Fan Theorists

[edithdick]

Just a question for the authors on this board. How do you all deal with fans theorizing about how your story while still in progress? If someone were to post a theory on your story that accurately predicted how you intended the plot to go, would you continue on, proving the fan correct or change direction?

[clockspinning]

My best suggestion continue writing the story. Either they find out if it were right/wrong or it is irrelevant to the story, as some details tend to be.

[Mick Gesitt]

I think this topic would be better suited for the General Discussions thread.

And while I haven't personally written anything on *this* board, I've read and watched enough media to feel like I can comment on the topic.

A story is about the journey not the destination. The readers on the board are fairly well versed when it come to the ENF genre so maybe some readers will be able to accurately predict how things will end. But the only person who knows every twist and turn that a tale will take is the one writing it - and sometimes even THEY don't fully know as random inspiration can strike at any time.

Prequel movies are a prime example of journey versus destination. Star Wars episodes I to III, The Hobbit movies, Fantastic Beasts...these are multi-movie franchises that are all heading toward the fixed point established at the start of A New Hope, Fellowship of the Ring, and Sorcerer's Stone. But the whole appeal to those movies is that you get to learn about new/old characters, expand upon the lore of the world, and see what it took to get to that established point.

If you start writing with your only intent being to be subversive then you get season eight of Game of Thrones. You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who will openly admit to liking the final season of Game of Thrones. They tried too hard to be subversive and the end result was a bad ending. Meanwhile, there's a fair bit of interest in the prequel series House of the Dragon that is currently in the works and will feature a cast where the vast majority are dead at the start of season 1 of Game of Thrones. But again, the whole appeal is learning the story behind these old characters and seeing what it took to get to the point at the start of GoT.

So yeah, it's the journey not the destination. Write the story as you envisioned it. There will be loads of readers that will enjoy the ride. And when its over, there'll be the know-it-all fan theorist(s) who get(s) to feel their desired rush when they cry out "Ha! Called it!"

[DrWhoFanJ]

I can’t help but notice that this thread was started just 34 minutes after I just did exactly that thing in this very section. Was I the (or at least a) trigger, or was that purely a coincidence?

[CaughtOfLore]

Great question!

I never like to majorly change direction based on a theory, right or wrong. Usually I write a story with a series of defined points I want to hit, and derailing can sometimes be hard to undo if you don't like where an unplanned detour leads you. I have one story that I allowed myself to be more fluid with as I was writing it, and while I love so much about where it went, I ended up writing myself into a corner and have been unsatisfied with what I end up typing out whenever I try coming back to it. I still have an end in mind that I want to get to, but getting there would have been so much more elegant if I'd stuck even just a little closer to the path a few chapters prior.

It was mentioned in an interview that whenever fans of the TV show "Lost" would predict something the writers had planned down the line and posted it online, the writers would abandon their original plan and come up with something else (whenever it was far enough down the line to do so). The end goal was to keep the show constantly surprising. And we all know how that show turned out.

With that in mind, I generally don't allow comments to sway what I have planned for a story. Conversely, if I'm reading someone else's story and then find myself imagining where it is headed next, it means I'm invested in the story. Even if I turn out to have correctly guessed where a story is headed (and this particularly applies to erotica) it can be pretty fun to have those events unfold how you hoped they would.

I love when people make predictions about my stories. I just hope they don't mind if they're right or wrong!

And if you want to eliminate speculation or predictions altogether, you can also just write a full story beforehand and post it all at once.

[edithdick]

I was just trying to gage the consensus on the board. I’ve heard of authors who actively read fan pages so they can stay ahead of the theories and make their final product original. It’s even been suggested that the Rick and Morty writers changed the plot line when a fan discovered a consistent inconsistency in one of their multi-episode story arcs. Check out “the ticket” theory for more info.

But, since this board is all about feedback, I guess theorize away! I love the interaction.

[CaughtOfLore]

Hmm.

Well... The funniest thing just happened...

The very next thread I checked after giving my two cents here was the thread for my current WIP story, and the latest comment was a near-perfect prediction of how I've been planning my story to end.

So.... can I change my answer?

It's the strangest thing. I've had people predict stuff in my stories before and it's always felt fun to know I'm going down a track people will enjoy.

But now I'm kind of faced with writing the same thing that has already been said in the thread, just in a more drawn-out way.

And no disrespect to the reader in question - there was obviously no ill intent with their prediction, and besides, I clearly like the way they think! But I do have to admit it's knocked the wind out of my sails a little. I really have got a kick out of seeing accurate predictions about things in my stories in the past, but apparently someone predicting the end game and the steps leading up to it, where other readers will read it before the actual ending... I don't know. For all intents and purposes, the ending's there on the thread now, and I don't feel like I'd be adding enough to justify spending the time writing it. Maybe I should just move on to a new story?

[edithdick]

I don't know. For all intents and purposes, the ending's there on the thread now, and I don't feel like I'd be adding enough to justify spending the time writing it. Maybe I should just move on to a new story?

This is a writer’s dilemma. The fact that your story has gained so much attention that it is developing a fan base should encourage you to complete the story. How you finish is up to you, but please don’t quit.

Somehow it feels like it would be better if there was a separate theory thread, so the answer doesn’t show up in the same place as the story.

[Dormouse]

I haven't posted any stories here, but I have on other boards. As it happens, I can't post a story in instalments as I like to go back and polish the story before posting anything. When I start to write a story I have a good idea as to how it will end and just have to fill in the details in the middle. This means the story is all fully written before I've posted anything.

This was just as well on the most recent story I posted on the Naked Fiction Storyboard, where I fell ill halfway through writing it and it took me a year to complete. (And I hate it when people start posting a story and lose interest after a couple of instalments.)

[DrWhoFanJ]

I can’t help but notice that this thread was started just 34 minutes after I just did exactly that thing in this very section. Was I the (or at least a) trigger, or was that purely a coincidence?

I have found this to be a very supportive community. Trigger or not, I wouldn't take it personally or let it keep you from posting relevant, positive, and supportive comments.

I simply meant “trigger” in the sense of “something that causes something else to happen” rather than the newer meaning where the “something else” is specifically a negative emotion, but thank you for the kind words.