Just finished writing a short story that haunted my mind for a while now. It's probably the most powerful piece I've ever written. I'm literally on the verge of tears.
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What's On Your Mind About Your Writing?
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I feel like everything I write falls within a universe, like I'm building a world slowly with each word.
I realized two things on my drive home form work this evening.
1: I should write some short stories and have them polished before I try to write my epic novel of epicness.
2: I should probably write a lot of polished short stories.
I realized two things on my drive home form work this evening.
1: I should write some short stories and have them polished before I try to write my epic novel of epicness.
2: I should probably write a lot of polished short stories.
I am in completely this situation now. I've got a fair chunk of novel written but I've dialled back to start writing short stories based within the same world. I think it will help. Good luck!
Heskett
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The more I write different stories, the more I'm realizing I'm doing this unintentionally. It's become my own little universe like Stephen King's Castle Rock.
Also, I've been focusing a lot on scriptwriting the past few years. I think I may revisit my short story writing to freshen things up a bit.
I've experienced this as well. I think that part of being a writer is about finding/forming connections between different storylines, and sometimes our minds might work overtime and find connections between different stories.
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On my mind: how many times am I going to have to rewrite this book before I get it somewhere near decent? What if I have to explain the shapeshifter thing? How do you pitch a YA book when the stakes are not life and death? And if a beta is supposed to be someone you don't know, and also someone you trust, how does that make sense?
Freaking out a little.
Freaking out a little.
Ah, but the stakes don't have to be life and death for the world, or even literally for the protagonist - they just have to be so IMPORTANT to the protagonist that they matter to the reader too.
F'rinstance: how many YA books are basically just a category romance with teenage MCs? (Mine, for one!) In most "pure" romances - as opposed to romantic suspense or paranormal, say - the stakes are often "just" emotional, and the stories are very "small". But they sell a whole lot of them every year.
The trick is figuring out how to convey that the stakes are big enough *to the MC* that they justify the story.
Ah, but the stakes don't have to be life and death for the world, or even literally for the protagonist - they just have to be so IMPORTANT to the protagonist that they matter to the reader too.
F'rinstance: how many YA books are basically just a category romance with teenage MCs? (Mine, for one!) In most "pure" romances - as opposed to romantic suspense or paranormal, say - the stakes are often "just" emotional, and the stories are very "small". But they sell a whole lot of them every year.
Thanks for your reply. I totally agree with you. I purposely wrote a book that WASN'T life and death stakes. But many of the responses to my query letter in QLH say that they think the stakes aren't high enough. So that's where I'm struggling. How to convey that the stakes FEEL like life and death to my protagonist in the query.
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I am in completely this situation now. I've got a fair chunk of novel written but I've dialled back to start writing short stories based within the same world. I think it will help. Good luck!
I just started writing the first of many, I hope! I think I like this idea of short stories within the greater story. Maybe I can even reference to them in the novel hehe
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I found an old unedited short from my freshman year CW course. I realized the characters in the story are also in my novel... I had started writing it six years ago without knowing?
Im also afraid to lump everything into one universe because i might miss out on something that can be awesome on its own, not tethered down by a gigantic universe.
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Giving up writing fiction has been a heartbreaking pill to to swallow. But I had to do it, because I am not a novelist.
The Shadburn Shadow was published in the Voice today. I have 9 more pending submission. I'm going to write two for November, then edit my nonfiction book for awhile.
The Shadburn Shadow was published in the Voice today. I have 9 more pending submission. I'm going to write two for November, then edit my nonfiction book for awhile.
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Heskett
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I've kept every single thing I've written. Well, most of it. I've lost some things. But I consider those my pool of half-baked ideas. I'll find that there are bits and pieces of bad stories that might have interesting characters or I wrote an interesting scene. I'll sometimes re-use those. One of my scripts was from a poem I wrote a university. I don't have any problem re-using ideas or characters. Until I find the right way to fit these pieces in a story, they're free for me to use. But once they find a home, I don't reuse them again.
Also, my "universe" is purely unintentional. And there's never been a crossover between characters. All my stories take place around the Canadian Maritimes (or a fictionalized version of them anyway). But if my stories ever got popular, I'd totally entertain crossovers. Having said that, I won't limit my stories with that in mind.
At that point where I need to add a specific scene and more details to a story I know what I need to add, I have most of it fleshed out in my mind... And I'm not doing it. I'm tired.
I'll make myself sit down with a pen and paper and start this afternoon, I'm just really drained right now.
I'll make myself sit down with a pen and paper and start this afternoon, I'm just really drained right now.
Definitely! I can already see connections between the first short story and the main novel, as a reader i love that sort of thing (making connections across works a la David Mitchell) so it might well become something that works for me going forward! Good luck with your dialing back, hopefully it will be a positive step
Started something new yesterday, had it planned out for about a year and really want to do it, good, trippy SF idea.
Now I'm on page one, and I want to give up writing forever and throw it in the Pit of Tartarus. Surely, I'm the only writer who's ever felt this way evar.
Now I'm on page one, and I want to give up writing forever and throw it in the Pit of Tartarus. Surely, I'm the only writer who's ever felt this way evar.
HA! Fake laugh! Hiding real pain
Wait, you mean that's *checks notes* a common feeling among writers at all stages of their craft? Who knew!?
*steals Pit of Tartarus*
For reasons.
*leaves cookie instead, so Kj is forced to enjoy warm fuzzies instead*
That kind of honesty produces stuff which will resonate with someone in a deep way. Doesn’t happen often, but it’s gold when it does.
As for myself, I’ve read snippets of “Playing the Short Game” by Douglas Smith. Wondering if the reason my stuff hasn’t been selling is because I’ve been doing it wrong the whole time? I see another mountain peak and thought I was closer to the top.
I have a story I that I very much want to write and that I very much want to get accepted by a specific pub. I know authors have zero control over who accepts their subs and why they get rejected, but I'm so nervous that I'm going to pour my heart into something that's utter trash & that they're going to reject it out of hand. It's so bad that I haven't been able to begin writing the story in the first place! I've just been messing around with my outline a whole bunch and calling it a day. I think it's probably time to a deploy a tequila shot and just start typing.
I was working on something big and it started turning into autobiography so I lost interest. Knowing my own psychology stops me cause I know the dumb reason I'm saying something.
I like that thing in French cinema now where they avoid psychology. Also Werner Herzog has railed (a good 19th century railing) against it.
My mind is on the big novels as monologues a la Beckett and Camus in particular La Chute.
I like that thing in French cinema now where they avoid psychology. Also Werner Herzog has railed (a good 19th century railing) against it.
My mind is on the big novels as monologues a la Beckett and Camus in particular La Chute.
I'm waiting for my book to come out. In September. This is probably the hardest time. Hmm. 2nd hardest time. The first was to stop tweaking it.
I don't count words per day when writing as my work day tends to be long, so I try to get in as much as I can during my days off.
It is nice to see that everyone has a different schedule. Guess you have to do what you have to.
I don't count words per day when writing as my work day tends to be long, so I try to get in as much as I can during my days off.
It is nice to see that everyone has a different schedule. Guess you have to do what you have to.
I need discipline! I'm near being finished but that makes the tweaking harder. Hard... I procrastinate quite efficiently when writing is hard.
I need a schedule:
X hours listing stuff for sale on eBay (I have to clear my cluttered house)
X hours writing
X hours doing invoices and business stuff
X hours doing chores
Not necessarily in that order. Leftover time can be online. That cannot be first on the list because it's so easy to procrastinate. I used to procrastinate by going to garage sales and thrift stores. That's why I have so much clutter to sell on eBay.
Hooray the hummingbirds found my feeder today. They are so teeny. I'm sitting in the backyard watching them. The dogs like it when I sit out here and keep them company... too hot to keep them in the house when I have this nice shady backyard. Just over the fence is a hundred acre wood. It's amazing how cool the woods are compared to the open grass by the house. I used that concept in my book. The dogs love to lay in the grass, or roll on their backs in it.
Sorry, I digressed.
Back to the book. I made excellent progress on the ending yesterday. Now I'm back to slow motion tweaking. Did I mention the hummingbirds?
I need a schedule:
X hours listing stuff for sale on eBay (I have to clear my cluttered house)
X hours writing
X hours doing invoices and business stuff
X hours doing chores
Not necessarily in that order. Leftover time can be online. That cannot be first on the list because it's so easy to procrastinate. I used to procrastinate by going to garage sales and thrift stores. That's why I have so much clutter to sell on eBay.
Hooray the hummingbirds found my feeder today. They are so teeny. I'm sitting in the backyard watching them. The dogs like it when I sit out here and keep them company... too hot to keep them in the house when I have this nice shady backyard. Just over the fence is a hundred acre wood. It's amazing how cool the woods are compared to the open grass by the house. I used that concept in my book. The dogs love to lay in the grass, or roll on their backs in it.
Sorry, I digressed.
Back to the book. I made excellent progress on the ending yesterday. Now I'm back to slow motion tweaking. Did I mention the hummingbirds?
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