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My ideas for stories are all too scattered

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eruthford

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I've got the kind of writer's block where I come up with all kinds of snippets of plot points or character attributes, but they never come together as a plot. And, there are some additional things going on in my writing and life that exacerbate this...

1. I'd been working on two memoirs for some time, and have one at the finished stage and the other at second-draft stage. I don't know that either is perfect, but I said everything I wanted to say (satisfying). And now I can't come up with a new idea.
2. I want to do fiction next, and "coming up" with a new world / characters is a different thing than memoirs.
3. I used to be a journalist, which is all about describing the stuff you see and hear in an objective sort of way, which turns in to a big boring infodump if you attempt to do it in fiction.
4. I'm starting a new job on Monday. First time working in four years. (Yay! my kid is old enough for me to do that!) So that's going to wreak havoc on my writing time. But I still want to have that lovely "developing the story" feeling in my mind where I can think about what I want to write the next morning.

So I guess what I'm asking is how do you get from snippets flying in your head to a "the protagonist faces such-and-such a challenge and must..." real premise?

Sorry if I'm not making much sense, but "not making much sense" is how I ended up in this forum. :)
 

Ellis Clover

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One of my future WIPs is currently in 'snippet' form. I write out of order anyway, so I'm sort of hoping I'll keep producing scenes/descriptions/scraps of dialogue until there's enough there for me to spot thematic patterns and pull a story together, however bare-bones it might be to start with.

Do any of your snippets lend themselves to a narrative of some kind - a seismic event (internal or external), a conflict in progress, a goal to be met? Those are always good places to start when your mind refuses to draw you a bigger picture.
 

April Swanson

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You might be a non-linear writer, like Diana Gabaldon. Why don't you write your snippets, trust your creative mind and see what happens? I know that sounds a bit woo-woo, but I fully believe the creative voice is far faster and more clever than our conscious, critical voices. Also, let go of trying to write 'perfect'. Just...write what you see in your mind. A lot of writing is simply maintaining blind faith that it will all work out in the end. I know – much easier said than done!

Good luck :)
 

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I think I was in a similar place when I first started working on my novel. I had a few ideas, but not enough to knit together into a cohesive story. I did as the others suggested, and wrote down some of the scenes that I saw playing out in my head. At the same time, I worked pretty systematically to try to build a story. I thought consciously about conflicts I wanted to try to create and explore. I did a lot of “What if?” thinking that challenged assumptions I had made about the characters and relationships, and from time to time made radical changes when that thinking opened me up to better story ideas. I started keeping lists of settings or events with potential metaphoric or symbolic value to incorporate into the story.

Eventually, I had an outline for a complete story, and a significant chunk of that story written out as well. I want to stress that for me, this took a long time. My day job is mentally challenging so I don’t have a ton of bandwidth left for working on the novel. I’ve just stuck with it, for a little over two years now, and I’m still at least a year (probably two) away from a draft that is ready for beta readers. And it’s meant being open to changes that require rewriting substantial chunks of what I’ve already put down. I don’t mind that, because it’s all part of the process, and I’m a better writer now anyway than I was two years ago.

And that brings me to your point 3. As you’ve noted, writing fiction isn’t the same as writing journalism. It’s a new skill you will need to learn, and you can’t expect yourself to get it all right on your first crack. Write some things, read them critically, let others read them critically, and learn how to improve. I strongly recommend Sol Stein’s Stein On Writing. I recommend it for a lot of people but for you in particular, becuase he has sections on the way nonfiction storytelling overlaps with fiction storytelling, and that might help you bridge the gap between your journalistic skills and the fiction skills you are trying to develop.

Finally: Read, read, read. Turn on your analytic mind, see how authors use technique to achieve things, and be inspired.

:e2coffee:
 

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one of the 'novels' that i had written and "finished"...actually started from a dream i had. the dream was just one small little scene...and after writing it down the next day, details were changed...and where it sits in the story i put it into...is somewhere in the 3rd chapter...LOL
 

CathleenT

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Also, consider writing short stories. You can make a short story sing out of snippets. I'm trying to write longer pieces now, but for a couple of years, I really needed to write the things. They're easy to get feedback on, you get a lot of practice writing openers, cohesive narratives, etc. Could be worth a shot--YMMV. :)
 

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I've read several books which are formed from snippets. Vanessa Gebbie's "A Coward's Tale" is wonderful; Zoe Gilbert's "Folk" is another. Just write what you need to write. It might well come together as you work.
 

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You might be a non-linear writer, like Diana Gabaldon. Why don't you write your snippets, trust your creative mind and see what happens? I know that sounds a bit woo-woo, but I fully believe the creative voice is far faster and more clever than our conscious, critical voices. Also, let go of trying to write 'perfect'. Just...write what you see in your mind. A lot of writing is simply maintaining blind faith that it will all work out in the end. I know – much easier said than done!

Good luck :)

Diana Gabaldon. First time I'd heard of her. Can you recommend a first book to try of hers?

As for the non-linear writer thing, you might be right. I've read the "Plot Whisperer" several times, and the author divides most writers in to two groups, the plotters and the pantsers. The plotters think about action and like the idea of charting out their conflict from beginning to end early in their process, and the pantsers operate by the seats of their pants and think about what their characters are like first. I had thought of myself as a plotter, but maybe I'm not. Thank you for your kind suggestion!
 

eruthford

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Do any of your snippets lend themselves to a narrative of some kind - a seismic event (internal or external), a conflict in progress, a goal to be met? Those are always good places to start when your mind refuses to draw you a bigger picture.

My snippets do sometimes refer to an aspect of character development, like someone recovering from the death of a family member or someone angry he can't find his place in the world, but I have a more difficult time coming up with something for them to do. Or, conversely, I come up with aspects of a world, like settlers on a new planet trying to keep their society alive while dealing with the legacy of the radiation from space travel to get there, but then I can't come up with anything for the people to do there.
 

eruthford

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Also, consider writing short stories. You can make a short story sing out of snippets. I'm trying to write longer pieces now, but for a couple of years, I really needed to write the things. They're easy to get feedback on, you get a lot of practice writing openers, cohesive narratives, etc. Could be worth a shot--YMMV. :)

I have a couple of short stories I've written but they're kind of silly. Silly as in not well enough developed, not quite ready to share with people. However, my favorite writers are short-story writers such as Mavis Gallant or Flannery O'Connor.
 

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I've just thought of another book which is made up from fragments--although much bigger ones, and much more structured ones. Ann Patchett's Commonwealth. A wonderful book which dips and weaves around the story in a way that I loved.
 

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Wow! I'm going through the same thing and kind of disliking (hate's a bit strong) my current WIP - a biography of a multitude of scenes. The scenes are fun enough to write but combining the narrative is putzy. The narrative should add arc, anticipation, and reasoning and my timeline is getting really confusing. I'm thinking, in my case and maybe yours, get all the snippets out there and they'll work out as you reread and reread. Before all our word processors, I guess writers had pages all over their floors.
 

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One thing that you may try since you have "snippets" is have a digital recorder and record them as they come. Once you have time write them out and then try to reconstruct the reason and how it ties in with the other parts. You may find a commanality and the story will open from there.
 

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I know this won't work for everyone, but I decided on the ending to my book first. Then I began filling in what would have happened to get the book to that point. In the process, a few subplots developed. I put pieces of scenes in an Excel spreadsheet and have moved them around and/or changed them since then when I had new inspiration. So far this is the farthest I've ever gotten in completing a novel. You might give it a shot. If it isn't for you, I know you'll find what is.

Another thing I've been doing when really stuck is jumping ahead to a scene I've already been envisioning clearly, then connecting prior scenes to that one. This is generally a scene I really WANT to write, and it gets my enthusiasm going again because it's no longer a drag; it's fun again.
 

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lots of ideas are good. but pick one and run with it.

I've got the kind of writer's block where I come up with all kinds of snippets of plot points or character attributes, but they never come together as a plot. And, there are some additional things going on in my writing and life that exacerbate this...

1. I'd been working on two memoirs for some time, and have one at the finished stage and the other at second-draft stage. I don't know that either is perfect, but I said everything I wanted to say (satisfying). And now I can't come up with a new idea.
2. I want to do fiction next, and "coming up" with a new world / characters is a different thing than memoirs.
3. I used to be a journalist, which is all about describing the stuff you see and hear in an objective sort of way, which turns in to a big boring infodump if you attempt to do it in fiction.
4. I'm starting a new job on Monday. First time working in four years. (Yay! my kid is old enough for me to do that!) So that's going to wreak havoc on my writing time. But I still want to have that lovely "developing the story" feeling in my mind where I can think about what I want to write the next morning.

So I guess what I'm asking is how do you get from snippets flying in your head to a "the protagonist faces such-and-such a challenge and must..." real premise?

Sorry if I'm not making much sense, but "not making much sense" is how I ended up in this forum. :)


Lots of ideas are good.
Bezos can put 100 new ideas on a whiteboard in an hour, anytime he meets with his staff. Then they have to figure out which are best and DO them.

Jot down all your ideas in one place, but then pick the best and instantiate it without thinking about the also rans.
 

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One of my future WIPs is currently in 'snippet' form. I write out of order anyway, so I'm sort of hoping I'll keep producing scenes/descriptions/scraps of dialogue until there's enough there for me to spot thematic patterns and pull a story together, however bare-bones it might be to start with.

Do any of your snippets lend themselves to a narrative of some kind - a seismic event (internal or external), a conflict in progress, a goal to be met? Those are always good places to start when your mind refuses to draw you a bigger picture.


There are methods to learn to how to be more creative. There are techniques to maximise the creativity you have now and also the amount you have in the future.

It sounds like you are not using an effective way to be creative.

PM me if you want more details. I am writing a book on creativity now. I have collected most of the raw material to use but need to outline it then write.
 

eruthford

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I've read several books which are formed from snippets. Vanessa Gebbie's "A Coward's Tale" is wonderful; Zoe Gilbert's "Folk" is another. Just write what you need to write. It might well come together as you work.

I went and read the first three pages of "Folk" on Amazon and was quite impressed by it. But the nook store doesn't have it so I can't do that 30-page sample thing I love so much and the library also doesn't have it. But I'm so sucked in I might have to spend money. Oh no! :)
 

eruthford

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Wow! I'm going through the same thing and kind of disliking (hate's a bit strong) my current WIP - a biography of a multitude of scenes. The scenes are fun enough to write but combining the narrative is putzy. The narrative should add arc, anticipation, and reasoning and my timeline is getting really confusing. I'm thinking, in my case and maybe yours, get all the snippets out there and they'll work out as you reread and reread. Before all our word processors, I guess writers had pages all over their floors.

Have you tried Scrivener? Kind of a simulation of the pages-all-over-the-floor thing.
 

eruthford

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Lots of ideas are good.
Bezos can put 100 new ideas on a whiteboard in an hour, anytime he meets with his staff. Then they have to figure out which are best and DO them.

Jot down all your ideas in one place, but then pick the best and instantiate it without thinking about the also rans.

So that's all I need -- several billion dollars and an overeducated staff. I'll get right on that! :)
 

April Swanson

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Diana Gabaldon. First time I'd heard of her. Can you recommend a first book to try of hers?

As for the non-linear writer thing, you might be right. I've read the "Plot Whisperer" several times, and the author divides most writers in to two groups, the plotters and the pantsers. The plotters think about action and like the idea of charting out their conflict from beginning to end early in their process, and the pantsers operate by the seats of their pants and think about what their characters are like first. I had thought of myself as a plotter, but maybe I'm not. Thank you for your kind suggestion!

Diana Gabaldon wrote the Outlander series. I've never actually read it, but I remember her talking about her process in a pep talk for Nano. I also think a lot of writers fall half way between plotting and pantsing. I believe 'plantsing' is the correct term :)
 

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I more or less write down every 'snippet' as they pop into my head. One thing I've found though is that they don't necessarily end up where I thought they might. I've found myself more than once finding something I had thought fitted into story line A ending up as the seed for a whole new story. The opposite has happened too.

I also keep losing them - I have too many notebooks and sketchbooks and things just go into whatever comes to hand...
 

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lol, I have some much short stories, chapters, and other things that I have had snippets of, on a thumb drive and backed up in various places, but thumb drive is what I use to keep it "organized".
 

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I scribble snippets down as they come. Sometimes they make it into books. Other times they eventually get deleted. My brain is the kind that fires out random scenes.
 

eruthford

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I've read several books which are formed from snippets. Vanessa Gebbie's "A Coward's Tale" is wonderful; Zoe Gilbert's "Folk" is another. Just write what you need to write. It might well come together as you work.

@Old Hack, I took your advice and bought a copy of Zoe Gilbert's Folk, and good heavens is that dark. The self-contained nature of the chapters is impressive, but they burn through characters like Game of Thrones.
 

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@Old Hack, I took your advice and bought a copy of Zoe Gilbert's Folk, and good heavens is that dark. The self-contained nature of the chapters is impressive, but they burn through characters like Game of Thrones.

I love that book. I'm glad you bought it, but am not sure if you enjoyed it from your comments!
 
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