First Attempt

[shadokp]

Well, I have gone and done it. I am in the middle of writing a story. My knowledge of fan fiction is limited. I have read some Doctor Who and a bit of Supermarionation a few years back in an APA. I have written an amount of Doctor Who short stories and even tried a book once (gave up after 100 pages).

I have elected to go with the new series and because I have recently re-watched the movie Sin City and have also seen some Quentin Tarratino of late, I was heavily influenced by the flashback, multiple story line, jumping from one story to the next format.

Even though I am more than half way down with the first very rough draft, I understand that even though the jumping around the plot makes for interesting juxtaposition I believe that it will just confuse the reader.

There is a lot going on in this story and there is very little time for characterization. This is not a relationship piece and is probably more along the lines of the TV series than anything. I am planning on fleshing out the characters as much as possible without bogging it down too much.

What I have done so far is thrown in so many different elements that the story has this epic, if not cluttered feeling to it. I love simple stories with the less is more mentality but right now I feel an all out action piece is a good start. I may end up splitting this up into three separate but connected stories - that might be better.

Any ideas?

I am planning on reading a story or two from this site in order to get an idea on how it is done.

Just typing out loud.......Thanks

KP

[Sage]

"Hello, you have entered the realm of Captain Scarlet fanfic; please leave your sanity after the tone."

Awesome
Sounds really ambtious, and impressive. A triology might be a good idea, can pace yoursel.f a bit better.
Really intrigued about it all now.

Am not too au fait with the NCS universe, but will give it a go. Nearly everything around is OCS, which is fine by me, but would be cool to branch out and build a solid NCS fandom.

My grammar is appaling, but will look it over if you wish.
Good luck

[Carrie]

Firstly..good for you!
It's not an easy thing to write a full blown saga for starters, so I wish you well.

As for ideas? Depends what you mean. Sounds like you have a plot already. I find an outline helps me..and I always need to have my ending reasonably well thought out, but you'll find other writers say they often don;t know the ending until they reach it!

Nothing wrong with action, and it's not an easy thing to write. As for characters; they're often best described through dialogue. You can get the measure of someone with some well chosen comments without getting bogged down in loads of description.

Yes, you dont want to be 'too' arty and end up just confusing the reader, Remember what seems obvious to you won't always be to someone who doesnt have the benefit of your understanding about the plot. Also, what works well in a visual format doesn't always translate on paper..(or screen!)


Grammar and punctuation. It sounds boring, but it makes all the difference between your story looking amateur or professional. (just because we write fan-fic or don't get paid for it doesn't mean we can't make our stories as professional as they can be.) So, if you need any help, there's a bunch of friendly folks here who are willing to beta-read your finished masterpiece.Chris's website contains some of the best quality fan-fic on the web, and we want to maintain that high standard!

I wish you good luck!!

[Marion]

Yes, I'd heartily endorse what Carrie says; especially the bit about making what you mean clear - no one knows what's in your mind, but you! - and the fact that what works visually doesn't always transfer to the written word well. Without a picture to look at, people need some details to explain what you have in mind.
Dialogue and punctuation are important too - people may speak in short (ungrammatical) sentences, but it doesn't work well on paper - IMHO, anyway - and without punctuation, it's often too complicated to understand who says what to whom and .. why.
At the top of the Fan Fiction thread on this Forum, are details of some useful information for writers and the services of Beta-readers...

Most of all - have FUN!