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Ever since I was very young I have told myself stories before going to sleep (though sometimes I get so involved in them they keep me awake). For the last couple of decades many of these have been about the two Bloomacre brothers - one a musician/composer/instrument maker and the other a mathematician turned mercenary - set against a fantasy background similar to Europe's wars of the reformation, where a church based on magic oppresses those who eschew it as a perversion of their faith. It's a kind of anti-fantasy fiction I guess, but I have never once tried to write down for fear of spoiling it, or finding it dreadfully boring to others.
Writing tg fiction was, in a way, of learning to write, to get the ideas down on paper and face the acid test. Yet now I find myself beset by the same worries when I write tg stories. I spend a lot of time working out plots, characters, even whole chunks of dialogue in my head before going anywhere near a keyboard, and now I find myself shying away from the page, finding other things to do, making excuses about not having the time to do it properly. When I finally get to write it's almost painful, as everything flows onto the page in one mad rush that leaves me overwhelmed, and utterly drained.
Does this happen to anyone else, and is there a way of conquering it?
Comments
Conquering apprehension
I used to do something similar. I would outline a story and then leave it as an outline, never to be expanded into a readable form.
Best thing I found was to follow the advice of the Nike Shoes advertisements... "Just Do It."
Once I was writing, I fell into it with a fervor.
I do the opposite
write it first and sort it out afterwards, instead of lots of planning, I just watch the characters perform in my head, so it's almost spontaneous - it also explains why it's so bad! Ooops!
Do whatever you enjoy.
Angharad
Angharad
Yep
That's what's happened with Show Me The Money. An idea will flow, but when it's done, nothing, and then the next idea hits days later. I have a writing frenzy and then nothing again. Maybe we'll all get over the hump so to speak, maybe not, oh sob, Arecee
They don't make genetically perfect babies.
Most of my writing starts with an inspiration that is allowed to simmer until it is tender. Then comes the writing; like a mass data dump; sometimes in a single hour. On a few stories I live in them for days on end, wandering around in a daze until it is finished.
I am not much of a perfectionist; much to the frustration of those who act like English Teachers. When I revisit my work, I am often tempted to pick at it so it can be more perfect. I rarely do, because to me my works are my babies, and as everone knows, none of us are genetically perfect. They are simply, our babies.
Gwen Brown
Bird by Bird...
is Anne Lamont's absolutely unbeatable guidebook to the writer's soul. Her Writing Down the Bones will also be inspirational. While I'd love to see her make a little more cash, any second hand bookshop or the library will have them.
You're not alone...I have entertained myself with self-told stories for a long time too, wow think of the weeks of sleep we've lost this way!
PS: Has anybody worked through Julia Cameron's Artist's Way?
I never outline
When I get a story idea, I just start writing. Trouble with that is I end up with lots of unfinished stories sitting on my harddrive. Some with great amounts of time poured into them. I have at least 3 stories with 50,000 plus words invested in them that I've barely touched for 2 years or more.
Some of my stories started simply(Chess Prodigy) and then turned into a monster. Some were monsters from the start. Other stories(Only the Strong can forgive) began as one thing and evolved into something else.
My muse has taken another of its untimely vacations. My Duty Honor Country is waiting for its return. I've got part 8 almost finished, part 9 started, and part 10 half written. Never writen a car chase before. When I began writing DHCF I never had a car chase planned. The plot twist at the end of Part 7, I had in mind from the minute I began writing. My muse is flexible.
Danielle
Einstein described insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting the result to change. Was Albert a reader of TG fiction then?
Daniel, author of maid, whore, bimbo, and sissy free TG fiction since 2000
What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.- Oscar Levant
Must. Find. Discipline.
I'm sure that some people can hold an entire novel in their heads before they start writing, but that's not the case for me, or for most people, I suspect. I find that for writing long stories that it's essential to find the time to write out a synopsis just to see where you're at. If you see you have a legitimate beginning, middle, and an end, then find out what you're trying to "prove" with the story to organize your thoughts on how best to flesh it out so you won't waste time trying to straighten out a rambling mess later on.
Aardvark
"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony."
Mahatma Gandhi
"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony."
Mahatma Gandhi
We're a rambling mess from
We're a rambling mess from Georgia Tech and proud to write at Fictioneer?
Just couldn't resist it.....
Danielle
"All generalizations are false including this one."
Daniel, author of maid, whore, bimbo, and sissy free TG fiction since 2000
What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.- Oscar Levant
Whatever You Do
Ceri, I reckon the results are pretty good. Me, I'm a nitpicker and put something down and then feel it's not good enough and play with it until I give up in despair at just not being good enough, so you keep on doing whatever you're doing and we'll enjoy the results,
Hugs,
Joanne
sleeves up, head down
Thanks for the advice everyone. I'm going to have to try writing extempore more. I think the protracted mulling over is causing bottlenecks... by the time I've sorted out what I want to write I've more than I can comfortably handle. I can write about 2500 words a day before fatigue stops me, but sometimes that's only a fraction of the idea... all a bit dispiriting on top of everything.
Plan for tomorrow... be more spontaneous. :)
Blasting Free of the Ramp
In a similar blog I compared getting started on a story to be similar to getting up the courage to go full speed at a ramp and to not stop. I agree that getting started is the hardest part of a story and it is hardest when I am dealing with characters with whom I plan to spend a significant amount of time, those whose lives I plan to explore.
And one of the things that make it harder is that new characters are often popping into my head, holding their hands up like Arnold Horshack wanting to be written about. However, I have become better at putting these characters in their place, by recognizing that not all of them need their life story told, often they will settle for their fifteen minutes. So I have started to write what I term my exorcism stories, short stories that deal with a specific period of that character's life. I find them much easier to deal with if the story concept is still rather tight, before there has been time for it to percolate. Plus it is easier to write a shorter path.
Your Stuff is Great
Ceri, We all have droughts when inspiration fails, creative spurts when it comes. I never have a story fully plotted out when I begin it -- just a notion and the urge to see how I can develop it. The hardest part is knowing when and how to stop. Palukhistan, written to an arbitrary limit of 7500 words (I used up 7494 of them) probably has the best ending of any of my stories. I think I see the end, at last, of Evelyn Westcott's turn-of-the-century picaresque, but I haven't decided whether it will be an upper or a downer.
Now, about you. Months ago you floated your plan for the Nathan Sharp/Trixie Smart stories. Then you planted a delicious teaser. Now, where is it, girl? Get to work! All your stuff is great, and this one will be brilliant, I'm sure.
Daphne
Daphne
It's a long story
I've written ten thousand words plus about Natty, but so far it's all backstory detailing how he met Ophelia, how Trixie came into being, how Natty became a press photographer etc. From the start I wanted to write about them in connected short stories, rather than a serial or one big work, with each story detailing one Trixie adventure... the trouble with the backstory stuff is there's no real excitement in the plot.
I think I have two strong plot lines that also show up their strengths...
1. Nathan offers to help a fellow member of the Independent Labour Party to prove that a department store owner is breaking the law by forcing his female staff to live on the premises (this was banned after a woman trades union leader infiltrated a number of shops and described the appalling living conditions). So Nathan as Trixie obtains a job in the store, and sets about gathering photographic evidence to prosecute the owner, who has so far evaded prosecution.
2. Ophelia is imprisoned after a Suffragette protest, and goes on hunger strike, only to be brutally force fed by medical staff... Trixie visits, taking her ingenious camera with her and the photos prove a sensation... Ophelia is released under the Cat and Mouse legislation, and Nathan / Trixie's dual identity helps Ophelia to evade recapture.
Though 2 may yet be split into two stories.
I'm working on another story which I will finish (and post) this week (I'm averaging about 500 words a night, and trying not to think too hard about it), and some loose ends to tie up in 'Midnight Angels'. After that I may well start on the first Natty/Trixie story.