Finishing a story

[eroticstoryspinner]

Writing world problem.

I have four erotica stories rolling at the same time. Not ideas but actual works in progress. Normally that's not a problem. I usually bounce from story to story and let my back brain work on the ones I am not directly working on. Usually I bounce from the SF novel to the porn stories.

The problem is that I can't seem to finish one. Penal Slavery 6 is now 6 and 7 and I can't decide where split it at. Office Servitude 2 has a nightmare sequence that seems not quite right. Then I have what was going to be a one off telling me otherwise. And then finally I have a story that parallels a current series from a different POV character.

Anyone else run into this and if so, how did you get back on track?

Don't be shy to say, "suck it up buttercup," if that's your best advice.

 

[KeithD]

Sometimes I'm not sure of something in the middle, yes, but I push to the end to get a full draft. Everything can change, as needed, in reviews.

 

[Voboy]

Not "suck it up, buttercup," but you already know the answer: you've just got to conclude these, and only you know how to do it.

I've had two stories on the go simultaneously, often, but I try not to make a habit of it partly because I like to use fresher ideas to motivate me to finish older ones. Also, I frequently write the endings early, then maneuver the story to fit them.

But you don't work like me, so my advice and techniques are of limited use to you. You need to finish. Just do it.

 

[SimonDoom]

Writing world problem.

I have four erotica stories rolling at the same time. Not ideas but actual works in progress. Normally that's not a problem. I usually bounce from story to story and let my back brain work on the ones I am not directly working on. Usually I bounce from the SF novel to the porn stories.

The problem is that I can't seem to finish one. Penal Slavery 6 is now 6 and 7 and I can't decide where split it at. Office Servitude 2 has a nightmare sequence that seems not quite right. Then I have what was going to be a one off telling me otherwise. And then finally I have a story that parallels a current series from a different POV character.

Anyone else run into this and if so, how did you get back on track?

Don't be shy to say, "suck it up buttercup," if that's your best advice.

I totally get this!

I have two unfinished series. One of them has been in limbo for three years.

The problem is I haven't quite decided how I want to continue the series. Or the second one. I'm mulling it over. Procrastination plays a role, but it's also a matter of having looked at how I started both series and thinking to myself that I don't want them to finish the way they've begun. My views as a writer have evolved and I want the new chapters to reflect the evolution of my thinking. But I'm not sure how to pull it off.

Good luck figuring it out and finishing your stories.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

I have a file of those. Very frustrating.

For me, putting them aside for a while helps. Taking a fresh look a couple of weeks later offers a new viewpoint.

Good luck.

 

[lovecraft68]

I think the problem with juggling multiple projects/stories is you never get completely into the full feel of any particular one. Once you step back from a piece its sometimes hard to ever get the same feeling back, not to mention you can lose sight of the direction you originally intended.

I do bounce from a for sale erotic horror series to 'smut' stories, but those are so different I feel one is a break from another. But having multiple stories in the same genre unfinished, I think leads to none of them every coming out as good as they could have if you kept that initial momentum.

Just my opinion based on what works on my end.

 

[Sextified]

Anyone else run into this and if so, how did you get back on track?

I have a three novel erotic world building series and old-style sword & sorcery trilogy in the works. Plus I have about four stand alone shorter erotica chapters that share a few characters with the novels. I also tend to write what I call snippets, rather regularly.

The snippets are almost all erotica or fetish based. They serve to get ideas, both personal and publishable, out of my head. That is important for me. Sometimes thoughts linger in my mind and just won't move on until I have a place for them to go.

Those short little 'story starters' are invaluable to me, both for letting the real projects continue, and for trying out ways of presenting action and dialogue that should go with them. I often write the snippets with a real person in mind, making it easier to relate to, but since they don't get published in their original form, cathartic and safely anonymous.

I have so many characters to keep track of, and I have a few tips to keep them alive.

I basically write all the time, mostly in the background, doing other tasks. In the shower, doing chores, driving to work, doing mindless repetitive jobs. Often, I imagine two characters from the same story in a room, and have them talk about whatever THEY wish. If the two actors can start up and hold a natural conversation, about food, the weather, or another character, then that is usually proof that I have them rather well fleshed out.

But what I do most of the time is work on the plot, and try out ideas, well away from the keyboard. It seems to keep me in the mood for a particular project, and which ever one has captivated me the most writing mentally, is what I focus on back in front of the screen.

As long as I am improving the chapters, I let them hang around. If nothing new or valuable for that spot in the story has come up in awhile, its time to polish them and move on. But all that background work helps, even if no one ever sees it.

It keeps the ideas coming, the characters real to me, and the plot moving ever forward in a concise manner. One of the best habits that I call my own is to introduce both characters and ideas constantly. The little 'thread starters' are sprinkled in everywhere in the actual work, randomly all along the way.

Its those potential story branches, that can bear logical fruit for the readers later on. A woman behind the counter in a shop, a waiter in a restaurant, a kindly old lawyer in an office. All of them can be picked up later, when needed, to carry the plot lines, and provide some action to give breaks for the readers.

Quite often, they become major characters themselves, all unplanned and highly valued.

I was only in your exact position once, and it was awful.

I had three major competing ideas at the same time. All worthy of moving forward. Each series had characters that I loved, stories I wanted to tell, emotions I wanted to present.

It was awful!

I spent three months in 2007 being miserable.

Finally I decided to chop everything up, and combine two of the storylines, and ditch the third. Characters were given a free pass to move over to the new project, or leave, and I simply moved on with the well inspired, well motivated, recombined plot.

I'm still writing the same story to this day, and unfortunately still paying a heavy price for not doing the initial splice well enough!

Best advice?

Try to choose one of your stories to put on permanent hold.

To lose it forever.

Most likely, the thought processes to attempt to eliminate one of your projects will stir a self defense mechanism inside of you. You'll either rise up and protect one, or have a real reason to finish another, so you won't have to make the harder choice of killing one of your literary children.

 

[SpindleTop]

Going for a more open ending

I can completely identify with many of the sentiments expressed so far. Getting the ending right is certainly one of the things that I struggled with in my series - you want to bring the plot to a conclusion which both satisfies the readers and does right by your characters.

For my story, I decided (after some unsatisfactory drafts of a longer epilogue) to leave an open end, with my two main characters saying goodbye to each other and the heroine waving her boyfriend off to university. There’s a change of both tense and POV, which invites the reader to imagine what the couples’ future lives might be like together. (One commenters said it was one of the best endings they’d ever read on Lit.)

My approach was ‘inspired by’ a book called ‘The Railway Children’ by Edith Nesbit (published in 1905 - out of copyright so you can find the text online). (It’s a book that’s read by almost every British eight- or nine-year-old child and there have been numerous TV adaptations.) In that story, the father comes home after not seeing his wife and children for an extended period, and the book ends with him going through the front door into their house for the reunion, which the narrator does not allow us to witness, instead telling us that we (the reader) should step back to give the family their privacy.

I was always struck by Nesbit’s strategy - even as a young child. I think it’s a good way of leaving readers feeling optimistic about the characters’ futures (and giving them the freedom to imagine what those futures might be), while also avoiding too much sentimentality.


Here’s the chapter concerned: https://www.literotica.com/s/tybalt-and-juliet-ch-15

I’d be interested to hear what other authors think and whether they think it works in the way I intended.

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My stories: https://www.literotica.com/stories/memberpage.php?uid=5133214&page=submissions