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Post by Sai on Apr 5, 2008 15:41:46 GMT
I've been, as of late, trying to increase the number of words I write per chapter by a thousand. It's not easy-- I grew so used to only having to hit 3000 that my mind and hands have me when I try to push out a 4k word chapter. I don't know exactly why. Mybe they aren't used to it.
I figure, while I like long chapters, I just can't write them. I get too impatiant and decided --bah! Screw it! -- and just post up a half finished chapter. Ugh.
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Aardy
Recruit
The power of Elmo compels you!
Posts: 121
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Post by Aardy on Apr 5, 2008 18:33:45 GMT
I've been, as of late, trying to increase the number of words I write per chapter by a thousand. It's not easy-- I grew so used to only having to hit 3000 that my mind and hands have me when I try to push out a 4k word chapter. I don't know exactly why. Mybe they aren't used to it. I figure, while I like long chapters, I just can't write them. I get too impatiant and decided --bah! Screw it! -- and just post up a half finished chapter. Ugh. I know exactly what you mean. When I first started writing my chapter length was 5k. Then I started getting impatient and reduced it to 4k, that made it easier. Now I'm struggling with that! Although I'll never go down to 3k, I just don't think it would feel right.
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Post by Sai on Apr 5, 2008 18:48:21 GMT
Good to know I'm not alone. Hehe. It just gets kind of hard to make the chapter so long, because you just want people to read what you've written. Impatience causes rushing and that's never good, so I'd rather have a chapter that isn't rushed and has 3-4k words than a 6k word chapter that rushes all over the place.
It doesn't help that I made my chapter outline for 3-5k word chapters. It's hard to break from that list. I've already had to cut a couple chapters out just because the length of a few chapters before were jacking them.
*Dies*
I have a 246 chapter story that is probably just going to get longer, then shorter, then longer again.
*Dies again*
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Post by T. Costa on Apr 5, 2008 21:07:56 GMT
I used to do that, in that I would get impatient and just cut the chapter off short. I dunno if it's something that disappears with maturity (I don't think so, because I don't find myself to be overly mature), or what, but now I have all the patience in the world with my writing. Maybe because I realized exactly how important writing is in my life. I dunno, that sounds good, but I don't think it's spot-on.
But anyway, I'm not like that anymore, lol.
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Post by Neophyte Ronin on Apr 9, 2008 0:53:26 GMT
Reading anything really long on a computer gives me a headache. I sympathize. Lengthy chapters are daunting. My revisions revolve around distilling passages into enhanced versions. I end up with a lowered word count--not by much--and enhanced comprehension. But putting a cap on word counts per chapter left me beating my head into the walls. Without splitting up into multiple, multiple chapters, distilling everything was impossible. The technique requires patience and practice, and if I ever want my stuff back on ff.net, it's a necessary evil. So I came up with a plan, inspired in part by the use of singing show-tunes in the movie Hudson Hawk: why not count seconds on media player playing lists as words? Now think about this: if you got tons of music which either partially or directly inspires your work, then you can count the seconds of that song, and the end result is the number of words that you'll use for that passage. The theory goes: if you have an hour's worth of music in a single list, then that's 3,600 seconds on average... 3,600 words. Depending on how much you want to say in that chapter, you can increase or decrease the number of songs to your liking. In fact, if you treat each song-inspired passage as separate from one another, that makes it much easier to slice them out during the initial drafting phase. The stipulation is: a whole series of words must conform to the song in question. If you have a short 1:54 song, you got 114 words worth of canvas from which to work with. You'd often revamp and revise and reword that single passage numerous times. If those songs tend to p**s you off, try longer ones. The only real prerequisite is that you have a good deal of music in your media player. You are not required to blast it while actually writing or especially revising, but just as long as you have the general "feel" of the song, or the song playing in your head in accordance with the scene you're writing, you're golden. It sounds like a "House Rule" for writing fiction. Maybe it is, but I've actually written stuff based on the premise. Of course, you're welcome to utterly gut and slash a chapter well after the initial sparking stage. In any case, it's my technique for not having to write too much in too little time, which usually confuses most readers anyway. Better off keeping things short!
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Post by Rain Misoa on Apr 9, 2008 8:25:29 GMT
Well, I think it depends really. If it's a very good story, meant to have explicit details, I think it should be extremely long. If it's meant to be somewhat of a funny fic, just meant to make people's days that much more fun, then the quicker the updates the better. It really depends on what the writer wants and what the reader is looking for.
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Post by leafonthebreeze on Apr 9, 2008 20:07:11 GMT
*Swoops in from above*
I SPY A ROOONIIIIIIN
*coughs*
Anyway, it's interesting you use music in such a mathematical way, I remember you having a somewhat similar technique for your inspiration with a story, you said in the inspiration thread ages back...
I think that would get too complicated for me. I tend to decide what's going to happen in a chapter and just write that, and not get too bogged down with word count and everything else.
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Post by NRGburst on May 5, 2008 14:45:53 GMT
Sorry, I've been reading these posts all day and now I've finally got the ability to reply- so... Chapters are chapters. Scenes are scenes. Many ff writers seem to confuse the two, and with the 100 word drabbles out there, I can sort of understand why. But for me, each chapter has to actually RESOLVE something, not just be some endless-filler-ramble-oh-I've-hit-2000-words-post. "Cliffies" p**s me off, because often, they're just trolling for reviews. I'm a big believer in the whole-bunch-of-little-packages making the bigger puzzle kind of reader/writer. If you don't have a whole package, hitting send is a waste of postage, IMO. That said, my chapters fluctuate between 2500 and 6000 words. It's done when it's done. And then you move on to the next bit. No hard and fast rule or word count.
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Post by T. Costa on May 6, 2008 8:56:56 GMT
I employ cliffhangers in my writing. This is not because I want reviews - I don't really care so much about reviews - but to encourage the writer to continue reading. When I write, it is not for the people who start reading it right after I write, but the people who find the fic after it has been completed. I want those people to become engrossed in the fic and continue reading it, not review it.
Then again, YMMV. Some people are rather immature and would prefer review counts to people who enjoy their fic.
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Post by NRGburst on May 6, 2008 10:56:38 GMT
Interesting reasoning, and when I think about action/suspense novels, I would have to agree. That just-can't-put-it-down feeling is just what you want to create. And actually, I've just thought of a couple of fics and one TV show that had really exciting cliffhanger endings to each chapter/episode. On the other hand, I can also think of fics with "cliffie" chapter endings that felt terribly unfinished. Hardly satisfying to read.
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Post by T. Costa on May 6, 2008 13:31:05 GMT
I suppose it depends on the fic. Every piece of writing is unique in that different things will work for it. I wrote a fic once (it's the first one that jumps to my mind) where one chapter ended as Vincent changed into the Galian Beast. The Galian Beast threw himself at a window and started snarling at everyone and that was where it ended. The next chapter was written fairly quickly after that and so the cliffhanger wasn't kept for a very long time, but the actual feedback - not reviews, but actual valuable feedback - that I've received from people makes me believe that people enjoy a cliffhanger if it's used properly, as it was in that instance. Also, I very strongly dislike "ie" ending names for things. Like "ficcie" and "cliffie." It seems hopelessly immature to me and drives me up the wall. XD
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Post by Sylla on May 9, 2008 15:05:07 GMT
Ugh, I distinctly remember using the word "chappie" once in reference to a chapter. (Cut me some slack, I was, like, 13.) Needless to say, when I revised the story a little later, I changed it. At once. =P
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Aardy
Recruit
The power of Elmo compels you!
Posts: 121
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Post by Aardy on May 9, 2008 17:47:05 GMT
That kind of thing makes me glad I started writing when I was a little older than the average fanfic writer. I had enough maturity to steer clear of chappies and ficcies.
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Post by T. Costa on May 10, 2008 8:14:25 GMT
I don't think I ever used chappie or ficcie. Then again, I was also one of those hopeless depressed wannabe goth or emo kids in high school so I would have thought that it was WAY beneath me. -.- God, I hate the me from ten years ago.
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Post by Pen Against Sword on May 13, 2008 1:26:59 GMT
I love reading cliffhangers. Weird reaction, I know, but they just keep me so anticipatory of what happens next. I love a story that keeps me on the edge of my seat. (Mengde is a DEVIL about cliffhangers, so part of the reason I volunteered to be his beta is so I can get all his stuff first, mwuahaha.)
As for how I write--slowly. Length of chapters, well...For my multi-chapter fics, I tend to write until I get at the very least, eight pages. I know pages is not a very good estimate but for words, I guess, at the very least, I aim for 3500.
The last chapter of my Kingdom Hearts fic was over 6000 words long and twelve pages. I wrote five thousand of those words in one sitting and was creatively drained for a whole week. I would put my pencil to paper or my fingers to the keyboard and just blank out on anything even remotely constructive.
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