I need help from fic writers. Especially long fic writers. I need advice.
How do you write a long fic? What's your process compared to writing short ones? (More questions in the tags below).
Okay, so, first of all, it depends on which kind of fic you're writing.
I wrote this fic, and as you may see, it's so long omfg. Desolación required a lot of thought behind, so I used a notepad to structure the world. How would the Minister work? How would the hospitals, orphanages, or justice work? I wrote pages and pages of just the logistics of the world and important aspects of the story. Then, I wrote what the principal plot-line would be. Then, every principal character's storyline from the moment the fic started (chronologically) until it finished or they died, and how it'd connect to the principal plot. Then, I sketched a timeline in chronological order of the most important events. And as it was an enemies to lovers trope, I needed to write Harry's and Draco's storyline too first. Like, what would they think of the other once they reunited, or when would they start forgiving/empathizing with each other?
Once I had all of that, I finally planned what every chapter would be about. For example: Ch 1: Draco wakes up. We see his daily routine, we get brief explanations about his relationships, and see peaks of his pasts. He goes to the Minister and once he comes back, Hannah is trapped in the guards of the Manor. He tortures her. She says something about his mom. He goes to see her. Narcissa is dead.
And so and so and so.
THEN I started writing.
That's what i'm used to do in longer fics: plan beforehand and then start writing the fic. Obvs i had scenes that i couldn't get out of my head so i wrote those too (in a very drafty way just to put them out there), but i'm used to writing from the beginning to the end and not disorganized, so that way i get excited to write some specific scenes that are far away from where i start. but that's me. You may get more enthusiastic if you write the scenes you really really really wanna write.
Now, i had four fundamental things when I wrote Desolación:
1. Rage
2. Lots of free time
3. A beta reader
4. An unstoppable love for correcting
Dedicating at least 2 hours per day to write is a must, it doesn't matter if it's one hour in the morning and one in the evening. I put myself a limit of three days. Every three days I needed to have a new ch. It didn't matter if it was mid, bc then I would have the chance to correct it and I love that; putting the sauce and changing poorly written prose to something better. Ugh i love that.
Also, having a beta reader that tells you what you're doing good or wrong is great bc you look forward to them reading and giving you feedback. And, well, having a strong motive (in my case: rage) to continue and see this fic finished was what drove me to be this methodic.
So, I'd recommend to structure first. Ex: if the fic is about emotional growth, plan what the process is going to be for the characters and how it's gonna be achieved i.e actions, relationships with other characters, events outside of their control, etc. After doing the hard work you can start having fun writing without worrying about timelines or plot-holes. But that's just me. A lot of people just enjoy writing to where the story takes them. That doesn't work for me bc i lose motivation pretty easily and i get stressed when i don't have a guideline to follow with ease.
