So, I have an ask... I am rereading Ikigai and Yugen (slowly, this time to appreciate it) and I really admire your pacing of the story. You have all these great scenes that go together so well and move the relationship foward in a myriad of ways. Anyway, the question: when writing your long fics how do you manage your pacing of the story? How do decide what goes where?
HAVE YOU ANY IDEA WHAT IT MEANS THAT PEOPLE WILLINGLY READ THESE MONSTER LONG FICS *SEVERAL TIMES*?
A lot. The answer is A LOT.
As to your question: I give a daaaamn load of amount of thought into pacing, structuring, and the placement of information. In the case of Ikigai and Yugen, I had literal GRAPHS that hung on the back of our study door that span across both stories where I planned the placement of certain hints and information. In the end: especially when you drop huuuge bombs on people, it was always important to me to have a three step approach: Foreshadow, Drop, Back Reference. I would try to allude to things early on, have people get doubts that they might dismiss, for one. This way it would feel natural when it did come up. In the end, the final placement is gut feeling, though, mostly. If I know what’s to come, and have the information ready, I can foreshadow without problem. And you have to keep track of what already happened, of course, to come back to it. So, my only real tip is this: Know your plot points and your plans inside out.
In the beginning, when I’m drafting a story front to back and starting to write first scenes (that don’t neccessarily have to be in the beginning, even), I’ll go with the flow, see what my characters do. A very, very basic example: Does your character carry something? What is it? Can you use it later? Can you use it before? Was it a gift by someone? Is it meaningful? Little details like this can blossom out your story, inspire new plot. Later on it’s a matter of keeping track of your little thoughts - I, for instance, comment the section in the document, or write me a post it and tack it to my work space: USE ITEM LATER AGAIN. IT’S *insert space*, it’s from *insert person*, you can use it when *insert plot idea*
I always find it, as a reader, immensely satisfying when things come back, or things are referrenced, like little easter eggs within a story. That you’d have the CHANCE, if you pay close enough attention, to guess what’s coming, but it’s at the same time so subtle and hidden that what’s coming still has the power to surprise you, and instead, make you go…”Ahhh, riiiiiight!”