MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Advice or good books about finishing please

gmw · 02-16-2017, 11:03 PM

First let me direct you to a thread I posted about Susan Sontag. The quote given there is useful to think about, and I mention it again below.

What follows is based entirely on works for me, it certainly does not apply to everyone.

I wonder if "outlined in advance" is your problem? Too much detail in your outline so that you no longer have the drive needed to see it through? Yes, detailed outlining is the way many work, but it's not the only way to work. For me writing is an adventure just like reading but hugely extended. I write to tell myself the story.

At some point I do know how the story is going to turn out, but not usually at the start. At the start I don't even know if there is going to be a story yet. But even knowing how it is going to turn out doesn't give it all away for me. I have to write the characters into position, and that remains an adventure: how do the characters, while staying in character, manage to get there? The finale is not usually something that any of the protagonists would have gone to willingly, and the struggle to get them there is part of the adventure.

I always write from within the story. A typically sitting involves me first re-reading what the previous few scenes until I am back in there with the characters - so that it feels like the characters are telling me what happens next. Between that effect and my own knowledge of the general direction, the story bends towards the finale.

And the point of explaining all that is: if the writing itself was not an adventure then not only wouldn't I do it, I doubt if I could do it (or not with any result worth reading). And this is largely why I don't work from a detailed outline.

So maybe, just maybe, you might consider ignoring your outline for a time. Probably you will want to keep the general idea of the conclusion ("Frodo throws the ring into Mount Doom" kind of thing), but discard the details surrounding it (the struggle with Gollum, the capture by Orks, the meeting with Shelob), and just pick up from where you had gotten to (assuming you like what you have to that point) and see what the characters want to do. Given their possible (in character) choices, you the writer influence them enough to pick the choices that seem to head toward the ending.

The suggestion is offered as a way forward, as a way to discover if just getting involved with the characters again, and letting your characters help you, will give you the drive you need to finish.

There are lots of problems with this style of writing. It's slow. There tends to be a lot of waste - I write a lot that has to be cut out later (characters deciding and/or explaining what they are doing). And sometimes you write yourself into a corner. But at this point it pays to remember that Susan Sontag quote linked above: the problem is the solution. Sometimes the obstacle itself is what makes the situation most interesting.

FWIW

Good luck.

02-16-2017, 11:03 PM	#2
gmw cacoethes scribendi Posts: 5,818 Karma: 137770742 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Aura One & H2Ov2, Sony PRS-650	First let me direct you to a thread I posted about Susan Sontag. The quote given there is useful to think about, and I mention it again below. What follows is based entirely on works for me, it certainly does not apply to everyone. I wonder if "outlined in advance" is your problem? Too much detail in your outline so that you no longer have the drive needed to see it through? Yes, detailed outlining is the way many work, but it's not the only way to work. For me writing is an adventure just like reading but hugely extended. I write to tell myself the story. At some point I do know how the story is going to turn out, but not usually at the start. At the start I don't even know if there is going to be a story yet. But even knowing how it is going to turn out doesn't give it all away for me. I have to write the characters into position, and that remains an adventure: how do the characters, while staying in character, manage to get there? The finale is not usually something that any of the protagonists would have gone to willingly, and the struggle to get them there is part of the adventure. I always write from within the story. A typically sitting involves me first re-reading what the previous few scenes until I am back in there with the characters - so that it feels like the characters are telling me what happens next. Between that effect and my own knowledge of the general direction, the story bends towards the finale. And the point of explaining all that is: if the writing itself was not an adventure then not only wouldn't I do it, I doubt if I could do it (or not with any result worth reading). And this is largely why I don't work from a detailed outline. So maybe, just maybe, you might consider ignoring your outline for a time. Probably you will want to keep the general idea of the conclusion ("Frodo throws the ring into Mount Doom" kind of thing), but discard the details surrounding it (the struggle with Gollum, the capture by Orks, the meeting with Shelob), and just pick up from where you had gotten to (assuming you like what you have to that point) and see what the characters want to do. Given their possible (in character) choices, you the writer influence them enough to pick the choices that seem to head toward the ending. The suggestion is offered as a way forward, as a way to discover if just getting involved with the characters again, and letting your characters help you, will give you the drive you need to finish. There are lots of problems with this style of writing. It's slow. There tends to be a lot of waste - I write a lot that has to be cut out later (characters deciding and/or explaining what they are doing). And sometimes you write yourself into a corner. But at this point it pays to remember that Susan Sontag quote linked above: the problem is the solution. Sometimes the obstacle itself is what makes the situation most interesting. FWIW Good luck.