I was gonna ask for advice on 私に薬の主人を呼んではいけない but in typing out my question I answered it for myself and just wasted so much time 😅
I decided to say fuck it to the hella long chapters and post them in shorter segments to make the editing process easier for me and my co-author. 30k word chapters are just totally unmanageable and are a habit I want to get out of. That being said we got 2 out of 3 chapters that would have been chapter 13 written out and just need a good edit before posting. I'm hoping the feedback from those will light a fire under my ass to start making steady progress again because it's good for my mental health and I need the social interaction. I do still have a question!! Any of you guys ever make the jump from writing Fanfiction to actually publishing any type of original work? Most of my AU fics are inspired by dealing with my own shitty mental health and I want to work towards starting a new piece when I finish the drug lord AU. I am so touched by the feedback on this AU and hearing how the readers relate to different characters and enjoy seeing a story focused on addiction/mental health issues! I feel like I am making a little bit of a difference for people like me by discussing these topics in a way we don't often see in traditional fiction in a way that doesn't demonize Fai but hold him accountable for how he affects people anyways. That being said I have a 'new' idea I have been wanting to work on for a while but I don't want to write it like it's fanfic and work it into something publishable. I would like to learn more about how to structure a novel so its formated semi-correctly so I have less to fix when I look into the publishing process. I am not looking for advice on the publishing process itself so much as how to get a story ready for looking into that process. More specifically...
What's a good length for a first novel? I've heard between 60-80k words but that is.... so short compared to most fic! how do you get anything done in 80k words?
How much do you think about adding diversity in the type of characters you write and accurately representing them in your fiction? I feel like that is something really important and it's one of the scary parts of stepping into original fiction. How do you make sure you're writing what you know and telling your own stories but still being thoughtful while creating depth in characters that don't share you're lived experience?
Are there any bad writing habits most people writing fic have that I should try and unlearn now?
How the hell do you create compelling original characters? Fanfiction is easy because you just figure out what an already established character would do when put into your specific plot/setting. Do you start with designing characters and create the plot for them or do you come up with the plot/setting and create characters based on the goal of the plot? I have always come up with the plot and slipped in whatever pairing seemed to fit that plot best but IDK if that's the way to go with original work.
If anyone wants to let me pick their brain as to their experience and process I would really appreciate it! Shoot me a message! For now, I plan on getting chapters 13-15 posted for 私に薬の主人を呼んではいけない since I broke 13 into more manageable parts to speed up the process. We have the entire fic plotted out and outlined a good portion of that on paper!! but I have been trying to keep the chapters so they match the master outline and I need to just adjust my outline so the story actually gets written.
(I know some of you asked if I would publish the drug lord AU and just change names and such but this piece is way way to tied up with CLAMPS characters to just swap names. I would have to reset the story in the US and change a handful of people's genders because all the pairings are gay and as much as I enjoy my little gay drug ring in this story to make it publishable I would have to ruin everything I love about this story to make it marketable. Plus its already 200k words and we aren't even halfway done. I am barely done setting up the world-building introducing my characters and I am far too passionate about not only the plot but with Kurogane and Fai as the main characters to butcher it.)
