On original 'fic experiments

[mark_asphodel]

Had a lengthy talk with my most excellent spouse about long-term aspirations and the like.  This occurred during our drive home from scenic Port Austin, which is a good time as any to be contemplative.  Basically, two-plus years after discarding my latest draft of an original work, I have the bug to WRITE SOMETHING (not fanfiction) again, but I don't know what to do about it.  For years, I was working on one project that mutated and spawned sub-projects and got very muddled, but there was a vision lurking in there somewhere.  And there was one cast of characters that I had great investment in.  Now, there are all these possibilities, but no coherent vision... and no characters.  I don't feel comfortable repurposing the old ones, and inventing new ones seems... exhausting.  

Basically, I don't know who I need to tell a story if I don't know what that story is.  My failed NaNo project last year was a thinly-veiled autobiographical account of life in southwest Detroit (entitled Nice Things, as in "this is why we can't have nice things"), and my thoughts are going in that direction again, except a little less autobiographical.

So, I've started an experiment.  I threw together a couple of characters based on a) personal experience b) my next-door neighbors and c) two media characters I already use as springboards for things their creators wouldn't recognize.  And I plopped them down in Detroit and I'm going to play with them a while.  We'll see what, if anything, develops.

Comments

[xirysa.livejournal.com]

DETROIT REPRESENT--

/shot

At any rate, good luck with all the work on original fiction--I was in a slump myself for a good while, and all of a sudden, after a bit of experimentation, I was hit with the writing bug again. C: Hope it all goes well!

[hooves.livejournal.com]

It's good you've got the itch to write, even if it's not originally what you'd set out to do. Sometimes new projects can be like a fresh start-- making up new characters and writing on the fly can be freeing in that you don't worry so much about screwing up characters you've really put your heart and soul into.

Your idea sounds interesting! I hope it manages to be something big for you. :)

[samuraiter.livejournal.com]

*chuckles*

At least you live in a city that is interesting enough to serve as a backdrop.

[amielleon]

Hey man, pastoral settings were in vogue for quite a bit.

[sailorvfan10.livejournal.com]

So, I've started an experiment. I threw together a couple of characters based on a) personal experience b) my next-door neighbors and c) two media characters I already use as springboards for things their creators wouldn't recognize. And I plopped them down in Detroit and I'm going to play with them a while.
I do something like this too, except I plop them down in the Sims and see how they develop, and then suddenly I've developed stories and backgrounds for them. It's a pretty interesting thing to do, and quite fun!

Sometimes I also just like making random characters, putting them in a setting and giving them a situation, and just seeing what unfolds.

[penandpaper71.livejournal.com]

Well, I hope that your experiment succeeds. :)

[myaru.livejournal.com]

This sounds familiar in an uncomfortable way. :/ Good luck.

Playing with a character in a setting will usually yield something, even if it isn't what you originally thought it should be. There are times you write a story and realize at the end that what you just finished is really a side story, while the real action should be taking place with this tertiary character in that location, etc. We've all heard it before. What I hate is that it actually happens. All the time.

I have a world and set of characters I was forced to abandon in a situation that reminds me of yours. It's so hard to let them go. I don't think I've managed quite yet - I still keep trying to find ways to make it work. I'm convinced it can, if I just try hard enough.