Hatrack River Writers Workshop: Slobbing Flesh on the Bones...

This is topic Slobbing Flesh on the Bones... in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
http://www.hatrack.com/ubb/writers/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=001391

Posted by Phanto (Member # 1619) on :

Anyway, several of my recent stories have received almost the exact same comment: "The story feel's a little bare-bonish."

Fair enough. But still, I don't see how I can get myself over this problem. Does anyone have any good writing exercises or advice?

Thanks.

Posted by EricJamesStone (Member # 1681) on :

I had that problem; all my stories were very short, and were almost strictly plot development.

My more recent stories are more rounded, although I still often have to go back and add detail.

What did I do in order to make my stories more well-rounded? I quit writing stories for over a decade, and when I started writing again, my stories were better.

I don't suggest that as a course of action. (Interesting thing, though: Many of this year's Writers of the Future workshop participants had given up writing for years before coming back to it.)

Posted by Robyn_Hood (Member # 2083) on :

Since I read one of your recent stories, I can make this observation: you used a lot of dialogue with a small ratio of exposition.

Something you could try doing is writing without using dialogue. Pick a scene and write it without recording any (or at least very little) conversation. How is it different from the version with more dialogue? How can you bring the two versions together?

Also, you didn't really develop the characters to a point where I felt involved with them. It felt a bit stilted or emotionally removed.

Maybe try writing character biographies. Who were they before the story started? What did they do? Who/what do they care about? What happens after the story is over? Have they changed? How do they live out their life? What are their motivations for things? Everyone, fictional or real, is a sum of their parts. How can you encorporate what makes them who they are into your story?

Just some thoughts, ideas. I'm still working on some comments for you

Posted by Phanto (Member # 1619) on :

Wow, that is a powerful idea; writing with much less dialog would really force me to change things around. Which is, of course, why it's such a powerful idea

I'll also try the biography idea. After all, the firmer vision of the character I see in my head, the more I'll have to place on paper.