Resource Fanfic Writer's Desk: Your Place for Writing Discussion, Questions, and Advice

This is where I reveal my neurotic side....OK, you knew about that one, my weird side and say that there's this person whom I'd say "yes" to in such a scenario, even though I'm one of those folks who despise marriage and who don't want to be owned by anybody in any way. Sorry, but it feels so good to be mad sometimes. XD

And romance novels...

I took one from my grandmother's room in second grade (~May 1991), she got it together with a bunch of western crime ones that she preferred. I was sitting in the corner of the kitchen, far away from any place that would allow me to see people cutting down Časlav, a tree of heaven that I loved a lot and I was afraid to pass by the living room where he was visible from, so I couldn't get to my children's books.

Five pages in, there was a dress ripping scene. I thought those people were fighting. Like, ummm, OK.

Before I stumbled upon Uncle Walter's Bad Romance Novel Quotes, that was all I knew about romance novels up to 2015. Then one of my best friends and I made a romance novel cover involving the singer of a certain raunchy rock band whom I like to mock every time possible...and a rabid bear. YAY.

Here comes the odd advice: in my case, it works PERFECTLY the other way round. Hardships just come on their own.

 

In my opinion, the more elements we have, the better, because, it is far more easy to drop some of them than to add new ones in a weak plot.
I have never written a romance-driven story (I have recently asked here for some movies showing feminine psychology ^^), so I will not be of great help on this part although I would tend to consider this like an action-driven story. I would try to set the romance like a fight and a struggle the protagonists have to overcome. Fight against fate, against themselves, against their family and friends, and of course their foes. I would not try to define a precise plot since it is not an investigation story where we need to define the story from the end. I would need to live along with my characters and discovering their adventures at the same time I write. In a romance-driven story, I would assume that the plot would emerge from characters' behaviors and actions from a scene to another. Even if I would try to define a global goal, a global direction to my story, I would not try to force my story to follow a well predefined track.

 

Once again, "feminine psychology" is actually a set of anthropological, sociological and culturological things. Same for "masculine", I guess. We act in the way we think we're assumed to and it takes a lot of work to rise above that, or even notice it. And even then, some stuff persists.

As for the latter, we seem to agree on that, but that is the opposite of what Raissa had in mind.

 

I like what yahiko is saying.

 

This is where I point out that romance is such a wide and diverse genre, of which "romance novels" and all the tropes that go along with them are but a small subset

I am someone who does like reading/writing romance, primarily because I am first and foremost a character-based reader/writer and it is often in a romantic/intimate relationship that the depths of the characters can be explored, not only individually but in relation to one another. It can expose the characters in more ways than one, there's a level of necessary vulnerability in a romantic relationship, the knowledge of another on a deep level that makes for interesting conflict and resolution. Whether a person grows or regresses in a relationship gives insight into the characters - whether the romance is toxic or healthy.

Raissa Baiard, I think at first you need to figure out exactly what is it between you two characters that means they will end up romantically involved as opposed to just friends - what do they find in each other they can't get from anyone else, why do they spark together, and what challenges to they have to overcome, personal or external, before the end? (I can see you've already worked some of this out.)

To use Luke and Mara as an example, there's ten years of buildup culminating in some brutally honest discussions and then yes, the cheat of the Force bond. But that wouldn't work without the history of antagonists to tentative friends, and the realisation that they are complementary to one another and have just been sailing the River De Nile for years.

Look at some all-time great romances, like Pride and Prejudice, wherein the first impressions D) of the lovers aren't great, but affection blooms slowly - Mr. Darcy looks past Lizzie Bennet at first, but she has such an inner quality of spirit (shorthanded very nicely into "fine eyes") that he soon becomes infatuated with her and when rejected, takes her criticism to heart. In return Lizzie must learn to look past her willingness to believe the worst and appreciate Darcy's kindness, honesty and worth. They always complemented each other, but each had to grow to be truly compatible.

Or even something like When Harry Met Sally, when you have that beautiful end scene of Harry articulating exactly why he loves Sally - don't underestimate the power of a grand gesture in romance . All of these are exploration of character, and do not have the participants change so much as evolve.

I haven't read your fic, but I understand it's based on Casablanca (which I love, and incidentally one of the few love triangles I don't mind, even if I dislike the way it's characterised in WHMS) - perhaps you can take inspiration there?

And for contrast, consider some toxic (but fascinating) romances - Gone with the Wind, Wuthering Heights, Gone Girl, etc.

 

hi guys [link removed] Looking forward forcriticism and Advices Suggestions

Mav Edit: Please don't post links to your stories asking for advice, it's against the rules. Check out the FanFic FAQ for more info. Feel free to PM me with questions. Thanks!

 

Mm. It has potential, Anakin 99

I quickly followed the link and left a couple of actions for you to do, though I am anticipating mod intervention in you asking for reviews; I'm not wholly clear on the rules myself.

 

Deleted the word reviews from the post I hope this helps

 

Okay, I see you found the ConCrit thread yourself, and have put yourself on it.

Just need the sock who runs the thread to add your name to the list on the first page, and we are good to go.

Did you put some extra lines into your fic, as I suggested?

Mm. I feel like this is the Big Bad from Jack Slater III (film within a film), firing off a gun in a 'real life' city, and listening out for the police sirens...nothing. *Frowns* Just the sound of crickets.

Maybe the mods are letting it go, because you are new?

Somewhere there is a list of places where you are allowed to tell people that you have a fic, "come check it out". In "Challenge" threads, yes; in some other threads, no. Maybe here is okay after all.

 

i did what you suggested but I'm not sure what you mean about extra lines

 

Double Post

 

He meant that your word processor does not parse paragraphs correctly. In web typography, it's better for things to look like this:

"Hello!" said the dog.

The cat looked around.

"Meow." the answer came.

They barked and meowed along, as the night was falling.

...as opposed to this:

"Hello!" said the dog.
The cat looked around.
"Meow." the answer came.
They barked and meowed along, as the night was falling.

 

I agree with that. A Romance story is almost always character driven. That doesn't mean you can't have action in it; one of my most intense combat scenes I ever wrote is smack dab in the middle of a romance. But it always comes back to character. How does this person relate to the lover? How does the lover bring out pieces of your character that they didn't know they had in them or were afraid to deal with?

One of the "love scenes" I was most touched by in the movies was in (I think) Casino Royale. After a big exciting shoot out, the heroine goes into the shower. Bond realizes she's not ok and finds her sitting on the shower floor, sobbing because the stress of the event had gotten to her. So he gets into the shower with her, fully dressed, and just sits beside her in the water. It reveals so much of what kind of a man he is that he would do that for her. Here is a franchise famous for action scenes that has one of the most tender scenes in it.

Romance and action are not mutually exclusive.

 

No, you were right, it's not allowed here. While you can post links in resource threads, you can't do it by just saying please read my story, it can only be in the case of an example, or something along those lines. Challenges allow people to link to stories that are part of the challenge. In this case, we just hadn't seen it yet. You can always PM us if you see something you aren't sure about.

 

I agree wholeheartedly with divapilot where he/she says "Romance and action are not mutually exclusive"

Indeed, action stories are greatly enhanced when there is at least a level of caring between characters, if not outright love. It helps us empathise with and care about the characters as readers. Almost all action flicks have some relationship problem to resolve as well as the fighting, right?

On the flipside, setting a love story in an environment of danger, conflict, war, increases the stakes considerably for the characters. When there is danger of death, it multiplies the tension. It becomes not just a case of not just whether Bridget can get it together with Mr. Darcy, but also will Leia and Han escape the Sith Lord with their lives, and then get together?

Kuri

 

What are your favorite types of genres in fan fiction?

A lowly person who doesn't post here regularly wants to know.

 

All one has to do is look at my master index of fanfics to see which genre I prefer...action-adventure with a military flavor, but also favoring the occasional character piece.

 

Quick question. I'm writing a short fic that is entirely a letter. Should I italicize the whole thing, or would that be annoying and unnecessary given that there is no other prose, other than this letter?

 

Definitely want to avoid italics if that's the whole thing; I was doing it for my DDC '14 until Findswoman rightly pointed out that it was rather distracting, especially when it came to including the names of warships.

 

That was my worry. Thanks.

 

I understand prevent links from other sites I do not understand what is wrong link from this site

 

We want to prevent people from blatantly promoting their fics. It would get pretty annoying if everyone was going around saying "please read my story" with a link, which was happening years ago before there was a rule made against this. If you would like a further explanation, please PM one of us.

 

You could imagine a kind of game, Rancopardy, where loosers are dropped in a Rancor Pit