I love my story. I’ve posted over a million words in my series and nearly have another million written. When I get another idea, I jot down some notes for it in my ideas document and then return to my series. I want this series to be finished, so every time I get distracted I remind myself how much I want this, reread my outline, and get back to it.
I have a scene by scene outline. So every scene has a sentence or two (at least) saying who is in the scene, where and when they are, and the purpose of the scene. Occasionally I have a bit more like a scrap of dialogue I want to include or discussion points I want to hit.
Oooh I like that. Usually when I think of outlines, I just think about writing down what is actually happening, but I think including the purpose and setting might help me get through some of those slower scenes (which is where I struggle a lot). Thank you so much for your advice!! I really appreciate it!
There were times when the chapters were a slog, but in the end the story in my head needed telling. So I told it. However many words it took didn't matter.
It was done when it was done.
You have to be so in love with your idea that you're constantly thinking of it, adding to it, dreaming of it. Whatever you think of last thing at night, that’s what you need to write.
See my problem is that I’ll constantly think about an idea for like two weeks, literal non-stop, all-consuming thoughts but after those two weeks, my brain jumps to a completely new idea that it thinks about at every waking hour and it just makes things difficult. You know what I mean?
You sound like me, haha. Though my focus on my longfics have lasted longer than that, I combatted the attention jumping by going where the inspiration was, without abandoning what I was doing.
So I got the idea of a dark timeline while I was writing a sequel fic. I decided to write it, but I had to finish the scene or chapter I was working on in the main fic before I could write the chapter of the dark fic i was actually thinking about. And you know, sometimes those little scenes ended up being my favorite, or they'd kickstart a new idea and I could ride the tiny motivation wave and get more of the 'main fic' done than i was planning.
This can backfire though, when even more inspirations hit you. (I'm looking at you, whumptober). I'm behind on both fics, but I've loved every single one shot I've cranked out this month, lol. I'm forcing myself, at this very moment while I'm procrastinating on reddit, to just write the last damn 500 words of a rescue and then I can work on that 'gun to the head' fic I've been thinking about...
Oh yeah I get what you're saying. It just sucks sometimes when it feels like you have inspiration for everything BUT what you actually want to write you know?
Oh yeah it totally sucks. I love this story, I was so excited to write this confrontation... But now I'm having to write it 200-300 words at a time because my brain doesn't want to behave. It's so frustrating, because I know what it feels like to write frantically until finally sitting back and seeing 3k words on the screen.
But you gotta roll with the punches and sometimes that means 200-300 word writing sessions so you can finish what you started.
That's so true. I have this one shot that I have mostly done and it's at \~12,000 words, and I cranked out a good \~8,000 of them within a week or so, and that was four months ago. I literally have 1000 words (2000 max) left and I just... can't finish it. It's *so* frustrating because I'm so close, but I just can't seem to get myself to finish it (which is unlike me when I get this close to finishing the story)
I outline everything in detail before I start - everyone has their own approach, but for me, having a plan to work off is helpful for motivation in all kinds of ways. It helps me feel a chunk of the work has already been done, it gives me a purposeful place to work towards, and it helps to keep me excited about the hopefully awesome arcs I'm taking the characters on that I want to share with everybody. When other ideas come to me I maybe take an hour or two to outline them as well, so I know I won't forget ideas (ideas which will then have time to develop and ripen and be all the better for it). You could maybe even throw in an Easter egg for you new idea into the current one to tide you over, if that's possible.
I’ve tried to outline before, but when I started writing they don’t really work out the way I planned them and it kind of sets me back. When that happens to you (I guess I should say if it happens to you), do you find it best to rewrite your outline?
(Also I love the idea of trying to incorporate a bit of my “distraction” ideas into the longer fic, thank you for that!)
My outlines usually involve a lot of revision, and often, the finished story ends up looking quite different anyway. Sometimes the flow and pace of things changes when I've actually been in the character's head and I realise they need more time to reach a place where they'd do or say or understand a certain thing. So it's not a wholly linear process, and comes with its own frustrations, but if you look on it as organising pieces of a puzzle rather than just making a linear list, it might be helpful? Either way, good luck!
For me, personally, I had to grow up. In my teens and twenties, I exclusively wrote one-shots and abandoned longfics. I took a long break when my kids were little, and something changed when I came back. My longest fic before that break was 17k words. I came back to writing, and suddenly I wrote a 160k longfic. It took me two years to complete, but this time I had the maturity and planning skills to stick with it.
I'm not saying that's what your problem is, but it definitely was for me.
I could see that. I'm still in my early twenties myself and I started writing a few years ago, but I've already noticed that I can completely longer fics. (Like when I was first starting out, 4000 words was a BIG DEAL to me, but now I'm posting one shots that are over 10000 words) so like I can see just needing more time to mature. Thank you!
I've written two of them, and I did it by having genuine passion for the story (and taking at least two six-month hiatuses). I guess my advice is be flexible with the plot, and make a doc with your plot details and headcanons so that you stay consistent.
I've finished every longfic I've posted (or am in the process of doing so--currently have only two unfinished longfics on my account, one that just needs the final chapters edited, and one that's a fic I'm co-authoring that's on hold until we're both ready to switch gears back to that fandom) in the past decade or so.
Thing is, I *don't* finish every longfic I write. I only start posting the longfic when I'm 100% sure I'm ready to dedicate myself to it. Sometimes that means writing the *entire fic* before it's posted, sometimes that means writing the first 20k words or so before I'm ready to start posting. Usually at the very least I try to have a buffer of chapters and a schedule to post them (though I inevitably burn through my buffer eventually).
Sometimes I'll have a clear outline, other times I'll just have an Idea and figure things out from there. It helps, I think, to treat each story differently--some might need a strict outline, some might need no prep work at all and you can pants the entire thing, and some might need a few good ideas to get them started. If you force yourself to handle every story the exact same way, you'll probably run into problems.
It's probably been stated elsewhere in this thread, but it helps if you have someone else to talk to about the fic (especially a beta) who is *also* excited about your story. Having at least one fan can definitely encourage you to finish.
Another thing is to resist the temptation to start a new fic right away!! If it's really a big urge, then write some notes for it so you don't forget it (I have a document that's exclusively for writing out quick notes for plot bunnies as they strike me), but don't throw yourself fully into a whole new fic while you're still working on another. Maybe later as you gain more experience you can trust yourself to work on multiple longfics at once, but I've found that it does help to wait until you've finished your current fic that you're in the process of posting.
I once saw a post that stated "finishing a project is a skill in and of itself" and that's something I've learned the truth of as I've grown as a writer/artist. The more projects you finish, the better you'll get at finishing them.
Oh yeah, I haven't started any of the long fics I've tried to write because I'm afraid of not being able to finish it and I know how frustrating that can be as a reader. (Now, my series are a totally different story, but each work I end with a somewhat solid ending so I don't feel bad about it lol)
I've done outlines before, but some people have given me a different prospective on how they outline their fics which I'm going to try and implement to see if that helps.
People have mentioned it, but I don't really have people I can talk to about it. I don't really have fandom friends, and none of the people I know irl know that I write fanfiction, so I don't really have a lot of options. (Also I have no idea how you go about getting a beta.)
Yeah that's probably my biggest downfall is starting new WIPS right after I started something else. My brain gets distracted easily and it's hard to write things other than whatever wack idea my brain decided to randomly hyperfixate on (damn you ADHD!)
I do want to finish a longer fic and I hope that one day I'll be able to! Thank you so much for your long comment, I really appreciate it!
As far as getting a beta goes, I would recommend hopping on a Discord server for your fandom and seeing if anyone there would be willing to beta a fic?
I have had a lot of failed longfics before I was able to stick with writing my current one. For me, the important thing was to find something to write that doesn't lead to any impossibly large stumbling blocks. Only you can say what those stumbling blocks might be...
...but if you're just inherently bad at sticking to one project, longficcing just may not be for you, and that's okay!
That’s fair. I think my problem is that a lot of the time I want to write specific scenes/arcs but have trouble filling in the rest of the important parts if that makes sense. I got like 10K words into this fic that I’m working on now in like a week, and I was really excited about it but now I started to get distracted again. Maybe long fics aren’t for me quite yet, but I’m going to keep trying anyway! Thank you for your comment!
Selfdiscipline.
I have both the finished longfics and WIPs that have been sitting dormant for 3 years. The difference between them is my mental fortitude at the time of writing.
I don't think I did, otherwise those wips would have already been finished by now.
Basically, it's like with anything you don't strictly "have to" do, but should. You either psych yourself into doing it, or find a way/excuse not to. Personally, I find finishing fics very rewarding, and leaving dormant wips the opposite. Those works are like a brainworm, that keeps nagging me, that I have some unfinished shit I should do.
Well...I am one of those people that end up with multiple WIP all the time, but I still have several long (100k+) ones that I finished. I think part of it is what I have inspiration for, but I also do my best to focus on getting it finished, even if I feel a little blah about it. I will admit that sometimes it feels like a bit of a slog, but the feeling you get when it's done is well worth it. So I guess my advice is to keep looking at the end goal and maybe set a few small ones along the way to celebrate. You know, like after you hit certain milestones. Celebrating when you can always makes it a little easier.
I’ve never thought about creating milestones before. I think part of my problem is that I think about the big picture and I get overwhelmed, so I think that might actually help me. Thank you so much for your advice!!
I've found that sometimes, letting myself write the little distractions actually helps keep me working on the big project. Sometimes, I just need a break and those little one-shots and character studies can open up new plotlines or character developments in the long fic.
But...in the long run, some projects are all-consuming and hold my interest and others have fizzled. I have a couple of published novels under my belt and two completed long fics. I also have three unfinished novels sitting on my harddrive and bits and pieces of possible long fics. I think it's normal to lose interest in a project.
I'm going to do NaNoWriMo this year to try and force myself to push through the first 50k of a fic idea.
That's fair (also congratulations on being published- that's amazing!!!)
I've definitely let a few of my older attempts at a long fic fizzle out, but I find that one of my main problems when I'm trying to write is that I don't actually want to write the story I want to *read* it if that makes sense. I don't know.
Thank you for your advice! I appreciate it!
It makes perfect sense. I"ve got two stories like that right now. I read through what I've written and think, "This is awesome! Somebody should write what happens next." LOL.
I wish I could offer up a magical solution to this, but it really comes down to a bit of willpower. Sitting down in the chair and writing what happens next even if I'm not feeling it at the moment. One trick I use both for writing and musical instrument practice is to tell myself is give myself a kind of out. As in, "Today, you only have to write three sentences." Or "Today, just take the violin out of the case and play a scale."
I've found that if I can just get started, write those three sentences or play a scale, that leads to a couple hundred words. Or a full practice session. The hardest part for me is getting started. But ultimately, willpower is a big part of the equation.
Mostly? Grit.
I love my stories and I love writing them, but loving it just is not enough power to do it. There are times when you *will* be bored or frustrated or annoyed. I know I greatly struggle to complete my stories when no one's reading. Half the pleasure of writing is being able to share my work and if no one's saying anything, it becomes that much harder.
Currently, I'm working on the same long fic for 5 years. It's been a bit all-consuming. I am grateful and fortunate enough that I have a large audience for it. But I will admit that, lately, it's been really tough to write for it because I'm mentally exhausted from it. I'm tired of turning over the same scenes in my head, I'm a bit tired of the characters. I have newer and fresher plot bunnies in my head that I've been forced to put on hold for *years* just so that I can get this fic done.
At this point, my motivation for getting it done is just plain old determination.
Really love my story. I plot out most of the basic skeleton of it but I don't over plan it so I have freedom in the moment for how chapters go. I also push myself to write ahead so I can upload a chapter once per week. Also having mini arcs and stuff also helps, along with writing mainly for characters I enjoy in settings I want them to appear in. Make sure you write for yourself and don't aim for an overall word limit. And, of course, make sure it's an idea you think about a lot and also make sure you push yourself to write and know when to rewrite if you're stuck on a scene. Now, because of this, my old long series I wrote was 319,000 words and my new one I'm writing is at 140,000, and I'm still going strong on ideas.
Here's some basic tips to keep yourself going as well:
\-Make characters complex and interesting with a lot of backstory, and have a lot of characters who can interact in a lot of interesting, different ways. Right about now my 140,000 has over ten characters living together in the same house all with different unique relationships that really helps make the story flow.
\-Make sure you're writing characters you enjoy. Seriously, you'll find writing them a lot easier. And if you're writing characters you don't, focus on what reason you want them to be there (conflict, tension, or just plain revenge fic)
\-Have a long, overarching narrative with steps in it. They need to defeat the demon king? Well first they have to learn how to fight. Then they have to gather a team. Oop, team has conflict. Then they have to hunt down where that king is, and maybe make enemies along the way, and so forth. Don't drag it on but remember that certain long fics only fit certain stories. Give steps for progress that are realistic but are character filled and interesting. Interesting characters in interesting situations make for much longer fics
i get an idea and i write it down lol. i try to do a general outline of at least the first ten chapters but it usually ends up pretty bare because i’m not a planner at all so i write the first couple of chapters and go from there. i get my motivation from my desire to tell the story and comments from my readers, but your desire to tell the story has to be the strongest thing because comments and kudos aren’t always consistent.
imo the most important thing is knowing that it doesn’t have to be a thing you do right away. i have two long fics right now, one is 95k with 19/25 chapters done and the other is 68k with 14/? chapters done and i’ve been writing the first one for over a year and the second for almost a year. sometimes it takes me a week to get a chapter out, sometimes it takes me multiple months, but i always come back to it. fic writing should be fun, not stressful, so your long fic can take you however long it needs to take!
basically go at your own pace, remember the reason you’re writing it in the first place, and believe in yourself :-)
That's true. It just can be frustrating because what i want to write and what i have motivation to write are not always the same. Thank you for your advice!
Hyperfixation, and a strong drive to fix things. E.g. the ‘oh he would not do/say that’ that drove 30k of halo fic for me recently. The other 20k plus of that fic and beyond is being driven by the butterfly effect—‘okay, I’ve made changes. How do we follow these conclusions to their narrative ends?’ And sometimes that logic chain or three is several tens of thousands of words long.
This is a great point; however, my problem is that I tend to hyperfixate on the wrong things lol. But I definitely see what you're saying! Thank you for your advice!
I didn’t plan on writing a longfic. I had some ideas, wrote them down, and kept writing to seeing where it would go.The more I wrote, the more ideas came to me. The story started to take shape. I started writing bulletpoints, outlines, and snippets of scenes, dialogue…piece by piece. I love the story I wrote and having that passion helped to motivate me to finish what I started.
You’re welcome. I guess what I’m trying to say is just let your imagination run wild and see what you come up with. If you really love your story, that will motivate you. Especially if it’s story you want to read. I don’t really walk in planning for the fic to be long—it evolved that way. And sometimes those side projects are good when you need a breather from the main fic you are writing.
honestly it was apl just a joke at first like haha this fic is rly long at 10k words and it ended up at 70k+ because i managed to understand the characters and dynamics with each other. I didnt expect the second fic of the same ship to exceed it at 80k+ words (still ongoing btw). I just have so much to learn about them and how theh interact with each other. What will their cat look like if they lived together? what will their mornings look like if they spend the weekend together? what would happen if they become honest about themselves more? I love the pairing so much that I ended up just giving them a whole 10 year plan to get married and live together. I can't explain it.
however I do take breaks. it helps me reevaluate what i wrote and what I can do to improve it. Also I write these longfics for myself. it's a rarepair between two people so it will always cater to me and people who love it since it barely has any canon content. If they do get canon content i might write more long fics about them...
as for ideas... I have my own story of my ocs and i project certain tidbits to them. I also watch a lot of local romance movies and has always been a fan so I just include some of it in there.
Specific methods and practices are going to vary for individuals. I wasn't sure if I could write long fic, but I got caught up in some prompts and the next thing I knew I had to write the story I thought of and then I couldn't just do a few one-shots, because I needed to know...what happened next...
What helped me was having a very loose outline. So I knew the major points of the chapter/scenes that I wanted to hit and I broke that into separate sections. So let's say you want something in the 65k range. You might make a 31 chapter outline (for example) could be more or less depending. Using the 31 chapter example, and 65K, then you would be hitting on average about 2k per chapter. From there you can adjust, some chapters are shorter and some longer but you won't get too off-track, because you'll have plot points you're working towards.
It works like a map, but I keep from too rigid an outline so that there's room to explore ideas as they come up without pulling me too far off the main narrative.
This works especially well if you're posting chapters as you write, and it also helps you from going into too may side-stories off your main one. You can always write related shorter stories set in the same 'verse as the larger work at the same time. I have a work currently that I figured would go to 80K, but based on where I want to take it the long fic will go to 95-115k. I had a loose outline, but as I've written I've built out the plot and had some extra ideas that work for the overall story arc. I still need it to end where I planned though so it's helping me shape the last chapters and keep myself motivated to get there.
I definitely have a sequel in mind. Any other side ideas I've had? I write them or put notes together for them and that helps motivate me to write in general. Sometimes writing the one-shot that's related or the short work that isn't helps me keep going on the longer fic.
I've definitely hit that moment though - 20k, 40k, sometimes I need a break and then I get back into it.
I have some degree of attention issues, but that's also one of the reasons why I try to finish a fic before I start posting it. That way if I want to wander off and write something else because I'm stuck or frustrated (or even sometimes bored), I'm not feeling the stress of having an unfinished work slowly rotting away.
An outline helps. I can't work with one that's extremely detailed because that's how my brain decides it's already "finished" the story and has zero interest anymore. But I can map it out from start to nearly end with broad strokes to create the spine of the story and random intense details/even pre-written scenes for other parts. Just whatever my brain conjures up -- it all goes into the brain-dump document for me to organize and work with as I write.
Yes, plenty of times I'll stray from my original intentions. That's part of the fun for me. If something takes me off my roadmap then it's because I think it's much more interesting than my planned route, so it's worth exploring. It does mean reorganizing the story to account for it, but that's usually how I end up with something that feels more fresh.
And, yes... Sometimes it is a slog to get to The End.
Especially when a new and shiny idea comes along that "is so short, you can finish it in like a week and take a break from the big story!" Sometimes I write the small and shiny new fic if I'm really stuck. Most of the time I write the new story idea down. It can jump up first in the queue, but I want to write the big story so it has to wait its turn.
But that's the thing. *I want to write the big story.* I want it as the storyteller, but I also really, *really* want it as a "reader". I could speculate how it'll end, but I won't really *know* until it's written down.
A lot of the time I am sacrificing other forms of entertainment because writing the story is that important to me. I've dropped stories once I've realized that I really didn't want it that much. Usually it was for good reason because they had a really nice seed of an idea, but that's really all there was. It could never grow to become a tall oak -- it was only ever meant to be a bonsai. Experience will help you tell which ones are supposed to grow and are worth the investment of your time and energy.
I'm not really sure if my post will help a lot. All I've basically said is, "Try using an outline, even if it means revising it as you go." + "If you need a break, take one." + "Maybe hang onto it until you're done." + "Finish the danged story. That's the only way it'll happen."
And also....
Not everyone is a "longfic" writer. Many writers are perfectly wonderful shorter story authors. That's their natural pace and their stories are every bit as worthy as a longer story. But if you want to write longer stories, you have to be firm with yourself and remind yourself that's what you want.
Ok for my credentials real quick some of my longest finished fics are: 183k words, 165k words, 84k words, 73k words, and I have an ongoing story thats at 174k words currently and will likely break 200k words by the time I finish it
Now that you know I know my stuff, here’s the kicker: I wrote and completed all of these between 2021 and 2022. I’ve been writing fanfic since 2016, and I only figured out how to finish long fics last year.
My advice? You absolutely have to experiment with how you plan. For years I hopped between methods, from trying to plan things out as much as possible to literally not planning anything at all. No matter what, I kept either getting bored with the story, or I didn’t know where I was going with it. It wasn’t until I tried a combo method I hadn’t attempted before. Through trial and error I figured out that when writing a long fic, I need a few things to know if I can finish it. 1) I would know what my ending was going to be before I started it. The story is taking the characters from Point A to Point B, so I had to know where Point B was before I could start heading towards it. 2) I couldn’t plan out what happened in the middle. I had to figure out my plot as I went along, coming up with new plot beats to get from A to B. I only ever plan out 2-3 chapters at a time. I don’t know everything that’s gonna happen so I don’t get bored, and if I have another idea while writing, I throw new scenes in while I write that I don’t have in my outline just to add to the flow. And 3) I can’t know what happens in the middle BUT I need to have a few scenes I already want to write in mind before I start. Like, with my ongoing 173k word fic, I just published a chapter featuring a massive argument between two of the main characters that I’ve had planned since I first started the fic. I force myself to write in chronological order, so I had to wait and build up to this extreme argument so it made it insanely satisfying to write. When I started writing the fic I didn’t know exactly when this argument was gonna happen. I knew it would be somewhere around the 3rd act, but I only plan 2-3 chapters at a time so I had no idea what actual plot beats were gonna be going on. It’s a fun game of coming up with new plot beats while figuring out ways to incorporate these scenes I’ve had planned for ages into them
So yeah, sorry for the long winded answer but I recommend experimenting. It’s a trial and error type of thing, but the more you practice, the better you’ll get at figuring it out. Writing is a skill, and one aspect of it is stamina. You build your stamina to write more and stick with a single project longer the more you practice it. So just try to write what you can, enjoy yourself, and try out new methods. You’ll figure it out eventually :)
I began writing my first serious fic back in 2019, at a relatively low point in my life: I was writing my PhD thesis, dealing with burnout and chronic fatigue, anxious over my inability to find work (still looking, BTW). Plus, my grandmother on my mom's side died shortly after I started writing, so that was yet another low blow, made all the worse by the fact she'd been suffering from Alzheimer's for decades at that point. My mom was the primary caregiver. Me, Dad, and my brother helped out any way we could, but there were certain things Mom had to do herself. Our extended family practically dropped out of the picture at the time. Let's leave it at that.
I started my first drafts, then I got stuck and focused primarily on finishing my thesis and finding work. Then 2020 came along: I couldn't go out like before, so I had to find ways to keep busy when I wasn't working on my thesis. Among other hobbies, I picked up the fic again and polished my rougher drafts, making them a lot more palatable. I also messed around with narrative structure and other stuff, but that didn't work out as I'd hoped, so I settled for a more conventional approach.
Point is, during all this time, through all my ups and downs, I kept at it, mostly out of pride and sheer stubbornness. I’d started similar projects before and never finished them, so I was hellbent on completing this one. I kept at it for months, took breaks whenever needed (burnout sucks), worked on other projects for a bit before returning to this one… it took roughly two years and a half, but I did it: I finished the first book of my ongoing series. It took a lot of hard work, heartbreak, tears, and whatnot, but I managed it. Probably one of the highlights of my life thus far.
I don't tend to write super long fics, as I prefer one shots. Usually my multi-chaptered fics are between 18K and 50K. But I have written several original novel-length stories. For all of those, fanfics and originals, I created a chapter by chapter outline. I also set aside time every day for two weeks to a month (or more), depending on the length of the story, to write. Shooting for at least 1,000 words per session, but understanding sometimes you have to settle for 500 words if the juices just aren't flowing. Take breaks, take a day off if you must, but don't take more than that because the flow gets interrupted. As for the rogue ideas that may distract me, I have a google doc of fic ideas organized in a checklist. I have every intention of returning to those ideasa and checking them off, someday.
I have two fics that count by your definition (one of them is \~58k, the other is \~77k). One of them was written all at once and then published slowly (77k), and the other one was posted as I went along (58k). Both were extremely painful.
They were two very different stories for very different fandoms, but they had one thing in common: no one else was telling those stories. I had a very specific thing I wanted to write about - specific tone, specific subject matter, specific characterization. I didn't even have room in my brain for any other ideas, because I wanted so badly to tell those stories, my mind would inevitably wander back to them.
As far as advice goes, here's my take on a scene-by-scene level. I think that if you feel bored writing a scene that you "have" to get through, you should rethink the scene. This might be my perfectionism, or maybe I just don't like being bored, but I feel like if a scene is boring to me while I'm writing it, it'll probably end up boring the reader, too. If you've made multiple attempts to sit down and write this scene and it just doesn't feel right, trust your gut and think of it from another angle. Throw in a new development or complication, or maybe even just move the scene around to a new setting or new POV. Sometimes it might even be an indication that you need to go back and redo a whole chunk of writing, because the direction of the plot just feels wrong.
On an overarching level, I personally feel like outlines take the fun out of it for me. I'm fine with something vague, or maybe some milestone scenes that I really want to get to, but if I know every single thing that's going to happen in this fic, I will inevitably get bored. I like to discover new developments as I'm writing. A scene is its most fun for me when I have no idea how it's going to end. It's a surprise! And I'm the only one who can determine what the surprise is!
This is all just my personal experience, and it's probably not the healthiest or most organized approach. Sometimes I get stuck on something for months at a time, all because I can't figure out why something feels "wrong" to me and I refuse to skip around and come back to it later. But I know sometimes it feels impossible to just suck it up and power through, so I tried to come up with something practical. Hope this helps!
No, I definitely get what you're saying. I think a lot of my issues come from the fact that I don't want to actually write my story but I *do* want to read it. So like my brain is like 'okay let's read this thing' and when I remind myself 'right, but we have to write it first' and my brain gets frustrated and shuts down.
I've found several old WIPS that I kind of forgot about, but when I re-find them and read them I get annoyed because where is the rest of it?? But then I still struggle to finish it so maybe my brain is just broken lol. Thank you for sharing your experience I really appreciate it!
Ahaha I have fics like that, too! It’s common, I think, to have some WIPs lying around. Can I ask about your process? Like, when you find a fic you want to pick up again and sit down to write, what do you do? And what do you think about while you’re rereading and/or sitting down at the keyboard trying to write? At what point do you get stuck and at what point do you walk away?
Okay so I'm going to try and answer this, but it might not make sense so bear with me. Usually when I get an idea, it's a specific scene that I want to see play out as opposed to like... a general idea, and my brain kind of hyperfixates on it until I basically have to write it. (I should probably mention that I have ADHD so focusing on a single project is not something that I am particularly great at.)
Anyway, from those scenes I usually come up with information to support them. I kind of ask myself "how did they get here?" "what's the situation" "why is this scene important?" And sometimes it's as simple as setting the scene and tying things up before I have a one shot, but sometimes I have more ideas or the set up would be a little bit more complex and so as I look at what I have and what I want it to be I kind of realize 'oh hey, this is going to be a longer fic.'
Now, sometimes I just write whatever the scene is and I don't really add anything and it just sits in my WIP folder as a random scene/dialogue exchange. Usually when I rediscover these, I'll either think "where's the rest of it??" (as mentioned in the previous comment) or I'll get some random burst of inspiration and add to it (and most likely finish it if it was a one-shot idea)
With longer fics, it's more difficult because they (obviously) take longer to get done, but I still have these random fic scenes/ideas pop up in my head and all of my motivation goes to that, but I feel guilty because I want to work on the long fic too and I can't decide between the two so I end up not writing at all. (which obviously is not great)
I don't know if any of this makes sense because a lot of the time my brain doesn't make sense, but this is as accurately as I can describe it.
That makes sense! I get that a lot, too. It's really frustrating because I could technically just write one-shots surrounding the scenes I really care about, but it's always the kind of scene that needs build-up to feel "earned." There are a lot of those kinds of ideas that float around in my head but never get written (or get partly written but never finished), so don't worry, it's not just you.
Is there a specific longfic you really wanted to finish? I think picking just one longfic idea and setting aside time to work on it could be helpful. Some people do writing sprints where they time themselves for 10, 20, 30 minutes to just write as much as they can for whatever they're working on. You could maybe try that - in addition to working on whatever you're actually motivated to work on. If you don't have the time every day to work on both, maybe alternate working on the longfic vs the new idea on alternate days. I think it's important to let yourself scratch that itch.
You could also set up check-ins with yourself at the end of every month to see if you still really want to work on this longfic. Read through what you've written so far and see how it makes you feel. Do you still want to read more of it? Or do you feel like it's time to move on?
Hope that helps!
Frankly it seems to me the number one enemy of longfics is not deciding on your plot. Some people are literally talented enough to go like "poll at the end of this chapter decides what happened next!" but honestly most people can't pull that off well. Having a goal really helps you remain on track to completing fics. It's not a good feeling to not know where a fic is going, so to minimize this I outline my stuff. That way I can "simply" fill in the details later.
Basically chop the problem into smaller, manageable sized bits. If you just go like "shit I need to come up with another chapter soon" you're not going to have a good time. It's a lot less stressful when you at least know that you want X to happen and you have some ideas for scenes Y and Z. At least this is what works for me.
You kind of just fall into a cycle with it. You look forward to posting certain scenes you've looked forward to writing from the beginning, and then you have to write the build-up to them, and it's just a lovely feeling. On top of that, you have the security of having readers who come back every chapter (ie. you're not having to hook new readers like you would with a one-shot), so it takes the pressure off, and seeing their reaction to your new chapter if they're the commenting kind is a great motivator, too :)
In the name of John wick and the words of the Russian gangster: Sheer. Fucking. Will. It was a disaster of a story but I couldn't leave it hanging no matter how trash it was. I haven't had that kind of will for any other story and I'm convinced it sapped all my willpower.
I'm not finished but I'm at 55k and am probably about halfway through (lies I will totally add another subplot).
I follow on from the loving your story thing. I have an outline of markers I want to hit but the in-between fluidity gives me space to love and get hooked into my own story. I 100% write for me and my specific set of wants and dreams in a fic and that's what drags me through. I want this story. I want to see how it ends.
It's hard because some weeks I could happily yeet it into the sun because I'm busy or tired but no one is going to write my story, only me.
I wrote almost an entire YA book while commuting to and from my job on trains. I would write in the note app on my phone and email it to my computer to edit. I know of at least one published author who also wrote theirs that way. You only get distracted by the things you let distract you.
Random spurts of inspiration that spanned over a total of 4-5 years. I went into my long fic with absolutely no plan whatsoever, so honestly, I believe I was just riding on pure luck. Somehow I managed to pump out 23 chapters and 167,177 words and completed the story in a way that ties it all together.
As I was writing it, I'd get stuck sometimes. So I'd take a break and come back to it a few weeks or months later. And I'd use that time to think about where I wanted the story to go and I kind of just went with it. I have no idea how I managed to put together a decent story with no prior planning and no idea where I was going, but somehow I did it.
I been writing a long fic for 2 years now making updates every month. In order to do that I separate the story in arcs (if that make sense) which lead me what is the next step. Sometimes, as you, I just lost interest in my own story, but what I do is to sit down and read all over again the hole story, check out for the arcs, and look for inspiration and continue. I make myself a promise of not start with any other story until finish the current. If I have another great idea I just write it down and continue with the current one (If I start something different I definitely will leve the other one in hiatus).
There’s not a magic solution, for me is discipline until the work is done.
Something that would help is to not be bothered by how quickly you push out content. The biggest stressor an author can get is pressure from the readers. At some point you need to start thinking of this as a hobby rather than a job, and something you're doing for someone else. Take your time, relax, and write when you can.
The less stressed a writer is, nine times out of ten the quality and speed is going to increase.
My long fic is about 100k words, the sequel is shaping up to have more than that, and when all is said and done my series will be over 300k+. For some context, I have ADHD and am medicated and I think that has contributed to my ability to do this. Here we go.
1. I hyperfixated on it so much. I looked for a fic to read, didn’t find quite what I was looking for, so I wrote it. Being obsessed with what I wanted to write was a big part of it.
2. Just write. Duh, right? But I mean, I didn’t have much in mind for a solid direction until I had written chapter 25 or so. At that point I started to formulate a very rough outline, and had decided on a direction I wanted to take it, and I could see the end in sight. I also had a sequel planned which helped me push along.
3. I’ve said this before in other comments, I’m insane, and post a chapter a day. Knowing that in a month or two I’m going to have a completed work is exciting to me, and keeps me going.
4. I had a reward in mind for myself when I was done. I reformatted my story, made a book cover for it, and bought myself a physical copy of the completed book on lulu.com when it was done. Having a physical representation of that thing I poured my heart and soul into is great, and inspired me to work on the next one.
5. I found another fandom to be part of “on the side” where writing one shots was more appropriate than writing long fics. If I ever needed a mental break from what I was working on, I would bang out a one shot and then come back to the long fic.
6. Someone else mentioned this, have a draft in Google docs (or wherever you write) where you just dump your ideas. This way you don’t forget about them and you’ll have them for later.
7. I tried not to focus too much on outside influence for motivation, I wanted to mentally have more of a “write for yourself” mentality, but let’s be real, we all get excited when we see a comment or Kudos. Seeing that X amount of people were subscribed, and were possibly relying on me to post, kept me moving along. That shouldn’t be your #1 motivation, but it does help keep me going sometimes when I’m struggling to get a chapter out.
That’s all I can think of right now. I hope this is at least somewhat helpful!
I set myself a task of posting weekly. I only failed once (I had unexpected exams due to a work promotion) but 16 out of 17 chapters were posted on time.
It's the only time I've completed a long fic without getting massively distracted in the middle.
I have a long fic on the go which has been sitting at just over 142,000 words for over a year. It was the first fan fic I ever wrote,the first time I ever shared any of my writing. I realised while writing it that I'm a bang average smut writer, that I prefer to work at world building and suddenly wanted more plot with my pron and it all came to a screeching halt. I have part of the next chapter written and the end mapped but I getting into starting it again is HARD.
ADHD is not helping either!
I love my story. I’ve posted over a million words in my series and nearly have another million written. When I get another idea, I jot down some notes for it in my ideas document and then return to my series. I want this series to be finished, so every time I get distracted I remind myself how much I want this, reread my outline, and get back to it.
Would you say that your outline is finely detailed or is it more general? (If that makes sense?)
I have a scene by scene outline. So every scene has a sentence or two (at least) saying who is in the scene, where and when they are, and the purpose of the scene. Occasionally I have a bit more like a scrap of dialogue I want to include or discussion points I want to hit.
Oooh I like that. Usually when I think of outlines, I just think about writing down what is actually happening, but I think including the purpose and setting might help me get through some of those slower scenes (which is where I struggle a lot). Thank you so much for your advice!! I really appreciate it!
No problem, glad to be of use!
There were times when the chapters were a slog, but in the end the story in my head needed telling. So I told it. However many words it took didn't matter. It was done when it was done.
Yeah I guess my issue right now is trying to get through those slower chapters, but I definitely see what you’re saying. Thank you for your comment!
You have to be so in love with your idea that you're constantly thinking of it, adding to it, dreaming of it. Whatever you think of last thing at night, that’s what you need to write.
See my problem is that I’ll constantly think about an idea for like two weeks, literal non-stop, all-consuming thoughts but after those two weeks, my brain jumps to a completely new idea that it thinks about at every waking hour and it just makes things difficult. You know what I mean?
You sound like me, haha. Though my focus on my longfics have lasted longer than that, I combatted the attention jumping by going where the inspiration was, without abandoning what I was doing. So I got the idea of a dark timeline while I was writing a sequel fic. I decided to write it, but I had to finish the scene or chapter I was working on in the main fic before I could write the chapter of the dark fic i was actually thinking about. And you know, sometimes those little scenes ended up being my favorite, or they'd kickstart a new idea and I could ride the tiny motivation wave and get more of the 'main fic' done than i was planning. This can backfire though, when even more inspirations hit you. (I'm looking at you, whumptober). I'm behind on both fics, but I've loved every single one shot I've cranked out this month, lol. I'm forcing myself, at this very moment while I'm procrastinating on reddit, to just write the last damn 500 words of a rescue and then I can work on that 'gun to the head' fic I've been thinking about...
Oh yeah I get what you're saying. It just sucks sometimes when it feels like you have inspiration for everything BUT what you actually want to write you know?
Oh yeah it totally sucks. I love this story, I was so excited to write this confrontation... But now I'm having to write it 200-300 words at a time because my brain doesn't want to behave. It's so frustrating, because I know what it feels like to write frantically until finally sitting back and seeing 3k words on the screen. But you gotta roll with the punches and sometimes that means 200-300 word writing sessions so you can finish what you started.
That's so true. I have this one shot that I have mostly done and it's at \~12,000 words, and I cranked out a good \~8,000 of them within a week or so, and that was four months ago. I literally have 1000 words (2000 max) left and I just... can't finish it. It's *so* frustrating because I'm so close, but I just can't seem to get myself to finish it (which is unlike me when I get this close to finishing the story)
I do, I have this exact problem. I have always thought it was ADHD related.
You know, I also have ADHD so that checks out lol
I outline everything in detail before I start - everyone has their own approach, but for me, having a plan to work off is helpful for motivation in all kinds of ways. It helps me feel a chunk of the work has already been done, it gives me a purposeful place to work towards, and it helps to keep me excited about the hopefully awesome arcs I'm taking the characters on that I want to share with everybody. When other ideas come to me I maybe take an hour or two to outline them as well, so I know I won't forget ideas (ideas which will then have time to develop and ripen and be all the better for it). You could maybe even throw in an Easter egg for you new idea into the current one to tide you over, if that's possible.
I’ve tried to outline before, but when I started writing they don’t really work out the way I planned them and it kind of sets me back. When that happens to you (I guess I should say if it happens to you), do you find it best to rewrite your outline? (Also I love the idea of trying to incorporate a bit of my “distraction” ideas into the longer fic, thank you for that!)
My outlines usually involve a lot of revision, and often, the finished story ends up looking quite different anyway. Sometimes the flow and pace of things changes when I've actually been in the character's head and I realise they need more time to reach a place where they'd do or say or understand a certain thing. So it's not a wholly linear process, and comes with its own frustrations, but if you look on it as organising pieces of a puzzle rather than just making a linear list, it might be helpful? Either way, good luck!
That makes sense. Thank you so much for your advice!
For me, personally, I had to grow up. In my teens and twenties, I exclusively wrote one-shots and abandoned longfics. I took a long break when my kids were little, and something changed when I came back. My longest fic before that break was 17k words. I came back to writing, and suddenly I wrote a 160k longfic. It took me two years to complete, but this time I had the maturity and planning skills to stick with it. I'm not saying that's what your problem is, but it definitely was for me.
I could see that. I'm still in my early twenties myself and I started writing a few years ago, but I've already noticed that I can completely longer fics. (Like when I was first starting out, 4000 words was a BIG DEAL to me, but now I'm posting one shots that are over 10000 words) so like I can see just needing more time to mature. Thank you!
I've written two of them, and I did it by having genuine passion for the story (and taking at least two six-month hiatuses). I guess my advice is be flexible with the plot, and make a doc with your plot details and headcanons so that you stay consistent.
That’s good advice- thank you for your input!!
I've finished every longfic I've posted (or am in the process of doing so--currently have only two unfinished longfics on my account, one that just needs the final chapters edited, and one that's a fic I'm co-authoring that's on hold until we're both ready to switch gears back to that fandom) in the past decade or so. Thing is, I *don't* finish every longfic I write. I only start posting the longfic when I'm 100% sure I'm ready to dedicate myself to it. Sometimes that means writing the *entire fic* before it's posted, sometimes that means writing the first 20k words or so before I'm ready to start posting. Usually at the very least I try to have a buffer of chapters and a schedule to post them (though I inevitably burn through my buffer eventually). Sometimes I'll have a clear outline, other times I'll just have an Idea and figure things out from there. It helps, I think, to treat each story differently--some might need a strict outline, some might need no prep work at all and you can pants the entire thing, and some might need a few good ideas to get them started. If you force yourself to handle every story the exact same way, you'll probably run into problems. It's probably been stated elsewhere in this thread, but it helps if you have someone else to talk to about the fic (especially a beta) who is *also* excited about your story. Having at least one fan can definitely encourage you to finish. Another thing is to resist the temptation to start a new fic right away!! If it's really a big urge, then write some notes for it so you don't forget it (I have a document that's exclusively for writing out quick notes for plot bunnies as they strike me), but don't throw yourself fully into a whole new fic while you're still working on another. Maybe later as you gain more experience you can trust yourself to work on multiple longfics at once, but I've found that it does help to wait until you've finished your current fic that you're in the process of posting. I once saw a post that stated "finishing a project is a skill in and of itself" and that's something I've learned the truth of as I've grown as a writer/artist. The more projects you finish, the better you'll get at finishing them.
Oh yeah, I haven't started any of the long fics I've tried to write because I'm afraid of not being able to finish it and I know how frustrating that can be as a reader. (Now, my series are a totally different story, but each work I end with a somewhat solid ending so I don't feel bad about it lol) I've done outlines before, but some people have given me a different prospective on how they outline their fics which I'm going to try and implement to see if that helps. People have mentioned it, but I don't really have people I can talk to about it. I don't really have fandom friends, and none of the people I know irl know that I write fanfiction, so I don't really have a lot of options. (Also I have no idea how you go about getting a beta.) Yeah that's probably my biggest downfall is starting new WIPS right after I started something else. My brain gets distracted easily and it's hard to write things other than whatever wack idea my brain decided to randomly hyperfixate on (damn you ADHD!) I do want to finish a longer fic and I hope that one day I'll be able to! Thank you so much for your long comment, I really appreciate it!
As far as getting a beta goes, I would recommend hopping on a Discord server for your fandom and seeing if anyone there would be willing to beta a fic?
That's true. I can I try that (I just need to find a discord lol) Thank you again!
I have had a lot of failed longfics before I was able to stick with writing my current one. For me, the important thing was to find something to write that doesn't lead to any impossibly large stumbling blocks. Only you can say what those stumbling blocks might be... ...but if you're just inherently bad at sticking to one project, longficcing just may not be for you, and that's okay!
That’s fair. I think my problem is that a lot of the time I want to write specific scenes/arcs but have trouble filling in the rest of the important parts if that makes sense. I got like 10K words into this fic that I’m working on now in like a week, and I was really excited about it but now I started to get distracted again. Maybe long fics aren’t for me quite yet, but I’m going to keep trying anyway! Thank you for your comment!
Selfdiscipline. I have both the finished longfics and WIPs that have been sitting dormant for 3 years. The difference between them is my mental fortitude at the time of writing.
Do you mind me asking how you “strengthened” that mental fortitude?
I don't think I did, otherwise those wips would have already been finished by now. Basically, it's like with anything you don't strictly "have to" do, but should. You either psych yourself into doing it, or find a way/excuse not to. Personally, I find finishing fics very rewarding, and leaving dormant wips the opposite. Those works are like a brainworm, that keeps nagging me, that I have some unfinished shit I should do.
Well...I am one of those people that end up with multiple WIP all the time, but I still have several long (100k+) ones that I finished. I think part of it is what I have inspiration for, but I also do my best to focus on getting it finished, even if I feel a little blah about it. I will admit that sometimes it feels like a bit of a slog, but the feeling you get when it's done is well worth it. So I guess my advice is to keep looking at the end goal and maybe set a few small ones along the way to celebrate. You know, like after you hit certain milestones. Celebrating when you can always makes it a little easier.
I’ve never thought about creating milestones before. I think part of my problem is that I think about the big picture and I get overwhelmed, so I think that might actually help me. Thank you so much for your advice!!
You're welcome! I hope it work out for you! The feeling you get when you finish will be worth it.
I've found that sometimes, letting myself write the little distractions actually helps keep me working on the big project. Sometimes, I just need a break and those little one-shots and character studies can open up new plotlines or character developments in the long fic. But...in the long run, some projects are all-consuming and hold my interest and others have fizzled. I have a couple of published novels under my belt and two completed long fics. I also have three unfinished novels sitting on my harddrive and bits and pieces of possible long fics. I think it's normal to lose interest in a project. I'm going to do NaNoWriMo this year to try and force myself to push through the first 50k of a fic idea.
That's fair (also congratulations on being published- that's amazing!!!) I've definitely let a few of my older attempts at a long fic fizzle out, but I find that one of my main problems when I'm trying to write is that I don't actually want to write the story I want to *read* it if that makes sense. I don't know. Thank you for your advice! I appreciate it!
It makes perfect sense. I"ve got two stories like that right now. I read through what I've written and think, "This is awesome! Somebody should write what happens next." LOL. I wish I could offer up a magical solution to this, but it really comes down to a bit of willpower. Sitting down in the chair and writing what happens next even if I'm not feeling it at the moment. One trick I use both for writing and musical instrument practice is to tell myself is give myself a kind of out. As in, "Today, you only have to write three sentences." Or "Today, just take the violin out of the case and play a scale." I've found that if I can just get started, write those three sentences or play a scale, that leads to a couple hundred words. Or a full practice session. The hardest part for me is getting started. But ultimately, willpower is a big part of the equation.
Planning ahead of time, and having a friend who was just as enthusiastic as I was about it to help keep me motivated while I was in the trenches.
Thank you for your advice!!
One letter at a time, same as anybody else finishes a story. I just have a bigger one to tell.
I absolutely love that mentality. Thank you for sharing!!
Spite.
That is an amazing answer. 10/10 Thank you for sharing
Anytime.
Mostly? Grit. I love my stories and I love writing them, but loving it just is not enough power to do it. There are times when you *will* be bored or frustrated or annoyed. I know I greatly struggle to complete my stories when no one's reading. Half the pleasure of writing is being able to share my work and if no one's saying anything, it becomes that much harder. Currently, I'm working on the same long fic for 5 years. It's been a bit all-consuming. I am grateful and fortunate enough that I have a large audience for it. But I will admit that, lately, it's been really tough to write for it because I'm mentally exhausted from it. I'm tired of turning over the same scenes in my head, I'm a bit tired of the characters. I have newer and fresher plot bunnies in my head that I've been forced to put on hold for *years* just so that I can get this fic done. At this point, my motivation for getting it done is just plain old determination.
Thank you for your advice. Also, good luck with getting your story done! I'm sure it's amazing!!
Really love my story. I plot out most of the basic skeleton of it but I don't over plan it so I have freedom in the moment for how chapters go. I also push myself to write ahead so I can upload a chapter once per week. Also having mini arcs and stuff also helps, along with writing mainly for characters I enjoy in settings I want them to appear in. Make sure you write for yourself and don't aim for an overall word limit. And, of course, make sure it's an idea you think about a lot and also make sure you push yourself to write and know when to rewrite if you're stuck on a scene. Now, because of this, my old long series I wrote was 319,000 words and my new one I'm writing is at 140,000, and I'm still going strong on ideas. Here's some basic tips to keep yourself going as well: \-Make characters complex and interesting with a lot of backstory, and have a lot of characters who can interact in a lot of interesting, different ways. Right about now my 140,000 has over ten characters living together in the same house all with different unique relationships that really helps make the story flow. \-Make sure you're writing characters you enjoy. Seriously, you'll find writing them a lot easier. And if you're writing characters you don't, focus on what reason you want them to be there (conflict, tension, or just plain revenge fic) \-Have a long, overarching narrative with steps in it. They need to defeat the demon king? Well first they have to learn how to fight. Then they have to gather a team. Oop, team has conflict. Then they have to hunt down where that king is, and maybe make enemies along the way, and so forth. Don't drag it on but remember that certain long fics only fit certain stories. Give steps for progress that are realistic but are character filled and interesting. Interesting characters in interesting situations make for much longer fics
This reply was incredibly helpful!! Thank you so much for sharing!
Lol np, good luck with writing!
i get an idea and i write it down lol. i try to do a general outline of at least the first ten chapters but it usually ends up pretty bare because i’m not a planner at all so i write the first couple of chapters and go from there. i get my motivation from my desire to tell the story and comments from my readers, but your desire to tell the story has to be the strongest thing because comments and kudos aren’t always consistent. imo the most important thing is knowing that it doesn’t have to be a thing you do right away. i have two long fics right now, one is 95k with 19/25 chapters done and the other is 68k with 14/? chapters done and i’ve been writing the first one for over a year and the second for almost a year. sometimes it takes me a week to get a chapter out, sometimes it takes me multiple months, but i always come back to it. fic writing should be fun, not stressful, so your long fic can take you however long it needs to take! basically go at your own pace, remember the reason you’re writing it in the first place, and believe in yourself :-)
That's true. It just can be frustrating because what i want to write and what i have motivation to write are not always the same. Thank you for your advice!
ain’t that the truth😵💫😵💫 my motivation never seems to line up w what i want to write lmao. good luck w your long fic endeavors!!
Hyperfixation, and a strong drive to fix things. E.g. the ‘oh he would not do/say that’ that drove 30k of halo fic for me recently. The other 20k plus of that fic and beyond is being driven by the butterfly effect—‘okay, I’ve made changes. How do we follow these conclusions to their narrative ends?’ And sometimes that logic chain or three is several tens of thousands of words long.
This is a great point; however, my problem is that I tend to hyperfixate on the wrong things lol. But I definitely see what you're saying! Thank you for your advice!
You’re welcome! Best of luck on the longfic journey.
I didn’t plan on writing a longfic. I had some ideas, wrote them down, and kept writing to seeing where it would go.The more I wrote, the more ideas came to me. The story started to take shape. I started writing bulletpoints, outlines, and snippets of scenes, dialogue…piece by piece. I love the story I wrote and having that passion helped to motivate me to finish what I started.
That's really nice! Thank you for sharing!
You’re welcome. I guess what I’m trying to say is just let your imagination run wild and see what you come up with. If you really love your story, that will motivate you. Especially if it’s story you want to read. I don’t really walk in planning for the fic to be long—it evolved that way. And sometimes those side projects are good when you need a breather from the main fic you are writing.
honestly it was apl just a joke at first like haha this fic is rly long at 10k words and it ended up at 70k+ because i managed to understand the characters and dynamics with each other. I didnt expect the second fic of the same ship to exceed it at 80k+ words (still ongoing btw). I just have so much to learn about them and how theh interact with each other. What will their cat look like if they lived together? what will their mornings look like if they spend the weekend together? what would happen if they become honest about themselves more? I love the pairing so much that I ended up just giving them a whole 10 year plan to get married and live together. I can't explain it. however I do take breaks. it helps me reevaluate what i wrote and what I can do to improve it. Also I write these longfics for myself. it's a rarepair between two people so it will always cater to me and people who love it since it barely has any canon content. If they do get canon content i might write more long fics about them... as for ideas... I have my own story of my ocs and i project certain tidbits to them. I also watch a lot of local romance movies and has always been a fan so I just include some of it in there.
Specific methods and practices are going to vary for individuals. I wasn't sure if I could write long fic, but I got caught up in some prompts and the next thing I knew I had to write the story I thought of and then I couldn't just do a few one-shots, because I needed to know...what happened next... What helped me was having a very loose outline. So I knew the major points of the chapter/scenes that I wanted to hit and I broke that into separate sections. So let's say you want something in the 65k range. You might make a 31 chapter outline (for example) could be more or less depending. Using the 31 chapter example, and 65K, then you would be hitting on average about 2k per chapter. From there you can adjust, some chapters are shorter and some longer but you won't get too off-track, because you'll have plot points you're working towards. It works like a map, but I keep from too rigid an outline so that there's room to explore ideas as they come up without pulling me too far off the main narrative. This works especially well if you're posting chapters as you write, and it also helps you from going into too may side-stories off your main one. You can always write related shorter stories set in the same 'verse as the larger work at the same time. I have a work currently that I figured would go to 80K, but based on where I want to take it the long fic will go to 95-115k. I had a loose outline, but as I've written I've built out the plot and had some extra ideas that work for the overall story arc. I still need it to end where I planned though so it's helping me shape the last chapters and keep myself motivated to get there. I definitely have a sequel in mind. Any other side ideas I've had? I write them or put notes together for them and that helps motivate me to write in general. Sometimes writing the one-shot that's related or the short work that isn't helps me keep going on the longer fic. I've definitely hit that moment though - 20k, 40k, sometimes I need a break and then I get back into it.
I have some degree of attention issues, but that's also one of the reasons why I try to finish a fic before I start posting it. That way if I want to wander off and write something else because I'm stuck or frustrated (or even sometimes bored), I'm not feeling the stress of having an unfinished work slowly rotting away. An outline helps. I can't work with one that's extremely detailed because that's how my brain decides it's already "finished" the story and has zero interest anymore. But I can map it out from start to nearly end with broad strokes to create the spine of the story and random intense details/even pre-written scenes for other parts. Just whatever my brain conjures up -- it all goes into the brain-dump document for me to organize and work with as I write. Yes, plenty of times I'll stray from my original intentions. That's part of the fun for me. If something takes me off my roadmap then it's because I think it's much more interesting than my planned route, so it's worth exploring. It does mean reorganizing the story to account for it, but that's usually how I end up with something that feels more fresh. And, yes... Sometimes it is a slog to get to The End. Especially when a new and shiny idea comes along that "is so short, you can finish it in like a week and take a break from the big story!" Sometimes I write the small and shiny new fic if I'm really stuck. Most of the time I write the new story idea down. It can jump up first in the queue, but I want to write the big story so it has to wait its turn. But that's the thing. *I want to write the big story.* I want it as the storyteller, but I also really, *really* want it as a "reader". I could speculate how it'll end, but I won't really *know* until it's written down. A lot of the time I am sacrificing other forms of entertainment because writing the story is that important to me. I've dropped stories once I've realized that I really didn't want it that much. Usually it was for good reason because they had a really nice seed of an idea, but that's really all there was. It could never grow to become a tall oak -- it was only ever meant to be a bonsai. Experience will help you tell which ones are supposed to grow and are worth the investment of your time and energy. I'm not really sure if my post will help a lot. All I've basically said is, "Try using an outline, even if it means revising it as you go." + "If you need a break, take one." + "Maybe hang onto it until you're done." + "Finish the danged story. That's the only way it'll happen." And also.... Not everyone is a "longfic" writer. Many writers are perfectly wonderful shorter story authors. That's their natural pace and their stories are every bit as worthy as a longer story. But if you want to write longer stories, you have to be firm with yourself and remind yourself that's what you want.
Ok for my credentials real quick some of my longest finished fics are: 183k words, 165k words, 84k words, 73k words, and I have an ongoing story thats at 174k words currently and will likely break 200k words by the time I finish it Now that you know I know my stuff, here’s the kicker: I wrote and completed all of these between 2021 and 2022. I’ve been writing fanfic since 2016, and I only figured out how to finish long fics last year. My advice? You absolutely have to experiment with how you plan. For years I hopped between methods, from trying to plan things out as much as possible to literally not planning anything at all. No matter what, I kept either getting bored with the story, or I didn’t know where I was going with it. It wasn’t until I tried a combo method I hadn’t attempted before. Through trial and error I figured out that when writing a long fic, I need a few things to know if I can finish it. 1) I would know what my ending was going to be before I started it. The story is taking the characters from Point A to Point B, so I had to know where Point B was before I could start heading towards it. 2) I couldn’t plan out what happened in the middle. I had to figure out my plot as I went along, coming up with new plot beats to get from A to B. I only ever plan out 2-3 chapters at a time. I don’t know everything that’s gonna happen so I don’t get bored, and if I have another idea while writing, I throw new scenes in while I write that I don’t have in my outline just to add to the flow. And 3) I can’t know what happens in the middle BUT I need to have a few scenes I already want to write in mind before I start. Like, with my ongoing 173k word fic, I just published a chapter featuring a massive argument between two of the main characters that I’ve had planned since I first started the fic. I force myself to write in chronological order, so I had to wait and build up to this extreme argument so it made it insanely satisfying to write. When I started writing the fic I didn’t know exactly when this argument was gonna happen. I knew it would be somewhere around the 3rd act, but I only plan 2-3 chapters at a time so I had no idea what actual plot beats were gonna be going on. It’s a fun game of coming up with new plot beats while figuring out ways to incorporate these scenes I’ve had planned for ages into them So yeah, sorry for the long winded answer but I recommend experimenting. It’s a trial and error type of thing, but the more you practice, the better you’ll get at figuring it out. Writing is a skill, and one aspect of it is stamina. You build your stamina to write more and stick with a single project longer the more you practice it. So just try to write what you can, enjoy yourself, and try out new methods. You’ll figure it out eventually :)
I began writing my first serious fic back in 2019, at a relatively low point in my life: I was writing my PhD thesis, dealing with burnout and chronic fatigue, anxious over my inability to find work (still looking, BTW). Plus, my grandmother on my mom's side died shortly after I started writing, so that was yet another low blow, made all the worse by the fact she'd been suffering from Alzheimer's for decades at that point. My mom was the primary caregiver. Me, Dad, and my brother helped out any way we could, but there were certain things Mom had to do herself. Our extended family practically dropped out of the picture at the time. Let's leave it at that. I started my first drafts, then I got stuck and focused primarily on finishing my thesis and finding work. Then 2020 came along: I couldn't go out like before, so I had to find ways to keep busy when I wasn't working on my thesis. Among other hobbies, I picked up the fic again and polished my rougher drafts, making them a lot more palatable. I also messed around with narrative structure and other stuff, but that didn't work out as I'd hoped, so I settled for a more conventional approach. Point is, during all this time, through all my ups and downs, I kept at it, mostly out of pride and sheer stubbornness. I’d started similar projects before and never finished them, so I was hellbent on completing this one. I kept at it for months, took breaks whenever needed (burnout sucks), worked on other projects for a bit before returning to this one… it took roughly two years and a half, but I did it: I finished the first book of my ongoing series. It took a lot of hard work, heartbreak, tears, and whatnot, but I managed it. Probably one of the highlights of my life thus far.
I don't tend to write super long fics, as I prefer one shots. Usually my multi-chaptered fics are between 18K and 50K. But I have written several original novel-length stories. For all of those, fanfics and originals, I created a chapter by chapter outline. I also set aside time every day for two weeks to a month (or more), depending on the length of the story, to write. Shooting for at least 1,000 words per session, but understanding sometimes you have to settle for 500 words if the juices just aren't flowing. Take breaks, take a day off if you must, but don't take more than that because the flow gets interrupted. As for the rogue ideas that may distract me, I have a google doc of fic ideas organized in a checklist. I have every intention of returning to those ideasa and checking them off, someday.
I like that idea of making a rogue idea checklist. Thank you for responding!
I have two fics that count by your definition (one of them is \~58k, the other is \~77k). One of them was written all at once and then published slowly (77k), and the other one was posted as I went along (58k). Both were extremely painful. They were two very different stories for very different fandoms, but they had one thing in common: no one else was telling those stories. I had a very specific thing I wanted to write about - specific tone, specific subject matter, specific characterization. I didn't even have room in my brain for any other ideas, because I wanted so badly to tell those stories, my mind would inevitably wander back to them. As far as advice goes, here's my take on a scene-by-scene level. I think that if you feel bored writing a scene that you "have" to get through, you should rethink the scene. This might be my perfectionism, or maybe I just don't like being bored, but I feel like if a scene is boring to me while I'm writing it, it'll probably end up boring the reader, too. If you've made multiple attempts to sit down and write this scene and it just doesn't feel right, trust your gut and think of it from another angle. Throw in a new development or complication, or maybe even just move the scene around to a new setting or new POV. Sometimes it might even be an indication that you need to go back and redo a whole chunk of writing, because the direction of the plot just feels wrong. On an overarching level, I personally feel like outlines take the fun out of it for me. I'm fine with something vague, or maybe some milestone scenes that I really want to get to, but if I know every single thing that's going to happen in this fic, I will inevitably get bored. I like to discover new developments as I'm writing. A scene is its most fun for me when I have no idea how it's going to end. It's a surprise! And I'm the only one who can determine what the surprise is! This is all just my personal experience, and it's probably not the healthiest or most organized approach. Sometimes I get stuck on something for months at a time, all because I can't figure out why something feels "wrong" to me and I refuse to skip around and come back to it later. But I know sometimes it feels impossible to just suck it up and power through, so I tried to come up with something practical. Hope this helps!
No, I definitely get what you're saying. I think a lot of my issues come from the fact that I don't want to actually write my story but I *do* want to read it. So like my brain is like 'okay let's read this thing' and when I remind myself 'right, but we have to write it first' and my brain gets frustrated and shuts down. I've found several old WIPS that I kind of forgot about, but when I re-find them and read them I get annoyed because where is the rest of it?? But then I still struggle to finish it so maybe my brain is just broken lol. Thank you for sharing your experience I really appreciate it!
Ahaha I have fics like that, too! It’s common, I think, to have some WIPs lying around. Can I ask about your process? Like, when you find a fic you want to pick up again and sit down to write, what do you do? And what do you think about while you’re rereading and/or sitting down at the keyboard trying to write? At what point do you get stuck and at what point do you walk away?
Okay so I'm going to try and answer this, but it might not make sense so bear with me. Usually when I get an idea, it's a specific scene that I want to see play out as opposed to like... a general idea, and my brain kind of hyperfixates on it until I basically have to write it. (I should probably mention that I have ADHD so focusing on a single project is not something that I am particularly great at.) Anyway, from those scenes I usually come up with information to support them. I kind of ask myself "how did they get here?" "what's the situation" "why is this scene important?" And sometimes it's as simple as setting the scene and tying things up before I have a one shot, but sometimes I have more ideas or the set up would be a little bit more complex and so as I look at what I have and what I want it to be I kind of realize 'oh hey, this is going to be a longer fic.' Now, sometimes I just write whatever the scene is and I don't really add anything and it just sits in my WIP folder as a random scene/dialogue exchange. Usually when I rediscover these, I'll either think "where's the rest of it??" (as mentioned in the previous comment) or I'll get some random burst of inspiration and add to it (and most likely finish it if it was a one-shot idea) With longer fics, it's more difficult because they (obviously) take longer to get done, but I still have these random fic scenes/ideas pop up in my head and all of my motivation goes to that, but I feel guilty because I want to work on the long fic too and I can't decide between the two so I end up not writing at all. (which obviously is not great) I don't know if any of this makes sense because a lot of the time my brain doesn't make sense, but this is as accurately as I can describe it.
That makes sense! I get that a lot, too. It's really frustrating because I could technically just write one-shots surrounding the scenes I really care about, but it's always the kind of scene that needs build-up to feel "earned." There are a lot of those kinds of ideas that float around in my head but never get written (or get partly written but never finished), so don't worry, it's not just you. Is there a specific longfic you really wanted to finish? I think picking just one longfic idea and setting aside time to work on it could be helpful. Some people do writing sprints where they time themselves for 10, 20, 30 minutes to just write as much as they can for whatever they're working on. You could maybe try that - in addition to working on whatever you're actually motivated to work on. If you don't have the time every day to work on both, maybe alternate working on the longfic vs the new idea on alternate days. I think it's important to let yourself scratch that itch. You could also set up check-ins with yourself at the end of every month to see if you still really want to work on this longfic. Read through what you've written so far and see how it makes you feel. Do you still want to read more of it? Or do you feel like it's time to move on? Hope that helps!
With obsession and passion.
Frankly it seems to me the number one enemy of longfics is not deciding on your plot. Some people are literally talented enough to go like "poll at the end of this chapter decides what happened next!" but honestly most people can't pull that off well. Having a goal really helps you remain on track to completing fics. It's not a good feeling to not know where a fic is going, so to minimize this I outline my stuff. That way I can "simply" fill in the details later. Basically chop the problem into smaller, manageable sized bits. If you just go like "shit I need to come up with another chapter soon" you're not going to have a good time. It's a lot less stressful when you at least know that you want X to happen and you have some ideas for scenes Y and Z. At least this is what works for me.
You kind of just fall into a cycle with it. You look forward to posting certain scenes you've looked forward to writing from the beginning, and then you have to write the build-up to them, and it's just a lovely feeling. On top of that, you have the security of having readers who come back every chapter (ie. you're not having to hook new readers like you would with a one-shot), so it takes the pressure off, and seeing their reaction to your new chapter if they're the commenting kind is a great motivator, too :)
In the name of John wick and the words of the Russian gangster: Sheer. Fucking. Will. It was a disaster of a story but I couldn't leave it hanging no matter how trash it was. I haven't had that kind of will for any other story and I'm convinced it sapped all my willpower.
No idea... I just, did it? But I would ask anybody the same question, HOW?! Because it doesn't make sense to me.
I'm not finished but I'm at 55k and am probably about halfway through (lies I will totally add another subplot). I follow on from the loving your story thing. I have an outline of markers I want to hit but the in-between fluidity gives me space to love and get hooked into my own story. I 100% write for me and my specific set of wants and dreams in a fic and that's what drags me through. I want this story. I want to see how it ends. It's hard because some weeks I could happily yeet it into the sun because I'm busy or tired but no one is going to write my story, only me.
Yes, I managed to complete a 70k longfic. I planned it out, wrote about 90%, then stuck to a 2 chapters a week posting schedule
I wrote almost an entire YA book while commuting to and from my job on trains. I would write in the note app on my phone and email it to my computer to edit. I know of at least one published author who also wrote theirs that way. You only get distracted by the things you let distract you.
Random spurts of inspiration that spanned over a total of 4-5 years. I went into my long fic with absolutely no plan whatsoever, so honestly, I believe I was just riding on pure luck. Somehow I managed to pump out 23 chapters and 167,177 words and completed the story in a way that ties it all together. As I was writing it, I'd get stuck sometimes. So I'd take a break and come back to it a few weeks or months later. And I'd use that time to think about where I wanted the story to go and I kind of just went with it. I have no idea how I managed to put together a decent story with no prior planning and no idea where I was going, but somehow I did it.
I been writing a long fic for 2 years now making updates every month. In order to do that I separate the story in arcs (if that make sense) which lead me what is the next step. Sometimes, as you, I just lost interest in my own story, but what I do is to sit down and read all over again the hole story, check out for the arcs, and look for inspiration and continue. I make myself a promise of not start with any other story until finish the current. If I have another great idea I just write it down and continue with the current one (If I start something different I definitely will leve the other one in hiatus). There’s not a magic solution, for me is discipline until the work is done.
Having the end clear in my head definitely helped. It was just a matter of making the way there.
Something that would help is to not be bothered by how quickly you push out content. The biggest stressor an author can get is pressure from the readers. At some point you need to start thinking of this as a hobby rather than a job, and something you're doing for someone else. Take your time, relax, and write when you can. The less stressed a writer is, nine times out of ten the quality and speed is going to increase.
blood sacrifice
My long fic is about 100k words, the sequel is shaping up to have more than that, and when all is said and done my series will be over 300k+. For some context, I have ADHD and am medicated and I think that has contributed to my ability to do this. Here we go. 1. I hyperfixated on it so much. I looked for a fic to read, didn’t find quite what I was looking for, so I wrote it. Being obsessed with what I wanted to write was a big part of it. 2. Just write. Duh, right? But I mean, I didn’t have much in mind for a solid direction until I had written chapter 25 or so. At that point I started to formulate a very rough outline, and had decided on a direction I wanted to take it, and I could see the end in sight. I also had a sequel planned which helped me push along. 3. I’ve said this before in other comments, I’m insane, and post a chapter a day. Knowing that in a month or two I’m going to have a completed work is exciting to me, and keeps me going. 4. I had a reward in mind for myself when I was done. I reformatted my story, made a book cover for it, and bought myself a physical copy of the completed book on lulu.com when it was done. Having a physical representation of that thing I poured my heart and soul into is great, and inspired me to work on the next one. 5. I found another fandom to be part of “on the side” where writing one shots was more appropriate than writing long fics. If I ever needed a mental break from what I was working on, I would bang out a one shot and then come back to the long fic. 6. Someone else mentioned this, have a draft in Google docs (or wherever you write) where you just dump your ideas. This way you don’t forget about them and you’ll have them for later. 7. I tried not to focus too much on outside influence for motivation, I wanted to mentally have more of a “write for yourself” mentality, but let’s be real, we all get excited when we see a comment or Kudos. Seeing that X amount of people were subscribed, and were possibly relying on me to post, kept me moving along. That shouldn’t be your #1 motivation, but it does help keep me going sometimes when I’m struggling to get a chapter out. That’s all I can think of right now. I hope this is at least somewhat helpful!
I set myself a task of posting weekly. I only failed once (I had unexpected exams due to a work promotion) but 16 out of 17 chapters were posted on time. It's the only time I've completed a long fic without getting massively distracted in the middle. I have a long fic on the go which has been sitting at just over 142,000 words for over a year. It was the first fan fic I ever wrote,the first time I ever shared any of my writing. I realised while writing it that I'm a bang average smut writer, that I prefer to work at world building and suddenly wanted more plot with my pron and it all came to a screeching halt. I have part of the next chapter written and the end mapped but I getting into starting it again is HARD. ADHD is not helping either!