Back to writing

[PennLady]

So...what do you do when you have stories started, then you have to not work on them for various reasons, and then you have time to get back to it?

I had started a sequel to The Hunted Key as well as another hockey romance. Then I got sidetracked by my Earth Day story, editing (which I have now heavily limited), editing my own stuff for an e-book, not feeling well, relatives visiting and of course, the kids are always a distraction.

However, now the Earth Day story is done and posted, relatives are gone, editing is done, feeling better and even had our 11th anniversary yesterday. So now I can get back and I'm almost not sure how. It's tempting to work on another short -- I have a few ideas -- but I really need and want to get back.

What do you do after an extended break?

 

[sr71plt]

I just get back to them--and sometimes the time away is helpful. I'm starting today on polishing up a novel I wrote for the mainstream six years ago. I figure that leaving it dormant this long will help me see a lot of mistakes I made in the draft that I wouldn't see if it was still fresh in my mind. Of course coming back to something requires a meaty review/restart time.

I have a detective series (a couple posted here as "Death of . . .") where I wrote a retrospective segment setting up a mystery that was taken up again five books later. I meant to write them together so all of the characters and the set up of the mystery were in place, but I didn't manage that. I wrote the first one and it's been at the publishers for nearly a year waiting for publication in August--and I just now finished the follow-up segment. I would have saved a lot of review time if I'd written them back to back as planned.

 

[bashfullyshameless]

Write What You Feel Is Ready

I shift between several stories. I figure as long as I'm writing something, that's productive. You only get better as a writer by writing, too, so writing anything at all is better than nothing.

"Angels, Demons and Alex" got started in 2008 after I saw an inspiring picture in an art book at a convention. (Funny enough, nothing even close to the inspiring pic ever happens in the story...) I did the first four "chapters," then either decided it was dumb or that I had nowhere to go with it, and set it aside.

Last summer I started writing a sci-fi story. I got a bit stumped, so I looked at other stuff I had written. ADA was sitting there in a file on my computer. I cleaned it up, threw the first four chapters up on Literotica to see if people would respond, and then worked at it a bit more. The further I went, the more of the story there was that appeared in my head & needed to get written down. My sci-fi story still hasn't gotten anywhere, but ADA has made me awfully happy and gotten me really jazzed about writing in general, so I can't really argue with a personal success.

If you've got something else to write, write it. The practice and exercise of your brain alone will be totally worth it.

 

[R. Richard]

As has already been suggested, reread what you have very carefully and be prepared to make a lot of changes. (As to the inevitable question, 'Who wrote this mess in the first pace?', the best answer I have ever come up with is, 'DamnifIknow.')

Not only does the rereading of a story enable the cleaning up of problems, sometimes it leads to other new stories.

Now, you seem to have overcome/outwaited most of the problems you cited. WHAT ABOUT THE KIDS?

 

[bashfullyshameless]

And More Practical Advice

I would also say that you should re-read those stories you want to continue again, starting at the very beginning and considering the technical stuff. Can you tighten up language here? Add useful description or dialogue there?

Go back to your original inspirations, too. If it's from friends, try to hang out with them. If it's a film, watch it again. Every time I watch the 2009 "Star Trek," the "A-Team" movie, or Firefly, they make me want to write. Every time.

 

[TE999]

Review all your unfinished work, select the one that inspires you the most and have at it. If one doesn't inspire you, then flip a coin...but write.

 

[PennLady]

I do know that what I need to do is sit down and write. I don't even care if what I write at this point gets deleted or changed. Just writing will eventually get me somewhere, I know that. I am re-reading the chapters I have so far on the two stories I mentioned -- I need to do that if only to remind myself of the characters and what had happened so far. I do have notes files on those stories as well, so I can look at that and see what scene or something might be good to go next.

Richard -- Well the kids are 7 and 3, so I can't exactly wait them out. And I don't think either story is a mess. I had a reasonable outline for each of them -- a major feat for me -- before I started and I didn't stray too far from anything.

I've also re-read some of my other stuff just to get in the mood, so to speak.

Of course it also would help to take some meds and get rid of this headache...

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

You can always repair/remodel a story but there isnt much you can do with no story, cuz no story is pretty much nuthin more than trying to capture or re-capture a feeling or mood.

Lotsa writer seminars stress this by commanding audience members to feel one thing or another, and nuthin happens. But people respond when you command them to tell you a story of some kind....like the 3 Pigs and the Wolf.

I dont buy the notion that writing per se makes anyone a better writer. Having a great story in your noggin makes you a better writer. A clever plot makes you a better writer. Good dialogue and description makes you a better writer.

 

[R. Richard]

Richard -- Well the kids are 7 and 3, so I can't exactly wait them out. And I don't think either story is a mess. I had a reasonable outline for each of them -- a major feat for me -- before I started and I didn't stray too far from anything.

I've also re-read some of my other stuff just to get in the mood, so to speak.

Of course it also would help to take some meds and get rid of this headache...

Your lack of earlier mention of the kids had me a bit worried there for a bit. I was afraid that you might have done something desperate.

 

[sr71plt]

I dont buy the notion that writing per se makes anyone a better writer. Having a great story in your noggin makes you a better writer. A clever plot makes you a better writer. Good dialogue and description makes you a better writer.

These things are what make you a good storyteller, not a good writer. To be a good writer, you have to bite the bullet and learn the fundamentals of writing technique and presentation.

 

[PennLady]

Your lack of earlier mention of the kids had me a bit worried there for a bit. I was afraid that you might have done something desperate.

Fear not -- my kids are too cute for me to do anything desperate.

 

[PennLady]

These things are what make you a good storyteller, not a good writer. To be a good writer, you have to bite the bullet and learn the fundamentals of writing technique and presentation.

There's something to be said for being a good storyteller. I think that Stephen King and Robert Ludlum are/were perhaps not the best writers, but each could tell a story I didn't want to put down. Maybe that's what I'm aiming for.

I also remember reading something -- I want to say it was Garrison Keillor but I'm not sure -- that if you want to write, just write, damn it. I think Mr. King was of a like mind. I simply don't have the time to write that way. Too many other things to do including hockey playoffs (ack!).

Time management is definitely an issue. I do think that just sitting down to write and writing something helps in a lot of ways, as I said, even if I end up deleting a lot of that particular session. Sometimes you just need to do something to get your brain into gear.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

These things are what make you a good storyteller, not a good writer. To be a good writer, you have to bite the bullet and learn the fundamentals of writing technique and presentation.

Refer back to my post for the same info, dear. Scribbling words doesnt cut it otherwise schizophrenic word salad would guarantee success.

 

[TxRad]

Refer back to my post for the same info, dear. Scribbling words doesnt cut it otherwise schizophrenic word salad would guarantee success.

Yeah, kind of like the nonsense in thie post above.

Write something and you might actually figure out what he and i both mean.

 

[hoo_hoo_boo]

I sometimes find a break helpful. I have found that by simply writing to a theme a story can become tortuous. A break settles the imagination to be able to do a quick edit and establish a better direction. Normally though I think it best to write the whole thing in one hit and put it away for an edit when its quite cold. I'm always finding things to be done then. I never regard a story as being complete- they always seem to need something done. As much as possible I like some humour and find it is the most difficult thing to write. It needs timing and context to work well. Normally the stories that I have trouble with are humourless. They often get deleted because I find them difficult to read and they seem immature- something like that,(it is difficult to explain), but a break can restore the humour and give the story a human touch. I think that humour is the most under estimated part of erotica and for me, when properly used, it breathes life into a story. Perhaps your break can do something similar for you. Good luck.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Yeah, kind of like the nonsense in thie post above.

Write something and you might actually figure out what he and i both mean.

Since when do you know what you mean?

 

[geronimo_appleby]

is that cunt still bothering to troll?

 

[Boxlicker101]

One reason I have a lot of stories in progress is that my muse, the bitch, doesn't always want to write what I want. I want to finish and edit and submit my second theme contest entry, but she wants to write on something else, so that's what I end up doing. Either that or coming here and piddling around.

 

[sr71plt]

Refer back to my post for the same info, dear. Scribbling words doesnt cut it otherwise schizophrenic word salad would guarantee success.

That's OK, JBJ, you'd have to be a real writer to keep up with the conversation here.

 

[PennLady]

Hey...did someone say something? That ignore feature is so handy.

hoo hoo -- I often do take breaks on purpose and they are helpful. This last break, however, was not entirely voluntary, and I find it more difficult to come back from those. But I will.

As for the writing -- I of course don't mean sitting down and writing any old gibberish that comes to mind, as some appear to think. I mean sitting down and taking up from the point I left off, even if what I write in that session does not get kept, or kept in its original form. It is the best way, I find, to get back in the swing of things.

As for the advice I cited, I think the point there was that if you want to be a writer, then you write. You do not bemoan the fact that you have writer's block or are a struggling artiste -- you just write. Whether you keep it or not, you just keep going.

So for all of that, I was curious as to what other people did in this situation did. I am and will re-read the stories in question, as well as the notes I made. Just looking for a bit of support from other authors, which I was happy to find. Thanks.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Dear Reader
Imagine what the reaction would be if someone encouraged others to just get in a car and drive or just fly or just nail some boards together without design or purpose. The above advice takes doodling to a whole different level of time wasting. I DONT KNOW WHERE I'M GOING BUT I GOTTA GO. Its a kissing cousin of chimps banging away on typewriters.

 

[sr71plt]

Gee, I wonder what part of my "To be a good writer, you have to bite the bullet and learn the fundamentals of writing technique and presentation" JBJ missed.

He seems to be just wandering around aimlessly on this thread.

Seems like if he wants the attention all that badly, he could at least try to provide some coherent discussion.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Uh, JUST DO IT, isnt learning fundamentals or technique; what it is is going thru the motions like an obsessive-compulsive hand-washer.

 

[sr71plt]

Uh, JUST DO IT, isnt learning fundamentals or technique; what it is is going thru the motions like an obsessive-compulsive hand-washer.

That's not what Penn Lady posted either. She was posting that she was starting up again from where she left it, which, as she has demonstrated on Lit. and you haven't, is from a position of knowing the fundamentals and knowing how to write.

You're not having a particular good evening, coherence wise, JBJ. Even your jabs aren't coming anywhere near the mark. Need to build up more of that bile you're notorious for, good buddy. Nobody's taking you seriously (but maybe yourself).

 

[SweetMaj]

Since when do you know what you mean?

I'm new here at Lit. I have read some of your posts.

Tell me, why are you beeing so rude ? Where are your manners - if you have any.

Totally immature, fulltime idiot :rolleyes