The Rules: I Won't (writing thread)

[BlackShanglan]

This is the companion to the other "The Rules" thread which lists people's best practices / key insights into writing (https://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?t=440367). This thread is intended for us to list what we've learned not to do, both in the writing itself and in the companion areas of editing, critiquing, etc.

One core principle of my own, and some recent additions:

(1) I will not utter the words "it had to be that way," "that's just my style," "you don't understand what I am trying to do," or "you have to understand <anything exterior to the text>," and I will attempt earnestly to root them out of my thoughts as well. This story is mine. I am responsible for everything in it. Nothing has to be the way it is; those are my choices. No one has to understand anything coming into it; I must show them. Anyone who doesn't like the story has a reason rooted in the story; it's up to me to decide whether I think it's a good reason or not, but it is in the story and I cannot ask my readers to enter that story only in specific frames of mind.

(2) I will not discard notes and critiques others have written on my work. Re-reading them is invaluable even years later.

(3) I will not begin writing a story (in draft rather than notes) until I know where it is going. I won't lock myself into the notes outline, but I will not begin writing when all I have is a few characters wandering about posing picturesquely and looking for a plot.

Shanglan

 

[Guest]

This is the companion to the other "The Rules" thread which lists people's best practices / key insights into writing (https://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?t=440367). This thread is intended for us to list what we've learned not to do, both in the writing itself and in the companion areas of editing, critiquing, etc. ...


Shanglan

1) I won't ask for opinions I don't really want, and I'll listen carefully to the ones I ask for
2) I won't get discouraged. I'll damn well send that manuscript out again...and again...and again. I
3) I won't hide. I WILL revise, despite how my stomach feels
4) I won't talk the talk without the walk. Occasionally I will take my own advice
5) I won't pretend to write. I'll take the trouble to put myself into the situations I need to have to write.

 

[BlackShanglan]

1) I won't ask for opinions I don't really want, and I'll listen carefully to the ones I ask for.

I like that one particularly. Even the worst critiques I've gotten have eventually had grains of truth in them. I also saw another author observe, in laying down the "I will not 'defend' my work to someone critiquing it" rule, that if nothing else, that person read the piece - and it's not easy to find people willing to do that. He felt it paid to be nice to anyone with comments, in order to continue having people who would comment.

 

[neonlyte]

1) I will not be afraid of failing. I will learn nothing from the manuscript that hides in a drawer.
2) I will not shy away from writing experimental works - as long as they are written for purpose and not for personal vanity.

 

[Stella_Omega]

I won't ever write fiction that requires a glossary or a pronunciation guide- oh, wait, I did that.

 

[BlackShanglan]

2) I will not shy away from writing experimental works - as long as they are written for purpose and not for personal vanity.

Ooooh. Excellent rule, excellent distinction.

 

[rgraham666]

I won't: Stress over whether my work is 'great literature' or not.

Err, that's it.

 

[impressive]

Hmm. I do your #3 all the time, Shang. Inevitably, though, I reach a point where I tell myself, "I'm not writing another word until I have some idea where this is going."

• I will not rely on "to be" verbs to carry my narrative.
• I will not write anything that perpetuates bigotry, intolerance, or hatred.
• I will not view writing as a competitive sport. There's plenty of room on the playground, and sharing is a delightful way to pass the time.
• I will not give critique unless asked (and I don't mean a cast "any input welcome" net).
• I will not take critique (or rejection) personally.
• I will not forget that while writing is an art, publishing is a business.

I'm sure I'll think of more.

 

[carsonshepherd]

(3) I will not begin writing a story (in draft rather than notes) until I know where it is going. I won't lock myself into the notes outline, but I will not begin writing when all I have is a few characters wandering about posing picturesquely and looking for a plot.

Shanglan

I may have to respectfully disagree with that. Just creating a couple of characters, sitting down and writing can create some pretty compelling stories. Mine will tell me where they want to go most of the time. Your approach cuts down on rewrites but it also takes a lot of the fun out of things for me.
Then again, I don't make notes or outlines - the draft IS the outline for me. The "just write it" approach sometimes forces you to amputate large sections of the story once you figure out the exact details of the plot.

~ I will not answer writing threads before I'm caffeinated.

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

I may have to respectfully disagree with that. Just creating a couple of characters, sitting down and writing can create some pretty compelling stories. Mine will tell me where they want to go most of the time. Your approach cuts down on rewrites but it also takes a lot of the fun out of things for me.
Then again, I don't make notes or outlines - the draft IS the outline for me. The "just write it" approach sometimes forces you to amputate large sections of the story once you figure out the exact details of the plot.

~ I will not answer writing threads before I'm caffeinated.

Carson, remember these are "I Won't" rules, not "Thou Shalt Not" edicts. That's especially true on the "rule" you just mentioned. I tend to do a lot of organization for novels. However, you and a lot of other damn good writers don't. Whatever works best for a writer is what's right, IMHO.

I Will Not: use "ly" adverbs unless doing so is absoluteLY, positiveLY, clearLY impossible to avoid.

I Will Not: forget Elmore Leonards "rules" to never start a sentence with "Suddenly" (covers two "Will Not's") or a story with the weather.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[Selena_Kitt]

I won’t:
Compare myself to other writers
Say “no” to whatever comes
Care if it’s controversial
Take it too seriously

 

[Darkniciad]

I may have to respectfully disagree with that. Just creating a couple of characters, sitting down and writing can create some pretty compelling stories. Mine will tell me where they want to go most of the time. Your approach cuts down on rewrites but it also takes a lot of the fun out of things for me.
Then again, I don't make notes or outlines - the draft IS the outline for me. The "just write it" approach sometimes forces you to amputate large sections of the story once you figure out the exact details of the plot.

~ I will not answer writing threads before I'm caffeinated.

I have a somewhat similar approach. My characters are simple to come up with, most were developed over years of PnP RPGs. They come off the shelf with years of history and development ready to work with.

I do start out with an idea of how things are going to end, and a "hook" to keep the story from being just a day-in-the-life, but how things get from introducing the characters to that ending comes about as I write. The characters take care of it for me.

My Blackhawk series is a perfect example. I sat down to write a short story, 4 Lit pages or so, about Mindblind and Christi. I created a new character, Arilee, that was just supposed to be a pair of eyes to introduce the two characters. How it was going to end: Old wizard enemy trying to kill Christi after luring Mind out into the countryside, failing because he underestimated her ability to fight magic. The hook, weird attacks on the Hall by nuisance monsters that could have been torn apart by stray dogs, used as a distraction to drop the Hall's magical defenses.

Next thing I know, in the process of introducing my characters, Arilee takes my story and runs away with it. Suddenly she's the central character, where it was supposed to be Christi. She's going to save Christi. It's also grown into a multi-chapter instead of a one-shot. I split what's already done in half, posting it as the first two chapters.

I get some anon feedback, suggesting a word to put in a story as a clue to the reader that the feedback was received. I like the idea of the challenge and do it. When that chapter posts, I get another word. That word sparks another character, someone courting Arilee named Joshua, that adds another layer to the ending. My evil wizard will now enter disguised as Joshua, adding additional layers of pain to his revenge.

My very basic outline remained intact, but the story continually evolved as I wrote it, and much of it based on reader input. It's very similar to how I ran my game, letting the players create all their own worst enemies *laugh* Most of my best work comes from riffing off somebody else.

~I won't abandon my old D&D world roots, because they are the life of my stories.

 

[FallingToFly]

I won't:

• 
  Stop writing even when I want to.
  Quit writing what I write best because someone else finds it "wrong" in some vague way.
  Listen to the naysayers.
  Stray from the original idea of the story. If a sideline needs expansion that badly, I can afford to start a new file for it and come back to it later.
  Write what is "popular" just to improve ratings on Lit, or sell something quickly.
  Refuse to explore an idea. If it doesn't work, I can cannibalize the good parts later.
  Blow off opinions and thoughts I have asked for.
  Refuse to admit when something is crap, no matter how much I like it. I've got a big enough ego to be able to say "Yeah, this is pure crap, and utterly useless, but I enjoying writing and/or reading it."
  Allow the cat on my keyboard, forget to run a spell check and then fuss when something gets rejected for typographical errors.
  Worry about what my family thinks of me writing love, sex, and passion between two same sex characters.
  Shy away from the ugly parts. If it's in my head, I can put it on paper, not matter how much I worry about whether people are going to wonder if I'm a serial killer.
  Try to prettify pain. Pain is what it is, and if it's what the story makes me feel while writing it, I want the reader to feel it as well.
  Glorify faults.
  Allow myself to forget the reason why I started writing a story in the first place.
  Procrastinate on editing and reformatting longer pieces into a cohesive whole. There's a reason I specified an enormous hard drive. If I have the same thing written in three different files, rough, single chapter unit, and final novel file, then so be it.
  Be clear about titles and chapter numbers. Writing it doesn't do a damn bit of good if I have to sort through four hundred files to try and find it.
  

 

[gauchecritic]

I will not insert anything into a story. Neither sub-plot nor character. Neither theme nor metaphor. If it's not there to start with, adding it later won't help.

I will not insist that my rules are good for everybody.

(except the rule of three )

 

[Quiet_Cool]

I will not...

...try to make a point. If I have to try, I'm controlling too much of the story. What I really mean to say, how I really feel, will manifest itself without my help, and often, without my knowing where it came from, or even what my own point was. I'm not here to teach the world, or to make it see my viewpoint on anything. I'm here to write, and if someone out there reads what I write and feels they can learn something, great. Even if what they learn is something I would never dream of teaching.

...try to hide my demons from the world, or myself. Or try to hide myself and the world from my demons. They have their own voice, and if I don't let them speak, then I'll never get to know them, and they'll never be more than dark, hidden demons. They're part of me, and only a part, but the whole is made up of all the parts, including those I dislike most, and the ones I would want most to change. I'm not a perfect person, not a cliche, can't be summed up by a few lines written down on paper (nor by all the lines I'll ever write, I would venture to say); I'm a real person, made up of good and bad, beliefs and values standing next to beliefs and values, more often than not contradicting one another in places that I don't even see (and those contradictions don't make the beliefs or how sacred I hold them any less true or valid), metaphorical angels and demons. To deny them is to deny part of me. Freud might say: "Quiet_Cool, your demons are part of you, a large part and an important part. If they should manifest themselves in your name, they would be the 'Q.' That is why it is capitalized."

...ever manage to say something without taking five hundred to ten-thousand more words than necessary.

Q_C

 

[BlackShanglan]

[*]I will not forget that while writing is an art, publishing is a business.
[/list]

I'm sure I'll think of more.

Loved all of them - this one is particularly excellent to keep in mind.

 

[BlackShanglan]

I may have to respectfully disagree with that. Just creating a couple of characters, sitting down and writing can create some pretty compelling stories. Mine will tell me where they want to go most of the time. Your approach cuts down on rewrites but it also takes a lot of the fun out of things for me.
Then again, I don't make notes or outlines - the draft IS the outline for me. The "just write it" approach sometimes forces you to amputate large sections of the story once you figure out the exact details of the plot.

~ I will not answer writing threads before I'm caffeinated.

Oh heavens yes, do disagree. Those are my personal rules, not necessarily the rules for everyone. I hate drafting and enjoy working out the story's events in quick bursts of scrawled notes, so that works for me. I also have trouble writing well without an ending in mind. But I do know that for other people the opposite things are true!

(ETA slightly later: Rumple put it perfectly. )

I think the plot amputations issue is part of what guides me, too. I have trouble letting go of a scene even when it clearly must go, and I have trouble, too, seeing the structure if I add too many other things that don't fit into it. You know how overgrown my stuff is. You could lose "War and Peace" in there.

Shanglan

 

[Stella_Omega]

I will not insert anything into a story. Neither sub-plot nor character. Neither theme nor metaphor. If it's not there to start with, adding it later won't help.

DAMN YOU! now I have to edit all over again...

I will not insist that my rules are good for everybody.

(except the rule of three )

And lube.

 

[BlackShanglan]

I won't:

...
Stray from the original idea of the story. If a sideline needs expansion that badly, I can afford to start a new file for it and come back to it later.

Oooh, what an excellent idea. *takes notes* I like that a great deal.

 

[BlackShanglan]

I will not insert anything into a story. Neither sub-plot nor character. Neither theme nor metaphor. If it's not there to start with, adding it later won't help.

I will not insist that my rules are good for everybody.

(except the rule of three )

I'm sorry, Gauche - what was the third item in this list? Lit seems to have lost it.

 

[gauchecritic]

I'm sorry, Gauche - what was the third item in this list? Lit seems to have lost it.

#3. I will never apologise.

 

[AchtungNight]

Amen to these rules. Let me add a few of my own.

- I will not let flames get to me for longer than it takes to snipe back.

- I will not let rejection get to me for longer than it takes to apologize for the things that led to it and determine what I need to do differently.

- I will not let one particular thing, character, story, or event dominate my influence.

- I will not let the trash of my mind interfere in my writing.

- I will not hesitate to take a break from writng if something more important in RL is dominating my attention and I can not find a middle ground.

- I will not write more than one story at a time.

- I will not hesitate to write down the ideas I get for other stories while writing and use the ones that seem good.

- I will not publish any story I do not see as a standout.

- I will not criticize my fellow writers unless I feel they deserve it. And even then, I will be as constructive as I can.

- I will not stop using large amounts of homage, satire, and roasting in my work. Never mind that lots of readers snap at me for it. They'll get it later on, and smile. Shows like SNL and the Simpsons do the same thing and look how long they've been around.

- I will not forget that a lot of what I write is about real people and all of it being read by real people, including quite possibly the people it's about. I will not disrespect those people.

- I will not advertise a story in a place where I don't think people would enjoy hearing about it.

- I will not hesitate to shamelessly advertise it in a place where I think people would.

- I will not use narrators based only on aspects of myself.

- I will not stop loving stories in general, whether they be from the movies, books, or anywhere.

- I will not forsake my friends, and that includes anyone who has ever been a friend to me, especially those who have been so by reading my work.

- I will not forget any of this, even if I may sometimes push it to the back of my mind.

 

[artisticbiguy]

• I will not forget that, when receiving feedback, it is my story and that a story is not written by committee.

• I will not defend my work from criticism for there is usually some kernal of truth to be found in the most vitriol verbal vomit.

• I will not forget to write what I want, not what "my readers" want of me.

• I will not forget that a story is a colaboration between the author and the reader, and as such should be enjoyed by both.

• My plots will not be solely character or situationally driven... both the character and the situation must work.

 

[BlackShanglan]

- I will not write more than one story at a time.

I'm quite the opposite there. I don't write them in close connection - that is, within the same day or usually week - because I do need to immerse in the story. But I rotate; I do one stage with one story (notes, draft, or revision) and then move to another and do whatever stage it's on. I need the distance and objectivity; the most amazing crap looks good to me when I first write it.

 

[Dwarfsetsfire]

1. I won't pretend to think that I as a male can write females in any realistic sort of way. It's just impossible.