posted
You ever have a story turn out not quite the way you'd intended it?
Case in point: I set an assignment for myself to try and get the creativity well going. I mean, the well's full, but the bucket's broken, if that makes any sense.
So I set the assignment to get myself primed again. It was simple: write a 10K story without a science fiction or fantasy element. Simple, right?
Uh, no.
Two pages in, and I was already planning to introduce vampires, demons, and an unholy war between heaven and hell. And somewhere in the midst, a detective. Ha!
Not only that, but it didn't even go that way.
Is...does this strike anyone as strange? Does it ever happen to you? Any theories on why?
Every time this happens, I say that the story just "didn't go that way", but I don't know why it happens.
posted
Read the Dark Tower VI by Stephen King (although it's better to read the other five first).
Seriously though, yeah it happens to me quite often. Except not at genre smashing as it seems to happen to you. The most recent time was actually while I was writing down a plot I had come up with for a story. As I was writing it down I suddenly realized that my protagonist had basically become "the" villan of my story because somebody screwed him over.
I also once had a main character smash in an antagonist's brain about 2/3 of the way through what I thought would be the story, then I just looked up and realized that I was very much done with the story (and I stand by that, the other ending was stupid).
The end of that tangent.
Jon
[This message has been edited by bladeofwords (edited August 01, 2004).]
posted
Mmm, the wonders of writing in flow. I have the same experience, although a tad different. I'm a major outliner (don't stake me! please!) and I usually wind up knowing the ending-- and sticking to it, for the most part. But the details, what comes in the middle... oh man. I've had characters come in out of nowhere and start grabbing pieces of the plot and one on one scenes with the main character. I've had a character randomly start describing a murder he committed-- a murder I didn't even know about until he started talking, and one that subsequently became a major part of the plot. I had two characters who became romantially involved-- right before they mentioned they were brother and sister. (That one was squicky in extremis.) I've been typing, going along merrily, and then looked down and said "What? 'That was when the zombies attacked?' But that means maybe the bad guys are working with the zombies! I didn't know that! And wait, that makes sense..." I've read through on edits and come across whole sections of dialogue I plain *don't remember writing*. Don't remember, period.
Writing in flow? Being possessed? You decide... but I have to say, the stuff my subconcious throws up in the moment when I've really started flowing on something is a blast. (When it doesn't involve incest, that is. That one still has me wigged.)
posted
I've had many times when writing when the story needs to change becasue the characters demand it.
I make the characters up, but they develope lives of their own and then I have to change my plans to please them.
My current project had one character designed from the beginning to be the primary character, but even in the planning stages I changed that. What surprised me was that another character was intended as a background character, but was developed well enough that he demanded a bigger role and is now the co-star.
posted
It even happens to the pros. I've been watching on CJ Cherryh's website because she is keeping an ongoing journal while she writes a new novel. Most of the entries are about ice skating, but sometimes little gems of information come peeking through. One of those has to do with characters having a mind of their own and refusing to do what you want them to. It is also quite educational to watch the daily word count.
Posts: 497 | Registered: Jun 2004
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posted
I've been looking for the source, and then realized that I heard it on the radio. Anyway, I heard an interview with an author (can't remember who) and the interviewer asked her if she ever had character's do something unexpected. She said, "All the time." T hen the interviewer said, "Have they ever refused to do something that you needed to them to do for the plot?" She said, "No. I just change them. Look. They are there to do a job, and if they won't do it, I fire them."
posted
Sometimes I just start writing and I think it's going somewhere and I stop and read what I wrote thinking, How could I write such mindless drivel?
Usually I'll work backwards and find the point where the tangent should have ended and try to go down a different path, or at least go down the same path a different way.
I'm a bit curious why you specifically want to stay away from a spec fic story. If the goal is to have the creative juices flow, why not just go where it takes you?
posted
I think I get locked into a story/pissed at my character when they break something, whenever I am writing the story for something other than the story's sake. If I am trying to get some moral across or make a statement then I end up trying to force characters into doing things they don't want to do. That's just my experience. If I'm just writing a story then it shifts pretty naturally into places I'm not expecting and I'm totally cool with it. (Happened this morning actually, the main character got attacked by something much earlier in the plot than I was expecting him to and I think it's cooler this way.)
quote:If the goal is to have the creative juices flow, why not just go where it takes you?
Because every piece of fiction I've ever written had a sci-fi/fantasy element to it, unless so directed by a creative writing teacher, and I wanted to see how the other half did it. I was experimenting, only to find out that my mind just won't let me be normal. *shrug*
posted
I'm pretty new to writing, but already I've found that my absolute favorite part of the process is when something crazy happens without my conscious involvement. The best part is when it FITS, and even more, when it does a lot of good for the story or the characters. (An almost completely insignificant character just revealed to me that long ago he had planted the seeds for a major coup de etat, without any real agenda or plan. How much fun! And it's so relevant to the rest of my story!!) I think we have a better idea of what's going on and who we're writing about than our conscious minds allow us to see. When a tangent shows up (especially if it works), it's just that knowledge coming out into the writing. It's nice to have that kind of mechanism helping us out, as long as we can control it when it needs to be controlled!
Posts: 1041 | Registered: Aug 2004
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