You don't write Fluttershy, Sassafras! · 8:38pm Sep 3rd, 2016
So I've been writing this story. It's a story for the growed-ups, and it has this horse here in it -> 
One thing I've learned in years of writing is that the best stories are the ones where your characters tell you who they are, not the other way around. On a number of occasions I've been surprised by scenes or chapters not going the way I'd planned, because they characters simply...took it in another direction. That's the spice of writing, what makes it truly fun for me. Having an idea where I want it to go, but never really knowing for sure how the characters are going to get me there. It becomes less taking dictation from my brain and more of a story that I can get wrapped up in as much as a reader. This is as much true for my regular novels as it is for fanfiction.
From the standpoint of fanfiction, Fluttershy is a character I haven't delved into much. Just a scene or two here and there. I've gotta say - for a softspoken mare? She's got a strong ability to take the scene off where she wants it to go. I had a rough, spiky plan for this story, but Flutters softened it out and turned it on its ear.
And you know? I like what she's doing with it. So I think I'll gallop along.
(Yay!)
Anybody else out there with interesting Fluttershy writing experiences, or just characters who steal your scene?
Characters stealing the scene? Oh yeah. I know this all too well. You go in expecting to have your character do this/say that, and then next thing you know they've completely changed direction and you've no idea what the hell just happened. So many scenes have played out differently than the way I first envision them once I write them.
4190354
Personally I think that's what keeps the task of writing exciting. If the whole scene plays out exactly the way you envisioned it in your head, down to the smallest detail, then where's the fun of bringing it out on the paper? You're a stenographer then, taking dictation from your own mind. A painter might have some idea of what they want their picture to look like before they start working, but are they too not excited by seeing what really turns out for the first time?
I am
4191486
The mental image of a mental stenographer. I like that a lot.
I am too! I'm happy I decided to give story writing another chance. My efforts from several years ago were disheartening (they were bad and I knew it), and I guess I thought I'd never really be able to do it well at all. I've always been a reader, raised in a household of readers, but I think as I came out of my teenage years and into my adulthood my reading made more of an impact on my mind, and it has helped mature my writing and the way I think about my writing. That, and I've been dwelling more on my ideas before writing, playing things over and over again. What starts as an intriguing idea then begins to morph and shift into something more, and then something beautiful blossoms and I have a 'Eureka!' moment. Those are the moments I live for and that spur me on to write more. :P
4191742
Eureka moments are why I always carry a small notebook around (a paper notebook, not a computer). You simply never know when the right idea is going to strike you. Muses are fickle like that. I remember a time I was trying to work my way through a block in a story for days, and when the floodgates finally opened I was driving. I actually pulled off somewhere just to jot down everything that was suddenly coming to me, and I ended up with over a thousand words of just notes.
Fascinating how that happens. Inconvenient at times, but fascinating.
4191759 Heehee, yes, they always come at the worst times, usually when you're in the middle of doing something else. I too bring notebooks with me when I go places, just in case an idea arises, whether it is some notes for a story or a quick flourish of a poem.
And the solutions always come when you put the problem away for a bit, when you let your mind do other things, simpler things. That's why deadlines are horrible things, should you have any, since you can't always expect to find the solution in what little time you are given.
Thankfully, there are no deadlines with my writing on here. I just write as it comes. :3
4191813
Mm, I trap myself in my own deadlines sometimes, and I end up having to take breaks. It's my own fault for juggling two simultaneous serial fics.
4192967 Actually, I fear I may be starting to do that myself, now that I've got several fics on the go. I don't have any hard deadlines but I think I may have some imaginary ones in my head. I guess I just don't want to keep people waiting too long. :/
4193155
Oh, I've got it bad. The problem is I keep getting new ideas!
4194501 YES. This. So much. I'm already on my third consecutive story and I'm like 'BRAIN, WHAT ARE YOU DOING. BRAIN, STAHP. I CAN ONLY WRITE SO MUCH.'
4194512
That's how it goes!