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Anyone else go through this? I'm in the middle of editing two novels. I have tons of work to do on them. I want to get some short stories written for a change as my new work. I don't want to start a new novel yet. But I keep seeing the opening. There it is... distracting me.
The main character is swaggering around. She's immature and needs to grow up. No wonder her family sent her away. So she's drinking ale and wandering around in MY brain. What a pain in the tush.
[This message has been edited by JeanneT (edited January 02, 2008).]
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Yeah, I wrote what was supposed to be the beginning of a short story (I'm a novelist - shorts don't come easily to me, but I thought this one had a shot!). Lo and behold, I'm 3500 words in and it's a fun read, but a short story???? I don't think I can cram this idea into a short story format, argh. And I'm in the middle of revising one novel and getting another started and doing the second edition of my sculpting book! ARGH!!!!!!!!!! If this story would only cooperate and get out of my hair quickly . . . but it's such fun and has such great characters who keep begging to be in a novel . . . argh.
posted
lol, yeah, this happens to me a lot. Even now there's a character busting the seams of my short story.
I tell them the short story is just to stretch their legs, and to be patient because they will be in a novel soon!
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posted
If I get something like that but want to keep working on my current novel, I'll just take a little time and write out whatever details are in my head. If it's an opening scene, write the opening scene. Then put it in a drawer and get back to work!
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I've been there, I've got this one kid who is just screaming for a story, but every time I try he gets himself killed a few pages in. When I'm writing something else and come across a good idea he pops into my head and says "hey that one should be mine" (figuratively of course.)
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Write it down. Then file it and forget it. I've had a bucketload of stuff I've written just to get it off my conscious mind, sometimes even finished stories now.
I've had a bunch of, oh, lurid and disgusting stuff floating around, that I've been combing out of my brain, bit by bit, so I can move on to something better. Once I get 'em written down, I can bury 'em---unless a good market that's into that sort of thing opens up, in which case I can exhume them and reanimate them...
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Dynasty, why not give the kid a break? If he keeps resurrecting himself and begging for a story, ask him what he'd like to do in a story other than getting killed off right away?! I'll betcha he has some suggestions! (the mental image of the conversation between this character and Dynasty has given me some ideas of my own, LOL!)
Posts: 415 | Registered: Jul 2006
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It's not one I want to bury, Robert, just postpone until I'm not buried up to my eyebrows in other work. I think it might be good when I get to it. But I think writing it down is a good idea. It might make a short story--or maybe not. Wish I knew a magazine that was good for selling medieval setting stories though. Anyone know of one I've missed that likes medieval settings? Or at least doesn't hate them?
Posts: 1588 | Registered: Jul 2007
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You just have to write down what you need to bring the idea back into your mind. A sentence, a scene, or a premise of the idea might be enough. I've done rough outlines of novels on index cards, rubberbanded them together and tossed them into a drawer for the same reason, to bring the idea back when I am ready for it.
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I don't think Spaceman missed the point. If you need to put a hold on a character/scene whatever that is bursting out out your head, get it in writing along with all the important other details you "know" now. Once you sucessfully delay it, you might have a harder time than you think recalling the details without a crib sheet.
Posts: 1210 | Registered: Feb 2006
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I keep remembering something Ray Bradbury said about short story writing: write the first draft quickly in one sitting, to capture the passion you feel for the story.
If you put this novel idea to one side no doubt you'll be able to remember it. But will you write it with the same degree of passion you seem to feel for it now? I wonder if you shouldn't just go with your feelings--the other stuff will still be there for revision when you find time.
(Of course if you keep flitting from one idea to another you'll never finish anything, but I doubt you're that kind of person, JeanneT. I think I would write enough down to capture the passion, then get the other stuff finished.)
I have some novellla ideas bubbling around in my head at the moment, but I have other stuff I want to finish first. Sometimes this other stuff annoys me because I'd really like to get started on the novella. But right now it's okay because as the novella ideas bubble, they get better, so I'm only mildly annoyed because I know that when I do eventually start it, the novella will be better for having bubbled around for a while. (And I have enough wrtten down to capture the passion I feel for it.)
The other solution would be to give your MC a large whisky with her ale so she falls over and goes to sleep. Then get the other stuff done and write her story when she wakes up.
quote:It's not one I want to bury, Robert, just postpone until I'm not buried up to my eyebrows in other work.
Still, if it insists on attention, give it some...then file and forget. I'll do a lot of development on some ideas...then utterly forget them after I've finished. If it claws its way out again, work on it some more.
(Part and parcel of my philosophy of writing---I keep thinking of stuff while away from my keyboard, but a lot of it slips my mind by the time I get there. I figure if the idea was any good to begin with, I'd remember it. (A lesson from the Lennon-McCartney school of songwriting---works for other writing, too.)
quote:The other solution would be to give your MC a large whisky with her ale so she falls over and goes to sleep. Then get the other stuff done and write her story when she wakes up.
Not a bad idea, Talespinner.
I have deadlines I have to meet so I can't put my editing aside. But it may be that letting this girl stew a bit (or lie on the floor in a drunken stupor) will help things develop. Thanks for all the suggestions.
[This message has been edited by JeanneT (edited January 05, 2008).]
quote:(Part and parcel of my philosophy of writing---I keep thinking of stuff while away from my keyboard, but a lot of it slips my mind by the time I get there.
This is where I took a hint from Kevin J Anderson http://www.myspace.com/kevinjanderson and began dictating my thoughts onto a digital voice recorder. During my joyous commute to and from work, my mind is free enough to come up with ideas, and that's when my recorder is my greatest writing tool. Then, when I get home, I upload the files to my PC, and transcribe them when the time is right.
Kevin told me he has someone else transcribe his digital notes for him. Great time-saving idea, except I can definitely foresee where the words I speak would mean something entirely different to somebody else, and many of the implied nuances would, quite literally, be lost in the translation. Because of that, I do the transcriptions myself. Of course, there exists the technology for spoken words on a digital recorder to be translated by voice recognition software on a PC or laptop...my birthday is in late February, BTW.
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Dynasty - I'm not so sure that keeping the kid who is killed a few pages in - that keeping him alive, is needed for the story. Perhaps the story will center on WHY he was killed. At any rate, trust your subconscious - sooner or later the follow up to his death will hit you like a bolt from the blue.
Posts: 409 | Registered: Feb 2006
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posted
or bashing your head on the wall, i find it helps alot. especily with my failing memory and deployment stress. another thing that helps me, ask people you trust (like me with your life) to read\revew and give ideas. it helps with my failing memory.
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I think it might be good when I get to it. But I think writing it down is a good idea. It might make a short story--or maybe not. Wish I knew a magazine that was good for selling medieval setting stories though. Anyone know of one I've missed that likes medieval settings? Or at least doesn't hate them?
