The it's a loooooong story thread: Support group for epic fan fic writers - poll 6/14 (red)

ophelia: And I love the icon. That's awesome.

It ought to be You requested it

sj: I'm still waiting to see what icon ophelia gets for 300,000

If I can figure out how to make a plaid lightsaber effect...

 

A plaid lightsabre? That's almost as good as the infamous flame sabre

-sj loves kevin spacey

 

Whoa! Plaid . . . it would be pretty cool if it went with that picture of Ewan in a kilt.

Actually, I think we should just randomly splice parts of "Braveheart" into the SW saga, just for the kilt effect. The whole "womp rats" Death Star attack explanation is boring anyway. Cut that and put in the William Wallace "They will never take our freedom!!!111!!!" speech instead. No one will notice that the rebels are a bunch of grubby guys in kilts in one scene and dudes in snappy orange flight suits in the next. Also, I think the rebels should hold up pikes at the last moment when TIE fighters are about to attack them, so the TIEs impale themselves. That would be awesome.

Umm . . . yeah. Fanfic. I've made it to the final battle, and I'm probably 2/3 to 3/4 done with phase one of that section. OMG THIS THING MIGHT ACTUALLY END!!

 

No! That's not true! That's impossible!!!1!11!

Does the Braveheart thing mean that Vader's suiting is going to be spliced together with scenes of Wallace being tortured? Because that would make it more sad

However, it *would* be fun to see kilts. The more kilts the better, I say.

-sj loves kevin spacey

 

*pictures the defenders at Hoth base lifting their kilts to moon the Impies*



You don't know the powah of the plaid side.

 

*pictures the defenders at Hoth base lifting their kilts to moon the Impies*

Oh my. There's an image that will be hard to get rid of!

Hey, looking at all these spectacular word counts some of you have, I've been wondering. Does anyone happen to know in terms of word count how long one of JK Rowling's or Tom Clancy's books is? You know, the really thick ones that break your wrists while you're reading them?

Edit: I should really learn how to type one of these days.

 

I just did an estimated word count on Red Rabbit, which came in at about 261,000, 617 pages in the hardback edition.

In other words, ophelia has managed to surpass Tom Clancy this time Were SWoA a novel printed in this fashion, it would be approaching 700 pages long!

...ok, maybe not that exciting to her, but it makes me happy.

SotC right now is sitting at about 130,000, or something like 300 pages of such a book. Not bad... even though it's more a novella series

-sj loves kevin spacey

 

AA- Try photoshop. Or, even better, Sy Snootles, polka dots, and the title "Don't ask"!

While we're on a braveheart kick...

Darth vader walks in, followed by an ominous set of BAGPIPES. From the look on Leia's face, it is going to be a very long night.

 

Were SWoA a novel printed in this fashion, it would be approaching 700 pages long!

Oh, that is *so* wrong . . . reminds me of the guy Ish told me about who quit his job and went on welfare to write a 7,000 page fanfic novel series, which was, quite naturally, horrible.

I can think of some things I'll probably cut or pare down in SWoA, but at least at the moment, it seems to me that there's not a lot of "dead air" there. I guess if it were a "real book," I'd have to convince the publisher to let me break it in half & make it a duology, or (more likely) be ordered to cut essentially everything before Anakin gets offworld. :: This is why I don't write pro fic. It still doesn't explain why I write fanfic, though.

 

Oh, come on, ophelia, you didn't like "OH GOD LUKE THE PAIN!"

 

700 pages Tom Clancy style! Wow, Ophelia. I don't whether to congratulate you, or offer my sympathy. That's some plot bunny that bit you! How long have you been writing it?

Thanks for the estimate, solojones!

I burned out around 85k on my fic - well, was forced out by real-life really - but I'm at it again with a little more temperance. I still can't control the way the thing takes over my every thought, though. It's fun, but a little destructive.

 

Vongy: Try photoshop.

That's what I've used for the other... however many of those things I've made. Lightsaber effects and plaid don't exactly meld

 

AA- Which is why I suggested Sy.

How about pink and a twi-lek?

 

*does his usual wallflower ensemble in corner of thread*

Seven chapters, 40 pages in Word, and I haven't even gotten my latest fic out of first gear yet. Methinks I'll be hanging around here a while.

 

My condolences. One of my readers jokingly (I hope) sent me a 400,000 word icon. There's a picture of Yoda on it, and it says, "Consume you, it will!"

That pretty much sums it up right there.

Padawan_Di-Lee wrote: How long have you been writing it?

A long time . . . ::stares hauntedly off into the desert:: a looong time.

Actually, I've been posting its current incarnation for 13 months now. I actually started it back in spring of '02.

 

Hello everyone.

I posted here once before around the time I started my fic, but I kind of forgot about it. Now it's up to 14 chapters and over 50,000 words, and I'm not even done the first part! So I hope that counts as an epic.

I'm glad to be back, and this is a great idea for a thread. I know how it feels to keep working on the same fic for a long time. A few times I've sort of lost interest in it and had to force myself to become re-interested again. But it's a fun fic to write, and I've enjoyed it so far. Plus, the replies I do get always keep me motivated to keep working.

Well, my ten minute break's up; I'd better get back to working on the story.

 

I think I'm insane. Because I was bored, I did a word count of my fic and the chapters posted here, not counting the one at the beta. There are three chapters and a prologue posted on this site and I had a total of 24,409 words. That's four chapters and almost 25,000 words. I'm reading this thread and realize that most people have hit 25,000 words when they're a good way into their story, yet I haven't even gotten past the very beginning and I'm almost qualified for the index.

I think I need to get a life. Well that, and not write scuh long chapters...

Plaid...I don't even want to know.

Though the Rebels at Hoth in plain would make an interesting picture...

 

Amen, Alethia - long chapters are the bane of my existence, too! I try to keep 'em down, but often there's an essential plot detail, a block of dialogue, or a segue that just bashes me over the head till I add it. Ah well, Darth Writer's Block is rearing his ugly head anyway. Still, TFWF will probably grow two-fold before I even make it to the good parts.

 

The plaid thing is a nod to Spaceballs. ("They've gone to plaid!")

We *all* need to get a life. That's why we're in this thread

 

Ophelia - 13 months posting and you haven't taken a break? WOW. That's stamina.

I've been at mine for a few years as well, but with huge breaks. I can't stand to go back and read the stuff at the start because my writing has changed so much over that time. (Hopefully improved.) It's all I can do to not go back and edit it. Does anyone else have this problem? Sometimes I think there's something to be said for just slapping the thing down on paper to get it over with.

Another thing that's got me now is the way ROTS changed the way everyone looks at Vader. I will have to go back and edit most if not all the scenes with him. It's either that or continue with a characterization that doesn't ring true any more. ARGH!!!!! I feel like I'll never get done!

On the bright side, I've eeked up past 90k words, with a third of the thing behind me.

And Spaceballs! Oh, I LOVE that movie! I haven't seen it in soooo long. That's definitely getting added to the "To Do" list!

 

Hi all!

Long time no post! Sorry about that, DRL has been kicking my behind lately. Anyway, I have been talking to Cantador about maybe making a few alterations to this thread, and starting a fresh one and I think it's a good idea. I'd like to maybe go ahead with this sometime next week.

While the thread would still be fairly easy going and social, we would also be throwing into the mix epic writing related topics from time to time, and possibly some challenges that might be useful for epic writers such as background story for a mid-major/minor character, places, or items. The title of the thread will stay the same, so we *hopefully* don't loose anybody but there will be a new thread started for it in the hopes of encouraging some newer posters in the thread that might be intimidated by the current 33 page monster it is right now. I will include a link back to the old thread and the index will remain as it is.

If anyone has any questions, concerns, ideas, etc about this or would like to help please PM me or voice them here and I'll definitely take them in concideration.

Liz

PS: Spaceballs RAWKS! I went right out the first day it was rereleased and bought it.

 

I've never seen Spaceballs. In sixth grade, my class wanted to see it, but my English teacher went out and rented the movie ahead of time. Next day she comes into class and says that there is no way that she will ever watch that in her classroom, etc. etc... So yeah, missed my chance then.

My thing is that I never end a chapter until I feel that it's finished. I don't pay attention to how many pages it is, just when it feels ready. And unfortunately (or fortunately) that is around 15 pages...

A new thread? Guess so... I wasn't intimidated, but it takes a lot to intimidate me *grins*

 

Liz,

Might be helpful to post our PMs, but I'll hold off until I have your okay.

Everyone,

For my initial thoughts on this subject, check out: http://boards.theforce.net/Fan_Fiction_Resource/b10304/20211686/?0

In discussing it with Liz, I think it's a good idea to drop the 80,000+ requirement and maintain the index as is, and she's also come up with a way we can run challenges, as she mentioned. For example, one idea we discussed was a Subplot Challenge, writing a short story based on a minor character in one's ongoing epic, something that would sharpen up world-building skills and could lead to new avenues or new ideas.

We'd be keeping the casual atmosphere and all of the perks. The big differences would be the challenges and the workshop, and of course a new thread, which I think might jumpstart things a bit and not intimidate fresh faced padawans (like me ).

On that note, it's a pleasure to meet all of you. I hope my stepping in doesn't seem presumptuous-it's not intended to be.

Cantador is the only name I could think of, but it reads a little stilted, so you're welcome to call me any variation (Dor, Ador, A Dor, Tador, or Ant if I start getting cocky or Cant if you're trying to talk me out of my booze-sodden idea for a Star Wars version of Ulysses, any expletive I deserve (and I'll probably deserve all of them at one time or another) or James or Jim (preferably), because that happens to be my name.

I look forward to any thoughts on this, good or bad, and learning from all of you as we go.

Cheers.

-Jim

 

Might be helpful to post our PMs, but I'll hold off until I have your okay.

People can click on our names to go to our profile. They can PM us from there.

Welcome Cantador!

sg

 

Liz,

I meant the text of our PMs.

I'm green. I'm not that green.