ds_workshop | 2008 craft of writing series kick-off! \o/

Hey all! Guess what? DS_Workshop's hiatus is over! We'll be starting off a new series of Workshop posts next week with a post from

nos4a2no9 about the RCMP. YAY!!

What we need now are volunteers to go in the weeks after Nos.

How to volunteer:
1. Go pick out a question from the master question list. There are still LOTS of craft of writing/DS-specific questions there that haven't been answered, or you can take a subject that HAS been answered and discuss it from another angle. Also, if you don't find anything you want to lead a discussion on, you can add a new question to the list (by commenting to it) and then volunteer to answer your own question (sneaky, eh? *g*).

2. Comment below claiming the topic you want to cover.

I'd love it if we could go back to having people post once every week or two.

Last, if anyone has any questions about how this works or suggestions for making this a better workshop, please either leave a comment here or email me!

Thanks, everybody!! ♥

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

While wandering about this site, I ran across this question:

What's the best way to structure a story that doesn't use a conventional A-B-C plotline? I want (desperately) to write a story that manipulates time and incorporates a lot of flashbacks/flash-forwards but I'm not sure how to go about it, or what to avoid. Can someone help?

While I've only done this non-narrative flashback/flashforward type story once (Don't Look Straight At It) (http://community.livejournal.com/ds_flashfiction/583846.html), I got some quite useful comments from readers that leads me to believe I may have a clue, at least somewhat, about writing this way.

I wouldn't only reference myself, of course; there are other non-narrative / non-chronological fics out there which I would also reference, although I can't speak to the authors' techniques -- only to what seems to "work."

Also, I think it needs to be said that writing this type of story can be tricky because right off the top, you may lose some of the audience -- in the way that my mother, and many other people, can not follow non-chronological movies that have Tarentino-esque or Memento-esque plots, and eventually become so confused they become frustrated and stop watching.

Reading this type of fic -- like watching that type of movie -- requires a certain amount of concentration and interest on the part of the reader/viewer. In other words, it requires a reader who is willing to do "the work" of reading the story. The reader must be willing to commit to it. This means you have to "hook them" from the start so they're willing to commit (but hooking the reader from the start is addressed in another question, so I wouldn't answer that entirely).

If the reader is looking for light entertainment, and you're giving them a more complicated, non-narrative story with flashforwards and flashbacks, they may just skip over it in favor of something that doesn't require as much "work" to read.

Well, let me know if responding to this question would be okay.

Oh, that would rock!

Nos is up next with where Fraser would find porn in the North. Do you think you could post a week or two after she goes? If so, I'll write you in!

Thank you! :D

Um, sure I could post in a week or two after she goes. (When will that be, exactly?? Just want to make sure I make the deadline...)

Um, sometime this week, I think. Bel's last part in her series was at the start of last week, so Nos ought to be posting sometime fairly soonish. (If she doesn't post by the end of the week I'll poke her to see where things are at.)

Also, I wouldn't think of it as a deadline so much as a really squishy range of time for your post to go up in. *g*

Yay, squishy range of time! *g* Us deadline-challenged folks thank you. I can't even make the

ds_snippets deadlines; missed one this past weekend. D'oh!

Um, I am working on this, and hope to be done in the next three days... is that ok?

Ack! I totally failed to check in with you -- I'm so sorry!

Whenever you have it ready is AWESOME! Thank you so much!

I'm really looking forward to your post, too. I'm always nervous of doing flashbacks. They're so hard to structure well and I never feel like I know what I'm doing.

Again, thank you so much for tackling this one! :D

Dude, I am very lame and clearly did not get it done in the 3 days I had hoped. RL frakked with me as did work, and then this horrible writer's block freeze-up of "who the hell do I think I am writing about this?" !! I am working on it, but... these things should be beta-ed, right? Because, like, I'm floundering and I suck.

oh hon, do not fret! Send me a draft if you're worried (sageness at gmail), but I'm sure it's fine. Remember, the main thing is to get discussion STARTED. You don't have to present every end-all, be-all detail of the subject.

Breathe! It will be okay, I promise! :D

OK, I'm getting my sh*t together... should be able to send you something tonight or in the wee hours.

Finally submitted to "the moderation queue"!! Whew. I don't think I could possibly present every end-all be-all, but I was... rather exhaustive. I think. But organized.

I think.

And now, to bed, for I must get up in like 4.5 hours for my 12 hour shift. At the ER. When it's so nice out, people are shooting each other again.

2008 craft of writing series kick-off! \o/

non-conventional plotlines, flashbacks/flashforwards

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