Hatrack River Writers Workshop: I wanted to write a short story, I really did...

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Posted by benskia (Member # 2422) on :

But once I got started, all these new ideas and mysteries started popping up. I really dont want to start writing another novel. I already have 1 I keep skipping back to.

I guess I'm going to have to cull a lot of these things & keep on track. Maybe open it up into something bigger at a later date, depending on how well received the short is, if I can make it coherent.

Anybody else have this problem?

Posted by Spaceman (Member # 9240) on :

All the time. Do yourself a favor and outline (or at least sketch) it to get the story idea down in a permanent fshion, then file it until you are ready to work on it.

Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :

It really can be difficult to keep something short story length and make it into a satisfying story rather than simply a narrative. I tend to make the dramatic scale of my short stories comparitively narrow just because I can't develop a full blown conflict in that format.

I don't think that's wrong, though.

Posted by Robyn_Hood (Member # 2083) on :

I actually have the opposite problem. I can't develop a plot that goes beyond 3500 words. I seem to do pretty well focusing on one character in one situation, it doesn't grow beyond that.

[This message has been edited by Robyn_Hood (edited September 26, 2005).]

Posted by benskia (Member # 2422) on :

I think the problem could be due to me keep asking "Why".

I know that OSC recommends this in his 100 questions exercise, or whatever its called.

I think I tend to do this naturally to some extents.

I've got this guy who has a farm & uses all his magic on keeping it going, when the land has stopped being fruitfull. Then I ask -
Why is the land no longer fruitfull and then have to answer that somewhere.
Then I have to ask, why hasn't he got another job instead? and have to answer that.

These are all things that I didn't really intend on being the main focus of the story, but think they need answering for it to be credible.

Posted by punahougirl84 (Member # 1731) on :

The nice thing is, you ask all those questions, but many will just help you understand your characters, your setting, your plot... you don't have to answer all of them IN the story! But they will help you write clearly, such that your work makes sense.

I do understand how stories get longer - my current WIP started as an 800 word craft. It is now around 14K. BUT - I've been working on revising, and found lots of stuff that, while interesting, doesn't advance the story. So I'll be cutting. I'm rewriting the first scene completely, combining others, deleting another...

It's ok to write what you feel you need to get out at the time. Outlining will help you to plan and figure out which "why" answers need including and which don't. As you know, outlines aren't written in anything permanent - they are flexible, even burnable (!) - but they can help you contain your story. I reread my current WIP, outlined what I had written, and that process helped me determine what needed revising, cutting, and adding.

Not everything is meant to be a novel. But if it turns out your story would be a great novel, don't let the fact that you have another in progress stop you - it's ok to have two going, or even more ;-)

Lee

Posted by lehollis (Member # 2883) on :

I have many ideas while I'm working on a project, and not just in writing, too. To me, the best thing to do is write it down, as much as possible, but keep going with your current project.
An idea usually isn't a fully developed story or book. I think you're on the right track asking why, though. Keep asking why. While you're working on your current project, you can go back, ask all sorts of questions and develop those ideas. Hopefully, they'll be fully developed original ideas that can fill an entire story or novel.
A big question to ask is 'what if', take that situation with the farmer and start asking 'what if' questions about what else could happen. Don't forget to make it hard on your main character, think of what could go wrong as the farmer used up all his magic to make things grow.

[This message has been edited by lehollis (edited September 26, 2005).]

Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :

Write what you want. Then cut, cut, and cut. Then revise, revise, and revise. Then cut, cut, and cut again.

Look at it carefully. Be ruthless. If you don't need this scene, this location, this character, cut 'em out.

I've written with outlines and without them. Usually (when I've actually finished something) it beares no resemblance to the final product. I once wrote a story where the end didn't change---but everything between that and the beginning did. My most recent novel (now, alas, some five years done) ran about, oh, forty chapters---and I cut the first eighteen off and revised from that point. (I incorporated a good chunk of the rejected bit further on, much revised.)

Posted by Robyn_Hood (Member # 2083) on :

quote:
I've got this guy who has a farm & uses all his magic on keeping it going, when the land has stopped being fruitfull. Then I ask -
Why is the land no longer fruitfull and then have to answer that somewhere.
Then I have to ask, why hasn't he got another job instead? and have to answer that.
These are all things that I didn't really intend on being the main focus of the story, but think they need answering for it to be credible.

It sounds like part of your issues isn't just that you ask the questions, but how you answer them.

Do you answer the questions in a word? a sentence? a paragraph? a page? a chapter?

Both of the questions you raised could easily be answered in 30 words or less -- both of them...together!

i.e. "Drought had ravaged the land but Joe would not leave -- could not leave. The land was as much a part of him as his hands and feet."

[This message has been edited by Robyn_Hood (edited September 26, 2005).]

Posted by djvdakota (Member # 2002) on :

quote:
These are all things that I didn't really intend on being the main focus of the story, but think they need answering for it to be credible.

Well, sure, but like Robyn Hood said, a sentence or two will do in order to gain your credibility. Don't sweat those answers beyond that because when you do you expand into situations that demand importance in the story.

Try this:
1. Focus on one main character with a maximum of three secondary characters. Everyone else will be relegated to nameless masses if you need them.
2. Focus on a single issue or conflict that you intend to resolve in the story. Despite the temptation to do so, don't bring in any other issues or conflicts. Keep it simple.

Last Christmas I wrote a short that kept demanding to be a novel. I kept having new characters and situations assert themselves all over the place, but I didn't have time to write a novel before Christmas (I wanted to send it out in lieu of a Christmas card to all my close friends and family). So I had to step back and start analyzing every single named character and every single identifiable conflict situation and decide what was needed to make the story work and what was only adding to the size of the story. It was an amazing exercise.

In fact, I might even recommend reading a novelette or two and determining which characters/situations you might be able to remove in order to shorten it. Might be a good exercise. I may have to try it myself.

Posted by Sariel (Member # 2907) on :

I started a thread called "Brevity" which asks pretty much the same questions... I start out with these ideas that I want to turn into short stories, but by the time I feel confident enough to put pen to paper, the idea has grown too big for a short story.

With my latest WIP, it seems to me on my last re-read that I spend a lot of time exploring the inner workings of the characters, because I love really fleshed out, 3D people in my stories.