Cinderello & Writing Ruminations

[mrsluigivargas]

So I had a fic that I wrote in 2015. It was Cinderella but with Sonic the Hedgehog characters (Sonic is Cinderella, Amy is the prince, etc.). I started in 2015, and I've finally uploaded the second to last chapter just a few days ago! So that's exciting. The fic has definitely gone through some downsizing so that I could actually have a chance of finishing it. 

 

I think something I struggled with the most is like, focusing on too much detail? It was a problem with other drafts of stuff I'm working on too, where I try to fit, like, half a character arc in one line of dialogue when I really don’t need to.

 

For example, in my notes for A Short Rest in Shangri-Spa I have this:

But the final version is this:

And this bit:

Isn't even in the fic at all!

I tend to go pretty deep into the "why would this character do this"/"what are they thinking when they do this" aspect of things, but the reader…doesn’t really need to know every detail of that, I think. So then its like "OK, exactly how much of this should shine through this dialogue", but I want al of it but then nothing flows right if I keep all of it but then I have to figure out how much I can get rid of and still keep the underlying sentiments, and…yeah. I'm literally having this exact problem with a different fic and it sucks.

 

Also I think I'm also a bit of a perfectionist, lmao. I've gotta have the perfect word choice™, in particular. Honestly, that’s what made updating this story so interesting, because yeah I could quibble over whether a smile is tight or regal or detached or vacant for a day and a half, but this is 2015 writing! 2015-me was (presumably) less good at writing than I am now! So I could just let myself not worry about the words as much, because the standards are a bit lower. Also it's a Cinderella retelling, so I can stick to surface level stuff because the plot beats and structure are a bit more important.

 

(I'm still happy with what I wrote though)

 

Now I just need to write the last chapter, but I think I'm going to hold off on that because I still have to write my PMTOK stuff, lol. And maybe some other Kamek-related stuff too; I got a couple of Ideas a week or so ago… ^_^