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As with everybody, a story teller has many paths he can travel. However, sometime you reach a fork in those paths where each seems as bright or dim as all the others. How can a choice be made about which to next travel?
For the last 5 months I have been struggling trying to decide which character, narrowed down to four, whose story I next want to sink my teeth into. True, I have submitted 3 stories in that time, but each felt more like a dalliance. In fact, based on how long two of them took, there were a couple of one night stands.
Amongst my characters, I have:
- A brand new character who has 132 Kb of work done, but whose story does not feel right. Yet if I focussed on it, maybe I could steer it in the correct direction.
- Two old characters, whose next adventures are quite fully flushed out in my own mind. Yet they both have differing levels of backstory.
- A fourth character is brand new. Yet the character is already one for whom I see multiple stories, which would just create three old characters, all with backstory.
I guess my biggest issue has become whether or not to let two characters retire after telling stories of their lives, even if not their entire life stories. I worry that each additional story about a character places a larger burden upon any new reader, which limits the potential audience for a new piece of work. Maybe this should not bother me, but I admit to wanting as many eyes looking at my stories as I can get.
I was wondering how others decide which of the characters in their mind get to come to life as words. And how do you decide when you should no longer spend time with a characters, no matter how much you may enjoy that interaction.
Comments
Who's story to tell
It's not easy deciding who's story I'm gonna tell next. Mostly, whoever's story is able to hold my interest long enough to keep on writing to the end is the one that gets told. Sometimes I'll get stuck in the middle of writing a story. Instead of getting frustrated, I'll usually just move on to another story.
I've got lots of stories sitting on the back burner because of that, but I do keep an eye on them and if I find some ingredients I think will make a story work, I'll usually go back to it and try working on it a bit more.
This is probably a very bad way of writing, but it kinda works for me.
Heather Rose Brown :)
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Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend.
Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.
Groucho Marx
Go where your muse takes you.
I don't think I've read any of your stories. But, you have to go with what feels right. Your two old characters looks easy and your fourth character could be fun to write about. Go with either of those.
For me, if writing isn't fun, it isn't worth doing. I don't struggle well! :)
My favorite character in one of my stories, wrote herself in about a week.
Mr. Ram
usually...
... the stories decide for themselves, all we's doing is playing narrator for the most part. So I guess just put them down in words and you'll know what goes where as you do it. Maybe they combine and overlap, maybe they diverge wildly. I've had things sitting for months and then... within a few days, done. So as someone else sort of said, just go with the flow.
Kristina
I write because....
I feel driven to do it. If the story is engaging enough, then new readers will decide if they wish to back read earlier efforts. As we can't decide for others what they find attractive or engaging, it's something of a risk, or a challenge.
However, there is also the comment factor of existing readers, which can draw in new readers and which I'm sure has attracted the odd new reader to my 'Falling' serial, which may be seen as daunting with over a hundred episodes, albeit short ones compared with some stories. Having said that, some think it enjoyable to have a whole mass of something they like to work their way through.
hugs,
Angharad.
Angharad
I belong to......
.... the Kristina school of writing in that the story just arrives in my head. I then follow it and although it may well mutate it isn't really by any conscious action of my own. I just follow my fancy, or perhaps the fancy of my characters if they have become strong enough.
For me there is no attraction in doing the same thing twice though. Thus I have no interest in writing anything else in the Deception of Choice vein. To do so would also in an obscure way seem a betrayal of characters of which I became fond.
I have recently completed something entirely different which involves .... Well just wait.
It isn't a Ghost story though which is the next thing I thought it might be amusing to try. Don't hold your breath (As if you would!) for that though as it looks like being long and complicated and I am unsure of a vital plot twist. But it's a challenge that interests me..... although I haven't any time to fritter away in idle amusement. Damn! Although .... they do seem to be unfashionable .... which is an attraction.
The last one I read was Susan Hill's 'The Woman in Black' which is brilliant. I suspect that they are very difficult - far beyond my skills. And that is an attraction too. Better to have failed miserably than never to have tried.
The thing is I don't start with a character, or characters. They just sort of wander in and out depending on the tale. Sometimes I become fond of them and sometimes they are only there because they need to be. The latter I find difficult, and boring, to write about.
I also belong to the 'Sod the Readers' school of writing so pleasing them isn't a consideration.
I suspect Arcie Emm that this is of no use to you in solving your dilemma. But it's must be such a personal thing that I doubt if anyone can.
Hugs,
Fleurie
Never ending subjects and characters
Arcie Emm,
Look at it in another realm, reality. We have new born babes daily, and yet each of them wll tell a different story of their life. Some will be short and some will be lengthy and others will be cut off before they have reached their full potential.
Writing stories is like writing songs how many ways can one sing about Love? Numerous ways to sing about love. So why should an author feel any different. Think outside the box . What workde for you works because you want it to. It may not work for someone else. I really don't think there is a proper way to retain a story you are working on.
When I am writing I often think of another concept. I stop the story I am workingon and begin the new story. It may not be proper but at last my train of thought is now on paper.
Go for what you feel fits for you.
Jill Micayla
May you have a wonderful today and a better tomorrow
Jill Micayla
Be kinder than necessary,Because everyone you meet
Is fighting some kind of battle.
continuing characters...
I'm totally at the mercy of my demons when it comes to what I write next. I'm trying to finish a two-parter by the time the author of the stories it's stolen- uh, a tribute to gets back from the hospital (How IS Billy Sue doing? Has anyone heard?), and my brain is balking, wants me to start a tale about a slightly built stuntman who finds his professional niche, and more, doubling for famous actresses; which would be like the 100th
TG story I started compared to the half-dozen I've finished; a mad kaliedoscopic fractal progression
of unfinished story segments- GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!
...so I'm not much use recommending tactics in this matter when I have none myself.
But one thing you said: I worry that each additional story about a character places an additional burden on any new reader, which limits the potential audience for a new piece of work. This might be true, but some of the most popular authors on these sites keep their fans happy by bringing back beloved characters again and again. I'm always excited starting a new Julie O. story, and when it comes to her stuff I have my preferences for sequals; but even when it's a whole new situation she's introducing, there's usually some crossover, and it's a lot of fun wondering which of her neat characters will be showing up this time..... So it isn't always a detriment to the number of "eyes" looking at your story to bring back old characters, if they're characters people have grown fond of. Then again, when you're done with something---a character, a locale, theme, etc.---you're done with it, and to continue flogging that particular horsie to satisfy the clamoring of fans would be the worst sort of hackwork; at which point I would (hypothetically, if I ever get any fans) invite readers to author their own sequals while I moved on to something that interested me. Like the one I came
up with just now while writing this, about a young British leiutenant named Teehee Lawrence, who is sent
to assist the Desert Amazon tribeswomen in their struggle against the Prussian Blue Meanies,
and who winds up "going native" in a big way: Lawrence of Oh-Babyia....
What borders on stupidity?
Canada and Mexico.
.
Well ...
"I was wondering how others decide which of the characters in their mind get to come to life as words. And how do you decide when you should no longer spend time with a characters, no matter how much you may enjoy that interaction."
To me it's all about the story, not the character. A few general comments: The urge to take side-trips is strong. Resist it. Readers generally have an idea when the author is indulging herself. I'd say develop the characters that are important to the story and don't develop so much those that have only a peripheral influence. There is also the problem of tying up a lot of loose ends that comes with a number of well-developed characters.
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
Thank you for the Advice Everybody
For me, all the offered wisdom distills into the best piece of advice, which is to "Just write!" It is likely something I knew inside myself, but it is good to receive a reminder and a gentle shove in the right direction.
Thank you.