Do you have any tips for someone thinking about participating in Cap-IM BB for the first time in September? I haven’t written any fic beyond 15k and my idea is complicated, so I’m nervous about the event. Any advice you have would be so helpful. You’re one of my favourite writers in the fandom and I admire you a lot. Thank you in advance!

sineala:

Thank you for thinking of me! I’m not actually modding the BB this year, so this is all just coming from my perspective as a participant. With that said, the thing you should know about the Cap-IM BB that makes it great for writers – and different from a lot of other Big Bangs – is that there is no signup deadline other than the draft deadline. Most Big Bangs will have writers sign up months before the drafts are actually due, but the Cap-IM BB does not do this. The deadline this year is September 26, for which you need at least 20,000 words. What you submit should be about 80% of your total word count, and you should be confident that you can finish the story by your posting date.

This means that, if you try and you don’t think you can make it, it is absolutely not a big deal – just don’t turn anything in! You can work on whatever you have later or save it for next year’s Big Bang. I know that sounds like weird advice but I find it kind of relaxing to know, when I’m working on a BB, that I don’t even have to worry about dropping out or not finishing – because right now, you are committed to nothing.

I think if you’ve already written 15k fics, this is a good sign that you can tackle something the length of a Big Bang – because, when you think about it, 10,000 words is not that much more. I mean, yes, it’s nearly twice as long – but I feel like the difference between shorter fic and longer fic is that when you can write a 15k+ story, at that point you have probably figured out how to write a story with some kind of plot that has a beginning, a middle, and an end. So a 25k story is what you already know how to do, but with a few more words in it. Maybe a subplot. It seems intimidating, but you already have the basic structure down. You’ve got this!

I don’t know if you believe in outlining, but I find that for longer stories, it really helps me to have some kind of outline. This doesn’t have to be organized with bullet points, like you learned in school; it can be whatever works best for you. Basically, it probably helps to have some kind of list of what is happening next so you don’t forget it, because it’s hard to keep an entire huge story in your head while writing it. You can change your outline as you go, and you probably will – but it’s good to have something to keep track of your idea.

I write all of my long stories in Scrivener – which costs money, but to me it’s worth it, and I have bought it four times now. Scrivener lets you organize your stories by scene, and you can have associated notes about each scene, and there’s a separate section for keeping track of research. So what I do when I go to write a long story is break it down into scenes and then give each scene its own document in Scrivener, and then put down notes about what I want to happen in each scene. It might not work for you, but it works for me.

Also, it really helps to find someone else you can talk to about your story, a cheerleader or an alpha reader. Find someone who is really excited about the idea of your story existing! Have them help you with your plot! Show them what you’re writing! It’s very motivating to have someone you can show bits of your story to and they can say, “Yes, that’s so great! You need to write more because I want to see what happens next!”

I hope that helps! (I need to get working on my Big Bang; thank you for reminding me!)