Ever write pointless things...

[JaxRhapsody]

like scenes and the like, that don't really have a story to it? I've written flash fiction and short stories, but I'm talking about straight up scenes, that look like they would be an excerpt or something, just for practice.

 

[oggbashan]

like scenes and the like, that don't really have a story to it? I've written flash fiction and short stories, but I'm talking about straight up scenes, that look like they would be an excerpt or something, just for practice.

Yes. I have dozens of them in incomplete stories lurking on my hard drive.

But they weren't for practice. They were genuine attempts at writing a story that just went nowhere.

 

[lovecraft68]

I've done some sex scenes with nothing, but just that, sex. Some fetish, some rough stuff, a random incest scene. Sometimes I am just struck by a visual and I bang them out.

I put them in a folder called "plug ins" and I have pulled them out and inserted them in stories I think they would work well in. I just change whatever names I used as place holders.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Its called existentialism. Shit happens or doesn't happen or halfass happens. Chester Himes wrote one existential novel, THE BLIND MAN WITH A GUN. Great read but its all disconnected and unfinished in terms of resolutions.

 

[VenusButterflies]

like scenes and the like, that don't really have a story to it? I've written flash fiction and short stories, but I'm talking about straight up scenes, that look like they would be an excerpt or something, just for practice.

Absolutely. I get an idea that I think is worth it and I'll write it out, even if I don't use it. I think it's good to do that. I'll do that especially if I'm working on a story. The novel I'm working on, for example, has tons of those scenes that may or may not make the final cut, waiting to be inserted somewhere relevant or left to oblivion. Not only is it practice, but it lets you sift out all the crap.

 

[VenusButterflies]

Its called existentialism. Shit happens or doesn't happen or halfass happens.

One can say that everything we write is pointless. The absurdity is that we just can't help but do it.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

One can say that everything we write is pointless. The absurdity is that we just can't help but do it.

The absurdity is assuming the cause-effect makes sense or has meaning to God or the stars.

 

[sr71plt]

I don't think I've ever written a pointless scene and just stopped there without the intent of working to a point. I do lay down confusion and write out of it, but I don't think I've ever actually keyed anything into a file that I wasn't going to use to make a story or point from.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Of course. It's called practice. It is also a way to break writers block. Just start typing, let your mind take you where you will. Some pan out into full fledged stories. Others don't.

 

[Hypoxia]

Keep those fragments. Call them "plot gerbils". Let them chew their way into your stories. They can be a treasure trove. Or they can leave trails of plot-gerbil shit, that's the risk.

 

[walkerlong]

Almost exclusively

 

[49greg]

A lot of times, I've got a file full of short lines, partial ideas, and even conversations.

 

[Handley_Page]

Yes. I have dozens of them in incomplete stories lurking on my hard drive.

But they weren't for practice. They were genuine attempts at writing a story that just went nowhere.

Yes, but I never thought of them that way.
An exercise in description - or something

 

[Blind_Justice]

I tend to rewrite whole scenes if they disrupt the flow or just won't fit into the story itself for some reason. But instead of throwing them away, I'll add them to an "outtakes" file and keep it with the original story. Usually they stay there, but sometimes, when I'm stuck or bored, I dive into these outtakes and yank some bits back from the dead and make whole new stories from them, fixing the problems that sent them to the outtakes file in the first place. "Ghost in the Machine: Saphire" is just an example of that. I had an unused lesbian threesome lying around and found that a good fit for a very wet dream, as a setup for a rather sad side-story to my main plot. Never did that before, but it turned out great.

 

[HoneyFortune]

Don't consider them snippets, consider them necessary. Writing exercises should be routine.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Of course. It's called practice. It is also a way to break writers block. Just start typing, let your mind take you where you will. Some pan out into full fledged stories. Others don't.

A plentiful waste of time.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

A plentiful waste of time.

Time? Wasted?

When you only sleep 2 hours a night/day, you have plenty of time to "waste" however you feel like.

It's insomnia great!