"Fast Food" Writing versus Epic Storyteller...which do you really consider yourself to be?

This might spark some debate...or it may just get nowhere fast. But anyway, which do you consider yourself to be more the type of? Are you a fan fic writer that pumps out story after story in no time flat (as in start a story every week with a different title or era in Star Wars) or more of the full out saga writer that takes his/her time to craft a chapter on one or two titles at a time? I know some writers are very excited and want to post a different slant on the SW universe and think of dozens of titles they want to create...and there are those who tend to work out every plot detail, characters and try to hone their craft to something much more.

I'm not here to knock anyone's work, writing is writing...everyone has their own method and pace. But if you had to say what kind of style you more like...what would you consider it to be?


I'd like to think I'm along the lines of an epic Storyteller...but maybe I'm not, dunno. Sometimes it's hard to imagine what your own work is considered like.

 

A quick glance at my bio (or even my sig ) should let everyone what *I*'ve trundled into I'm one of those people who takes forever to write a fic...and then turns it into at least a trilogy Even the vignettes seem to end up with sequels eventually, lol. I have the plots to write more, but not enough time or, perhaps, drive.

Frankly, I think both ways of writing have their merits--I love writing epics, because it gives me time to pick apart my characters, build up a mythology, and completely satisfy my curiosity for the plot. But shooting out a number of fics...I'd definitely love to have at least a little more of that ability

Just my two cents. I'm trying to get back into the swing of posting outside of my fics

~TJF

 

Very interesting topic, DarthGaul. Mmmm.. For a long time (and even now), I've written stories with painstaking detail. I scrutinize every punctuation mark, send out to several betas to check for characterization consistencies.... Then re-edit posts because of imperfections. My early vignettes and short stories (which are always completed before posting on the boards) were written with that painstaking method. And then I finally moved up to my co-written epic which has required stringent character analysis, reasearch into the GFFA-verse, plot crafting and re-crafting, to start with.



So recently, I've worked on a few one-shots that I can only describe as fast-food - a few paragraphs, no betain except for Word's spell-check. I'm even writing a story in that vein. It's a different way of writing and it has a lot of advantages - instant gratification for the story teller - I just get that bunny off my mind in no time! Plus, no banging my head against the desk because I'm looking for a more poetic way to describe a landscape... But when I re-read my posts and see all the typos and occasional contradictions, the perfectionist in me cringes.

Both styles have their advantages and disadvantages. I have a feeling that there's a perfect balance between the two that'll be just right for me. I'm still looking for that balance though.

 

I'm both. I write tons of "fast food"--and I like that description! But then I write these huge, complicated, intricately plotted epics, too. I think the fast food helps me get ideas out of my system so I can finish the epics, actually.

 

Hello,

I prefer reading long book length fanfics in lieu of vigs. It's also the style that I try to write.

Mu

To create BriaGorog or not to create BriaGorog, that is the question.

 

I'm a "fast food" writer, though sometimes I wish I could be an epic storyteller. I write fics too quickly, and I don't really make them as perfect as I'd like sometimes.

 

I think I'm physically incapable of writing short fics or viggies.

I seem to need at least 50,000 words to accomplish what I need to say.

 

I'm both...I write medium-length fics - too short to be epics, way too long to be vigs - but rather slowly and I do put thought into them. I also write vignettes, but never fast food (fast food I define as carelessly produced crap that's bad for you).

 

Good responses so far. Interesting to see the difference in writing personalites and habits.

 

Oh, I write a few one- or two-posters (one viggy, one poem, and four songfics), then I have some shorter stories, and I have a massive WIP arc that I expect to be a five year mission(with a different 'book' every year).

 

I'm both.

 

I try to do a variety. Sometimes, I'll do fics in a specific amount of time, such as the 7 days of romance before Valentine's Day, when I wrote one mush vignette each day as well as writing a 7-part short story with one installment per day.

 

I take my ficin' philosophy directly from the Burger King! I have a WIP, but I prefer the world of viggies. I prefer to read vigs and write vigs. Does that make me a bad person?

 

Mmmm, mainly "shorties." I do craft them carefully and self-beta 99% of them, so they're not "fast food junk."

My current "epic" was started in October and I'm still trying to tie in a minor plot detail that sets up the story and disappears.
It's "not important," other than as a set up yet I can't just drop it without explanation and I'm stumped.

I consider myself more a "writer" than "storyteller," as I have major problems with plotting. I want to explore how the characters think and react more than I "care" about what is happening to them. I want to play with words, and draw the reader into a spell, if possible.

 

Everything I write turns out to be some sort of epic monstrosity, even the stuff that's supposed to be short.

But now I kind of want a cheeseburger.

 

I'm both usually. I love the idea of outlining a huge story and then following through but also adding things of my own. I try to do each scene of a huge story as if it were 'fast food'to make it more special for myself and anyone else who reads it. Then there are times when I feel like a 3 pager is good enough to quench my thirst for some writing and that's exactly what I do. So I would say that I like fast food and diners. Yum.

 

I like writing big epics more. It lets me develope a really complicated, sometimes angsty, plot that short stories and vignettes don't allow.

 

Both. Some stories need to be told piece-by-piece; some can be done in a post or two. So it really depends on the story, and I've written some longer stories and several shortfics.

 

I am guessing I will start out "fast food" and then work my way up to epic. At least, that is my hope.

 

Its epic for me... and you want to know just how epic?

Well... a long time ago... 7th grade... my friends and I roleplayed a SW adventure on MSN... the next year we got a steady plot, since then we added about twenty characters, about four plot twists, and Rebel terrorists. After five some years, I have written the large part of it and we are ready to post it... if we don't keep editin' it and if our consel of friends can agree on major plot ideas... anyways... other than that I only have stuff I personally think of but they are only developin' in my head. Just don't want to crank them out I guess.

 

If I have a story to tell, I'm definitely up there in the epic, 150'000 words, takes up to 2 years to write, mark.

But sometimes when I do a vignette they can be ready in a couple of hours.