Writing Strategies
Aug. 14th, 2010 07:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seedeeI'm at this point yet again, so I'm asking you, writers out there, what do you do?
You have this great prompt and this intriguing idea. You start writing and you're sure that it's going to be brilliant. You write and tweak the first chapters, plot like no one's ever plotted before. The characters become solid in your head and you find their voices. Things are starting to fall into place, and they're coming together. The plotting is done, the general arc is clear, the first 10,000 words are written, and you estimate that it's about a third of the story. You're proud of your little baby, and yourself, because you're awesome.
Then you take a deep breath, take a step back, and look at what you got. You get this sinking feeling that no one is going to read past the first paragraph. It's boring, pretentious, uncreative bullshit, and it's been done before. Truth be told, you think it sucks.
Have you been there? What do you do at this point?
Do you delete the whole thing and never think of it again?
Do you keep writing, telling yourself that you're too critical, thinking that you can rewrite once you have a draft?
Do you tweak and change until you're satisfied and then continue?
Do you go back to the plotting phase?
Do you procrastinate and post things to your journal instead of just sucking it up and keep writing?
You have this great prompt and this intriguing idea. You start writing and you're sure that it's going to be brilliant. You write and tweak the first chapters, plot like no one's ever plotted before. The characters become solid in your head and you find their voices. Things are starting to fall into place, and they're coming together. The plotting is done, the general arc is clear, the first 10,000 words are written, and you estimate that it's about a third of the story. You're proud of your little baby, and yourself, because you're awesome.
Then you take a deep breath, take a step back, and look at what you got. You get this sinking feeling that no one is going to read past the first paragraph. It's boring, pretentious, uncreative bullshit, and it's been done before. Truth be told, you think it sucks.
Have you been there? What do you do at this point?
Do you delete the whole thing and never think of it again?
Do you keep writing, telling yourself that you're too critical, thinking that you can rewrite once you have a draft?
Do you tweak and change until you're satisfied and then continue?
Do you go back to the plotting phase?
Do you procrastinate and post things to your journal instead of just sucking it up and keep writing?
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no subject
on 2010-08-14 11:45 pm (UTC)But that being said, you've never written anything I didn't love! So I'm pretty certain this isn't nearly as bad as you think.
Maybe call in a beta. Let them know it's unfinished but you already have concerns and get that second opinion that makes all the difference.
no subject
on 2010-08-15 09:17 am (UTC)Not sure about betas at this point. I'm reluctant to let anyone read it. I've tried that before, but it didn't work out. The story is too unfinished, too much of it is still in my head for anyone else to get the big picture. I've talked with a friend about the general idea yesterday. Just hearing that I'm not completely insane helped a bit. I think I'll try the 'keep writing and don't look back' approach for now.
Thank you for your thoughts. ♥
no subject
on 2010-08-15 12:13 pm (UTC)And I can't wait to read whatever it is you'Re working on!
no subject
on 2010-08-15 09:27 pm (UTC)