Own Story vs. Round Robins

Hey all,
I recently joined the JC thanks to some pushing and shoving by a veteran of these boards. I've read a lot on here and tried writing some of my own and am bringing up the question of what people prefer: their own story writing or round robins?

As time moves on, I realize that I'm more of a round robin fan in many ways if it's written right. I would have liked to have contributed to several that are up and running now but then again, they're in like post 727.

 

Hi,

I started writing fanfics in April. First I tried contributing to some round robins, because I wasn't very sure about it. I'm from Slovakia and English is my second language, and besides, I hadn't written ANYTHING before that (not in Slovak or English). I started my own story in June (it's finished now).

If you don't feel very confindent about your writing, try a round robin. You might get inspiration from other people's ideas and posts, and also you can see different styles of writing and develop your own. When you feel you can write your own fic, go ahead and give it a try.

Don't worry about the feedback! People here are very nice and supportive, and even if your story is not the best, there's always somebody who'll stop by, read it and post some replies. (When I now look at my first fic, I find it rather lame and not very well-writen. But I had a couple of readers and they seemed to like it. )

Good luck with your stories and MTFBWY.

Mar

 

Well each have their blessings and curses.

Round Robins can be great for the novice in getting their hands wet in writing (can't really say feet getting wet unless you can type with your feet). There are drawbacks: the best example was what you have in the first post about high post counts existing in R.R.'s. And you do becomed slaved to the plot points of the story if you are the John or Jane Come Late. You may have your own creative vision, or your own way in telling a story and if that's so, then Round Robins are not your thing.

Now with your own story, you have more freedom. YOu control it's destiny; what's written, what's the plot, who's the characters, etc. And it's not a bad way to go to start either, but here's some advice in avoiding the curse of your own story. 1.) Start small. Don't go for a monster epic your first time out. 2.) Keep it simple. Folks get more milage out of a story when it has one major good guy, one major bad guy, and a planet on the verge of collaspe it seems. 3.) Remember why you are doing this. It's fun! Pure and simple. We are not going to get paid for this(wouldn't that be nice if it were so.) so enjoy it. The more you do, the interesting your fic will be. It comes out in your words.

 

One of the great things about Round Robins is they allow you to get to know people. Your characters and the other authors.

The one Round Robin I've been working on By The Sea Shore, has allowed me to meet a bunch of other authors and really develop two of my own characters. They now have a familiarity about them, so if I write another story with them in it there is already depth to them, allowing me to expand even more on their characters. It's fun and useful!

 

I think Casper said it very well...

I agree. Try something simple for the beginning. One-shots are pretty OK, good thing about them is that your plot can't get stuck after 100 or 200 posts.

 

I primarily do my own story, but I love doing round-robins. While they do have their drawbacks, some of the shared inspirations have fantastic results. I could have never done Strands of Time as well as our five-person conspsiracy yielded.