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fanfic speedrun: write the scene you want to write and skip the rest of the fic
(same goes on the reader side of things)
I’m seeing people on this post who think that what I’m saying is, “Write out of order, starting with the things you enjoy most.” And while that’s fine advice, it’s not actually what I said.
What I said was, “Only write the thing that’s fun, and don’t write the rest.”
Write one shots. Write drabbles. Write ficlets. If you have 5 interesting scenes but you can’t figure out how to tie them together into a fic, then write 5 separate ficlets, post them in a series, and when you get another idea for that series just plop it right in there and rearrange the works into the right order.
You don’t have to write longfic to write fanfic.
I love one shots. One shots are awesome. One shots don’t fuck around. One shots are a hit of pure, distilled fandom straight into the veins. They know what they’re here to accomplish and by God they accomplish it with as little extraneous bullshit as possible. Sometimes you don’t want a 30 chapter slow-burn epic five course meal; it too much. Sometimes you just want to down a double-expresso one shot of your favorite character and ride that high for the rest of the afternoon.
90% of what I write is a one-shot. A single sex scene, a single concept. Bam slam thank you ma’am, there’s the story. Beginning, middle, end, in 2,000 words or less on average.
I don’t want to write all the food you need for a year; I don’t want to write an intricately coordinated 12 course meal where every dish compliments those around them.
I write junk food. And I like that. Sometimes, you just want a fuckin’ twinkie, and that’s what my fic gives you.
The short story is an underappreciated art form, but one I love very much.
Take Neil Gaiman, award winning famous author whose work I love. American Gods is an epic. It’s fabulous. As are Neverwhere and The Ocean at the End of the Lane and Stardust and the rest of his long-form stories (I hear Sandman is a masterpiece – sadly, my brain can’t handle graphic novels). But you know what I pick up more than any of those? Smoke and Mirrors. Fragile Things. Trigger Warning. The stories in those collections are the ones that lodged themselves in my brain the hardest, and made me feel the most. Sometimes in a few pages, sometimes even in just a few sentences.
Your stories don’t have to be long to be powerful, meaningful, delightful, beautiful, or whatever else you want them to be.
Let your stories be short.
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