She speaks!
Oct. 4th, 2007 08:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
musingaloudArf.
I feel I haven't posted for awhile. I also feel I've nothing to say. So why speak?
I've revised one story that according to crits needed a more complete ending. Readers felt it just went BOOM and ended without a good-enough buildup and resolution. I dunno if I succeeded or not. I guess I'll see when it gets subbed. I wrote it for a specific anthology but it could go anywhere really. I've also been working on revising another story, Mountain King. I've ended up doing a pretty heavy revision, but the conversation in the middle is giving me fits. I think I've a better angle on the characters' relationship and why they come to be together, but the problem of course is in trying to write new dialog without consciously and unconsiously incorporating the old dialog. I'm trying to use the advice that I normally ignore: Just write the damn thing and worry about how bad it is later during the revising process. And again, the problem with this story seemed to be the ending wasn't satisfying.
I keep getting crit comments that my stories seem part of a larger story. I agree. In my mind they are. The problem is why do they seem unsatisfying because of that? Am I not drawing them to a full-rounded conclusion? Am I incorporating too many elements and themes and not wrapping each one up? Is it a bad thing to have subplots in a short story?
I guess the key is that the learning-to-write process is long and involved. I tend to be impatient. I want to be a good writer and I WANT IT NOW DAMMIT. But it takes time. We learn from our mistakes. I guess what I'd really like is for a voice to come out of nowhere and say "This is what you're doing wrong and this is how to fix it." In lieu of that, I suppose I'll muddle along and try to figure it out through trial and error.
I read a good bit of advice last night in The Writer magazine. By Robert Penn Warren: "No conflict, no story." Simple, aint' it! ;-)
On the baby observation stage: There's nothing better than walking up to a baby in a crib who's just woken up and the happiness in their face when they see you. It's a light switched on and its glow warms you.
I feel I haven't posted for awhile. I also feel I've nothing to say. So why speak?
I've revised one story that according to crits needed a more complete ending. Readers felt it just went BOOM and ended without a good-enough buildup and resolution. I dunno if I succeeded or not. I guess I'll see when it gets subbed. I wrote it for a specific anthology but it could go anywhere really. I've also been working on revising another story, Mountain King. I've ended up doing a pretty heavy revision, but the conversation in the middle is giving me fits. I think I've a better angle on the characters' relationship and why they come to be together, but the problem of course is in trying to write new dialog without consciously and unconsiously incorporating the old dialog. I'm trying to use the advice that I normally ignore: Just write the damn thing and worry about how bad it is later during the revising process. And again, the problem with this story seemed to be the ending wasn't satisfying.
I keep getting crit comments that my stories seem part of a larger story. I agree. In my mind they are. The problem is why do they seem unsatisfying because of that? Am I not drawing them to a full-rounded conclusion? Am I incorporating too many elements and themes and not wrapping each one up? Is it a bad thing to have subplots in a short story?
I guess the key is that the learning-to-write process is long and involved. I tend to be impatient. I want to be a good writer and I WANT IT NOW DAMMIT. But it takes time. We learn from our mistakes. I guess what I'd really like is for a voice to come out of nowhere and say "This is what you're doing wrong and this is how to fix it." In lieu of that, I suppose I'll muddle along and try to figure it out through trial and error.
I read a good bit of advice last night in The Writer magazine. By Robert Penn Warren: "No conflict, no story." Simple, aint' it! ;-)
On the baby observation stage: There's nothing better than walking up to a baby in a crib who's just woken up and the happiness in their face when they see you. It's a light switched on and its glow warms you.
