One reason why stories die (and what to do about it)

Author, Rating and Tags:

Submitted by Kaleigh Way on Sat, 2012/01/28 - 9:20am

I've been writing for a long time, and I'm not saying that I'm great at it... I think I'm pretty good for a sandlot player, but definitely not in the big leagues.

However, there are a few things I've learned, and one biggie is the difference between situations and stories.

A lot of times people will say, "I've got a great idea for a story!" and then — with a lot of excitement — rattle off a piece of something, rich in detail. Often it's an amazingly completely little world, and is nothing short of inspired.

It's a good idea to write it out, quickly, before it fades, before you start thinking about it.

But then you have to take a breath. Because what you have isn't a story. It's just a situation. It's only a starting point.

The situation is so loaded with emotional and artistic energy, and that energy can carry you for quite a distance, but suddenly it will stop.

You look at it, and think Now what? and you tell people you have writer's block.

Sometimes you feel that you've written yourself into a corner.

I can think of two reasons why it's stopped, and what it takes to get it going.

The first reason is that the story is heading into something that makes you uncomfortable, and you don't want to go there. The solution is to ask yourself What is the absolutely worst thing that could happen? and then make it happen.

The second reason is that you didn't develop your idea, your situation, into a story. You didn't sit down — or take a walk — and ask yourself How does it end? Once you know where it's going, it's a lot easy to figure out how to get there.

There are two questions you need to answer if you want to turn your situation into a story: (1) How does it end? (2) What gets in the way?

The story is all about the end not arriving. Big problems! It isn't going to happen! What are the characters going to do?

So, if your character is stuck somewhere with no way out, congratulations! That's what's supposed to happen. Don't blame your lack of inspiration or writer's block. Just start thinking. You'll find a way to get her moving again, so she can get stuck again. That's how it works.

So simple, so obvious. So challenging to write.

Submitted by Susan Heywood on Sat, 2012/01/28 - 9:58am.

How does it end? What gets in the way?

I've learned such a lot from people on this site. When I think 'that was a good story' there probably weren't a lot of wasted words. Conversely, I've read stories that said a lot but did nothing.

Thank you for this very helpful advice; I'll add it to my 'how to write a better story' collection.

Susie

Great advice

Submitted by Arecee on Sat, 2012/01/28 - 10:27am.

Before I write a story, I know where it's going to end. If I want to continue the story, I leave threads open that I can build off of as I did in Assassin. I had a few complaints that the story seemed unfinished because of it, but that's the whole idea, have the readers wanting more. To be perfectly honest some of my stories don't get written because I get lazy and find it's easier to read other peoples works. Getting back to the subject, I know where to start and know where to end and all the rest is filling in the blanks. I too write as a hobby and started because I coulod only find a few stories I liked, so I wrote my own. My first endevors were, let's just say pretty sad. I would get compliments on a fine story, but they needed editing. I tried to rewrite the first story I ever posted and got halfway through and threw in the towel it was so poorly written. Write what you feel and not to please others. My stories have changed over the years. I wanted compliments and wrote to please readers, but my tastes have changed. I wrote Assassin because I wanted to, knowing it wasn't a typlical TG novel. Twisted, which I've decided to finished isn't either. They are stories I want to write for myself because I'm a selfish sort of person. Know the beginning and know the ending and fill in the rest and your block will be gone, Arecee

So true, Kaleigh; so true

Submitted by Nick B on Sat, 2012/01/28 - 11:28am.

And boy do I have a lot of situations. In fact, I have probably millions of words dedicated to those 'good ideas' that like damp fireworks, just fizzle and die well before their time.

Fortunately, I have some that have gone past that stage and like you, I'm no more than a sandbox player, but I hope that one day I can be more.

Having a book - well novella - on Kindle is helpful and is inspiring me to write more; to get that elusive beginning, middle and end with the right amount of words to be a real book - sorry, novel.

Your blog here is, I hope, inspiration to others who have that all important start. Whether it's a bit from the beginning, the middle or the end doesn't matter, it's a start and it's somewhere to build or something to build upon.

So don't delay folks. Look at the blog and think. Everyone has a story inside them - maybe more than one - so start typing ...

For me.

Submitted by Sarang on Sat, 2012/01/28 - 1:59pm.

I'm comparatively terrible at length.

I see Mags and others and can't imagine how I could end up with a story of that length and breadth. I usually write Hip-Hop style verse so maybe that's part of my issue or maybe I'm just not wired that way as much as Mags, EoF, Julie O., Scott Ramsey, Lilith and others.