means am I feeling bad about writing in First POV or anything. I just often dislike the imposition of “rules” about how you’re supposed to write something. And I know many people say that there aren’t any rules, but most of those people are successful because they followed certain rules, while claiming that there aren’t any. I wasn’t so much killing the story. I’d reached the end of it. It was a trilogy that ended in a very natural place for the story. But like most things, the idea of an epilogue kept nagging at me and I had to write it. Then it ended on a cliffhanger and I thought I was done. I started writing an entirely new story, but as this new story was going along, I noticed that where it was going could explain what happened in the cliffhanger ending of the epilogue. So I just naturally did that. When I first started writing, I was very economical in my writing. I only wrote what I absolutely had to so I could get the story across. Screenplays are very economical because you’re focused on telling actors and directors the minimum they need to get things on screen and let the actors decide things. I did the same with my prose writing so I could let the reader fill in the blanks. Now I’m getting much more detailed.

Yeah see, my First POV stories are never done in narrator format. It’s usually the person’s reaction in the moment of whatever’s happening. My Third POV to First POV was actually the other way around from what you suggestion. I was writing about two people sitting at a bar where one of them is drunk but I didn’t want the audience to know who the character was. So I wrote it in Third POV. But it was intended as an epilogue to a story that was written in First POV. So the main action of the epilogue was happening in Third POV where the two characters were talking about why one of them is drunk. But they would recount the story of what happened so I just copy and pasted the sections of the story I wanted to tell as flashbacks, without rewriting it into Third POV. The flashbacks were in First POV. I did it mainly because I was mostly done with the story at the time and wanted to sorta wrap it up. But that just made me want to write a longer story.

I’ve never seen anything like “I (Harry)” or “I (Ron)” done. I usually just put forward at the top of each chapter who’s POV it is. Although in later stories, I did entire stories from basically one POV of one character. I stepped out of that character’s POV maybe once to move the story forward. Then later on I shifted between chapters and POVs. Each chapter had a different POV but it was always in the same order. The main character was Dawn, the second character was Faith, the third was Buffy. So the first chapter was from Dawn’s POV, the second chapter was from Faith’s, third from Buffy’s, then fourth chapter from Dawn's again, repeating the cycle. More recently, like in Scooby Gang Time, I have switched back and forth between First POV and Third POV. For instance, the first three one shots were written when I wasn’t as comfortable with Third POV, so they’re from the perspective of the main characters. The fourth one shot was written more recently and featured two main characters. So I wrote it from Third POV so I could focus on each character when the story called for it. Like during their competition of who can suck the most dick, I needed to write about Buffy a couple cocks, then to Faith sucking a few, going back and forth. The fifth one shot went back to First POV because it featured Tara exclusively.

So I don’t do things the way you’re putting it forward. When it comes to First POV, I focus on one person at a time. I declare upfront, although occasionally I’ve done it differently, who the character is. In my example that you’re putting forward: I generally don’t do flashbacks. I did one and it didn’t go right because I wrote it in Third POV but used story that’s written in First POV as part of the flashbacks. As an example of how I would handle a dialogue scene. That’s generally how it would go. I would only really use the format you’re putting forward in a Third POV scenario, which I have.

Yeah, based on the way you’re laying it out, I’ve often written in First POV and occasionally Third Person Imperfect. The way I’ve gotten through the issue of showing different POVs in First POV is that I declare who the character is at the beginning. For instance: Chapter 1: Faith’s POV I can’t believe she did that. Chapter 2: Buffy’s POV I’m so angry with her right now. And so on. Where I run into problems in Third POV is when I’m writing a story, and say one character is touching the other’s face, part of me wants to shift between POVs. But usually it makes things longer so I choose one. A particular character touches the other’s face, and I get into the way they’re feeling the person they’re touching. But then I have to spend time with what they are doing next, and go through it. Then I shift when I feel like the story needs to know what the other character is feeling. It doesn’t feel as natural so say “Both of their bodies tingle at the feeling of Buffy touching Faith’s face.” At least for me anyway.

Well the way I get around that is by shifting POVs either within the chapter or in the next chapter. So I can get the perspective of one character while it’s happening and then how the other character feels about what just happened. But when I go to Third POV, I usually have to choose which character to focus on. At least that’s been my experience when writing.

I can understand that. I have done some writing in Third POV, though I tend to go more omniscient in those stories to showcase as many points of views as I can. But the thing that I enjoy about First POV is that the reader can imagine themselves in that scenario. It’s actually part of how I got into writing in the first place. I used to imagine what I would do in whatever scenario the character was in and write that. So I feel like there’s more emotional connection people can get through a First POV situation.

See, I don’t really get the need for past tense. Partly that might be because I’ve written some screenplays, nothing that’s been made, but in that format you’re supposed to be writing in the present tense because it’s about taking whoever the reader is along. As if it’s happening in real time. Which made the fact that I wrote in First POV when it comes to fanfic an easy transition to screenplays. I try to limit myself to writing only one story at a time, but more recently it’s been difficult. I have chapters in the 10k words or more category so I focus pretty much entirely on that one story before switching to another story. However, now I’m working on a story where one has over 10k words, but the other each chapter is only around 1,000 if that. So it’s a little weird to be shifting and realizing I don’t need a 30 page story to play out. That being said, I have a bunch of story ideas piling up in the 10k or more category that just keeps getting longer. I have about 6 different fandoms I want to cover all with multiple chapters that are going to be in the 10k words per chapter range. Part of me just wants to start in on them but I gotta be disciplined.

Sure, I will do things like describe things after the fact while in the present tense. For instance: While I am busy with this, they were doing this. What do you generally find works best in terms of description? I started out separating dialogue and actions in different lines. But more recently I’ve combined dialogue in actions such as: “I really shouldn’t.” she starts, before considering her options, “But maybe I have a better idea.” I figure so long as I’m clear about who’s saying what, everything is fine.

I totally get that. I kinda started out doing things that way. I just wrote whatever came to mind and my chapters were short. Most of the early chapters were less than 1,000 words long because I always got straight to the point and wrote from First POV, which meant I was focused on whatever was happening right in the moment. Only later on did I add longer chapters. It wasn’t until much later that I started writing longer stuff. Most of it was of the more sexual kind. I had one or two chapters that were in the 10k area because they were very... detailed. Now most of the stuff I post here is in that range. There’s one story that I haven’t posted anywhere in which each individual chapter is 20k words.

Yeah, I am sitting on a pile of them to some extent but I do worry about getting to a place where I don’t have anything new to post. I have 4 chapters of my Scooby Gang Time series and all 7 chapters of a new complete story that I’ve been working on for several months. I also just posted the first chapter of Kendall and Veronica Go to Kinks Castle which is a 4 part story, so 3 more chapters. But like you said, it’s good to stay on the freshly updated side. If I post these stories that quickly, I end up down the list when new stories get posted or updated. That’s why I’ve been spacing them out. Like you, I enjoy re-reading them to make sure I didn’t do any spelling or grammar errors. There’s been one or two stories/chapters I posted where I reviewed it 3 times over a month before posting, found some errors but then realized after posting that I didn’t catch some.