On Fri, 1 Aug 1997, Matt Chock wrote:

At 10:47 AM 8/1/97 -0400, you wrote:

Hey..as I was reading fanfics this morning I took a
look at that Nekophilia one.  Pretty cool..I liked it.
When I compared it to similar stories that I'd written,
it struck me: here was a REAL story, as opposed to the
almost-outline-like fics that I tend to turn out.

Try as I may, I can't seem to ever produce anything as
rich as most people do.  It just ends up sounding stupid
or corny.  Are there any hints you pros can give to someone
to help them get their game (and prose) on track?

I know how you feel.  I always end up shooting an idea full of holes as I
write or stop myself from posting because it lacks substance.  How do you
guys consistently crank out these great fics?

Well...for me, it's a writer's notebook which I carry around with me
anywhere I go. Any idea I come up with goes *here* first.  Then, it gets
fleshed out and expanded upon in the notebook, sometimes during
brainstorming sessions, sometimes just as the further ideas come to me
over a period of days, weeks, or even months.  Before I start writing a
story, I wait till I have a rough outline built up in my notebook from
the mass of ideas there.  I usually end up throwing out some of the
ideas for a particular story, usually because I can't work them into the
plot the way I'd intended.  There are still story ideas in my notebook
that I'll probably never get to, though, mostly because I can't decide
what to do with them.  If I'd just started typing after the idea popped
into my head, I'd probably end up with a chapter or two of a dead-in-
the-water fic.  Before I started keeping my notebook, it had happened to
me rather often.

I've finished exactly one fanfic, and that was very short.  (Springtime
for Brain in Megatokyo, a Bubblegum Crisis/Pinky and the Brain crossover
fic; only 20k)  Then I got my notebook.  There are about eight story
ideas in it right now, but the one I'm working on is Slipt, a Bubblegum
Crisis/Doctor Who crossover.  I just posted the ninth part to the list.
For me, this is the furthest I've ever really gotten with a fanfic,
mostly because I couldn't decide where to take a fic after its first
couple of chapters until I started using the notebook.  I have about ten
pages full of ideas in there for this particular story, only some of
which I'll be actually using.

Another tidbit for aspiring writers.  Read other people's fics.  Read
whatever fiction you can get your hands on, as a matter of fact.
Published stuff, especially.  Ideas come hard and fast here, and so does
technique, if you pay enough attention.

Last, but not least.  Invest in a spell checker if you're a bad speller.
Grammar check your story by hand.  And a prereader circle won't hurt,
either.  :)

Good luck.  ^_^

Damon Casale, damoo@universal-net.com
Spam, spam!  WONDERFUL spam!  ^_^