Sometimes I feel the need to whine.

[Bluete]

Hullo!

So I've posted one story on here. I don't write often, and mostly non erotic, but I was going to do another story today.

My problem is that I'm entirely too self-critical for any semblance of productivity, but I got 2 paragraphs (yes, a whole 2 paragraphs!) done and sent one to a friend, just to see if things were starting well.

He tore the thing apart! I mean, the whole thing! This wasn't good, that wasn't good, this word didn't fit in that spot, on and on.

Now I'm feeling discouraged before I even begin, and I thought the best place to vent this was in a site plumb full of people I'm sure have been there at one time or another.

Whew, I already feel much better!

Thanks all!

B

 

[English Lady]

Hello Bluete! OSmetimes writing just doesn't come. Don't force it....as you'll only get more and more frustrated.


I once wrote a whole story that was more or less forced..I sent it to a friend to look over and he told me it was a pile of cack (nicely though) and i've been to embarassed to send him anything else to proof read since*L*


Chill out, do something else and come back to the writing when you get the itch !

 

[Bluete]

Clarity

A moment of clarity
Is a time to realize
What one hates most about another
Is a hidden flaw of one’s own

It is a sobering moment
The smile fades with an urgency
And contemplation begins
Self-absorption arrives

Hours, even days are spent
Searching for a way to remedy
That which is unendurable
That which is now repulsive
And oh, so unforgivable


B

 

[Bluete]

Thanks for the encouragement, EL! I tend to start getting really really frustrated toward the end of a dry spell. I don't know if it coincides with my ability to start writing again, but the frustration and writing usually happen together.

B

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

Bluete,

A lot of folks have a similar problem. But if you're sending one of the two paragraphs you've written to a friend for critiquing, you've got it real bad.

Force yourself to just write the damn story. Don't sweat punctuation, spelling, grammar, storyline, character consistency, plot, story arch, any of that crap which, by the way, is what Hemingway said ALL first drafts were. Just write the entire story--and then hide it somewhere and leave the house.

If you can't keep from immediately going over the manuscript, mail the only copy to yourself and then start something new. When it arrives you can open it up and start going over what you've done. Good luck.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[Bluete]

Wow, that's a really good idea, R. Something I definitely hadn't thought of, but a perfect solution. I usually can't make it past a paragraph without editing, and editing, and editing.

I'll have to try to write one and mail it. I know perspective always changes drastically on things like that after some time goes by.

Thanks!

B

 

[lucky-E-leven]

I agree with Rumple on this one. (Of course, he's normally full of profound wisdom on other topics as well.) For me, getting the entire idea on paper is best. It normally turns out that entire paragraphs can be removed...even the first few In most of my writing, I find that the first few paragraphs are simply for me to warm up to the idea of the story I'm trying to lay down.

Sometimes they stay, other times they go, but once they're out of the way I can get to the heart of the matter and really get down to business (my favorite).

A big problem for me is stopping in the middle and losing the verve that I began the story with. I'm still learning about what to avoid and what to hold tightly to, but only really doing so by keeping at it and practicing. Good luck and best wishes with the ideas.

~lucky

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

I agree with Rumple on this one. (Of course, he's normally full of profound wisdom on other topics as well.)

Thank you. Of course a broken clock is right twice a day. As for your parenthetical praise, a lot of folks around here would argue that the last seven words could be replaced with one, "IT."

Rumple Foreskin

 

[Bluete]

Thanks to you three for the encouragement/advice/support. I'm going to sit down and force myself to write until I'm done. It's hard though. I did one time try by starting a new doc for every paragraph, that way the stuff I'd written wasn't sitting right in front of me to reread.

I just have to say, having lurked for awhile before I started posting, that I love lit!

B

 

[NoJo]

First of all, great thread title, Bluete -- I just had to post something on a thread with that title.

Second, you remind me so much of me that you made me laugh out loud: When I see my own weaknesses in others, that's when I get the uncontrollable giggles: I pictured you typing the word "It", hitting the backspace key angrily, changing it to "The", printing it out on the printer, running into your friend, who says "WHat the hell kind of story is 'THE'??", running back to the computer, srcewing up the paper and throwing it onto a huge pile in the corner...

I also have that damn ultracritical monologue in me, jabbering away. It's hard to concentrate on the story when he's talking (actually, in my case, I think it's a she).

I sort of "used" Literotica as a way to start my writing off. I got really, really shot down for my first stories. At least that's how I saw it. You have to take criticism if you want to write for anyone but yourself.

It's clear just from your post that you're perfectly articulate enough to write without the kind of micro-editing you describe.


My advice is for you to take a writing course, to unblock you. Yep, I'm afraid you're blocked. Easily fixed, but not a lot of people can do it on their own, particularly if they're struggling with form and structure.

Now, I don't know how similar you actually are to me in this, but for me the key was pretty much what RF and Lucky are saying: Write, dammit. Tell all critics, real and internal, to shut the fuck up and leave you alone for a while.


Now, I'm going to read your story...

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

I got really, really shot down for my first stories. Sub Joe

Don't tell me we've been easing off recently. I mean, there's only one other alternative, and that's, well, surely not.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[Bluete]

Yay for laughing aloud!

Thanks for the big response, but now you're reading my story?! Aieee! That was my first erotica ever, and I was sooooo uncomfy with writing it and now you've got me all flustered and such.

Your image of me/you writing was accurate. One agonizing word at a time, that's my method alright.

I think the venting helped me out pretty well, as I've written almost a whole page now! Better than before at least. I pretty much had to cover my eyes with one hand to type the last little bit because I started getting too critical again. But I made 'er, til I got sidetracked (another bane of my writing existence).

And then, up in the middle of the whole deal, I threw out that thing that vaguely resembles a poem in an earlier post on this thread. So it's coming back, slowly but surely.

Thanks again!

B

 

[NoJo]

Just read yr story, B.


Well, it was a lot better than my first Erotica ever!

You need to lose control, get inside, a bit more when you write -- you lapse into almost scientific descriptions occasionally, as though you're pulling back from the story. Reinforces what people have said on this thread: Unblock more, to get to your potential.

 

[Bluete]

That's where the discomfort came in. I don't like to write trash and that's what I felt like I was writing with that first one.

I posted a non erotic poem to sort of redeem myself, but the idea that I can't write a good erotic story started bothering me, so I'm giving it another shot. With any luck I can have it submitted by this weekend.

I'm going to have a look at some of your stories, and I would right now had I not just got up (at 10, boo) and have a meeting in an hour with horses to feed and a shower to take and...

Sometimes I think my alarm needs to come with one of those big squishy hammers to bop me over the head!

I'll be back soon...

B

 

[Bluete]

I'm baaaaaack!

 

[Bluete]

It

It erupts from me, like a sore
It festers and writhes inside me
Until its frantic attempts pay off

It bursts through the surface
Grotesque head waving back and forth
Spotting a victim, it leaps gracefully

Landing with precision, it delights in its catch
Burrowing with seemingly inhuman ferocity,
It tunnels to the core, to the soul

It blots out the brightest light
It crushes the foundation
All around it crumbles

Destruction complete, it returns to me
Where it will fester, waiting and watching
When the time is right, it strikes again.

It has been, and will be
It takes until there is no more to give
It hurts until there is no pain to feel


B