posted
A great deal of my "writer's block," I've concluded, is
1. Believing I have to know EVERYTHING about every character and event in any story before writing much at all of it and
2. Believing I have to have a PERFECT finished scene every time I sit down to write.
"It's too much like work," for starters.
On my long novels, I have things I'm sure about, things I "think" must have been a certain way, and BIG GAPS I TOTALLY DON'T KNOW!
Has anyone tried to summarize a story like a "history"? "We know this happened, evidence shows this may have happened this way, we think something like this happened but don't know details"-type form rather than carving the whole thing in stone first time out?
posted
take everything I write with a grain of salt.
Keep in mind that you are telling a story. You need first to know what your story is about.
one thing to do, first thing, is to write a page or three, TELLING what the story is about. hith the high points and Include the ending. Write it as if it is a badly written short story. Include some dialog if it speeds showing what will happen. Keep it short and don't worry about how well it is written. Even load up necessary information in the piece so the world can be understood. Just write it from the keyboard, letting it flow as it comes to your head. THEN start your chracter creation, world creation, and everything else needed for the story. That piece you wrote gives you something to work from. YOu can make it into an outline, or just use it as a guide while writing. If you find the story is not strong enough, you can try another story. Over the past seven years, I've written science fiction and fantasy story ideas, which are basically what I described. It usually takes me an hour to TELL what the story is about. I've got two completed rough draft novels, dozens of completed long short stories, a couple hundred short stories and a fifteen piece short story series (nothing published) from ideas written this way. I am working towards 4000 of these story idea presentations, as a way of saying that it is one way that works.
posted
Yes and no. If I write an outline in history form, it's because I'm trying to get a better sense of the world I'm creating. So, my story will part of a larger timeline that includes events I may never put into the story.
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posted
I have a strong feeling this is what I should do instead of trying to jump straight to "finished product."
To some writers, outlines are a bad idea, but this is not an outline in the sense of "straightjacket I'm trying to force my characters into," but just a way to organize many parts of a long and varied narrative and see how it all comes together and where it leads.
Otherwise, it's the equivalent of having your living room furnishings and even knowing how some of them will be in place, but trying to place them while the house is still in framework stage with plumbing and wiring being installed--let alone things like walls and floor! All are important, but there are stages and no use trying to skip about in order.
posted
"THEN start your chracter creation, world creation, and everything else needed for the story."
Am I the only one who essentially begins a story by creating characters? I mean I have a general idea of what the story is, and maybe it's different 'cuz I'm currently working on a sequel to a previous novel I've "finished" (for now), but I only have a general idea in the sense of "someone bad is up to no good, eventually MC stops him/her."
But even with that original story, I began by creating a few characters, placing them in a world and seeing how they interact, and let those interactions determine the story and the world they live in. After all, for me, most stories I fall in love with are all about the characters. Am I just weird? I mean, I know I'm weird, but in this particular aspect, is this out of the norm?
posted
Astro you are not alone. We character creators can stick together.
An Cap'n take a page from Bradbury or Stover. If you want to be writer write.
"Even if what you write is so bad burning it would violate the clean air act." - not sure which one said something similar to this quote but it gets the point across.
posted
A short note to mention that I often start with two or three odd and seeming unrelated ideas and connecting them, ie : 'why do these belong together' suggests a story. There is a huge 'so what' factor when I plan. I look at the initial arc of the story and say 'so what? who cares?' and try to find the reasons these elements are important.
So if I have a simple storyline with known scenes/critical plot points, I sort of build meccano bridges between anchor points.
For instance: O'Hara Gray arrives at Oldliston Manor. Upon noticing him warming himself by the stove, the butler asks him to sit at the kitchen table and begin polishing the silverware... so what? What if OB is not the new butler? What if he is an Irish patriot who despises the domination of the English in his homeland, what if he is the Lord of the Manor's illegitimate heir?... All I know is that the next sequential plot point is that O'Hara Gray is seen by the same butler talking to a group of strangers who are hiding in the the tangle of wild woods that almost smother the grounds around the manor... so what...? etc and onward from point to point.
[This message has been edited by hoptoad (edited May 03, 2006).]
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