Writer's traps...

maestrowork · Oct 3, 2005

What are the writer's traps you can think of?

- being perfectionist... trying to write a perfect first draft
- "golden word" syndrome
- "perfect beginning" syndrome... trying to perfect the beginning... rewriting and rewriting and rewriting, sometimes for months or years just the first few chapters
- procrastination... "I'm not writing today because I don't feel inspired... or I have better things to do"
- too many ideas... and can't see each idea to completion
- making things too complicated... outrageous plot twists; overly-complex characters, etc.

Anything else?

Aconite · Oct 3, 2005

"I have to know all the details before I can start writing."

Cathy C · Oct 3, 2005

Edits will ruin my "vision."
A good plot will take the place of good characters (or vice-versa.)
The reader will forgive me for this "one little thing."

victoriastrauss · Oct 3, 2005

maestrowork said:
- being perfectionist... trying to write a perfect first draft

That can be a trap. It can also be a technique. At any rate, it works for some people (unlike procrastination...)

- Victoria

loquax · Oct 3, 2005

Comparing your first draft to your favourite book.

pandora9 · Oct 3, 2005

Falling in and out of love (and back again) with my characters, and plots ... Very exhausting.
I've broken the back of my perfectionism by lowering my standards - works a treat at draft stage.
I have so many ideas and characters floating around in deep space, but the bringing forward of them confuses me - the linearity of words on a page and all that.
For all the difficulties, what a joy this writing mystery is!

Mike Martyn · Oct 3, 2005

Coincidence, what's wrong with coincidence.? It worked for Shakespeare didn't it?(Buddy, you ain't him!)

Aconite · Oct 3, 2005

Related to Mike's offering:
"Well, [respected author long dead] wrote in that style/using those conventions, so it's okay."

maestrowork · Oct 3, 2005

Mike Martyn said:
Coincidence, what's wrong with coincidence.? It worked for Shakespeare didn't it?(Buddy, you ain't him!)

It also worked for Dickens (Buddy, you ain't him either).

JackieG · Oct 3, 2005

This goes hand in hand with procrastination

My worst, absolute WORST thing I trap myself with is the feeling that first all my dishes must be done, and the kids' rooms picked up and the laundry put away, and the vaccum cleaner run, and THEN I can sit down and write. I just hate that!

Tiaga · Oct 3, 2005

maestrowork said:
What are the writer's traps you can think of?

- being perfectionist... trying to write a perfect first draft
- "golden word" syndrome
- "perfect beginning" syndrome... trying to perfect the beginning... rewriting and rewriting and rewriting, sometimes for months or years just the first few chapters
- procrastination... "I'm not writing today because I don't feel inspired... or I have better things to do"
- too many ideas... and can't see each idea to completion
- making things too complicated... outrageous plot twists; overly-complex characters, etc.

Anything else?

8,253 posts?

maestrowork · Oct 3, 2005

touche.

Jamesaritchie · Oct 3, 2005

maestrowork said:
What are the writer's traps you can think of?

- being perfectionist... trying to write a perfect first draft
- "golden word" syndrome
- "perfect beginning" syndrome... trying to perfect the beginning... rewriting and rewriting and rewriting, sometimes for months or years just the first few chapters
QUOTE]

These are traps only if you don't know when to move on. I've always tired to write a perfect first draft. I don't succeed, of course, but I try. Hard. And I often spend as much time on the beginning as on the entire rest of the novel. For me, both are better than the trap of "Write crap, make it smell good later."

I may be wrong, but it seems to me that many of the traps writers fall into, be it perfectionism, waiting for inspiration, finding other things to do, whether it's research, housework, watching the latest episode of Lost, visiting friends you haven't seen, needing to read that new how-to book because you may learn something useful, finding a better idea just when the first one is starting to move, etc., are all just manifestations of procrastination. If you aren't making progress, if you aren't finishing what you start within a reasonable timeline, it's procrastination, whatever mask it's wearing.

I think two of the biggest traps writers fall into, ones that can kill, are "The editor will fix it," and "I can hire someone to fix it." In other words, the exact opposite of perfectionism.

emeraldcite · Oct 3, 2005

8,253 posts?

lol!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Of course, one writer's trap may be another writer's method...

paprikapink · Oct 3, 2005

emeraldcite said:
lol!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Of course, one writer's trap may be another writer's method...

That is *just* what I was going to say!

Which segues neatly into another good trap: it's all been said before.

emeraldcite · Oct 3, 2005

it's all been said before.

which also leads to: don't get discouraged if someone's said it before, you can always try to say it better or say it different.

blacbird · Oct 3, 2005

"No publisher in the history of the galaxy is ever going to accept this."

That's my big trap. Problem is, it has a long and honored history of factual correctness.

bird

maestrowork · Oct 3, 2005

blacbird said:
"No publisher in the history of the galaxy is ever going to accept this."

That's my big trap. Problem is, it has a long and honored history of factual correctness.

bird

Related to that: "Who am I kidding? I'm just not very good."

rhymegirl · Oct 3, 2005

Is that anything like a mouse trap????

ted_curtis · Oct 3, 2005

Thinking everything your betas tell you is right.

Thinking everything your betas tell you is wrong.

JackieG · Oct 3, 2005

ted_curtis said:
Thinking everything your betas tell you is right.

Thinking everything your betas tell you is wrong.

Using betas to tell you what's right or wrong?

blacbird · Oct 3, 2005

Aren't betas these little tiny aquarium fish? You listening to them? What do they know?

bird

aruna · Oct 3, 2005

maestrowork said:
It also worked for Dickens (Buddy, you ain't him either).

And for Charlotte Bronte. ANd I'm definitely not HER!

Back to your question, writer's traps: Don't change a comma of mine!

Jamesaritchie · Oct 3, 2005

Coincidence

What is it they say, "Coincidence is a great way to begin a story, and a lousy way to end one."

aruna · Oct 3, 2005

Jamesaritchie said:
What is it they say, "Coincidence is a great way to begin a story, and a lousy way to end one."

One of my amazon reviewers complained that my book was too full of coincidences. As a matter of fact, it's not; if she had read carefully, she would have seen that almost every single "coincidence" was actually inevitable; and those that weren't, were meaningless in that the plot did not swing on them.

I love coincidences. My life is full of them; it's because of coincidences that I began to believe in God, in some kind of masterplan for my life. In novels they have to handled carefully; but I love them nevertheless.

Writer's traps...

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

Aconite

Cathy C

Ooo! Shiny new cover!

victoriastrauss

Writer Beware Goddess

loquax

I verb nouns adverbly

pandora9

Mike Martyn

Aconite

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

JackieG

Tiaga

Watching

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

Jamesaritchie

emeraldcite

Art is Resistance

paprikapink

Bored fanatic

emeraldcite

Art is Resistance

blacbird

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

rhymegirl

It's a New Year!

ted_curtis

JackieG

blacbird

aruna

On a wing and a prayer

Jamesaritchie

aruna

On a wing and a prayer