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Post by Tamari on Mar 14, 2020 12:12:01 GMT 10
With the prospect of spending 2 weeks alone, and the urge to write that's been creeping up on me for months, I've started looking over some of my old WIP fics and thinking about working on them again.
How do you all get back into the flow of a fic? What's your process? What's the longest period of time you've let a WIP go before picking it up again (as opposed to abandoning it)? How do you decide which fics are worth it?
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Post by devilinthedetails on Mar 16, 2020 1:11:43 GMT 10
Excellent questions although I hope you don't need to end up spending two weeks alone due to the coronavirus! The best way for me to get back into the flow of a fic is just to read it all the way through--making mental notes about the dynamics between characters or plot threads that could be expanded on or developed further in future chapters. Also if I made any notes about what direction I wanted to take the fic prior to abandoning it, I'll review those and see what I want to preserve and what I want to throw out from those notes. I'll also make an outline or list of where I'd like to take the story next.
A key part of my process is also trying to figure out why I abandoned the fic and what I can do to tackle that problem. Was it a character issue? I try to come up with a clear plan for dealing with that character issue. Was it a plot point giving me trouble? I try to come up with an idea to solve that thorny plot problem. Was it a lack of motivation? I try to come up with tools like songs or images to have on hand that can help inspire me for that particular fic. Was it simply a lack of time? I try to make a commitment to myself with a writing or update schedule for the fic.
I've tend to only come back to fics that I've abandoned for months rather than years, but I feel that it is fine to go back to any WIP that inspires you or calls out to you to be completed.
My only real way to decide is if I feel inspired to finish a story. If the inspiration is there, I finish the story. If the inspiration has faded, I consider it abandoned at least for now.
Hope some of this helped! Good luck with your WIPs!
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