Posted on 08/17/2006 8:36:45 PM PDT by Number57
I've had this story worked out in my mind for going on twenty years. 1989. But now... I am stuck. I started a book based on it, but I'm no writer, obviously. I constantly re-read and edit, and re-read and edit more.
Probably because I've posted part of the story on sites that critique writing.
Anyway. I've hit a wall. A large brick wall. I've since stopped editing my own stuff, but try as I might, I can't write another chapter that I'm okay with. How do you, in your experience, get past it? I'll appreciate any help anyone can offer.
The kind who blames the world for the bad choices he made and is now angry with the world. A man who looks in the mirror and sees what could have been, but, never got there. Alone, and bitter he takes his anger out on anyone within reach.
Several billion trillion tons of superhot exploding hydrogen nuclei rose slowly above the horizon and managed to look small, cold and slightly damp.
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An entry for the Bulwer-Lytton Award?
"It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents--except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness."
--Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, Paul Clifford (1830)
I get it now.
When I started this, it was on an old typewriter. No error correction (unless it was a massive error... then I had to employ Whiteout), no spell-check just clakity clakity clakity
Maybe... I need to pull away from the computer-end of it, and buy another typewriter.
Yeah, but probably not quite the "ending" Number57 is looking for... :O)
Nothing like a good moose hunting trip to clear your mind. Or at least, help me gut one. That'll cure your sinuses AND your writer's block. ;)
oh yeah- one other tip..
when I write- I turn the monitor OFF...
thos wzy i can jist erote from the gtu witout worrying about spelling and tupos....
it shows too.....
ok now let me tun my monitor back on...
lol not quite
That's actually a very good idea, P-Marlowe.
I don't formally outline. I have a basic list of things I want to have happen and I end up with arrows and cross outs all over that list. My characters take me on detours, and that makes the stories realistic. Life does not run smoothly. You are a writer - a story teller. Tell the story the way you wish it could be told to you. Write a story you would enjoy reading. Yes, later on you will rewrite and edit, but you will enjoy it more if it is a story line that you find fascinating. It is your book - enjoy.
Add that to your story. :)
There are websites dedicated to helping writers
Suddenly, everybody was run over by a truck.
smoke some weed it helps unlock your brain then listen to pink floyd and tori amos records for the rest of the night. Do that for about a month and you might rember what yuo were planning on doing before you you smoked all that weed and you might actually write the words down on paper instead of just thinknig you did. It works for me anyhow. well i ve never got to the point where i write anything donw on paper but still its pretty awesome :-)
I'm not big on outlines, either. I'm in the midst of writing a set of books but it's based on medieval fantasy rather than horror. I generally work out what will happen in extremely general terms, say a Visio chart with maybe thirty bubbles for half of the book (or, if I can't figure out that much, at least a third of the book). For me the first third is the hardest, as it's all still amorphous, but then I tend to progress logically, with a vague goal in my head about where and when the book should end. It then becomes an exercise of getting the plotlines to where I want them but still trying to keep it interesting. I'm not a huge fan of outlining everything in advance -- while I know generally where I want things to be, my characters don't. I think it's more natural if I build the little details as I go, especially dialogue. For me the transition chapters are the worst -- getting characters to a destination while keeping it from getting dry. It's times like those that I have to constantly challenge myself to think in terms of character development; it's not what happens that's important so much as how the characters view it and what effect it has on them.
For endings, I tend to start at the most abstract level and move in increasing detail. Happy ending or sad? Bittersweet, perhaps? Are the characters on an emotional or personal journey, and if so, what is the significance of the ending to it (for example, two central themes in my story are redemption and responsibility). I tend to just work the really low-level details out logically as they have to be believable (just how *do* people free a captive without being discovered?) and concentrate on what it all means for them. After all, readers must first and foremost throw their lot in with my characters or it's all moot.
ROFLMAO!!!!!!
I'll second this one. You have to give yourself permission to write that shitty first draft (and 2nd draft and 3rd...)and worry about fixing it up later. Constant editing as you write will kill you and you'll wind up never finishing anything.
While the constant tinkering is most likely your problem, it's also possible that you're someone who needs to outline. Some people can just start writing and wind up where they need to be, but 99 writers out of a 100 will end up trapped in a ravine. The level of detail is up to you, but it's easier to drive when you know where you're going.
My final bit of semi-useless advice is to stick it in a drawer for the next 3 months to a year and start writing something else. Sometimes you just need a vacation from your story.
Some I have known put it away 24 hours to several weeks or so.
Some write XXX words/day regardless until it begins to flow again--and whether or not they write on the blocked task.
Those who do the latter seem to be the most productive overall, IIRC.
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