Cant keep it simple - Writers Forum

Cady · 07-30-2006, 09:20 PM

I have a problem. I will start out with a very simple, very doable idea. Then within 2 weeks the idea has turned into a monster of details and turns so complex that even the most talented of writers could not, or would not even want to touch. I dont know how to keep my ideas simple, or how to keep one idea flowing into another and conjoining. I feel like I have so much going on as far as ideas go and I try to ram it all into one story whether or not it belongs. I know a lot of people have trouble coming up with ideas, my problem is I am on idea overload and I have this horrible urge to throw them all out on paper, in the same story if need be. Any advice?

RussellN · 07-30-2006, 11:16 PM

Best suggestion I can make is to outline the story out in precis form - say two to ten pages. Then, as more ideas develop, you can decide whether they enhance the original story, or become another story, or are too complex a detail to bother with.

Then start writing the actual story from the precis.

Russell

Cady · 07-30-2006, 11:24 PM

Thanks for the advice, I am getting newnovelist for my birthday in a few weeks so hopefully that will help.

Hodge · 07-30-2006, 11:26 PM

Just write it all out, then cut as neccessary during the editing phase.

Dawnstorm · 07-31-2006, 07:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hodge

Just write it all out, then cut as neccessary during the editing phase.

Hehe, that's nice in theory. But if you've got a meandering mind and a vivid imagination you won't ever write "it all" out, because you can't see the end, only branches that branch into branching branches...

My first attempt at a novel, nearly 16 years ago, started out complex. When I quit the project I had material for at least 4 novel, a frame to tie it all together, at least 3 genres and a cast of characters to overpopulate Jupiter. And whenever I'd actually write another branch would split off... (I'm exaggerating, but there *are* at least 4 novels in what I've been writing back then.)

Now, I'm at my second attempt to write a novel and it appears to work. I spent the years inbetween then and now writing short stories. Short stories were a good way to develope a "story mind", as they demand discipline and focus. They're fun to write, too.

As to the novel I'm currently writing: I don't outline. I don't keep character spread sheets, etc. But I've mulled it over in my mind for years. I know the characters, I know the "premise", I know the theme. I don't get side-tracked, and I don't get bored. After I'm done, I'll fill in holes and cut red-herrings (apart from those that aid the concept).

So some ideas for Cady:

1. Use your imagination to your advantage. Have your story and then write related short stories. Write about the restaurant, where your protagonist and her boy friend have dinner. Write about the seal they laughed at when they visited Aquaworld. Write about their childhood, their oldage, their ancestors, their kids. Once you've written enough of those, your novel emerges from what you haven't written. If it doesn't, you still have a lot of short stories, and writing them has been fun (if it hasn't, you should have ignored my idea

).

2. Channel your imagination, in the same way musicians improvise over a scale. Think of a theme, a plot-goal, etc. and write around it. Find something to focus on, as you run wild on the page. Often a pattern will emerge.

Both approaches have worked for me in the past. I tried outlining, but it killed the fun of writing.

Selorian · 07-31-2006, 08:34 AM

Something that may work is to keep a notebook handy while writing on your story. Then when a new idea pops up, instead of throwing it into the story straight off, write it down. Keep writing the original idea. At the end of the day, look back through the new ideas you jotted down in your notebook and see if they would be better suited as stories themselves or incorporated into your current story.

Just an idea.

Glfralin · 07-31-2006, 10:44 AM

Write you novel one short story (chapter) at a time. That seems to work for my overworking imagination. Compare to make sure that they are part of the same story. Each chapter will start flowing into the next. If you feel yourself getting into details that the reader would consider overkill, toss it or put it down somewhere else for another idea. I'm just guessing, but the problem is there is only one way to eat an elephant.....

"one bite at a time"

Cady · 07-31-2006, 11:15 PM

Dawnstorm, thank you so much you really explained what I was dealing with much better than I could. It just seems like I start in on the most miniscule of events and before I know it I have ten pages on why my character hates orange juice. All of your advice has been taken into consideration and thank you guys so much. I just recently gave up on a novel I have been writing for a year. In that year I have accumulated 12 5 subject notebooks, and a 3 ring binder stuffed full of notes and ideas. Nothing has come of it, I know I started with a plan, but somewhere between the third and fifth notebook I got lost. Now I am afraid I have no way to go to end to story and I have decided to throw it into the land of unfinished storys. I just want to start fresh and this time I want it to work. Its frustrating to realize that the story you have been working on for a year will never end, and really should have never gotten past the first 50 pages. Thanks again and I hope this advice and fresh start will be just what I needed.

Hobbes · 08-30-2007, 08:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dawnstorm

Hehe, that's nice in theory. But if you've got a meandering mind and a vivid imagination you won't ever write "it all" out, because you can't see the end, only branches that branch into branching branches...

My first attempt at a novel, nearly 16 years ago, started out complex. When I quit the project I had material for at least 4 novel, a frame to tie it all together, at least 3 genres and a cast of characters to overpopulate Jupiter. And whenever I'd actually write another branch would split off... (I'm exaggerating, but there *are* at least 4 novels in what I've been writing back then.)

Now, I'm at my second attempt to write a novel and it appears to work. I spent the years inbetween then and now writing short stories. Short stories were a good way to develope a "story mind", as they demand discipline and focus. They're fun to write, too.

As to the novel I'm currently writing: I don't outline. I don't keep character spread sheets, etc. But I've mulled it over in my mind for years. I know the characters, I know the "premise", I know the theme. I don't get side-tracked, and I don't get bored. After I'm done, I'll fill in holes and cut red-herrings (apart from those that aid the concept).

So some ideas for Cady:

1. Use your imagination to your advantage. Have your story and then write related short stories. Write about the restaurant, where your protagonist and her boy friend have dinner. Write about the seal they laughed at when they visited Aquaworld. Write about their childhood, their oldage, their ancestors, their kids. Once you've written enough of those, your novel emerges from what you haven't written. If it doesn't, you still have a lot of short stories, and writing them has been fun (if it hasn't, you should have ignored my idea

).

2. Channel your imagination, in the same way musicians improvise over a scale. Think of a theme, a plot-goal, etc. and write around it. Find something to focus on, as you run wild on the page. Often a pattern will emerge.

Both approaches have worked for me in the past. I tried outlining, but it killed the fun of writing.

This is *excellent* advice.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Glfralin

Write you novel one short story (chapter) at a time. That seems to work for my overworking imagination. Compare to make sure that they are part of the same story. Each chapter will start flowing into the next. If you feel yourself getting into details that the reader would consider overkill, toss it or put it down somewhere else for another idea. I'm just guessing, but the problem is there is only one way to eat an elephant.....

"one bite at a time"

This too. I'm going through older threads and reading a lot of particularly sage advice. Had to reference this one; more helpful in 7 or 8 posts than most multi-page threads in this forum.

SilkFX · 09-01-2007, 01:02 PM

I too think Dawnstorm's advice was the best.

Letting a story grow organically is something that I've been doing a lot lately. It's scary as hell, actually. But it speaks to something that I think a lot of aspiring writers forget: the fact that the act of writing, the act of telling a story, isn't exactly something that is quantifiable, you know? There's a little bit (hell, a LOT) of mystery about this creation business, whether the product is a painting, a composition, or a story.

Good luck!