posted
is that I completely work out a story in my head, but it's not a story so much as a series of images. With each image I "know" what led up to it and what follows it.
It's when I start trying to find words that match that I realize it sounds stupid. There may be no words that describe what I want to show or they may not fit together as the stream of thoughts do. Or maybe the words provoke different images to other people.
I think that's my problem now. I have some good stories in my head, but when they get to paper they sound like a 2nd grader is writing them.
I don't even know why I am writing this, maybe just to air it out. I have to slow down my thoughts to put them "on paper".
posted
Don't get discouraged - I start with images myself, and often have no clearly discernable plot or direction. All the advice I have seen (for people like us) says to write it all out as it comes to you - don't worry about word choice, POV, or anything else. This is your first draft. DON'T worry about sounding stupid.
Once you have it all down, you can go back and fill in missing details, correct inconsistencies and make it "sound intelligent").
Be comfortable with how your mind works and you will find your own way...
[This message has been edited by NoTimeToThink (edited December 05, 2007).]
posted
I had that problem early on. The first words on the page had nothing to do with the story and I could not solve it.
The best thing is to get as much of it on paper, as quickly as possible,
I don't do it this way now, but I started by just listing in incomplete sentances usually (or as an outline), the key scenes I needed to visit in the story. When it came to writing, I would then expand those sentances into paragraphs, explain what happened before and after, and then develop connections for the scenes.
the main thing is to get stuff written, otherwise it is just fantasizing.
I should note that I have an online character of a three year old baby girl dragon that is the size of a cat. When I started writing stories about her, her personality changed dramatically in the stories. ON line, she is a brat, but in the stories, she has different personality. Expect this kind of change from your imagination and what ends up on paper.
Woody Allen said that he would come up with a brilliant idea. He would write it down and it would lose something. He then turned it into a script and it would lose even more. He would then film the idea, and it was so far from his great idea that he really should make it, but he had spent so much money he could not afford it. Keep that in mind with your work.
posted
I've just done exactly that with my entry for the flash fiction contest. I have a series of images in mind and on paper it's flat, way too descriptive, little action.
(In fact, what I thought was first draft is back story.)
For the next draft I'm planning on introducing one or two extra characters to enable me to show the images in my mind through their actions, thoughts and words.
posted
I usually (but not invariably) get some idea or vivid scene, then work back and forth filling in what happened before and what happened after. All this takes place in my head---when I write it down, I usually (but not invariably) start at the beginning and write to the end.
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posted
"I have some good stories in my head, but when they get to paper they sound like a 2nd grader is writing them."
I would put money on it that nearly every author (published and unpublished] in the world can relate to your frustration. I guess you just have to write it as well as you can, send it out, and hope nobody else agrees that it sounds like the scribblings of a second-grader.
[This message has been edited by wetwilly (edited December 05, 2007).]
posted
Oh, yeah. Save for the occasional phrase, the actual words I write are decided on when I start typing.
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posted
Sakubun, if you see your stories as images (I do too - mine are like movie scenes), then one way I've found useful to make the story flow as I'm writing it is to, BEFORE I start writing, get inside one character's head in that scene and actually let him act out the scene, so I get it from his POV. I see the other characters' reactions, get a better feel for each person's voice and way of moving, etc., by doing this for some key scenes. Then when I start writing, it just flows out in pretty close to polished form the first time through. I usually go back through the story lots of times, of course, but those reviews usually end up adding more detail, changing a word here and there (I tend to use a few words way too often, so that's one of the things I try to clean up).
When you're alone, or when you're falling asleep, or when you wake up in the middle of the night, get inside somebody's head in one of your scenes and just let them take over - I get a lot of scene or story problems worked out this way. If you're alone, you can even act out the scene as if you're the character - that really helps if you have trouble seeing how to move him around in a scene (so you can choreograph fights or whatever).
I suggest doing this when you're alone so your family doesn't think you've lost your mind, sitting there talking to yourself, LOL!
posted
If your words don't fit together as your stream of thought does, you should do an outline of the story that's forming in your head.
I have found it helps to write down the ideas and then arrange them in a sort of timeline that shows what happens when. It's better to have it down on paper (large sheets of paper) than in your head as then events start to sort out and align themselves or rather you can arrange them better and then you start to write the story.
posted
i think in nothing but pictors so finding the right word for a pictor is hard.
now multiply that by 15trillion times and i get a chapter dune. mulitply 1 chapter by 48???????????trillion and somthing pictors subtract the 20 chapters compleated and need to finsh 20something chapters book 1 of 7 will be compleat.
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