25 January 2008 @ 10:37 am
Fic question  
(still working on the layout btw - it's not complete yet)

I have lots of scenarios and ficlets in my head (and in my many fic notebooks as well) but each one of them feels to me like a stand alone which I want to extend into a longer story.

And therein lies my problem. And is an explanation for why I have so many WIPs (which bug me as much as they do anyone who's reading them).

I get a scenario in my head, I write it, then my brain wants me to write more of it and show how the characters and situations developed - for example, I have a Dean/Faith ficlet I'm working on right now, but the scenario as I'm writing it is of an established... well, not 'relationship' in the traditional sense of the word, but they've met and interacted before the thing I'm writing happens.

It's short, it's punchy, it kinda works, but I want to show how they met, I want to show their history, and potentially their future.

Same with another fic I have on the go - a Bela centric short one-piece. (Wench, this is the one you've seen the first few paragraphs of.) Because of its nature it needs to be short and punchy, but when the reveal is made I want to explore it more but that will destroy the impact.

So here, finally, is the question.

Should I trust myself and my readers (you guys) to be able to see the world I've built in my head, or do I expand the stories and show that world?

I have a feeling I know the answer, so a secondary question is this: how do I stop myself from losing the impact?

I'm flaily. I may be getting used to this not getting out of bed until after the time I used to have been at work for an hour...
 
 
Current Mood: confused
 
 
( Post a new comment )
[identity profile] iyalode.livejournal.com on January 25th, 2008 12:13 pm (UTC)
Dude, I hear you. Welcome to my world. Except you actually finish things. I on the other hand, have starts, endings and in-between shit floating round like space junk! Seriously, I have the attention span of a freakin' gnat.

Hi! by the way. Have been awol. Owe you comments all over the place *hugs*
[identity profile] whiskyinmind.livejournal.com on January 25th, 2008 01:13 pm (UTC)
*tacklehugs*

I am the world's worst person when it comes to finishing things though - just when I think I'm on a roll something new and shiny will pop into my brain and bang goes any pretence I have of finishing something. :(

I'm thinking vignettes might be the way to go in the interim, but then I hit the problem of: if it's short, could I make it a drabble? And whilst I love that discipline, it loses a lot of what I wanted to say in the scene sometimes.

I'm flaily. I should just accept that!