When should we leave well alone?
By this I mean he following
You write a little ditty of a story. In your eyes is it complete, done finished. You have told the tale you wanted to.
Then come the inevitable comments.
- Can we have more... complete with thoughts of Dickens, 'Please Sir I want some more'.
But should you write more?
In your eyes, it is a short story. One thing, done and dusted.
You have to ask the question,"Will writing more do the original story a disservice?"
Will any sequel be any good.
Just look at a lot of the Hollywood Sequels? many are a total POS artistically but they make money. I know that Hollywood is bereft of ideas these days and it is up to outsiders to come up with original scripts (take 'The Pianist' for example)
But should you give into the comments and write more?
I've invited other autors to take up the mantle once or twice but so far there have been no takers.
Looking at my latest story, 'Going Loco'. There are some obvious sequels but where would it end? I wrote it simply as a piece of fantasy. I'm old enough to remember being hauled by steam trains (pre 1968) on BR. Frankly, sitting where I do now, I don't feel that any sequel would say anything original and it does not interest me at all.
Should we give into the requests to write more?
Have you written more and later regretted it?
What do you think?
Comments
I think that if you feel it's
I think that if you feel it's done there's no point in trying to force expanding on the short you originally did. Forcing it would likely end with something you truly don't like as much as the original.
If some comments cause you to be inspired and you don't force it a sequel/expansion would probably turn out great. Just don't force it.
Big hugs
Lizzie :)
Bailey's Angel
The Godmother :p
My experience of short stories
has not been good, overall.
If you DON'T "write more", you will leave the readers disappointed in the long run. I personally have made mental notes to avoid the short stories (and sometimes any piece) from certain authors, because they keep on writing stuff that leaves me wanting more when there won't be any more.
Fool me once, shame on you.
Fool me twice, shame on me.
Fool me three times or more, even more shame on me, but eventually I'll stop taking the bait that you leave out. Sometimes it takes time, but I always learn from my non-fatal mistakes eventually.
On the other hand, if you DO "write more", there is indeed a chance of doing the original a disservice. I recall one short story in particular that I rather liked, and along came a sequel that had me despairing over the tremendous disservice it did to the original. I felt utterly betrayed.
THE SOLUTION:
DO write more (if there is "demand" for it), but make sure the sequel is better than the original, and make sure it does not degenerate the original potential of the first part into something unoriginal.
The problem with writing
The problem with writing "sequels" to short stories is that those sequels would most likely be another genre than the original story or would need a totally original plot.
Take my story "Demon Summoning" for an example. It was a "humor/horror" story with a pretty open end. I guess I could have written more in the cosmology, but I honestly couldn't think of a plot. And I suck at writing slice of life and character driven stories.
There isn't really
an easy solution, hence my giving what I believe to be the cons of the two main approaches without much in the way of pros.
I'm not claiming that it's easy to do what I suggested, I just prefer stories and the like to be good rather than rushed.
I need to feel inspired in order to write
A story idea occurs - I can't get it out of my head. It's burning to get turned into words - into a story which others can read and enjoy.
But when it's completed, I can relax until the next story idea occurs.
Trying to make more out of a story which is done and dusted leaves me feeling cold.
If you do not feel it
Then I recommend you don't write it.
I have long felt that forcing a story you don't feel is a disservice to both your characters and your readers. There have been times where I have read a story and walked away wanting more only to be disappointed when it becomes obvious the writer did not put as much thought and heart into the follow-up.
If a person wants more then they have obviously connected with your characters. Personally I would rather have someone upset that they can't read more than to have them upset because they felt the characters lost some of their shine.
I hope that makes as much sense as it did in my mind. :)
Why?
Ok I'll get this off my chest.
Why? Why do people when they write a story compare it to a movie? Now I'm not picking on you but that seems to be the wrong analogy to use. Its like taking and apple and putting it against an orange. There is no comparison. A movie is a movie whereas a story is a story. Yes I know a movie is based off of writing but that's not the point.
The point is that when people write a story its to stand on its own. For some once it written, its finished. The tale is done in their eyes and they see no need for it to continue. That may be the case in with the story Going Loco. Now the question's come from the readers. Continue it. We want more. But is there more to tell? But the writer doesn't see it. What more is there to say?
Yes there are times when a story should end. But the writer then has another opportunity to look at the story and see if perhaps there's a story within the story. A different character that can be fleshed out. Who was Mr. Harrison. How did Fiona have a job on a train and so on. These are unanswered questions in the story that piques the interest of the reader.
Yes the story was good as a short. It had all the elements that were needed to tell a story. Yet inside the story were parts that interested us the readers and as readers we're curious about the story. For the story is like the book "The Never Ending Story." For if there was an ending there would be no reason to write more.
Never
In your piece you ask, 'But should you give into the comments and write more?'
I say never give into comments, the good, the bad or the ugly.
Your story is your creation, born within your imagination and brought forth with your sweat and, from time to time tears. You and you alone can breath life into the half formed etherial idea rattling about in your brain housing group. And you and you alone can give it a soul.
Some stories are able to be followed by a sequel, one that builds upon the foundation you laid in the previous one. Others are like a fine bottle of wine, to be enjoyed but once.
Do not allow yourself to be led where your heart is not able to go simply because someone says you should go there. Besides, there are many wondrous stories waiting to be told, new adventures and challenges waiting to be met.
Move on and write on.
Nancy Cole
"You may be what you resolve to be."
T.J. Jackson
I have yet to read....
I have yet to read 'Going Loco'. But I know that some stories just cry out for a sequel. My latest posting "It Was His Mistake… So Why Am I Dressed Like This" is a response from such a story. Mind you, when I read such stories, I don't always feel I can write the sequel, even with the author's permission (which I didn't before hand have for the above mentioned effort, but later received approval)so I might ask the author to continue. However, I honor the authors right to declare the story finished.
I know that there are some really well written serials out there, that I've simply quit reading, not because they aren't good, but because there's no end in sight. Among them "Tuck" and "Gaby." Both excellent works, but I've OD'd on the storyline. So I can see that there is always a problem with starting down that path.
I rarely write with a sequel in mind. I started what should have been a three part story about three young cross-dressers whose lives intersected, but each had there own story to tell. The second in the series flowed easily,but I found I was bankrupt for the third story and never even started it. :o( Yet the second story cries out for the planed sequel.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Ich bin eine Mann
I just finished reading "Going Loco."
Yes, the ending is a bit open ended... but as Gwen said, it's an acceptable literary device. It leaves it to the readers imagination to determine where the story goes. I know I've read some rather well written stories that didn't go where I wanted them to and in a few, very few, I've rewritten the ending and kept it on my computer for my own enjoyment. One and only one I felt was really good and couldn't help myself and did post it for a time on my own web site. My posted revision started with an apology to author, who sometime later contacted me and asked only that I denote where her work left off an mine replace the ending.
However, when you leave a story as you have "Going Loco" there's no need to do such a thing, because each of us can "see" where the story is to go.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Ich bin eine Mann
Many thanks for the comments.
Many thanks for the comments. I am heartened by the response. I shall consider any requests for sequels but not feel so bad when I say no.
Thanks
British Story Methods
I've a few stories here that some have seen as unfinished. And over the years, I have seen the penchant for some UK authors to leave the ending sort of loose or unstated. And, I believe it to be a legitimate literary form. I liked your story, and it is your right to say when it is done full stop.
Gwendolyn
We Brits are well known for
We Brits are well known for understatement so I guess that is all part of our makeup.
This was brought home to me when I worked in the US. I always felt uneasy with all this whooping and hollering that went on in all sorts of places.
Two nations separated by a common whatever....