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08-07-2007, 03:15 AM
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#1
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Scribe
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: West Midlands, UK
Gender: Male
Posts: 61
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Point of Reference
I've got a short story 'on hold'. It's about two people who find themselves in a featureless landscape, with no idea who they are or why they are there. They have no point of reference and nothing to suggest where to go next. I've had them discuss it, but have no idea what to do next, or how to finish it. Does this count as irony?
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08-07-2007, 03:34 AM
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#2
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Wordsmith
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: South-east UK
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,890
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No.
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08-07-2007, 03:40 AM
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#3
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Scribe
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: West Midlands, UK
Gender: Male
Posts: 61
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I just thought that putting two characters in a situation and ending up there (albeit in a different way) would be. Guess that's me told though.
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08-07-2007, 03:41 AM
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#4
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Moderator
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Indiana
Gender: Male
Posts: 6,231
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Perhaps the characters have some unresolved personal feud. Just because the setting is barren, doesn't mean their minds are.
__________________
The most frightening part of leaving a parent's home, to me, is not knowing where one's own home is.
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08-07-2007, 03:43 AM
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#5
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Wordsmith
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: South-east UK
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,890
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Writing yourself or your characters into a corner isn't irony, just unimaginative.
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08-07-2007, 03:48 AM
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#6
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Scribe
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: West Midlands, UK
Gender: Male
Posts: 61
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Thanks. For. That.
I take it you've never put anything on hold temporarily because you're not quite sure where to go next. That's pretty damn awesome of you.
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08-07-2007, 11:20 AM
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#7
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Writing Machine
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Canada, and proud of it EH!
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,747
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Mike, be nice, he's trying to get help not mocked.
Dabnorfish, sounds like your in a tough situation. You have two options: think really hard and try to think of a plausible way to get them out, or take a migraine pill becuase you hurt your head thinking too hard, then rewrite part of the story so they don't end up in a lose-lose scenario.
__________________
Super humans need love too!
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If your story is critiqued please take the five minutes to repay the favor.
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08-07-2007, 11:24 AM
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#8
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Profound Writer
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: H-town, dawg! (in other words, Houston area, Texas)
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,248
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Dabnorfish, prehaps you should consider thinking of what you want to happen in the end. It can be anything. Then fill in the gaps. That should make it interesting.
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08-07-2007, 01:25 PM
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#9
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Ink Slinger
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Carribean
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,501
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dabnorfish
Thanks. For. That.
I take it you've never put anything on hold temporarily because you're not quite sure where to go next. That's pretty damn awesome of you.
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Welcome to writing forums where assholes are assholes, good guys are just waiting for an opportunity to be assholes, and everyone else is a master of sarcasm and a genius who just so happens to be over 40 years old.
__________________
Imagine what you could do if you didn't require sleep... Now calculate all the hours you've lost so far with sleep, Insomnia ain't seeming so bad now is it?
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08-07-2007, 02:23 PM
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#10
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Ink Slinger
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Fernando Poo
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,433
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When can we put irony to death? I hate it so much.
__________________
"Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons wait for you down there. Little pets they are, little little little pets. Cute little things, they say. Don't you believe it. No man ever saw them and walked away alive. You won't either. That's the final dash, flash. That's the utter clobber, cobber." --Cordwainer Smith, Norstrillia.
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08-07-2007, 03:09 PM
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#11
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Scribe
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: West Midlands, UK
Gender: Male
Posts: 61
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To be honest, I wasn't so much looking for help as just musing about the similarities between what I was feeling and what my characters are, but thanks for the suggestions.
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08-07-2007, 03:21 PM
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#12
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Writing Machine
Join Date: Sep 2004
Gender: Private
Posts: 1,748
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dabnorfish
I've got a short story 'on hold'. It's about two people who find themselves in a featureless landscape, with no idea who they are or why they are there. They have no point of reference and nothing to suggest where to go next. I've had them discuss it, but have no idea what to do next, or how to finish it. Does this count as irony?
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No story goal. No conflict. No challenge. No change. Just a setting. Contrary to what you say above, you haven't actually told us what your story is about yet. Just the setting. I suspect you don't yet know what your story is about.
Cheers,
Rob |
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08-07-2007, 03:48 PM
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#13
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Scribe
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: West Midlands, UK
Gender: Male
Posts: 61
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I wasn't trying to describe it or elicit help. All I was doing was sharing something that amused me. The story is driven by the two characters discussing their predicament, and their different ways of thinking. One is, by and large, paranoid and proactive, the other is scared to move, but also scared of being left alone.
Wish I'd kept my mouth shut now.
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08-07-2007, 03:50 PM
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#14
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Profound Writer
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: H-town, dawg! (in other words, Houston area, Texas)
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,248
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Dabnorfish...i think it is an interesting concept. Don't worry about other people being hard asses. That comes and goes. What matters is that you enjoy the story in your mind.
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08-07-2007, 04:20 PM
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#15
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Writing Machine
Join Date: Sep 2004
Gender: Private
Posts: 1,748
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dabnorfish
I wasn't trying to describe it or elicit help. All I was doing was sharing something that amused me. The story is driven by the two characters discussing their predicament, and their different ways of thinking. One is, by and large, paranoid and proactive, the other is scared to move, but also scared of being left alone.
Wish I'd kept my mouth shut now.
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It's not a story (yet), just a setting, and that's my point. That's why you have no idea what to do next or how to finish it. You don't yet know what your story is about.
Nothing hard-ass about that.
Cheers,
Rob |
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