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Hi everyone,
This was brought up in the Short Stories forum and I thought I'd repeat it here, as well as the administrative note I brought up in that forum.
If you have any questions, queries or ideas you wish to discuss with your fellow BOS EE2ers, please don't hesitate to ask! The more we share, the more we have to learn from each other. But holding back isn't going to help anyone.
Additionally, if you have a *new* question, please post it in a new thread. There is a tendancy in this forum to stick to several humungous (I'm talking 20+ pages) threads, which cover a range of topics in no organised order. I'm sure you will agree that it is a lot more efficient to have more smaller specific threads, rather than only a few gigantic multipurpose/allpurpose threads!
And finally before I move onto concept talk, remember that you are able to view older threads by scrolling down th "Display Options". Default settings are "Sorted by Last Post Time"/"From the Last Month"/Sort Order: "Descending". By changing the "From the" option to Last 45 days - Last 2 months (anything past that may be outdated) you will find many more threads that may be very relevant and helpful to you
And now: FINDING YOUR CONCEPT
Since I'm using the term "The One", and since that's so totally corny, Miss "why the hell am I talking about relationships" is going to use a relationship metaphor. You don't really have any idea of how well you're going to click with someone before you get to know them - same thing goes for creative writing. If you find a good idea, do NOT just sit there on your butt all happychappy because you got an idea. You gotta try it out! Chances are the first one you find won't be the one you keep. Nor will the second, and the third might not be it either.
Within a few pages of writing, you'll instinctively know whether it's worth developing further. It tends to be a "man... dead end! This so isn't what I expected it to be!" or an "ooh! This is really interesting!". You want the latter. You might go through several idea changes before you find "The One", but once you're got it, it'll be sooo worth it!
And remember - ALWAYS document what you do in your journal. Save your butt later down the track by reflecting on any drafts you do - where the inspiration came from, why you were interested in it, any problems/successes you had in the draft, and why you did or didn't decide to continue with it.
Regardless of how many concept drafts you leave in your journal, they're worth documenting because many people will come to them later and steal bits and pieces - I remember one of the first things I wrote in my very first draft (which was later hacked to pieces) ended up in my final draft. It didn't fit into any of the other drafts... but after I'd reworked my story, and changed the direction, it felt right to have it back in. Your writing process may be a little different, but don't undervalue the work you're doing now. EVERYTHING you do now is for a purpose, even if that purpose is to nudge you further towards your final concept choice.
This was brought up in the Short Stories forum and I thought I'd repeat it here, as well as the administrative note I brought up in that forum.
If you have any questions, queries or ideas you wish to discuss with your fellow BOS EE2ers, please don't hesitate to ask! The more we share, the more we have to learn from each other. But holding back isn't going to help anyone.
Additionally, if you have a *new* question, please post it in a new thread. There is a tendancy in this forum to stick to several humungous (I'm talking 20+ pages) threads, which cover a range of topics in no organised order. I'm sure you will agree that it is a lot more efficient to have more smaller specific threads, rather than only a few gigantic multipurpose/allpurpose threads!
And finally before I move onto concept talk, remember that you are able to view older threads by scrolling down th "Display Options". Default settings are "Sorted by Last Post Time"/"From the Last Month"/Sort Order: "Descending". By changing the "From the" option to Last 45 days - Last 2 months (anything past that may be outdated) you will find many more threads that may be very relevant and helpful to you
And now: FINDING YOUR CONCEPT
Since I'm using the term "The One", and since that's so totally corny, Miss "why the hell am I talking about relationships" is going to use a relationship metaphor. You don't really have any idea of how well you're going to click with someone before you get to know them - same thing goes for creative writing. If you find a good idea, do NOT just sit there on your butt all happychappy because you got an idea. You gotta try it out! Chances are the first one you find won't be the one you keep. Nor will the second, and the third might not be it either.
Within a few pages of writing, you'll instinctively know whether it's worth developing further. It tends to be a "man... dead end! This so isn't what I expected it to be!" or an "ooh! This is really interesting!". You want the latter. You might go through several idea changes before you find "The One", but once you're got it, it'll be sooo worth it!
And remember - ALWAYS document what you do in your journal. Save your butt later down the track by reflecting on any drafts you do - where the inspiration came from, why you were interested in it, any problems/successes you had in the draft, and why you did or didn't decide to continue with it.
Regardless of how many concept drafts you leave in your journal, they're worth documenting because many people will come to them later and steal bits and pieces - I remember one of the first things I wrote in my very first draft (which was later hacked to pieces) ended up in my final draft. It didn't fit into any of the other drafts... but after I'd reworked my story, and changed the direction, it felt right to have it back in. Your writing process may be a little different, but don't undervalue the work you're doing now. EVERYTHING you do now is for a purpose, even if that purpose is to nudge you further towards your final concept choice.
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