I just realized; I don’t have to write it?

[amicus]

I just realized; I don’t have to write it?




Perhaps those of you who have been writing for a while will relate to this, perhaps not.

When I think of a story, I think it through, beginning to end, before I ever begin to type, well, most always anyway, nothing ’absolute’ here.

I give each story a title, by which I might remember, in this case, on an 8x11 sheet of printer paper.

And the titles I have accumulated in the past few weeks, very little written, but all composed in my mind, include:

Hayride…

Shoplifter Girl…

The Babysitter’s Choice…

The Girl in the Park, Annabel Lee

Autistic Girl ( I don’t care)

Two Japanese Girls, Amika and Amiko, (yes, I know)



The latest, just in the past few days, had a title of “Hitchhiker Girl”, but became, “Runaway Girl” and I have rewritten, in my mind, and revised and added and subtracted, unceasingly, for hours on end.

In my opinion, who else would I ask in the formative stage; each is a sensitive and tender story, with meaning far beyond words, and yet, they remain unwritten and unknown by anyone outside my own mind.


Each story has memorable characters, in my opinion anyway, each has a different aspect of explicit, personal, intimate relationships and each has a moral, of course, which is why I am Amicus, I guess.

Tonight, again, walking and pacing and thinking and drinking and going through the entire story, top to bottom, and feeling the nagging guilt, as I always do, about getting it down on paper, in the file, preserved, logged in, on the record, whatever….I finally came to the conclusion that I did not have to write the damned thing anyway!

It shook me a little.

I don’t ‘have’ to write it!

I hope I do write it. It is a good story, entertaining and certainly ‘wankable’, and more; yet if I do not, who is to know, aside from me?

And why should I feel that nagging guilt about not putting it to a file?

Not sure how this will sit with anyone. I know there are hundreds of stories I have conceived and not written and I have guilt about those too; that I should have.

But it must be, I hope, a learning process of sorts. A means by which one discovers and expands the borders of one’s thoughts and imagination?

I really don’t know. Maybe I am just inherently lazy.


Amicus…

 

[floweringquince]

It's a dilemma...

...or maybe a "poly-lemma"

I have many more story ideas than I can ever write about, partly because writing each story leads to new ideas - what's this (formerly minor) character's story? What if the Bad Guy were the Good Guy? What if all the characters were of the opposite gender, and whole thing were set on Pluto?

And reading anyone else's stories leads to new story ideas. And reading story comments, or the forums, leads to new story ideas. Hell, going to the grocery store leads to new story ideas (..."Love Among the Condiments"? "How Fresh Is That Salmon"? "Oh, Boxboy..."?)
(...hey, I never said they were all *good* ideas


If I write the one about the cowboy, I may never write the one about the mystical fuckbeast. If I keep concentrating on the story I'm working on now, I may never get to the imprisoned Scots laird & the homely maidservant. Now matter how long I live, I will die with some large number of unwritten (or half-written) story ideas.

And that is kind of comforting. The ideas are *mine* - I am not theirs. (Shut up, Mongo Muse!
... Er, this is an area in which unreasonable and unruly muses may beg to differ

But you're quite right, Ami - we don't have to write them. We can if we want to, and many of them could be pretty darned good ("Oh, Boxboy..." being perhaps not among that number

But you or I could never write another word, and (after the mournful wailing, rending of garments, and tearing of hair all over Literotica died down a bit the world would not end, the planets would still spin on their axes; and maybe someday someone would write a story about a band of female space pirates hijacking a shipment of osimium being piloted home from the mines of Pluto by a crew of retired Chippendale dancers.

Or maybe not

- quince

 

[Liar]

I have about three of four workable story ideas every damn day. Something I see gets me thinking, something I read, whatever. I end up with pretty much a whole plot, a set of characters with names and a title. All in my head, until I get home and can jot it down no a piece of paper.

But only one of ten ever makes it to paper, and maybe on in two hundred ever makes it to a complete story.

If I had to write all the story ideas I come up with, I'd grow stuck in my chair. So saying "I don't have to write that!" is a survival stategy. I leave sketched story outlines and even half written stories alone never to be finished, and I don't even feel bad about it anymore.

So relax, ami. if it's fun ti write it, write it. If it's a chore because you feel you have to finish it, then it's not fun. And unless you're getting paid to do it, why do it?

 

[impressive]

*channeling Shrek* Better out than in. That's what I always say.

 

[Selena_Kitt]

*channeling Shrek* Better out than in. That's what I alwasy say.

I thought you were looking Green!



The only reason to write them down, Ami, is to share them... to touch someone else, to make a connection. I think that's a part of what we are doing, as writers... I don't write to lecture or teach or make a statement...

Frankly, I write because there are stories in my head that need to come out... or I'll explode or something...

ala Shrek? lol

 

[oggbashan]

I have too many story ideas.

Some I use in fifty-word story sets. Most I discard before writing a single word because they are so similar to stories I have already written. Some get as far as the first A4 page or two; some to the first Lit page or two; before running out of steam and inspiration. The outline for the rest of those stories will exist but the story isn't working.

Selection is important. What needs to be communicated to the readers? What can be ignored?

When inspiration is lacking and the Muses are asleep I will dig out the older incomplete stories and trawl through to see if one needs completion. Usually the Muses wake up before I get too far.

Og