Random Writing Post
Mar. 16th, 2012 03:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kristen999I hit 10k on my ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
casestory last weekend. I have no idea how that happened. I think I'm half way or one third of the way there depending how things go. Why have I been writing such long epics of late?
Question for writers? Do you have the same self doubts that plague you with every story or are they different each time?
I always doubt my pacing. Anytime I write anything long, I harp on the rhythm and flow. I stare at this huge chunk of writing and think...Jeesh this is boring. People are going to skim over half the story. Which is so annoying because it happens to me every time and people don't skim parts. At least I don't think they do.
If you take a chapter or a chunk of your writing to this link: http://iwl.me/b/d7939cdb
It analyzes your writing style. I put sections from Distant Shores and Out of the Depths and I got:
David Foster Wallace
Intriguing as both stories are are different in tone and style. One's even written in present tense and the other past.
Out of curiosity I submitted mycasestory and it said:
Stephen King
casestory last weekend. I have no idea how that happened. I think I'm half way or one third of the way there depending how things go. Why have I been writing such long epics of late? Question for writers? Do you have the same self doubts that plague you with every story or are they different each time?
I always doubt my pacing. Anytime I write anything long, I harp on the rhythm and flow. I stare at this huge chunk of writing and think...Jeesh this is boring. People are going to skim over half the story. Which is so annoying because it happens to me every time and people don't skim parts. At least I don't think they do
If you take a chapter or a chunk of your writing to this link: http://iwl.me/b/d7939cdb
It analyzes your writing style. I put sections from Distant Shores and Out of the Depths and I got:
David Foster Wallace
Intriguing as both stories are are different in tone and style. One's even written in present tense and the other past.
Out of curiosity I submitted my
casestory and it said:Stephen King
Fun!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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Date: 2012-03-16 07:25 pm (UTC)I've only ever doubted the pace of my story once, but it retrospect it probably was linked to the description worry, as I took my time to really throw in descriptions :)
Good luck with the story!
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Date: 2012-03-16 07:33 pm (UTC)I spend hours worrying about if I am being too detailed, not detailed enough.
yes, yes.
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Date: 2012-03-16 07:55 pm (UTC)I'm off to check out mischief5's page :)
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Date: 2012-03-16 07:58 pm (UTC)Here's the entry on active vs passive voice
http://ninjabeta.livejournal.com/10027.html#cutid1
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Date: 2012-03-16 08:16 pm (UTC)Having read the entry, I don't know if active vs passive worries me, but its a very helpful entry to bear in mind when writing those pesky descriptions :)
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Date: 2012-03-16 07:36 pm (UTC)\o/ I for one am very happy that this is going to be another epic! :D And I'm not skimming a single word you write. :)
Out of curiosity I submitted my little "ficlets" (if you can call them that) and got every time an other author. *lol*
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Date: 2012-03-16 07:54 pm (UTC)Yep, it's going to be another 20-25k type fic and I laugh at how many of those I've written in a row!I'll be honest--I wish more in the fandom would write medium sized stories that are posted all in one go.
I can not wait to write a few smaller pieces soon :D
A diff author each time? That IS interesting! I submitted the same section more than once to ensure it wasn't just picking styles at random, but it stuck to the same author..lol
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Date: 2012-03-17 09:46 am (UTC)\o/ *does the happy dance*
I wish more in the fandom would write medium sized stories that are posted all in one go.
I wish fandom would write more fics at all. *sigh* :( There are so few fics posted lately (and no art - why is there no art? :(). :(
I can not wait to write a few smaller pieces soon :D
Yeah, I believe you. :D Also: *rubs hands* :D
A diff author each time?
Yep, I tested it with five of my "ficlets"/drabbles (2 H50 and 3 SGA) and except for the last two I got every time a different author (and except for Stephen King (which I got for the Mary hug) I knew no one of them.) Very interesting.
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Date: 2012-03-16 08:32 pm (UTC)William Shakespeare, James Joyce, Edgar Allan Poe and Dan Brown.
So figure :)
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Date: 2012-03-17 09:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-16 08:01 pm (UTC)I always doubt my POV (I tend to write from a very pulled-back POV, which works for some fics and REALLY DOESN'T for others). It's all very clear in my own head but I am never sure if readers are picking up what I'm putting down, so to speak.
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Date: 2012-03-16 10:01 pm (UTC)I got David Foster Wallace for my casestory fic, as you know, and I still don't know what to make of that. I might have to check out his books and see what they're all about before understanding why my writing is like his.
as for doubts with my writing, I worry that the real point of my story gets lost in the midst the background information. In other stories, I have to keep reminding myself that I need to give the characters a background (if it's an AU) or the readers will be lost.
Also, I think I have a problem with POV. I can tell it changes throughout whatever I'm writing, but no one really calls me on it, so I'm not sure how to stop it from happening.
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Date: 2012-03-16 11:25 pm (UTC)I doubt myself all the time when it comes to the long stories that I've drawn something out too much.....like when I doubt myself I've left something out of the short ones.....
I guess I just doubt myself all the time, LOL.
But each story comes with different sets of problems as well. Did I go overboard with the medical stuff.....or did I go too OC with certain characters.....but I'm not a writer persay, but someone who does her best to tell a story the best I can. I see you and a few others as writers. I give thanks to my friends that read and give feedback and my beta for what I put out to be read.
Kimber
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Date: 2012-03-16 11:46 pm (UTC)I'd say that for me, because I write shorts, generally I have the same doubts, although some are stronger on one story than on the other. I'm currently thinking about something I want to write and actually wondering if I'm not letting my own issues cloud my judgement, and that one's new so... yeah, different and the same, I guess.
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Date: 2012-03-17 12:32 am (UTC)As for who I write like, I entered Flying With a Broken Wing from the summer
It makes me wonder how this analysis works. I had assumed it might be based on sentence structure, sentence length, vocabulary etc. But in my case, I think it might be a more a genre sort of match. Interesting and fun.
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Date: 2012-03-18 03:41 am (UTC)He picked up a stick. He hit the bad guy over the head with it. The bad guy said "oof" and fell to the ground.
Okay, so I made that up and it may not be quite that bad, but that's how it reads to me and is probably one reason I get so stuck at those pivotal moments in the story.
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Date: 2012-03-17 12:49 am (UTC)d'oh!
Ha, I got both of those authors as well...and we have vastly different styles!
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Date: 2012-03-17 12:52 am (UTC)I am new to this and I am sure that some proper writing training would beat it out of me.
But yeah, I worry about every single thing I end up posting.
But I worry even more about the things I can't bring myself to post. And they remain unposted!
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Date: 2012-03-17 01:32 am (UTC)I still skew towards long stories, but have managed to write some short ones of late.
As for writing concerns, I have some of the same in every story and some are different and very context driven. Like a technical story... did I get the technical stuff right? Or stretching the characters, do they sound out of character? I always doubt myself and my stories, and I think we're all our biggest critics.
Pacing is a tough one, and one that commonly comes up on longer stories, IMHO. And sometimes as the writer, I know my view is sometimes skewed, especially if its a scene or scenes that are tough, and/or take a long time to write. It makes you feel like they're too drug out, when, read with fresh eyes, they're not. That traps me sometimes. But, I know you have good instincts, I've read enough of your stuff to know! I'm sure it'll turn out just fine. :)
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Date: 2012-03-18 12:18 am (UTC)As others have said a big part of the problem is being so close to the story. It's hard to see the big picture, so for all you know the pacing/dialog/what-have-you is just fine, but as the writer seeking perfection you don't realize it. Or, on the flip side, that awesome story could have been a whole lot better.
I'm trying to get into the habit of stepping back from my stories as long as possible, but it's tough with the stories I'm excited about. I want to get them cleaned up and get them out there quick as possible, so I don't allow them too much time to simmer.
I seem to favor Jack London, which is funny since I've only read one of his books.
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Date: 2012-03-18 07:47 pm (UTC)I always have self doubts when I'm working on a story. What kind of doubts I'm facing mainly depends on the kind of story I'm writing on, but it's usually the same kind of doubts for the same kind of story. One of my favourite things to worry about that goes for all of my stories is language, at least whenever I'm writing a story in English. I'm always wondering if my stories wouldn't be better if I'd write them in my own language, if my writing comes across as too "simple" or repetitive because I might lack the necessary vocabulary, or if some of it sounds awkward.
With longer stories, pacing is always a concern for me, too. At least part of it has to do with the fact that I tend to be really bored when I have to write the parts of a story that are necessary to explain things, to get from here to there, or to wrap things up. Those parts never appear to be as long and boring to the reader as they appear to the writer, in my opinion (which doesn't stop me from constantly worrying about boring the reader to death).
What I also find difficult is to find the right balance between angst and humor in a story. Whenever I try to write something really angsty, one of the characters will inevitably suddenly say something humorous and I never know if this is a good thing, like stress relief, or if it's completely inappropriate at that point (especially since it often leads to extended bantering between two or more characters, who won't listen to me when I try to shut them up, which usually means I end up re-writing that part of the story lots of times). I don't know if anyone else has to wrestle with that particular problem, but it's driving me crazy.
I submitted some of my old LotR-stories and the result cracked me up: "I write like J. R. R. Tolkien" *laughs* Okay, I'm feeling flattered now. ;-) I tried it again with an 9k chapter from my H50 AU and got, "I write like Stephen King". Huh. I guess I don't need to worry about too much humor in that chapter after all.
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