Too many words, not enough plot

[lizbee]

But firstly, a public service announcement: Korean spirits traditionally drunk in shots? BE WARY OF THESE. Also, karaoke. And plum wine.

In short, I have woken up with a sore throat, covered in glitter.

AU Big Bang progress:

12552 / 15000 words. 84% done!

Water Tribe funerals: one.
Fire Nation betrothal celebrations: one.
Bodies disposed of: countless.

That all looks totally impressive, except that I'm still in the first third, and the pacing is shot to hell. Or, as bnharrison politely said, "This is all quite good to read, but I'm not feeling any momentum." There's going to come a point where I'll have to bite the bullet and admit that actually, I'm aiming for something more like 40,000 words. And who wants to read 40,000 word fic these days? Except, presumably, the readers of legendary DW fic "Terminal Decay", who would no doubt consider 40,000 words refreshingly short after one million.

Really, I've made my old mistake of starting a fic without knowing precisely how it ends. It doesn't matter right away how you get there, as long as you have an end-point to work towards. So I've taken the last few days off writing, and tried to let the story rummage around in my backbrain.

Result so far: plot bunny and initial dialogue for a Zuko/Mai/June fic. Reliable sources tell me I am totally allowed to title it "1800-DIAL-A-NINJA".

Anyway, I really like what I've got so far, but it all seems like a considerable amount of work to get from point A to point Z, especially when I'm only vaguely aware of what point Z looks like. The temptation to put this on the backburner and churn out 15,000 words of girl!Zuko fic is ... pretty strong.

(Girl!Zuko: exactly like boy!Zuko, only people keep trying to hit on her, protect her, or both. Except, obviously, for Uncle, who is all, "I don't know much about girls, but I'm sure I can trust your best judgment. Wait, no, that's a terrible plan. At least try not to get pregnant.")

Comments

[nonelvis]

"1-800-DIAL-A-NINJA" is the perfect title for that fic, except that's not the one you're writing, dammit. (Not that I don't want to read the other one, but Zuko! Mai! June!)

Look at it this way: the longer your Big Bang fic, the more terms for your concordance! Unslinky shouldn't be the only author lucky enough to have one.

[lizbee]

A concordance would be nice. Especially if I somehow managed to mention bone marrow, three broken wrists and the TARDIS vascular system.

[marymac]

"I don't know much about girls, but I'm sure I can trust your best judgment. Wait, no, that's a terrible plan. At least try not to get pregnant."

Ahahah, that was, essentially, my father's entire parenting philosophy from I hit 14 onwards.

Also the other one sounds awesome, but I'm barely two stages ahead of waking up covered in glitter, so shall stop rambling now.

[holyschist]

I bought an ebook reader precisely so I could read 20-150K+ fic. Just so you know. :D

[kerravonsen]

I feel intimidated by your 84% done. 8-( Ah well. I must just keep plugging on.

As for people not wanting to read 40,000 words of fic, the Harry Potter fans seem to keep on churning out epics which have thousands of reviews, so I don't think fans lack stamina.

[akashasheiress]

''In short, I have woken up with a sore throat, covered in glitter.''

I r jellus! Well, maybe not at the sore throat thing... Come to think of it, the glitter must be hell to get rid of.

[curuchamion]

'who wants to read 40,000 word fic these days?'

...your fandom puzzles me. (Okay, it's one of my fandoms too, obviously - um, hello, I'm randomly poking round Dwth because of LJ crashiness and have heard good things about you from fannish people, so clicked on your journal!) But, yeah - I started in Stargate SG-1 fandom, so I am routinely puzzled when people in other places think 70,000 words isn't middling-average. O_O