Public GardensWhy is it that some of my best story ideas never get off the ground? And other ones, less clever or interesting, seem to write themselves. Am I the only one experiencing this?
Sometimes I think the stories that are fully formed before you sit down at the WP are harder to write because you feel like you are taking dictation. Especially stories based on what a friend or newspaper article has told you. It's their story and not yours and it's hard to seize control of it. Some of my better stories come from a single sentence or an image.
But sometimes the ones that just start with a concept of your own are hard, too.
Do you find this to be the case or is it just me? You never know which stories are going to be a pleasure to write and which ones aren't going into it.
19 comments:
You're right. The hardest story I've written was based on a story told to me by a friend, and all it required was a better ending. I was three weeks writing it before I finally realized I had to completely change the characters, their actions, and the location in order for it to become MY story. And even then it took another two months to get it on paper.
I've figured out that the ones that are easiest to write usually have the strongest characters--I can visualize them like they stand right next to me. I'm working on a novel now that has a strong voice in the lead, and it practically writes itself. Very fun.
Happens to me all the time. Once the thrill of discovery dissipates, finding the drive to cross the finish line is difficult.
I think Alfred Hitchcock said the same thing. Once he laid it out, he lost interest.
And sometimes a strong character runs away with my stories. I almost prefer a timid soul.
Chris has my thoughts exactly.
Patti - Interesting questions! I truly do think that everyone is different when it comes to what happens with writing ideas. I can only speak for what happens to me. When I get writing ideas - when I'm at the brainstorm stage - they all seem equally plausible. Then, as I think them through, some I discard quickly, because they really don't make sense. Then, there are some that will be good, but I have to think them through first. The ones that turn out to be the best for me are the ones that haunt me - that won't go away. I always know that if, two or three days later, I'm still thinking about X character, Y incident or Z kind of setting, it's a good idea. When that happens, the writing gets, dare I say it, exciting. I only really lose interest in what I write if it wasn't good to begin with. Of course, there's always a continuum of "good."...
I have had that hapen. For me, I think part of it is that when the story is "formed" in the head, it is--in a way--in a different medium than on the page. That means it has to be translated and that isn't always easy. It's the same as imagining yourself performing a new task, like sky diving, but then actually trying to do it and finding a lot of little things that never appeared in your imagination.
I spent yesterday rewriting for the nth time a story I first started over a decade ago. But others--usually my most publishable ones--come in one white-hot burst of inspiration.
Like Fleur, I find those white-hot stories have characters so strong they seem to take over the writing.
But I'm not giving up on the old ones. Every so often I dust them off and have another go. I honestly think they're some of my best writing,
True.
Though these days I am having a hard time getting anything to appear in the old brain pan.
Kevin
(who would be happy with tepid inspiration right now)
There are periods when the ideas flow and periods when they don't. Right now I have five ideas for stories but can't seem to get to one of them for revisions on another piece. I may forget them by the time I do.
Yeah, I agree. I do my best when I'm using my imagination. It's also more fun that way.
Can I take some of those "fully-formed story" pills, Patti? Or maybe you could write me a prescription for them?
I only WISH I could conceive of a story before I sat down to write it. On only one occasion have I done that (the story came to me completely fleshed out in a dream, no less), and it was a breeze to write. Everything else I've ever written has been a major struggle.
I think it's because my son is a prosecutor. I have stories galore, just not always a pathway into them.
Happens to me all the time. I think it's because even though I may recognize a story idea that kicks ass, I discover after some thought I'm not the person to write it.
We should start a depository of discarded story ideas. Place them in the public domain, and see if anyone else can do something with them. (They'd have to give us credit, of course. "based on an idea by ...." is sufficient.)
An elephant graveyard of story ideas, where writers can go to look for the "story ivory".
A great idea. Maybe we should start website for it.
When I come up with a good idea for a story, I sometimes have problems sitting down to have a go because I'm worried about screwing it up. With stories I'm not so serious about I can be playful and fool around with different things.
Unlike some other commentors, I can barely write a word if I don't know the plot from beginning to end. Otherwise I get paralyzed.
I always rejoice when characters take over the story. Then I'm merely the chronicler, not the creator. I stop playing God. I do begin with some thought-out characters and put them into an initial dilemma. But after that I don't know where the story will go as they wrestle with their natures and with others. I learned not to plot; that paralyzed me, and also my characters went on strike. My stories are always character-driven, not plot-driven.
It is so strange how differently we all work. I am overly driven to get every word down and it sometimes makes things overworked. That's where the control issue rears its head--not with the direction the story goes in.
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