Polarized

[Scribbler]

Has anyone ever had the feeling of after writing a chapter and reading it over that it's either the best thing I've ever written or the worst thing I've ever written? I mean, there are some things about it I really, really like, but there are also some things I'm not sure about. I'm thinking to myself does this sound right? Is this what this character would really say? Is it apparent enough - the motivations? There are so many questions in my mind. So many that I can't tell if it's amazing or the worst kind of trash.

At the time of writing the chapter I wasn't really in the right headspace, usually I write at the end of a day instead of at the beginning. But I'm starting to think I can write whenever I want, as long as the "feeling" takes me. But then there's the question of how long I write. Usually it's about 45 minutes to an hour for 600 words, but recently I've been going to 700 words in about 90 minutes to two hours. That's two hours spent writing for 3 minutes of reading. Putting it into perspective always saddens me, so I'll not think of it anymore. Is it better to write multiple times a day with separate sessions, or is it better to write in one sitting?

As I go further into my story I have less and less of an idea what happens next. Not to say I have no idea what happens next, but that I simply can't think about what happens next. I mean, if I try and walk away from my keyboard and pace around or lie down or stick to the ceiling like spider-man, I have no idea what's supposed to happen. And only when I start typing the words down does the plot, characters and all of the wonderful other things begin to materialize. This is one of the reasons I don't feel that I can correctly call myself a writer. I don't write any notes, plan anything out or draw a map of the world. I'm just typing whatever comes to mind. But that isn't to say I don't think it's any good. I actually quite like it a lot. My words, my writings.

I find that I like books that are of a similar style to my writing, or way of writing, not the actual writing. Not things that are carefully thought out ahead. But stories that really grip you, pull you into the scene. I loooved Stephen King's The Stand for this. Never before in a story was I so excited, jumping for joy at the prospect of two characters meeting. I loved those characters so so much. I've been looking around on youtube for anything Stephen King related (he's such a charming fellow), and he seems to be what is commonly considered a discovery writer or a writer who doesn't plan things out or write down notes; like me. I think that's why I felt that I learned so, so much from his book. But other kinds of writers who are commonly considered one the best, I just don't jive with, I can't feel it as well as when I read The Stand. Does anyone know of any good books by discovery writers like Stephen King? Right now, reading The Killing Floor by Lee Child. From the sound of one of his Q&As, he seemed like a discovery writer as well.

I'm a pretty young writer with my main story being only 8,500 words (I judge a conventional writer's age by the length of words in their longest story). And as a young writer, I feel I've grown a lot. With my past stories only being about 3.5 to 4,000 words long. And last night, on writing my latest chapter, I feel like something clicked, or grew in me. I had become a better writer than I was before - when I wrote that chapter. I think... I think the issue may be that the chapter was too ambitious for my current skill level. Or something like that. But I don't think I'll change it or delete like I was so tempted to do moments after finishing it. I can probably correct it if I were to write 10 or 12 more chapters, probably.

I think those are all of my questions and thoughts I've had on writing during the past week. I'm probably forgetting some since I stopped writing when I thought it may be the right time to check for spelling mistakes. Or maybe I thought it was the right time to check for spelling mistakes because I was finished with my thoughts. Really, I didn't even know I had 80% of these thoughts until I began writing. This is the sort of thing I'm talking about. The human mind is such a mystery. OR MAYBE WE ONLY THINK THAT BECAUSE ALIENS IMPLANTED IN US A CYBER DEVICE TO SCRAMBLE OUR -

Everything is fine. All of the humans are fine. We are all happy to be happy humans. Yay for us. Hu. Zah.

 

[ars]

I'm at work so I can't respond at length, but - yup. I've definitely felt similar to what you're going through...

Especially when I first started to write, I would only write when I felt proud and confident. Then in the next few days, I'd review it and think 'Wait, this sucks!! Why would you think anyone wants to read crap like this?!' and quit writing it. And then months or years later, I dug up the old file and reread only to find out the story was actually pretty interesting, after all. But even though it was a decent story and I wondered what happened next, there wasn't anything else since I thought it sucked and didn't have that 'inspiration' to write it anymore...

Now that I'm older, I understand why some of the most common writing advice is to 'just write'. Sometimes you have to push yourself to write even if it's hard. Once you start pushing yourself, you realize you're capable of doing more than you thought you were, like what you experienced.

 

[TLCsDestiny]

I admit I can be somewhat the same. I have a basic idea on the story but anything else just flows along with the scenery and characters. I know this is ganna sound weird, even though I'm the writer, but I let the scenery and characters tell me their story...lol. Of course I have to understand them first but I tend to write this way a lot. Just keep doin what you're doin mate!

 

[Vanny]

I used to pants, as they call it, now I'm a plotter. And I'm making my own system to do so. Plotting allows me the freedom not to worry about memory and creativity, and the freedom to only worry about creativity. Now my process is short form plotting; five chapters ahead at most is what I worry about. Now my stories can be more complex and editing is easier. Overall, my product is better for it.

 

[NiQuinn]

I used to not outline but, later on, I feel like I just cheated myself and didn't do my story and my characters justice by not putting a lot of things into consideration. Now, I'm going through my story by first writing my fabula, writing brief descriptions of my characters and their motivations (if they're main characters), mapping out their journey, jotting down important myths that would reflect in their culture, and many odd little things. It was in this journey that I learned about planning out scenes found in the chapter and, honestly, it helps a lot. Scenes help me filter out filler chapters and it's making me feel the story has more sense. At least I think so.

That aside, I read a tip from a published author and it goes something like this: "Write every day. Write even if you don't feel like it. What's important is to make it a habit. Replace one thing you used to do daily with writing. If you watch random stuff for an hour every day, replace it with writing. It doesn't matter what time of the day. Just make it so that it becomes a habit."

Of course, that suggestion was given to someone asking what it takes to become a professional writer. The one who gave the tip had already published around 30 books. Sorry that I forgot his name -_-