I've got an idea that might speed up my writing, but I need your input. · 1:25am Oct 18th, 2015
New chapter of my Firefly series is up, but otherwise ol' psychic hasn't done much these past couple of months. Part of that is because I am legitimately busy in real life, and part of that is how many wonderful distractions manage to catch my interest. On an unrelated note the new Brandon Sanderson book is fantastic.
Anyway, I do essentially 'work when I work', but it takes time to craft good chapters and over that time I can lose interest. Mapping things out in my head is the fun part. Translating what I'm thinking into words that amuse you is the slow bit. So, I've been thinking about ways that might keep me interested and working faster on a more consistent basis, and I've had an idea that I'd like to put out there.
I had great fun writing the ridiculous 'Gregor McAwesome' blog post for the last April's Fools and the whole thing took me, less than an hour, because that's about as close to 'stream of consciousness' writing as I can get. The theory is that I turn that into an actual story, where every week I give my readers a choice between three decisions that advance the story and every week I do a 500-1000 word mini-chapter and give out another choice.It would of course consist entirely of the same weird/terrible humor as the original joke.
The idea behind doing this is that I'd be writing more often and having a set deadline for something small and manageable would hold my attention and help me work on my bigger stories. No guarantee that it'll work, but I'm interested in trying it. Despite my heart of stone I do feel bad on occasion for how long I make y'all wait. However, such an experiment would heavily depend on audience participation so I wanted to get your opinions on it. What do you guys think?
...so basically you want to do a Quest?
You could go to SpaceBattles or Sufficient Velocity and make something like that.
That sounds like an amusing enough thing and if it helps you as well it is a win-win.
I don't mind helping you doing that. It sounds like an interesting way of writing and it's help with the progress of the next chapters, so sure.
If it helps you write, do it. Even if it ends up slowing you down and you want to go back to doing what you did before, we'll still get some stories out of you for it, sounds good to me.
But if you NEVER post another Dresden-MLP crossover chapter again because of it, I might have to hold it against you.
Sounds good.
I wouldn't be able to stop myself from commenting on a selection of choices. Go for it.
Just don't leave yourself open to the "Sure, lets kill that snot Robin" crowd.
Something that you said made think of an idea.
You said that plotting the storyline and actions is quick and easy for you, but translating that into a finished product is the slow part. So I have to ask, which part do you enjoy, and is there a part that you don't actually enjoy, but do to see the finished product?
If there is a part that you don't actually enjoy working on, have you ever considered collaborating? As in, you provide the storyboard and a series of events, your partner makes that into a proper chapter, then you both polish it up?
I've worked with others in the past, and I've found that, while its not for everyone, collaborating can bring out the best of both authors.
As for the original question... I'm not sure that I would be to enthusiastic about it, I'd have to see it started to know. But I'm dead sure that you'll get plenty of readers to keep it going for as long as you care to.
Weekly/monthly deadlines are awful. At least for me. I will procrastinate to the last minute and then stress like an idiot to get it done.
What works better for most people (and me) is to set aside a specific time of day, even just an half hour, to do the thing I need to do. The trick is to do it it at the same time, on schedule, so that eventually (around 2 weeks) your silly brain recognizes this new thing as not an extra chore, but an actual habit, and then suddenly it just becomes a normal part of your life.
Stupid human brain.
Uh huh. Hey, funny fact, that's also a series read by one Mr. butcher.
*Shifty eyes*
I'm onto you jimmy.
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Also, meow is best betelguesian.
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Sounds like a lot of fun. Go for it Psych, I'm game. ^_^
Glad to hear that people are interested. I'll go on and post the opening chapter tomorrow. Basically it'll be the April Fool's passage with a trio of choices at the end.
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I have no idea what either of those are. Assuming they are other websites, I'd rather stick to the website that I am familiar with.
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Chuckle, there's no chance I'd ever abandon the Dresden Fillies. At worst I'm just very slow to produce chapters. I have a rock solid belief that once I start a story I owe it to my readers to complete it. It will be finished on my schedule, but it will be finished.
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Though I give options, keep in mind that I also get to choose how they play out.
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The problem with that is that I'd have to translate what's in my head for them, and then I'd probably complain when their writing doesn't match what I wanted.
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My schedule changes from week to week so unless I seriously disrupt my sleep schedule there's no stable time I could set aside for writing. I don't set deadlines for real chapters, but small things like this shouldn't be a problem.
3481100 Yeah those are both sites and they both have forums dedicated to Quests, which are what you described.
In a quest there's basically a character controled by the votes, sometimes the character is chosen by votes too. then the author gives options of how to proceed and other users vote on them or make their own options, depending on the rules set by the author, and then he writes snipets based on that.
My favorite is "Xander Quest" where Xander is the reincarnation of Ganonforf and it has tons of crossovers, it started over two and a half years ago with his birth and yet Alex is still eight because we can't stop micromanaging to get better stats.
I STILL need to watch Firefly after reading you first fic. And hay, if this gets words out faster I'm game.
If this plan gets us Dresden Fillies faster, then YES PLEASE!!