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Authors, whats your writing timeline??

Dewgonger

Well-Known Member
I've been wanting to do some writing since im off school now. And, I have a fanfict idea I've been playing around with for awhile, but I always eventually meet dead ends after awhile when I try to actually write.

So I wanted to get some advice from the other authors. How do you avoid dead ends, and keep yourself motivated to finish your masterpieces?? And what does your timeline look like while developing a plot??
 

Ysavvryl

Pokedex Researcher
I write far in advance to keep a more or less regular schedule. As in, I won't even post a long fic if it's not got 50-100 pages already written. But then, I write a lot, so that much may be overwhelming. At least try to keep one or two chapters ahead in your writing (meaning, post Chapter 2, but be working on Chapter 4). That gives you some break time between writing and editing, which can help, especially when your plot decides to twist on you.

Or if you're writing because school's out, try doing a rough draft over summer break, then edit and post it when school gets back in session. Same idea, more or less.

I spend months on long fics. One-shots, two or three weeks it seems. But I've had a lot of practice.
 

FlamingRuby

The magic of Pokemon
I try to release an episode either once a week or every other week. Planning wise, I build a plan before I dive in so I have some semblance of how I want the story to go. This plan is not set in stone, however--it can be added to, deleted from, or rearranged at any time.

For example, when I was planning Magic of a Melody, I planned for where I am right now to be Episode 15-16, but combining short episodes and making room for new ideas ballooned my plan into 30+ episodes
 

M-Dub

Μῆνιν ἄειδε θεὰ Πηληϊάδεω ᾿Αχιλῆος
I agree with what's been said - write ahead. I'm currently about five chapters ahead of what's posted, and it keeps me interested. When you post a new chapter that you wrote a little while ago, it refreshes your interest in your story and makes you want to write more. :)
 

Alliance

Re-Arrival
What the others said: Write the basic plan first. Keep the first draft for the plan simple, so it can be easily built off of.
Also, when writing, it is wise to try to base characters off your own personality. If you can relate to how they feel in certain situations, you can delve deeper, whoich gets you completely hooked on writing the story.
 

RoflLuxRay

Pokemon Physiologist
I tried to keep myself motivated by re-reading my work and try to feel the inspiration I had in that moment, to keep on pushing. But it usually makes me stop in the middle of a chapter when I suddenly run out of ideas. Then I go to other people's work and try to get some... writing mood from there.

On my Fic: Kyle Miller's Life and Warfare, I've worked on it for like a year now... I've only posted 9 chapter and I got like 29 done. I try to post my work here once it is complete, or about to be completed, so that I only have to post here and make corrections. BUT if, I see a mistake repeats throughout the whole fic... that's the catch.

Hope it helps, thanks for your time
 

SilverQuil

FireMohawk of DOOM
I usually make an outline of the events in my story, either in my head or on paper, before I start writing. I usually start out with a few main events in my head, and as I plan out more minor events, I write them down so I can keep them straight. My outline can change if the plot twists unexpectedly on me, of course.
What I have trouble with is sticking to a schedule. I try to work at least a little bit on one of my writing projects every day, but I'm very good at distracting myself.
 

Bay

YEAHHHHHHH
I write far in advance to keep a more or less regular schedule. As in, I won't even post a long fic if it's not got 50-100 pages already written. But then, I write a lot, so that much may be overwhelming. At least try to keep one or two chapters ahead in your writing (meaning, post Chapter 2, but be working on Chapter 4). That gives you some break time between writing and editing, which can help, especially when your plot decides to twist on you.

Or if you're writing because school's out, try doing a rough draft over summer break, then edit and post it when school gets back in session. Same idea, more or less.

I spend months on long fics. One-shots, two or three weeks it seems. But I've had a lot of practice.
That's what I did with my fic, Nothing Everything. I finished the whole first draft during my summer break and then I edited the story slowly during my second and third year at university, haha.

Anyways, when it comes to chaptered fics I would do an outline/write out some ideas for it and then write it out. My writing schedule isn't set to stone as I tend to write a lot for a while and then pause when real life gets in the way. Right now at the moment I have three projects going (not Pokemon) and I worked on them little by little. Back when I was posting NE, I would have a few polished chapters ready first so that I have something to update while I'm busy looking through the next few chapters.
 
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smashlloyd20

Well-Known Member
I'm a pretty slow writer, so writing my chapters can take me a long time. I try to have a complete plotline outline done before I actually start writing the story so I don't dig myself into a hole, but it sometimes changes a bit while I'm writing.
 

Breezy

Well-Known Member
I wish I had the patience to write 5+ chapters without feeling the urge to post. I'm lucky if I'm a chapter or two ahead, and I often find myself in the position where I have nothing written ahead of time to lean back on. I am relatively consistent with posting new chapters at least; I usually have something new up each month, give or take a few days. I think the problem lays with me relying quite heavily on feedback in order to get inspired. Not so much the praise, really. When people comment on little pieces of fic in a chapter, plot bunnies start to spring up, and it revitalizes me. A lot of my ideas are really spur of the moment after reading someone's thoughts on something. It's also why my stories tend to derail from my original outline.

I do outline though, as stated above. =P So there is some sort of structure to it at least.
 

SilentMemento

Lone Wolf
My timeline is nonexistent. I usually create the entire plot and outline (give or take a few ideas) before I ever write a fic, but writing even one chapter takes weeks, months, or (in the case of my first decent FFN fic) years.
 

SerenadeSP

My Loyal Feraligatr
I try to write at least 1 page a day. Since my chapters are usually 10-15 pages long, within two weeks or so I'll always have a chapter done. But I try to make sure I have a good 30-page gap in between the posted chapter and the chapter that I'm currently writing.
 

Griff4815

No. 1 Grovyle Fan
I don't really have a timeline anymore. I used to do a chapter every two weeks or a month or something, but now it's whenever I can. It's not nearly as often as I'd like to, but I don't plan to give up any time soon either. I find forcing myself to write is the best way to make sure I don't let it gather dust.
 

PetuniaBubbles

Devoted Spriter
I normally post a chapter every other week and draft in between. Often I'm drafting one or two chapters ahead this way if I do get caught up with other things, I have another chapter ready to be typed and not have to worry about missing an update for that week.

I also outline many chapters in advance. I've broken my story down into separate parts, and will always have the part following the one I'm working on outlined, this way I know what I'm building up to. (Of course, I have further planned ahead, just not organized into chapters and such.)

It's always good to be ahead of your update schedule. I say for 2000+ word chapters every other week is reasonable. The longer the chapters, the more time in between.
 

Peters

Combak Researcher
I post about once to twice a week so nobody likes waits too long to see what happens or get bored waiting an never check back. also i keep about 2-4 chapters ahead, iv just posted chapter one of my book and currently editing chapter 5 but you keep as much gap as you needed, and in a while ill be off school so ill be writing a lot then
 

EonMaster One

saeculum harmonia
I never really ascribed to 'timelines', per se, but I always set a goal to have a new chapter up in 2-3 weeks. Sometimes it takes a month if I hit a block or if my chapter's even longer than usual (which would be saying a lot.) Occasionally, if I'm really struggling, I'll make a bullet point outline for what I want to happen in my chapter - include certain scenes, certain events within the scene, and even certain lines of description or dialogue that pop up in my head that I really want to use. A lot of times, though, I sort of freestyle it, although I have a vague idea of what I want to do with a chapter before I actually do it.

How to avoid dead ends? Do you mean writers' block or just getting to a certain point on a story and not feeling like doing it anymore?

If it's the first, then I don't know of any hard and fast way to get rid of writer's block because, like the common cold, it's never exactly the same any time you get it - just the same systems. And just like a cold, sometimes you can knock it out of you, but other times, you just have to wait for it to pass. I know the 'roadmap' idea I just described helps me on occasion. Or, if you've divided your chapter into 'scenes' and just don't know what to do with one scene, try writing another scene and see if you get any further on that one.

If it's a problem with being able to commit to a story to the end, I tend to come up with my endings first. Or at least an ending or two. But have some sort of destination in mind before you start the journey. Otherwise, you're just going aimlessly and sooner or later you're going to be sitting on the side of the highway, unable to move anywhere because you've run out of gas. :p Make sense?

Take it from someone who has written a lot. My last story was 80 chapters. That's not an exaggeration, either. 80 chapters. And while it was fun most of the time, you'd be nuts to think that it wasn't a grind at some points, too - especially since I did nearly the entirety of the fic while I was in college. Needless to say, the need to pass classes and the like put extra demands on not just my time, but my mental reserves. But I stuck to my guns and got through it. And I can tell you from experience that there are few things more rewarding than working three or four - or even one or two - years on a chaptered project and seeing it get stickied in the 'Completed Fics' section.

- ;196; EM1
 

McLucky

Active Member
Hehe... I've just recently started a fanfic blog about a Nuzlocke runthrough of Blue (see sig if interested) and I was churning posts out as fast as I could. Advice noted- write ahead! =D
 
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