Is it mostly the characters themselves you feel reluctant to mess with, or everything?
I had a fanfic like that once, and how I got past it was looking for repeated elements and trying to get rid of the repetition or make it purposeful. Specifically (since I'm not sure if that made sense or not), it was a Snape during the Death Eaters era fic, and I was very attached to my core character development, but the story wasn't working overall. 80% of the scenes were set in either Snape's potions lab or the entryway of Malfoy Manor, so I started by moving scenes to other locations, both individual sets within the major location (a study, library, gardens etc) and other locations when possible. Then when it still felt monotonous, I tried to give the outdoor scenes different weather conditions, and the indoor scenes different lighting. Eventually, seeing how much those minor detail changes improved the story let me break free of my stranglehold on the plot/characters and be willing to bend there some too. (Also, confirmed my pattern - I write character and relationships first and wow is the setting vague and unanchored.)
If it's a story that's too deeply ingrained to forget about, maybe something like that might be worth a try? Sharing my story in case it helps, but idk if our processes are similar.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2013-06-13 07:35 am (UTC)Is it mostly the characters themselves you feel reluctant to mess with, or everything?
I had a fanfic like that once, and how I got past it was looking for repeated elements and trying to get rid of the repetition or make it purposeful. Specifically (since I'm not sure if that made sense or not), it was a Snape during the Death Eaters era fic, and I was very attached to my core character development, but the story wasn't working overall. 80% of the scenes were set in either Snape's potions lab or the entryway of Malfoy Manor, so I started by moving scenes to other locations, both individual sets within the major location (a study, library, gardens etc) and other locations when possible. Then when it still felt monotonous, I tried to give the outdoor scenes different weather conditions, and the indoor scenes different lighting. Eventually, seeing how much those minor detail changes improved the story let me break free of my stranglehold on the plot/characters and be willing to bend there some too. (Also, confirmed my pattern - I write character and relationships first and wow is the setting vague and unanchored.)
If it's a story that's too deeply ingrained to forget about, maybe something like that might be worth a try? Sharing my story in case it helps, but idk if our processes are similar.