Inspiration for Slow Burn Fic Authors

Keeping organized when you're writing something that's really long can be difficult, and any discussion of long form writing eventually comes around to how to keep organized while you're writing.

There are two places where most writers start from, which are: you either write chronologically or you don't.

Personally, I've never in my life been able to write chronologically, and I have so much respect for people who can. The following suggestions should be useful whether you write chronologically or not.

What I've taken to doing is having a whiteboard where I list all of my current "active" scenes-- anything that is in-progress that I am working on right at this moment. If I don't work on a scene for more than a week, it gets erased. My current fic is a multi-perspective story, with six main characters that I switch between, so the format I use is:

Character -- Scene name/title/description (notes)

Each character has their own color of wet erase marker, which is an extra help-- notes are jotted down on the other side of the whiteboard, in the color marker that corresponds to the character.

This is, by far the simplest and most fluid way of keeping track of where I am with each character's story/perspective that I've come up with yet, and I hope it'll help anyone who has trouble keeping things straight. If anyone else has a special thing they do to keep organized, share it in the comments!

It's finally that time everybody! The first Work in Progress Wednesday of the new year! Comment bellow with a paragraph, a line, a bit of world building or free-writing--as long as it has to do with an in-progress work, you're golden.

Commenting on what others post is encouraged, and this is really the meat of the community--help each other work out the knots and smooth over problems. I will do my best to make at least one comment on everything that someone posts.

Posting Format:

In the subject of your reply, write the Title of the fic, or put "??" followed by the Fandom, that way everyone can identify and comment on it if it's a fandom they're familiar with. Remember the guidelines for constructive criticism: one thing you like, one thing you didn't, and something that could be improved on.

While sub-plots aren't strictly necessary to long form/slow burn fic, you'll find that they may arise organically from the main plot. How you utilize your sub-plots is just as important as how you proceed with the main plot. More beneath the cut.

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As an exercise, write out three potential sub-plots in your fic and free-write on how they can be developed.

Rules are pretty simple 

 Rule # 1: This community honors the DW ToS. If it falls within Dreamwidth's ToS, it's safe to post here. Typical tagging and trigger warning etiquette applies. (Non-con, dub-con, rape, mentions of self harm should all be warned for.)

Rule #2: No ship wank, wars, or anti behavior. I don't care whose dicks you personally want to see touch, if you can't ship and let ship, kink and let kink, you will be banned. You get a grand total of one chance. First offence will be a banning offence. 

Rule #3: All criticism given will be constructive. It's one thing to say "this story sucks" it's another to say, "the premise is a little weak, maybe try X, Y, or Z."
The basic rule of constructive criticism is : list one thing you liked, one thing you didn't, and one thing that can be done to make the story better. 

Rule #4: If you want to be a beta for someone, the comm will set up reminders for writers and betas to stay in touch. There will be weekly/biweekly reminders, just so writers waiting for feedback don't have to wait forever. If life gets in the way, the reminder threads will be where you communicate that. Accountability is paramount.

FAQ:

Q: What counts as a slow burn?
A: As a baseline a slow burn is anything that will be 20k or longer when complete.

Q: I don't know how long this fic will be, can I still join?
A: Totally! It's hard to tell how long a fic will be, especially when you're laying down the ideas for the first time.

Q: Can I post my original fiction/ Is this comm friendly to OC's?
A: All types of writing are welcome here. Give me your OCs so I can fall in love with them.

Q: What's this about writing challenges?
A: One of the hardest things to do as a writer is to keep up momentum. The challenges are meant to keep community members focused and motivated to continue. They're not mandatory by any means but hopefully they will help keep the writing momentum going.

Q: What is a WIP (It Out) Wednesday?
A: WIP Wednesdays are ways authors can give progress updates, if they so choose. There will also be a prompt (usually related to the romance aspect of the slow burn, that's why we write these things, right?)