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I'm sure this kind of thread has been posted time and time again (I'd be genuinely surprised if it hadn't); so to those who are tired of it, I express my deepest apologies as well as a plea-- don't shoot!
I have a bit of a problem... I keep avoiding putting down any concrete information about my storyline as it's forming in my head. I know I need to, because if I don't, I'll lose many of the details I'm coming up with. But the moment I start putting actual words down feelings of inadequacy, incompetence, and worst of all, limitation come creeping into my head.
How do you guys deal with this sort of thing? Is it simply a matter of bad timing? Should I wait until I have more of the world creation in place before I start writing down character and storyline information? Or should I do everything at once, as it comes to me? (As yet, I've figured out only a little of everything, in about equal doses.) Do any of you ever feel limited by what you actually put down on paper, and if so, how do you cope?
Thanks for any and all thoughts on this, Shasta
[This message has been edited by DragynGide (edited September 26, 2003).]
posted
Your storyline must proceed from the characters and their environment. You shouldn't be thinking up things for your characters to do at all.
Here is what I suggest. Whenever you have an neat idea for an action as part of your storyline, write down the character attributes and environmental conditions that will lead to that action. After a short time, your ideas about "neat things that could happen" will have generated a great deal of the characterization and milieu that is required to begin telling the story...with a firm foundation.
You will be less likely to spend all your time wondering why your characters are doing things that seem unrealistic in their situation, and you'll start having them do things that proceed from their character and the environment. Better yet, you won't have to think of cool things for them to do, they'll do cool things on their own.
As for putting things down on paper, just don't bother it if makes you feel "overcommitted" or anthing. Just do it on your computer.
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Your question reminds me of “which came first – the chicken or the egg?”
I agree with Survivor; your story will flow from the characters and environment you create – absolutely and without a doubt.
You cite feelings of inadequacy, incompetence and limitations. I think these are normal feelings for anyone “baring” themselves via their creative work. I had these same feelings when I first started writing to be published (and okay, I’ll admit, I still do). I think once you define what it is you want to do with your writing you’ll learn to let go of these feelings/thoughts.
I’m still struggling with “world creation” myself as it relates to creating a fantasy, but beginnings have always been hard for me – beginning a story idea, beginning a character bio, beginning a chapter, beginning a subplot, etc. You just have to write – and think – your way beyond these hurdles. The more you write (and read and think), the more you’ll know how to write and what to write and what not to write. You’ll develop a confidence, and from that will come a confident “voice,” both in your mind and in your work.
In closing, I just want to throw out the idea of using a voice recorder to capture some of your thoughts. If putting things to blank paper or screen puts a damper on your creative process, this might help.
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you may think that your problem is strange... but Terry Brooks sits down and thinks out his entire story - characters and all - before putting anything on paper. He doesn't even jot down notes, just keep everything mulling over in his head until he sits down and starts writing the story. So, I wouldn't worry about this being a bad thing, or anything that you need to worry about - unless of course you have a memory like a sieve, in which case, you might want to consider something else.
All writers work on their stories in different ways. A prime example of this is the notion that one MUST HAVE an outline... there are some writers who swear by them, and others who have no idea what an outline even is. There are still others who when you read them you think "it would be nice if the person had done an outline, maybe then the story would flow better," and some authors who have tried and tried but can't conform to using one, because it doesn't work with their writing. - by the way Terry Brooks also swears by outlines.
If you can keep everything on your head, then do. If you think you are missing stuff, then either writing down how you want the story to move in an outline form... since you have already got most of it in your head, and that might help so that you dont forget something that you felt was vital when you started, but it wouldn't happen until later in the story. Another idea is to write up good character descriptions/backgrounds before you start in addition to a good background (a few pages) of the world in which your story is set in.
As far as feelings of inadequacy, incompetence and limitations - "I would say, welcome to being a writer." not only do I feel them, but from talking to other writers at Maui, they don't seem to go away really.
[This message has been edited by mags (edited September 28, 2003).]
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"Your storyline must proceed from the characters and their environment. You shouldn't be thinking up things for your characters to do at all."
I disagree somewhat with this statement. Most of my stories, and many of the stories I am drawn to are about what is happening, not who it is happening to. The characters are, OBVIOUSLY, what the story is about, but it is often what is happening to or about or with them that makes the story in the first place. I try to get down as much of what is happening as I can. I often find out about the character AFTER I see them doing things that don't make sense. I write about it, what came before and after, and then their "character" starts to come out and what they did that got me excited to begin with starts to make sense. I hope some of this makes sense. I just think that writing anything and everything I can about a story is important, regardless of which came first (the character or the action...chicken or the egg??). See Michael Crichton if you are interested in lots of examples of actions first, characters second.
I think it is ok for you to feel inadequate and unsure about stories as they are developing. I have yet to meet anyone who writes complete stories with no changes the first time out. The more you write down, the more you will remember what got you excited about the idea to begin with, and the more material you will have to work with down the road. Much of it may get tossed, or added in somewhere else, or just left out, whatever. I find it most advantageous to write out what got me excited about an idea to begin with and let the details (character, millieu, motives, whatever) iron themselves out as the story develops.
But then again, everyone goes about it differently. Try different things and you will find what works for YOU.
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So...events or characters first? I suppose that depnds upon what kind of story you are writing. It is not a chicken or the egg question at all, because it does have an answer. If you are writing a character story your characters are of primary importance and the things they do should flow from their personality. If you are writing an event story tthen the event you have in mind needs to be of primary importance and you should create the characters based on who needs to be involved in these events. If you are writing a millieu story then the world is what you care about and both characters and events will be driven by the portions of the world you wish to show. Finally, idea stories are driven by the ideas. Your character, milliue, and event will be driven by your revalation of the idea.
Back to original questions...inadequacies, what if you change things...who cares if you change things! Nothing in a story is sacred. Hearing that helped me a lot in my writing. We do not write on stone tablets or even typewriters anymore. Create a new file or deleting stuff from the old one is as easy as hitting a few buttons. Nothing is sacred. Tell that to youself even as you write down the ideas you currently have. Nothing is sacred, if I don't like it later, I can change it. Your story might end up having absolutely nothing to do with your first idea when you finish with it, but if you let yourself go it'll be great.
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Well, beside swearing and cursing in literature a culture of consumerism is a four letter word: More. How convenient if everyone feels inadequate. Inadequacy is cultural fabric babble where no one has enough or is good enough for almost anything. Better go get more, better do more, better have more because you don't have it now. Incompetence and limitation just support inadequacy.
Stop beating yourself up. You seem to have preconveived ideas about how a book must be written.
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Write however you want. Everyone does it different to the same end. Yes some ways may seem to work better than others.
I start with a scene--no idea where it is going to go--yes ideas have fizzled that way--but for the most part all my finished novels (not published yet)(but i do have an agent) were started that way. From a sentence, a character's words, or a scene.
You write how it works for you and go from there. If an idea gets stuck, drop it and go on to the next, you can come back to it.
quote:the moment I start putting actual words down feelings of inadequacy, incompetence, and worst of all, limitation come creeping into my head.
So while you're putting actual words down, Shasta, write about feelings of inadequacy, incompetence, and limitation. (As long as you're writing, you're doing at least one thing right.)
I've discovered a related problem, courtesy of my own feelings of inadequacy, etc. (Bring out the beer, folks, and let's all have a good cry.) While I've finished book one of a probable three-part set, I'm worried I won't be able to complete the next, much less the third. Yet, like Shawn, I wrote the first one with basically only a scene somewhere in the middle in mind. Finished the whole thing in nine months. (I'll try hard not to mention the obvious imagery. ) First draft, that is -- have been rewriting for over a year. With the second, and the third to a lesser degree, I have some definite ideas where the story's supposed to go, so how dare I think I can't do it. But I do. Think I can't. But I know I can. Despite handicaps such as the cobalt blue and grey of the printer that replaced my original one clashing with the almond of my computer. So distracting...so distracting...
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a second book in a series is a whole new animal. I struggled with the second book in my series for a year--because I had this concret idea of where it should go and how it should start etc etc, only when I let that go did the book fly.
I had this fear, big time, that I would not be able to write the second book.
Hmm, well the only thing to do about the printer is to buy a new matching computer. LOL
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<groan> I was so afraid that might be the case -- that knowing where I was going might be a detriment this time. I'll have to latch on to what someone else wrote (this thread?), that nothing is written in stone. I guess you and I are among the free-spirited writers, Shawn, as opposed to the more methodical outline trackers or -- to me, worse -- fill-in-the-story-questionaire-first writers. To me, that last category would sap all the fun out of writing.
I wonder if writing method has anything to do with the left brain/right brain thing? Back in high school, I had to write term papers way ahead of due date so I could outline the finished product to submit the "proposed" outline.
quote:Finished the whole thing in nine months. (I'll try hard not to mention the obvious imagery. )
In the preface to one of her books, Marion Zimmer Bradley compares writing a novel to a pregnancy. She then states that if this is the case, 'Mists of Avalon' was an elephant.
See, no matter how hard you try, somebody else will do it for you...
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<giggle> Ok, I'll bite. Writing a novel is like a pregnancy because the health of the mother (writing skills) is important.
Writing a novel is like a pregnancy in that, once born, the "baby" must eventually be sent out into the cruel world.
Writing a novel is like a pregnancy because of the discomfort and pain involved, although it is fun to pick out baby clothes (character creation, world-building).
Gee, maybe if I found a surrogate mother/writer, some of my stories would actually get finished...
I was on bedrest the last three months of my twin pregnancy - akin to writer's block? The birth process was successful - maybe there's hope for me after all!
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(As long as you're writing, you're doing at least one thing right.)
) First draft, that is -- have been rewriting for over a year. With the second, and the third to a lesser degree, I have some definite ideas where the story's supposed to go, so how dare I think I can't do it. But I do. Think I can't. But I know I can. Despite handicaps such as the cobalt blue and grey of the printer that replaced my original one clashing with the almond of my computer. So distracting...so distracting...
