Writer's theory

[Croctden]

I have a query:

When most of you write do just have one story or do you several in the tank? I currently have eight in varying levels of completion, and two other ideas I want to start. Is anyone else doing this? Why the hell am I?

In part this is because I am writing a sequel, I wrote something I thought of as stand alone and I got several feedbacks saying good job, where’s part two? So rather than saying fuck off I stupidly tried to comply. The first attempt got weird (not bad, just weird) so now I have a second one, but I’m working on both. Has anyone else ever been in this predicament?

And a corollary to my first question. Has one successfully broken out or merged stories? That is taken a story and made it into two separate ones, or vice versa? I’m finding this much harder than I expected.

Thanks

 

[Chicklet]

I have TONS of stories in the works. But what I've found is that when I'm writing one that's really going to be good, I can't break away from it at all. When I sit down and write a story from start to finish in one sitting, one long horrible day of just thinking about my characters, that's always one of my best. The one's in the making might never be completed, and if they are they just don't have the heart. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't do it that way, just that it seems for me personally sitting one all the way through is the best.

However, it must be noted, that if I wasn't passionate about the story I sat down and wrote in one day, it still wouldn't be good.

Chicklet

 

[Guest]

Yes - just as Chicklet said. I have many stories at various stages, especially sequels, and I take turns, depending upon my mood.

But sometimes I get a new idea for a story, and it positively grabs me by the throat and makes me sit down and write exclusively. I have no choice!

And invariably, those tend to be my better stories.

I am finally better organized and keep all those tidbits and half-completed chapters in little notebooks. I used to have little pieces all over the house!

 

[Guest]

. . .And a corollary to my first question. Has one successfully broken out or merged stories? That is taken a story and made it into two separate ones, or vice versa? I’m finding this much harder than I expected.

Thanks

As a matter of fact, often I'll be writing something I feel is going to be great, and then halfway into it I find I just don't like it at all.

I have to put it away for awhile. I forget about it, and then a week or so later, I take it out, and then it's, "Oh! This is what I can do!" and often the entire focus changes. The story becomes two, or it changes categories, or sometimes even changes characters.

It doesn't matter - as long as you are happy with the final result.

 

[MNGuy]

I usually have tons of ideas. I jot them down on a notepad and keep them for reference.

If the idea really strikes me as hot, I start writing right away.

Usually I work on two at one time. I use writing erotica as 'practice.' Kind of like warming up before the game. I will set a timer and write erotica for about a half an hour just to get, uh, the juices flowing.

Then I switch over to the more serious stuff. (Admission - if the erotica is going really well, I sometimes keep working on that, but then the next time I jump right into the serious stuff.)

Side note: As far as the notepad of ideas. I recently found a note about an idea regarding the adventures of a woman warrior and her sidekick and their adventures wandering an ancient land. I scribbled at some later date 'lesbians?'. I wrote the note back in 1987! Doh!

So go back to your notes and check them every now and then.

 

[Croctden]

Interesting

I guess it is a characteristic of writing. I actually mean I open and add onto/edit several files at once, but I get the picture. Thanks.

Learning all the time...

 

[karmadog]

I always have more than one story going at a time. Unlike the majority of the writers that have replied, I don't ever write a story immediately, at one sitting. A story has to percolate for a long time before I even start, then there will be moments where I turn around and go back.

I'll stop completely and leave it alone for a week, or a month, or even longer. If the story is strong, it will come back.

Then, after 'finishing' the story, I leave it alone and work it over in my subconscious. This period might last two or three days, or two or three months.

Then I edit.

 

[Un-registered]

I don't do many short stories and I tend to go straight through, or ditch them completely.

I do have nine published novels and seven and a half (one joint author) more in various stages. This is partly because there are two series, which involves concurrent writing, but there are three stand-alone novels on the go besides those.

 

[TrinaT]

I, also, have several works in progress. Every now and again I review them to see if they might blend with a current piece I'm working on or, in one particular case, it became a chapter in a novelette in progress.

I keep several small files identifying them by category or ideas. Some are just one or two lines and others are several paragraphs. I believe that each writer has there own way of working, so if you find yourself bouncing from one piece to the next, it may be that the one piece you started with has inspired something for the other.

Trina T.

 

[oggbashan]

I have more part completed stories than finished ones.

Some of the parts will never become whole but might end up as episodes in other stories.

Every story I write with new characters seems to create the possibility of several more.

Sigh - I'll run out of time before I finish every possible story.

 

[Uther_Pendragon]

I have a query:

When most of you write do just have one story or do you several in the tank? I currently have eight in varying levels of completion, and two other ideas I want to start. Is anyone else doing this? Why the hell am I?



And a corollary to my first question. Has one successfully broken out or merged stories? That is taken a story and made it into two separate ones, or vice versa? Im finding this much harder than I expected.

Thanks

:
Eight? That's not much. I figure I start at least two stories for each one I finish.
And I've finished about eighty.
As for splitting and/or merging stories, sometimes you have to. But I do it before the thing sees the light of day, usually.

 

[Sabledrake]

I usually only have one main project going at a time, while a few other ideas are simmering on the back burners. I find it difficult to shift my concentration from one to another.

Sabledrake

 

[Svenskaflicka]

I've got loads of stories that are somewhere on the scale from Just An Idea For A Story to Finished, Spellchecked And Submitted.