Harry/Draco Writing Support

'Sup hd_writers.

Have you discovered the joys of not!fic yet?

Want to flex the creativity a little? Got an epic you just can't make happen? Have some flail about a bunny you want to share with the world? Whether you're staring at a blinking cursor wondering where the words are or just looking for a writing exercise to try, the not!fic not!challenge might be just the thing.

What is not!fic? Not!fic is a story you tell without worrying about the actual writing element. It’s brainstorming, in a way. More to the point, it’s the wild fannish flail of brainstorming that might come out in emails to your friends or betas. The focus isn’t on meticulously laying out the scenes so much as it’s blocking them, setting a rough chain of events that form the emotional arc of your story. The emotion is key: action, dialogue, descriptions, and backstory all take a back seat to expressing the critical emotional moments you need to get your story told.

Think of it like sitting a reader down and flat telling them, in your own voice, what your fabulous idea is. Don’t worry about Britpicking or head-hopping or plot development. Don’t be afraid to have long, run-on sentences or emoticon/meme speak; it is entirely possible to understand what it means to have Harry \o/ while Ron /o\. Not appropriate for fic!fic, but totally cool for not!fic.

There are options, is all. Lots and lots of options. Take an idea you have, something that excites you—maybe an epic idea you don’t have the time or energy to write out fully—and tell it in wild flails of not!fic.

What is a not!challenge? Well, challenges in fic comms usually mean prompts of some sort, then response posting. The not!fic not!challenge is basically promptless—write any not!fic in any fandom/not!fandom you like, with any characters/pairings/genres/elements you want—and hd_writers isn’t really a comm for fic-posting, so post wherever you’d like—your own LJ? AO3? ff.net? up to you—and link your post back in the comments to this one. We’ll put a master post up at the end of the month so everyone gets a chance to see all the fabulous not!fic, but it’s a writing/creative exercise and this post will stay open for new links to posts indefinitely. Or post links in the comments of the master list post.

Er, can I have an example of this not!fic thing? Totally. There’s a bunch linked from the FanLore page here—cannot rec I refuse to dignify this with a title enough—and more at the not!fic tag on AO3, though most of those are Bandom. fire_juggler has a post on not!fic here with more recs, and kitty_fic has an example of Albus/Scorpius crossdressing not!fic here. There’s also a bit of H/D not!ficced here, but I'm betting someone(s) in this comm can do a better job of it than I did, because there is some wicked talent in this comm.

Questions? Take it to comments, we’ll see what we can do.

Now go forth and not!fic!