Wednesday, October 14, 2009
A Dilemma
One of the first assignments I got was from Marina, who asked me to write a humorous short story using certain words and phrases. A scene immediately came to mind, and I began writing right away. Then I remembered why I haven't attempted to write fiction since high school: I have no idea what I'm doing. The story has a directionless plot, too many characters, an unclear concept, and a villain so mysterious that even I don't know what makes her evil, or if she's evil, or what horrible deeds she's done. So I ask you: When you're working on something and it's just not working out, how do you decide whether to start over, keep soldiering through, or give up altogether?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Gosh, I don't remember what my assignment was, so I don't remember how ridiculous my list was. Is there, perhaps, some kind of real-life story you know about that you could parallel your story with? I totally understand if you want to give up the assignment, I do it all the time. I never finish anything nowadays because I'm out of school already. If you'd like, you can take out up to three of the items on that list and write another story.
ReplyDeleteHope that helps!
Haha thanks! Fitting the words in isn't actually a problem, I just suck at writing stories. I think I will just keep working on it, though!
ReplyDeleteFiction is hard as hell. It seems like it should be easy, but it's terribly difficult for 99 percent of us. (remember when I took fiction-writing?) I would keep going. I read once that there are no bad ideas in fiction, just bad carrying-out of ideas. Which is comforting while you're writing... If you like the plot, then working on the writing (the hard part) can save it. But like I said, fiction is really difficult. You could always try shelving it for a while, and come back later, which always makes what you need to do clearer. Paint with dollar store water colors or something! :) Hope this helps!
ReplyDelete