Well, i started wrting purely for fun and because it's time consumming. anyway, i had this sypnopsis in my head about how the story was going to go and i dont know what happened but everything took a different turn. i lost control of my own story. does that sound dumb?
and i could change it, but it'd be like i am forcing something to go a certain way and that's not cool to me.
so my question is what do i do, do i go with it or do i change it?
2007-11-25 15:19:37 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ Books & Authors
Good writers don't control their stories-- they go with the flow. You, in a way, are a parent. You've given birth to this idea, but you can't really know what it will grow up to become. Go with the changes, wherever they may lead you!!
2007-11-25 15:24:47 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
This is, as scary as it seems, exactly what is supposed to happen. If you plan your storyline from start to finish, word for word, and it goes exactly that way, you're probably a genre writer. Your characters have a yearning, and you will be less frightened by their actions if you know what that yearning is. Then you can put them in situations which will best foster a catalyst effect on your characters and cause them to pursue their desires. For example, you should start them in a situation exactly (well, more or less) opposite of how they want to end up. This will get the ball rolling and make for the most successful plot.
2007-11-25 16:47:35 · answer #2 · answered by all work and no play 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
This has happened so many times to me! I can't tell you how frustrated I have gotten over this same problem! The plot, the characters and everything run away! If the story reads well that's okay, just try to bring it back around. You don't want to go totally off track on a bunny trail. Look at it and see where you can combine your synopsis and what you have come up with. Just try not to completely abandon what you wanted, it runs away, and sometimes you have to just step back, forget about it, and it'll come to you, it always does! Have fun!~
2007-11-25 15:31:50 · answer #3 · answered by nobopoto 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
What I do when I'm stuck on something and don't like the way its turning out is start another calling it an alternate and work on that one for a while. If you end up liking the first one better you can always go back, if not stick to the one you have. That way you have no regrets and if you really don't like it you can just stop.
And no its not dumb, I've don't the same thing many times. :)
2007-11-25 15:28:37 · answer #4 · answered by Maggie 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I totally disagree with Nessa. Great writers very much DO control what they write. I always control what I am writing. They do so by months of research and preparation prior to the actual writing. I just read The Fig Eater. In the back of the book, the author mentions spending NINE MONTHS researching the book before she started writing.
If you have done your prep work, and you have done character studies so complete that you know your characters like you know the back of your hand, you very much DO control the story because you know how those characters will react in virtually every situation.
If you have a "synopsis in your head" = get it on paper. In the form of an outline. That is the spine of your story. Your plot. From there, you have offshoots - subplots, backstories. etc .
I am not saying the story will not change from what you have written in your outline, because there is every chance it will. Right now I am about 65K into a new book that I worked about 6 months researching and making notes on. I would say I used about half of the notes. And I will say I am still doing research when new topics come up. But my story has a spine. I have always seen the finish line. I am focused and I know where I am headed.
Many people who have read my work say that is because I write cinematically. And it is true. I can always visualize my scenes in my eyes and my dialogue in my ears.
Your problem is focus. I have taught many CW students - as young as 6, and what you need is focus. You get that with dead on character studies. Let me tell you ... this book I am working on is complicated. There are 2 parents, 6 children, 2 grandchildren and 3 inlaws. All of them are definitely main characters. I could tell you what each one of them eats for breakfast if you asked me. I know their lives inside and out. I know how they feel about each other. I know what they would do in any situation that I ran across. That is no easy task in a book written totally in stream of consciousness style. But without that kind of focus, I couldn't do it.
BTW, I started it November 1 for Nanowrimo. Without that kind of notes and focus, no way I could have written that many words that fast.
----
They're, Their, There - Three Different Words.
Careful or you may wind up in my next novel.
Pax - C
2007-11-25 16:21:00 · answer #5 · answered by Persiphone_Hellecat 7 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Go with it. Sometimes when you get into the zone of writing, it's like you connect with a higher power of sorts and words will flow like they have a will of their own. Sometimes these happy accidents turn out to be better than what you had originally planned.
2007-11-25 15:45:38 · answer #6 · answered by tahnwen 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
dont force the story let it flow. not all stories round up what u want it to be sometimes the stories have their own idea
2007-11-25 15:32:10 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
If the direction you are writing makes sense to you, go with it.
2007-11-25 15:37:00 · answer #8 · answered by lulusbuggy 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋