a confession

It takes me forever to write a story. For every 3K I write, about 1K makes it into the story. I go through multiple drafts. I write the same scenes multiple times from different angles. It's like I can't figure out how to write something until I've written it wrong at least once.

You'd think I could work some of this out in my head before I start or, heaven forbid, make an outline or something. Nope. I'm terribly indecisive, and I never know if it's good or bad or even what direction to take it until I get something on paper. And then I realize, "Ah! That."

What's your writing confession? Your weakness? Your neuroses? Your bad habits? Or is this gig a piece of cake for you?

Personally, I'm with Chuck, from Supernatural. When asked if he's psychic, he replies, "No. If I were psychic, you think I'd be writing? Writing is hard."

Geez, I clicked here hoping for a really juicy confession--some terrific kink I'd never heard of, maybe embezzlement, even a nice murder. An adulterous affair at the very least!

And I get "writing is hard"! Of course it is! I do exactly what you do. Doesn't everybody?

A classic neurosis is an anxiety disorder, and as I do not experience anxiety at all I am immune from neuroses. I do feel real fear, tho. I took the MMPI in grad school so I know what my Anxiety Score is: 1st percentile.

Consequently I do as much work as is necessary, and nothing more. I don't obsess or fret about better. If I fall over improvement I add it to my tools but don't quest for it. Failure almost never bothers me.

If I gave a shit I might impress a few people from more toil to improve. But I cant care less what anyone thinks about me.

Serafina1210 said:

Of course it is! I do exactly what you do. Doesn't everybody?

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Not everybody. My stories generally spin themselves in my head and, if anything, get expanded in review, not trimmed.

Serafina1210 said:

Geez, I clicked here hoping for a really juicy confession--some terrific kink I'd never heard of, maybe embezzlement, even a nice murder. An adulterous affair at the very least!

And I get "writing is hard"! Of course it is! I do exactly what you do. Doesn't everybody?

Click to expand...

Gar! Lemme think...

I do have mild mysophilia.

JAMESBJOHNSON said:

A classic neurosis is an anxiety disorder, and as I do not experience anxiety at all I am immune from neuroses. I do feel real fear, tho. I took the MMPI in grad school so I know what my Anxiety Score is: 1st percentile.

Consequently I do as much work as is necessary, and nothing more. I don't obsess or fret about better. If I fall over improvement I add it to my tools but don't quest for it. Failure almost never bothers me.

If I gave a shit I might impress a few people from more toil to improve. But I cant care less what anyone thinks about me.

Click to expand...

Oh honey. It's not like I end up with masterpieces 384734732K later.

sr71plt said:

Not everybody. My stories generally spin themselves in my head and, if anything, get expanded in review, not trimmed.

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Nothing to confess?

allamagione said:

Nothing to confess?

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Already just did on another thread. My sentences tend to travel on to the second page.

allamagione said:

Oh honey. It's not like I end up with masterpieces 384734732K later.

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On the whole I prefer peace of mind over flattery.

allamagione said:

Gar! Lemme think...

I do have mild mysophilia.

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Ooh, that IS one I never heard of! And thanks for the picture: me likes!

A confession? When Im really stuck I listen to male audios and get ideas.
A bigger confession? Leopard50 is my fave!

allamagione said:

It takes me forever to write a story. For every 3K I write, about 1K makes it into the story. I go through multiple drafts. I write the same scenes multiple times from different angles. It's like I can't figure out how to write something until I've written it wrong at least once.

You'd think I could work some of this out in my head before I start or, heaven forbid, make an outline or something. Nope. I'm terribly indecisive, and I never know if it's good or bad or even what direction to take it until I get something on paper. And then I realize, "Ah! That."

What's your writing confession? Your weakness? Your neuroses? Your bad habits? Or is this gig a piece of cake for you?

Personally, I'm with Chuck, from Supernatural. When asked if he's psychic, he replies, "No. If I were psychic, you think I'd be writing? Writing is hard."

Click to expand...

squirrelzo said:

A confession? When Im really stuck I listen to male audios and get ideas.
A bigger confession? Leopard50 is my fave!

Click to expand...

Well, there goes my whole afternoon.

Here is a confession... (I think that's what this thread was supposed to be about, right?)

Most of what I put in my stories is based on my own real life experience, so the imagination factor in my work is pretty low.

I am trying to break out and be more imaginative in my story telling, but I am finding this to be a very difficult task.

FantasyXY said:

Here is a confession... (I think that's what this thread was supposed to be about, right?)

Most of what I put in my stories is based on my own real life experience, so the imagination factor in my work is pretty low.

I am trying to break out and be more imaginative in my story telling, but I am finding this to be a very difficult task.

Click to expand...

Well, actually, it was a poorly veiled whine posing as a discussion thread, but hey. I do love confessions.

It's hard to write what you don't know. Though I do love to, say, put myself in the POV of the opposite sex.

And of course there is the acknowledged master, Mirage...

allamagione said:

Well, there goes my whole afternoon.

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OK, here's another monolog that goes on too long

At an early age I got used to disappointing my parents, so bad comments sting but they don't ruin my day. I never did figure out what I wanted to do with my life so I just went down the path of least resistance, or whatever looked interesting. And that's pretty much what I do when I write.

I get an idea, from where doesn't matter. When I start I'm not too worried about it failing or someone not liking it. Sure I would like lots of positive comments and a high score. But it's not changing my life if that doesn't happen. I don't feel shame or guilt or anything if it gets horrible comments.

That's not to say I don't care about what I write, In my head it is a wonderful masterpiece but it never looks as good on the site as in my head. And yes, I do go through different versions, I save most, the promising ones get saved to recycle into other stories, more often than not they just sit in the 'early or rejected version' folder. Hopefully I try to learn what works and doesn't.

And sometimes if a story has been hard to do, isn't going well and I get frustrated, when I get near the end I just want it to be over, so it gets rushed. Neither the best ending nor the best I could do, and certainly not what I hoped when I started.

I saw an interview once with a famous author, I think it was John Irving, and in it he made the comment that he knew exactly what he was going to write before he started typing. Not me. I can't think in that kind of detail for a short little story here much less a real novel. The guy must have a terrific memory and an organised brain.

Of course he might have been inferring copious notes and research didn't count as typing, but I got the idea from what he said that once he started typing he just kept going non-stop until the end.

FantasyXY said:

Most of what I put in my stories is based on my own real life experience, so the imagination factor in my work is pretty low.

Click to expand...

My confession would be just about the opposite of FantasyXY's: my stories are almost all imagination and research.

I live in fear that Mother Superior will find out what I've been up to here ...

49greg said:

Of course he might have been inferring copious notes and research didn't count as typing, but I got the idea from what he said that once he started typing he just kept going non-stop until the end.

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This is pretty much what I do, but I do make a few notes before I start. I don't think the whole story is in my mind, though. Enough of it is to keep me writing, but I think my mind has the barebones--more so than my consciousness does--and that the story evolves as I type.

FantasyXY said:

Here is a confession... (I think that's what this thread was supposed to be about, right?)

Most of what I put in my stories is based on my own real life experience, so the imagination factor in my work is pretty low.

I am trying to break out and be more imaginative in my story telling, but I am finding this to be a very difficult task.

Click to expand...

Simply collect all the possibilities and use the best ones.

allamagione said:

Well, actually, it was a poorly veiled whine posing as a discussion thread, but hey. I do love confessions.

It's hard to write what you don't know. Though I do love to, say, put myself in the POV of the opposite sex.

Click to expand...

In my most recent story posting I did just that. I put the story's POV in the voice of a woman I dated a while back. I think I did pretty well voicing the story as a woman. A couple of the comments I received were all about how they believed this was actually written by the woman telling the story.

What made writing the story in a woman's voice easier for me is I didn't have to make up anything in the story. I just had to relay what happened and the things this woman said to me. Putting that into her thoughts and phrases came pretty easily because I was a first hand witness.

So as a discussion point... (still thinly veiled) I have decided to write a couple of Sci-Fi Fantasy stories. This ought to stretch my abilities a bit. Of course as I work on them I am finding the same thing you were whining about. I write and write, but only a fraction of my work ends up in the story. Maybe I have my bullshit detector set at too sensitive of a level to just let this stuff flow.

49greg said:

In my head it is a wonderful masterpiece but it never looks as good on the site as in my head.

Click to expand...

Isn't that the truth!

49greg said:

I do go through different versions, I save most, the promising ones get saved to recycle into other stories, more often than not they just sit in the 'early or rejected version' folder. Hopefully I try to learn what works and doesn't.

Click to expand...

Same here. Each draft is a learning experience.

49greg said:

I saw an interview once with a famous author, I think it was John Irving, and in it he made the comment that he knew exactly what he was going to write before he started typing. Not me. I can't think in that kind of detail for a short little story here much less a real novel. The guy must have a terrific memory and an organised brain.

Of course he might have been inferring copious notes and research didn't count as typing, but I got the idea from what he said that once he started typing he just kept going non-stop until the end.

Click to expand...

When authors say things like that, I can't help viewing them with the same skepticism I reserve for actresses who are "just blessed with a fast metabolism."

Serafina1210 said:

My confession would be just about the opposite of FantasyXY's: my stories are almost all imagination and research.

I live in fear that Mother Superior will find out what I've been up to here ...

Click to expand...

You probably have Mother Superior favorited on Lit.

Confession: What I write plays out in my head as a movie or TV series.

I am a child of that device. From my earliest age, I remember the TV being there. Our first was a small 13" black and white with three knobs. On/off (a push/pull switch), volume control and channel changer(the set had 13 channels, but there were only three broadcasts stations at the time, then a short time later a fourth was added.)

So when I get an idea for a story, it plays in my head like a TV show, minus commercials, or a feature length movie.

Of course not all things are there, but most. Not all dialog is played out, nor scenery described. Those I add while writing. The plot, the beginning, the middle, the end, the list of characters are there in my head. All I have to do is press play.

There are eight million stories in the Naked City and in my head.

I have no issues with writing, it just seems to come naturally. I do not outline and the only notes I take might be to jot down a very good line that came to me in work or when I first wake up so I don't forget it.

I have a bulletproof personality. I will pay attention to a constructive criticism, but trolling, insults, nasty personal feedback, one bombs etc....don't bother me at all.

Confessions?

Yeah, right.

Miss Appleby did it in the basement with both hands.

Uh, maybe that's not what you're looking for.

As far as writing goes I have no confessions except to say that being a storyteller is much better than a writer.

I usually have the title for the story before I start.

Most of the time I turn the characters loose and see where they go. Don't try herding ducks, cats, or characters. It just don't work.