Biting off more than you can chew

I'm a little disappointed that no one seems to have made a 'spit or swallow' joke about the title of this thread.
😮‍💨💦🤢

Not if there's biting involved! Yikes! (Re: The World According to Garp)
 
Not if there's biting involved! Yikes! (Re: The World According to Garp)
Can we agree, though, that in the event of anything being bitten off, one does in fact find themselves facing the choice of spitting or swallowing? Some exploratory mastication is optional in either case.
 
I'm a little disappointed that no one seems to have made a 'spit or swallow' joke about the title of this thread.
😮‍💨💦🤢
There are two ways to answer such questions. One is to give direct advice. Another is for the poster to describe what they do, which may or may not be relevant.

I'll start with the second option. Nearly twenty years ago, I tried to write a screenplay which was a reworking of an existing movie and the novel it was based on. It had more than twenty characters, some of which I made up for my version.

It was fun to do, but the screenplay format is unwieldy for me. I had something like a five-hour movie on my hands. (The original cut of Heaven's Gate was five hours and twenty-five minutes, and we all know how well that went.) That brings up the issue that screenplays are basically frameworks, no stand-alone works, and other people make the final creation.

I'm still considering a prose version series for this site - one of these days! :unsure:
 
There are two ways to answer such questions. One is to give direct advice. Another is for the poster to describe what they do, which may or may not be relevant.

I'll start with the second option. Nearly twenty years ago, I tried to write a screenplay which was a reworking of an existing movie and the novel it was based on. It had more than twenty characters, some of which I made up for my version.

It was fun to do, but the screenplay format is unwieldy for me. I had something like a five-hour movie on my hands. (The original cut of Heaven's Gate was five hours and twenty-five minutes, and we all know how well that went.) That brings up the issue that screenplays are basically frameworks, no stand-alone works, and other people make the final creation.

I'm still considering a prose version series for this site - one of these days! :unsure:
Not that it really matters much, but I think you quoted/replied to the wrong post.
 
There are two ways to answer such questions. One is to give direct advice. Another is for the poster to describe what they do, which may or may not be relevant.

I'll start with the second option. Nearly twenty years ago, I tried to write a screenplay which was a reworking of an existing movie and the novel it was based on. It had more than twenty characters, some of which I made up for my version.

It was fun to do, but the screenplay format is unwieldy for me. I had something like a five-hour movie on my hands. (The original cut of Heaven's Gate was five hours and twenty-five minutes, and we all know how well that went.) That brings up the issue that screenplays are basically frameworks, no stand-alone works, and other people make the final creation.

I'm still considering a prose version series for this site - one of these days! :unsure:
If I may add something. Like Michael Cimino, I had no concerns about budgets. The original movie I was reworking had some had location shooting in England, plus studio work in California. I wanted to add a bunch (the number varied) of additional location shots, mostly in New York and maybe in New Jersey.

Cimino got away with it once - he built an entire town in Montana. His original $11 million budget wound up costing four times that. Anyway, that is one of my "biting off more than you can chew" stories.
 
Not that it really matters much, but I think you quoted/replied to the wrong post.
No, she wanted our "biting off more than you can chew" tales - that is the the thread title - and I'm giving her one. It happens to be about writing a screenplay, not a short story, but it's still about writing.
 
No, she wanted our "biting off more than you can chew" tales - that is the the thread title - and I'm giving her one. It happens to be about writing a screenplay, not a short story, but it's still about writing.
No, I meant that you quoted my post while answering the thread question. I thought you were responding to me because of the quoting of my post, except that nothing you said seemed directed at me.
 
Asbury Park is much improved over what it was thirty years ago. However, the Casino is just a shell of what is once was.

Sorry, I haven't read anything on this site in at least a year. What is the title?

https://images.foxtv.com/static.fox5ny.com/www.fox5ny.com/content/uploads/2022/06/932/524/FOX5NY_ASBURY_PARK_BOARDWALK_1.
Asbury Park: Riot, Redemption, Rock n Roll
Definitely worth a view. I grew up one town over from AP. Many familiar haunts and remember all too well when it was on fire. Plus many musicians I have seen, even a few I've met a few, thanks to my Mr's involvement with the music scene in the area.

Maybe off topic. But I wouldn't be the first
 
No, I meant that you quoted my post while answering the thread question. I thought you were responding to me because of the quoting of my post, except that nothing you said seemed directed at me.
I see, I thought that was Emily's post. I need more coffee this morning. So, yeah, these threads can get tangled if not read properly (84 posts so far), which I often don't do.

So, sorry, I wasn't answering you, and I was responding to Emily's original post - post number 1. Emily, does that all make sense?
 
There are two ways to answer such questions. One is to give direct advice. Another is for the poster to describe what they do, which may or may not be relevant.

I'll start with the second option. Nearly twenty years ago, I tried to write a screenplay which was a reworking of an existing movie and the novel it was based on. It had more than twenty characters, some of which I made up for my version.

It was fun to do, but the screenplay format is unwieldy for me. I had something like a five-hour movie on my hands. (The original cut of Heaven's Gate was five hours and twenty-five minutes, and we all know how well that went.) That brings up the issue that screenplays are basically frameworks, no stand-alone works, and other people make the final creation.

I'm still considering a prose version series for this site - one of these days! :unsure:
Missed this (as per @Bamagan ).

Em
 
I'm a little disappointed that no one seems to have made a 'spit or swallow' joke about the title of this thread.
😮‍💨💦🤢
If I could I have, I would have. It’s more along the lines of one of my characters threatening to castrate a guy with her teeth if he tries to have oral sex with her.

Em
 
I'm a little disappointed that no one seems to have made a 'spit or swallow' joke about the title of this thread.
😮‍💨💦🤢
The word "Bite" doesn't lead to fun, besides, this title leads to the word GAG which isn't a lot of fun either.
 
If I could I have, I would have. It’s more along the lines of one of my characters threatening to castrate a guy with her teeth if he tries to have oral sex with her.

Em
Hmm. :unsure:
Castration is removal of the testes. So it makes sense if he's teabagging her. Otherwise she's performing a... mandibular penectomy.*

*Edit: Incidentally, what a great name for a femmetal band!
 
Hmm. :unsure:
Castration is removal of the testes. So it makes sense if he's teabagging her. Otherwise she's performing a... mandibular penectomy.
Really? Never knew that. Oh well, I guess I’m using popular idiom rather than precise terminology 😬.

Em (out pedanted - I’m so ashamed 😳)
 
I think someone referenced upthread the definition of an artist: their best work is the next one, that isn't done yet.

Writing long and complex stories is like eating an elephant, needs to be done one bite at a time.

The first novel-length story I wrote was hideously complicated fanfic - I started with one chapter and was asked if there was more, then got an idea for plot. Most was OK, focusing on one character. I gave him new friends and had to create them from scratch, which wasn't too bad, but had to have a scene where he and new friends interacted with the very messed-up group from the original story, all of whom had Opinions on each other and the events in canon. That required a spreadsheet... There's some parts of the plot I didn't explain very well and a key aspect of the characters didn't come across at the end, but as a first attempt at a complex long work, it's not bad. I keep meaning to rework the key bits that didn't.

If nothing else, it gave me the confidence to develop Smoking Hot here into a novel-length story, mostly while off my face on prescribed drugs. All original characters, and I've since produced a bunch more Lit stories with the same expanding crowd.

Of course now I've started a Christmas story which will have to be a novel, so it's unlikely to appear for this Christmas...
 
According to Wikipedia:

The term castration may also be sometimes used to refer to emasculation where both the testicles andthe penis are removed together. In some cultures, and in some translations, no distinction is made between the two.

Em
Well, she must have a hell of a lantern jaw if she's going to gnaw off the frank and the beans at the same time. :LOL:

Or else he's packing a cocktail wiener and lentils.
 
Writing long and complex stories is like eating an elephant, needs to be done one bite at a time.
NO KIDDING! OMG - I started a one or two story homage to Terry Pratchett's Discworld. Which became three... plus an extra for a contest, then suddenly this week the plan for the whole thing to become a single complex story with (what I think is) a great ending. 150k words are published and I'm maybe halfway there.
 
According to Wikipedia:

The term castration may also be sometimes used to refer to emasculation where both the testicles andthe penis are removed together. In some cultures, and in some translations, no distinction is made between the two.

Em
Interesting. I always thought emasculation was akin to humiliation.
 
NO KIDDING! OMG - I started a one or two story homage to Terry Pratchett's Discworld. Which became three... plus an extra for a contest, then suddenly this week the plan for the whole thing to become a single complex story with (what I think is) a great ending. 150k words are published and I'm maybe halfway there.
Two elephants down, two to go?
 
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