08 July 2009 @ 11:56 am
Scattered Thoughts about FanFic Writing  
I am startled by the speed in which Children of Earth fanfic is appearing. I mean, the actual story isn't even completed yet! I am still trying to internalize stuff that happened in the first two series...

I'm never going to be able to write drabbles, I don't think. I tend to think in terms of stories -- what if Ianto went away and returned years later? What if he became a TARDIS symbiont? What if John Hart was in Cardiff during the year that never was? What if Gwen died instead of Tosh in series two and Rhys asked to be Retconned? What if Andy was an alien? I live in a world of what ifs. (For anyone who is interested, the next big what if is: what if Ianto was taken by the Rift?, but that is still cooking a bit). I also don't have the ability to tap into emotion as  separate from action; unless very well done (and some of you are really good at it!), a piece about Ianto angsting about a throwaway one-liner in an episode can annoy me rather than attract me. Maybe some day I will try to do that just to stretch the writing muscles.

I'm working of a series of short stories about the time John Hart spends on Earth between the end of Series Two and his joining Torchwood in the Homecoming Verse. It's more difficult than I expected, but also my most personal. I don't even know where to post it outside of my own journal. It's not "Jack/IKanto"; they are mentioned but do not appear, except that the last story will be the one explaining how John and Ianto achieved a sort of friendship; it's not "Torchwood"; he's a character in the series but this is all about Hart and his slow walk back from the brink. Well, some of you will probably like them.
 
 
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[identity profile] aeron-lanart.livejournal.com on July 8th, 2009 07:35 pm (UTC)
Oh the perils of asking 'what if?' of yourself! Been there myself funnily enough - more than once. *g*

As for drabbles - I think they are a terribly difficult artform to get your head around, or they are for me anyway. Bear in mind that I started writing fic about 10 years ago, and my first 'published' fic was over 25k words (and was due to a 'what if?' thing itself), then look at the fact that I've only written 10 drabbles (and 3 drabble-and-a-halfs of 150 words) and all of *those* have been in the last 2 years and you get exactly what I mean. When you compare the number of drabbles to the amount of words I've written in the last 2 years, it really illustrates my point - 10 drabbles in comparison to over 140k words in other fic (haven't added up my words this year yet so don't know exactly).

I'm a wordy biatch!

I kind of agree with your comment about the emotion separate from action - it doesn't kind of flow the same - but sometimes a scene, or what's *behind* can grab me and I just run with it which is often what drives my shorter ficlets and drabbles. My favourite example of mine to illustrate this is Violent Acts of Beauty which is a 150 drabble-and-a-half and a scene from a larger fic of over 12k words, but from a different pov and with different emotion behind it.

If you're writing a series of shorter fics with John Hart as the emotional focus, then I really REALLY want to see them!

Oh look, I've started waffling again... ooh and only 25 minutes to go before Part 3!!!
[identity profile] merucha.livejournal.com on July 9th, 2009 02:48 am (UTC)
But I LOVE Violent Acts of Beauty! I think I shy away from emotion and can only deal with it as part of the story -- someday I will have to buckle under and let it all hang out!