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Old 10-15-2011, 04:04 AM   #16
crich70
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Originally Posted by Phogg View Post
I generally write poetry or operations manuals rather than stories.

For me, I do best getting something down snd coming back to it after time has passed. Then I can see flaws I am blind to early on. Obviously this doesn't work under deadlines.
I think it does make some sense though. I've read a # of books that say write the story then set it aside for a while before you go back to edit it. The reason being, like you said, that the writer is too close to the work to see any flaws in it at first. Setting it aside for a little while allows you to see the project with fresh eyes so that you are less likely to miss any flaws the 1st draft has, and that I'm pretty sure applies to both fiction and non-fiction.
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Old 10-16-2011, 12:47 AM   #17
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Originally Posted by Bob Russell View Post
I'm a newbie to novel writing, and am working on plot for a couple of stories that are meaningful to me. But they deserve a better outcome than what I can give them right now while I learn to write.

I don't want to ruin a good story, so should I put the stories on a shelf until I know what I'm doing?

First drafts are said to be "trash" and that the challenge is to just get the story down in some rough form. Writers also seem to always have many good stories in mind, so maybe it's not important to save that great story idea for later.

What's your advice? Anyone else ever have this worry, or am I uniquely demented?
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Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan View Post
Bob, what better way to "learn" to write than on a story you really care about? Your desire to bring out the best in the story should help bring the best out of you.

I say go ahead and write it. It will be good practice regardless, and there's no reason you can't go back and re-edit it later (you should be doing a re-edit pass anyway).
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Originally Posted by ekster View Post
I would write whatever I could. If you don't like the result, save it and come back to it in the future.

I see it as:
If you write it down, what's the worst that can happen? You wrote something that you don't like that you're free to edit anytime in the future.
If you don't write it? You'll forget your good story and that's the end of it.
Put it (your best material) and yourself out there when you start writing. Don't be shy.

However don't sent it off until you have a year or two under your belt, and by then you should have a feel of what you can do, and what you want to do.
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Old 10-16-2011, 07:32 AM   #18
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Another voice added to those who say, "Just do it." I'm writing a short story/novella that began with a great idea (IMHO, anyway) but not a clear sense of certain key issues in the story. I am about halfway through now and all those issues are resolved. Getting immersed into writing the story gets the subconscious cooking and those ideas just bubble up to the surface. As a writer, I believe you have to have total faith that this will happen, that the ideas will come, the ending will resolve itself the closer you get to it.
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Old 10-16-2011, 11:07 AM   #19
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One of my best ideas for a novel was dreamed up in 1997. Think the school soap opera Grange Hill crossed with the allegorical TV series The Prisoner. It's about a boy who doesn't fit in with his school peers. He's an individual, a thinker. In a confrontation with some bullies he is rendered unconscious and wakes in a version of reality where school life is all there is. It's called The Blueprint and I finally wrote it up earlier this year. I think, had I wrote it in my twenties, it might not have had the same level of depth.
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Old 10-16-2011, 04:34 PM   #20
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Yep, just go for it. But don't force a great idea into the story that really doesn't fit....
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Old 10-16-2011, 07:46 PM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ekster View Post
I think Heinlein, by saying to never force an idea, means do not write something that you are not interested in.

If someone tells you to write a story about a boy teaming up with a robot from the future to save the world but you have no interest to do it, or if you thought it was a cool idea at first, but then lost interest, then don't force it and don't write it.
It's a very bad paraphrase. In context he was saying allow your ideas to come to fruition before working on them. They need to be nurtured and coaxed into life, and if you try to force yourself to write them before they're ready, you'll kill them.

Now, I wouldn't say this would preclude all work on an idea. Taking notes, jotting down bits of dialog and whatever is probably appropriate. But if you're not ready to tell that story yet, let it rest. It's not going to vanish while you let it mature.
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Old 10-16-2011, 07:50 PM   #22
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Originally Posted by crich70 View Post
I think it does make some sense though. I've read a # of books that say write the story then set it aside for a while before you go back to edit it. The reason being, like you said, that the writer is too close to the work to see any flaws in it at first. Setting it aside for a little while allows you to see the project with fresh eyes so that you are less likely to miss any flaws the 1st draft has, and that I'm pretty sure applies to both fiction and non-fiction.
Every book I write gets at least two hibernation periods if not three. You'll be stunned how much more clearly you see your work when you spend six-eight weeks doing something else.

Just the grammar alone will begin to jump out at you. (Often along the lines of, 'What the hell was I thinking, putting a comma there?')

Story holes are harder to see, even with the down time, so I suggest a beta reader or two for that. But you've got a much better chance of seeing them if you give yourself time off, than if you go straight through.
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Old 10-16-2011, 07:53 PM   #23
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I'm no expert at all, but how about turning into a short story. You still produce something but you spend less effort (supposedly!) and you can always revisit it later and turn it into a longer story?
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Old 10-18-2011, 10:41 PM   #24
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Originally Posted by stodge View Post
I'm no expert at all, but how about turning into a short story. You still produce something but you spend less effort (supposedly!) and you can always revisit it later and turn it into a longer story?
That's a really interesting suggestion. I thought about it. But there is just too much needed to tell the story - I could be naive, but it seems tome that some stories just can't be told quickly without cutting the heart out.
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Old 10-19-2011, 06:02 AM   #25
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Maybe I'm strange, but I actually think of my stories in terms of dialogue. So I spend several times a day writing down random bits of conversation. Its amazing to me how these little tid bits later turn into characters. I never throw anything away. My computer is slam full of ideas, conversation, and thoughts. I agree with another post that stories are never written but are rewritten. For me, the drafts are actually the fun part. LOL. I get to know the characters in a way that helps me rewrite it later. I hope your story works well. I have a story I've had in my head for years and even though I just finished a book, its still not the story that I keep putting aside. I keep thinking maybe I should just scrap that story but I can't let It go. The characters are an extension of me now. So, its there sitting on my computer, on back up discs, and on scraps of paper waiting... its just not ready yet, but it will be.
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Old 10-21-2011, 02:24 PM   #26
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Thinking in Dialogue

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Originally Posted by RK Ryals View Post
Maybe I'm strange, but I actually think of my stories in terms of dialogue.
I do too! I wrote the first version of Anne Droyd as a TV script, and then novelised my unfilmed script as a book. Interestingly, a number of people have said it would make a great kid's TV series.
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Old 10-22-2011, 12:15 PM   #27
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That's interesting - I've heard a lot of people say that they keep snippits of dialogue in a notebook when they are writing, but I've never heard of people actually thinking of the story that way. I'm sure it leads to some much more effective dialogue and a nice way to give a more real feeling to the characters behavior around people.
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Old 10-22-2011, 08:55 PM   #28
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If I could get away with it, something like 80% of my stories would be dialog.

But then people keep telling me they want things like settings, gestures, action, and some non-conversation centered plot.

More seriously, I've noticed there are two basic kinds of writers, those who process their stories as a series of images that need to be translated into words, and those who understand their stories as a series of words that need images. I'm one of the later.
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Old 10-29-2011, 11:03 AM   #29
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I know it probably seems like an interesting take. I imagine conversations in my head, then either pen them or write them down. In a way, this works for me for many different reasons.

For one, the dialogue writes the story. It actually gives me the ideas I need for the setting and plot. Where would these characters have these types of conversations? Would they be alone? Why would they have this conversation?

Answering these questions tend to drop the rest of the story in my lap. I've tried writing the story first then filling in the dialogue but it doesn't seem to work for me.

In a sense, people live their lives through words, through dialogue. Our actions are second nature to us. Lifting a hand to swipe at a loose strand of hair is an action we do without thought. Therefore, making the dialogue the main aspect of my story and the actions secondary, I hope I achieve a realistic take on a story that might lack it otherwise.

I have even considered carrying a voice recorder around with me when a snippet of dialogue works its way through my brain. Sometimes, I feel writers could be considered split personalities because we think in terms of characters and stories all the time. I'm constantly turning everything into a story. Even a moment sitting in church becomes a story. lol. That's how my Redemption series came about. That same series is still in progress. Only the first is available on Kindle and Nook. But it's a great example of how I think in dialogue.

I have a fantasy story I have written large amounts of dialogue for over the past few years that I think I will work on next.

I love that authors can have that "need to tell a story" be a part of our lives though. Without it, I think my life would be so much more bland.
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Old 10-29-2011, 11:05 AM   #30
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Keryl Raist View Post
If I could get away with it, something like 80% of my stories would be dialog.

But then people keep telling me they want things like settings, gestures, action, and some non-conversation centered plot.

More seriously, I've noticed there are two basic kinds of writers, those who process their stories as a series of images that need to be translated into words, and those who understand their stories as a series of words that need images. I'm one of the later.
LOL! I agree! If I had to publish one of my stories using only the first draft, it would be 80 to 90 percent dialogue. I'm definitely one of the latter. I think in terms of words, then I insert images and secondary actions.
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