Simplify?

[TarnishedPenny]

So, if a tale is not quite hanging together, if it doesn't quite flow, do you:

a) simplify? or

b) add more detail to explain?

I'm trying it both ways; that dull thudding sound is my head banging on the deak.

 

[NotWise]

For me, that depends on the problem. More often than not, I find myself simplifying because the problem is with too many asides and distractions. In my current story I have a need to add more detail because the story reads like going down a water slide. Weeeee! Splash.

 

[SimonDoom]

I don't think there's anyway to answer this question based on the information you've given. It's too abstract. My approach is to try to dive down deep into what the REAL story is that I'm telling. Then I add whatever is needed for the story and take out whatever isn't needed.

As a kid I had a book called the Dinosaur Joke Book. One of the jokes was

How do you carve a statute of a dinosaur?

Easy. You get a block of stone and you chip away everything that doesn't look like a dinosaur.

 

[BiscuitHammer]

That happened to me recently in a chapter of Freja & Jeanie. I loved an idea I wanted to put in, but it just wasn't gelling with the story around it; it didn't fit and made no sense in context.

So, me being not only an idea hamster but also a pack-pat, I simply plucked it out and will use it down the road. I already have an entire chapter centered around it, so it WILL work this time.

If you were me, you'd take it out and store it for later use. Embellishment sometimes doesn't work, at least for me. The right level of detail to keep something seamless is what you shoot for. Too much frippery and you're met with fritinancy.

*chirp*

*chirp*

See?

 

[ElectricBlue]

So, if a tale is not quite hanging together, if it doesn't quite flow, do you:

a) simplify? or

b) add more detail to explain?

I'm trying it both ways; that dull thudding sound is my head banging on the deak.

I sometimes find this happens when I'm working into a sex scene, and it always means the protagonists aren't quite ready yet. So I circle around them slowly until they are. Which is, I suppose, adding more detail. But in my case, it's always adding more mood, more so than adding "informational" type detail. If that makes sense.

This is not like you, TP. Hang in there .

 

[KeithD]

I haven't had that problem. I basically have something that hangs together before I start writing it. I always add detail in the review process and I don't resist changing it to something other than originally conceived as I write. But I don't remember having something fall apart after I've begun writing it.

 

[Trionyx]

Do quick outlines with important points and see which ‘feels’ better.
Other strategies include walking away from it for several days or weeks. Don’t dwell on it. Come back refreshed and try again.
Alternatively, consider going back to where things went off the rails and rewrite the entire section. Lots of work but perhaps worth it in the long run. I’ve done this a few times and have been quite pleased with the outcome.

 

[HeyAll]

I always aim to simplify. But the key is to keep the right details and focus on the right things, so you can still have depth of character and plot for a 5 to 6 thousand word story.

My view is that people read erotica at a casual pace.

Overall that view is wrong, because long stories often get strong reactions from the right writer, but I always have that in my mind. I always think my readers are looking for something erotic to get them going.

 

[geronimo_appleby]

write the slow stuff fast and the fast stuff slow?

 

[Kumquatqueen]

It depends. I often just move onto the next bit I want to write, then worry about joining them together. One time I fretted for ages about how to move to another scene, then realised there was no reason I couldn't just say "A few weeks later,..." as nothing had really changed apart from the characters settling into the situation I'd already described. Other times a couple sentences have been sufficient.

0ther times it's more complicated - I have literally spent three months on one story (moving to various other scenes as I got stuck) and have finally resolved getting characters C and D into a bed together but having lots of conversation instead of sex (reasons relating to many things but especially characters A and B...) Figuring out all their motivations and hangups and details of their lives and personalities was necessary to figuring out what needed to happen in the scene. I now know all four characters much better so writing the rest of the scenes should be easy.

 

[Dingo_Triplesix]

I often just move onto the next bit I want to write, then worry about joining them together.

This works quite well for me, too. It also can be a motivation booster. If I get stuck with some scene and it starts feeling like work to write on, I just leave it und start with the next chapter (provided that I did some overall plotting, which may not be the case in every instance). When the text comes near completion I find the motivation to fill the gaps much easier.

 

[LexxRuthless]

Don't Simplify -- Clarify

When I read over something I've written I often make small changes; just a word or two can make a big difference. Other times I need to add one or two paragraphs or a few lines of dialogue to spell out what is happening more clearly. If the reader can't conjure up the same mental image I had when I was writing the story, then I have failed to capture it clearly. Sometimes it takes a lot of work to get that down on the page so that it makes sense to your readers.

Other times, a section that really appealed to me -- particularly a hot sex scene -- just doesn't "work" with the rest of the story. It is perhaps the toughest thing to do as an author when I rip out entire paragraphs or pages of text because "it just isn't working." Like a few of you have mentioned, I hold onto those discarded passages. I have a Word document titled "Extracts" where I dump them, and it's now 96 Word pages (55,260 words).

For me, taking time off from writing rarely helps. Only once have I returned to a lengthy story and managed to finish it and put it onto this site. Usually what happens is that I find other stuff to fill that time, and then it takes a tremendous effort to get back to writing. Taking time off from a story or series in progress generally leads to abandonment of it.

So, perhaps you should try removing the section that's giving you trouble. Toss it into another file and try writing that section anew, to see where that leads you.

 

[geronimo_appleby]

When I read over something I've written I often make small changes; just a word or two can make a big difference. Other times I need to add one or two paragraphs or a few lines of dialogue to spell out what is happening more clearly. If the reader can't conjure up the same mental image I had when I was writing the story, then I have failed to capture it clearly. Sometimes it takes a lot of work to get that down on the page so that it makes sense to your readers.

Other times, a section that really appealed to me -- particularly a hot sex scene -- just doesn't "work" with the rest of the story. It is perhaps the toughest thing to do as an author when I rip out entire paragraphs or pages of text because "it just isn't working." Like a few of you have mentioned, I hold onto those discarded passages. I have a Word document titled "Extracts" where I dump them, and it's now 96 Word pages (55,260 words).

For me, taking time off from writing rarely helps. Only once have I returned to a lengthy story and managed to finish it and put it onto this site. Usually what happens is that I find other stuff to fill that time, and then it takes a tremendous effort to get back to writing. Taking time off from a story or series in progress generally leads to abandonment of it.

So, perhaps you should try removing the section that's giving you trouble. Toss it into another file and try writing that section anew, to see where that leads you.

just wondering how you’d know what image the reader is conjuring up. we can describe all we want, but it ain’t necessarily what they ‘see’.

 

[oggbashan]

I file it in a pending folder and leave it for several weeks/months. If nothing helps me to restart, it could stay there forever. But most get completed eventually after perhaps a major re-edit.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Hmm. Thanks.

Thinking cap, where are you?

 

[DanDraper]

It depends. I often just move onto the next bit I want to write, then worry about joining them together. One time I fretted for ages about how to move to another scene, then realised there was no reason I couldn't just say "A few weeks later,..." as nothing had really changed apart from the characters settling into the situation I'd already described. Other times a couple sentences have been sufficient.

I do the same thing. Sometime taking a little break from that scene can help clear your mind and then come up with how to fix it up later.




.....

 

[SimonDoom]

TP, do you know the ending of the story? One thought is to work on the ending. Figure out how you want the story to end, write the ending, or at least write a clear summary of it. Having an ending will then clarify what is and is not necessary for the rest of the story to reach it effectively.

 

[TadOverdon]

Simplifying is almost always the answer.

So is being aware that the problem is not always the complications of a story but my misperception of how complicated it is. That is to say, I'll realize that I've spent a lot of time explaining things or layering on detail or writing transitional and connecting prose that the reader doesn't really need.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

TP, do you know the ending of the story? One thought is to work on the ending. Figure out how you want the story to end, write the ending, or at least write a clear summary of it. Having an ending will then clarify what is and is not necessary for the rest of the story to reach it effectively.

Good point, but with this particular story, it’s almost a circular ending, looping back to the beginning.

It’s not just this one in any case. Sometimes I feel like I’m taking a fire axe and wrecking bar to a Fabergé egg and sometimes I feel like Rembrandt adding yet another layer of paint to a work long finished. Most of the time, of course, common sense and good taste would suggest I should be using C4 and Lysol.

 

[LexxRuthless]

just wondering how you’d know what image the reader is conjuring up. we can describe all we want, but it ain’t necessarily what they ‘see’.

I have been fortunate to have several readers who review my stories-in-progress and provide feedback. Usually when I read over my own story I can notice shortcomings, but if those "beta-readers" have questions they usually point me to other problem areas that had escaped my notice. My stories generally include enough descriptive prose to paint a fairly detailed picture of what is going on in any given scene. Not every reader is going to get that, particularly if they don't pay close attention while they're reading the story. I get enough comments that illustrate readers weren't paying attention, almost invariably followed by other readers giving them grief for missing "obvious" points in the story.

As far as physical description, though, you are absolutely correct. I tend to use non-specific descriptions, like "her huge breasts shook crazily" or "his thick shaft looked enormous as it stretched her puffy little lips wide open" rather than putting in specific measurements. That's intentional, and it allows readers to fill in the details to suit their particular tastes or fantasies. Still, I occasionally get complaints from readers who seem to want to find flaws or something to complain about.

You can't please everyone.

 

[Lifestyle66]

So, if a tale is not quite hanging together, if it doesn't quite flow, do you:

a) simplify? or

b) add more detail to explain?

I'm trying it both ways; that dull thudding sound is my head banging on the deak.

I'm a very new writer, and I posted my first stories in Feb/Mar. One editor reviewed and critiqued my first story and offered some changes. I replied that his changes were out of character for the wife I was portraying. He said: "I can't know that because you haven't developed the characters."

So, I took that challenge to write more of who they are and why they act the way they do. It turned into far more material than the original story and became a much better story itself.

This is merely my beginner's "food for thought" that adding more detail may lead to something more you didn't plan.

 

[8letters]

So, if a tale is not quite hanging together, if it doesn't quite flow, do you:

a) simplify? or

b) add more detail to explain?

I'm trying it both ways; that dull thudding sound is my head banging on the deak.

I lean towards (c) - rewriting.

Are you talking about part of a scene isn't flowing, or a scene isn't flowing, or the whole story isn't flowing? If a whole story isn't flowing, do as Ogg suggested and throw it in a "to be fixed later" folder. I've gotten well into several stories, wasn't happy with how they were going, put them aside for a while and realized later that their premises sucked and nothing I could do would make them good.

 

[SimonDoom]

Good point, but with this particular story, it’s almost a circular ending, looping back to the beginning.

It’s not just this one in any case. Sometimes I feel like I’m taking a fire axe and wrecking bar to a Fabergé egg and sometimes I feel like Rembrandt adding yet another layer of paint to a work long finished. Most of the time, of course, common sense and good taste would suggest I should be using C4 and Lysol.

I think I know what you mean. Not every story has to be handled in the same way. Some of my stories are more serious than others, and I give them different treatments with things like character depth, prose style, etc. My last story was absurd, but very fun for me to write, and I just kind of let it rip. And I was very pleased with the result. To my surprise, readers liked it too. I didn't really expect that.

I agree with 8Letters. No need to beat your head against the wall. Move on to another project. Shelve this one for another day. Give yourself a project on which you too can just let it rip. See how that goes.

 

[yukonnights]

So, if a tale is not quite hanging together, if it doesn't quite flow, do you:

a) simplify? or

b) add more detail to explain?

I'm trying it both ways; that dull thudding sound is my head banging on the deak.

Is it too soon to ask someone to read what you've written so far? Perhaps someone with no locked-in ideas of the story could offer some input? My helpers, and their uninfluenced minds almost always find something I've muddled up.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Is it too soon to ask someone to read what you've written so far? Perhaps someone with no locked-in ideas of the story could offer some input? My helpers, and their uninfluenced minds almost always find something I've muddled up.

Good thought and thanks, but there isn’t enough Gravol in the hemisphere right now to inflict this on anybody I liked or admired.

Stay safe.