Nope! Welcome to a common fanfic experience, aka "Wait, this thing is taking on a life of its own..."
Jayne: Here's a little concept I been workin' on. Why don't we shoot her first? Wash: It is her turn.
'Serenity'
Fan Fiction II: Great story! Where's the sequel?
This thread is for fanfic recs, links, and discussion, but not for actual posting of fanfic.
Dana - Apr 16, 2022 6:41:40 am PDT #10287 of 10431
"I'm useless alone." // "We're all useless alone. It's a good thing you're not alone."
JZ - Apr 16, 2022 8:11:04 am PDT #10288 of 10431
See? I gave everybody here an opportunity to tell me what a bad person I am and nobody did, because I fuckin' rule.
Okay, no, to be more specific, is there an advisory length for what's essentially a character study and backstory-filling-in without a whole lot of what you'd normally call plot, and is definitely not a kissing story? At what point is it just self-indulgence?
Dana - Apr 16, 2022 8:39:20 am PDT #10289 of 10431
"I'm useless alone." // "We're all useless alone. It's a good thing you're not alone."
All fic is self-indulgence! That's why it's so great.
More helpfully, there will be plenty of readers who will devour a character study and not care what the length is. If they are your audience, there is almost literally no chance that anyone will think "This is too much of this awesome story."
There's a whole thesis in word count expectations across genres in fic vs. published literature, but if the story you're writing is making you happy, that's the story you should write.
JZ - Apr 16, 2022 12:30:50 pm PDT #10290 of 10431
See? I gave everybody here an opportunity to tell me what a bad person I am and nobody did, because I fuckin' rule.
Well, great. 5500 words and still going (at least I have a vague idea of how to end it, which is great because I fucking suck at endings and I have way too many partial works sitting on various hard drives where the characters wouldn't shut up for 35K words and then just stopped talking and I didn't know where to go next, so it would be lovely to write something with a beginning, middle and END just once before I die), and I blame Dana.
Consuela - Apr 16, 2022 1:55:02 pm PDT #10291 of 10431
We are Buffistas. This isn't our first apocalypse. -- Pix
Go forward and write! Write what your heart wants, and it's likely to strike a chord with someone regardless.
As for endings, many years ago Nutty gave me some wise words: for a lot of stories, you can just have someone say, "OK, let's go," and then they go, the end. Possibly not the most poetic ending, but sometimes you just gotta give yourself permission to stop.
JZ - Apr 16, 2022 2:18:47 pm PDT #10292 of 10431
See? I gave everybody here an opportunity to tell me what a bad person I am and nobody did, because I fuckin' rule.
As for endings, many years ago Nutty gave me some wise words: for a lot of stories, you can just have someone say, "OK, let's go," and then they go, the end. Possibly not the most poetic ending, but sometimes you just gotta give yourself permission to stop.
Mostly, yeah, and definitely for fanfic, but my unfinished stuff is all proper novels and screenplays, and those feel like they really need an actual nice clean definitive shape and all the stuff I'd set in motion needs to be resolved.
Steph L. - Apr 16, 2022 3:23:29 pm PDT #10293 of 10431
Unusually and exceedingly peculiar and altogether quite impossible to describe
As a voracious fanfic reader, I have never ever read a fic where I thought "Oh, this is longer than originally planned? That blows!" A fic that's longer than planned is like finding a $20 in your coat pocket.
Sophia Brooks - Apr 16, 2022 3:28:47 pm PDT #10294 of 10431
Cats to become a rabbit should gather immediately now here
I would agree with Steph.
Kate P. - Apr 16, 2022 4:20:22 pm PDT #10295 of 10431
That's the pain / That cuts a straight line down through the heart / We call it love
A fic that's longer than planned is like finding a $20 in your coat pocket.
Ha! Absolutely true.
JZ, I'm super excited that you're writing fic! If you want a beta at some point, I'd gladly volunteer. I assume this is for OFMD?
Beverly - Apr 16, 2022 4:45:50 pm PDT #10296 of 10431
Days shrink and grow cold, sunlight through leaves is my song. Winter is long.
In my (not so) copious finished pieces there are two where I didn't recognize the ending and just kept going, until I took a breath and went, "Wait--" turned around and looked back, and the story had finished. Back there. Sometimes that can happen too.