Distinct Styles

[Intensity Angel]

As a new comer to submitting fan fiction to the site, I was wondering something,

Once you've writted a couple or more fan fictions, and they've been placed on the site, do people recognize your style, and how you lay things out? Does that ruin any suspence you might use in a later story? Or will it keep people pondering? This are just basic knowledge questions, but I would like to know some answers.

[Serena Lewis]

I think they do, to an extent. For example, my stories are sort of mysterious, and I tend to let people build their own conclusions. They also seem to have a darker storyline, and no one seems surprised when a new one is like that.
I don't know whether it ruins suspense. I'm trying to drum it up, and release info slowly. People may have got bored of my Ochre stories now because I haven't said much about her past yet, and they don't want to keep guessing, I don't know! I hope not!

xx

[Intensity Angel]

I really enjoy your stories, they're different, and its nice to be kept guessing.

[Marion]

Once you've writted a couple or more fan fictions, and they've been placed on the site, do people recognize your style, and how you lay things out? Does that ruin any suspence you might use in a later story? Or will it keep people pondering? This are just basic knowledge questions, but I would like to know some answers.

How you write may become recognisable - you know yourself if you can recognise certain traits in another author's style and subject matter - but, with most writers their style changes as they get more experienced. My early stories are nothing like I would write the same thing now - whether that is good or bad, I can't say. I would hope I've improved, but I have my doubts.
Most people strive to improve their technical writing skills such as grammar, narrative and plots, as they continue writing. A few of us have had many years practise, but we still hope every story we write will be our best yet, and want every story we present to the site to be the very best it can be. That's why the beta-reading standards are so high on this site.
Lay out and presentation is something you can do less about, as it is governed by the webmaster and the capablilities of the site.

[Sage]

Yeah, pretty much what Marion said.
I can see that I'm cultivating a style, which maybe stands out here. And to an extent I could pick out other writer's work by their style too.

It's inevitable really as we all see the world and express ourselves in diffrent ways. It gets honed over time, but it's still 'your voice' and there's a point where deliberatly changing it starts to sound forced.

I really don't see how that would affect any subsequent stories. Suspense is governed by how you plot a particular arch in a particular fic, not say your habitual exposition delivery (or lack thereof).
Certain writers perhaps have a penchance for particular tropes; but given the practise and skills they can convey a range of emotions and ideas. So it's not a forgone conclusion how X will end up in the grand scheme of things, just because it was written in such a way in story Y.

[Intensity Angel]

Right, thanks guys. That's explained a few things, and now come to mention it, how I wrote Like Father, Like Son, is quite different to how I've written the likes of The Female Shade Of Blue and Words Of Warning.

[Sasha Metcalfe]

As a new comer to submitting fan fiction to the site, I was wondering something,

Once you've writted a couple or more fan fictions, and they've been placed on the site, do people recognize your style, and how you lay things out? Does that ruin any suspence you might use in a later story? Or will it keep people pondering? This are just basic knowledge questions, but I would like to know some answers.

To me recognizing an author's style does not mean I can predict how things will turn out and certainly does't kill any suspense.

hey, we all know Scarlet will be OK in the end, but that doesn't stop us from watching, now does it?

From a reader's (mine) standpoint, writing style is just as important as the story itself. If you have a good plot but can't tell it well, then it is just ho hum. I will admit I am picky about writing style in the things I read. I have not read a lot of fan fic, but I read a lot of many different kinds of fiction and nonfiction, and have written some. There is many a book I have just put down and not bothered to pick up again.
I see style as how you say something, how do you describe things? How do you construct sentences? What kinds of words do you use? Do you come off sounding pretenious or philosophical or just straightforward? I love detail, many writers don't give me enough but that is because i like more than most people. I like loose ends, I like things in the background (maybe a minor character who brings out a particular facet of a main charactor but is only seen or referred to briefly) to me they add depth.
Another point would be how your stories flow. is it always linear? do you use flashbacks? Do you try to describe several things going on in different places but at the same time and tie them together later?
I thought your story about little boy Paul was very sweet and well done example of the father-son relationship. It made me smile to read it, keep in mind I hate sappy stuff but your story wasn't at all sappy - another writer could write the same story but add a bunch of sappiness and completely ruin it for me.
I like it when people can write about day to day stuff, like your gym story. I laughed myself silly at how Scarlet got hurt. you see, in some of the medical transcription I do I end up typing about these hot shot athletes getting injured in really stupid ways, just like you described.
I thought you did a really nice job of blending the two different worlds in your Female Shade of Blue, I think a lot of people try it but it doesn't always work well.
So when is the next one?

Sasha

[Serena Lewis]

Eww, I HATE too much description and detail, I'm very different from you, Sasha.
I was discussing this with a friend of mine quite recently, and he gave me an extract of a book he was reading (Sorry, I don't know what book, he just said it was obscure and I wouldn't have heard of it. It sounds like some sort of romantic rubbish read by middle aged women with no life. What he was doing reading it, I have no idea!).
I saved it to a Word document because it was so stupid I could look at it and laugh.

Katie sat down delicately, perching daintily on the edge of the red and white striped chair, so much like tooth paste. Dom gazed at her, feeling love for her rise, fill his entire body, his muscular arms, his legs, his torso. He wanted to pick her up and hug her to him, feel that long, silky blonde hair, those perfectly sculpted breasts, that slender waist, so beautifully thin that he could almost get his hands round it.
Katie sighed, and leant forward, slipping off her pink designer trainers. Her top fell forward, open, and Dom saw straight down it to her amazing breasts. Something stirred in him. He needed her.
Her skin was snowy white, her clear blue eyes so captivating. Dom reached out and touched her arm. She shivered away from him. Soft skin. He tried to touch her again, persistant. This time, she let him hook the lost lock of golden hair behind her shell-like ear.

I mean...seriously. SERIOUSLY. I despise that soooo much. Plus, all that supposedly romantic stuff, and it's just sex. Whoop-de-doo. That's men I guess...
Credit for this trash goes to whoever the author is. I will try to find out.
If anyone likes this, please say. It'd be kind of interesting to see who likes description like that.
If this post has to be removed, okay, I understand, though I will try and get the author and book name from my friend. I just hope it doesn't.

xx

[Captain Indigo]

You're trying out new styles so soon? That's really brave of you, Intensity. When I started writing, I found that it was best to write a few stories in my 'natural' style, and developed my skills that way before trying to branch out into something new. I also found that paying close attention to what my beta-readers told me helped me to develop more as a writer.

I find it difficult to find a balance between description and dialogue - too little description means that the reader can find it difficult to visualise the scene, too much overwhelms what your characters are saying. You have to remember that only about 10% of how we communicate with each other is verbal, so descriptions of how the characters are reacting is essential to a believable environment in fic.

[Sasha Metcalfe]

um, Serena, that is NOT the kind of detail I ment!
strings of overdone adjectives are disgusting.

giving me a good description of say, the house, the town, the car, not through yucky strings of goo but rather by doing things that point them out "so and so met in the such and such quarter of blah city instead of their usual rendezvous point at the whatever"

that gives me a better feeling for where they are rather than "the dim dingy grey grimy smudged building"

[Serena Lewis]

I...this may sound bad...usually stick to the same style. My pessimistic, dark style. Semi-Goth, it's me, so I just do it naturally. It's a struggle for me to write happy things, but i guess, when i do get started on a happy story that makes me feel...good, I'll stick at it. Difficult though.
I listen to Chris a lot, and she really helps me. I think I may have improved and started to write a bit differently, but I don't know. I don't know much...

xx

Edit: LOL, Sasha. I see! I might feel that way too. It depends on the way the rest of the book is written...

[hazel]

Serena - are you SURE you want to post your opinion of your friend's reading habits on an open forum? And that passage, as well as being badly written, is also in questionable taste for a forum where minors are members.

[Serena Lewis]

Yeah, sorry. I'll remove it. I wasn't sure whether to post it in the first place...
But at least Sashas seen it and made some rather amusing comments...
My friend, BTW, told me it so I could spread it around and have a laugh. He'll be okay with it, I'm almost certain, but I'll ask when he's online anyway. He's a rather odd person, it's possible he was just reading it so it'd make him laugh, not because he liked that sort of book. And I made fun of him coz it's what we do...

xx

[chrisbishop]

Don't remove it. You meant it as an example. We'll just edit out the last line for younger eyes...

[Sasha Metcalfe]

another thing about that horrible example is, look at the adjectives. they are all quite boring and overused. it is a cliche description. This tells me the writer has a small vocabulary and no imagination. snoooooore.

on the other hand, if someone is using words that are deliberately strange all the time, then their writing seems pretencious.
I can't remember what it was in, but one book I read kept saying 'physiogomy' instead of face. Ok, its a neat word, nice to know the author knew a few neat words, but it comes across as glaringly out of place. When I am reading 19th century novels, fine, or if I am reading some in depth piece of fiction and it pops up once for emphasis or to give a different tone to that one scene, ok. but not all the time like it is a kitchen sink word.
I want to see that the author not only has a vocabulary, but knows how to use his/her words to good effect. Overuse of any word, especially one that stands out to begin with, just makes it seem stupid (to me).

Sasha