10369 réponses à ce sujet

[Giggles_Manically]

I am so close to starting my writing, but I cant keep one tone to my story.



It goes between straight up humor almost satire, to very dark and violent, and then back into humor to fast. Is it a good thing to keep a solid tone, or is some lighter and darker moments better.

[Miri1984]

Sarah1281 wrote...

Tasmen wrote...

Sarah1281 wrote...

First chapters stats are so strange. One of my stories has ten times as many hits for chapter one then it does for the last chapter. Part of it, I guess, could be people who decide after the first chapter not to bother going further but...ten times the number?!?! I think part of it is people who are in the middle of reading and have to take breaks who then go back to the first chapter before going to, say, chatper fifteen. Still, it's a bizarre phenomenon.

Or those could be people that do not have the story on alerts but watch the update lists to see when stories they read update.  They will always hit the first chapter before navigating to the updated one. 

First chapters are always skewed because of that.

I figured that might happen but I don't see why they would do that when you can click the little arrows next to it and go directly to the last chapter.

I always have more US hits than anywhere else. This month, it's 8X my next biggest one which is the UK. I do wonder if people in the US just read more fanfiction, have a bigger population than many countries, read more of my fanfiction...

Never underestimate how crap people are at navigating web pages. I didn't know you could do this so some of the people I follow will have about fifty or so hits on their first chapter from me alone.

[Sarah1281]

Miri1984 wrote...

Sarah1281 wrote...

Tasmen wrote...

Sarah1281 wrote...

First chapters stats are so strange. One of my stories has ten times as many hits for chapter one then it does for the last chapter. Part of it, I guess, could be people who decide after the first chapter not to bother going further but...ten times the number?!?! I think part of it is people who are in the middle of reading and have to take breaks who then go back to the first chapter before going to, say, chatper fifteen. Still, it's a bizarre phenomenon.

Or those could be people that do not have the story on alerts but watch the update lists to see when stories they read update.  They will always hit the first chapter before navigating to the updated one. 

First chapters are always skewed because of that.

I figured that might happen but I don't see why they would do that when you can click the little arrows next to it and go directly to the last chapter.

I always have more US hits than anywhere else. This month, it's 8X my next biggest one which is the UK. I do wonder if people in the US just read more fanfiction, have a bigger population than many countries, read more of my fanfiction...

Never underestimate how crap people are at navigating web pages. I didn't know you could do this so some of the people I follow will have about fifty or so hits on their first chapter from me alone.

If I want to see the most recent chapter of a story I didn't subscribe to then if I see it and it hasn't been uploaded long enough, the arrows are sometimes the only way to actually see the chapter without waiting for an hour.

[Shadow of Light Dragon]

Giggles_Manically wrote...

I am so close to starting my writing, but I cant keep one tone to my story.

It goes between straight up humor almost satire, to very dark and violent, and then back into humor to fast. Is it a good thing to keep a solid tone, or is some lighter and darker moments better.

Keeping the mood of a scene is more important than an overall story tone, IMO. A story's tone can change as it develops, growing with the characters and situations. Scenes are the smaller progressions of the story that build upon each other. A scene can be dark or violent, humourous and light-hearted, but always be careful about combining different themes (or switching to and fro too rapidly) in a single *scene* or you might kill/cheapen the mood. Readers might be confused about what they're meant to be feeling.

On the other hand, real life is fluid, situations and personalities are chaotic. If it feels natural and realistic for something to happen then by all means go ahead. But try to remember what you want readers to take away from a chapter, how you want them to feel when they finish it.

[LupusYondergirl]

Giggles_Manically wrote...

I am so close to starting my writing, but I cant keep one tone to my story.

It goes between straight up humor almost satire, to very dark and violent, and then back into humor to fast. Is it a good thing to keep a solid tone, or is some lighter and darker moments better.

I say just write.  Don't agonize over it, since that never helps, it just makes you question every tiny thing you do.  Start typing and then go back and edit as needed.  I think I did a good five chapters of my first fic before I published a thing online, and then went back and edited the everloving crap out of the first couple dozen pages once I hit my groove. (My chapters=hella long, so YMMV)

After all, it's only fanfic.  It's not like we're hoping for publishing deals out of this.

I'm SO not the person to give advice about tone, though.  I give every character an obsession with gallows humor and a personality disorder since I don't like writing drawn out angst and drama, but judging by ff.net people LOVE angst and drama fics. 
The best tone is whatever works most naturally with your writing style.  We all have preferences, there's no one "best," so long as it's cohesive.  I mean, realistically no one will be always happy or always miserable, so any fic will have ups and downs.  I personally focus more on coming up with plot and then figuring out how my characters will each react.  That sets the tone for me.

[Miri1984]

Giggles_Manically wrote...

I am so close to starting my writing, but I cant keep one tone to my story.

It goes between straight up humor almost satire, to very dark and violent, and then back into humor to fast. Is it a good thing to keep a solid tone, or is some lighter and darker moments better.

Sounds like something I'd love to read. The best books are a mixture of humour and dark because that's what life is like. If it swings from one to the other in the same scene it might be a bit of a problem, but I think a mixture of the two is great.

[Miri1984]

Oh, PS, for those of you who've read Losses - my Aimo commission came! I posted it in my fanfic thread, but I need to spread my awesome Aimo love:

[Shadow of Light Dragon]

Very nice, Miri!

Edit (and Aimo, of course!)

Modifié par Shadow of Light Dragon, 23 juillet 2010 - 12:52 .

[maxernst]

Shadow of Light Dragon wrote...

Giggles_Manically wrote...

I am so close to starting my writing, but I cant keep one tone to my story.

It goes between straight up humor almost satire, to very dark and violent, and then back into humor to fast. Is it a good thing to keep a solid tone, or is some lighter and darker moments better.

Keeping the mood of a scene is more important than an overall story tone, IMO. A story's tone can change as it develops, growing with the characters and situations. Scenes are the smaller progressions of the story that build upon each other. A scene can be dark or violent, humourous and light-hearted, but always be careful about combining different themes (or switching to and fro too rapidly) in a single *scene* or you might kill/cheapen the mood. Readers might be confused about what they're meant to be feeling.

On the other hand, real life is fluid, situations and personalities are chaotic. If it feels natural and realistic for something to happen then by all means go ahead. But try to remember what you want readers to take away from a chapter, how you want them to feel when they finish it.

Actually some of the writers I admire most have a habit of shifting tonal gears in shocking ways in the middle of a paragraph.  I remember in the first chapter of Shalimar the Clown (Salman Rushdie), there's a paragraph that begins by remarking that the protagonist never used to have trouble sleeping.  "Then her father was decapitated on her doorstep like a halal chicken dinner."  Next he follows up the shocking violence of that line with "How the knife must have gleamed in the sunlight..." and the rest of the paragraph concerns how much the protagonist hates the endless sunshine of Los Angeles, how it seems like there could be no secrets in such a city.  I could never carry off a paragraph like that myself, but it makes for startling reading.

[Shadow of Light Dragon]

maxernst wrote...

Shadow of Light Dragon wrote...

Giggles_Manically wrote...

I am so close to starting my writing, but I cant keep one tone to my story.

It goes between straight up humor almost satire, to very dark and violent, and then back into humor to fast. Is it a good thing to keep a solid tone, or is some lighter and darker moments better.

Keeping the mood of a scene is more important than an overall story tone, IMO. A story's tone can change as it develops, growing with the characters and situations. Scenes are the smaller progressions of the story that build upon each other. A scene can be dark or violent, humourous and light-hearted, but always be careful about combining different themes (or switching to and fro too rapidly) in a single *scene* or you might kill/cheapen the mood. Readers might be confused about what they're meant to be feeling.

On the other hand, real life is fluid, situations and personalities are chaotic. If it feels natural and realistic for something to happen then by all means go ahead. But try to remember what you want readers to take away from a chapter, how you want them to feel when they finish it.

Actually some of the writers I admire most have a habit of shifting tonal gears in shocking ways in the middle of a paragraph.  I remember in the first chapter of Shalimar the Clown (Salman Rushdie), there's a paragraph that begins by remarking that the protagonist never used to have trouble sleeping.  "Then her father was decapitated on her doorstep like a halal chicken dinner."  Next he follows up the shocking violence of that line with "How the knife must have gleamed in the sunlight..." and the rest of the paragraph concerns how much the protagonist hates the endless sunshine of Los Angeles, how it seems like there could be no secrets in such a city.  I could never carry off a paragraph like that myself, but it makes for startling reading.

Does the story/author do that all the time, though? I won't deny that paragraphs with stark contrast are cool, but I'm not sure if I could handle an entire book that read like that. (Admittedly I don't think I've tried...)

[maxernst]

Shadow of Light Dragon wrote...

maxernst wrote...

Shadow of Light Dragon wrote...

Giggles_Manically wrote...

I am so close to starting my writing, but I cant keep one tone to my story.

It goes between straight up humor almost satire, to very dark and violent, and then back into humor to fast. Is it a good thing to keep a solid tone, or is some lighter and darker moments better.

Keeping the mood of a scene is more important than an overall story tone, IMO. A story's tone can change as it develops, growing with the characters and situations. Scenes are the smaller progressions of the story that build upon each other. A scene can be dark or violent, humourous and light-hearted, but always be careful about combining different themes (or switching to and fro too rapidly) in a single *scene* or you might kill/cheapen the mood. Readers might be confused about what they're meant to be feeling.

On the other hand, real life is fluid, situations and personalities are chaotic. If it feels natural and realistic for something to happen then by all means go ahead. But try to remember what you want readers to take away from a chapter, how you want them to feel when they finish it.

Actually some of the writers I admire most have a habit of shifting tonal gears in shocking ways in the middle of a paragraph.  I remember in the first chapter of Shalimar the Clown (Salman Rushdie), there's a paragraph that begins by remarking that the protagonist never used to have trouble sleeping.  "Then her father was decapitated on her doorstep like a halal chicken dinner."  Next he follows up the shocking violence of that line with "How the knife must have gleamed in the sunlight..." and the rest of the paragraph concerns how much the protagonist hates the endless sunshine of Los Angeles, how it seems like there could be no secrets in such a city.  I could never carry off a paragraph like that myself, but it makes for startling reading.

Does the story/author do that all the time, though? I won't deny that paragraphs with stark contrast are cool, but I'm not sure if I could handle an entire book that read like that. (Admittedly I don't think I've tried...)

No, he doesn't do it in every paragraph.  The effectiveness of the technique depends on the fact that you're not expecting it.  He does it often enough that I'd call it a recognizable characteristic of his style. 

[Giggles_Manically]

The problem is that Sigvard ,the Avvar Barbarian main charachter is a very relaxed and humerous person. I have a very dramatic combat/exile scene in the start, but then he makes jokes in Highever. Trying to keep him serious, but not turn into a angst sue (had to tvtrope it) is hard.



It is coming toghther nicely though, and I will write it on Friday through Sunday. So far only Mengu Tanchu is beta-ing it for me. PM me if you want to as well.



Its not as silly as Pratchet, but its not as serious as a Game of Thrones either.



As a side question is violence a no-no on these forums? On FF.net its ok as long as you shout out, not so sure here.

[Sialater]

Giggles_Manically wrote...

The problem is that Sigvard ,the Avvar Barbarian main charachter is a very relaxed and humerous person. I have a very dramatic combat/exile scene in the start, but then he makes jokes in Highever. Trying to keep him serious, but not turn into a angst sue (had to tvtrope it) is hard.

It is coming toghther nicely though, and I will write it on Friday through Sunday. So far only Mengu Tanchu is beta-ing it for me. PM me if you want to as well.

Its not as silly as Pratchet, but its not as serious as a Game of Thrones either.

As a side question is violence a no-no on these forums? On FF.net its ok as long as you shout out, not so sure here.

I hope not, or I broke that rule.

[Giggles_Manically]

I dont know if flying limbs, and impalement are ok.



Nothing to graphic, but its not going to be a LOTR bloodless style combat either.

[Raonar]

Oh, my fic has violence alright. And it will have droves more of it, and a lot of blood (one of the main characters is a blood mage and he'll make a gore tornado out of darkspawn corpses in about two chapters, at the Battle of Ostagar to be exact). And I think I was already quite graphic when I said things like "he was completely unimpressed with the blood that sprayed all over him as he slit his throat at point blank" or some such thing.



As for the tone thing, I definitely won't stick to one tone. After all, if I did, my story would no longer qualify as 'Suspense'.

[jenncgf]

Miri1984 wrote...

Oh, PS, for those of you who've read Losses - my Aimo commission came! I posted it in my fanfic thread, but I need to spread my awesome Aimo love:

Woo Miri!  Woo, Aimo!

That's a beautiful pic

[jenncgf]

Ugh, okay.  I'm having a problem - My mind refuses to stop mapping out a part of the story near the end and I'm nowhere near that point.  I have a lot of ground to cover before I get to the events that are working themselves out in my head.

I can't decide whether to just write this part out and save it for later, knowing that it's likely to need major revision by the time I get to it, or to just plow ahead and try to write the part I'm working on now. 

aaaaaaargh! 

[SurelyForth]

jenncgf wrote...

Ugh, okay.  I'm having a problem - My mind refuses to stop mapping out a part of the story near the end and I'm nowhere near that point.  I have a lot of ground to cover before I get to the events that are working themselves out in my head.

I can't decide whether to just write this part out and save it for later, knowing that it's likely to need major revision by the time I get to it, or to just plow ahead and try to write the part I'm working on now. 

aaaaaaargh! 

I've had the same thing happen to me a couple of times. The first time I didn't write it out and was a bit angry at myself when I got to that point and nothing I could come up with was nearly as good. Since then, I always go ahead and get it down while I'm thinking about it. It might delay my current chapter a bit, but it will (hopefully) come out in the wash. I've been working on my final two chapters since before I started publishing my story. It helps me keep certain things consistent and to even troubleshoot potential plot/characterization issues before they become problematic.

Modifié par SurelyForth, 23 juillet 2010 - 01:40 .

[jenncgf]

True, true. Maybe I will write it down then. Although on the flip side, sometimes the things I write earlier in a story come to a plot point that takes me as much by surprise as it does for my characters. I feel like it comes across better that way when it happens, voyage of discovery and all that.

Maybe I'll compromise - rough outline it or something. I know tht I'll want to write this stuff, but the details can come later. hmm.

Modifié par jenncgf, 23 juillet 2010 - 01:52 .

[jenncgf]

On a side note, I love your fic.  I know I've said that before, but hey.  Needed to be said again. 

Great job on it so far!

Modifié par jenncgf, 23 juillet 2010 - 01:55 .

[Sagacious Rage]

When I was writing my gamefic the Landsmeet was The Big Thing I wanted to write and that my readers were all excited for. I had set certain events in motion that were going to come to a head there, and I loves the drama! I ended up using it as a carrot-on-a-stick to get me through bits I didn't really want to write, but had to. And then, when I finally did get there, I ended up changing things that I thought I would do because it didn't fit the characters anymore.



But everybody's process is different.

[SurelyForth]

jenncgf wrote...

True, true. Maybe I will write it down then. Although on the flip side, sometimes the things I write earlier in a story come to a plot point that takes me as much by surprise as it does for my characters. I feel like it comes across better that way when it happens, voyage of discovery and all that.

Maybe I'll compromise - rough outline it or something. I know tht I'll want to write this stuff, but the details can come later. hmm.

I think I'm most concerned with capturing certain words or phrases that I come up with (so the opposite of a general outline), but sometimes I'm in a mood that fits writing a later part of my story more than whatever I have going. Things are still flexible, though. And I do love it when something catches me by surprise as I'm writing, so I'm completely open to tweaking the end to reflect unexpected character development.

And thank you! I'm glad that you like my story.

[jenncgf]

True that, Saga and Surely. Thanks for your input.



*scribbles some stuff down for later*

[Maria13]

jenncgf wrote...

Ugh, okay.  I'm having a problem - My mind refuses to stop mapping out a part of the story near the end and I'm nowhere near that point.  I have a lot of ground to cover before I get to the events that are working themselves out in my head.

I can't decide whether to just write this part out and save it for later, knowing that it's likely to need major revision by the time I get to it, or to just plow ahead and try to write the part I'm working on now. 

aaaaaaargh! 

I would say you definitely need to write it out, otherwise you will forget the detail and once you get to that point it won't be as intense as your current inspiration.  Even if you don't use it for what you originally intended you may be able to change it slightly and use it for something else or just a background ("I know what happened between those two characters on that day...")  that is not explicitly covered in your main fic but will still enrich it...

Modifié par Maria13, 23 juillet 2010 - 02:27 .