Have you ever had it where you write a fanfiction with some cool quotes you think of in your head like
"What if I lose?"

"Then you'll be my hero."

But when you write your story, you have it be different then what quotes you want to put in? Or don't know where to have those moments.

I'm the guy who likes to think of epic moments before writing them down and get frustrated when I can' t insert them into my story.

Do you ever have that feeling and is there a way to take control of the story?

7688569
The simplest advice I can give is... don't be frustrated. If these cool quotes don't fit or don't make sense in the story, then they simply don't belong there. If you forcibly keep them in the story, then they themselves may look cool, but they may also destroy the scene they are a part of. In other words, the story should dictate these moments and their epicness, not the other way around. (Even though it's good to note that some fancy quote may serve as inspiration for a whole story.)

Also, nobody is stopping you from having a folder or a notebook where you may store these quotes till you come up with a better way to utilise them.

7688574
I think if I have those quotes in my mind I'll insert them after the story. So far I'm finding it easier to write my story by just going for it instead of trying to insert cool scenes or moments the moment I'm writing.

I should enjoy the process of spontaneous writing instead of making a checklist of epic moments to put in or to be more specific not letting those restrict my writing.

7688575
Great idea on the Epic Quotes Folder. I might use that. A good place to put them before I even write my story.

7688569 One of the essential features of a good story is originality. If you found your quotes online then they are not original. There is no tragedy in leaving them out of the story.

Personally, I like to make my own quotes. And since I craft them via association, most of them cum to me when I write the story. Thus they mostly fit in there.

7688584
Its rather ironic you speak of originality in a fanfic site.

7688578
I believe it was Roald Dahl who said he always carried a notebook with him to jot down potential story ideas whenever they came to him. It's also good practice to keep a folder of not only quotes, but also yet unused ideas, scenes, or characters.

7688587 That's why it's even more important, to compensate for the inherent unoriginality.

7688602

he always carried a notebook with him to jot down potential story ideas whenever they came to him

I do the same. These are only some of my notes:

7688584
When I said quotes, I meant my own quotes, not something from a movie or famous poet. I always try to come up with my own lines.

7688617
Cool. Maybe I'll start doing that. I'm more of an idea guy at this point so that might be the first step.

7688569
Quotes are cool and all, (I make my living on referential humor) but they're meaningless in a vacuum.
I wrote Stormageddon knowing from the very start what the last line of the last scene was going to be.
And everything up to that point was to build up the world, the setting and the characters to give that line in that scene weight.
So if you were to go and read it now, and skip right to the end, the line and the scene would feel hollow.
If you want to get the full effect, you have to read the whole thing.
That's how you do it right.

TStormageddon: Changeling Spy

• MLP: FiM
• Adventure
• Drama
• Mystery

Follow the life of Stormageddon, a changeling spy for the Royal Guard.

• Death
• Violence
• Luna
• Main 6
• Changelings
• Cake Twins
• Bat Pony

Shakespearicles · 73k words  ·  295  27 · 4.8k views

7688617
Yeah.

7688569

I know that feeling. There are several lines I'm dying to put in a story, but the situation where I can use them hasn't shown itself. All I can really do is just wait for the chance to use them, and the time came for some of them.

Although if I badly wanted to use them and/or a scene, then I'd consider writing a story with the quote/scene in mind, so I'll be able to use it. Other than that, the best thing you can do is just write a lot of stories. The more you write, the more likely a suitable story for a quote will come along, then, like a cat hunting a mouse, you pounce on the chance when it finally comes.

I put my clever little bits in at the tail of my document as I write, so they're pushed along until needed. If I have to split the doc in two (because Gdocs gets a little odd at 100 pages), I copy it over to the next doc and keep pushing. If I get done and don't use the bits, I copy them into a scrap document I keep with clever little bits in them. Sometimes I go through the scrap bin, pull out a chunk, and make it into a new story. It's like making yeast for bread, I guess.

7688569
Killing your darlings is important in writing.

"Cool ideas" often lead to stories, but the final product of your writing has to be a story, not an idea. If an idea doesn't help a story, then cut it. Don't include anything because it's cool, only include it because the story needs it. Don't try to force things in. The thing about your "epic moment" or your "great quote" is that no one but you actually cares about it (harsh as that may sound). Readers have no reason to appreciate those things. They're here for the story that your writing creates in their head, not for ideas that sounded cool in your head.

7688569
Ah, Winston already beat me to mentioning "Kill your darlings."

It's one of the harder pieces of writing advice to follow, but very necessary. We all come up with cool ideas that we'd really like to see, but sometimes the needs of the story go elsewhere. There's a big difference between "this line (or character, or scene, or plotline, or...) is really good" and "this line (etc) is really good for the story." If you just force the line into a place it doesn't really fit, it's going to feel out of place (and probably lame). If you tweak and twist the story so that it fits, you may just make a more convoluted mess that diminishes the story as a whole. You have to recognize when something cool, something that you really like, just isn't good for the story, and cut it out. The story is more important than any one specific "cool idea."

But definitely save it. Just because it isn't a good fit for this story doesn't mean it won't fit in elsewhere.

7688637

If you want to get the full effect, you have to read the whole thing.

This!
The truth is in the build-up. Setting the mood. Invoke the immersion. Creating expectations.

Telling a story, is about telling the story, so let it take all the time it needs, and your "punchline" will work.
Just keep adding to the story, with a clear goal, and you will reach it together with your readers.

7688569
Absolutely. I'm writing my longfic right now (the rough first draft is actually finished), but about 75% of the "cool lines" I wanted to use remained unused, because I just couldn't fit them in anywhere. Yes, it's sad to let that quirky one-liner go, but often necessary. (But I could still fit in some though!)

7688637
Wait, you write non-clop too?!

7689085
Yes.

7689133

7688569 The vast amount of power that 'cool moments' have is from set-up. Escanor's 'Who decided that' (which has got to be in anyone's top ten anime moments, period) spiel worked because of the multiple episodes of build-up of tension and character moments prior to that delivery. Darth Vader's father reveal worked because of the near two-movies worth of setting up this villain as a fearsome monster with no humanity as an opposing force to the naive Luke. The early episode of Invincible's Omni-man reveal at the end worked because the episode put work into setting up an initial impression of a typically sanitised world with underlying tensions between the heroes, and then ripping it away gruesomely.

Moments need a foundation to stand on, and when you come up with them, you often have to be prepared to either change them, or throw them away if you can't get that foundation to work. Specifically, the moments often need to resolve some conflict (which means that the conflict needs to be set up). The moments need a significance, which means you need to build a context. The moments need to have motivation, which means you need to build an internal logic from cause and effect. Often, working backwards from 'moments' is a great way to end up with an incoherent mess.

I'd recommend keeping the moments in mind, storing them in either your head or on paper, and then once your basic story foundation is up, re-evaluate what you have and when and which moments will work, and for what purpose. Give each a context, a place in the conflict, and a coherent motivation. If you have your foundations, your basics, you will have a good shot at having a good moment. And if you don't, don't use it. Why fire a shot when you're going to miss? Keep it in the chamber for a new project.

7689769

Nothing quite like getting a positive reaction gif from the world's strongest writer. It's the little things I live for around here.