Development Time

[Resha Caner]

How much time do you spend developing a new concept before you start writing the story? In my case, the story came first, but I haven't stopped developing the culture behind the story ever since, and it's gotten quite extensive. Sometimes it can be more fun to work on the backstory than the story itself.

[beckyminor]

Heh...I'm a terrible example, I suppose. My setting for my work has been "in development" since roughly 1994, though I admit I had about a 5 year stretch where I was away from it, for the most part. I didn't actually start a full length novel in the setting until about 2 years ago. I had written lots of short narrative about historical elements, people groups and organizations, but only recently did I drape a story over all this.

But I'm a big proponent of building the world upon which your concepts will hang before you get too deep in writing any one story in that "world." I, personally, don't like to break the momentum of telling my story because I need to stop and figure out the nitty gritty of how the mechanics of the scenario work out.

I'd be interested to hear if there are folks who do it the other way...write the story then flesh out the elements that need to be in place to make sure the narrative "works."

[waldenwriter]

My ideas percolate for years sometimes. The current state of my current novel-in-progress has been in my head for at least two years, since I submitted a first chapter of it in 2007 to Anime Angels, a Christian anime/manga e-zine I was writing for.

The character of Avalon and the story of her curse - the two main elements of that story - have been around even longer. Avalon was originally conceived as a character in a made-up animated series of a couple superhero comics called Lightning Girl that I wrote the scripts for in high school. She was a person Coral Chandler (the protagonist who transformed into the eponymous heroine) met at the UFG Academy - back when the now UIIC was the United Federation of Galaxies, or UFG - and befriended. Coral in the end found out Avalon was Nightshade and Avalon in turn found out Coral's superhero identity and about the Percival House Heroes, the superhero group Coral was a part of (named for Percival House for the Mentally Ill, the abandoned mental institution where they were headquartered). However, Moira Crestwell, the head of the Heroes, could not get past the fact that Avalon was Nightshade, and Avalon, noting this, respectfully left.

She then spent a good season or so being trained in combat and other superhero stuff by the fairies of Phi Andromedae in preparation for her role as the Star Child (a sort of legendary savior position) of the Andromeda Galaxy. She was taken there by Risa, a Phi fairy who had previously been forced by the demon behind the curse (the predecessor of Jago) to make Avalon become Nightshade but had been freed when Avalon broke the curse. Avalon then returned to Earth and formally joined the Percival House Heroes, identifying both with Coral and with Crestwell's daughter Vega, who was revealed as the Star Child of Earth's galaxy. She had her soul stolen by the main villain, Nastasya, and was used along with Vega to lead Nastasya's army of soulless people to attack the city and specifically the Heroes. Coral and the other remaining Heroes saved them however. After that, I don't remember what I had planned for Avalon.

Other than that, I generally try not to keep an idea too long in my head without writing it down, but it doesn't always happen that way.

[Resha Caner]

I figured I would fall at the extreme end of things. Typical for me.

I've been writing since I was in 2nd grade. Spiderman was always my hero. Then I discovered the more literary SF/Fantasy writers in middle school (Tolkien, Asimov, Bradbury, Herbert, etc.).

I thought I had a cool story idea after seeing Star Wars (the original in 1977). When I was done writing it, I realized it was just a sad ripoff - a fanstory of sorts. But my current Ocedian world developed in spurts from there in a see-saw fashion. I took a character I liked from the original story and wrote a new story around him. Then I wrote backstory to distinguish my world from others. Then I started over with some new theories about literature in general. So, I've been doing that for 30 years now. Sounds sad, doesn't it? But it's not like I've worked on the story continuously for 30 years. There have been maybe 4 major revisions where I work on it for a year or two, and then it sits dormant for 5 or more years. Basically, I figure I'll just keep trying to improve it until someone actually buys it (if that ever happens).

In the meantime, I write a lot of short stories that have absolutely nothing to do with the Ocedian world - a lot aren't even speculative.

But now I have a new idea for speculative history that I like well enough to start fleshing out the backstory. So, rather than stretching this project out over the next 30 years, I thought I might try condensing it a bit. ;D

[beckyminor]

Lol, Caner. I feel better now. You're 30 years trumps my 15.

But I can totally sympathize with what you're saying. Much of my "World" was a patchwork of everything I liked that I had seen or read in other places, so it's taken the majority of those years of development time to take my world apart a bit and make it my own.

Now, as for writing prose, I'm new to the game, so I haven't adventured outside of my original creation yet, though I can see if I keep this writing thing up for the next 30 or 40 years that I'll probably build other scenarios. For the longest time, I tried to tell myself I wasn't a writer (maybe I was right...we shall see), so when I wrote scripts and storyboards in the life I had prior to having kids, I typically did adaptations. Much easier, when all you have to do is take someone else's genius and portray it.

But back to your new project, Caner: I suppose it is totally possible to write a story where you only know the backstory that is pertinent to the action and characters on the page. While you would have to be quite organized in chronicling the stuff you figure out as you come up with it, I'm sure it can be done. And yeah, it would be more condensed, eh? A useful skill to learn for anyone who wants to write for at least a part-time living, where you have deadlines and the like.

[Resha Caner]

Ah, yes, kids. For the most part my family doesn't get this writing thing, so I'm on my own. I've got one boy who loves baseball and one who loves paper airplanes - what more could a guy ask for? But, every now and then I must banish myself from the keyboard. At one point I was publishing on a regular basis. I mean, the money was just pouring in. I could buy gum and paper clips, and all kinds of exotic items from the proceeds.

So you're new to prose? Stretch those wings! I've tried it all, and found what I'm not good at. With things like poetry and humor, it's either there or it's not. I can do it in a spurt of inspiration, but I can't craft it. Then, styles like mystery and romance are completely beyond me. I've tried, and failed miserably. But, the experiments were worth it.

In one of my favorite experiments, I invented a character called "Elsie" to see if I could succeed in writing from a female POV. The result was one of my favorite short stories (called "CRB", and as yet unpublished)

So, this alternative history thing is yet another experiment for me. I checked out Harry Turtledove, and we seem to have a few things in common. Despite a 20 year career as an engineer, I'm also just 9 credits shy of a degree in history - and I love the Greeks and Byzantines. In fact, my story begins in Constantinople in 1453, but it takes a much different direction than what Turtledove did.

The backstory I need to develop is how the world would look as a consequence of the changes I plan to make.

[Resha Caner]

Nov 5, 2009 14:42:18 GMT -5 waldenwriter said:

Avalon was originally conceived as a character in a made-up animated series of a couple superhero comics called Lightning Girl that I wrote the scripts for in high school.

As I mentioned earlier, Spiderman was a hero of mine. At one point, though, I thought I had grown beyond comics. I was too "sophisticated" for them. But God has taught me the error of my arrogance. Crafting a good comic is an art, and I've seen that medium reach people who won't sit down to read a book. So, a Christian comic book would be a welcome addition to the market. I gave my old comics to my kids because some of the new stuff ... yeah.

[beckyminor]

Ah, the Christian comic book market...definitely a place than needs more good offerings. While I'm not a comic reader, just about my whole circle of friends read them, and they all throw up their hands in despair over the lack of choices in comics.

And unfortunately, the modern secular comic industry is often not too far off from pornography. Between comics and fantasy art, it's no wonder bookstore employees refer to that general area of the store "porn for geeks."

[Resha Caner]

That's sad.

[beckyminor]

Indeed, it is. I'd try to do something about it, but I don't write or draw "cool" enough to help matters, I don't think. I have a long-time Christian friend who has the chops to do Christian comics...I just have to convince him to tackle it.

[metalikhan]

For me, the length of time varies. A couple of the imaginary worlds I like to write about were several years in the making and underwent uncounted transformations before they really came into focus for me. The genesis of another one was roughly two decades ago.

On the other end of the spectrum, I've also had stories arrive nearly full-blown in my head -- the story actually came before the development that I needed to do to fine-tune it. That's usually what happens with the experimental fiction I write.

Another thing I sometimes like to write are stories where some of the background is provided as a guideline (like the Twin Universes at TC2). It gives me a creative workout outside of my own interests and writing endeavors -- kind of like a writing challenge.

[beckyminor]

Yeah, metalikhan, I was thinking about the worlds over at TC2 as well...it would be interesting to try to work within guidelines set outside my own head. Even if the story wasn't good enough for TC2, it would be a useful exercise in thinking outside one's typical box.

[Resha Caner]

I've tried writing for other people's guidelines - contests and so forth. I don't do well. My best stuff comes from my own head ... or so I tell myself.

[metalikhan]

Nov 7, 2009 22:26:36 GMT -5 beckyminor said:

Yeah, metalikhan, I was thinking about the worlds over at TC2 as well...it would be interesting to try to work within guidelines set outside my own head. Even if the story wasn't good enough for TC2, it would be a useful exercise in thinking outside one's typical box.

I was a bit surprised at how quickly the world at TC2's Dias-Domhan fired a creative spark that turned into a story. I admit that even for that world, my story was out on its fringes, so I wonder how it'll fare now that it's been submitted. I'm working on an illustration to accompany it (LOL -- among other projects!) that I'm hoping to finish by the end of this upcoming week. It's gone through a couple of major re-do's, including a total redesign of a musical instrument. Oi! Am I ever glad Pink Pearl erasers are cheap!

[metalikhan]

Not exactly on topic, but it has to do with time, too.

After writing a particularly intense scene, sometimes I feel a bit drained and need to step away from that particular story for a day or two before going back to it. It's like I need to settle or recharge my battery or something.

Has anyone else experienced this?