What Have I Got Myself Into?

[teddy_radiator]

Well, I uploaded my new fic, Lay Me Low, onto Ashwinder last night. I don't think I've ever had so many responses to a first chapter! The name of the fic is based on a song by the Albion Band:

I'm a little intimidated, because I'm about halfway through this fic and I'm starting to run into a dilemma of how I want to advance the plot. I think I have two good directions for the plot to go, but I can't decide in which direction to head.

What I don't want to do is to disappoint all these people who have written to me telling me how much they've enjoyed the first two chapters. This one is going to come kicking and screaming, I'm afraid. It's something that, if I can pull it off, may be a good story. If not, I'm going to be a crashing disappointment.

If anyone would like to offer a little advice, I'll send you a private message explaining my plot dilemma and you can tell me which way you think I ought to go.

Jeez, what am I doing, giving myself such pressure? Muse, please help me!

Comments

[methleigh.livejournal.com]

I will happily help you if I can, though it may not be so much advising as discussing with you, for it is your own story from your own heart. Also, I should perhaps warn you I write only Death Eater gen and G-rated-slash and so am guilty of idiosyncratic preferences...

[savine-snape.livejournal.com]

~waves~ if you are well and truly stumped, I can be a sounding board. As verus_Janus has said, it's your story, we can only make suggestions, your muse has to like the direction otherwise you'll type yourself into a corner you can't get out of without retreating.

[mimimanderly.livejournal.com]

I'd be glad to help as well, but really, think on this:

Deep inside, you already KNOW which way you WANT to go. You may be afraid of losing your readers. You must forget about anyone who is reading the story. Write what YOU like and what the Muse likes. If you please yourself, others will get caught up in your own pleasure. If you write something you don't really feel good about, simply because you think that others will like it, it will be a second-rate job. Your heart just won't be in it, and more than anything else, you must write from the heart.

There, that's my two-cents worth.

[teddyradiator.livejournal.com]

As usual, you are right. I feel in my waters that I have the right direction to go with, I've just got to center myself and do it.

Right now, we are up to our armpits in snow, which means that the world has stopped turning, as far as the SC foothills are concerned. No one is going anywhere, I'm in my PJs, and I'm going to write. I'm going to write until it feels good!

Thank you for caring enough to tell me the truth.

[droxy.livejournal.com]

I agree with Mimi. The only thing I can add is stay true or change how you advert your story. Meaning, if it is a SS/HG romance, it must stay a romance, and SS/HG must get together. You can even kill a romantic lead and still be a romance as long as you resolve the romance. That's an example. If you switch genres midstream, be honest about it and change the advert of your fic. I was reading a romance once that switched to "drama". A switch to drama means there may not be a happy ending or resolved romance.

You may lose some readers, but gain others. Tastes vary. Trust your readers.

What will tick off your readers is things like this: not being true to your characters (unless crack fic), extreme and illogical plot flipping, "it was just a dream" scenarios, false advertising, and breaking genre rules*. But I think you know this already.

[aurette.livejournal.com]

I completely empathize. I avoid posting WiPs for that very reason, but it doesn't help the nerves. When you see them getting all excited over what will eventually only be a minor plot point, you want to throw up. The pressure will only increase with each fic if you let it, so you must find a way to compartmentalize your writing self, from your review reply self, and ignore the masses while you write. Then sweat bullets once it's up there.

We do this to entertain, but in the end, we have to own our art, and not be so insecure that we end up apologetic. If that makes any sense. Your readers will repond to your dedication.

[teddyradiator.livejournal.com]

I do understand, and I think you have given me sound advice! I had to laugh about the wanting to throw up when they get excited over a point.
I had put a non-con warning on it, and after the first chapter I was getting pelted with the "don't make Severus or Sirius rape Hermione" bombs. In reality it was to illustrate that Severus had been raped at a Death Eater meeting. Now all of them are coming back with rather sheepish 'geez, we're sorry we got all worked up' reviews! I had to laugh.

I think I know how things will go. It's just my insecurity talking. This is the first WIP I've posted. all the others were done. I do think I know what to do, but I can see the pressure building.

BTW, I am so LOVING OMAM. It is just phenomenal. A huge risk, but one I think is paying off in SPADES.

[aurette.livejournal.com]

Thank you, hon. OMAM is a great case in point. Marking it Romance, and then starting out with an eleven-yar-old Hermione gave more than a few people pause. Also, my love of the clever plot twist tends to make my own hair stand on end when everyone is excited to see it go right, and I know in a few more chapters it is going to make a hard left.

As for insecure, I think that is a good thing. I suspect that if we lose that, then we will have lost our edge, and perhaps, that spark that draws a review to begin with. Keep plugging away, the muse is a mighty taskmaster.

[teddyradiator.livejournal.com]

So true! I think what, for me, makes your work so enjoyable is the turn of a phrase. It may be like water running over a pebble in the story, but it's just a jewel that I'll think back on later and go, 'ah, man, I wish I'd written that!'

But that's the songwriter in me. I'm known in my guild for loving to put twists on words or phrases and make them into something different, and when I see you take a nicely worded sentence and turn it into music (which you do so well), I get that nice, songwriter's tingle that says, 'Oh, yeah, that's how it's done.'

I think OMAM may be your best yet, and when we're talking about Aurette, that is truly saying something.

[aurette.livejournal.com]

~blush~

Thank you.

~blush more~

[talesofsnape.livejournal.com]

Would pitching in at this late date just lead to further confusion or can I still be of use?