Does Anybody Else Have This Problem

[LAHomedog]

Ok --Maybe this is being 70. I write a story. I am totally immersed in that story and the world is completely in my brain along with the story. And I finish it and post it. The world is complete..

Then I becomes a multi-part story. I can not remember a thing from the first part.

It is as if I was fully emerged, wrote it, posted it and my brain wiped it clean.

I now have to copy and paste the earlier story to the top of the new one as I write it to constantly refer back to what I wrote, the details and even sometimes the characters.

Is that only me, or does that happen to anyone else.

Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?

 

[ElectricBlue]

Just you .

 

[sirhugs]

Ok --Maybe this is being 70. I write a story. I am totally immersed in that story and the world is completely in my brain along with the story. And I finish it and post it. The world is complete..

Then I becomes a multi-part story. I can not remember a thing from the first part.

It is as if I was fully emerged, wrote it, posted it and my brain wiped it clean.

I now have to copy and paste the earlier story to the top of the new one as I write it to constantly refer back to what I wrote, the details and even sometimes the characters.

Is that only me, or does that happen to anyone else.

Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?

Bueller must have had that problem, or we would have had a sequel.
So just as well I guess John Hughes (RIP) must not have written it down.

 

[oggbashan]

It happens to me too, if I try to write a sequel more than a year or two after the original.

Once I have posted a story, in a week or two it is history, complete. I can (and do) forget it and move on.

 

[TxRad]

The solution I've found that works is to keep a note section in the story about two pages down from where I'm writing. Names, dates, places, ages, descriptions of characters, so on and so forth.

When I finish the story, the note section is copied to a new story with the same title with notes after it and placed in the Notes folder. If I do a sequel then I have some quick reference notes I can copy in two pages down.

 

[MajorRewrite]

Then I becomes a multi-part story. I can not remember a thing from the first part.

It is as if I was fully emerged, wrote it, posted it and my brain wiped it clean.

Your brain is telling you to not write sequels. It’s good advice. Sequels are never as good as the original.

 

[SimonDoom]

It's been a few years since I wrote the last chapters of my two ongoing series, so I would have to read them carefully to remember the characters and details for the next chapter. I don't think that's unusual. It would be unusual, I suppose, if you forgot everything about the story right after you finished writing it. That has not happened to me, yet, but give me another decade or so and maybe it will.

 

[NotWise]

I solve this problem by not writing on-going series.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Sometimes sequels will come to mind - sometimes almost immediately, sometimes it takes months. You still have the original posted; that should have enough information for you even if you don't remember much about writing it. Since it is not a series, mention (at the top of the story, probably) to readers what the sequels refer back to.

If you are inclined in that direction - to write sequels - you probably don't need to rewrite the first one. Just add information to the new submissions.

 

[labeltornoff]

It is as if I was fully emerged, wrote it, posted it and my brain wiped it clean.

I now have to copy and paste the earlier story to the top of the new one as I write it to constantly refer back to what I wrote, the details and even sometimes the characters.

The condition is familiar to me, but I can't remember from where.

I use Scrivener. Ulysses is also a good choice. I can keep all my notes—along with the prior text—in one place, even character sketches and outlines for future episodes. It may not help in writing a coherent sequel, but at least I know I am making consistent mistakes.

 

[KeithD]

Ok --Maybe this is being 70. I write a story. I am totally immersed in that story and the world is completely in my brain along with the story. And I finish it and post it. The world is complete..

Then I becomes a multi-part story. I can not remember a thing from the first part.

It is as if I was fully emerged, wrote it, posted it and my brain wiped it clean.

I now have to copy and paste the earlier story to the top of the new one as I write it to constantly refer back to what I wrote, the details and even sometimes the characters.

Is that only me, or does that happen to anyone else.

Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?

If I let the series go for months (and I usually do) before working on the next part, yes, I have that problem. With me, it's because I have a whole lot of series running (or not running. I try to finish off any part of a series so that that could be the last segment ever written).

Whenever I decide to add a story to a series, I find I have to do some reviewing of previous stories to maintain consistencies, and this because the most onerous chore in the writing. But thank God for electronic files and the search mechanism.

This plagues the mainstream world too, and I'm sure all of us who read a best-selling author's series see inconsistencies against earlier works. Because of sales, I have a big pile of Anne Perry mysteries I'm filtering into my reading. She's gone to writing by committee using her name and the more recent books are rife with inconsistencies with what was written in earlier books in the series--which I probably am only catching because I'm reading them so close together.

 

[SamScribble]

Ok --Maybe this is being 70. I write a story. I am totally immersed in that story and the world is completely in my brain along with the story. And I finish it and post it. The world is complete..

Then I becomes a multi-part story. I can not remember a thing from the first part.

It is as if I was fully emerged, wrote it, posted it and my brain wiped it clean.

I now have to copy and paste the earlier story to the top of the new one as I write it to constantly refer back to what I wrote, the details and even sometimes the characters.

Is that only me, or does that happen to anyone else.

If it is just your stories - and your characters - that you are forgetting, relax.

I have reached that stage in life where I open the fridge door and wonder why.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I have reached that stage in life where I open the fridge door and wonder why.

To check the light?

 

[TadOverdon]

By the time I get to the last chapters of a book I'm going back to search on visual descriptions and story points in the first couple of chapters.

 

[SamScribble]

To check the light?

Thank you, EB. Yes. That was probably it. But now I'll have to go and do it all over again. I can't remember whether the light was on or off.

 

[Lori_the_Hoosier]

Thank you, EB. Yes. That was probably it. But now I'll have to go and do it all over again. I can't remember whether the light was on or off.

Will had an aunty, alas long passed now, who, when she came to visit, always had her electric heater and steam iron in the trunk of her car, as it was the only way she could be sure she'd switched them off...

 

[shakna]

I have diagnosed memory problems. My long-term memory looks like cartoon Swiss cheese.

For anything except something I sat down and scratched in an afternoon, the "original" document is absolutely filled with comments that get stripped out. Reading those is more akin to reading a wikipage than the story itself.

For example, "Toofy" is about 225,000 words. But "Toofy" with the integrated comments is about 650,000 words. Combine that with search, and I can be pretty sure of a lot of things that may never have been mentioned in the story itself.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Thank you, EB. Yes. That was probably it. But now I'll have to go and do it all over again. I can't remember whether the light was on or off.

Climb inside. Then you'll know for sure .

 

[Rustyoznail]

Climb inside. Then you'll know for sure .

Or get a fridge with a glass door…

 

[ElectricBlue]

Or get a fridge with a glass door…

You don't strike me as a "designer kitchen" guy, Rusty. More the old Kelvinator you got from your parent's farm, ever fucking reliable but you need a tractor to move it .

 

[TxRad]

Or get a fridge with a glass door…

A friend of mine got one of those but he still has to open the door to turn on the light so he can see what is inside.

 

[Djmac1031]

Not really, although I do find myself having to reread past chapters to make sure continuity stays intact or refresh my memory of an event or character description, especially if I'm doing a call back to something that's happened previously.

My longest series is The Jenna Arrangement at 13 chapters now, and surprisingly the storyline has stayed pretty clear in my head.

 

[NotWise]

A friend of mine got one of those but he still has to open the door to turn on the light so he can see what is inside.

I the glass there just so you can be sure the light actually is off when the door's closed?

 

[Rustyoznail]

You don't strike me as a "designer kitchen" guy, Rusty. More the old Kelvinator you got from your parent's farm, ever fucking reliable but you need a tractor to move it .

Nah. The old Coolgardie safe hanging under the south facing verandah is good enough.

Bec, on the other hand, bought our last fridge. It didn't fit through the doors of the new house so we had to buy a new fridge. And no, it doesn't have glass doors.