Starting A New Story, Poorly

[TheeGoatPig]

I have started a new story. It is about three young men that make advances on a MILF, end up trying her to her bed, and having their way with her. She will enjoy it, be begging for it, and then shun them afterward, only to be had again later, and enjoy it, begging for it over and over again as well.

But none of that is important.

You see, I am only two paragraphs in and I already don't like the way I have written this story. I love where it is going to go, but I don't like where it is beginning. Should I start it over and over again until I get it the way I want it, or forge on and hope that I can come back to it with a better idea after I have finished the parts that I do like? And hope that I write those parts in a way that I can respect myself when I read them later?

 

[sr71plt]

If it were me and I couldn't quite put my finger on what was wrong/how I thought it would be better, I'd keep plodding along with writing the story and my brain would be working on the other problem as well and would, at some point, let me know how to fix the beginning. It's never worked for me to just stop and stare at the screen until the fix surfaced. Same with misspelled or "not quite right" words. I'll look for them in the dictionary for some brief moments, but if I don't find the fix right then, I won't let it bog me down--I'll keep going and come back to that later--and usually before I would have gone back, the right word will pop into my mind.

 

[Tio_Narratore]

I don't know what you've written, or why you don't like it, but I would think the outline that you say is unimportant may be quite important. You shown a woman who is ambivalent about her wishes, but it may be that is precisely this ambivalence that turns her on - it's not the sex with the three young men that does it for her - it's her love/hate relationship with the idea of it that gets her off when they do it. If that's the case, you might find yourself writing an intro that shows this aspect of her personality in another sphere, foreshadowing the sex...

But then again, everybody wants to write everybody else. Do whatever's comfortable and satisfying for you.

 

[Saucy_Sage]

Write, damn you, write!

Just be prepared to edit like a fiend when it finally does come to you!

 

[Stella_Omega]

I agree with SR71plt on this

Another way to get going is to just jump into the action, the dirty part that got you inspired in the first place-- For me, I know my characters a little better after they've had sex.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

I know the characters inside and out. I have been pre-writing the story for weeks now inside my head. It is just that when I got to actually writing the opening, it was shit, through and through.

 

[Tio_Narratore]

OK, then, all I can say is read it all again tonight. Then burn it. Go to the nearest bar and down a fifth of Scotch. Wander through the streets until you stumble onto the waterfront. Walk out to the end of a pier in total despair, contemplating an end to your misery. Then notice the light from the far shore glinting on the waves. Change your mind. Run home, still stumbling from the Scotch. Sit at your keyboard and write until you collapse exhausted. Sleep for thirty-six hours. Then read what you've written.

If you still don't like it, repeat all this, but substitute Jack Daniels for the Scotch.

Still doesn't work? Repeat as necessary, changing the liquor each time. Just don't use gin. It never helps.

 

[Stella_Omega]

I know the characters inside and out. I have been pre-writing the story for weeks now inside my head. It is just that when I got to actually writing the opening, it was shit, through and through.

You just slog then...

A friend of mine recently wrote a very funny little post about this, saying that sometimes the words fall out of her like pearls and rain, and sometimes each one has to be squeezed out of a miserable sphincter --

but that later, when the final product is out there, no one ever notices which is which.

 

[jomar]

ditto on the keep writing thingy

 

[sr71plt]

OK, then, all I can say is read it all again tonight. Then burn it.

Why burn it? The storage capacity of computers is remarkable. Who's to say that the progression of "enlightenment" is always going to be bad to better?

I've frequently been in the middle of a rewrite and thought, "Oh God, I need that section I erased again."

 

[Tio_Narratore]

Why burn it? The storage capacity of computers is remarkable. Who's to say that the progression of "enlightenment" is always going to be bad to better?

I've frequently been in the middle of a rewrite and thought, "Oh God, I need that section I erased again."

Even without digital storage, a draft could be saved once it was written (unless we were still using parchment and had to erase to conserve. Even then you wouldn't burn the work.

I was trying to be a bit light-hearted about it by giving TGP some pseudo-Rimbaudian advice for finding true inspiration.

I don't delete a version unless I absolutely know it's useless.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

You just slog then...

wut? If you are going to insult me, could you do it with small and easy words and phrases that I can understand?

 

[Xelebes]

Plow right through and keep on going. You're never going to get anything completed if you prevent yourself from saying "The End".

Once you've finished, you can re-write to your heart's content.

 

[TxRad]

Like SR said, Keep at it. I never liked the beginning of my first book. Something seemed wrong. Three chapters in, my mind solved the problem by moving the first chapter to the third and using the third through a flashback to set the whole thing up. Worked like a charm.

 

[driphoney]

You just slog then...

A friend of mine recently wrote a very funny little post about this, saying that sometimes the words fall out of her like pearls and rain, and sometimes each one has to be squeezed out of a miserable sphincter --

but that later, when the final product is out there, no one ever notices which is which.

Oh my gosh!! Thank you so much for sharing that! I've been in the middle of a sex scene for months (okay, it's been tabled for ages due to other priorities,) but when I was writing it, it was exactly like a painful squeeze--but when I look back over it, I'm always surprised, and think is probably one of the best ones I've written so far.

As for Thee's question. I agree with everyone, at least that's what I do when writing papers. I have to start somewhere. Sometimes I even love my start only to be told by a friend that the intro didn't work, then have to come up with a new one. I always do and it's usually much better. Sometimes it takes going to the end to know how to begin.

Good luck!

 

[TxRad]

As my old friend Rumple would ask: Where's the hook?