One Wank After Another

[coalcube]

A blank assignment is a funny thing, isn't it? When you have it, you don't appreciate it, and when you miss it, it's gone.

Wednesday 10 December: Default deadline (9pm UTC)
Wednesday 17 December: Assignment deadline (9pm UTC)
Wednesday 24 December: Main collection works reveals (9pm UTC)
Thursday 25 December: Madness collection works reveals (9pm UTC)
Thursday 1 January: Author reveals, end of event (9pm UTC)

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Comments

Re: Unpopular Opinion Time

[(Anonymous)]

Interesting, I feel like it takes barely any plot at all to need to at least mention background humans existing. I don't read or write smut so maybe that's what skews it?

I'd say maybe half the time, I write characters talking alone together in a room, so no OCs appear. But not every fic takes place in a closed room, and I don't always have any good story ideas for just locking two people in a room for 1k words with zero plot. About half the time my characters will be *somewhere* and describing what's around them and how they interact with the environment is just part of building the scene. If they order a drink, someone will make it. If they're at an army camp there will be guards standing around. If they're at the park there will be some mention that other people are also there, like IDK, maybe a mention of joggers off in the distance or someone walking their dog? Of course it's not necessary to mention the dog-walker, but it feels awkward or like bland writing to either not describe the park at all or describe it without mentioning any other humans, unless there's some reason why the place would be desolate. I can find a way around it if there's a DNW I need to follow, but it would be a deliberate choice and I might have to change how I write a bit to make it work.

Re: Unpopular Opinion Time

[(Anonymous)]

If they're at the park there will be some mention that other people are also there, like IDK, maybe a mention of joggers off in the distance or someone walking their dog? Of course it's not necessary to mention the dog-walker, but it feels awkward or like bland writing to either not describe the park at all or describe it without mentioning any other humans, unless there's some reason why the place would be desolate.

That really is interesting, because I wouldn't think of putting these descriptions into the fic unless they're plot-relevant. If the dog walker doesn't have a purpose in some way, I'm not going to randomly mention him. I guess I prefer that kind of "bland" writing.

Re: Unpopular Opinion Time

[(Anonymous)]

That may not have been the best example, because I can easily think of times when I wouldn't bother describing the park at all. But I guess my point is that if I do describe a setting, like a park, I'll mention people exactly the same as I'll mention trees and benches, not because they're plot-relevant but because I want the scene to be vivid for the reader. "Bland" was a judgy-sounding way of describing fic that doesn't do that, and I should clarify that I don't think every fic or every scene needs vividly described settings. But they make reading more immersive for me as a reader, so I usually include them in places where I think they improve the story when I write.

Re: Unpopular Opinion Time

[(Anonymous)]

-1 this just for the sake of data. It depends on the fic and feeling of the story but this kind of little detail brings the fic to life for me in a gift and I appreciate having it, while not having it can often feel weirdly empty and sterile.

On the writing side, I find that including off-the-cuff trivial details involving the environment or background characters, and having focal characters react to them (or having conversations spring up around it), can take the fic interesting places that wouldn't have occurred to me otherwise.

Re: Unpopular Opinion Time

[(Anonymous)]

+1

Also, it often feels right for the main characters to refer to other people in their lives. If I’m writing about A and B meeting up for drinks and the scene is going to end in a deep confession of love, it still might make sense for it to begin with “small talk” where A mentions a that he saw a mutual friend C the other day, or complains about a coworker who is making his life difficult. That gives B something to react to with concern, and the conversation can go from there.