writing project questions for my fellow forum members?

[wheelchair27]

I have some writing project questions for my fellow forum members. Have you ever had an idea for a writing project that begged and pleaded for you to write it? but no matter how hard you tried you were unable to get the idea written down?

 

[sethp]

Yes. The solution is to either just write it no matter how bad it is and break down that wall and get that crap out of your system. You may end up just deleting those 2-3 hours of work. But, the next day you'll be able to continue. Or....you need to tweak the idea, concept a bit so that it can flow out easily.

 

[Tio_Narratore]

Between the idea and the story falls the shadow. sethp offers one way of many to address it. You might also try sleeping on it - with intent. Go to bed focused on that idea, and set yourself up to dream it as a tale. Sometimes it works. Try posing it as a question to a Tarot deck, and interpret the lay in terms of your idea - it may give you a story line to explore the idea. Sit at your desk. Struggle with your thoughts. Throw your scribbled papers on the floor. Go out in despair, slamming the door behind you. Head to the nearest bar and drink until you can barely walk. Stumble to the edge of a pier and contemplate suicide. Take that contemplation back home and spill it out through a pen or keyboard...

 

[oggbashan]

Get away from the computer for a couple of hours and do something else.

 

[TxRad]

All of the above work, although Tio's ideas are a little on the drastic side.

If it doesn't flow then the idea either isn't ready or it's not a good idea for the time. My best advice is to take a break and get some fresh air. Go somewhere that people gather and people watch for a while. Maybe one of them will become a character that fits the story and adds the missing pieces.

 

[MatthewVett]

Just make yourself write, whether it's good or bad. It's easier to work off a skeleton to start from the ground-up, I find, so even if you have a structure, it'll be easier to improve it in the future.

I also feel that outlining your story can help. Just do a detailed time-line about what you want to happen. Do you have any details about your story? Maybe we can help.

 

[wheelchair27]

MatthewVett: As a matter of fact i don't have any details i was just asking if anyone here had any experiences regarding the questions in my post.

 

[Tio_Narratore]

I expect you're trying to write a story to "illustrate" or "express" an idea. That usually works poorly at best. There is truth in the notion that "stories write themselves;" let the story come - the idea will be in it.
Otherwise, it's back to the bar, then the pier...

 

[Stella_Omega]

the answer to your question is-- yes I have had that experience!

There are two circumstances for that-- one, as Tio says, I am trying to express a 'feeling.' The solution to that is to write a story and incorporate the feeling into the story-- Sometimes that feeling becomes the theme.

The other time is when I have had something happen in real life, and I want to write it down-- but real life happenings do not follow the rules of storytelling.

 

[TxRad]

the answer to your question is-- yes I have had that experience!

There are two circumstances for that-- one, as Tio says, I am trying to express a 'feeling.' The solution to that is to write a story and incorporate the feeling into the story-- Sometimes that feeling becomes the theme.

The other time is when I have had something happen in real life, and I want to write it down-- but real life happenings do not follow the rules of storytelling.

In other words, you have to lie a little to make real life interesting.

 

[Tio_Narratore]

In other words, you have to lie a little to make real life interesting.

No, fiction has to make sense. (see Shelley, Twain...)

How do you make sense out of real life??

 

[slyc_willie]

No, fiction has to make sense. (see Shelley, Twain...)

How do you make sense out of real life??

You don't. Kerouac proved that.

 

[Saxon_Hart]

To the OP, sometimes you fail to make it work. I have had several ideas that begged to be written, but I couldn't present them in an original way, so they sit as notes, or a partially written story. Lately, I'll start a story, then have a killer idea for another and work them both.

 

[RedHairedandFriendly]

I've had stories that I've started and then reached a point where I just am not feeling it anymore. A couple of instances I've left it alone and never revisited the story, other instances, I've brought my idea to the Chain story category and started chain stories out of them and they've been very successful. I've got a couple more that I've thought of pulling from Lit., and reintroducing them to the Chain Story category and seeing how folks feel about them.

 

[JonB1969]

I have some writing project questions for my fellow forum members. Have you ever had an idea for a writing project that begged and pleaded for you to write it? but no matter how hard you tried you were unable to get the idea written down?

Oh yes. Many, many times LOL.

But I agree what another poster has said - write it down anyway. Get it out of your head and on to the computer screen where you can more easily wrestle with it. In fact just write down some notes.

You never know, a real story might just pop out.....

 

[JackLuis]

Some times you just have to get grip, know what I mean?

A little lotion helps too.

Just write it and damn the critics. Grammer, spilling, don't matter just spill the idea and let her rip! When you're panting and visualizing the soft downy fur on her pubes, it will come to you.

 

[lovecraft68]

I pride myself on the fact that as of yet I have never not finished a story.

Many times I have been looking at a partially written one and just "lost it" I'm saying, this is stupid, why am I bothering? it sucks.

I stay with it even if all I do is add a paragraph a night for a couple of nights. Eventually I end up "catching on" and blow through it and it turns out better than I thought.

I believe that writing like many things is a matter of confidence. At this point I know I will finish. I know my patterns and just go along.

Just keep at it and as others have said, just make sure you like it and worry about others later.

 

[sensualwhispers]

??

oh yes several times...lol..i either just keep mulling the idea over in my head or i write it down and see what happens. At the moment ive got several on the go, all partially finished from snippets of ideas. They will all get finished.