Biting off more than you can chew

[TheseLegs]

I just read through what I had, and it's pretty fun but kind of overwhelming. Only 6 characters including the choice-maker (7 if you count her time travel duplicate) but just trying to format it gives me a headache. To make it worse, it's written in the second person, like a choose-your-own-adventure book, and in present tense. I'm going to go lie down for a while.

And outside the confines of his cell in the secret government facility, he can be whatever he wants, but his natural form is a mass of translucent tendrils.



Art (?) by These Legs.

I like your octopussy pic, Emily/djdrip

 

[MillieDynamite]

I'm writing my werewolf story in third person present tense. It's been rather a difficult undertaking. One I need to get back to.

I just read through what I had, and it's pretty fun but kind of overwhelming. Only 6 characters including the choice-maker (7 if you count her time travel duplicate) but just trying to format it gives me a headache. To make it worse, it's written in the second person, like a choose-your-own-adventure book, and in present tense. I'm going to go lie down for a while.

And outside the confines of his cell in the secret government facility, he can be whatever he wants, but his natural form is a mass of translucent tendrils.

View attachment 2274114

Art (?) by These Legs.

I like your octopussy pic, Emily/djdrip

 

[EmilyMiller]

I just read through what I had, and it's pretty fun but kind of overwhelming. Only 6 characters including the choice-maker (7 if you count her time travel duplicate) but just trying to format it gives me a headache. To make it worse, it's written in the second person, like a choose-your-own-adventure book, and in present tense. I'm going to go lie down for a while.

And outside the confines of his cell in the secret government facility, he can be whatever he wants, but his natural form is a mass of translucent tendrils.

View attachment 2274114

Art (?) by These Legs.

I like your octopussy pic, Emily/djdrip

If you show me yours, I’ll show you mine .

Oh, OK. Maybe I’m easy:

Coleoidphilia - A Dramedy with Three Tarts

Em

 

[EmilyMiller]

I'm writing my werewolf story in third person present tense. It's been rather a difficult undertaking. One I need to get back to.

That sounds complicated!

Em

 

[EmilyMiller]

Fabulous job on your stories @EmilyMiller

Thank you

Em

 

[ElectricBlue]

When I started writing my take on the Arthurian myth, my longest piece (104k words), I had two words in mind: chutzpah and hubris.

After I sent the Prologue to my beta reader, and she replied with an email with more capital letters, repeated exclamation marks and oh my gods, I thought, maybe I can do this.

I kept going for ten months of steady writing, with only one thing in my head: how do I get a child who's not even been born yet, to the side of a lake where a woman in a boat comes to get him, a slain king? And what happens in between, and what happens to those people afterwards?

With my stream of consciousness, linear, no plot or plan style, I made it through to the end, and found out.

Major characters include a sage fool, Maerlyn, a black witch, a white witch, a young king, the older king. The king's half sister; his daughter, the twin brother who kills him. Fathers, mothers, babes who crawled and bit, a maid and a princeling, girls from the islands, far waters. A volcano, a sword, stone circles (a cameo from Stonehenge, with a crop circle and summer solstice sunrise), slow ships. Horses, long valleys, high hills. A lot of blood, menstruation, evisceration, and a huge amount of rain. It always rains in my stories. Krakatoa erupts, and there's a huge tidal wave. I made a lot of it up.

In short, I wrote for close on a year, with only two side projects for relief. Keep going, is how you do it.

Like Emily did. Well done, Em. Now you can write your big one .

 

[EmilyMiller]

When I started writing my take on the Arthurian myth, my longest piece (104k words), I had two words in mind: chutzpah and hubris.

After I sent the Prologue to my beta reader, and she replied with an email with more capital letters, repeated exclamation marks and oh my gods, I thought, maybe I can do this.

I kept going for ten months of steady writing, with only one thing in my head: how do I get a child who's not even been born yet, to the side of a lake where a woman in a boat comes to get him, a slain king? And what happens in between, and what happens to those people afterwards?

With my stream of consciousness, linear, no plot or plan style, I made it through to the end, and found out.

Major characters include a sage fool, Maerlyn, a black witch, a white witch, a young king, the older king. The king's half sister; his daughter, the twin brother who kills him. Fathers, mothers, babes who crawled and bit, a maid and a princeling, girls from the islands, far waters. A volcano, a sword, stone circles (a cameo from Stonehenge, with a crop circle and summer solstice sunrise), slow ships. Horses, long valleys, high hills. A lot of blood, menstruation, evisceration, and a huge amount of rain. It always rains in my stories. Krakatoa erupts, and there's a huge tidal wave. I made a lot of it up.

In short, I wrote for close on a year, with only two side projects for relief. Keep going, is how you do it.

Like Emily did. Well done, Em. Now you can write your big one .

I guess all three parts of Coleoidphilia amount to just over 60k. But over 100k ?

Em

 

[ElectricBlue]

I guess all three parts of Coleoidphilia amount to just over 60k. But over 100k ?

Em

Yep, 10k a month, thereabouts. That's my usual writing pace, pretty much, but this time, just in one story.

 

[MelissaBaby]

When I started writing my take on the Arthurian myth, my longest piece (104k words), I had two words in mind: chutzpah and hubris.

After I sent the Prologue to my beta reader, and she replied with an email with more capital letters, repeated exclamation marks and oh my gods, I thought, maybe I can do this.

I kept going for ten months of steady writing, with only one thing in my head: how do I get a child who's not even been born yet, to the side of a lake where a woman in a boat comes to get him, a slain king? And what happens in between, and what happens to those people afterwards?

With my stream of consciousness, linear, no plot or plan style, I made it through to the end, and found out.

Major characters include a sage fool, Maerlyn, a black witch, a white witch, a young king, the older king. The king's half sister; his daughter, the twin brother who kills him. Fathers, mothers, babes who crawled and bit, a maid and a princeling, girls from the islands, far waters. A volcano, a sword, stone circles (a cameo from Stonehenge, with a crop circle and summer solstice sunrise), slow ships. Horses, long valleys, high hills. A lot of blood, menstruation, evisceration, and a huge amount of rain. It always rains in my stories. Krakatoa erupts, and there's a huge tidal wave. I made a lot of it up.

In short, I wrote for close on a year, with only two side projects for relief. Keep going, is how you do it.

Like Emily did. Well done, Em. Now you can write your big one .

I spent three years writing Mary and Alvin, releasing one chapter a month. During that time, I wrote one side project for an event.

 

[TheseLegs]

I'm writing my werewolf story in third person present tense. It's been rather a difficult undertaking. One I need to get back to.

That's cool. I put a couple of werewolves in my novels and switch to present tense (still 3rd person limited) when they transform. I thought, that way, the reader can tell the transformation is going on even though the character doesn't really know what's happening, he just goes, "back to four legs, back to the beast. Back to the present." Is this super cheesy? Probably, but no one's ever going to read my novels anyway.

 

[RejectReality]

I've been fiddling with the same Valentine's Day Cougar/Kitten story every year since 2011. Always something that feels just a bit off no matter how I tweak it, and I never get it done in time, so it gets relegated back to the "next year" folder.

 

[Cagivagurl]

Have you ever taken on a project that you were probably not really good enough (at present) to fully realize?

Every story I have ever written falls into this category....

Cagivagurl

 

[EmilyMiller]

So - what I’m getting (I guess it’s logical) is that you only get “good enough” by trying and failing, trying and failing again, trying really hard and almost succeeding… and so on.

That makes me feel a bit better. I know there are some aspects or my story that I haven’t nailed. I know a more experienced author would make it hang together a lot better. But I’m glad I tried. I guess just finishing the thing, regardless of quality, is something.

Em

 

[Euphony]

So - what I’m getting (I guess it’s logical) is that you only get “good enough” by trying and failing, trying and failing again, trying really hard and almost succeeding… and so on.

That makes me feel a bit better. I know there are some aspects or my story that I haven’t nailed. I know a more experienced author would make it hang together a lot better. But I’m glad I tried. I guess just finishing the thing, regardless of quality, is something.

Em

Overall takeaway, yes.

Nuance, of course, exists and is as with any pursuit, focused practice gets the most results. If you chamber yourself, of course writing essentially the same thing is not going to get you very far.

Writing is a mountain. There's just SO VERY MUCH that constitutes this thing we neatly wrap up in an everyday word.

Add in the false belief that, we "sorta write" in everyday life so it's an easier transition than, say, competitive figure skating, and you can wreck your motivation through little fault of your own.

"The only way to get better at writing is to write" is more a defense of motivation than actual improvement plan.

But it works because NOTHING kills off more potentially great writers than quitting.

You clearly steep yourself in writing throughout your day. (by significant participation in the AH and a frequent publishing schedule) You're doing the work.

Work towards keeping your motivation. Follow any curiosities that develop over craft/technical matters, be open to help and/or criticism, stay in a writer/creatives headspace and you'll be golden.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Not that complicated. Just have to keep it in the moment. There are short sections that are reflective and therefore past tense. I'm just rereading as I go and then running through it every now and again, looking for mistaken past tense.

That sounds complicated!

Em

 

[ElectricBlue]

So - what I’m getting (I guess it’s logical) is that you only get “good enough” by trying and failing, trying and failing again, trying really hard and almost succeeding… and so on.

That makes me feel a bit better. I know there are some aspects or my story that I haven’t nailed. I know a more experienced author would make it hang together a lot better. But I’m glad I tried. I guess just finishing the thing, regardless of quality, is something.

Em

Your best story is always your next one.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Not that complicated. Just have to keep it in the moment. There are short sections that are reflective and therefore past tense. I'm just rereading as I go and then running through it every now and again, looking for mistaken past tense.

I find myself swapping tense a lot. I guess it’s not that odd if you are caught up in the writing.

Em

 

[TheseLegs]

Hi Emily,

I read your first space octopus story, enjoyed it, liked the vivid descriptions, disliked Alexa. There are other things I liked and disliked if you're interested, but you are much more successful than me, so I don't reckon you need my advice. Thanks for the read.

Can't read mine, though. It's not ready. Not even close. I'm part Polish, which means things have to be nice and shiny before I show anyone else. Your end notes reminded me of another abandoned shape shifting alien story I was working on, where the alien really *becomes* the thing it transforms into and when they are discussing what it should become next, it warns them that its tentacle monster form is 'a little rapey'.

 

[MillieDynamite]

I think my editor person gets most of those fixed. I've already sent him a note on this story being F'd up royally with present tense to repair him for the worst.

I find myself swapping tense a lot. I guess it’s not that odd if you are caught up in the writing.

Em

 

[Euphony]

I find myself swapping tense a lot. I guess it’s not that odd if you are caught up in the writing.

Em

99.999% of the time we think in a narrow pattern.

Then we get into writing narrative which requires us to balance an entire world and all things within it, hopefully while we are in a bit of a trance/state of bliss (where creativity lives)

Writing ain't writing. Revision is writing.

Just wish to christ I liked it as much I do the initial creation and sparks.

 

[Euphony]

I think my editor person gets most of those fixed. I've already sent him a note on this story being F'd up royally with present tense to repair him for the worst.

Let's be careful not work the poor man to death.

 

[Djmac1031]

Not that complicated. Just have to keep it in the moment. There are short sections that are reflective and therefore past tense. I'm just rereading as I go and then running through it every now and again, looking for mistaken past tense.

I wrote a short story in present tense... never published... but yeah, the trick was editing, because past tense kept slipping through.

 

[MillieDynamite]

He's also my publisher, so this has to go up for sale as well. So, I'm sure he won't mind the work.

Let's be careful not work the poor man to death.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Hi Emily,

I read your first space octopus story, enjoyed it, liked the vivid descriptions, disliked Alexa. There are other things I liked and disliked if you're interested, but you are much more successful than me, so I don't reckon you need my advice. Thanks for the read.

Can't read mine, though. It's not ready. Not even close. I'm part Polish, which means things have to be nice and shiny before I show anyone else. Your end notes reminded me of another abandoned shape shifting alien story I was working on, where the alien really *becomes* the thing it transforms into and when they are discussing what it should become next, it warns them that its tentacle monster form is 'a little rapey'.

The story came out of trying to make tentacle porn not “a little rapey”.

Alexa was meant to be annoying, something I deal with early in Episode Two .

I have some Polish ancestry. Well some antecedents came from a small town that has been in both Poland and Germany over the years. I’m a mix of a few European heritages, like a lot of people.

Em

 

[TheseLegs]

The story came out of trying to make tentacle porn not “a little rapey”.

Yeah, I got that from your end story notes.

I have some Polish ancestry. Well some antecedents came from a small town that has been in both Poland and Germany over the years. I’m a mix of a few European heritages, like a lot of people.

I am very mixed up, too, but it was more a Polish/polish joke.

Alexa was meant to be annoying, something I deal with early in Episode Two .

Looking forward to it!