writing ramble: braving well-meant advice and judging your own stuff

[opera142]

I'm frustrated with the opener of a story I'm working on. It goes against two common bits of writing advice: start the story as late as possible, and, don't describe the usual order of business.

The starting the story as late as possible advice has always given me trouble. Exactly when is that? I understand the basic concept. I don't need 18 pages of backstory/history about a character to care whether or not he/she has a gun to his/her head. But-- and this is where my confusions starts-- I do want some connection, some understanding of their dilemma, some clues about why this gun-pointing is more dramatic and interesting than the pages of generic gun-pointing available for me to read about in the newspaper.

Fanfiction has a few built-in shortcuts (we know the characters, we know their alignments and habits and motivations and backstories), except with wrestlefic, that's not always the case. There's a difference between backstage!Hunter and arena!Hunter, and his current TV alignment (heel, face, tweener) isn't necessarily the alignment he's going to have in any given fic. Even though I have my pre-set notions of characters, I go into fics willing to be told who is the protag and who is the antag and what their deals are.

Some story time is necessary to do that, so I get confused/fretty over this late-starting business. I don't trust myself usually to judge what's necessary and what's me being in love with the backstory. I like the mundane and the everyday and the emotional baggage character's lug around with them. Provided it's well-written and lively, I'm happy to read it. And because I like to read it, I write it.

A lot my stories begin in a similar manner: introspection by the POV character, then another character shows up to cause trouble. The current fret-causing fic begins that way. In one draft, it takes 8 paragraphs for the troublemaker to show; in another he shows up in paragraph 3. Neither feel right, and while the obvious answer is Write Draft #3, I want to think on the problem first, not just write in the dark.

Comments

My probably not useful suggestion

[redfiona99.livejournal.com]

I'd probably cheat.

A lot of my fics start with 1 paragraph/section on where we're at now (Hunter is pointing a gun at Cena and Cena is worried and confused because Hunter isn't normally like this), and then about half a page on how we got here, because well, why is Hunter using a gun when even at his most heelish he normally only has a sledgehammer, why is Hunter so annoyed at Cena etc.

Because in most fandoms there has to be a reason for a character to have a gun and even in those fandoms where characters pointing guns at each other is normal (for this example Alias) you'd still need to know the mission background and what went wrong.

Re: My probably not useful suggestion

[opera142.livejournal.com]

That was useful. Thanks :)

[idleleaves.livejournal.com]

You're totally right re: characterisation in wrestlefic. There's kayfabe and backstage and off-screen and this and that, and sometimes it all adds up to wrestlefic writers having to do more extrapolation and/or outright invention of character traits than writers in other fandoms. It means those fandom shortcuts don't always apply 100% of the time.

I love the mundane and everyday, too, so maybe I'm the wrong person to attempt any sort of advice. =D

while the obvious answer is Write Draft #3, I want to think on the problem first, not just write in the dark.

Makes sense to think over the problem and possible solutions rather than just diving in a third time without looking.

[opera142.livejournal.com]

it all adds up to wrestlefic writers having to do more extrapolation and/or outright invention of character traits Plus, there's writers just writing what they want canon be damned, which happens in any fandom.

[idleleaves.livejournal.com]

Good point. >.<