Excerpts from mail.fanfic: 18-Apr-96 [FanFic] The Nature of Writ.. by
Travis Butler@tfs.net 

Well, after trying to catch up on this thread, here's my take on this 
whole thing:

* There is no One True Way to write. Period.*

Agreed.  Even a single author can write different ways on different
stories.  I've done so myself.

I've hung out on the Fido WRITING echo for a couple of years, where some 
really good writers hang out, including several pros... and this is one 
point that gets echoed over and over. Some people work best creating a 
very detailed outline and writing from that. Others just sit down and 
plug right in. Some people come up with individual scenes, and then write 
connecting glue between them (I probably fall into this camp as much as 
anything). 

I'm usually the plug right in kinda guy, but I've started making a
scrapbook of individual scenes of stories, dialogue, character notes, and
etcetera.  This helps me no end.  Whether it would others, I don't know.
It's something to try, at least.

(One rather entertaining almost-flamewar started when someone came onto 
the echo and started asking questions about how the various authors 
worked, and then refusing to accept the answers when they conflicted with 
his preconceived notions. He kept insisting that all writers must, deep 
down, follow a similar set of mechanistic processes while writing; and 
that these processes could be deduced and bolied down into a formula for 
creating good writing. Needless to say, this attempt to create a "Grand 
Unified Theory of Writing" was not received well by several authors who 
had actual experience, and who knew this "gentleman" didn't have a clue.

Okay, I'm exaggerating a little bit. But not much.)

There *are* certain things which you cannot get around, and which *should*
be in every story.  This has nothing to to with writing method, though.
I'm talking about things like plot, characterization, good grammar and
spelling, etc.  Other things, like good word "flow" to the story (not
the same kinds of phrases repeated over and over again, like "he said",
or "... and ..., then ...", etc.), are pluses, but not absolutely
necessary.

The only thing that really matters is the result: the story that comes 
out at the end. How you get there won't make a difference to the reader, 
if you're doing your job as a writer. Trying to say "*This* is the way 
you should write" can hurt instead of help; especially if you try to fit 
all writers into one writing method, and that method becomes a 
straightjacket.

If you keep beating your head against a wall trying to write something a 
certain way, and don't seem to get anywhere, then DON'T keep digging 
yourself into a hole. Try something different instead. If you can't get 
an outline worked into shape, try sitting down and just writing. If you 
start writing and the story keeps wandering all over the place, then try 
an outline to keep things on a better track. Whatever happens, don't be 
afraid to try something new -- and don't be afraid to say "This doesn't 
work for me, now it's time to try something else."

Here's another must, then.  Listen to your readers, even if you don't
take their advice.  A (mostly) objective viewpoint will very likely help
a lot.

This is one of the areas where C&C -- and discussion on this ML -- can be 
extremely helpful. If you're stuck on a scene -- or having trouble 
putting together a story -- or have this great idea that you can't seem 
to work into shape -- then a suggestion from one of the other ML'ers 
could be just the spark you need to get things going. 

That being said... 

There are some basics that *do* matter, and are more-or-less universal. 

Grammar, spelling, and punctuation are the obvious ones. While people 
usually forgive problems with these in informal writing, like fanfics, 
mechanical problems can and do get in the way of enjoying a story.

Those are the easy ones to correct.  And for those of you who find grammar
and spelling hard to deal with, there are worse problems.

Depending on the kind of story you're writing, characterization will 
usually be very important. If you're writing a "gag" or "problem" story 
-- "I want to build a story around a really awful pun," or "Genom comes 
up with a new boomer design/battle plan/other plot problem -- how do we 
stop it?" -- then characterization is less important than if you are 
doing a "How would Ranma deal with being permanently stuck in cursed 
form" kind of story. But no matter what kind of story you're doing, good 
characterization can help it. There's a moment of delight a reader can 
get when an author does a particularly good character bit, when the 
reader jumps up and says "Yes! *That's* character X!" or "<Chuckle> 
That's what character Y would do, all right." These moments can make or 
break a story, make the reader love it if it works -- or make the reader 
hate it when it doesn't work. 

Myself, I've always enjoyed being able to write dialogue for characters,
and only identify them by a "he said", or a "Chris replied", etc.,
occasionally.  In other words, the dialogue is distinctive enough to
identify the character, so that the explicit identifiers in the text
aren't needed as often.

Then again, I happened to notice that the background music playing when
the robot attacked Officer Ross in Armitage III #2, was the "D'anclaude"
music, before the top got knocked off the robot revealing "D'anclaude"
(sort of) inside...maybe I'm just perceptive.  8)

There were some other points I wanted to make... but <Sigh> I'm afraid I 
forgot them by the time I sat down and started writing this thing.

Ask Saf to help you with those points.  8)  (reread the scrapbook, I think
it was October or around there...)

Damon Casale, scyth@andrew.cmu.edu

				* Love *
                 Between two people, there is nothing that
                      can draw them closer together