I am Ereneth, I just joined the board recently after discovering Ender's Game a couple weeks ago in a book store. I'd say how much I loved it, but you can most likely guess (the fact that I'm posting on Orson Scott Card's message board is a big hint).
Oh, and deepest apologies if this isn't the right forum for this.
Anyway,
I've had the workings of a story in my head for 3 years; and it's still a place my mind goes to often to frollick and fix any flaws in the plot. I have attempted multiple drafts, most of which end up deleted within a matter of days.
But what I'm trying to get at is, I think I've bitten off more than I can chew. I know I must sound insane, but I think I've created an epic to grand for me to attempt at this point in time. It started as a nice contained yarn, a short story. But then I began to mess around with characters, themes, interactions, conflicts, and so on. Now it is a grueling journey with 3 story lines and 10 main characters that plays out over 2 and a half years!...I think I may have gotten in over my head.
Also, it is a very mature story, and while I can play it out well in my mind, I'm afraid that it will lose it's power if I try putting on paper at this time. It's gotten out of my control, the events seem to ask questions I can't answer.
I have other stories floating around in my brain, perhaps I should try one of them. They are alot more contained. They could be tackled with my current skill, which, despite however much talent I may have, isn't professional by any means (I'm only 16)
Or should I take the plunge despite the reasons listed above? Go ahead and type out a rough draft and not can it 20 pages in? See where it goes (I've made samples in the last few months, but not an actual draft).
People who have seen outlines say it's amazing, but would it still be like that if I tried it with my limited 'palate' of writing ability?
Your thoughts are greatly appriciated-
-Ereneth
P.S. Sorry for lengthy post
P.P.S. Just as a little insignificant nugget of info, Ereneth is one of the characters is the story. One of my favorites, too. Posts: 15 | Registered: Jun 2006
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Have you checked out the Writer's Workshop area of the website? I haven't always had the best luck with reliability there, but I'm sure you can find some people to bounce ideas off of, and get some feedback on your story.
Without knowing any of the details of your story, I'd tell you to wait, keep planning and fleshing it out, and maybe as ssasse suggested, write some short stories in the universe you've created to give your characters some background, and to allow you to play with the tone and style you want before committing to something more. Again, without specifics, or reading anything of yours, I'd say that if this is your big, epic, grand idea, you might want to wait a bit longer before tackling it. Chances are your writing probably still has years to go before it will mature to what you want before you grapple with a project of that size.
I sympathize, I have my own story, just as epic, that I've wanted to write for four or five years, and I'm 22 now, and still feel like I'm not fully ready to go at it. Instead I spend my free time expanding on the characters, expanding on the plot, always correcting and fixing it, and dabbling in short stories. I think that one day when I finally do sit down to write it, it'll have the kind of depth and clarity that I've always imagined it having.
Take your time, you're only 16 and there's no rush to finish it. It took JK Rowling YEARS of planning before she wrote Harry Potter. She said she had notebooks and boxes full of background material before she ever put pen to paper on the books themselves.
The best thing you can do for yourself is to read a lot. See what works. She what writers do that you hate. Then do the things you like and avoid the things you don't. You'll still make mistakes, but they'll be your mistakes.
Second, you'll have to find the story hiding in all that epic. For example, people read the Hobbit or the Lord of the Rings for fun. Only serious Tolkein buffs bother with the Silmarillion.
Here's another example. OSC could have told us a lot of stories about Battle School. We could have learned about the man who created the idea. Or the construction crew that built it. We could have followed the teachers who screwed up with the first few batches of launchies and did everything wrong.
But OSC gave us the story with the biggest conflict. What's meeting a deadline or being embarressed by your class next to navigating a system with impossible demands and ever changing rules all so you can feel the weight of playing humanity's savior pressing in on you? Ender had problems, and that's why he got the story.
Give us the big story first. You can always go back and tell more stories later. Check out Weis and Hickman's Dragons of Summer Flame. They've got a whole Chaos War series that goes on during that book. The book is a complete story, the other books could stand alone, but all together they tell one enormous story.
Posts: 2283 | Registered: Dec 2003
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posted
Thank you all for the wonderful advice. I am currently attempting a back story for my female protaganist's father. She is in the story, but she is only 8 years old. It is about how her father realises (after his wife died the year before and he just almost died) that he has to get his daughter out of this place. It's pretty much about their harrowing journey south. It's a nice, simple adventure story that I can handle with my current skills. Even though she isn't the spotlight characte, I will hint that there si something special about her. That will lay some nice ground work for the epic-from-hell when I get around to writing it.
I have two sci-fi things I could work on, as well, but they are not nearly as fleshed out as the ones that take place in my medieval world.
I would post exact names and plots for both tales, but I've had some people, even some fo my friends, try and steal them from me.
posted
For me, it helps to keep re-writing and re-writing my ideas for the story. On each new copy, scene, list of ideas, facts, etc., things are added or stripped away until the story coalesces.
More arduously, you could write the story not worrying how it turns out, then write it again and again until it fits your vision. Same thing, really, onl you begin with a complete story rather than fragmented ideas.
quote:People who have seen outlines say it's amazing, but would it still be like that if I tried it with my limited 'palate' of writing ability?
I suppose the major problem would be getting to a point when the story is only in your head and you feel like if you let it out, you're not doing it justice, so you just don't write it at all and you die with an unwritten story in your head. End of story.
Don't let yourself get to that point. In your head, it's just a dream or a memory. On paper, it's a story.
IMO, the only way to really learn how to write is to write. As you write, you get better- or more able to see what your mistakes are. If you're sixteen, you have plenty of time to perfect your writing through this and other stories. Your story will not get written unless you write it, and I think that in many cases the only way to write it is to actually write.
I say go for it. Then go for it again. As you get older and more practiced, your writing will improve.
(And don't be afraid of deleting, especially years down the line. Revision is your friend.)
Posts: 8473 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
You're not doing yourself any favors by waiting to write it. It takes a certain amount of bad writing before you ever get a grasp on what it takes to put together a good story.
By waiting, you only postpone the age at which you will be ready to write the story you want to write.
Or, what Teshi said -- write it, write it, and write it again.
Posts: 5462 | Registered: Apr 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Teshi: For me, it helps to keep re-writing and re-writing my ideas for the story. On each new copy, scene, list of ideas, facts, etc., things are added or stripped away until the story coalesces.
More arduously, you could write the story not worrying how it turns out, then write it again and again until it fits your vision. Same thing, really, onl you begin with a complete story rather than fragmented ideas.
I suppose the major problem would be getting to a point when the story is only in your head and you feel like if you let it out, you're not doing it justice, so you just don't write it at all and you die with an unwritten story in your head. End of story.
Don't let yourself get to that point. In your head, it's just a dream or a memory. On paper, it's a story.
IMO, the only way to really learn how to write is to write. As you write, you get better- or more able to see what your mistakes are. If you're sixteen, you have plenty of time to perfect your writing through this and other stories. Your story will not get written unless you write it, and I think that in many cases the only way to write it is to actually write.
I say go for it. Then go for it again. As you get older and more practiced, your writing will improve.
(And don't be afraid of deleting, especially years down the line. Revision is your friend.)
You're right. It's not as if writing it now means sending a crappy copy of my glorioius concept. I could just write it was a living document, change it, re-do it, most likely with frequent re-writes during college (I hear that you learn the greatest things there). Then in 13 - 15 years of re-writes, I may end up with a real gem. I know two people, one is a liturature tutor, and the other is a published author, maybe they can help me revise.
I will, of course, be my own worst enemy through editing, I have scrapped a story after 60 pages before, just because I thought I'd lost track of some things.
I could work on the smaller stories as well, because it's summer and I have plenty of time...PLENTY of time.
Yup, look for the series called "Etheran", should hit shelves in October of 2023. Posts: 15 | Registered: Jun 2006
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You remind me of me a bit. I started writing a "major story" very young (12)- totally for fun at the time- I'm now on my eighth year of this same story and other related stories. Primarily through these, my writing has improved massively, and I've not been entirely unsucessful writeringly-wise.
I'm always writing a number of stories and ideas at once. In the same way, as you work on this story, you will work on others at the same time, both short and long. Feel free to write what you feel like at the time, while keeping all the others 'on file' in the back of your mind.
I look forward to reading your masterpiece, however far down the line it comes.
posted
It's not a bad idea to write short stories about details which occur at different points in the plot. This will help you flesh out the story, and will give you lots of practice writing.
Posts: 3950 | Registered: Mar 2006
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quote:Originally posted by AvidReader: Only serious Tolkein buffs bother with the Silmarillion.
Aw! But the Silmarillion is awesome! Everyone should read it.
If Silmarillion readers are "serious Tolkein buffs" then what are the people who read the Unfinished Tales and the Histories of Middle Earth?
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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quote:Originally posted by AvidReader: Only serious Tolkein buffs bother with the Silmarillion.
Aw! But the Silmarillion is awesome! Everyone should read it.
If Silmarillion readers are "serious Tolkein buffs" then what are the people who read the Unfinished Tales and the Histories of Middle Earth?
I've taken a couple shots at it, never got too far, though. I may try is again...when I'm done with Speaker for the Dead. If I ever get a state of the art computer system, I want it to be like Jane. Posts: 15 | Registered: Jun 2006
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