posted
Kind of like 1st world problems but more literary. Not exactly something you're seeking help with, just a problem you encounter as a writer.
For instance, I recently settled on a title that I actually liked for a short I've been struggling with. Then I realized how to fix a huge chunk of the problems I had been having with the story, but now the title doesn't really make sense.
I guess I'll tuck it away for another day. *shrugs* Writer problems.
Posts: 823 | Registered: May 2009
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posted
My plan and draft process usually starts with an outcome inspiration; ergo, I backtrack to a start scene, sometimes not far enough back or too far back. Often, I miss the ideal start time when in doubt and continue to add previous time scenes. They exponentially multiply and reverberate back through time like images in two mirrors that face each other.
My strategy then becomes narrowed focus, ever more narrowed. This results in condensation and conflation that almost always results in tighter structures and movements. Three events become one; three settings become one, three characters become one, three complications become one, three conflicts become one; and, of course, three tangible and three intangible contentions become one congruent tangible and intangible contention -- three acts become one.
Posts: 6037 | Registered: Jun 2008
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posted
Word counts. How reliable is the word count on my Word program? In the olden days, I usually counted every word on four pages, divided by four, and multiplied by the number of pages in the work. For really short works I'd count every word.
I use the word count from Word...but it seems to count punctuation and such as words...so should I?
Posts: 8809 | Registered: Aug 2005
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posted
Having graduated from a PC running Windows to a laptop running Linux I found out that my keyboard likes to add the occasional double character or space. Just like thhat.
Annoying as hell.
But I did find out that LibreOffice writer will automatically correct such mistakes, except for added spaces, if I tell it to always replace the misspelt word with a particular choice of mine--usually works.
quote:Originally posted by Robert Nowall: Word counts. How reliable is the word count on my Word program? In the olden days, I usually counted every word on four pages, divided by four, and multiplied by the number of pages in the work. For really short works I'd count every word.
I use the word count from Word...but it seems to count punctuation and such as words...so should I?
Robert, I'd recommend counting the number of words in the lines on a couple of pages, then average that and multiply by the number of lines.
You round it up to the nearest hundred for short stories and to the nearest thousand for longer works anyway, so it doesn't have to be exact.
Posts: 8826 | Registered: A Long Time Ago!
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quote:Originally posted by Grumpy old guy: Having graduated from a PC running Windows to a laptop running Linux I found out that my keyboard likes to add the occasional double character or space. Just like thhat.
Annoying as hell.
Phil.
Phil, my new laptop (ran Windows 7 till I upgraded) tends to give me double letters, too. And yeah, crazy-making.
Just saying--it may be the keyboard more than the software.
Posts: 8826 | Registered: A Long Time Ago!
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posted
I dislike the downtime between new story ideas when I feel like I should be writing but don't know what to work on. Definitely writer's problems.
I also dislike the point in a story's development where I haven't found all of the major pieces yet, know something's missing, but have no idea what that something is. (This is where I'm at now. Fun!)
Posts: 745 | Registered: May 2015
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posted
Having a story idea and a few chapters but no clue how to connect them (or even how they connect). That or too many ideas at once that bleed together into a mush of unintelligible goo.
Posts: 70 | Registered: Feb 2012
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posted
May I suggest that you try looking at old posts in the Writing Class area on this forum? There are some "writing assignments" that may help you think about your ideas in a way that might impose a little coherence.
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