Writing a Big Bang is different. Help?

[icarus]

Writing a Big Bang is different.

The Atlantis Big Bang is my first. I've written four novella-to-novel length stories (Out Of Bounds, Beg Me For It, Primer to the Dark Arts, The Walls Of Jericho), but even though I wrote one of these in six weeks ... a Big Bang has it's own crush of pressure.

I found that because of the length and short time frame I've had to change how I write.

I Changed From This...

1. Normally I write a few scenes (sometimes at disparate points in the story). Get a feel for my characters and story. I'll post these as a WIP and gauge the response.

2. Then I write my outline.

3. I stand back from the story and look at the outline to determine the theme. When I'm doing well, I zero in on the theme right away. I can tie each scene to my theme and throw away anything that doesn't drive the story forward. When I'm not doing well, I stay fuzzy about the theme and it's hard for me to trim the story.

4. At this point I might stop writing and do some research for a while, if I find that I don't know enough to finish my story.

5. Next, I start writing in earnest, writing scenes out of order, whatever is hot at the moment. I treat each individual scene as it's own short story.

6. I have the scenes beta'd as I go. My betas and I work closely, scene by scene, as the story is produced. We polish each one and make adjustments along the way. I'll post the story as as WIP or, in the case of Beg Me For It, post it as separate stories in a series.

7. Throughout I keep standing back, rewriting my outline, rechecking and discussing my theme to see if it's changed or deepened in the writing.

8. Finally, I add transitions to tie it all together. My story usually ends up being a third longer than I first expect.

...To This

I've found that in writing a Big Bang I've had to make a few changes.

1. I write a few scenes as usual, get a feel for my characters, etc., etc. But these aren't posted because a Big Bang is not a WIP. Instead I posted descriptions of the story to gauge audience response.

2. I write the outline. But then I have the outline beta'd before I do any serious writing. I learned this from mad_maudlin and auburnnothenna. Major changes are made in the outline stage.

3. Then I look over the outline and adjust according to my theme as usual (with all the usual difficulties).

4. But I can't stop to do research because of the Big Bang time frame. The deadline is looming.

5. I launch directly into writing my scenes, often out of order. In lieu of research time, I leave placeholders for details to be polished up in the final, put in [X]s for minor character names, brackets for what I need to look up.

6. I end up with a full-length (very) rough draft with all these placeholders and question marks. There is no time to polish individual scenes. My betas read a whole story, swiss cheese though it is, in one bite.

7. I have only a month left to fill in these details.

And now... glug, glug... help.

This is the point where I am. I'm overwhelmed. I've never stared down a massive rough draft like this. It's not how I usually write. I've been poking at this huge 57,000-word text for days and I can't get any traction on editing it.

Help...? I thought I'd just read it beginning to end and write as I go but it's got me beat. My betas aren't getting back to me (maybe they feel the same?). What do I do now?

Comments

[libitina]

So it has been beta'd, or are you asking for betas?

If the former, then pick three scenes that need the most work. Poke at them and rewrite.

And then two more scenes that don't need quite as much.

And then start at the beginning and go through until you hit a snag. Once you find yourself procrastinating, find a completely separate scene farther on to rework. And then that might make your snag easier.

Is that a plan that looks appealing? I can pull a different one out of my butt, if you need.

[icarus]

So... small bites.

I'm thinking all I can do is one scene at a time to start, I'm that bug-eyed at the mess that is this story.

I think I need a breather. I borked up three scenes last night and I'm feeling a little ... stunned. I'll use waiting for my betas as an excuse. And then use what they tell me needs work as my starting point.

How long should a chapter be? I had the fic divided into seven chapters, but some of them are 40 pages long.

[libitina]

You're posting all on one go - on AO3 - so you don't have to worry about posting limits. So put the breaks wherever seems most natural for the story arcs.

[busaikko]

Stephen King, in On Writing, says he puts a rough draft into a drawer for 6 months to get enough distance to revise. I know that's not a luxury you have but.... When I get really stuck, I do try to refresh myself as much as I can before going back to the fic. Spend a day out with friends, or watch a season of dueSouth, or bake a cake. Find your center. Big Bangs seem to be designed to push people off center, and that's just not comfortable.

When you feel ready to start with the fic again, look first at parts that have had the least revision (say, if you wrote chapters 1-4 first and have read and re-read them, had people read them, had them beta'd, they are probably okay. But if you wrote the whole ending 2 chapters over a sleepless 48 hours while fueled on chocolate and Jolt, that's where I would start.)

If at all possible, delegate. Have one beta reader to check that all the names are spelled right and consistent, have one person doing research and looking for plotholes, and one person on SPAG. You don't want all your betas correcting the same mistake. [Some people swear by Google Docs to have everyone literally on the same page]

Hope some of that helps!

[icarus]

Hmm. My time is so short that I don't see myself being able to take a breather until after the weekend. I have to keep writing at this point. The draft I sent in has smash cuts so I've asked my artists to wait until I send them an updated version this weekend.

A breather is a good idea, even if not possible now.

The sections that need the most work are where I'm going to start, or try to start. I'm pretty frustrated with them. They're not in an editing phase yet. They're not written. I turned in the rough draft with smash cuts in place of placeholder scenes.

This has left really wrong-footed because I feel like I hit the deadline, but I didn't really hit the deadline. So I'm behind the 8-ball. I've given myself a new deadline to have a story that makes sense to my artists by tonight.

Eventually, I can have betas look at different things. But at the moment there's only one thing to look at: the overall structure, flow and sense of the story, what scenes do I need to add, etc.

There's no point to doing any other kind of editing because I'm just not there yet. But my story has two types of readers: SGA readers who know Pern, and SGA readers who don't know Pern, so I need two types of editors to read it.

It helps. But mostly it makes clear that I'm not ready for the editing phase. *panics*

[busaikko]

*heats oil, commences foot massage*

Ooh, that sounds like a bad place to be. Let me know if you ever need a reader (I had a big Pern phase um, 20 years ago). *hugs*

[icarus]

Thank you this really helped. When I have those last holes filled in, I might take you up on that. My main readers are not Pern people (Maud is goggle-eyed at the whole concept of a Search).

[busaikko]

What about a mating flight? *evil grin*

[icarus]

She loves the mating flights ("you mean the whole Weyr knocks boots when there's a mating flight?") but the concept of a Search, where women can be just ... kidnapped ... strikes her as "SKETCHY!"

So true. And it's the sketchiness of Pern that strikes me as real.

[busaikko]

A properly done Search (where the people being Searched know what the deal is) isn't that sketchy to me (aside from the occasional casual murder)... but the dubcon/noncon nature of the mating flights freaked me out as a kid....

Um. Now that I think of it, the first books I read with sex scenes were Pern books. This might explain a few things....

[dancing_moon]

One thing I did with my long story (which I wrote for a kink meme, in something like 57 comment sized bits.... and then it grew when I polished it. Ahem) was to use lots of color markers. Blue for "did this bit" red for "this REALLY needs work" and so. And jumping in pretty much willy nilly in the story. Because if I start at the beginning, I lost steam going through it. Did work my way backwards too, but I feared that the middle bit would be one lumpy mess.

Basically, work it through scene by scene until there's only "done" color left, and then look at the whole.

I've also read a pro author's tip (can't remember the name at all, unfortunately), that one should be able to summarize an entire novel in small parcels. If one piece is difficult to summarize, it's unclear and needs to be rewritten - or taken out entirely. Never tried it, but maybe it would help you? It sounds as if might be useful to find the red thread, theme thing in the story

[icarus]

Color-coding. Huh. I hadn't considered that.

I think I can summarize all my sections. I mean, they're summarized in my outline before I write them.

[dancing_moon]

I learned to love color codes when I become an assistant accountant and had to untangle the huge mess of a bank account that previous person had left. This bit belongs with that, so they're both red - where is a lonely lost red bit that can join them until they balance? Ohh, they work out, then I'll pale-gray them and I know I'm done

It's carried over into other things, because it helps me see patterns. And I can feel accomplished when a big mess is slowly turning into a uniform, finished color

[elizabeth_rice]

This is out of curiosity only. When determining the theme, which stories were the troublesome ones?