Death of a Project - Ante Up · 8:37pm May 30th, 2019
Since completing FOAL 9000, I've decided I never want to do another long fic ever again. Maybe that will change in the distant future, but for now I just can't see myself putting in the time and energy to do anything longer than two or three chapters. It's exhausting, I get a frustrating amount of burn out, and even though I can and have produced other stuff while working on longer fics, I still feel trapped by them. There's a certain amount of guilt I get every time I crank out a one-shot like No Back Sass or Damsel in Distress where I know I could have instead put all that effort into the next chapter of whatever big project is on the docket. I'm just sick of it all.
Unfortunately, doing this means I'm basically giving up on a lot of long fics that I had plans for. There's a number of ideas and even outlines that I'm condemning to death as a result. Again, there's that feeling of guilt and all. But I wanted to at least share one of those ideas with you guys: Ante Up.
I love the idea for this fic, dumb as it is. It all centers around a single sleepover, and Pinkie's brilliant idea for a game during it. It's a sort of reverse strip poker, where everyone bets clothes each hand, and the losers of each round have to put on whatever's in the pile once the cards are down. The catch, knowing me, is that all the bets are adult foal clothes: diapers, bibs, pacifiers, you name it.
The cast would only be Pinkie, Rarity, AJ, and Rainbow, because there were enough balls in the air without having Twilight and Fluttershy be players too. Each chapter effectively covered one hand of poker with the point of view character alternating between Applejack and Rainbow Dash. And, of course, no pony would make it out unscathed.
I wrote up an outline for this back in October... of 2017. Yeah, been sitting on this idea for a while. After I finished writing up the outline, I was kind of floored. It ended up be 6000 words long by the end of it. (For reference, the outline for FOAL 9000 was about 1000 words when all was said and done) Effectively, I was staring down the barrel of what could be my longest story ever. Given my propensity for detail and the fact that there was both set up and post game chapters as well, I estimated the final fic could have ended up being anywhere from 60,000 to 100,000 words long. That was just... too daunting for me. I only managed a couple of paragraphs for the first chapter before coming up against that reality and just stopping. Since then, Ante Up has only ever been a pipe dream. And now that I'm pretty much sworn off long fics, that's what it seems destined to remain as.
But, I thought I'd at least share it with you. Who knows, maybe someone reading this will be inspired to write something similar. And if not, I won't leave you guys with just the tantalizing idea of a fic. Click here, and you can read the full outline for yourself! All 6k+ words of it!
I have to admit that is an excellent concept for a story, and you would most definitely be the one to do it some justice. But I understand the feeling of exhaustion especially towards longer works.
I feel the same way with long fics, which is why I mostly don't do them. I just feel like I can't muster up the motivation for anything beyond several thousand words, since a lot of what I do in this kind of material is in the spur of the moment and if for a moment I start to loose interest the fic is dead for me until I rediscover it. This ends up making me feel bad in putting out shorter fics since it's too plain and usually just covers a scene, even if that one scene is strong enough to carry itself somewhat in the eyes of others. Thus begins the cycle of non-productivity and guilt. But I feel I am getting better at managing it in some ways.
Also a super impressive outline, very well thought out. Though a fic of that magnitude would most assuredly require it. I can't imagine tackling something so daunting.
5067029
The outline was hell to actually write down. So many things up in the air to keep track of. Thank Celestia gdocs lets you use tables.
100% this. The only reason F9000 was an exception for me was because I was most excited about the ending and was always trying to reach that point (with a few notable spots beforehand that I also really wanted to get to).
Glad to hear you're learning to break the cycle by the way. If you ever discover the secret, please tell me what it is.
5067047
Well the outline in itself is a nice read if I do say so myself so your efforts were not wholly in vain.
Glad to hear I'm not alone on that point. I currently have a fic that is a fun concept that I'm trying not to let die but I've been pecking away at it since the concept is pretty novel for abdl fare. I'm hoping it does get finished soon.
What I'm trying out right now is have a handful of ideas, each color coded, on a doc or something and peck away at which ever one is speaking to me at the moment. If I start to not feel it or get blocked I try out a different one and take a break from the other one. It's not super efficient but it give me the feeling that I'm making progress and allows me to channel some creative juices into something.
But most of it for me has been mental progress too though which I feel has helped me more than anything lately.
I've dealt with much the same issue myself with my Pokepoof Project series on FA. I've chopped the concept into very small chunks I can belt out before getting literary exhaustion and use call-back (or call-forward) techniques to make them feel a little more cohesive rather than just a smattering of vaguely related diaper vignettes. In fact, I'm going through a similar issue with the largest entry thus far and all things considered I still have a great deal to go on it. Still, chip away day by day and I'll have something worth posting eventually.
Good luck with your future stories, Wandering! Always happy to see one of them drop into my feed~
Though I have never needed to write something as long as a 100k story i can see how daunting it must be. Though I may have a few possible secrets to writing longer fics I learned from talking to various writers. Though this stuff may not work out for you you might want to look into them.
First there is something you already found yourself when writing FOAL 9000. Have one or more scenes in the story that you really look forward to writing at multiple points in the story. That way you always have something particularly fun to look forward to when writing the rest.
Second, something that has also worked for me when writing semi long fics is to have a clear outline either on paper or in your head of exactly what you want to write. This way all you need to do is just write it. Though this only really works for those who enjoy writing on its own or just enjoy writing longer fics. This does help keeping yourself on track and stops you from accidentally creating a lot of filler that you don't like writing and has little to no effect on the actual story.
Third, some writers can just churn stuff out as a result of the feedback they get and the joy they get from speaking with their readers. Might not work for you but I know a few writers who write almost solely because of the joy they get from others liking their stuff and talking with them about it.
Lastly, The biggest secret is probably just that some people just enjoy writing longer stuff and others just don't. Maybe it is the mindset they have or something else. But some are just better suited for writing those longer stories.
One last thing I do want to say is that as far as I am concerned FOAL 9000 was your best story yet. I would personally love it if you would write more stuff like it. But i do understand that it might just not be something you enjoy writing.
I hope to see more from you either way. Even if I don't comment often I have read just about every story you posted. And will continue to do so for as long as you keep writing.
5067110
Different things work for different people tho. It's great to know you have a strategy that works for you.
I used to have a color coded sheet like that too... except mine got so bloated as new ideas kept getting added that eventually I gave up.
5067164
Thanks! The chip away method probably would have been best for Ante Up if I'd kept up with it since 2017. Who knows, it may have even been halfway done by now. At the very least its nice to know I'm not the only one who struggles with writing longer fics.
5067282
I've tried all those methods to varying degrees of success. None have really addressed my biggest problem though. I just feel like once I start posting something I'm obligated to keep cranking out chapters until its done. I know I could take breaks and just have a few months in between chapters, but it really bugs me to have incomplete fics and I know it frustrates a lot of readers when they really want new chapters but none are coming. I feel like if I ever have a paradigm shift on that front, I may just return to long fics, but we'll see.
Anyways, I'm really happy to hear you like my stuff! Hopefully one day I'll dethrone F9000 as your favorite of mine, but regardless it means a lot that you read and enjoy my fics.
5067386
Ah I see. I have come face to face with that problem as well. Where something you enjoy starts to feel more like a job than an actual hobby. That is something that I don't know the solution to.
It is a real pain as it can make just about anything a bad experience to do.
Something that might suit you better would be to try more medium sized stories. So instead of 50k+ word stories something like 30K max. Gives more leeway to write a more in depth story while not being a monster that would take almost half a year or more to finish. Maybe it is a good middle ground. Or maybe it isn't.
Anyway, I hope you never lose your interest in writing like I have lost my interest in a few hobbies. Don't push yourself to do something you know you will hate doing isn't good for anyone and especially not you.
5067394
Maybe I'll give a more mid-size fic an attempt. Right now though I have a few one shots I'm itching to finish.
5067406
Looking forward to reading them