Closure vs. Creation · 5:57am Jul 8th, 2015
Hey I finally took off the Santa hat
So Skywriter came out the other day with Gone So Long, which has so far managed to lash its tendrils to the middle of the feature box for at least two days. For those of you who follow the man, this brief exchange between princess-once-aspirant and princess-also-once-aspirant-now-regnant is a fitting addition to his Cadance canon as She-Who-Took-The-Toy-Pink-Bullet frets about her newly acquired kingdom, friends, and family some day fading into the mists she trails behind her.
Aside from showing a depth to Rarity's character many writers (including those on the show!) tend to gloss over, it was the kind of story to poke a guilt center I'd kept armored for the past several months -- well, years. Those of you who follow me might remember that my focus would swing between art and prose. I don't think my preference for where I want that focus to stick is a well-kept secret here, but now I stand before you with my alarm clock set to go off half a good night's sleep from now, needing someone to listen in.
I don't finish my stories. (Gasp! goes the audience) After reading Skywriter's story, I vowed to change that for Sunset Shimmer Has a Problem. Get this: On the whole, I actually enjoyed what I'd had so far, prosodic mishaps aside. I sat down tonight to begin hammering on the last chapter -- only to realize that the dessert competition I'd planned on whisking Sunset and Pinkie off to in Ponyville had absolutely no hinting at -- not even by the end of the latest chapter.
This is the question I want to pose to you all: as fic writers of all pedigrees, from My First Black-And-Red Alicorn OC to Rainbow Dash Flies East As Long As I Will Her So, does anyone agree with the notion that finishing the fics you start is overrated?
My fics fail for many reasons: Publishing-when-complete is nigh impossible for me, I write myself into corners, the time I have to write fic suddenly evaporates (or worse, my interest) -- above all, though, I just want my stories crystallized and perfect. Inevitably, the opposite occurs with them -- they just kind of turn mushy and then I hope people just forget about them and the disappointment I wind up causing.
For the longest time, I've held onto all these petered-out stories, waiting for the right spark to come back along and reignite them. But then, I have a whole bunch of other stories that have yet to even show up here (Pacific Rim came out two years ago and I'm pretty sure the moment for that story's gone) because I immensely dislike the notion that if I start them, I'll have to finish them.
What if I approached my situation from a different angle? Instead of feeling guilty over all the stories I've yet to finish, what if I throw cares to the wind and Akumokagetsu it up? Write whatever the heck I want and hop off when I feel like it? I don't exactly have the largest fanbase to lose (though I'm sure I'll be losing a lot), but writing fic became a labor of pleasing others to me a very long time ago, and I forget that one of the most fundamental reasons I start writing any fic is because I can only put a finite amount of interest over time in any one idea.
In other words, there comes a point where I get curious about something, start tracking it down, then find a place where my curiosity sates itself and doesn't feel like going further. Most any sane writing authority out there will tell you to sit down, shut up, and slog through it to the end, because Writing Is Not Fun Or Easy.
I dunno. I've been putting a lot of hours into work lately, and the last thing I feel like doing when I come home is punching into another clock.
Well, finishing a story is a good idea. I mean, if you never do it that's a whole area of writing skills you'll end up just ignoring.
However, I totally understand the fizzled story pile situation. I'd recommend trying for really short stories. See if you can stuff those ideas into little fics just over the minimum word limit.
Also, given where we are, go ahead and not finish stories. The writing you do here is supposed to be fun. If it's not fun and you don't get the completed story rush there isn't any need to force yourself to slog through the hard bits just to reach a finish line other people want.
In the immortal words of Raoul Duke :
FINISH. THE. FUCKING. STORY!!!
(Yes, this applies to me as well.)
If you never finish a story, you never learn to finish a story. All that starting repeatedly and giving up part way can teach you is how to do exactly that. By all means, write whatever you want, but for publication, see the above quote from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. I have a dozen started fics sitting in a google docs folder. Some of them are from mid season 1. They haven't been published because after One Night In Manehattan I learned a very important lesson. If you don't have the fic materially done, as in drafted all the way through and given at least a re-read pass when you start posting, you will never finish it.
If you let a story sit half finished for any amount of time, you will be a different writer when you go back to revisit it. This can be good... if the story isn't published half finished, so you can just go in with the red ink axe and revise at will to fit your updated vision of how the story should be without anyone being the wiser. But when you want to do those changes to a fic that's already published and people have already formed expectations for, it sucks all the joy out of creation, because those expectations weigh on you.
So yeah. Write drabbles. Write individual scenes that inspire you. Write 1 hour thousand word flash-fics for fun. But for any real publication, write whole stories. It'll save you tears in the long run.
I think the answer depends on where on the "who are you writing for?" continuum you fall. Complete stories are disappointing to your muse. Incomplete stories are disappointing for your audience.
You say as much in your post title, so I doubt that's news. As for where the right place to be on that spectrum, I have no fscking clue.
I suspect the only good answer is: figure out whether you're happy with your current publication habits. If not, figure out which direction you're unhappy in. If you want to get more Closure™, chain your muse down and put more un-fun effort in. If you want more Creation™, give yourself more permission to start and abandon things. Even if you can't fix down the perfect point to stand, you can move toward it little by little.
I'm just happy to read whatever you dish out. Hell, the adventure stuff is nice but a few short and sweet slice of life or romantic comedies are more my thing any how.
Besides, AKU didn't start the whole 'write something and abandon it when you get bored after the first chapter or two' thing. That's like a FimFic standard around here! Now those with COMPLETE multi-chap stories over 20k, more power to'em! But I'd rather have more fast fics to tie me over between those long epic hauls any day and I've got enough of those on my plate.
Would I love to see how Button Cash ends? Hell yes! But was it because of the premise? No. You're just a damn good writer when it comes to writing characters and reactions. Story could be about random ponies sitting in a room all day doing nothing but talk and I'd read the hell out of it. Then again this from someone whose favorite slice of life series is Miname-ke S1-S4+Specials.
You and Aku just do things differently. Does it piss off some readers to bait them into something nice and never continue it? I'm sure there are, but that's life. For me it's all about how well the characters interact. Even a cute story with Tatzlejack or your Spidershy and KelpieDash would be a nice treat.
tl;dr Ideas are a dime a dozen if not less so. Just shoot out whatever fun premise or a slice out of some pony's day or whatever. Do you, first. The readers will come naturally for more. Have to assess how much time one has in real life and take a sensible approach to what is really doable without burning yourself out too much.
I think the fundamental question here is: are you interested in writing, or are you interested in writing a story? You don't have to do one or the other but you will save your audience a lot of tears if you make the terms of the implied contract with them clear from the outset, and also make it clear when those terms have changed.
Also, thank you for the kind words!
Get you a plan and finish it, gurrrrl!
I always write for the last line.
When I begin writing, one of the very first things I place on the stacks of pre-writing papers is a general idea of what the last line of the story is going to be. That's important to me, because it is a goal. That last line is the summation of all the varying and over-wrought plotlessness that the story encompasses... it is a promise to them that they will be fulfilled. To tell the story, it needs to have a definite ending point. I write for that ending point.
I only have one unfinished story, that being Zenith. I failed that piece because I let that final line get farther and farther away. I can still see the scene where that final line is delivered, and when I think of all the things that it was going to take to get there I get sad. I feel that way because I have failed the story itself and the readers who had invested themselves in it. I want to finish the piece with all of my heart—I know in my mind that is unrealistic.
Finishing a story is completing a promise made to your readers. I would no more intentionally leave a story unfinished as I would walk away from a child in the middle of reading them their bedtime story.
I feel somewhat inadequate to add to the many voices that are far more heard and worth listening to than my own. This isn't dismissive, simply calm fact, and I'm still adding my voice so it's not discouraging me.
I get the feeling you think more you should finish stories because of some feeling of guilt, rather than because you want to. I'd suggest figuring out the reasons behind wanting to finish a story and if they spring from a desire to please an audience and gain attention, or they come from a desire to make yourself happy.
Honestly, what I want from you as a reader and as a friend is for you to be happy. If being happy means writing without finishing, that's totally okay. I'd appreciate knowing it likely won't be finished and perhaps a blog post saying where it would've likely gone, but that's not required in the least.
Ultimately, it should be about what makes you happy.
So late in answering this, but as a reader I figure that when you're done with the story, you're done with it. There's no need to force yourself out of some obligation, real or imagined, to finish it. Personally, I'd appreciate a heads-up that it's done with and that it's not likely to be finished. That way I'm not left wondering if there's more to come.
If you're concerned about finishing fics that you start, maybe you should shoot for more one-shots, or at least non-epic lengths.
As a writer, well, let's face it: I'm not much of a writer. When I do write it's because I've had an idea stick in my craw and I write it out, plaster it up, and, for the most part, forget about it. If the urge strikes me to write more I will, if not, I won't. I see nothing wrong with that. This is, after all, supposed to be fun.