Elizabeth Culmer (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
edenfalling) wrote2012-03-23 11:58 pm
edenfalling) wrote2012-03-23 11:58 pm
thoughts on editing and themes
After my second editing pass-through, my NBB is now 21,200 words, give or take. I fixed several egregious problems that occurred to me with the grace of a day's perspective, and also tidied the beginning so it matches the middle. That had become nearly as much of a problem as the end matching the middle, since the middle is where I refined my characterization and figured out my themes.
...
You know, I really have one story I write over and over in variations. It goes like this: Under pressure from circumstance, a person chooses a way (whether good or bad) to balance their personal morals/needs/goals against the needs and structures of their family/community/society/culture.
Very often this is paired with a secondary storyline: A young person is thrown into a situation with which they are not quite prepared to cope, and develops as a person in the process of learning to metaphorically swim. (Or, occasionally, sink.)
Put those two together and you have pretty much every long story I've ever written. Shorter stuff and challenge fics are of course more variable, but those basic plot structures -- along with the themes of (mis)communication, social awkwardness, and found/chosen family, and a deep obsession with ethics and the cultural aspects of world-building -- seem to be what ping me where I live.
My NBB fic is no exception.
...
Okay, now that that project is out of the way until next weekend, I will most likely return to being all Homestuck all the time. Sorry to any of you who are here for other fandoms!
...
You know, I really have one story I write over and over in variations. It goes like this: Under pressure from circumstance, a person chooses a way (whether good or bad) to balance their personal morals/needs/goals against the needs and structures of their family/community/society/culture.
Very often this is paired with a secondary storyline: A young person is thrown into a situation with which they are not quite prepared to cope, and develops as a person in the process of learning to metaphorically swim. (Or, occasionally, sink.)
Put those two together and you have pretty much every long story I've ever written. Shorter stuff and challenge fics are of course more variable, but those basic plot structures -- along with the themes of (mis)communication, social awkwardness, and found/chosen family, and a deep obsession with ethics and the cultural aspects of world-building -- seem to be what ping me where I live.
My NBB fic is no exception.
...
Okay, now that that project is out of the way until next weekend, I will most likely return to being all Homestuck all the time. Sorry to any of you who are here for other fandoms!