10369 réponses à ce sujet

[Corker]

That's about where most of mine fall, too, Maria13. That seems to be the size my brain likes to consider "a scene" (which is usually how I cut my chapters).

[inquartata02]

Mine tend to run from 5k-8k, averaging about 6k. Whenever I'm writing a chapter and it goes beyond 10k, I split it in half (or if it hits 15k, I split it into three parts). It seems to work well, for my stories, pacing-wise, to keep chapters below 10k. I've done other fics where chapters ran from 3k-5k. I'm not a huge advocate for chaptered stories with chapters less than 1k, but I can see how it can work for some stories. The only reason I don't do it (and don't tend to like it) is because I'm a fast reader, and 1k and less is like a tease. It takes longer to load the page than it does for me to read it. (Honestly, 2k-3k is like a tease, but, hey, better to write for what the story calls for.)

Sometimes chapters have one scene, some multiples scenes for advancing certain elements of the plot/exploring characterization, sometimes it's a theme that ties everything together.

Granted, the last chapter of IPWL was less than 2k, but it was more of an epilogue, and didn't work if it'd attached it to the end of the chapter previous to it. So, yeah, whatever works.

I am still shocked at how long my last work turned out to be. I thought it would've been shorter than the other DA fic I did, but I was very, very wrong on that count. I think, if I had written the fic and then released it, I would've found a way to split it into two separate stories, maybe. I knew the entire time where I wanted it to end, so that helped in keeping me focused when I kept seeing the wordcount going up far higher than I ever thought it would and flailed at the thought of it dragging. I was lucky enough to have betas who would've called me on the dragging, though. Seriously, honest betas are worth their weight in gold, at least to me. I'd rather them tell me if I've got proverbial spinach in my literary teeth or that my literary fly is down than just let me waltz out my work thinking it's suitable when it isn't.

Hmm. I rambled more than I thought. Sleep. I need sleep. Stupid insomnia.

[Lakhi]

Sleep is a lie.

[Merilsell]

Hey need sleep and time to do other stuff? Never begin to write. That is my advise, however, lol.

[Lakhi]

Mehhhhh sleep is overrated, get a rem cycle or two going after exhausting yourself and you'll be fresh in two to three days.

[mousestalker]

My imagination shuts down when I'm overtired. I write best (or least worst) in the morning with a nice cup of coffee. Instrumental jazz music helps a lot as well.

[Maria13]

When I'm tired and working my imagination usually goes into overdrive, to compensate for the frustrations of everyday life, I think. My best ideas come in dreams.

[Lakhi]

I write best when I'm either drunk or half asleep, conceptually speaking I mean, mechanically my grammar sucks when I'm drunk (thank god for my beta!)

*Shrug* generally my writing involves me writing 1-3k words then dissecting them/adding onto them for a few hours/days before moving on to write more. When I first stared writing I would get it done a lot faster but wound up glossing over details and at times, going back to what I've written not three months ago, I find that there's a lot of stuff that I want to just rewrite.

[Raonar]

So, after over a month instead of the usual week, I managed to get that next chapter out, and it's over 16,000 words long. It doesn't help that my brain is being harassed by plot bunnies.

Of course, I've seen fanfics with much longer chapters.

[inquartata02]

Hey, whatever pacing works best for your story is what's important.

[Raonar]

But that was just it. My pacing is a week per chapter, but I got tangled up in a project that i ended up not finishing on time anyway. It wasn't that big a loss, but still somewhat aggravating. Sigh.

[Merilsell]

Wow. Wow.

I have my first marathon reader, it seems.That person has started reading my story today and so far left for every chapter a brief review. If she is doing that for all of my 53 chapters, then...wow. Ka-ching. Madness.

Not that I am complaining, quite the opposite, because it is a great motivational boost to see that people are still starting to read this word monster...I just stare in disbelief at my email account, as the reviews are continuing to fly in. It is...weird and funny at the same time. Really.

.
.

Anyway...other topic:

To be honest...I'm shocked at the length of my story, too. I have just churned out a 9k chapter from which are 5k a single dialogue of my both Wardens (Lenya/Alistair.) Granted, I love how this chap turned out with all the underlying emotions and stuff, but my point is...I'm at 330k words with it now and have only written the half. Back in the days, when I was young and naive, I thought I would have already finished it at that amount of endless words. Cough. (I know, it is in no way as long as yours, Raonor, but that isn't a competition here, anyway, right? Door stopper is door stopper xD)

[Lakhi]

Heh marathon posters are awesome, I had someone do that a few weeks ago for the first 20 chapters or so (although they stopped sending reviews and started sending pms >>)

[Raonar]

I'm actually rather peeved it is taking me so long and so many words. Sigh.

Good to hear you got a marathon reviewer. I had Sarah1281 but she disappeared a while ago (I hope she's okay. I know she said something about an accident not long before she stopped being active here). I also got a few people who review regularly, plus a few who left a comment on a recent chapter after saying they read it all in one SITTING, and I can't help but feel it is a bit shocking that they went through all THAT without stopping.

I'm actually satisfied with my review count. It's more than I hoped for an M rated fiction (and, thus, has much fewer readers than normal).

[Merilsell]

Raonar wrote...

I'm actually rather peeved it is taking me so long and so many words. Sigh.

Good to hear you got a marathon reviewer. I had Sarah1281 but she disappeared a while ago (I hope she's okay. I know she said something about an accident not long before she stopped being active here). I also got a few people who review regularly, plus a few who left a comment on a recent chapter after saying they read it all in one SITTING, and I can't help but feel it is a bit shocking that they went through all THAT without stopping.

I'm actually satisfied with my review count. It's more than I hoped for an M rated fiction (and, thus, has much fewer readers than normal).

Yeah, totally me, too. I mean for the amount of time that I'm already work on my story, I have really written not..so much. Then again, I have my phases where I'm so easily distracted by all the shiny around me and I happen to be a very slow, writer. That is due to my nit-picking with wording and content. If something doesn't feel right, I tend to fret about it for hours and eventually get stuck. Ugh. Which makes me glad to do this not for a living, because I would never get it done till a deathline, lol. As for the length, well my story was originally planned as drabble-series. Umm...yeah Lol.

Sarah had read my story too for a while, but then she suddenly ...stopped. I think this is due to her losing interest in it, since she also had erased it from her fave-list. Which is not of a big deal, those things happen, so no hard feelings here. I just always loved her extended reviews because they were helpful to get me another insight to my story. Anyway, she seems to be okay, I have looked at her ff.net profile and she had updated a story just today (Star Wars) I think she had simply lost interest in this fandom. Mhm. 

As for reviews in a whole, I'm actually blown away by the feedback I get for my story. Not only that I have awesome regular reviewer each update, no there are always fave adds and new reader as well. Wow, I would have never expected this to happen, because this IS a Mahariel story after all, which I have the feeling is the least favorite Origin after the dwarves.  In my optimistic days I would have counted with 100 reviews in the end, which was somewhat my goal when finishing it. But now I already have the 2x amount of feedback (and more) at the half of the story, which is...mindblowing. Really. 

Of course are reviews not a perfect way to judge a story's quality, but I'm humbled that people seem to like to read my story and the long ramblings I churn out each week. If they are happy, I'm happy, which keeps me motivated to keep this never-ending word-monster rocking. So everyone is a winner, I guess

Modifié par Merilsell, 12 juillet 2011 - 04:42 .

[erynnar]

Merilsell wrote...

Wow. Wow.

I have my first marathon reader, it seems.That person has started reading my story today and so far left for every chapter a brief review. If she is doing that for all of my 53 chapters, then...wow. Ka-ching. Madness.

Not that I am complaining, quite the opposite, because it is a great motivational boost to see that people are still starting to read this word monster...I just stare in disbelief at my email account, as the reviews are continuing to fly in. It is...weird and funny at the same time. Really.

.
.

Anyway...other topic:

To be honest...I'm shocked at the length of my story, too. I have just churned out a 9k chapter from which are 5k a single dialogue of my both Wardens (Lenya/Alistair.) Granted, I love how this chap turned out with all the underlying emotions and stuff, but my point is...I'm at 330k words with it now and have only written the half. Back in the days, when I was young and naive, I thought I would have already finished it at that amount of endless words. Cough. (I know, it is in no way as long as yours, Raonor, but that isn't a competition here, anyway, right? Door stopper is door stopper xD)

I love those! And I am always amazed when I get a reviewer who read all 99 chapters of my fic. Always gives me a nice little glow. And I think I am at the same work count as you Meri. I can't believe I am working on chapter 100. I wish I could throw some sort of party with my readers. I seems like I should have one. ROFL!

[Merilsell]

Yeah, she really commented on all my 54 chapters. Madness.

However I had my moment of squee when I discovered that someone has recommended my FF on the TV-tropes site of Dragon Age. ...only discover today that it got smashed by another contributer there in a very harsh way. If you are too lazy to click here the words:

Lady Demonique cannot second this recommendation. If you want stories that write about Dalish culture well, Twist Shimmy (author of Strangers With Cookies and co-author of Vir Lath Sa'vunin) is the author to look for. For all the references to how Dalish are an isolated, insular community that rarely interacts with outsiders, Lenya doesn't come of as "Dalish who distrusts shems because s/he had not actually interacted much with them", and more like a selfish, borderline sociopathic Jerkass whose entire shtick revolves around "She's a Dalish who hates shems because they're shems".

Granted, there are times where Merilsell does make Lenya somewhat more sympathetic, but these are few and far between, and the times where she behaves like someone whose hate makes her lose any ability to see reason pushes her right back into Jerkass territory. The truly bizarre aspect in this story is how the characters seem to call that part of her charm; particularly Alistair, whose character is Flanderized into a childish Extreme Doormat without the snarky sense of humor that is such an integral part of his character, and who is frighteningly in-love-to-the-point-of-obsession with Lenya. That doesn't make sense, especially when you LOSE approval with Alistair in-game whenever you are being rude to him, even in a romance. The characterization falls completely flat here, and everyone ends up turning into very one-dimensional caricatures of themselves.

The plot is non-existent, and the author seems to write whatever comes to her mind without even bothering to make editorial cuts that would have helped with the pacing of this story, which results in a long, long fic that goes nowhere and gets boring very quickly. Not worth all the work slogging through all those chapters, for sure.

Marathari, is that you?  (The wonderful anon reviewer who accused me of Mary Sue-ism, back in the days)

Sigh. <_< By now, I have somewhat reached the stance where I have grown tired to explain WHY I wrote Lenya as I did, or why the other characters react to her like they do. If you don't get it, you don't get it. End of line.

But what do I know, I only write what comes randomly in my mind without any direction, anyway. Maybe it had been more popular if I would have turned it into a giant hate-fest between Lenya and the other characters for the entire story. Guess that would have satisfied this reader more >__>

Modifié par Merilsell, 18 juillet 2011 - 01:00 .

[Punahedan]

Why would any human come to enjoy the presence of someone that does nothing but hiss, spit, and rage about humans sucking? The other characters don't have to learn to love her for her rude, crazy behavior - the main character's behavior needs to reflect growth and experience in dealing with people outside her original culture. Compromise works both ways, yah?

When you have to defend and explain your character outside the fic and when you're so passive-aggressive and have a god-complex when doing so... that's not a good sign.

Modifié par Hawkeyed Cai Li, 17 juillet 2011 - 05:11 .

[firecleaner]

 @Merilsell

Hey, I think you have some talent but you should listen to some criticism people are trying to make you better. You can always improve, no one is perfect. Don't curse of Lady Demonique she's just trying to give some friendly non bashing critque. 

[Lakhi]

@firecleaner Concrit can be added on a direct basis, rather than ostensibly characterizing the fic and it's character as ineffective one can provide a meaningful review. It IS bashing her fic in that Lady Demonique has used a very public forum to state that the fic is dry and comes off as not worth reading. Plus I don't think it came off as very friendly... at all, it seemed rather rude for her to go "Oh hey, if you want to read REAL dalish stuff, read X", that just seems a bit puerile at best.

@Hawekeyed Cai Li - If the reviewer in question had actually gone through the fic, they would have actually found that there ended up being a lot of character evolution on the whole. Merilsell's at perfect liberty to defend her fic and her character if she so desires given the way in which it was effectively bashed. And honestly, I find it strange that Lady Demonique singled out just the one fic.

Just in general, everyone's entitled to an opinion, what works for you might not work for someone else and that's fine, but if you don't like something, you don't have to call it awful and effectively bash on other people's opinions and sensitivities. 

Back to more enlightened discussion, what do you people do if you're taking a break/vacation irl for your fics? I'm going to be gone for a month or so doing stuff abroad and likely won't have time to update/write =/.

Modifié par Lakhi, 17 juillet 2011 - 05:40 .

[mousestalker]

I've never understood the almost ubiquitous human urge to tear other people down. If I read something that is truly awful, I make a mental note to never read any of that author's other works. I don't get nasty about it in public. If there's a correctable flaw in a story, then I very much do try to point it out, as gently as possible. That's constructive criticism and I hope that others will do the same for me as well.

I've said it before, but it very much bears repeating: Treat other peoples' creative endeavours as you would discuss their baby. The squalling brat in front of you may bear an uncanny resemblance to Godzilla, but she's her mama's pride and joy. In other words, be nice. If you smell something, it is acceptable to suggest that she needs changing.

That you can be rude and nasty on the Internet in almost complete safety is no reason so to do.

[Lakhi]

mousestalker wrote...

I've never understood the almost ubiquitous human urge to tear other people down. If I read something that is truly awful, I make a mental note to never read any of that author's other works. I don't get nasty about it in public. If there's a correctable flaw in a story, then I very much do try to point it out, as gently as possible. That's constructive criticism and I hope that others will do the same for me as well.

I've said it before, but it very much bears repeating: Treat other peoples' creative endeavours as you would discuss their baby. The squalling brat in front of you may bear an uncanny resemblance to Godzilla, but she's her mama's pride and joy. In other words, be nice. If you smell something, it is acceptable to suggest that she needs changing.

That you can be rude and nasty on the Internet in almost complete safety is no reason so to do.

^ This pretty much.

[firecleaner]

Lakhi wrote...

@firecleaner Concrit can be added on a direct basis, rather than ostensibly characterizing the fic and it's character as ineffective one can provide a meaningful review. It IS bashing her fic in that Lady Demonique has used a very public forum to state that the fic is dry and comes off as not worth reading. Plus I don't think it came off as very friendly... at all, it seemed rather rude for her to go "Oh hey, if you want to read REAL dalish stuff, read X", that just seems a bit puerile at best.

I didn't think it was harsh at all, people leave reviews like that for products all the time. You should see what judges do to student presentations. To me it's a fair review she didn't call out the author and say that she had no talent and she should give up. Lady Demonique just said that she couldn't agree with the recommendation and listed the her reviews. Maybe Lady Demonique left reviews on the author's page I do not know. I don't see what the issue is with leaving a review on a public site. When you're making something public you cannot have the expectation for people to keep their thoughts quiet. 

Modifié par firecleaner, 17 juillet 2011 - 05:57 .

[Lakhi]

firecleaner wrote...

Lakhi wrote...

@firecleaner Concrit can be added on a direct basis, rather than ostensibly characterizing the fic and it's character as ineffective one can provide a meaningful review. It IS bashing her fic in that Lady Demonique has used a very public forum to state that the fic is dry and comes off as not worth reading. Plus I don't think it came off as very friendly... at all, it seemed rather rude for her to go "Oh hey, if you want to read REAL dalish stuff, read X", that just seems a bit puerile at best.

I didn't think it was harsh at all, people leave reviews like that for products all the time. You should see what judges do to student presentations. To me it's a fair review she didn't call out the author and say that she had no talent and she should give up. Lady Demonique just said that she couldn't agree with the recommendation and listed the her reviews. Maybe Lady Demonique left reviews on the author's page I do not know. I don't see what the issue is with leaving a review on a public site. When you're making something public you cannot have the expectation for people to keep their thoughts quiet. 

The fundamental problem was the nature of the review in and of itself. From the wording of the review it made it seem as though she hadn't even bothered to read through. (to quote:  Not worth all the work slogging through all those chapters, for sure.)  it and left the review (A la fox news' bash on mass effect way back when). I never said that there was an issue with leaving a review on another site, in fact it's great that people outside ffn look into these things. What I felt was problematic with the review was again the fact that she almost seemed to single it out amidst all the other fics and the fact that she added links to other works which she claimed were better. Thats fine to state as an opinion but the wording made it seem almost like her opinion was paramount to godmode. I don't think Merilsell see's her character as perfect and she's made it clear that there are aspects of her story that intend to evoke such emotive responses. 

It really comes down to courtesy, and I don't think that bashing the fic in a place where the author's capacity to respond is minimalistic at best supports her case at all.

Modifié par Lakhi, 17 juillet 2011 - 06:05 .

[firecleaner]

Lakhi wrote...

firecleaner wrote...

Lakhi wrote...

@firecleaner Concrit can be added on a direct basis, rather than ostensibly characterizing the fic and it's character as ineffective one can provide a meaningful review. It IS bashing her fic in that Lady Demonique has used a very public forum to state that the fic is dry and comes off as not worth reading. Plus I don't think it came off as very friendly... at all, it seemed rather rude for her to go "Oh hey, if you want to read REAL dalish stuff, read X", that just seems a bit puerile at best.

I didn't think it was harsh at all, people leave reviews like that for products all the time. You should see what judges do to student presentations. To me it's a fair review she didn't call out the author and say that she had no talent and she should give up. Lady Demonique just said that she couldn't agree with the recommendation and listed the her reviews. Maybe Lady Demonique left reviews on the author's page I do not know. I don't see what the issue is with leaving a review on a public site. When you're making something public you cannot have the expectation for people to keep their thoughts quiet. 

The fundamental problem was the nature of the review in and of itself. From the wording of the review it made it seem as though she hadn't even bothered to read through. (to quote:  Not worth all the work slogging through all those chapters, for sure.)  it and left the review (A la fox news' bash on mass effect way back when). I never said that there was an issue with leaving a review on another site, in fact it's great that people outside ffn look into these things. What I felt was problematic with the review was again the fact that she almost seemed to single it out amidst all the other fics and the fact that she added links to other works which she claimed were better. Thats fine to state as an opinion but the wording made it seem almost like her opinion was paramount to godmode. I don't think Merilsell see's her character as perfect and she's made it clear that there are aspects of her story that intend to evoke such emotive responses. 

It really comes down to courtesy, and I don't think that bashing the fic in a place where the author's capacity to respond is minimalistic at best supports her case at all.

Well I guess we have a difference of opinion when I go to lets say a site that reviews cars and they say we don't like car X. I would hope the author of the review would tell me why and then tell me the alternatives that he or she would purchase.

I would like to see the author herself respond to this thread and the "concrit". It seems to me that she just cursed off the reviewer and didn't discuss the reviewers remarks. Either the reviewer is blantanly lying or the author doesn't wont to respond for whatever reason. 

Modifié par firecleaner, 17 juillet 2011 - 06:12 .