The Writing Process

[epiphony]

This is a great topic Jake. And thanks to the writers who have responded! I always find it difficult writing a series because it seems just so long but your methods help alot. Thanks

[Harrison]

Hey, Nerf. Do you think you could type up your writing process, if you have one? Also, are you going to make your own entry thread now that you are an elder?

[Astral Martin]

Ok, I have aanother question to anybody
who wishes to answer. Not a big question but,

What is your average number of pages you write for
an episode? And how do you decide what is necessary
and what isn't becasue I'm just writing and writing and
I really don't know if a specific scene would be necessary for
not only the episode but the entire story in general. Thoughts?

[Deleted]

I also found this thread very interesting, especially because people who can write totally original storylines totally fascinates me, since it's something I can't do.

Only one thing I will disagree with and that's the whole idea of "punny" titles, especially when you're writing a series for Charmed. Single stories, yes, they don't do anything but make me roll my eyes, or ones like "Piper and the Chocolate Factory" are just as bad.

But for a true series of fics, set up to look like a season, then I feel the titles are part of what make them truly Charmed. The punny titles are a tradition with Charmed, as we all know--they're even the reason why some characters were given their names (Black as Cole, Paige from the Past, Chris-Crossed, Kill Billie, Vol 1, The Last Temptation of Christy to name the main ones). As you guys pointed out, they annoy me when an entire episode is written just to show off a punny title (something the series did a lot in the last few years), but I love them when a good punny title is used for an episode that continues the series.

I know I was one of the founding members of the best virtual Charmed series I've ever read, Charmed: Reality Reset (I can't take a lot of credit for the series, since I had to quit before they actually started airing episodes, and they do one every Sunday at the same time that Charmed was aired during the last season), but before they wrote a single episode, they literally listed hundreds of possible punny titles. Then after writing the episode, they'd go through the list, looking for the title that fit. And those names usually made me want to read the episode.

Here's the titles for their second season, when they had really gotten the hang of it, and it will give you the idea of what CAN be done with punny titles when they're done correctly:

1. Oh, Brotherhood, Where Are You?
2. Prism Break
3. Warlock and Load
4. Victor's Bounty
5. Citizen Bane
6. There's no Eye in Team
7. The Phantasm Menace
8. The Inconvenient Untruth
9. Orbs of Desire
10. Road to Premonition
11. The Unborn Identity
12. Hexes and Ohs!
13. It's All Relative
14. Reality Unset
15. Russian Pruelette
16. V for Vanquish
17. A Bun in the Coven
18. Of Witches and Men
19. Mother to Blessed Be
20. Spirtual Entrapment
21. Don't Stand Under the Family Tree
22. The Cole Nine Yards

And the ones for their newest season are just as clever.

[Nerf]

Those are some pretty good titles. And I do really like puns. But for my season of Charmed I am trying to stray away from the punny titles and go a darker route, as that's the tone of most of the season.

I know you guys talked about titles some in this thread, but not too much about how you came up with a title. Okay, some of you mentioned building a story from a title, but what about the other way around? I have such trouble with titles and most of the time I don't come up with one until after I'm done writing an episode/chapter. Sometimes I come up with a title waaaay in advance, but mostly it takes me forever to think of a title after I'm done writing and it usually sucks.

What do some of you do, and do you have any tips?

On a side note, I might just make a post of my writing process here soon. ... Maybe. I could just sum up my writing process in one word, along with most of my life: procrastination.

[Deleted]

Wish I could help you with that, Nerf--titles is something I've never been very good with. I usually use the old Man From U.N.C.L.E. route and use one of the quotes from the chapter...

How 'bout the rest of you? Any ideas?

[Temporal Death]

Apr 8, 2009 14:32:36 GMT Astral Martin said:

Ok, I have aanother question to anybody
who wishes to answer. Not a big question but,

What is your average number of pages you write for
an episode? And how do you decide what is necessary
and what isn't becasue I'm just writing and writing and
I really don't know if a specific scene would be necessary for
not only the episode but the entire story in general. Thoughts?

I usually I have a basic idea of what story progression I want covered in a particular chapter, so I don't really limit myself by the number of pages.

"Special", as it focused more on the plot than the character development. So, despite description, the length of the chapter barely exceeded three pages. For "Torn", I'm trying to bring in more character development, so in conjunction with physical description comes emotional baggage, which I've learnt doubles the length of the chapter, but adds some more depth to it.

It doesn't make a difference whether you take five pages or fifteen to write a chapter, as long as your writing will be able to hold the interest of the reader.

Of course, that's if you're writing prose, not script.

[Astral Martin]

Huh. That's a pretty interesting way to look at it. Sometimes, I'll just see pages and pages of stories that never really pull me into reading the series. And then sometimes, the short ones are some of the best. So, the pages pretty much depend on what your aiming to pitch at the reader. Okay. Thanks, Brandon.

[David]

Apr 8, 2009 14:32:36 GMT Astral Martin said:

Ok, I have aanother question to anybody
who wishes to answer. Not a big question but,

What is your average number of pages you write for
an episode? And how do you decide what is necessary
and what isn't becasue I'm just writing and writing and
I really don't know if a specific scene would be necessary for
not only the episode but the entire story in general. Thoughts?

That bit really got me, but from my point of view, when I'm writing something I try very hard to find a good pace for the story. Often some parts are crucial to the story, but are needed in the bigger scope of everything just so the pace feels natural and that events aren't happening unbelievably fast. But then again, at the same time it is important not to drag or pad the story out with un-needed parts.

One way I like to make sure the story is going along in a good pace is to add a sub-plot, just so there is something besides the main plot for the reader to focus on, but at the same time it is part of the story and not just filler.

[Lexi]

I have a tendancy to write whatever comes to mind and then go back to the plan I made at first. If a scene doesn't fit in with the plan but I think is still needed then it will stay in and sometimes something that I thought would be good to add but didn't turn out that way will be taken out.

I hope that makes sense to you.

[Astral Martin]

Thanks for that awesome answers to that. It really helped me plan out my story.

Another questions, very curious: What are the key things to plan when creating an original character? I know some of the key stuff, their contribution to the story and how they interact w/ other characters, but is there anything else(or some sort of process) to create and OC?

[Temporal Death]

Well there's no process to creating an OC actually. Or at least I think there isn't. I usually have an idea of what this character is to the others (as you've mentioned) and what they contribute to the plot.

What you need to remember about OCs is that these characters are more or less your own to shape, in every aspect, not just their physical form (if they have one). I suggest you skip back a page to Ross' post about original characters which is quite helpful. Also, check out "The Mary Sue Blues" thread here in "The Underworld". Read, understand, test.

I guess that's the thread where you can go deeper into discussion about the question you've posed.

[Lexi]

I have a character layout form that I use for every single character that I create, even the ones that show up for just an episode or so. I do it so that I know all their strengths and weaknesses and a bit of a background for the characters so that they don't become a Mary Sue (which is needed for a main or sub character).

Another thing I do with the layout is make a note of what they can bring to the story, why I've decided to create them, and how they are related to the other characters - for instance, are they a relation to an already main character.

This is just my way of planning for a character of my own, it helps stop repeating myself

[Astral Martin]

I was going to make this in a thread, but I'll jus post this here:

As we all may know, one of the most common types of fan fiction is continuations. Whether it be a season 9, season 10 (small shout out to C-Net) or simply a next generation fic. But one of the hardest things to do is creating a whole new story; sure they may have one or two origial characters, but there only so much you can do without someone saying, "It's just like Something Wicca This Way Comes."

Another thing is having to have a fresh start and, at the same time, having that Charmed feeling. And it's not just the characters, but havng the originality of having a brand new plot with brand new settings and problems. What I'm asking is: is there any pointers you could provide for some one who wants a new story w/o being just like every other continuation or alternate season?

[Temporal Death]

Mar 1, 2010 16:14:44 GMT Astral Martin said:

I was going to make this in a thread, but I'll jus post this here:

As we all may know, one of the most common types of fan fiction is continuations. Whether it be a season 9, season 10 (small shout out to C-Net) or simply a next generation fic. But one of the hardest things to do is creating a whole new story; sure they may have one or two origial characters, but there only so much you can do without someone saying, "It's just like Something Wicca This Way Comes."

Another thing is having to have a fresh start and, at the same time, having that Charmed feeling. And it's not just the characters, but havng the originality of having a brand new plot with brand new settings and problems. What I'm asking is: is there any pointers you could provide for some one who wants a new story w/o being just like every other continuation or alternate season?

You want pointers for being original?

That's a tough one, really. Honestly, it depends on your writing skill and imagination. Let's take one of the featured fics here as examples, their imitations, and how these imitations could be made different. (Bear in mind to take my permission via PM if you are to use any of the ideas put down here).

Let's start with Witchlighter. I've been with this fic from the start. It began as a Paige spin-off, and honestly, you had cliches attached to it such as the polar villain (Avo), her destiny, and the charge of the week. Now, what Lex managed to do with that (and I'm speaking as a reader), was to flesh out that villain and change the path taken by the CotW (as seen with Rose). He was able to show "destiny" in another light, (I make this point after a quick read of Chapter 23 from months ago) where it really was Paige being manipulated by the Elders. Add that to Peter, the infamous "Halliwells", and his writing talents, and you've got yourself a yet-underrated opus.

Then come those Witchlighter wannabes whose names I don't even remember. Why would you do something that's already been done, or in the process of being done, in a really low-grade manner? No one wants to read what has already been done.

Now perhaps you want to write about Paige, you might want to explore different aspects of her or different paths she'd take. Perhaps a change in heart regarding Henry, or maybe a life changing occurance that doesn't have anything to do with her sunshine-filled destiny. Iunno, I'm really stumped as it's been a long time since Charmed, and all of the other ideas, I'm using myself.

So to summarise:

• I can't teach you to be original, your writing stems from you.
  
• Don't do stuff that's already been done before.
  

[Astral Martin]

Thanks for the reply Brandon. I know it wasn't one of the best questions, but it helped. I guess I was asking how to be original

It just seemed that there's only so much you can do with a series w/o having it seem like the others. But you just pointed out so many door that can be potentially opened.

I'm actually considering a story ( that I already shared with Nerf), but the thing is, it doesn't really connect with any of the main characters. It takes place in the Charmed universe, yes, but it would be very difficult to incorporate the Charmed Ones, or anyone for that matter, into the plot. So the story, settings, and characters pretty much all stem from me. I just don't know where to start.

Sorry, if I'm coming off as annoying

[Temporal Death]

Mar 1, 2010 23:50:42 GMT Astral Martin said:

I'm actually considering a story ( that I already shared with Nerf), but the thing is, it doesn't really connect with any of the main characters. It takes place in the Charmed universe, yes, but it would be very difficult to incorporate the Charmed Ones, or anyone for that matter, into the plot. So the story, settings, and characters pretty much all stem from me. I just don't know where to start.

Sorry, if I'm coming off as annoying

Not annoying at all. I think those are the most difficult kind to write, because when people come here looking for Charmed Fanfiction, they expect at least one familiar face or someone sharing having some sort of connection to a familiar character.

Your writing may be amazing, but when your characters and plots can't pull it off, then you're at a loss. I suggest you incorporate at least one of the show's characters in there in the first few chapters, and then slowly reel that anchor up once your main guys are established.

[Astral Martin]

I think I just had an epiphany ;D.

I'm pretty sure where I'm going to be going with this fic. I think I just may incorporate one character for the entire series, (hoping that I can actually pull this off), just to show a bit of a sense of change in this particular character.

I can't thank you enough for the advice, Brandon. I'll be sure to keep in mind all of the advice, not just from you but from the thread itself. Thanks again!

BTW:

and then slowly reel that anchor up

Hmm. I can't help but giggle when I hear this quote. I guess you can say that's a hint towards the story, if I ever get it started (fingers crossed).

[Astral Martin]

Sorry for the double post. I would do the edit, but wasn't sure if anyone checks this thread anymore. Question:

Is there any way to stay focused on your story? I can't tell you how many times I'll be writing a chapter, and then I watch a movie or an old episode of Charmed, or even listen to a song and a brand new story pops up in my head.

what's worse, I lose inspiration for my original story. I'll admit, this is happening with Mermaid. I know I want to continue with the story, but I have all these ideas for another. Do I put them away on a Word document and save it for a rainy day, do I sadly attempt to do 2 stories at the same time, or do I just ignore it all together? Thoughts?

[Temporal Death]

Write them down or type them up on a Word document. Keep them close.
Sometimes you'll find that they don't even seem good after they're put down on paper.

As for staying focused, don't make this story your number one priority. Everyone has lives, and you're free to live your own outside this site. You, nor no one else, owes anyone here complete dedication to a fic they write. Write because you want to, not because you must.

Heck, I have ficlets saved on my computer that (almost) no one has or will see, simply because I want to see how those play out. Also, reading the entire thread again helps.