Any other writers want to complain about writing?

I had a prof when I took a creative writing intensive tell me that he once lost an entire manuscript in the hard drive-apocalypse. Apparently rewriting that completely was the best thing that ever happened to him, so maybe it’s not so bad. Right now, I’m working on the restarted version. I use the athlete analogy to justify the fic I write and all the dnd stories ahaha

 

That’s interesting! I think Lee would be proud to know he’s not alone! I’m the kind of person who has most of my most important files saved locally on 4 devices, in two different cloud storages, and on a usb necklace my partner got me when I told her how paranoid I was about losing them! I did once lose a 5000 word chapter because my old laptop crashed intermittently (it was cheap, and I bought it in 2012 with money from babysitting), but I think that’s the most words I’ve ever had disappear on me. I completely changed the trajectory of that fic, because I refused to rewrite that.

 

I remember when I was a kid I lost a story when the floppy disk it was on was mysteriously broken one day. I was too heartbroken to rewrite it.

 

I haven't had to deal with that on any grand scale, but a teacher in a different field once pointed out that the second time you do something, the better it is and the faster you do it.

Also sometimes speeding through it will help you eliminate the boring parts you didn't like anyway, or the purple prose where you indulged too much.

Also I don't do writing as a main thing by any extent, but I really dislike teachers banning science fiction and fantasy stuff. I get why, but you could also tell your students 'hey these are short stories don't waste your time world building some grand world that's meant for a novel!'
Of course in rebellion I wrote something else self-centered and self indulgent and somehow that got high marks.

 

I had a first year prof ban sci-fi/fantasy because he claimed that magic and the like was only used to dodge the ~~harder realities of realistic fiction~~ (direct quote). The first thing I submitted to him was about a ghost, from the perspective of his lover, and I made it slightly ambiguous as to whether there was really a ghost or it was just a manifestation of the protag's grief. Somehow, I aced that assignment, despite trying to circumvent class rules, and having an epigraph that was unabashedly an Evanescence quote. I also argued that Shakespeare had an entire play about a wizard (the tempest) and no one ever accused him of dodging the realities of interpersonal dynamics (that play imo can be read as a critique of colonialism, amongst other things). He has not relaxed his restrictions, but he also hasn't closed the loopholes I used.

I had another prof ban character death, sex, and quite a long list of words that she thought got overused by first-years (love, dream, memory, fate, etc--I don't have the whole list). She didn't ban Sci-fi/fantasy though. I used her restrictions to write a love story told by someone who couldn't confront her own feelings, so I could make the absence of the word "love" an actual theme in the story. Profs set all kinds of wild restrictions based on their personal issues in writing, and I couldn't tell you why I always seem to make those limits a part of the things I hand in. sometimes it's just fun.

 

Oh lordy. Those were so much worse teachers than I had. It reminds me of one of my favorite deconstructions of the quote, "write what you know."
Which is to say that quote is why we have so many 'high literature' stories middle-aged washed out writers who are contemplating adultery. Bleh!
Instead "Write what you know" should imply research. You don't know it? Time to learn!

 

@Mutation I love the shade at "high lit". I've also used that quote to assert that we should have a more diverse group of people entering the literary canon (which in itself is contentious, but I'm not opening every can of worms I've opened in class). I just finished a literature before 1700 class, and we've certainly improved since then, but of all the authors we covered, only one was a woman. And of all the men, the only one who ever seemed to write female characters that had character traits beyond either "bad villain sexy woman" or "good obedient wife or nun" was Shakespeare (I have read an argument for a potential protofeminist reading of the Wife of Bath, however largely her character is treated as having been satirical in most of the research/lectures). There are certainly other dimensions of representation beyond gender as well that are worth considering, but that's one that was immediately noticeable to me.

 

There is a book called Horrible Prettiness about early burlesque in the 19th century that explains how women were supposed to be in western society, which would include depictions in literature and stage, and how even the sight of a ballerina's legs clad in very modest full length bloomers gave men fits.

Then again women can't distinguish fantasy from reality and novel reading will lead us to ruin. But the men who believed that didn't even know dinosaurs existed.

 

Ugh, if I were a writing teacher, I would let students write what they please. Why not? All that matters is that you do it well.

 

@DollyKim I might have to check that book out!! The ballerina example reminds me of the dress code in my high school! I almost got kicked out of biology, in which we were studying reproductive organs because my shoulders were exposed. If my shoulders are more appealing to someone than the actual genitals on the board, their fetish isn’t my responsibility.

My feminist theory readings for Literary Theory were also really interesting on the subject, so if anyone is interested in some recs I can look through those. Analysis of women in previous literature is most common usually in earlier American feminist critique, and then the more recent intersectional readings we did were also pretty interesting. We start next semester with Judith Butler and Queer theory, so it just gets better.

 

Well studied books on 19th century burlesque can be a key part in women's studies. I came in to it looking for something less dry than Rachel Shteir's book and Horrible Prettiness had to give a history of women on the stage, and America's attitude towards theater, to explain how "shocking" the changes were.

Don't overlook the history of the circus either. Women could be seen in exotic costumes, many clowns were gay, and the sideshow offered a place where all sorts of people could make good money.

 

Recently I got stuck in a corner with working on the novel i been working on for years now. I wrote myself into a corner i don't really know how to get out of. It sucks since it actually means I have to go back and unwrite the whole bit that got me stuck. Nothing like spending two weeks trying to figure out the solution to it lol. Even all my friends i talk to have no idea how to help lol. Sometimes a book requires real life experiences to be written. When you don't have that kind of experience. it actually sucks lol. I just want to see the first of three books completed so I can actually see some kind of fruit for all my effort I've put into it.

 

I'm apparently flightier than a stoned butterfly. I've got WIP's coming out my ya-ya and Ideas swirling around my brain that are saying, "Write me now! You know y'wanna. It'll be fun..."

Part of this I totally blame on Impl. I'd ordered a custom green Ziv to be the adult version of Malachite. His child self I bought years ago 2nd hand is an Impl Simon Colourful Life Green. I received the Ziv at the beginning of January and... he was very much NOT the green I ordered. Impl agreed that was an oopsie and said they'd recast the Ziv in the correct green and by-the-way, keep the one already sent as a New Years gift (I said I'd send him back but needed a shipping address). So now I had Unexpected Doll in a gorgeous shade of mint ice cream.

I thought about selling him for... oh... 5 minutes. It took him maybe 3 days to have a name, Kulfi, and a background (healer in the Immortal Army) and sealed the deal for me buying a doll I'd been eyeballing in the MP to be his lover (Dollshe Hound in honey mango), Akusuo. Akusuo is the God of Secrets, Wishes & Dreams. And they want their story (or at least their initial meeting) told. And because the DV 3rd-arm body for Kheima (SD Phiel head) came in a week later after a 6 month wait time, Kheima and Ravir (Batchix Dark Elf in purple) now want their story told, too. This while I'm actively trying to finish writing The Dire Heart (Ondraeden/Valerian, 107K) and Triptych Heart (Malachite/Qayin/Ji-Sun, 28K). Also in this world that needs finishing is Absolute Destiny (113K).

Outside of the Divine Worship World, I have Ribbon Of Fate, Tongue Of The Ocean and Wish Of the Heart in the Gen-Mod World, Escape Velocity and Sea Of Stars in The Dream Time World and Avatar Of Anubis and Tasting Transcendence in the Big Mystic Smoke World. The smallest of these stories is roughly 50K.

Send help. Quickly.

 

@Iron_Dog I can't hear you over the sound of a new, distracting story idea. I am supposed to be editing my pile of rough drafts. But the story idea I've been sitting on just hatched and is making goo-goo eyes at me. Seems like I'm going to be adding a new rough draft to the pile. And this one wants to be a trilogy, oof...

 

@iamkathybrown Yes, I completely understand about the new idea making goo-goo eyes and whispering how good its gonna be and how you know you really wanna do this right now.

A lot of my problem is that my idea of a "short" piece and every other sane person's idea of a short piece are wildly different and probably not even the same creature. One of my "short" stories ended up being 19K, which is technically more than a novelette but less than a novella. Typical short stories are about 8K.

 

Sounds like a lot of y'all could stand to read Stephen King's book on writing and take some of his advice on how he handles first and seconds drafts.

I'll say if you are really struggling to edit that might not be your job. I know with me I'm better at coming up with ideas and writing what I can then having someone else do the red lining who isn't as intwined in the world of the story. And it's okay to let stories rest for as long as they need to. Fresh eyes often do them a world of good.

 

I agree with @DollyKim about the editing. I'll do my initial edits and then send off to a group of beta readers (usually at least 3) and then when those edits have been done, I'll send it off to my grammar nazi. I'll also usually let a story "rest" for a few days before beginning my edits so I approach it with somewhat reasonably fresh eyes.

I can't speak about 1st/2nd/whatever drafts as that's not how I write.

 

I dunno. I feel like my stories aren't even ready to be read yet, they're that rough. And some of these stories have been "resting" for years!

 

We are our own worst critics. I have stories I've shelved for years as well. I sometimes go poke at them but the Muse for them has flounced off to other things for now so until the Muse wanders back, they languish on my HD.

 

I finally started writing in my verse again!!! It’s not good, per se—it’s indulgent, and it’s exploring different POVs to reacquaint myself. I’m only writing fun scenes: the kidnapping, two characters as lovers, and so on. It feels good though.

 

If you ever have trouble with how the plot should go remember that Choose Your Own Adventure books exist.

 

I’ve actually written some “choose your own adventure” style stuff (mostly in session planning for DnD, and you’d be amazed how often even when I come up with 5-6 options, my party gets creative. I do love how they keep me on my toes)!

that said, I have a concrete plot for this, so it’s more, once I’m willing to go back to the start and find a way to bury the exposition/worldbuilding. It would be easier if I was writing more typical secondary world fantasy, because then I could have a primary world character to be the protagonist, and that would allow me to stash exposition in the things she has to question. Because my MC is from one of the worlds that she’s going to explore here, everything there seems “normal” to her, so I kind of have to plan scenes accordingly so she can show the audience what her life is like, rather than having an accessible “audience-insert” character not from there to do it. Right now, between work, dnd and 5 classes, I’m not really able to sit down and write nanowrimo-like chunks of it every day, which is really how I prefer to work on longer things!

 

Can I complain about writing comics here? Because I'm on like, my third rewrite and I'd really like to stop that.
Especially since I have five pages drawn already.

 

Oof, I have a comic I started in high school that still only has ten pages, so you're probably doing better than me, at least.

 

The Muses bullied me into starting yet another story *sigh*. I swear I'm going to have nothing but WIP's on my HD.

 

Those pesky muses. Always pushing you to start, but not to finish.

 

not quite XD
I started over yet again, but I have at least managed to keep what I've already drawn. I just keep thinking "this will be the perfect way to start!!"

It took me almost 10 years to start my last one though, so in comparison I am way ahead.

 

I really don't enjoy that I have to constantly write something academic for school (I just turned in my bachelors degree today), and then I need to try tuning my brain into writing creative literature at some point, whatever time remains. I have had a novel in the making for about two years now, and it has 40 pages on it. It's frustrating I cannot concentrate on my book solely, but I'm trying to assure myself I will be able to if I work really hard with other aspects of life now and get a good start with things to make it easier later on. I hardly even have sudden boosts of inspiration nowadays, and if I do, they concern my academic essays, which is kind of sad. Thank the stars it's summer holiday in a month for me, and the school continues as late as September, so I hope I can get as much done during my free time as possible in the five months. I even though of subscribing a service where I can listen to novels on my phone, because it's been probably two years since I read a novel (and I used to be a bookworm), and my touch with creative language has been lost in the process.

I took 1,5 months completely off from work and school for Dec-Jan, and back then I got 30 pages which was a lot for me. I still need to work now and then during my summer holiday, but at least I don't need to bother my brain writing anything more sophisticated than emails. Then in September masters' degree is coming to slap me in the face saying, 'Did you think bachelors was something?' Aand I can maybe dream of writing again in summer 2021.

 

Aw, that's too bad. At least you got a little done. Maybe you can join me in Camp NaNo. We could have a BJD cabin!

 

I constantly go through cycles where literally all I want to do and all I can think about it writing, to then literally not being able to get a sentence down. Which wouldn't be too bad if these were fairly quick back and forth, but each section of the cycle is usually over a month with the not writing side being a bit longer. I'm not particularly burnt out or anything. Just severe writers block and suddenly not liking my writing (￣︿￣)

 

My problem is that my book won't write itself. I'm working on a series of books, all set in the same world, and they do wind up tying together in the end. I've finished one book, but the second book has taken me three years just to get into a sort of readable third draft! I guess on the bright side, it's given me time to fix a couple of things with some new ideas that I didn't have when I started.

 

I've had some stuff that's been an idea blurb or at most a list of plot points all century. At least I feel I've left enough in the notes that someone else could get it going.

Maybe pretend that you have to write the spoiler filled summary for a ~pedia article on your story, or you're competing in a Monty Python Summarize Proust (your story) contest. The contestant who got the furthest in Proust was only giving single word answers but he got pretty far.

Right now I'm having to read to play catch-up on some canon for a story I've had in the works for awhile. To find out where I can put the story if nothing else.

 

I've been steadily working on a "short" story through the self-isolate. I've gotten almost 32K done in about a week. It's not the story I'm supposed to be working on and it's gotten a lot longer than I thought it would but whatever. I'm enjoying the journey.

 

I think the push to write the story is because I finally got Kheima's body after a 6-7 month wait. And I have them sitting on the loveseat where I can see them.

Word came down from the Premier's office yesterday that because some people don't seem to be taking the effort to flatten the curve of the virus (tons of people were out at parks & beaches on the weekend *sigh*), we're going to be shut down as a province for another 2 weeks until mid-April. That's good for writing time but also means I'm not working=no income. Being an artist is fine. being a starving artist... not so much.

 

My end gets all of April off. Half the time walking around and getting the blood flowing helps get the creativity flowing but I need indoor places because among other things I have vampirism, er, PMLE (sunrash) so outside and I are in discussion.

If a story is going nowhere try an age or gender/rule 63 switch. In the Garak Bashir DS9 fandom mature Bashir and young Garak lit a few fires.

 

Generally it's not that I get stuck in a place in a story. It's that I have waaaay too many Oh! Shiny! stories going on at once. I try to stay focused on what I'm supposed to be working on but sometimes Writer Brain is just a 4-year-old OD-ing on pixie sticks.

I know that my idea of a short story and everybody else's idea of a short story are vastly different. Technically I know what the word count is for a short story and I can write to that, but I'm usually left to my own devices now and not working under size constraints for publishers. So that "short background piece" turns into a 45K work. Full on novel? Easily over the 150K mark (largest to date is complete at 365K). It's not a bad thing exactly but it does mean it takes me forever and a day to finish stuff because the story becomes so long and my brain gets hit with something new and cool frequently.

 

Well I have just finished my FINAL essay for my FINAL year on a creative writing BA (UK uni).
And I finished almost a month before deadline! (thank you covid lockdown).

I would say the course wasn't that great (at all) but it WAS great being forced to write to a certain word count, by a deadline, and FINISH a piece before starting another.

I think that's probably the main thing I've taken from this experience. I wouldn't say my writing has improved, and I am still not a reader of fiction AT ALL, but I can sit there and churn out words to a deadline, which is probably a more useful industry skill TBH because perfectionism is the kiss of death to finishing anything in a timely fashion!

Also writing to a set word count is the best way for me to write anyway. Typically I will spend the first 700 words watching that word counter go round like I'm at school waiting desperately for home time. Trying to meet the brief (ugh), trying to think of a half decent idea (ugh), thrashing about like a fish on a hook. How will I EVER write 2000 words?

And then suddenly I find I'm 500 words over and have to cut cut cut! Which is so hard! Because by then I've fallen in love with every precious word. But it's such a good skill to be forced to learn.

So yes I wouldn't say my degree has made me a 'good' writer, but it's made me a disciplined one, which for me has always been the hardest thing (timetable? routine? what are these pointless ideas?) And no I still have an ODD tendency to do the opposite of whatever the timetable/routine says I should be doing, so I have also found my own way of being productive, which is great too.

What works for one person is not going to work for another, and timetables/routines are just anathema to me! I seem to be a hyperfocus kind of person - lazy all week then I'll work round the clock for 2 days eating nothing but biscuits. I get more done that way than if I spend the week procrastinating and feeling guilty for not writing every day.

Think I'll have an early night tonight though

 

@elve Yea! Congrats on finishing. I find that it's always a great feeling to have completed a work.

I finally finished a story a couple of days ago. I again vastly underestimated how large it was going to be. I thought maybe 25-30K. Final word count was 51,540 words. And the timeline of all that? A 24 hour period of the mains just meeting. It was intended to be simply how they met but this is what happens when left to my own devices with no worries about word caps. I wrote it in about 5 weeks.

I could've been finished sooner but my Writer Brain likes to come to a screeching halt and dig in the heels when I'm down to the last chapter/epilogue as then I'll be finished and it doesn't want to be finished playing with those character despite the fact that I could always write more if I wanted to.

 

I hear both of you. I learned to finish projects during NaNo, because NaNo is about done instead of perfect. I didn’t even take the typos out and edit work unless I was looking for something to do, until November was over. It’s actually really good for me, because I’m a perfectionist, and I can’t finish things because I have to go back and keep fixing them. It also worked with my need to schedule things, because I worked into my work schedule where I wrote what. Some of it was getting up at 6 to write before a 9am shift, which sucked. Now that I’ve done a lot more counselling/psychiatry in general, I know there are reasons I’m like this, and I’m going to have more success if I work with it than against it.

That’s why the NaNo software being useable anytime is great. I made a “stay home NaNo” goal for May.

 

Yeah, it works best if you don't try to fight your natural work inclinations to write. Despite my not being a morning person I find I can get more done in a day if I start writing in the morning. I've also found that if my brain just doesn't feel the groove for writing at that time, it's best that I don't write as I'm only going to frustrate myself by trying to force it.

 

Another Camp gone, another Camp utterly failed. On to the next one!

 

I may do an unofficial Nano. My hands haven't been the most cooperative the last several weeks and with the weather turning cold and rainy it doesn't seem like that'll change anytime soon.

 

This is probably going to be the first year I skip. I'm finally feeling a little bit creative again, but it wasn't soon enough to prepare, and I'm not focused enough on one story/character unfortunately.

 

Yeah, depression sucks. A lot. Good luck to you.

 

I'm ready! I was smacked down by an energy drain, but I think I have enough to at least write.

 

Doing Nano again. This time for the 2nd book in my Dragon series. Dragons among us : Hatcher's moon was the 1st book I did a few years ago. Now on to Dragons among us: War drums. You can friend me on Nano Azulafan199.

 

Also taking a crack at NaNo this year for the first time in 20 years. I am determined to get this novel I’ve been working on for at least the past decade finished this year. Figured this might light the fire under my ass to actually do it.

Name is Shauna! if anyone is interested in adding me.

 

Good luck to all you Nano-ers!
I am trying it myself again after a year break. I actually have what could be a novel in mind (meaning a beginning, middle and end. Normally I have one or two of those and can't figure out the rest and quit), so I might get further this year than the usual.

I'm the same there as here. And as everywhere else.

 

Hoo boy... I have not even started on properly writing my NaNo project, thanks to two things-- one, that I thought I could just quickly finish a short story I'd been writing in October and then start (this did not go as planned), and two, just the MASSIVE STRESS of Events. I've got notes on characters, themes, timeline stuff... but no actual writing whatsoever.

 

I'm still slightly above par for NaNo somehow, but I suckered myself into the overachievers thread and I am behind on that. It is hard to concentrate today.