You're doing it wrong!

Tasmin21 · Apr 30, 2008

I have been struggling with major frustration over my current WIP (Muse, in my sig). I feel that what I've written isn't what I intended to write, if that makes any sense. The words on the paper are not doing justice to what's in my head.

And even worse, I can't put my finger on just what is wrong. The characters are good, the plot is sound, the world is interesting. The best I can come up with is that it is coming out with the wrong "flavor", and I can't seem to figure out which spice I'm missing to make it do what I want.

Does anyone else have this problem? How do you fix it?

privatepook · Apr 30, 2008

I don't think anything I've ever written has come out the way I wanted it to, but I think quite often that's a good thing.

One of my really excellent writing teachers once told me that talking about your story or novel too much before writing it can jinx the whole thing. I think sometimes planning can do the same thing. You have to write the thing first. I've found that if I worry too much about something turning out wrong I don't finish it. You have all the time in the world to revise once it's finished.

Than again, that's just me.

HorrorWriter · Apr 30, 2008

Tasmin21 said:
I have been struggling with major frustration over my current WIP (Muse, in my sig). I feel that what I've written isn't what I intended to write, if that makes any sense. The words on the paper are not doing justice to what's in my head.

And even worse, I can't put my finger on just what is wrong. The characters are good, the plot is sound, the world is interesting. The best I can come up with is that it is coming out with the wrong "flavor", and I can't seem to figure out which spice I'm missing to make it do what I want.

Does anyone else have this problem? How do you fix it?

I think I understand. With my WIP, my scenes weren't coming out like I had thought them out in my head, either. But that was because I hadn't found my voice yet, plus there were problems with showing vs. telling. I'm not sure if those are the problems you have, but it kinda sounds like that's what you're leaning towards. I hope that helps.

Straka · Apr 30, 2008

Sounds like the trouble might be your voice? How are you describing this world? Gritting? In short bursts? No description? Do you have internal monologue? If so is it in italics? Would it be stronger without internal monologue?

Just some questions to ask.

JamieFord · Apr 30, 2008

This is just a guess, but when I'm not concrete in what the next scene needs to be and how that scene needs to resolve, whatever is in my mind/heart at the moment bleeds onto the page and distorts the story a bit. Does that make any sense at all? If my scene is too vague, I'll vent the days joys or frustrations into my writing and it'll come out all funny. Sounds like that might be happening in your case...

Charlie Horse · Apr 30, 2008

1. Maybe your preconceived notion of your writing is different from what your writing actually is. What I'm trying to say is, don't force it, let it be what it's going to be.

2. Have you tried reading your book out loud to someone. Good writing has a certain rhythmic flow that can best be judged by hearing it. It's sort of like when you sing, you have a certain perception of what your voice sounds like, but when you hear it recorded, it sounds completely different.

I don't know, I'm throwing thoughts out.

Tasmin21 · Apr 30, 2008

This is just a guess, but when I'm not concrete in what the next scene needs to be and how that scene needs to resolve, whatever is in my mind/heart at the moment bleeds onto the page and distorts the story a bit. Does that make any sense at all? If my scene is too vague, I'll vent the days joys or frustrations into my writing and it'll come out all funny. Sounds like that might be happening in your case...

The more I sit here and look at this, the more I'm thinking you're right, Jamie. I've pseudo-outlined the book (as in, I've marked down where certain things need to happen to move the plot along) but the specifics of scenes and circumstances I've been kind of winging. And I think that vagueness is working against me, just like you described.

How do you fix it when you run across this in your own writing?

Phaeal · Apr 30, 2008

Misgivings and uncertainties like this generally come back to the same central problem: You're letting the Inner Editor out during a first draft. First drafts are crap. Embrace this truth, finish the book, then go back and worry about what's wrong now that you have a great big steaming pile of something to work with.

If you think you need to do more planning or outlining, go ahead and do it. Try the free-writing outline -- just write out your plot as fast as you can, arguing with yourself along the way, tossing in some description or dialogue if it comes to hand, continually asking what if this or what if that, following tangents.

HeronW · Apr 30, 2008

We are often taught not to trust our instincts so we let out internal editor botch things up from the get go. That ed has a place--at the end of the WIP.

I have that problem painting too, I get an idea and the finished work resembles the original but other things happen too-that isn't bad. It's being flexible, and letting things develop.

Outlines give a rough idea. You want to get from NY to LA and can do it in a straight shoot or head east hitting Italy, Tibet, and Hawaii on the way, or go north and circle that way, or meander enjoying the trip and your travel line looks like a drunken turtle.

If side ideas pop up, that's okay too, list them and see if they fit what you're doing.

Nateskate · Apr 30, 2008

Some days it feels like a bad haircut that doesn't want to be fixed.

A good story has a certain chemistry. I don't think our story has to stay on the map we create, because stories want to be told, and they unfold to us like they do to a reader, because we're saying in real time, "What should I say here?" And we may be forced to create a dilema where there was none, and follow it to resolution.

However, if the story languishes and unravels- my term for coming unglued and boring, then we really have to slice and dice, adding or subtracting, changing dialogue.

Remember, if you have a very good idea, you're ahead of the game. If you can write, it may just take time to make it work.

Feathers · Apr 30, 2008

The best I can come up with is that it is coming out with the wrong "flavor", and I can't seem to figure out which spice I'm missing to make it do what I want.

OK...have you thought about who you're writing for? what KIND of novel you're writing? If the plot, characters, etc are all good, maybe it's the style of your novel that's giving you a problem. Maybe you're writing something slightly humorous that's meant to be dark and edgy. What tone/voice are you using? A clipped tone works better than a prosy tone in, say, a new-agey thriller.

Hope that helps

-Feathers

JamieFord · Apr 30, 2008

Tasmin21 said:
The more I sit here and look at this, the more I'm thinking you're right, Jamie. I've pseudo-outlined the book (as in, I've marked down where certain things need to happen to move the plot along) but the specifics of scenes and circumstances I've been kind of winging. And I think that vagueness is working against me, just like you described.

How do you fix it when you run across this in your own writing?

Outline time.

If my characters are straying, I tighten up my outline. If they're acting true to their fictional selves, then I let 'em go and wing it for a while. If you can sense that you're drifting off course, back up a chapter and rethink it. Just a suggestion, but it usually works for me.

David I · Apr 30, 2008

Well, a whole bunch of writers--right off hand, I can name Joan Didion and Joyce Carol Oates and Iris Murdoch--say they always feel they have ruined the story once they start writing. In fact, Iris Murdoch said "Every book is the wreck of a perfect idea."

Joan Didion argued that getting the book underway was always a relief, because by the time you wrote the first line you had already spoiled it, made it less than it could have been.

So, either you've wandered off course, as Jamie suggests; or you haven't yet adapted to the fact that your reach exceeds your grasp by a few thousand parsecs. Welcome to the club.

You're doing it wrong!

Tasmin21

They will come from below...

privatepook

Yes, I'm totally into that..

HorrorWriter

It's a new dawn. It's a new day.

Straka

Bored Fanatic

JamieFord

giving resonant directions

Charlie Horse

Speaking in metaphors

Tasmin21

They will come from below...

Phaeal

Whatever I did, I didn't do it.

HeronW

Down Under Fan

Nateskate

Feathers

emerging from the writing cave

JamieFord

giving resonant directions

David I