I beat out 1200 of the worst words ever saved on a computer this morning. I wish I suffered from bulimia. If you stall out when constructing a scene, what do you do?
a) drink
b) keep plugging away
c) move on to next scene
d) both a and b
e) call the suicide hotline and ask to speak to Karen - again.
Or you can answer creatively... I finished the scene, but I hatehatehate it. Under normal conditions I only hate my writing one time, so three times is pretty severe. When I have reached this point in past attempts, I have traditionally punted. I'll be damned if I do that again. How do you get around this?
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ryan lind
Opening Sentence: "It was the best of times; it was the worst of times." Do you think that will sell, or is it kind of cheesy?
127,943 / 50,000
nov. 7, 2009 - 07 41
Throw out the rearview mirror and keep going. I guarantee, when you look back on it, it won't be so bad. Besides, as the story develops, when you go back and look at it (after 11/30), you'll have more information and can fine tune the scene to better express your idea.
Just write.
Don't analyze or criticize. That part of you doesn't get energy this month. All your energy is in generating new thoughts and ideas. We all feel we're writing pitifully at times. Just write. It's not about perfection, it's about exploration.
I wrote a novel once where I wrote chapter 1 and part of chapter 2, and after that I wrote chapter 6. It can get messy . . . but, it's all good. I didn't finish chapter 2 until I'd nearly finished the novel. But, it all worked out. Trust the process.
Ask yourself, what if . . . ? Have a character stand up and say something totally unexpected. Have a surprise visitor show up at the door. Get a weird letter in the mail and run with it. Have your MC get a promotion. Throw in a sudden love interest that someone wasn't looking for. Open a closet and find a dead body . . .
Do one thing different and the story blossoms.
----------Chinese cookie fortune, 11/23 Never set the tiger free if you live in the mountain. 11/24 People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.
42,027 / 50,000
nov. 8, 2009 - 15 03
a) drink
b) keep plugging away
c) move on to next scene
d) both a and b
e) call the suicide hotline and ask to speak to Karen - again.
I vote (b) and (c) personally. Honestly, I think for this particular type of writing (aka SuperFast) you just keep going and worry about the quality later. There's stuff in my draft that is so bad I'm embarrassed going back to read it, and I would never show it to another person, let alone my writing group, but that's okay. The point is not "good," the point is 50,000 words. If you do that by November 30th, THEN you can worry about the "good."
"How do I know what I think until I see what I say?"
E.M. Forster
jaymontville.blogspot.com
----------"How do I know what I think until I see what I say?"
E.M. Forster
jaymontville.blogspot.com